Jinling, as the capital of Southern Chu, has more than 400,000 people, and Yanjing, Luoyang, Chang'an, and Chengdu (what the hell, it will become a CD if you type it directly, so uncomfortable, so you have to replace it with a typo) and call it the world's five major cities. It's just that the city is large, the population is large, and the amount of rice and grain consumed every year is also amazing.

The Xiao family, after five generations of hard work, has owned dozens of rice shops in Jinling, selling no less than hundreds of thousands of stones of rice and grain every year, and earning hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. For such a huge stall, if Xiao Hui can let go of Xiao Ruixue, a fourteen-year-old lady, to run it alone, it is self-deception, so Xiao Ruixue has an extra shopkeeper surnamed Hu by her side.

Hu shopkeeper has been working in the Xiao family rice shop since Xiao Ruixue's grandfather, it can be said that he has deep qualifications, he has gray hair and wrinkles on his face, a pair of mung bean eyes are small and bright, and his spirit is very strong. But it is not advisable to judge people by their appearance, Xiao Ruixue knows this very well, after six days of contact, she found that although this shopkeeper Hu looks a little happy, but he is capable, and his memory is particularly good, he can remember everything in his heart, if Xiao Ruixue has something he doesn't understand, he will definitely be able to get the answer from his mouth.

"Shopkeeper Hu, there is a batch of rice and grain from Jingzhou at Ping'an Wharf tomorrow, do you know when it will arrive?"

"Based on past experience, we can probably get there in time."

"Do you need to arrange for the manpower and ox carts in advance?"

"No, you don't! The wharves are populated by coolies, who are ready to be hired and some of whom have their own ox carts, which can be used directly to transport goods. ”

Xiao Ruixue nodded: "That's very good." Then shopkeeper Hu, you go directly to the dock to meet me early tomorrow morning, and I still have to rely on you for some details! ”

"Okay, Fourth Young Master."

Xiao Ruixue finished her work, and as soon as she returned to the back house, she bumped into Zhu Yan head-on.

Xiao Ruixue bowed to Zhu Yan and said, "Mother! ”

Zhu Yan's eyes were full of resentment: "Girl, what kind of etiquette are you doing?" Have you forgotten what your mother taught you before? ”

Xiao Ruixue was slightly stunned, and found that she was doing a man's bow, so she smiled and said: "Mother, you see that I am wearing men's clothes at the moment, don't you feel awkward if I am a woman's salute?" ”

Zhu Yanjiao snorted: "This mother doesn't care, you have to start over!" ”

"Okay." Xiao Ruixue had no choice but to press her hand on her left waist and make another blessing ceremony.

Such a picture is really weird, Zhu Yan couldn't help but smile when she looked at it: "Well, yes, what a charming little Langjun." ”

Xiao Ruixue's face was stinky: "Mother, why do you always like to tease me since I was a child?" ”

"Hmph, my mother is playing tricks on you because you are disobedient."

"When did I stop listening to my mother?"

"You've been disobeying your mother lately! Tell me for yourself, how long has it been since you learned what your mother taught you? ”

"Mother, isn't it because I became the head of Jinling, besides, I am doing things for my father, so you can't tolerate me?"

Zhu Yan suddenly stared at Xiao Ruixue for a long time, and Xiao Ruixue was furious, and she said: "My mother didn't figure it out before, but then I felt more and more wrong. Girl, to be honest, did you ask your father for the position of the head of Jinling because you wanted to avoid your mother? ”

Xiao Ruixue was surprised: "Mother, how can you think so, your daughter has always been very close to you, how can she avoid you?" ”

Zhu Yan said with a pretty face: "That's because you don't like the things I forced you to learn." ”

Xiao Ruixue was silent for a moment, Zhu Yan's words did reveal some of the thoughts in her heart, but she naturally didn't dare to admit it, so she said: "Mother, what you taught me is very useful, I-like it very much." ”

Suddenly, Zhu Yan hid her face and cried: "Ruixue, you are lying!" Did you start to hate your mother because you didn't like what your mother taught you? ”

Zhu Yan's cry was neither howling nor sharp, but a kind of earnest feeling, which sounded doubly weak. Xiao Ruixue was blinded, she thought her mother would be angry, but she didn't expect her mother to cry inexplicably, she was a little at a loss: "Mother, did I make you cry?" ”

Zhu Yan cried and complained: "Girl, do you know that since you go out early and return late every day, your mother has never seen you, how empty your heart is?" ”

Xiao Ruixue didn't understand Zhu Yan's emotions, and said with a smile: "Mother, it's only been the sixth day that I've been out to do things, and there are so many people in the family, how can you feel lonely?" ”

Zhu Yan sobbed and sneered: "You girl, why do you talk like a heartless kid?" ”

Xiao Ruixue silently closed her mouth. Zhu Yan continued: "What's the use of having more people in the family, can you compare with your daughter?" Although your heart is not like a daughter's family, once your mother has something to say in her heart, who else can you talk to? ”

Xiao Ruixue nodded, as if she understood something. She said cautiously: "Mother, isn't Dad still at home recently, you can also tell him some things in your heart, you must know that Dad and his daughter are different, some of the things you say can only be listened to, but Dad can coax you to be happy." ”

However, as soon as this sentence came out, Zhu Yan's face was even worse, and she said quietly: "Don't mention it, do you know that it has been six days since your father came back, and except for occasionally talking to his mother, he has never stayed with his mother overnight!" ”

"Huh?" Xiao Ruixue let out a surprised voice. And Zhu Yan suddenly realized that she had said something that she shouldn't have said, and her face turned red.

