On the last two pages, at Lu Liu’s request, Xie Yan added the words “big” and “small” for him. Lu Liu could form his own words and recognize Dafeng and Xiaoliu.
Then he also had Gofu write his brother’s name. Xie Yan slipped in his own message, with four characters on a piece of paper: Lu Yang at the top and Xie Yan at the bottom.
Lu Liu completely ignored the words “Xie Yan.”
Following the names were numbers from one to ten, each occupying a separate sheet of paper.
Next came copper coins, silver, and gold, each also occupying a separate sheet of paper.
Then came examples: one cash coin, a string of copper coins, one tael of silver, and one tael of gold. There were repeated characters here, but for better organization, each was also on a separate sheet of paper.
These were easy to remember; he only had to read them twice to become familiar with them. So he added numbers: one hundred and one thousand.
One hundred coins were equivalent to one string of coins, and one thousand coins were equivalent to one tael of silver. He could calculate this and remember it clearly.
The morning’s study went very smoothly!
At first, he said that writing it this way might be too wasteful of paper.
Xie Yan said that the paper was cut from a large sheet, and that it was originally one sheet of paper with many characters written on it, so he felt at ease.
The flashcards had short horizontal lines on the right side to indicate their order. One line meant the first card, two lines meant the second card, and so on.
If he got confused or wasn’t sure, he could first organize the flashcards in order and then memorize them in that order.
Li Feng had a good memory. For people who couldn’t read, they had to memorize and recite by heart; if they forgot, they would be at a disadvantage. After two rounds of review, he heard Lu Liu muttering the characters, which included their names, and his heart warmed. He also wanted to learn his name.
Lu Liu taught him to read “Da Feng” and “Xiao Liu.”
When asked where the surname had gone, Lu Liu poked his chest: “Hehe, I’ve put it in my heart.”
Li Feng poked his own heart with his finger: “Is it here?”
Lu Liu held his hand: “Don’t poke randomly; you’ll hurt my heart.”
The morning was spent in joyful learning. At noon, Lu Liu prepared the meal, while Li Feng took out the silver coins and abacus. He also took the time to tidy up the house and find suitable wood.
They lived near the mountains, so there was plenty of wood. Li Feng knew how to do simple carpentry work, such as making a stool or a table. He couldn’t do more complex tasks, like making a barrel or a basin.
Tables also vary in difficulty. He can make common small bedside tables and square dining tables. But he can’t make long ones like counters, as he’s afraid they’ll collapse.
For carpentry work he can’t do, he has to find an old carpenter.
After selecting the wood, it was time to eat.
During the meal, Li Feng mentioned the price of the beehive to Lu Liu.
“Why didn’t you ask me?”
Lu Liu had originally wanted to ask, but then remembered that this was a business transaction and that business was about making money, so he didn’t ask.
Li Feng praised him for being smart and then explained, “ Xie Yan’s friend was too generous. This beehive is normally worth around eight taels of silver. If the market is slow, seven taels and a bit would still sell. The price of one tael is already inflated. We’ll have more business in the future, so we can’t start off too high. Nine taels is already a lot. Let’s keep one tael as profit, half for us and half for your brother. We’ll all make money together.”
That’s exactly how Lu Liu thought!
“I’m so smart!”
This was a good start. Yao Fulang got along well with him, and if this deal went through, everyone in the village would know his brother had good connections. That’s great.
Lu Liu also mentioned the lamb soup: ” My brother taught me how to remove the gamey taste. Next time there’s lamb, I’ll cut some and try stewing it.”
Li Feng heard this and felt hungry, “Alright, I’ll see if Da Meng has hunted any sheep.”
Lu Liu looked at him eagerly, and he said again, “I’ll give you two pounds to give away.”
Lu Liu smiled, “You’re such a good person.”
After saying that, he remembered that Wu Ping had said this was flattery, so he changed it to a compliment: “Da Feng, you’re such a good man.”
There was no difference, but Li Feng insisted on hearing the difference.
A good person is someone else, but a man is family.
Someone else is a stranger, but a man is someone who sleeps in the same bed.
He was so happy that he ate an extra bowl of rice.
Lu Liu covered her chest, truly feeling the heat.
Lu Liu smiled: “We’ve already eaten. We’re going to the new village to divide the money. We bought a lot of rice and flour, as well as oil and soy sauce. Remember to come find me!”
Lu Liu froze.
Right, what are the prices?
He didn’t even have time to reply before the car steadily moved forward, winding around a few bends, and Yao Fulang disappeared from view.
He asked Li Feng, “Da Feng, how do we set the prices?”
Li Feng said, “We’ll sell it at the same price as in the county.”
They bought the goods at a low price, so they could make enough profit. It was difficult to raise prices when doing business in the village.
After all, they were mountain people, and it wasn’t easy to save up silver. For example, if a pound of rice was half a cash more expensive, ten pounds would be five cash more expensive.
Five cash doesn’t sound like much, but rice is consumed daily. A family would calculate the costs and realize that going to the county seat could also allow them to sell some mountain produce on the side, so they would go directly to the county seat. Unless they were too busy to leave, they would buy a little less to get by.
Since the prices were the same as in the county seat, Lu Liu knew what to say.
Upon reaching the middle of the village, Li Feng detoured to the carpenter’s house, explained his request, and also promoted his shop.
“I’m opening a small shop to sell rice, flour, oil, salt, and other essentials. The prices will be the same as in the county seat. In the future, if any of you need to buy goods, you can come to my shop. I also buy dried goods and sell some local wine. My husband is usually at home, so you can come anytime.”
Lu Liu stood beside him, and the carpenter’s wife and husband teased him, “Do people from the county all love to do business? We heard about it a few days ago, but we didn’t expect you to be so quick to get it started!”
Lu Liu laughed awkwardly, looking sincere.
“I don’t have any other skills to support my family, so I sell things on the side.”
He suddenly had a flash of inspiration and said cleverly, “It’s convenient for you, and I can earn a few copper coins. It’s good for everyone!”
He noticed that his brother was talking about how good the customers were, but didn’t mention anything about his own family.
He was still too shy, so he blurted out a sentence.
One sentence was enough. Everyone in the courtyard laughed: “The same price as in the county? That’s really convenient. What about salt? Is salt the same price too?”
Salt requires a salt permit, and ordinary people can’t do this business.
Buying it at the original price from the county and selling it at the original price—what’s the point?
Lu Liu felt a bit nervous and looked at Li Feng, who nodded. He then said to the people, “It’s the same price as in the county. Isn’t that convenient for everyone? Which family doesn’t need salt for meals? Once our shop is open, we won’t run out of salt.”
If daily needs are met, most of the business in the village will come to us.
Lu Liu hadn’t learned the idiom “gathering armpit hair to make a fur coat,” but he knew that even scraps of cloth could be pieced together to make clothing.
He was smiling, and others felt he had a plan and was optimistic about the future. Previously, they hadn’t held much hope for their shop, but after this conversation, many said, “He’s from the county seat; he must have a plan. Why would he do something that doesn’t make money? If he really has connections, I’ll sell my mountain goods to him.”
