Chapter 115: A grand motorcade

As soon as the mother and daughter returned home, they went to the cellar.

Several ice makers were still running in the cellar, ice blocks were being produced continuously, and the ice storage tank was almost full.

Jiang Wei stepped forward to unplug the power, opened the ice storage tanks of the ice makers one by one, collected all the ice blocks inside into the space, and finally collected the ice makers back into the space together.

Jiang Xiaoxiao calculated the ice blocks produced by the ice makers day and night over the past few days. The quantity was extremely large, and the weight could not be underestimated!

Yuhe Village was at least three thousand li away from the capital. What method would Jiang Yu use to transport so much ice cream and snow cakes to the capital?

By the next morning, when the sky was just beginning to brighten, Jiang Wei got up.

Jiang Xiaoxiao opened her sleepy eyes and followed her out of bed to get dressed.

She put on a light and simple short jacket with narrow sleeves, tied the apricot-yellow skirt waist under her armpits, stepped on cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles, and walked out of the room.

Jiang Wei went down to the cellar again and placed the snow cakes and ice cream from the space onto the oilcloth she had laid out in advance last night.

The oilcloth was covered with straw, and the straw was piled with ice blocks. The straw provided insulation, and the ice blocks on top were not easy to melt, which could play a very good cooling role.

This time Jiang Xiaoxiao didn't follow down to the cellar, but stood around the cellar watching the time to prevent outsiders from coming.

Soon, the sound of horse hooves came from afar.

She stood on tiptoe to look. A motorcade was driving on the road at the entrance of the village, a grand procession. The person riding in front was Jiang Yu, followed by dozens of carriages and mule carts, with boxes piled high on the vehicles.

Jiang Xiaoxiao hurriedly called her mother: "Mother, Young Master Jiang is here with a motorcade."

The sky at dawn was slightly white. The villagers in Yuhe Village had already gotten up early, packed up, and were about to go to the fields to work, when they happened to see the motorcade driving on the village road.

Everyone came out to see. At a glance, they saw Jiang Yu, dressed in luxurious brocade, sitting on a high horse, followed by a grand motorcade, looking very imposing.

"My god! Why are there so many carriages in the village?!"

"This one carriage is worth a lot of money. Which wealthy family is this that can afford so many carriages?"

The villagers discussed it, and their eyes followed the carriages to the Jiang family.

The motorcade stopped in front of the Jiang family courtyard. Jiang Yu got off his horse, and Shopkeeper Zhou also jumped down from the carriage behind.

Jiang Xiaoxiao had already opened the courtyard gate in advance, raised her little face, and smiled sweetly at Jiang Yu: "Jiang Brother, you came so early."

"Xiaoxiao, where is your mother?" Jiang Yu rubbed her head gently and looked into the empty courtyard.

Jiang Wei came out of the cellar and said: "The goods are all down below. Do you have enough men?"

As soon as her voice fell, Shopkeeper Zhou beckoned to the carriages behind him, and two young, strong men jumped down from each of the dozen or so carriages.

Jiang Wei stepped forward to check the boxes used to transport the snow cakes and ice cream on the vehicles. They were all made of solid wood, very thick, and the bottom and four sides were covered with a layer of clean straw. The straw was covered with a layer of oilcloth. This insulation setting was quite thoughtful.

Jiang Wei was very satisfied, so she led everyone down to the cellar to load the snow cakes and ice cream.

Soon, a full box of snow cakes was carried out.

Jiang Yu walked up to look. In a box of snow cakes, one-third of them were ice blocks. A large amount of ice blocks were mixed among the snow cakes, making the snow cakes not easy to melt.

Many boxes were carried up one after another, and they were also stuffed with a large amount of ice blocks.

He couldn't help but look at the cellar and asked suspiciously: "How many ice blocks are stored in your cellar? Won't you lose money if you give them all to me?"

Jiang Xiaoxiao smiled and shook her head: "Don't worry, Jiang Brother. Last winter, the water in Yuhe Village hadn't dried up, and my mother stored a lot of ice blocks in the cellar."

Regarding Jiang Yu's question about the source of the ice blocks, she and her mother had already unified their story.

Jiang Yu, a young master from a wealthy family in the capital, shouldn't dig to the bottom to verify the truth of this matter with the villagers.

Jiang Yu seemed to have great interest in the cellar that could store ice blocks and took the initiative to go to the cellar.

Shopkeeper Zhou directed everyone to move the full boxes onto the carriages and tie them tightly with hemp rope.

The roads in the village were dirt roads, and the wheels rolled on them, shaking back and forth. If the boxes weren't tied tightly, they would easily fall off.

Shopkeeper Zhou had the personality of an old mother, worrying about this and that, wishing he could handle everything himself. After directing for a while, his mouth became dry.

Jiang Xiaoxiao went to her kitchen, brought out a few cups of tea, placed them on the table in the courtyard, and shouted to Shopkeeper Zhou: "Uncle Zhou, come over and rest for a while, drink some water to moisten your throat first."

Hearing this, Shopkeeper Zhou walked into the courtyard. Once under the shade of the tree, the cool breeze blew away the heat on his body.

He couldn't help but look around and said: "Your place, Xiaoxiao, is quite nice. There are mountains and water, and there is a bamboo grove in the backyard. The scenery is quite beautiful."

Jiang Xiaoxiao puffed out her little chest and said quite proudly: "That's natural. When autumn comes, the autumn sun shines obliquely, the forest is dyed, and the leaves all over the mountains are golden. That's what's called beautiful!"

Shopkeeper Zhou picked up the teacup and took a big sip to moisten the heat in his throat. Hearing Jiang Xiaoxiao's words, he couldn't help but smile: "What books is Xiaoxiao reading recently to be so eloquent?"

Jiang Xiaoxiao scratched her head embarrassedly: "Just finished learning the 'Thousand Character Classic' and the 'Three Character Classic'..."

She gave a very conservative answer.

Shopkeeper Zhou was full of surprise: "You are only five years old, and you have already finished reading the 'Thousand Character Classic' and the 'Three Character Classic'?"

Although the 'Three Character Classic' and the 'Thousand Character Classic' belong to the enlightenment books for children to read and write, most children start learning to read at the age of five, and it may not be possible to finish learning them all in a year or two.

Even his young master only managed to finish these two books after half a year of study.

"This was all taught by my mother..." Jiang Xiaoxiao didn't know the cultural and educational level of scholars in this era, so she could only attribute it to Jiang Wei's credit. "My mother was once from a scholarly family, and my father was a teacher. I was able to learn so quickly because my mother taught me well."

Her voice was crisp, with a bit of childishness and innocence.

Shopkeeper Zhou was shocked to hear this: "Little Lady Jiang is actually so amazing!"

There was a school in the town, and an old scholar taught there, teaching the 'Three Character Classic' and the 'Thousand Character Classic'. These were two books that every scholar who embarked on an official career must learn.

He often heard those scholars in the restaurant complain that reading and learning characters was boring and difficult, and complain that the teacher was strict and rigid...

But he didn't know that in this small mountain wilderness, there was such a little lady from a scholarly family.

But looking at the courtyard and the dilapidated mud adobe house in front of him, Shopkeeper Zhou couldn't help but sigh: "A person as learned as your mother has fallen to this point. It is truly impermanent..."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 116 =====