Chapter 41: Return Voyage

  Song Wenxian's home was in Dengzhou City, but apparently the more than 10,000 taels of silver outside the city were more important to him. He and Chen Xin left the city together, hired a horse-drawn carriage outside the Chunsheng Gate on the east side, and headed towards the bay where the Zhu Yin ship was anchored. Chen Xin admired his spirit of passing by his own home without entering and focusing on dividing the spoils.

  Because the silver of Zhu Yin's ship cannot be seen in daylight, Song Wenxian does not plan to store this eye-catching loot in a money house in Dengzhou. Moreover, there are other people on Zhu Yin's ship, and he cannot get the silver under public gaze. Therefore, he decides to follow the original plan and go to Tianjin with Chen Xin, and help Chen Xin establish connections in Tianjin at the same time.

  Others, such as Han Bin and others, lived near Dengzhou, and the Fu ship was also moored in Dengzhou. After arriving at the shore yesterday, Song Wenxian dispersed them. Han Bin saw Chen Xin following Song Wenxian to visit the Hai Fang Dao and knew that his own ambitions had fallen through, and he might not follow Chen Xin to do maritime trade in the future. He left with a sullen face. Hei Pao, Zhu Zi, and Lao Wang also moved to the Zhu Yin ship because they needed to return to Tianjin to help deal with Zhao Dongjia's aftermath.

  After the carriage had traveled for more than half a watch, Song Wenxian and Chen Xin got off the carriage and walked along the mountain road for about two quarters of an hour. They arrived at a bay where the Zhu Yin ship was quietly moored, with the official flag of Dengzhou Sea Defense Command hanging from the mast. On the hillside, there were several cowherd boys curiously sizing up the big ship.

  Zhu Guobin and Lu Zizi were anxiously waiting on the deck, and when they saw the two arriving, they quickly put down the foot boat and pulled the two aboard.

  "Mr. Song, Mr. Chen, are you both doing well?" The scar-faced man asked as soon as he arrived.

  Chen Xind nodded and said: "Smoothly done. Mr. Song is now an aide to Sun Chuantai, so everyone will have to rely on Mr. Song for meals from now on."

  Song Wenxian narrowed his eyes and said, "What use is a staff officer without a position? I'll tell you all, Brother Chen has already become the hundredth guard of Weihaiwei. After some time, he will come down to take office, and everyone should remember to address him as Hundredth Guard from then on. Who knows, soon we might have to call him Thousandth Guard."

  "Congratulations, Mr. Chen!" "Congratulations, congratulations."

  Everyone on the road had a good impression of Chen Xindu, and now they were all genuinely happy for him. Lu Zizi and Qin Lüfang's faces were flushed with excitement, and Lu Zizi even imitated the three little followers by clapping his hands. Although being a military officer didn't count as having real power, it was still an official position after all.

  "Thank you all very much. Now that we've arrived in Tianjin, I'll be your host, please do me the honor of joining me for a drink, and let's not part until we're drunk."

  "Definitely, definitely." Everyone was in high spirits. This time on the road, they encountered setbacks and everyone's heart was worried. Now, there is finally a good result, and the income is also very good. There are several people on this boat who plan to follow Chen Xin. Chen Xin now has an official position, and everyone will have a way out in the future.

  Wang Zugui said to Chen Xindao, "Brother Chen, I'll get off the boat first. I need to send back the ashes of our fellow villagers and also the silver. Next time we set sail, just give a shout and Hei Pao Ge and Ba Zi Ge will know where to find us."

  Chen Xin clasped his fists and said: "Brother Wang, you're free to go. Is your home far? With so much silver, I'll send you back before you leave again."

  Wang Zugui showed a somewhat embarrassed expression, his family was just a fishing village near Dengzhou, not far from here, but the silver was indeed a bit too much, he and that fellow villager added up to more than 2,000 taels, 80-90 kilograms, and still had to carry that brother's ashes.

  Song Wenxian saw Chen Xin and thought of doing a good deed, so he advised him on the side: "Brother Chen, it's not suitable to stay here for long. Just now on the road there was a village, let someone accompany Brother Wang to hire two porters in the village."

  Chen Xinyi thought so too, the large sum of silver on the boat, now there are less than ten people left, it's indeed not suitable to stay for long. He said to Lu Ma Zi and Zhu Guobin: "Zhu brothers, Lu brothers, please accompany Wang brothers to hire people, I'll pay for the hiring fee. Wang brothers, don't reveal your wealth on the way, if others ask, just say they are goods and things."

