Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

When they finally left the grocery store, Zhang Youtie only had fifty sacks on his oxcart. He then drove the oxcart back with Xia Yu, leaving everything else to be delivered to the store.

Once outside the town and in a secluded spot, Xia Yu began transferring chili peppers from her spatial storage. Due to the limited stamina of the ox and the slippery road, Xia Yu only managed to fill seven sacks with chili peppers before stopping.

When they arrived home, Xia Yu got off the cart at the door first, while Zhang Youtie drove the oxcart directly to the pond. When he arrived, every house was steaming hot, and the pungent smell of chili peppers could be smelled from afar. He called Da Niu over to unload the chili peppers and distribute them to each room, then Zhang Youtie went to check on the kitchen construction.

The weather was so cold that the ground was frozen solid. By the time Zhang Youtie arrived, they had already buried the main pillars.

Seeing Zhang Youtie approaching, Uncle Ma quickly walked over.

"Sir, the ground is too hard. It took some time to dig the hole this morning, and it will probably be finished by tonight."

Zhang Youtie nodded at the group of people working and said, "A day or two later won't matter, but it needs to be sturdy enough to last through the winter. How's the chili pepper roasting going? Any problems?"

"No problem, everyone already knows how. This morning, we should be able to get three or four hundred catties of dried fruit from several kilns. The ones that were kiln-made yesterday, I've already packed them into sacks and put them in Shuanzhu's room. He lives alone in that room, so it's more spacious."

"Yes, you can arrange these things."

Accompanied by Uncle Ma, Zhang Youtie inspected all the rooms before returning home. Now that everyone in the rooms was being watched, he didn't need to be there. He still had things to discuss with Madam Liu.

Back in the yard, before he even entered, he was surrounded by Dahei and Erhei. Sanhei and Sihei, who were being raised by the pond, weren't there at the moment. These puppies were much bigger than when they first arrived, and their fur was glossy and smooth, clearly indicating they were well-fed. After playing with two of the puppies for a while, Zhang Youtie washed his hands and went into the kitchen to help.

Liu and Xia Yu were stirring the hot pot broth when they saw him come in. Liu asked...

"Is everything sorted out over there?"

"Well, everything seems fine now. I just had something I wanted to discuss with you." Zhang Youtie sat in front of the stove and took the fire poker from his daughter's hand.

"What is it?" Madam Liu asked without looking up, her hands busy with her work.

“I just went over there to take a look. I was thinking we shouldn’t rush to meet and talk to them. We can use these few days of work to observe each person’s character. On the night of delivery, we can call them all over here and have some food and drinks to reward everyone for their hard work these past few days. We can then assign tasks to each person the next day. What do you think?”

Hearing Zhang Youtie's idea, Liu thought about it for a while and felt that what he said made sense. Now that there were too many people, it would be a hassle to get to the delivery night, so it was better to bring them all over here. Besides, one can see a person's character at the dinner table, and with the observations over the past few days, it wouldn't be too late to assign tasks to each person later. Having thought all this through, Liu immediately nodded in agreement.

With Zhang Youtie helping out, Xia Yu went back to her room. There are some things other people can do, but planting chili peppers is something no one but herself can do.

Xia Yu didn't emerge from the spatial dimension until her father called her from outside the door for dinner. Although she was out, her mind remained within the space, and she continued harvesting the ripe chili peppers while eating. After harvesting, she pulled up the chili seedlings and planted the next batch.

They worked tirelessly day and night for several more days, and soon the agreed delivery date arrived. Xia Yu's family had dried a total of 42,000 jin of chili peppers. Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma never asked a single question about the origin of the fresh chili peppers, and no one else would either.

What Xia Yu didn't know was that no one had even considered this issue. They were simply too busy. While the women were roasting chili peppers, they also had to find time to do needlework. Liu had distributed hemp cloth and cotton directly to each person, so several women were responsible for making the clothes. Therefore, while tending the roasting, the women also had to make cotton-padded clothes for over twenty people. The men were also assigned work by Zhang Youtie. In short, everyone was so busy that they just wanted to sleep whenever they had a spare moment, and had no energy to think about anything else.

Around 10 PM, all the chilies were piled up in the last two rooms as instructed by Steward Ding. Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma then led everyone to Zhang Youtie's courtyard, including the lame man and his wife. Upon arrival, they discovered a large shed in the courtyard. Some curious individuals touched it and found it was entirely made of felt. Lifting the cotton curtains, a wave of heat rushed out; charcoal braziers had been placed in the four corners of the shed.

The group entered the tent and saw four large tables set up, each with a strangely shaped pot on it. There were also platters of raw vegetables, raw meat, and wine. The group was puzzled; how were they going to eat everything raw?

Just as everyone was wondering what was going on, Zhang Youtie walked in with Liu Shi and Xia Yu. Upon seeing their master, everyone immediately bowed low. They were all filled with gratitude towards him. Although they had been busy these past few days, their master had provided them with meat and vegetables every day, and even new cotton-padded clothes. How could they not be grateful to have such a good master!

Zhang Youtie stopped at the table where Zhang the Cripple was sitting and greeted him first, "Brother Gensheng, everyone has been so busy lately. Let's take this opportunity to have a couple of drinks tonight."

"Hey, hey, Third Brother, you're too kind. Everyone's busy, and I'm just a useless old man who can't do anything," Zhang the Cripple said somewhat embarrassedly. Yesterday, Xia Yu had paid his wife her wages, a total of 678 coins. He was staying here temporarily, and now he was being asked to pay for helping out; he felt truly ashamed. But thinking of the debts he owed and the collapsed house, he felt a deep sense of powerlessness, only hoping that he would have a chance to repay the kindness of Zhang Youtie's family in this lifetime.

"Brother Gensheng, don't underestimate yourself. Get your leg back in good shape quickly. I'd like you to help me weave some furniture after the New Year." Zhang Youtie finally had a chance to show off the new words he had learned from his son. He even straightened his back unconsciously as he spoke, feeling that it was really good to be cultured.

After speaking with Zhang Gensheng, he then addressed everyone in the shed.

"You've all worked hard these past few days. Today, we've finished this round of work. Let's take this opportunity to eat meat and drink wine together and have a good time. Everyone should have some. Let's raise our glasses together." He said, raising his glass. Seeing this, everyone quickly raised their glasses, even the little children, imitating the adults and toasting together.

After drinking a glass of wine, Zhang Youtie gestured for everyone to sit down and start eating, but no one present, including Zhang Gensheng and his wife, knew how to eat.

Seeing this, Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma helped prepare the dishes at several tables, explaining how to eat. Everyone enjoyed the meal, slowly cooking the meat and vegetables, sipping wine around the stove. At that moment, everyone forgot the hardships they had recently endured. The children ran around and played in the shed. Worried that the children's noise would disturb their masters, the women initially tried to discipline their children. However, Madam Liu gently said, "Today is a rare day of leisure, so don't restrain the children. Just be careful they don't trip over the charcoal brazier and get burned." Hearing Madam Liu's kindness, the women felt relieved and let the children play freely. The lively sounds inside the shed drowned out everything outside.

Outside the shed, the heavy snow that had stopped for three days began to fall again. It was getting late, and Zhang Youtie had already checked his pocket watch for the third time. It was almost midnight. He wondered how things were at the pond; had anyone come to collect the goods?