Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Xia Yu slept soundly, and when she opened her eyes again, it was already bright outside. She heard nothing but quiet outside. She lingered in bed for a while before getting dressed and going out.

The shed in the yard had been dismantled. Xia Yu sniffed and smelled a delicious aroma coming from the kitchen. It was the smell of hot pot broth. Her mother must be making hot pot broth in the kitchen.

Carrying her washbasin, Xia Yu went to the kitchen, where Liu Shi was indeed busy. Xia Yu was surprised to find her aunt, Wang Shi, also there, sitting in front of the stove helping her mother tend the fire.

The two sisters-in-law chatted as they worked. Just then, they saw Xia Yu push the door open and come in. Wang Shi smiled and said, "Xia Xia, you're up? Hurry up and wash up. The food is keeping warm in the pot!"

Hearing Wang's words, Xia Yu assumed she was referring to breakfast and greeted her with a smile, "Good morning, Auntie. Why are you here so early? Is something the matter?"

Hearing Xia Yu's words and looking at her messy hair, Wang Shi couldn't help but laugh. "Is this girl still half asleep? It's past noon now. If you keep sleeping, you can have dinner right away."

"Ah, it's already past noon." Xia Yu was still a little confused. How did she sleep for so long?

Seeing her daughter's somewhat dazed expression, Liu suppressed a laugh and gently said to her, "Go wash up quickly, are you hungry?"

Only after Liu reminded her did Xia Yu realize that her stomach was empty and that she was indeed hungry.

Ignoring Wang's teasing gaze, Xia Yu poured some hot water from the cotton-wrapped kettle to wash up. Once everything was ready, Xia Yu went to the kitchen, where Liu had already ladled out the rice from the pot: steamed buns made from a mixture of wheat and water, braised pork with winter melon, and a bowl of rice porridge.

Xia Yu drank a few mouthfuls of rice porridge. The warm porridge flowed down her esophagus into her stomach, and she finally felt a little better.

"Mom, where's Dad?" Xia Yu asked.

“Your father and your uncle went to the county town to buy pork, and also to buy some other things.” Madam Liu looked at Xia Yu with eyes full of affection.

"Don't we still have a lot of lard at home? Why don't we wait until the next time we go to deliver goods and bring it back?" Xia Yu asked, somewhat puzzled.

Liu glanced at Wang and smiled. "Your grandmother sent your father. Your second aunt will be here in the next few days. Your grandmother was worried that it might snow heavily again in the next couple of days, making the roads difficult to travel. So she had your eldest uncle and father go and buy the goods in advance. Anyway, they won't spoil in the cold weather."

Xia Yu thought about it and felt that her due date was a bit early, not even ten months! But saying it out loud felt a bit ominous, so she swallowed the words after only a quick thought and continued to eat her meal.

Wang and Liu were chatting idly, which Xia Yu found boring. After finishing her meal, she told Wang and Liu and went back to her room.

She still needs to continue planting chili peppers; the amount taken away earlier is far from enough. In addition, she plans to plant some more cotton in her space. The cotton distributed to everyone for making cotton-padded clothes was seed cotton, and they removed the seeds while making them. Xia Yu now has a bag of cotton seeds in her space. She just needs to scatter the seeds. Furthermore, she has placed a small seedbed in Da Niu's room; once the cotton seedlings grow, her life will be much easier. If the front lines need cotton-padded clothes, could she sell this cotton as well?

She was busy in the space until dinner time when she heard Liu calling her, so she came out of the space.

At the dinner table, he told his parents about planting cotton. Upon hearing Xia Yu's words, Liu Shi said...

“Cotton alone won’t be enough. Those who go to war are all men. Who knows how to sew clothes? Why don’t we write to Lord Shen and ask if he needs cotton-padded clothes? If so, we’ll bring back more cloth and ask the women in the village to help make them. There’s not much work in the fields right now, and the weather is cold, so everyone is staying home to hibernate. Making these is just right.”

Hearing what Liu said, Xia Yu thought it was feasible. However, it would be best if the cloth were transported through the Shen family, rather than being picked up by her own family.

Now she's become bolder, and it's better if no one asks about the chili peppers. If one day someone she can't afford to offend asks, she'll say that they were stock she prepared for making hot pot broth, and some scoundrel stole them.

However, even the thief had a code of honor; although he stole the chili peppers, he left them a considerable amount of silver notes. Since they had received the notes, they worried that if word got out, others would target them and steal from them again, so they kept it a secret. As for the cotton-padded coats? Their family was only commissioned by the Shen family to make them; the cloth and cotton were provided by the Shen family, and their family only earned a small fee for the work. She didn't even know who the coats were for.

Besides, this kind of thing happens every time there's a war. They call on women to do these things. The Shen family is in business, and business with the army is still business.

The problem now is that Steward Ding has already gone into hiding to work for Lord Shen, and their family doesn't know who to ask to deliver a message to Lord Shen. For now, they can only think about it and wait for Steward Ding to come to them next time to discuss the matter.

After dinner, the family gathered around the charcoal brazier to keep warm. Liu was still doing needlework, while Xia Yu scribbled on paper, which she would later show to Zhang Youtie and Liu. To outsiders, it seemed like a peaceful and idyllic scene.

At this time, on the river, more than a dozen large ships were setting sail northward through the night. Each ship displayed a banner with the character "Shen".

In a cabin, a man wearing soft armor is looking at something while hunched over a desk.

A deep voice rang out from outside the cabin.

"Come in," a cool voice rang out.

The man knelt on one knee three steps from the table and reported, “Sir, the goods we brought yesterday have been weighed, totaling 42,000 catties. We also had the kitchen prepare a soup today. It’s spicy and pungent, and you’ll sweat profusely after drinking it. Just a few pieces are enough to make a pot of spicy soup. With over a hundred people on our dozen or so boats, only three ounces of the soup were enough for everyone to have a large bowl. I think this stuff can completely replace strong liquor.”

"Okay, I understand. You may leave." The man at the desk said after hearing his subordinate's report.

After the armored soldier withdrew, the man thought for a moment, wrote a few words on the table, rolled them up, and stuffed them into a small wooden tube. Then he went to a corner of the cabin, took a homing pigeon from a cage, and tied the small wooden tube to the pigeon's leg. He went outside and released the pigeon on the deck.

The sudden cold made the pigeon a little uncomfortable, but after flapping its wings twice in the air, it flew off in one direction.

Seeing this, one of his guards whispered, "Young master, we are short of thick cotton-padded clothes. I wonder if Lord Shen has any way to help us get some from the imperial court?"

"Sigh, let's take it one step at a time. If it weren't for my cousin being the Minister of Grain and Provisions, I think we wouldn't even need to fight this war." The man in soft armor sighed, watching the direction the carrier pigeon flew away. Thinking of the treacherous political situation in the capital, he felt deeply worried for Shen Jingheng. The Imperial Concubine should believe him now, right?