Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

After hearing the waiter's explanation, Xia Yu felt that it made sense.

So he smiled and asked the young man...

"I wonder what kind of fur everyone is using. We'd like to make some thicker clothes for ourselves."

"Miss, come and see our furs. The warmest and most beautiful is undoubtedly mink, but mink is rare, and we don't have much in stock. However, we also have fox and wolf fur, as well as squirrel fur, which is also very warm. Miss and young master, please come and take a look. The cloaks made from these furs are both warm and beautiful. I just wonder who you intend to make one for? What is their size?"

"I'd like to see the wolf pelts in your shop," Xia Yu said directly, without answering his question.

"Alright, please sit and wait a moment, I'll take it out and show it to the young lady." After saying that, he poured tea for the group and went to rummage through the leather behind the counter.

After the guy left, Xia Yu whispered to Chang Yun.

"Brother, I'm thinking of making a wolfskin cloak for Grandpa Li. He's getting old and can't stand the cold. I'll also make him a pair of wolfskin knee pads. As for ours, we'll use squirrel fur. What do you think?"

"Oh, you're so thoughtful. I never even thought of that, teacher. I'm so ashamed." Hearing Xia Yu's words, Chang Yun felt so ashamed that he wanted to disappear. He had wasted his teacher's careful teaching of knowledge and principles of life, and yet he hadn't even thought of making him a big woolen coat.

In fact, not only did he think so, but even seven-year-old Shen Luo felt that he had been too careless after hearing Xia Yu's words.

Soon, the waiter came out carrying several pelts, all large wolf skins with intact fur. Xia Yu was very satisfied. She picked out eight, calculating that it would be enough to make a cloak for Grand Tutor Li, and the remaining material could be pieced together to make a set of knee pads.

Then they had the waiter bring out some gray squirrel pelts, selecting several dozen. The gray squirrel pelts were relatively small, incomparable to the large wolf pelts. Finally, rabbit pelts were prepared for Da Niu, Shi Jiu, and Gou Dan. The children were all overjoyed that their young master and mistress would buy them pelts to make clothes, especially Da Niu and Gou Dan.

Seeing how happy the group was, Shen Luo immediately spotted Little Stone following behind her. She quickly spoke to the waiter...

"Take out some more rabbit skins, I want to buy some too."

"Alright, young master, please wait a moment. I'll go get it right away." With that, he ran back to the counter, rummaged through the bottom, and pulled out more than twenty rabbit skins.

Finally, Xia Yu asked for three more fox pelts to make scarves, arm warmers, hoods, and other accessories for the group. In the end, Lin Ling and Shen Luo together asked for over a hundred pelts of various colors.

I've worked here for years, and this is the first time I've seen such a generous customer. All those women who were just here, chattering away for so long, didn't even buy this much combined.

In the end, the bill came to 30 taels of silver for a wolf pelt, 10 taels of silver for a gray squirrel pelt, 80 taels of silver for a fox pelt, and 3 mace of silver for a rabbit pelt.

"Xiaxia, did we prepare too many gray squirrel pelts?" Changyun asked, looking at the list Xiao Er had drawn up.

"I was thinking of making a little jacket for Grandpa Li and Luo'er to wear underneath." Xia Yu looked at the list and felt that thirty gray squirrel pelts didn't seem to be enough.

Upon hearing Xia Yu speak, Shen Luo quickly spoke up to stop her.

"Sister Xiaxia, my family has already prepared everything for me. You all just need to prepare for yourselves, don't worry about me. Making too much will just be too much for us to wear, and it'll be a burden to carry around." After saying this, seeing that Xia Yu still seemed a little skeptical, she counted on her fingers as she spoke.

“My grandmother prepared a fox fur cloak for me, as well as a white fox fur cape and a snow hat. She also prepared three gray squirrel fur coats and five pairs of deerskin boots.”

“Okay, it sounds like you really don’t need to add any more. Then let’s add five more, and we can each make a gray squirrel fur coat.” Xia Yu said the first sentence to Shen Luo, and the second to Chang Yun.

Hearing Xia Yu's words, the waiter cleverly ran back inside to retrieve a few more gray squirrel pelts, but after searching for a long time, he couldn't find any.

"Miss, we're out of squirrel pelts. How about we get a few more fox pelts?"

"Then let's add three more fox pelts," Xia Yu said after a moment's thought. Buying too many wasn't a problem; her parents could use them. The real concern was buying too few, which might not be enough to make the finished product, and they wouldn't be able to take it with them when they set off.

Finally, the total came to 1,201 taels of silver. Xia Yu looked at the abacus beads and asked the shopkeeper.

"The price hasn't gone down at all?"

Seeing that Xia Yu and his companions were indeed straightforward, the shopkeeper gave them a discount of twenty-one taels of silver. The total was one thousand one hundred and eighty taels.

"Young master, young lady, may we send someone to deliver this to your residence?" The shopkeeper took the silver notes Xia Yu handed over, checked them, and put them away after confirming there were no problems.

"We need the clothes made in a hurry. Does the shopkeeper know which shop in the capital makes good clothes with a short production time?"

Her request stumped the shopkeeper; finding good quality work with a short lead time was really difficult. Plus, with the mission about to depart, many people were getting thick clothes made. Right now, there probably wasn't a single tailor in the entire capital who was free.

Just as the shopkeeper was frowning and deep in thought, the waiter who had been serving Xia Yu and the others came over again.

“Miss, I do know a tailor shop, but it’s not a big one and it’s not well-known in the capital, but its workmanship is indeed excellent. But there’s one more thing…” The young shop assistant paused, seemingly finding it difficult to speak.

"But what?" Shen Luo asked anxiously.

"It's just that the tailor has a bad temper. He insists on choosing the patterns and styles of the clothes himself, and doesn't let customers pick. But I've seen the finished clothes they make, and they're very beautiful. However, his temper is too offensive, and his fees are too high. Rich people don't like him, and poor people can't afford to hire him, so he's probably the most idle person in the capital now." It was clear that the waiter was trying his best to speak up for this family, but the man's temper was probably really unpleasant, which made it difficult for the waiter to speak.

"Hearing you say that, this person is quite interesting. But we need to make more than a dozen pieces of clothing here, inside and out. Can they finish them in three or four days?" Xia Yu thought that with such a bad temper, the fact that they haven't been killed yet must mean they really have some skills.

"It should be fine. His sons and daughters-in-law are all in this line of work, and they are quite skilled. But because of his temper, the family doesn't live a very comfortable life."

"Alright, then take us there to see. If it's really as you say, I'll naturally thank you." He then looked at the shopkeeper beside him.

"Shopkeeper, can I borrow your waiter for a moment?"

"You're too kind, Miss. It's only right. I'll have him drive the carriage and take your fur over with him." The shopkeeper said with a smile.