Chapter 114: Going To Hanzhong City

Disclaimer: 

1. This is an unofficial translation and no permission has been obtained from the author/ official publisher. It may be taken down if the author/official publisher requests. 

2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author. 

3. No permission has been granted to use, publish, upload and/or copy this translation to any other site except for Second Life Translations.

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The next day, the slave trader brought two women with her. She smiled and told Liu Xu’er that the 30 plus year- old women Young Miss wanted were really not that easy to find. These two were the ones that she had mentioned yesterday – the mother-daughter pair. If Young Miss still found them unsuitable, she would head back and continue to look. 

When Liu Xu’er saw the pair, she understood why the slave trader insisted on bringing them over for her to inspect. The trader was extremely clear – she had been in this line long enough to understand why they had specified that age group. She knew why Liu Xu’er didn’t want the mother-daughter pair, so she deliberately brought them over for her to inspect and relax. 

Even though they had reached their full adult height, the pair were only about Liu Xu’er’s height. They were both rather dark and they were rather homely. 

Perhaps because of this, the pair was not easy to sell. The slave trader kept talking – the family was from Shandong. Both mother and daughter’s husbands had passed away and they had no way of making a living, so they sold themselves….

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Now that the family had servants, there was an immediate difference. He shi and He Ruyu could immediately feel the reduction in work. 

After six or seven days, Liu Tao was much better. He went to the medical hall for a checkup and was given the all clear from the doctor. He didn’t need to take any more medicine, but he did need to be given some good nutritious food to recover from the ordeal. 

Because it had already gotten dark, they returned to Liu Changgeng’s place. They planned to pack and return home the next day. 

He shi and Liu Xu’er had bought up a lot of meat, vegetables and eggs. They were preparing to cook up a feast. This past half a month, the entire family had been worked off their feet, and hadn’t had a good meal in a while. Furthermore, tonight, Liu Changgeng was going to discuss with his brothers about inviting their parents over to stay with them. 

A few days back, when Liu Changshi went back to town, He shi and Liu Gao shi had both told him to bring a few roosters over. These past few days, they had been simmering soup with them for Liu Tao to have. There was still one remaining today, so they had killed and stewed it. 

Liu Changshi had also brought back quite a lot of goji berries from his field to add to the soup. There was no need to add anything else to it, just some salt. 

After cooking up a storm, it was served onto two tables, and the family gathered around to eat. Liu Changgeng, Liu Changqi and Liu Changshi were talking about their parent’s move. Liu Changshi was quick to agree – he immediately said that he would bring some money for them every month.

Liu Changqi was also happy about this. He nodded and said, “Since your home is so large, and you have the heart to do it, it’s best for them to come over. Sidi and I will do as sidi suggested and bring them some money. Of course, if anything were to happen, we still need to be involved in the decision making….”

His voice faded as he spoke. After all, he was now the poorest of his brothers. He persisted in saying all this only because of his status as the eldest son. 

Looking at him, Liu Changshi didn’t mention how much he was planning to give. He only thought that he would do his best. Whatever amount he gave was only symbolic. After all, filial piety was seen not in the amount of money given, but in their everyday treatment of their parents. 

Liu Changgeng thought that way too, so he only nodded. 

Old Man Liu and Liu Gao shi had not yet decided if they were willing to move over or not, so they quickly said, “Why are you in such a hurry! Your mother and I still haven’t decided….”

The instant he said that, everyone started to try and persuade them, especially Liu Xu’er and her brothers. Now that they’ve been doing business for years, they were all trained to be persuasive. Everyone of them was capable of talking rings around others, and no one stood a chance against one of them, let alone all of them together. Although Liu Gao shi was herself able to reason logically, she couldn’t stand against her children and grandchildren’s well intentioned offer. They could only agree. 

So they started to discuss the plans for the move. Liu Changgeng was resolutely refusing to allow the two elders to go home. He was terrified that if they went back, they would feel that home was best and refuse to come back! So he told Liu Changshi to go back and pack up. He could move their things over slowly. The larger furniture and what not could stay there. 

As for the chickens they were raising, all of those were passed over to Liu Changqi. There was no need to quibble about it because everyone was of one heart to help him. 

Liu Changgeng then said, “These few days, Xu’er has been discussing the situation with me. Liu Tao’s little ornaments can’t fetch that much money. Since we have some plans for the store, we want to get Liu Tao over to work in the store as an apprentice. He can train under Shu and Lin…. Every month, we will give Liu Tao 500 wen in wages.”

