Traveling to an ancient peasant family: I got rich by doing business

After the county magistrate's wife finished speaking, she handed a few pieces of paper to Li Yu.

Li Yu took it and looked down.

The wife of the county magistrate had neat handwriting, a very beautiful hairpin-shaped regular script, which was pleasing to the eye. She must have put a lot of effort into practicing it.

"The master has been particularly worried about the refugees these days, so I thought of doing something to help him. I think you have seen the situation in the county. There are many children and women begging, so I thought of finding a place for them to settle down so that they don't have to wander around outside." The county magistrate's wife said, "I have written down the specific steps. Would you like to take a look first?"

Li Yu nodded.

*

The specific measures written by the county magistrate's wife were to build a charity village, with the county paying for it, finding a piece of land, building a house, and sending all the children and women among the refugees there. She would then help by giving the women cloth and needles and thread, allowing them to make handkerchiefs or shoes and sell them for money to support their household expenses.

This idea was actually very sound. It not only provided the women and children with a place to settle down, but also pointed out a way to survive.

But there is a problem......

Li Yu put down the paper and asked, "Madam, who do you sell the handkerchiefs made by those women to?"

The county magistrate's wife said without hesitation: "Sell it to the county."

Before she finished speaking, she realized something was wrong. "I forgot that most of the women in Jiangyang County can knit and sew, and only a few of them buy handkerchiefs and shoes on weekdays. If I ask these people to make handkerchiefs and shoes to sell, I'm afraid they won't be able to sell many, and it will affect the business of the existing county residents."

Li Yu nodded. This was the only point that was not acceptable. The people in the county would surely support the rescue of the refugees, because if the refugees were stable, everyone would be safe, but the premise was that it would not affect everyone's business.

The county magistrate's wife thought about it for a while and said, "Why not send them to the rich families in the county to work as helpers? I can negotiate with those rich families."

This is a solution. For the sake of the county magistrate's wife, those wealthy families will definitely be willing to accept some people on the surface, no matter what they think in their hearts.

However, there are only so many wealthy households in the county, and even if they accept them, the number they can accept is limited.

The county magistrate's wife had obviously thought of this and said, "This method can only work for a small number of people. If there are more and more refugees in the future, we will have to think of other ways."

Li Yu looked at her deeply and reminded her, "Madam, when I went to Nanzhou Prefecture last time, I heard someone say that several northern states have to buy cotton-padded clothes from the south every winter, because there is more cotton in the south, the cotton-padded clothes made are warm, and the price is not high."

The county magistrate's wife had an idea and said, "We can ask those people to make winter clothes and sell them to people in the north. No, we can also ask merchants from the north to come to Jiangyang County to buy them."

Li Yu said: "The merchants will not stay in Jiangyang County forever. After the women have made their cotton-padded clothes, they can sell them to people in the county who are interested in buying them and earn some copper coins for daily expenses. Or the government can find someone to buy them and sell them to the merchants when they come."

That’s a good idea!

The county magistrate's wife was happy, but frowned the next moment. "This method is feasible, but there is not much money in the county treasury to help the refugees. There has been little rain this year, and there are problems in Qingzhou Prefecture. The master plans to find someone to dig a few more deep wells, just in case."

This problem is easy to solve. Li Yu blinked and said, "Madam, I heard that many ladies in the county like to do charity. Building the Charity House is a great thing. Why don't you ask them if they are willing to help?"

The county magistrate's wife pounded her palm and said, "That's a good idea. But they won't help me for free. I should ask for some benefits from them, preferably a good reputation."

Li Yu felt that this time it would be okay.

*

That's how it was settled.

The county magistrate's wife took back the original paper and looked at Li Yu with admiration, "Boss Li, you are a smart woman. I really made the right choice in choosing you."

Li Yu said modestly: "I didn't do anything, it was all Madam's idea."

The magistrate’s wife shook her head.

Her method works, but it is not practical. If it weren't for Boss Li's guidance, she would not have been able to think of this method of making cotton-padded clothes.

Boss Li is really smart, but it's a pity that she comes from a poor family and is a widow at a young age.

*

Half an hour passed since Li Yu came out of the county government office.

The snacks in the shop had been sold out. Li Yu arranged for the helpers to close the doors and windows, and went home with Aunt Wu and the others.

There were many more beggars on the road than in the morning. They all looked like they had come from Qingzhou Prefecture. Especially outside the county town, waves of refugees gathered under the shade of trees.

They had walked a long way and all looked tired.

Some saw the donkey cart and wanted to move forward, but when they saw the yamen runners walking back and forth with knives on both sides of the road and Han Sheng driving the cart, they silently retreated.

Li Xiangyun felt sorry for them and couldn't help but said, "We have a few buns in the car, how about giving them to them?"

“No!” Li Yu immediately stopped them in a stern voice. “These people are extremely hungry now. If we give them food, everyone on this road will desperately come to us for food. Then our car won’t be able to leave, and even a few of us may not be able to leave.”

Li Xiangyun was so frightened that her face turned pale and she withdrew her hand that was holding the bun as if she had been scalded.

*

"Xiu Wen wife, let's not open the shop for the next few days." Aunt Wu lowered the car curtain, her heart pounding.

Li Yu looked outside and said, "Okay, it's been a bit uneasy these days, so I won't open the door for now."

Making money is important, but life is more important.

Let's wait and see what the county magistrate and his wife do. As long as they can keep the refugees stable, there won't be many problems in the future.

*

Since he decided not to set up the stall for the time being, Li Yu only made enough braised meat in the afternoon for merchants from several other towns to buy.

When several people came the next day, she gave them the quantity they wanted. Just as she was about to tell them not to come recently, they took the initiative to ask for it.

"Refugees from Qingzhou Prefecture have appeared in the town. We encountered them when we just arrived. If they were not dressed simply and shabby today, they might have been robbed. We'd better wait until they leave before doing business to avoid any accidents on the road." The shopkeeper of Huangmei Town said with lingering fear.

The other people had similar ideas to the shopkeeper of Huangmei Town.

Seeing this, Li Yu felt relieved.

*

Because the family had not sold last year's grain and the granary was full, Li Yu was not worried and stayed at home peacefully.

When she wanted to understand the situation, she would walk around the village to see what people were saying.

It has to be said that the refugees this time scared the villagers a lot. Some of them who used to like to sit at the entrance of the village and make trouble stopped talking nonsense and went to buy food and stock up vegetables in a hurry.

On the third day at home, early in the morning, Li Yayi brought three burly men into Qingshui Village.

"Boss Li, my wife wrote you a letter."

Li Yu looked at him and the other men, then took the letter and opened it.

The letter from the county magistrate's wife was not long, just over one page, and it only stated one thing: there were more and more refugees, and she was too busy in the county to handle it, so she hoped Li Yu could go over to help.