Goldfield
Chapter 223: Return

By the time the warmth of spring arrived, the Yu Family's green vegetables were already ready for sale. Currently, others had not even sown the vegetable seeds into the ground. The four mu of soil in the front yard are all planted with leafy greens with short growing cycles. In general, most leafy greens take twenty to forty days to complete their growth. However, the harvest of their families only took twenty days to be ready to be harvested, and this happened at the time when the snow fell twice.

As the entire world began to recover from the silence of winter, the entire courtyard was filled with lush green vegetables and greens. It was a sight that comforted the hearts of the people. Lady Fang, who is now eight months pregnant and on the brink of labor, walks the vegetable fields every day with one hand supporting her back and the other hand hugging her belly. Not only could he exercise but he also felt his spirit rise every time he saw a plant growing.

Every morning, many carts came to and from the Yu Family residence, buying vegetables. Most of these customers were wealthy families in the city. Last winter, Zhenxiu Restaurant finished their oyster sauce green vegetable dish, which cost per plate five taels. Since the Yao Family had fresh vegetables last year, their reputation had increased within the city. This year, some people knew earlier where they were buying food from and had specifically signed a contract with the Yu Family long before. They are afraid that if they do not reach an agreement early, there will be no place left for them to become customers.

The Yu Family Vegetables grew very well, and each stem was healthy and fertile. They looked so tender that it was as if a single pinch of water could come out. But the price is not cheap. In addition to the Zhenxiu Restaurant and the Yao Family, which were priced last year as old customers, other new customers would have to pay a third higher to get these vegetables.

Although each of the four mu fields of the Yu Family was able to produce around three thousand five hundred catties of vegetables, it was still not enough to meet the city's demand for fresh produce. Following the rules of ‘first come first serve’, the Yu Family chose the first ten families that approached them as their customers this year. Fortunately, every family does not buy too many vegetables every day, so they can provide everything.

The eldest son of the Liu Family, who was Xiaocao's eldest maternal uncle, had been enlightened after his business of selling watermelons, so he bought his own donkey and cart. Using his wagon, he transported a bunch of fresh vegetables every few days from his sister's home to the prefecture city. Since he had General Fang's help, he was able to find ready customers from the city's wholesale stalls. Every time he walked into the city with his cart full of vegetables, he no longer had to wait for customers to buy. Instead, all he had to do was arrive at the grocery store, weigh all his vegetables, and get paid before he returned. Although he made less profit doing this than selling at market price, it was not exhausting for him.

Liu Pei was not someone who would take advantage of his younger sister and brother-in-law. The three of them took issue with the wholesale price for half a day and finally reached the agreed price. They would sell vegetables to him for the same price they sold to Zhenxiu Restaurant. Originally, Liu Pei tried to get them to sell vegetables to him at a higher price paid by the other eight families, but Yu Hai firmly rejected the idea. Fortunately, he was the only source of fresh vegetables in the prefectural city. Even if he sold everything at wholesale prices to the grocery store, the price was still much higher than what he paid. Therefore Liu Pei could earn dozens of taels of profit for every run he made.

As for harvesting vegetables, the Yu Family, once again, had more work than they could handle. So, they spent some money to hire some conscientious young girls and housewives to help. Every day, they receive a salary of twenty copper coins for four hours of work. In the past, twenty copper coins could only be obtained by a burly man who did forced labor for a day.

Since the construction of the port began, the need for labor has continued to increase. Naturally, the salary slowly rose. An adult man in his prime could earn around thirty to fifty copper coins a day. However, these people all did the hard work to earn this money. How could it compare to working in the Yu Family picking vegetables for four hours?

Anyone in the village who could establish a relationship with the Yu Family did their best to calm down. So, there are a lot of people coming. However, the Yu Family only needed around a dozen people to help. Since all the women who came were known by them, it made Madam Liu very worried. He didn't know how to refuse any of them.

Xiaoao knew her mother's personality well, so she gave her some gifts and asked her mother to return to her mother's family for a few days. Ever since she married into the Yu Family, she had never returned to her mother's family because she was afraid that Madam Zhang would not be happy. After they separated from the family, they were so busy that there was no time for rest, so he had little chance of returning. Now, using this opportunity, Xiaocao told her mother to go home to rest for a few days and enjoy time with her parents.

As for the heavy work of hiring people, it was left to his two godmother servants. Those who were able to become the main servants of the female managing the residence were definitely not simple. These two servants knew when to be careful and when to reveal their devious side for the benefit of their master. They also had the support of the general and his wife. Even if the woman who asked for a job was rejected, they could not do or say anything.

The two servants were also quite smart. They wrote down the details of each person who came by asking the position into a small book. By doing so, they can analyze the connections and relationships that each candidate has. Using that knowledge, they chose a dozen from the group. After sending a message to everyone, they instructed the new workers to arrive at five o'clock in the morning exactly every day. Those who are late will, of course, cut their salaries. As for the others who came, the two maids looked at them with calm expressions and only said, “Later, if there is any more work, we will consider you first” before sending them away.

The workers included the following men: shuanzhu's wife, Ergou's wife, two paternal aunts (yu Xi's and Yu Jiang's wives), and, the older Xiaocao female cousin (oldest daughter of Yu Xi), Zhou Shanhu who was trying to find some allowance, and some other women who had decent relations with the Yu Family. All of these people knew that Zhenzhu and Linglong chose them because they were good friends with the Yu Family, so they worked very hard.

