Chapter 276: The Marvelous Kitchen, Chapter 298: Collecting Debts

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

"Zhu Family Bridge... no, Zhoubei Street... no, there's no dock in Zhoubei... sigh, why are there so many characters I don't recognize!"

The young man had an honest face, dressed in short working clothes, the headcloth on his forehead and the clothes on his chest soaked through with sweat, holding a booklet in his hand, having just flipped past a few pages, then flipping back again, staring at the text on the pages and comparing them with the simple map on the table in front of him, without stopping.

Since he arrived, he had been flipping through that booklet, and now that he was about to leave, he was still flipping; several times in between he went to find the clerks, but was sent back, and now he was scratching his head and cheeks, looking completely at a loss.

Song Miao had heard this person muttering for half a day, her ears were about to grow calluses; after thinking it over, she turned her head and asked, "Young Master, are you looking for a residence near the docks, intending to use it as a storeroom?"

The young man raised his head, saw Song Miao, was first stunned, then his face turned red, slightly averted his eyes, before saying, "Yes, yes! It's this damn booklet I really don't know, it's truly hard to look at!"

Song Miao had also looked through it earlier, naturally knowing that what the Bureau of Works gave to the Capital Prefecture Office was a flow register, its purpose merely to record it on file, completely arranged according to the chronological order of confiscation, without considering streets, wards, or alleys.

Among them, houses, courtyards, vacant lots, and so on were all mixed together, with no classification at all; for someone not often dealing with writing, it indeed looked messy and chaotic, quite troublesome.

She asked, "Young Master, since you want to find a storeroom, you probably need a large one, right?"

"Yes, if I can't find one, a few adjacent ones would do, preferably not too remote!" The young man sighed, "The booklet doesn't even have a mark; one page is still on West Main Street, the next page runs off to Zhoubei Wa; I'm not familiar with every street and alley, just distinguishing whether the house is in the inner city or outer city takes me half a day!"

Song Miao thought it over, said, "As long as the valuation is over five hundred strings, all houses before entering the Bureau of Works must first be approved by the Court of Judicial Review—the large houses near the docks, even if remote, cannot be obtained for five hundred strings; Young Master, if you can't get through so many, you might as well first look for those stamped with the Court of Judicial Review's red seal."

"Also, although the officials can't spare a hand to classify them, this flow register, being a copy, will still mark which gate they belong to."

"If that house is located in the direction of Jingxing, Sanzao, or Chenqiao gates, those areas only have the encircling river, the river water doesn't enter the city; even if it's near the docks, there's no need to look further..."

"As long as you know which gate the house belongs to, looking against the map will be much more convenient..."

Song Miao added a few more reminders, pointing at the flow register for him.

The young man did as told, and indeed spotted the so-called Court of Judicial Review red seal at a glance, and saw the small gate mark in a fixed position, along with other screening methods.

He flipped through several pages according to this, simply twice the result with half the effort, instantly felt a great weight lifted, and said, "I saw some had a red stamp and some didn't, didn't think much of it, who knew it meant this! And this gate mark, hidden so well; without your guidance, I would surely have missed it, not knowing until the year of the monkey and month of the horse when I'd finish this booklet!"

Speaking this, the person hurriedly stood up again and cupped his hands, saying, "Thank you for teaching me, Young Lady! It's exactly noon now; how about I find a food shop outside, and the three of us eat together—I came with my aunt this time, she'll be here any moment!"

Song Miao naturally wouldn't, and had no time to eat an idle meal with a stranger.

She said, "Young Master is too polite; I have other matters, I'll go first."

The young man saw this and hurriedly said again, "Young Lady, even if you have no time to eat, at least leave a word—may I ask your name and where you live? So I can come to thank you!"

"A small matter, just a bit of effort; Young Master need not take it to heart—I've also received guidance from others before, just doing as I was shown."

