Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 254
Exiting the Border
The soldier at the front raised his hand to signal the squadron to stop, “No outsiders are allowed to enter the military camp. You wait here, we will send the carriages back.”
The drivers naturally had no opinion and were willing to wait, but Mo Yan didn’t want to wait, “The account book is here with me. Should I go with you to check the accounts?”
“No need. Just hand us the account book. If you’re needed, someone will come to find you.”
The soldiers took the convoy to the military camp. Mo Yan followed them on horseback from a distance and watched them enter the camp before returning.
After entering the inn, Mo Yan asked the manager to help buy a hundred pigs and sheep, and a thousand jars of good wine.
He replied, “It’s available, but it’ll take some time to raise so many.”
Three days later, the carriages were sent back, and the livestock and wine were slowly delivered too. Mo Yan ordered the goods to be loaded directly onto the carriages.
Chi Jie asked, “Where are we sending this to?”
Mo Yan smiled. “To entertain the troops, so of course we have to go to the military camp.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“Okay, take the luggage and silver with you.”
“Why do we need to take the luggage? Do we have to stay overnight in the military camp?”
“That won’t be necessary, but we have to exit the border and go to the south.”
Ze Wu was surprised, “The situation at the border is tense right now, why are we going to the south? Even if we can leave, can we come back? If war breaks out, won’t we be regarded as spies by the southerners?”
Chi Jie said, “Don’t worry! War won’t happen before we come back. If you are afraid, just stay here and wait. You don’t have to go with us.”
Mo Yan said, “I heard that the scenery of Suzhou and Hangzhou is like a fairyland. Ze Wu, don’t you want to go and see it?”
Ze Wu patted his chest and said courageously, “I’ll go wherever young master wants!”
The pigs, sheep and wine were loaded onto the carriages, and Mo Yan and Chi Jie rode their horses at the front.
When they arrived at the gate of the military camp, the soldier guarding the gate came to ask about it. Mo Yan said from horseback, “We are here to entertain the troops. Look, sir. The carriages are loaded with pigs, sheep and good wine.”
After the soldier went in to ask for instructions, he came back and said, “Leave this behind, you can go.”
Mo Yan said again, “I have a young uncle named Erliang. He said he came to Jizhou to join the army a year ago. I hope you can help me find out if he’s in your camp.” [1]
The soldier frowned and said, “There are so many people in the military camp. If you don’t know which squadron he’s in, I’m afraid he’ll be hard to find. ”
“Then there’s no need to look for him, but please tell the general that this wine and meat were given due to Erliang, and the soldiers should thank him. If anyone sees him, please tell him that I’m going to the south. ”
The soldier also said, “The current situation at the border is tense, you shouldn’t leave the city!”
“It’s okay, I’ll come back soon.”
After that, Mo Yan waved to the caravan behind him, asking everyone to unload the pigs, sheep and wine from the carriages, and drove the empty carriages out of the city.
The caravan set a fast pace, and when it was about to exit the border, the Beiyan army chased after it, and someone shouted, “Close the city gate, the caravan is not allowed to leave the border.”
While the soldiers guarding the city hadn’t heard the order yet, Mo Yan stopped, whipping each horse pulling the carriages, and after watching them leave the border one by one, finally knocked the stirrups with her feet lightly. Fubao kicked his four hooves and galloped away.
After galloping for a while, and not hearing the sound of horses catching up, Mo Yan looked back to see a white horse standing outside the pass. The man on the horse was wearing silver armour and looking at her.
Chi Jie laughed and said, “He must be cursing his mother in his heart.”
Mo Yan also laughed, “He wouldn’t hide it in his heart, he would definitely curse out loud!”
The two slowed down and went to Lin’an slowly.
The scenery to the south of the Yangtze River was really incomparable to that of the north. The autumn here wasn’t bleak at all. There were small bridges and flowing water, white walls and azure tiles, and colourful flowers.
When leaving the border, the drivers were still scared, fearing that they would not be able to return home if a war broke out. Now they had followed Mo Yan and the others to eat, drink and have fun, they had thrown their fears away.
They were all men, and wasn’t interested in the scenery. What they were interested in was the fruits and dishes here.
The dishes in the south are delicate and light, and you will never get tired of them no matter how much you eat. The tangerines here were ripe, and any one of them was incredibly sweet. There are also nutritious longans.
These fresh fruits couldn’t be kept for a long time, and they need to be bought during the return trip. They should go and buy tea and silk first.
“Chi Jie, we haven’t had southern goods in our shop for a long time. We will definitely make a lot of money by shipping them back this time.”
“We risked travelling thousands of miles for you, so you must give us a share when we go back, right brothers?”
Everyone agreed , and Mo Yan said, “No problem, I promise to treat you fairly when we go back.”
The silks they had before were sold by others, and they could only sell what they bought. Now they finally came to the south by themselves, Mo Yan visited the shops one by one, and her eyes were dazzled. Chi Jie didn’t say much, just accompanied her at the side. She looked at the silk, while he secretly looked at her beautiful smile. [2]
In addition to silk, there was embroidery. The flowers, birds, fish and animals were all embroidered vividly, and Mo Yan wanted to buy everything she saw.
Finally, she had to tell Chi Jie, “You manage the money. If I manage the money, we won’t be able to go back.”
Ze Wu also reminded them, “We haven’t bought tea and fruit yet! You need to be more thrifty with your purchasing.”
Chi Jie was an expert in silk and embroidery. In the end, Mu Yan decided to listen to him and let him choose.
For tea, they went to the famous Longjing tea garden. The green mountains were easy on the eyes, but it was a pity that the tea picking season had passed.
The tea bought directly from the tea farmers was much cheaper than before, and the profit they’d receive would also be much higher.
Unknowingly, a month passed, and even the drivers were missing home, but Mo Yan still had no intention of going back, as she was having a lot of fun every day.
Finally, even Chi Jie couldn’t stand it anymore, “Yan’er, the scenery in the south is beautiful, but the weather is really bad. It’s okay during the day, but my bed at night is as cold as an ice cellar. I dream of falling into ice caves every night. Let’s go back!”
Mo Yan sighed and said, “Okay, let’s go back.”
They bought a few more carts of fruits, and the caravan set off back to the north. It was precisely because of these fruits that they had to move faster.
When they were hundreds of miles away from Jizhou, Mo Yan would remind the local people to store some food at home every time they passed them.
If war broke out, the people would be miserable. At that time, all gold, silver and jewellery would be useless. Only food could save lives.
Seeing that the Jizhou city gate was right in front of them, Mo Yan slowed down again. There were very few people entering and leaving the pass, and they were all in a hurry. There was only one caravan as big as this.
Nearing the pass, the soldiers guarding the city wall shouted, “The caravan should move faster, the city gate is about to be closed.”
It was still early in the evening and the city gate was about to be closed. Anyone could understand this was a danger signal, and the people entering and exiting the city started running.
The caravan entered the city valiantly. Mo Yan asked Ze Wu to move a basket of tea leaves and two baskets of oranges onto Chi Jie’s car, and asked the caravan to go to Hongfu Inn to wait before they went to the military camp again.
P.S. The south is sadly just a homogenous blob. I really wished there’d be a little more development of the south. Thanks for reading!
[1] Mo Yan tried to carve the words ‘erliang’ (two taels) onto a jade to give to Lu Junming.
[2] I really don’t want this to become a fully-fledged love triangle.