Everyone is used to working in the village, so the task of picking vegetables is not considered heavy. Each day, they were able to complete four hours of work in half. In addition, there was not a single speck of dirt on the vegetables and everything was neatly stacked. All the maids who came to buy vegetables praised them for being hardworking and deft.

There wasn't much work to be done at home, so Xiaocao wanted to take a short break. Before two days passed, Xiaolian called him to the dock to help. Xiaolian's business on the docks continued to grow. Now after spring, the pier, which had been quieter during winter, is now getting busier.

The dock has workers, meaning there are also people who sell food. The mornings and afternoons were a bit cold in early spring, so they stopped selling starch jelly last fall. Xiaolian and Aunt Mother Eldest were now busy with noodles and stewed food stalls. There are so many jobs that they cannot follow.

As for the boiled food, Xiaolian did not need to do any labor-intensive work to wrap some of the boiled meat in an oiled paper bag anymore. Instead, she brought a bunch of braising sauces from home and a bag of spices Xiaocao had made with her secret recipe. At the dock, he could now cook food there. The stove on the stand was at the right height and reached Xiaolian's waist. Charcoal burns cheerfully inside the stove, which causes the marinade to boil endlessly as the ingredients boil inside the pot. Snow-white steam billowed out of the pot and the thick, fragrant smell of boiled food seeped around. The smell was coming at people's noses. If there was a strong wind, that alluring strong smell could almost envelop the entire pier.

A bowl of plain noodles and two copper coins worth of boiled food is enough to satisfy an adult. Every day at mealtime, the Yu Family noodle stalls were crowded with many people. There were not enough chairs on the table, so some people had to squat on the ground while eating. Even so, those people never went to other areas to eat.

All the other food vendors on the dock could only watch helplessly as the Yu Family scooped up the money. Among them included the woman at a different noodle shop who had long chased away Xiaocao and his sister when they wanted to sell boiled food next to her. His business slowed down until it was difficult to break even. The woman now deeply regretted her previous actions. If he hadn't made such a bad decision in the past, it was possible that his noodle shop would have been a place of endless queuing people!

Today, Xiaocao had been dragged by Xiaolian to become a free worker. He does not need to do any ‘hard work’, such as rolling dough, boiling noodles, and slicing boiled food. Instead, he was in charge of serving customers when the food was ready. Even with such an easy job, he was so busy that he did not have time to take a breath for a break.

Right after the busy time of the day was over, Xiaocao was about to sit down and rest when he suddenly heard a commotion on the dock, ‘Eh? What the hell is going on? Why are there so many weirdos on the dock now? Is there someone here who's causing trouble? Don't tell me some rioters came to destroy this place or because someone was jealous of Brother Six's achievements on the dock and wanted him to stumble? ‘

Xiaocao wriggled towards the pier out of curiosity and discovered that there was a large group of people there. They don't look like an unruly mass. Instead, they resemble well-disciplined family members. He couldn't help but feel a little worried for Brother Six —— these guys don't seem to be easy to talk to!

Brother Six is someone worldly. He had been at the dock for so many years, so what kind of person had he never seen before? When he saw the group of people in front of him, he calmly went to greet them. He headed for the person who seemed to be in charge of everyone and bowed, “Sorry, but may I ask what brought you here to Tanggu Pier?”

Even though the leader of the group was dressed casually, it could not hide his grand demeanor. He faintly looked at Brother Six and asked, “Are you in charge of the dock here?”

“That's me! Lord, are you trying to load or lower it? Please come to our business office and register. I'll make sure to give you priority! ” Brother Six did not feel any evil intentions were coming out of this stranger so he carefully took it out.

The man hinted at Brother Six and took her to a relatively remote place. He lowered his voice and said, “I am the commander of the imperial guard from the capital and I carry a secret decree from the emperor. We are here to welcome the young prince of the kingdom who came home from his voyage. Prince Yang had told us earlier that he had nearly a hundred cargo ships that needed to dock. All of them were carrying valuables from the southeast sea and the western hemisphere. Therefore..You must prepare ahead of time! ”

When the Prince of Yang Kingdom left on his journey last year, it caused a sensation. Even if Brother Six wanted to forget that event, he could not. A year and a half had passed and the prince of the kingdom had not even returned home. So, it needs to be made grand and luxurious. This so-called commander of the imperial guards had brought at least fifty to sixty soldiers with him. From here, it seemed like he was planning on guarding the dock firmly.

There's nothing wrong with that. It is said that before the current emperor ascended the throne, he also highly recommended exploring the distant seas to find new species, especially high-yielding plants. In fact, after sweet potatoes were introduced to the country, it was beneficial to thousands of people among the thousands of Great Ming commoners. The current Emperor even said this in his throne room, “When we ascended the throne, we set our ten-year goal for this: we want the commoners of the Great Ming Dynasty to all have food on their plates and all be able to eat until full! ”

In order to find more plants with higher yields, this emperor, who loved his people, sent Prince Yang, who had just reached the age of fifteen, on an important mission. He had to travel to the western hemisphere. This time, the Prince of Yang Kingdom returned triumphantly. Of course, the emperor considered it very important.

Brother Six knew that something of this magnitude required careful planning. A small misstep could cause him to lose his life. However, if he did everything well and was able to show himself in front of Prince Yang, then, in the future, his footing on the pier would be stable. If others were to try to take his position, they would have to consider his support first. Construction of the port will be completed in the next two years. If the entire harbor was in his hands, then he, Brother Six, would truly be a respected person in Tanggu City!

There is no such thing as free food. He should take part of this business !!