The person opposite saw Song Miao turn and leave, originally wanted to detain her, but felt it was impolite; yet to watch her go would truly be a pity, his heart wavering, he looked up and saw someone come in at the door, instantly overjoyed, calling out, "Aunt!"

The person opposite carried a food box in, looked around and didn't see his nephew, but his ears heard it, yet he pretended not to hear, only staring at Song Miao in surprise and joy, also calling out, "Song Xiaoniangzi! How did I meet you here!"

It was actually an acquaintance.

Song Miao was quite surprised, greeting, "Xu Niangzi, what a coincidence."

The newcomer was originally Xu Niangzi of the Xu Family Wuguan where Liang Yan was—last time, because Cheng Shifu and a group of martial instructors came to haggle over prices, after haggling, she bought many more meat buns at the original price, not to mention, then came back to order Meat gan and dried cuttlefish, taking away many black char siu.

She came to patronize every few days recently, already a full-fledged regular; she ate roast pigeon, roast duck, roast pork, especially loved buying and eating fresh—she could eat three or four freshly baked mung bean cakes in one breath.

And at this moment, the regular Xu Niangzi took three steps as two, came forward to talk, first asking Song Miao what she was doing here, then asking what she could help with, then saying why she herself had come, enthusiastic and lively, talking very fast.

It turned out that besides the martial hall, the Xu family also ran a dart bureau, already having some fame, often running darts everywhere under heaven.

But when they went, they had darts; when they returned, they might not; they would always encounter empty runs, so the dart head wanted to make use of the return trip, or if they saw good goods, also thought of learning from others to carry things for trade.

In the past year or two, Xu Niangzi's brother and sister-in-law tried a few times when running darts, almost all were profitable, though big or small profit; having tasted the sweetness, they naturally were eager to take this as a serious business.

They were ultimately amateurs; after transporting goods back, previously anxious to sell off, they often saw things they sold for fifty or sixty wen, after three or five months, transformed, sold for three or four hundred wen on the market.

Seeing this, the two couldn't sleep soundly at night, only feeling they had lost out, inevitably tossing and turning thinking—if I had a storeroom, I could also learn from people to store goods for three or five months, with a capital of ten or so wen, selling for three or four hundred wen...

Why still run darts risking my head!

Xu Niangzi was in charge of accounts; that day seeing Song Ji's buns had risen by two or three wen, she was anxious enough to go to the door to haggle; let alone such a large price difference; after learning of it, her heart bled.

She volunteered herself, taking her nephew around to look for cheap storerooms, to store goods.

In recent years, southbound and northbound grain transport was not smooth, often congested and blocked; once blocked, there would always be things in the Capital that would rise in price along with it.

Buying low and selling high is the way merchants profit; thus storerooms near the docks were in demand, and in the past year or two, it became even harder to find—merchants would guess in advance which goods might rise in price, store them up, then wait to make a big profit.

Xu Niangzi held her nose and plunged into the muddy water, searched for a long time, but never found a suitable one.

The Xu family after all had wide connections, so an acquaintance gave them guidance, telling them to first come to the Capital Prefecture Office to look through, knowing that the Bureau of Works from time to time would release a batch of confiscated houses for sale; although most were haunted houses, with people inside not easy to deal with—but the Xu family had both a martial hall and a dart bureau, naturally not afraid, all were good things of picking up bargains.

The two sides exchanged a few words; learning that Song Miao was also looking for a house, Xu Niangzi's face was full of smiles, saying, "I knew I had fate with you, Young Lady! Who would have thought I could meet you here!"

She said, and hurriedly opened the food box in her hand and held it up to Song Miao, saying, "I went out to buy drinks; who knew it rained hard outside; I went around for half a day and couldn't find the usual stall, so I had to run to the street behind to buy at the shop—Young Lady, how long have you been here? You must be thirsty? Quick, pick one!"

She also pointed to the young man on the side, saying, "This is my nephew; at home he's second in the family; Young Lady, call him Erlang! Let him help you? After all, he came early this morning; he's more or less familiar with these books and registers!"

