Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 197
Jizhou
After confirming the workshop would be fine, Mo Yan called her workers and opened the workshop. Then, after she handed the workshop over to Chi Jie to manage, Lu Junming and her set off to the south.
Their first stop was to Jizhou. As soon as they entered the city, they started asking for the Hengfu Inn, and they received news of it very quickly.
The Hengu Inn was in the south of Jizhou, and it was a small two-story building made with azure bricks. Due to age and exposure to the elements, the azure bricks were of uneven colour. When a breeze blew past, a bell on the cornices, intended to scare birds away, started ringing. It sounded inviting but also mysterious.
Their carriage stopped outside of the inn, and employees stepped out to greet them. Lu Junming dismounted, Mo Yan exited her carriage, and while the employees took their horse and carriage to the back courtyard to be attended to, they entered the inn.
It was too bright outside, so when they stepped into the inn, all they saw was darkness. They could only hear something say, “Are you two here to eat or to stay?”
“To stay,” Mo Yan said.
The two had gotten used to the dim light within the inn, and could finally get a clear look at its interior. There were low tables and stools stacked up in the corner for mealtimes. Behind the concierge desk was an old man with wispy white hair, who was probably the inn’s manager.
Lu Junming approached the concierge desk, “Manager, two rooms and food to have here.”
The employees had settled their carriage, and took their luggage out and delivered it upstairs to their rooms.
There weren’t any people eating right now, so the two found a corner to sit down and chat in. After a while, an employee sent over a bowl of stir-fried beef with oyster sauce, cold dish bok choy, and a pot of wine with two winecups and chopsticks.
The employee was about to leave after placing down the items, but Lu Junming stopped him to ask, “Excuse me, is there a person called Zhen Bo here?”
He noticeably froze for a second before saying, “He’s already left.”
Lu Junming continued to ask, “Do you know where he’s gone to?”
“He’s a wanderer, and often travels around. He doesn’t have a permanent home, who knows where he’ll go next.”
“A few days ago, did you see a couple from Hunan travelling with a young boy who’s five or six years old? The boy has a northern accent, with a long face, large eyes and double eyelids.”
“They came here, and then they left with Zhen Bo.”
“Do you know what relationship they have?”
The employee shook his head, “I’m not sure, but I heard the two men call each other ‘brother’, like they had a close relationship with each other.”
“How about the child? Is he alright?”
“Yes, the couple treated the child with doting affection, and he interacted with them well too. If their accents weren’t different, anyone would believe that they were a family of three.”
The employee didn’t hide anything from them and told them everything, but they still didn’t know where Mo Zheng would be going after extensive questioning. However, they felt slightly more at ease after knowing that Mo Zheng was safe.
They had only heard Mr. Zhen say that they were from Hunan, but Hunan was such a large area, they had no idea where they’d be. It’d be like finding a needle in a haystack.
After rewarding the employee with a few copper coins, they started eating. Mo Yan picked up a piece of beef and started chewing, it tasted fresh and it had a soft texture.
As she was chewing, she started brooding, “How could this beef be so tender? Was there extra nitre added in it, like Manager Liang’s beef? I don’t want to get diarrhoea after eating this.”
Her voice hadn’t dropped when the employee returned with a plate of ginger stir-fried meat, “Young lady, don’t speak nonsense, the cows we cook are all less than a year old, so of course the meat is tender.”
“You even dare to slaughter calves? Does the local government not care?”
In ancient China, agriculture was held in significant importance. Peasants couldn’t slaughter cows wantonly, and the cows they could butcher and eat were the ones that had died of illness or were too old to work the land. Additionally, they had to inform the local government before slaughtering them.
The employee responded, “This place’s on the border between two countries, and the local government’s too lazy to care. Even the taxes are lighter than those deeper within the country, and everyone tries to evade them as much as possible.”
“Is trade between the two countries still flowing freely nowadays?”
At this moment, two carriages covered by oil tarps stopped outside the inn. They could see the carriages were loaded with goods even through the oil tarp, but couldn’t see the specific goods.
Two dusty men entered the inn, and shouted out as soon as they entered, “We’re thirsty, get us some tea.” After saying that, they found a table near a window with ventilation and sat down. From their accents, they seemed to be from the north.
The employee couldn’t be bothered to answer Mo Yan’s questions anymore, and ran over to greet the new customers. After a short while, he sent tea over, “Esteemed guests have travelled hard to get here, are you going north or south this time?”
One of them responded, “We’ve imported goods from the north, and we’ll be selling them to the capital for a pretty penny.”
They’re from the capital! If there were southern goods being imported to the capital, the news that everything was fine at the border would’ve spread instantly.
Lu Junming called the employee over, “Give the two over there a few good dishes and a pot of high-quality wine, on me.”
The two looked at him, and after confirming they didn’t know each other, they cupped their fists and said, “Young man, we don’t know each other, what do you want?”
Lu Junming went over with his winecup and sat down on his own initiative, “Do the two of you sell goods from the south?”
They nodded, and Lu Junming continued, “My surname is Lu, and I come from the Upper Valley. I wanted to ask the two of you, is the road going to the south clear?”
The taller man replied, “Well said, we’re from the capital. He’s Zhangqi, and I’m Liuba. The border between the two countries isn’t as easy to get past as the roads within a country. Trading requires a document issued by the capital, or you would be treated as a spy.” [1]
Lu Junming internally berated himself for being an idiot for wanting to sell goods from the south so hastily. How could going past the border between two countries be so easy, of course a document of passage would be needed! It seemed like they’d be returning empty-handed this time.
Mo Yan also got up, and greeted the two, “Excuse me, but did you import silk and tea leaves from the south?”
Zhangqi looked Mo Yan up and down before saying, “Young lady, how did you know?”
Mo Yan smiled faintly, “Amongst all goods imported from the south, those two are the most expensive, and the most profitable. You’ve come all the way from the capital, so of course you need to sell profitable and expensive items.”
The employee served up food, and Liuba moved to the side to offer her a seat, “If you’re fine with it, sit down and let’s talk more.”
Mo Yan sat down and said, “We’re from a small place and have never been to the capital, nor have we ever seen any documents of passage. Could you let us take a look at your document, so we could learn more about it?”
“Easily.” Liuba took out the document and unfurled it on the table.
Lu Junming and Mo Yan took a look at it, and the document had the stamps of Honglu Prefecture and Jizhou Province. It stated when and who the document was awarded to, its use, and clarified that it could only be used to exit via Jizhou Province. [2]
The two looked at it again and again, secretly wanting to claim the document of passage for themselves. Liuba took the document back, “We asked multiple people to help us get this document, and we only got it by spending quite a bit of money.”
Mo Yan replied, “Then why not import a few more loads of goods, and earn this sum of money back sooner?”
The two said helplessly, “Unfortunately, we have limited manpower. We’re already importing as much as we can.”
“Brother Liu, since you have this document, does that mean you can move between the borders of the two countries an unlimited number of times?”
Liuba patted his chest, “Of course. If it was limited-use, we wouldn’t need to spend nearly as much money on it.”
“Then why not stay here, and use your document to cross between the two borders numerous times? You could help people retrieve goods, or help caravans enter and exit the border.”
When the two heard it, they said it was ‘a brilliant idea’. The four chatted while eating, and discussed the best way to utilise this document to the fullest.
P.S. I feel like Mo Zheng has been officially put on a bus.
[1] Zhangqi and Liuba literally mean Zhang Seven and Liu Eight.
[2] Prefectures and Provinces are administrative regions of China. It goes Provinces, Prefectures, Counties.