My humble days in ancient times

Luo Biancheng picked up the paper and looked at it, then asked: "I want to see rice, glutinous rice, and purple rice."

Xu Ruyi brought him into the kitchen, took out a bag of rice and asked him to look at it carefully, then said to him: "If you don't have purple rice, you can use black rice." Then he told him some details to pay attention to. Luo Biancheng listened carefully to every word, afraid of missing anything.

Xu Ruyi told him some more about the process of making egg pancakes, and then she personally made some salty sauce and fried some shredded potatoes and bean curd.

Luo Biancheng asked, "Don't you have chili oil?"

Xu Ruyi smiled and said, "We do sell chili oil, but we won't sell the secret recipe."

Luo Biancheng laughed and said, "I understand, I understand."

Xu Ruyi opened the lid of the jar and asked, "How much do you want?"

Luo Biancheng's eyes widened. "So many?" He looked at several vats and asked, "Are those vats full of them too?"

Xu Ruyi nodded.

Luo Biancheng tasted it and thought the chili oil was good, so he asked, "If I want to buy it, what's the price?"

Xu Ruyi calmly told him, "I'll sell it to you and to Shopkeeper Zhao for the same price, fifteen cents per pound. These are the wholesale prices, and they're also the lowest."

Luo Biancheng laughed heartily and said, "Are you afraid that I'll bargain? I've already given you my lowest price."

Xu Ruyi smiled but said nothing.

Luo Biancheng said, "I want a thousand kilograms. Can I come and load it on the truck early tomorrow morning?"

Xu Ruyi nodded: "Sure, don't worry. I hope you can bring some wooden barrels tomorrow morning."

"Okay, I'll go buy some wooden barrels now. Wooden barrels are sturdier than porcelain jars and suitable for long distances."

Before leaving, Luo Biancheng looked at Xu Qinghe and Xu Ruyi, and thought to himself: It's interesting that a little girl is in charge of this family.

After Luo Biancheng left, Xu Ruyi was very happy holding the banknotes, and then said to Xu Qinghe: "Let's buy some land."

The brother and sister arrived at the village headman's house. His wife was washing vegetables. The village headman was weaving a basket.

As soon as the brother and sister entered the courtyard, the village head's wife Zhou saw them.

Mrs. Zhou was very polite: "Ruyi and Qinghe are here, come in and sit down."

The village head raised his head and asked, "Do you two want to talk to me about something?"

"Yes, Uncle Village Head, we have something to discuss with you." Xu Qinghe replied.

When the village head heard this, he immediately put down his work, stood up and led them into the house.

The village head's wife poured three bowls of water and said to the brother and sister, "Don't be shy. Just be at home. Sit down." Then she placed the bowls in front of them and said, "If you're thirsty, drink some water."

After the village head sat down, he asked, "Brother and sister, please tell me what you have to say."

Xu Qinghe said directly: "Uncle Village Chief, we want to buy some land. I wonder if there are any paddy fields or dry fields now."

The village head lit his pipe, took a puff and said, "The land is the lifeblood of the villagers. No one is selling it yet."

Xu Qinghe was speechless.

Xu Ruyi smiled and asked, "Uncle Village Chief, I wonder how much the wasteland is selling now. It's the wasteland at the foot of the western hillside."

The head of the village said: "Half an ounce of silver per mu."

Xu Ruyi asked again: "What about the barren mountain?"

The village head knew that the brother and sister were running a business selling egg pancakes, rice balls, and chili oil. They were making more money than the village elders, so when he saw them coming today, he guessed about 70% of the situation.

The village head took another puff of his cigarette and said, "It's also half an ounce of silver per mu."

Xu Ruyi said, "Uncle Village Chief, I want to buy the barren mountain to the west and the wasteland at the foot of the mountain."

"How much do you want to buy?"

"I want to buy twenty acres of wasteland and one hundred acres of barren hills."

The village head was a little surprised: "I never thought two children could buy so much land. This is more than 60 taels of silver. This is a unique case in the village. I didn't expect that in just a few months, the brother and sister earned more money than some people could earn in their entire lives."

Li Zheng said with a gentle face, "I will go to the government office tomorrow to register and ask for the land deed documents."