Xu Niangzi, from the moment she entered the door, her mouth never stopped.

That Xu Erlang, following her words, had expressions on his face now happy, now joyful; hearing he was to help Song Miao, he was grinning, when he got the last sentence; his mouth didn't even have time to close; his face instantly became embarrassed, saying, "Aunt... Aunt! I'm not familiar with these official documents—just now this Song Xiaoniangzi was teaching me how to check..."

He repeated the whole thing just now, and introduced Song Miao's guidance again.

Xu Niangzi, hearing this, didn't even care to blush; she hurriedly thanked Song Miao, and said, "Ai! You say this! Our whole family is afraid of these writings and characters!"

Song Miao saw that Xu Erlang explained not very clearly, so she patiently explained it all again to Xu Niangzi, finally saying, "I only look near Suanzao Alley; just looking at Zhuque Gate is enough; even so, it still took me half a day; Young Lady and Young Master Xu, just two people, to look for so many, it's truly exhausting."

"In my opinion, why not go to the academy to find a few students to help; actually it doesn't take much money; ask them to pick out the relevant ones and copy them; the two of you just need to make the selection—this way, they also get some paper and ink money, Young Lady also saves effort; isn't that mutually beneficial?"

Xu Niangzi was simply as if granted a great pardon; she exclaimed "Ah," and said, "This is good! How did I not think of this earlier!"

Song Miao smiled and said, "If one hasn't experienced it, who would know it's so hard to find?"

She helped people thoroughly; she took paper and brush, wrote down a few important search tips, then gave them to Xu Niangzi, saying, "Just add to it as you like; if you can't think of anything, follow this; it should save some effort."

Xu Niangzi opened her mouth, unable to thank enough; she hurriedly said, "Song Xiaoniangzi, at the end of the street there's Hengsheng Building; though it can't compare to your skill, it has a few good dishes—I'll treat you to a meal at noon!"

Song Miao simply said she had matters, exchanged two polite words, and went out the door.

Today she hadn't found a suitable courtyard; though a little disappointed, she also knew it was inevitable; she could only deliberately tell herself in her heart not to think too much, so as not to affect her mood.

Today when I went out there were actually two matters to attend to: the first was naturally house hunting, the second was an old affair.

That day Liao Qingjiao stepped forward to try to seize the Song family property; in the end, by a twist of fate, he himself was imprisoned, took on all the charges, seemed to have suffered several hundred strokes of the cane, and has already been exiled to Leizhou — setting out with injuries, who knows whether he can even reach such a remote place.

But the fall of Liao Qingjiao the head steward does not mean this matter is already settled.

Song Miao does not know what the situation is behind the scenes, and fears there may be further twists, so she asked Chen Fuzi for help; he in turn sought out Lao Min to intervene, wanting to find an acquaintance for Song Miao to make it convenient to look up the buying-bid public notice volumes from that day.

Lao Min agreed at once, but after agreeing he tossed the matter to the back of his mind; in the end it was Chen Fuzi himself who went around two corners, called on a student to help, and wrote a note for Song Miao, telling her to go apply to consult the records herself when she had a spare moment.

If that did not work, she was to announce her name, present the note, and seek out a certain person.

Since returning to the Capital, Song Miao has been busy from early to late every day; she has had the note for some time now but still could not squeeze out a moment of leisure. Today she happened to be out, and taking advantage of the rain, with nothing pressing behind her, she wanted to check things thoroughly in one go.

Those buying-bid volumes, however, are not at the Capital Prefecture Office, but at another place.

She went out, first found a random shop and ate a simple meal; when she finished and came out, the wind and rain still had not stopped.

Because the rain was heavy, whether carriages or mule carts, all were in especially high demand; Song Miao waited a long while before she managed to hail an empty cart and went to the corresponding official residence.

This trip went much more smoothly; she spent half a day going through old files and copied out quite a lot, but seeing the rain growing heavier, she dared not stay longer; seeing the hour was not early, she hurriedly gathered her things and left.