Xiao Ruixue continued to ask unknowingly: "Dad, why didn't he come to my mother's place once?" ”

Xiao Ruixue is her daughter after all, and it is nothing to say some private words, Zhu Yan's face turned red for a while, and then returned to normal, she sighed: "Probably because of my sister." ”

When Xiao Ruixue heard this, she was a little uncomfortable, she said: "Mother, you can't speculate like this, Auntie is usually not bad to us!" ”

Zhu Yan smiled faintly: "Silly girl, I didn't say that your aunt was bad to us." ”

"Then why do you say that?"

"In all fairness, sister, she's an atmospheric woman. Over the years, she has been very good to me, there has never been a shortage of daily food and clothing, and she has never played with the temper of a big woman, and she also treats you and San Lang as her own, at this point I admire and grateful! It's just-" Zhu Yan looked at Xiao Ruixue again, and smiled bitterly: "Girl, when you grow up, you will be able to understand the relationship between women and women." ”

Xiao Ruixue looked at Zhu Yan silently, she could understand some of what Zhu Yan said, and she didn't understand some of what she said, because she had always considered things and never started from a woman's standpoint. But she still has a deeper understanding of Zhu Yan, this understanding is unprecedented, from childhood to adulthood, Zhu Yan is a gentle and strict mother in her mind, and occasionally with some girlish eccentricities, but now she finds that Zhu Yan is also a sensitive and fragile woman. Thinking of this, Xiao Ruixue stepped forward and gently took Zhu Yan into her arms, and said softly: "Mother, don't be so sad, no matter what, you have me, I will take care of you for the rest of your life!" ”

Zhu Yan smiled: "The silly girl said some stupid things, San Lang said this, my mother still believes it, you can't do it, you are going to marry after all - hey, what's wrong with you, girl?" ”

Xiao Ruixue showed a faint smile on her face: "It's okay, mother, just now there was an inexplicable gust of cold wind blowing behind me, which made me shiver!" ”

Zhu Yan's expression was a little nervous: "Didn't you mess with something unclean outside?" The flame of my daughter's house is low, this is not a trivial matter, I will ask the master to find you a Taoist priest to exorcise evil spirits another day! ”

Qinhuai River, is the right bank tributary of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, there are two sources in the north and south, the north source is called Jurong River, originates in the south foot of Baohua Mountain, the south source is called Lishui River, originates in Donglu Mountain, the two converge in the Fangshan in the south of Jinling City to form the main stream of Qinhuai River, bypass Fangshan to the northwest to the outer city gate Shangfang Gate from Dongshuiguan into Jinling City, and then traverse the entire Jinling from east to west, from Xishuiguan out, and finally into the Yangtze River. The most famous of the Qinhuai River is the "Ten Miles of Qinhuai", which is the place where many literati and ink writers linger, but it is only a small section of the Qinhuai River located in the south of Jinling City, the main purpose of the Qinhuai River is water transportation, and Ping'an Wharf is a water transportation hub of the Qinhuai River in the northwest of Jinling City.

Early the next morning, Xiao Ruixue rushed to the Ping'an Wharf, and the shopkeeper Hu was also waiting for her outside the wharf early. The Xiao family's merchant ship had not yet arrived, Xiao Ruixue and Shopkeeper Hu walked on the dock, looking at the dense ships, as well as those coolie walkers who were dressed in short clothes and shuttling up and down the deck, and couldn't help asking: "Shopkeeper Hu, generally like this, how much does it cost to hire a person?" ”

The shopkeeper Hu said: "These people generally record their work according to the weight of the goods they carry and the number of round trips. If we take our rice grain as an example, each bag of rice grain is recorded as one stone (about 53 kilograms), and each person can carry one bag at a time, and it is counted as one round trip, and it is necessary to pay about three to five wen at a time. ”

Xiao Ruixue was surprised: "Why don't you wait, isn't there a fixed number?" ”

Shopkeeper Hu smiled: "The seasons are different, the climate is different, and the hard work of the walkers is also different, so the price will fluctuate." ”

Xiao Ruixue nodded. Shopkeeper Hu continued: "Besides, most of the husbands are employed by different gangs, and the asking price of each gang will be different, and the specific price needs to be negotiated with the gang leaders!" ”

Xiao Ruixue was very surprised: "These people still have gangs?" ”

Shopkeeper Hu smiled: "Of course, if there is no gang, who will organize them?" ”

Xiao Ruixue has always been in the army in her previous life, rarely involved in the rivers and lakes, and in this life, she is confined to the back house, and it is even more difficult to contact the rivers and lakes, so when she hears this, she feels a little strange, but after thinking about it carefully, she also feels reasonable, because where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, let alone a place like Ping An Wharf that involves interests.