Chapter 175 Sugarcane Incident
Chapter 175 Sugarcane Incident
That afternoon, Xiao Xia discussed the matter of opening a medicine shop with Yuan Miaogu. Yuan Miaogu did not express her opinion immediately, but the other old Taoist nuns all agreed that this was a good thing that would be hard to come by even if you searched with a lantern, so how could they object?
But it was useless even if the other old nuns agreed. Yuan Miaogu found Xiao Chunyu, and Xiao Chunyu had to agree to this matter.
Xiao Chunyu was silent for a moment and asked, "Master, do you agree to do this?"
Yuan Miaogu nodded, "Frankly speaking, I agree. Our cultivation is not only about self-cultivation, but also about spiritual cultivation. Every year, we go to poor families to treat their illnesses, which is also a way to cultivate our spirituality. Perhaps helping orphans like my eldest brother is also a way to cultivate our spirituality, but this requires money. Abao can help us open a pharmacy to purchase medicinal materials. We can make pills or sell the medicinal materials directly. If we can make money, we can help more orphans. The only thing I feel embarrassed about is letting Abao spend money."
Xiao Chunyu smiled and said, "Master, you don't have to worry about spending money. I asked him yesterday. He led the army to suppress the rebellion of the Liao people and seized a large amount of money. He took part of it for himself. This is his source of income."
"The key is whether you agree?" Yuan Miaogu asked again.
Xiao Chunyu nodded, "I agree!"
Yuan Miaogu said happily: "Then it's decided. Abao's condition is that we don't go out to collect herbs anymore. He thinks it's too dangerous. I agreed. In the future, we will plant more herbs so we don't have to go out to collect herbs. Then we can purchase herbs from other Taoist temples."
Xiao Chunyu thought for a moment and said, "Master, let's buy the shop and put it in the town! Putting it in the temple will affect everyone's practice."
"Of course. We'll go down the mountain together in a couple of days and find a suitable shop. A Bao said that in a few days, the manager of Chang'an Tongjitang Pharmacy will come to collect the medicine, and he will be in charge of the contact."
"Master, please decide! I won't ask about this matter anymore."
Yuan Miaogu nodded, "As usual, your uncle Wu Miaozhen will be responsible for this matter!"
In the evening, Xiao Chunyu personally cooked a meal for his son. Aqiao also joined in. The family talked and laughed while having dinner together, and they were in great joy.
The next morning, Xiao Xia left. More than fifty Taoist nuns from Baiyun Temple came out to see Xiao Xia off. Xiao Xia left a total of 8,000 taels of silver to the temple, which completely changed the fate of the temple.
"Mother, please go back! Don't send me off anymore. Junior Sister, please go back too!"
Xiao Xia waved and walked down the mountain quickly. Watching Xiao Xia walk away, Ah Qiao suddenly fell into her master's arms and cried. Xiao Chunyu stroked her hair with tears in her eyes and said, "He left a sword for you. In two years, you can return to secular life and go find him. I believe he will definitely wait for you!"
The next day, Xiao Xia rode back to Chengdu on horseback. It was the first time in so many years that he felt his mother's love, but he had to say goodbye so soon, which really made him sad.
Xiao Xia returned to the inn in a depressed mood, but saw a woman sitting at the door crying from a distance. Xiao Xia was in a bad mood, so he didn't ask any more questions and went straight into the inn. The innkeeper recognized Xiao Xia and hurriedly came up to him and said, "Young Master is back!"
"Where are my men?"
"It's noon now, they are all out for lunch."
Xiao Xia nodded, "They didn't cause any trouble during the days I was away, right?"
“Nothing big happened.”
"What do you mean?"
Xiao Xia asked in confusion: "Are they still causing trouble?"
"Sir, it's just some business disputes."
During the time when Xiao Xia was away, these soldiers did cause a lot of trouble. Some problems were solved, but some could not be solved. The shopkeeper was looking forward to Xiao Xia's return!
Xiao Xia frowned, and suddenly thought of something, so he asked, "Is the crying woman at the door related to them?"
The shopkeeper nodded awkwardly. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a quarrel outside. It was the woman crying, "You can't give it up! What should I do if you don't want me? I have a small business and I really can't afford the loss!"
Then he heard his lieutenant Cao Taiyue angrily say: "You woman are clearly blackmailing me, do you think we are easy to bully?"