Once out the door, for a good long while she did not see a single carriage or mule cart pass by, while the standing water on the ground grew deeper and deeper.

Song Miao simply estimated the direction and prepared to walk back on her own while slowly trying to flag down a cart.

The rain was heavy; pedestrians all took shelter under the eaves on both sides, and Song Miao also kept to the edge; she had walked half a street and was just about to turn a corner when she suddenly heard someone behind her calling her name repeatedly.

She turned her head and saw an old woman running quickly toward her; she recognized the other party as the one who sold firewood and charcoal, and also her creditor; she turned and went forward to meet her, saying: "Xie A-po, is there something you need to tell me?"

That Xie A-po looked left and right, avoided the passing pedestrians, pulled Song Miao into a corner, and said in a low voice: "Nothing to tell, really; just a strange thing that happened the day before yesterday, but with the heavy rain it was inconvenient to come to your door and speak — a stranger secretly came to my door, saying he wanted to offer a price to buy your debt."

Song Miao was startled and asked: "Buy my debt? How would that work?"

"It's the original ten-guan account; he would still pay ten guan, settle it in one payment, but only if I transfer your family's previous debt to him; from then on you would owe him money, not me; he also specially instructed me not to spread it around, especially not to tell you."

"Although I don't know what it means, I really find it strange; it just so happens I see you now, so I'm quietly telling you — I didn't sell; I just don't know if he only asked me, or if he asked others, and whether others sold or not!"

Song Miao only felt this matter was suspicious; she carefully asked about the visitor's appearance, and hearing the description, he was completely unfamiliar; she first thanked her sincerely, then said: "When the rain eases a bit, I'll go ask a few more people and see if there's any other version."

The old woman said: "No need to thank me; I also hope nothing bad happens to you; that money can stay owed, no rush to repay slowly, three years or five years I'm not afraid — how is your family's firewood supply? Do you want me to send another cartload?"

Her being so considerate naturally has a reason.

Aside from a genuine kind heart, there is also the fact that ever since Song Miao set up a stall and half-opened a food shop, she uses a lot of firewood every day, and occasionally charcoal, all bought from Xie A-po; buy once, settle the account once.

Anyone can see that Song Ji's firewood, bamboo charcoal, and wood charcoal are used more and more each day; who knows how big the business will grow in the future; right now the other party only gives a little cash, not even willing to spare a single extra wen; Xie A-po naturally calculates.

Her mind is only on how to keep Song Ji this big client; she would rather the debt be owed longer, so that in the future Song Xiaoniangzi would be too embarrassed to say she's switching to another firewood supplier; how could she be blinded by such a tiny profit!

"Just saying I'll restock; when the rain stops, please arrange someone to deliver it."

The two parted on good terms.

But the next day Song Miao did not manage to go ask the other creditors about the situation — the rain fell for another day and night, many streets were already knee-deep in water, and there was still not the slightest sign of a lasting stop; often it would pause for half an hour, then start again.

Heavy rain alternating with light rain, it just kept falling for seven or eight days straight.

At Xuan De Gate, inside the Imperial Palace, Emperor Zhao Yu's gums were swollen; the slightest touch hurt, and even after drinking medicine for two days it would not subside.

But he had no heart to attend to his gums; from time to time he held ice against his face, bearing two puffy eyes, personally went out of the city to inspect the dikes several times, and kept staring at the water level and the water's momentum, looking again and again, only hoping that even if the water level could not recede, it would at best stabilize at this position and not rise further.

The fact proves that even the Emperor's Dragon Eye cannot work any magic.

Outside the city the Bian River and the other several river channels grew deeper by the day; this day just after the court session ended, the Two Prefectures were discussing matters in Chui Gong Dian when a yellow-gate eunuch, face pale, carried in an urgent memorial, his voice even trembling as he spoke.

— "Your Majesty... Hua Prefecture... Hua Prefecture's dike has breached!"