After hearing this, Xu Ruyi took out two taels of silver from his sleeve and gave it to the head of the village: "I'm sorry to trouble you, uncle Head of the Village, to make this trip. Take these two taels of silver. I'm going to take care of things." After saying that, he put the silver on the table.

The village head nodded, and the brother and sister left.

Seeing the brother and sister leave, Zhou came in and saw the silver on the table. She asked, "What do these two children want?"

The village head said word by word, "These two kids want to buy a piece of land, maybe more than a hundred acres!"

"What? More than a hundred acres?" Zhou doubted her ears: My God, how much silver does this cost? I didn't expect that selling food and chili oil could make so much money.

"Yes, you heard it right." Although the village head tried hard to restrain himself, he was still a little jealous of buying so much land at once.

Xu Ru felt relieved that everything was almost done. Now they just had to make the chili oil. After returning, the siblings busied themselves with making lunch. It was still a little early, but finishing lunch early would free up the pot.

After dinner, Xu Ruyi said to Xu Qinghe, "Why don't you buy two or three more vats, or even wooden barrels."

Xu Qinghe thought about it and decided that he might have to expand the business in the future, so he said, "Okay, I'll go buy it now."

After that, he went to the next village. There was an old man selling water jars in the next village, and Xu Qinghe bought three of them.

After Xu Ruyi finished washing the pots and pans, Xu Ruyuan came to help light the fire. This sister was quite sensible, and Xu Ruyi felt warm in her heart.

Xu Ruyi asked, "Are you sleepy? If you are, go to sleep for a while."

Xu Ruyuan puffed up her lips and said, "Sis, if you're not afraid of being sleepy, then I'm not afraid either."

Xu Ruyi smiled, then chopped onions, washed the green onions and ginger, and poured oil into the pot...

It was a busy day, and Xu Ruyi even worked overtime by candlelight at night!

Xu Ruyi sighed: It’s really not easy to earn some money.

Xu Qinghe smiled happily: "As long as there is money to be made, I am willing to stay up late every day."

Xu Ruyi looked at Xu Qinghe's silly face and said, "If you wear yourself out, it won't make up for the loss. There's so much money in this world, and you can never make it all. You have to eat one bite at a time and earn money slowly, but you can't get fat overnight."

The next morning, Luo Biancheng arrived here early, and he was accompanied by four companions.

Xu Ruyi thought they all looked similar: deep eye sockets and high nose bridges.

There were four wooden barrels on the car, and Xu Ruyi added twenty more kilograms.

After paying the fifteen taels of silver, Luo Biancheng said, "I'll just spend the New Year at home this time. I might come back next spring. If possible, I'll come back to buy chili oil next year."

Xu Ruyi smiled and said, "Okay, we welcome you anytime."

Luo Biancheng laughed heartily, then waved and left.

Although the people in Luobian City look rather stout, their voices are still quite pleasant.

Watching him leave, Xu Ruyi always had a feeling: chili oil will definitely become popular all over the country.

Xu Ruyi was in a very good mood and said to Xu Qinghe, "Brother Luo is very straightforward in doing business. He can move a thousand pounds with just a wave of his hand."

Xu Qinghe couldn't help but praise: "Brother Luo is a straightforward person."

Xu Ruyi looked at Xu Qinghe and said, "Brother, you are really getting more and more powerful. If you can meet someone like Brother Luo, you won't have to worry about the sales of chili oil in the future."

Xu Qinghe saw a lot of different people every day at his stall, so he said calmly, "Brother Luo, it's really not easy to travel so far to do business. I don't know if it's safe on the road."

Xu Ruyi wasn't worried: "They come here so often that they're used to it. Not only are they familiar with the terrain along the way, they might even know a lot of people along the way!"

Xu Qinghe nodded: "I hope so." Then he looked at the receding figure and said: "Brother Luo, have a safe journey."

Old Li passed by the door and said, "Those people just now didn't look like locals. They looked very unique. Are they from the north?"

Xu Ruyi nodded and said, "I heard he came from Mocheng in the north."

"Oh, that's far, more than a thousand miles away! I really admire these people for being able to run so far." Old Li couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion as he watched the receding figures slowly disappear.