She looked around the room and asked her mother in a low voice why she hadn't seen Aunt Zhen and Yun Xixue, in the past, Yun Yige would definitely sit next to Yun Xixue, and Aunt Zhen because her mother's home was in Jiangning, every time she came back, she would come to greet her, and listen to what she saw and heard in Jiangning.

"Hmph, people are now climbing up to His Majesty and the Queen's Mother, where can they still look at us?"

Mrs. Yun picked the important thing, and Yun Tingxi knew that the mother and daughter took the initiative to take the errand because they wanted to put gold on the Zhen family's face.

"Third aunt, is the Zhen family really that rich in Jiangning?" Yun Yishu was very suspicious, after all, Aunt Zhen and Yun Xixue had not scavenged Yun Yige's silver money before, if they were really rich, why bother thinking like this.

Yun Tingxi nodded, but when she mentioned the Zhen family in Jiangning, she frowned, and her face was not good-looking: "The Zhen family's business has become bigger and bigger over the years, and it has become more and more rampant, and the small traders who are squeezing have no business to do. ”

"Moreover, the government has been beaten, all towards the Zhen family, and now, the Zhen family is rampant and domineering, forcing good people to become prostitutes, and earning more ill-gotten gains, which is more than when Aunt Zhen got married. If the Zhen family contributes to the imperial court this time and really becomes an imperial businessman, I am afraid that most of the merchants in Jiangning will have a hard time. ”

Everyone couldn't help but sigh, it turned out that the Zhen family was doing such an unseemly deed. After talking about the situation of the Zhen family for a while, Mrs. Yun asked Yun Tingxi to rest, and Yun Yige and Yun Yishu stayed in the courtyard to pinch their grandmother's legs and pound their shoulders.

……

On the other side, Aunt Zhen did not deliberately snub Yun Tingxi, but at this moment, she and Yun Xixue were waiting at the post station, counting the days, Jiang Ning's reply should also arrive, and if they didn't receive Jiang Ning's letter for a day, their hearts would have been hanging.

Yesterday, when Yun Xixue was called by Mrs. Yun for questioning, she begged her grandmother to allow her to leave the mansion, and the people of the Hou Mansion did not stop her, after all, now the fifth lady is sharing worries for His Majesty, if it is blocked, delaying the soldiers of Northern Xinjiang to put on cold cotton clothes, it is a crime to kill the head.

At noon, they finally looked forward to Jiang Ning's letter, and the two couldn't wait to open the letter and read it.

In the letter, he first praised Yun Xixue and Aunt Zhen, praising them for being brave and resourceful, and seeking a good future for the Zhen family.

But the next news made people not so happy, and said in their hearts that Jiangning was relatively warm, and there was nowhere to buy cotton clothes, not even animal skins, so the two of them bought cotton clothes near the capital, and the money was paid by the Zhen family.

The letter also wrote that Zhen Yuan, the eldest son of the Zhen family, was leading a caravan to run errands in Yuze, near the capital, and after dealing with the matter, he would go to the capital to help the two buy cotton clothes and quilts and transport them to northern Xinjiang.

After reading the letter, Yun Xixue's face turned pale and she held Aunt Zhen's hand: "Mother, my grandfather said that Jiangning has no cotton clothes, what can I do?" ”

Aunt Zhen was also shocked, but she couldn't think of it at this time, so she had to persuade her daughter to relax and go back to the house first and wait for Zhen Yuan to come.

……

Five days later, Zhen Yuan arrived in the capital, and he sent a letter to Aunt Zhen saying that he had taken a caravan to live in Zhuangzi outside the city, and asked the mother and daughter to meet in Fanlou at noon tomorrow.

At noon the next day, several people gathered in Fanlou, Zhen Yuan thought that the cotton clothes were ready and could be transported to northern Xinjiang, and the coils and dry food on the way to the caravan had been prepared. Unexpectedly, the two of them didn't buy half a cotton coat, which was completely unexpected by him, and he couldn't help but get angry, and he scolded the two of them for scolding their heads and faces.

"Is your brain an ornament? Before you take the work on yourself, don't you first inquire about the market?! Who let you make your own decisions and ask Your Majesty for credit?! ”

"It's really stupid to ascend to heaven, and I didn't even buy half a cotton coat?!"

Yun Xixue looked at the eldest brother of the long room with some grievances: "Big brother, I have also inquired before, a foot of cloth is 50 Wen, a dress is about 7 feet, and the fabric is 350 Wen." Cotton is 200 Wen a catty, and a cotton coat costs four catties of cotton, which is 800 Wen. ”

"Counting the salary, the ready-to-wear costs 1,200 yuan, that is, one or two or two dollars a piece, and 20,000 cotton clothes and quilts cost about 40,000 or 50,000 taels of silver, our family is completely out of it, but who would have thought ......?"

"Who would have thought that the market price of cotton would suddenly increase tenfold?!" Yun Xixue bit her lip unwillingly, she suspected that someone did it on purpose, but it was impossible for the people behind the scenes to move so quickly, so she made a military order in front of His Majesty, and she couldn't buy cotton anywhere overnight.

Aunt Zhen also nodded again and again, she didn't take the disrespect of the juniors to heart, and the most important thing at the moment was to get together the cotton clothes.

Zhen Yuan sighed: "In winter, cotton is in short supply, and it is an important material, you should prepare it in advance, and then go to Your Majesty to ask for your life." ”

"Big brother, Xue'er knows it's wrong, but now, what can I do? Even if you take out my and my mother's cotton clothes, it's not enough! Yun Xixue cried, she originally pinned all her hopes on the Zhen family in Jiangning, but she didn't expect that the Zhen family had no choice, did she really have to spend ten times the money to buy cotton clothes?

"Ten times, 20,000 pieces of cotton clothes and quilts......" Zhen Yuan quickly calculated the price and possible solutions in his mind, his eyes looked down from the window, deep in the alley, a thin horse was chewing hay, and a shriveled and thin old man was squatting on the side in a black cotton coat full of holes, gently touching the horse's back.

"Nowadays, you can only ......"

Zhen Yuan drank all the wine in the cup, told the two of them the solution, and asked the two to pick some people who had believed in it to go to Zhuangzi to help.

Hearing his words, Aunt Zhen and Yun Xixue glanced at each other in surprise, although they were shocked, they could only do so. As long as the cotton clothes are sent to the north on time, the emperor will not personally inspect them.

After the three of them discussed in detail, Zhen Yuan sent people to buy some cotton clothes at a high price, and bought fabrics in batches for the caravan to make cotton clothes in Zhuangzi overnight.

Ten days later, Zhen Yuan used the caravan of the Zhen family to send cotton clothes and quilts to northern Xinjiang.

……

The weather is getting colder, and the small vendors who used to set up stalls on both sides of the street are returning home early.

In the evening, Yun Yige returned to her courtyard after having dinner in Mrs. Yun's courtyard, and as soon as she walked in, she noticed the abnormality, and after dismissing the maids in the courtyard, she said, "Come out." ”

"Miss, good ears." Jing Mo came out from behind the wall, took out a stack of silver tickets from his bosom and handed it to Yun Yige.

"According to the young lady's orders, the cotton and cotton clothes were sold at ten times the price, which is fifty thousand taels of silver tickets."

"Fifty thousand taels? It's a lot less than I thought. ”