Xiao Xia walked out and saw his men standing outside. The woman who had just come back from dinner and was crying just now hugged Cao Taiyue's legs and refused to let go, shouting, "Kill me! I don't want to live anymore."
"Captain Cao, what happened?"
When everyone saw their lord coming back, they immediately bowed and saluted, "Greetings, General!"
The woman seemed to have found a chance to survive. She crawled over and hugged Xiao Xia's legs and cried, "Sir, I can't afford the compensation! If you don't, my whole family will jump into the river. My child is still so young. General, please have mercy on me!"
Several men quickly pried the woman's hands apart. Xiao Xia asked, "Let's make things clear first. It's our fault. We won't deny it!" "Let me tell you!"
Cao Taiyue stepped forward and said, "Yesterday afternoon, this woman came to our inn to sell sugar cane. I thought it was good, so I wanted to buy more so that everyone could taste it. I told her to bring another fifty or sixty pieces. But this woman got mad and brought us sixty carts of sugar cane this morning. Why would I want sixty carts? I didn't want it, but she kept pestering me."
"nonsense!"
The woman screamed at the top of her lungs, "You clearly said you needed 50 or 60 truckloads. I heard it clearly. I brought the sugarcane here, and you're cheating me!"
Xiao Xia frowned and said to the woman, "Sixty carts of sugarcane is not a small amount. Most people would definitely ask for details. How can they just run away after hearing one sentence? Also, they should have paid a sum of money in advance! If you say so, it's a bit unreasonable!"
The woman burst into tears, "Master, I didn't lie! I went to buy the goods happily because he asked for 60 trucks. Now you don't want them anymore. I run a small business and I can't afford to pay for 60 trucks!"
"Tell me the reason. Why did you run away without asking clearly?"
The woman cried and said, "Because the price of one piece of sugarcane is different from the price of a cart of sugarcane, he said 20 cents for one piece, and I was afraid that he would change his mind, so I didn't dare to ask more questions and hurried to buy the goods. I put in all my savings and borrowed a lot of money. If you don't want it, I can only jump into the river!"
This is possible. Maybe he really heard it wrong. Xiao Xia saw that her hair was disheveled and she was crying pitifully. He couldn't bear it, so he asked, "How many are there in total?"
"Two hundred sticks in a cart, twelve thousand in total. I can sell them cheaper, fifteen cents a stick. Sir, please, I beg you, I can't afford the compensation!"
Xiao Xia calculated in his mind, and found that the total amount was only 180 strings of cash. He thought it was a dispute over several thousand strings of cash, so he waved his hand and said, "I'll buy it!"
The woman kowtowed desperately, "Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!"
Xiao Xia then saw the sugarcane piled up like a small mountain in the corner not far away. Xiao Xia took out 180 taels of silver and gave it to her. The woman ran away crawling with the silver in her arms.
Cao Taiyue sighed and said, "General, I promise I didn't say anything wrong!"
Xiao Xia waved her hands and smiled, "That's enough! That's enough! She must have heard it wrong, otherwise she wouldn't be so stupid. She doesn't have any backing, so who would care if she came here to force a sale?"
Everyone thought about it and it made sense. If they were trying to force a sale, they would definitely bring a bunch of scoundrels. She was a weak woman and could only cry. Maybe she had indeed heard it wrong.
"Everyone, bring the sugar cane into the inn, and I'll find a way to solve the problem."
The soldiers borrowed carts and ran to move the sugarcane. Soon, all the sugarcane was moved into the yard.
Lieutenant Xu Min smiled and said, "General, fifteen coins is actually very cheap. Chang'an sells one for a hundred coins."
Xiao Xia shook his head. "It's mainly because of the high freight. From Chengdu to Chang'an, including the freight, the cost is about fifty or sixty cents per piece."
"That's true!"
At this time, the shopkeeper came out and asked, "Sir, what are you going to do with these sugar canes?"
Xiao Xia asked, "Is there anything to squeeze sugarcane juice?"
"Yes! Yes!"
The shopkeeper said quickly, "Sugarcane is either eaten by chewing or squeezed for juice. I'll go and borrow a few more stone mills for you, young master."
"Please lend me a few more big pots for making soup!"
There was no way to bring so much sugarcane to Chang'an, and we couldn't eat it all, so we could only boil it into brown sugar and bring it to Chang'an.
Not long after, the shopkeeper borrowed five stone mills, which were actually oil mills, but they could fully squeeze out sugarcane juice.
(End of this chapter)