500 wen per month added up to six strings of cash a year. Liu Changqi was shocked. He of course was aware that usually apprentices weren’t paid. It was rare enough for the apprentice not to have to pay apprenticeship fees. He quickly said, “How can that be alright? This…. This isn’t alright.”

Liu Tao was also saying, “For me to learn is already enough… I want to learn…. But I can’t accept the money.”

Liu Xu’er then said, “We are giving you money for you to do work for us. That way, you would be motivated to work hard. In the future, there might be more plans. You need to learn from dage and erge. We will continue to monitor and see what the future has in store.”

Liu Shu nodded his head. They were all aware that Liu Xu’er did indeed have further plans. They were looking to expand business. With Liu Tao joining their store, they would be able to train another potential worker. This was also a testing ground for Liu Tao – it would give them the chance to closely observe his character. 

Liu Changgeng nodded his head before speaking to Old Man Liu in a soft voice. “Dad, I am planning to pass my fields over to Fourth to plant goji berries. Why don’t you do the same? These past two years, Fourth’s goji berries have finally started to mature. We shouldn’t waste the land we have. Since he is going to look for people this year to help him, then we should just get him to look for more people to help, and plant goji berries in all of our fields. Then we can discuss how to divide up the costs and the profits?”

Old Man Liu hesitated. He said, “I was just thinking that I would pass them to First to plant….”

Liu Changgeng nodded, “I understand dad’s intention, but dage would definitely not be able to manage it all by himself. I have another alternative. These rabbits are not that convenient to raise in town. I am planning to get dage to bring them back to raise. Since he is going to be keeping the chickens, he may as well also care for the rabbits. When we want rabbit fur, we will buy it from him at a good price. Of course, in this startup period, we won’t pay anything – after all, these are our rabbits…. But after some time has passed, we can discuss the price. The rabbits will continue to multiply – it would be easiest to keep them in the village.”

Old Man Liu and Liu Gao shi nodded. This was obviously a ploy to help support Liu Changqi. After all, how difficult was it to raise rabbits? There was enough space in the backyard to place them, and even if there wasn’t enough grass here, they could go to the outskirts of town to gather more. 

Liu Xu’er and her family had decided to get her dabo to raise the rabbits because they were considering their future growth. If they continued to raise them, someone would definitely need to be freed up to care for them. Furthermore, although this current setup worked, they would face a lot of difficulties when they tried to scale up. 

When they told this to Liu Changqi, Liu Changqi was so grateful, he immediately said that he would never accept any money for the rabbit fur! He had been given so many rabbits. 

Liu Changgeng smiled and said that they would discuss it again in future. After the evening meal, he went out and taught him how to care for them. Of course, he told him that they wouldn’t let him take all of them back yet. He would bring back 10 or so of them first, so that he could familiarise himself with how to care for them. When he was more confident, he could take the rest back. 

Now that the discussion was over, the next day, Liu Changqi and Liu Tao went back. Liu Tao could rest for a few days before helping with the spring sowing. 

Liu Changshi also returned with He Ruyu. He too needed to prepare for spring sowing. This time, when they went back, they brought along over 10 rabbits with them. 

While in Liu Xu’er’s home, Liu Changgeng and He shi had settled Old Man Liu and Liu Gao shi. At this time, Shi Cheng came over to ask Liu Xu’er when they were ready to go to Hanzhong city. They discussed it amongst themselves before agreeing to head off in the next few days. Shi Cheng’s father knew a few people there, and they had already agreed that they could stay with them during the visit. They would return after two to three days. 

After their discussions, they agreed that Liu Shu would stay to look after the store, while Liu Xu’er, Liu Lin and Liu Sen would accompany Shi Cheng on the trip. 

The Shi family naturally had their own carriage, driver and several servant boys to accompany them. Added to that,  Liu Lin was already 14 this year – a young adult – and Liu Sen was already eight; there was no need to worry about them travelling. 

He shi saw the carriage off. Worriedly, she said, “Xu’er is already not a young girl. She really can’t keep behaving so familiarly with Shi Cheng… When she gets back, I need to talk to her…. There needs to be distance between her and Shi Cheng.”

Liu Changgeng looked at her. He smiled and said, “You… You’ve got endless worries! Even when there’s nothing to be concerned about, you can still find something to worry over.”

Displeased, He shi smacked him and said, “What do you mean, that I’m blindly worrying over matters! When village girls are 11 or 12, we don’t even let them go into the fields! They stay at home for a year or two until their marriage is settled! Xu’er is already 12, when she gets back, I need to talk to her about this!” She made up her mind.