  "Alright."

  "Thanks, Brother Chen."

  Two men helped Wang Zugui move the silver ashore and up the mountain, disappearing behind the ridge.

  "Chen brothers' thoughts are meticulous, and they will surely achieve something in their official career."

  Chen Xin smiled slightly, knowing what Song Wenxian meant. The two men he had found to accompany Wang Zugui were both people with a strong murderous aura. As long as these two followed him, it indicated that someone knew the location of the village, and the villagers who were hired would not dare to make a move on Wang Zugui along the way.

  Song Wenxian continued: "It's just that brother doesn't understand, why did Brother Chen choose Weihaiwei? There is also Dengzhouwei in this city of Dengzhou, which is closer to the adults and has more opportunities for promotion."

  "Mr. Song, from Tianjin to Weihaiwei, it takes 5 or 6 days at the earliest and 8 or 9 days at the latest. If there is a small port of our own near Weihaiwei, we can replenish fresh water and food for the ships, so we can load more cargo in Tianjin. On the return trip, we can also rest and replenish there, and it's only two days' sea journey to Dengzhou, making it convenient to meet with the dignitaries, so I choose this place."

  Song Wenxian listened to Chen Xin's words and thought that it was indeed so. Being able to carry less water and food meant being able to earn more.

  Chen Xin didn't tell Song Wenxian his true thoughts, he hoped to keep a distance from those adults, not being restricted in daily life. In the past, Zhao Dongjia's mode was to disperse during peacetime and gather when going out to sea, which easily led to information leaks, and manpower was also scattered. If someone really wanted to deal with him, there were only a few people in Tianjin who could help, and once they made money, some people might not come back. Having his own place would allow him to concentrate his forces and have his own power. Moreover, Weihai is located at the eastern end of Shandong Province, where land transportation is not convenient, quietly developing strength wouldn't attract attention. Even if it's just a mixed life, when the Tartars come later, running away will be more convenient.

  "Chen brothers thought that indeed more thoughtful than me."

  Chen Xin asked about the situation of Weihaiwei, Song Wenxian was not very clear either, only saying that Weihaiwei seemed to be smaller than ordinary Wei, and it was not one of the five thousand households in an ordinary Wei. Nowadays, being an official in a Wei is not worth much, as long as there is a governor-general looking after you, those officials inside the Wei would not dare to make things difficult for you.

  While the two were talking, Lu Zizhong and Zhu Guobin had already returned. As soon as they boarded the deck, everyone worked together to raise the sails. The eleven people on the ship strained their strength to finally hoist up the two hard sails. This was still a small sail of a Japanese ship; if it were a Fuzhou ship, they would probably be unable to do anything but stare blankly.

  "We're going home!!" Chen Xin shouted loudly at the bow of the ship, the storms and bloodshed along the way had finally passed, and the road ahead was the way home. Ning Cheng and Lu Ma Zi and others all shouted loudly, venting their excitement. The Zhu Yin boat sailed out of the bay, riding the wind towards Tianjin.

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  "Dogzi, you don't have to train today, just stay in the shop and help your elder brother Zhou cut fabrics."

  "Oh, but Brother Chen said we have to train every day."

  "The clothing store is extremely busy now, you all temporarily stop for a few days."

  "I'll practice by myself after work tonight, it's fine."

  "Alright then."

  Under the night sky, in the courtyard of Erdao Street, several torches were lit and many lanterns were hung, making it bright and dazzling. Liu Min wiped the sweat from his forehead, and a long table was set up with wooden boards in the courtyard. Haigouzhi and Zhang Erhui held a paper template against a piece of fabric to draw patterns, while Wang Dai Xi and Zhou Lai Fu cut out fabrics with scissors, and Zhou Lai Fu and Jiang Wangjia's wife were sewing sleeves. Dai Zhenggang was awkwardly ironing clothes on another small wooden table, the courtyard was cluttered and noisy with scraps all over the floor, making it seem cramped despite its original spaciousness.

  Several neighboring scarf shops were also brightly lit, all working overtime. Liu Min had outsourced most of the clothing to them, and his own shop was also doing some work. These days, business was too good, and everyone was exhausted.

  At this time, Zhou Laifu stared with a pair of panda eyes. He had been working night shifts at Liu Min's orchid clothing store for days, and he still had to go to work on East Gate Street during the day. Every day was a whirlwind, but looking at the five cents per piece fee, he worked hard, doing a few pieces in one night, earning several silver coins. In twenty days, his income had already reached five or six taels of silver, plus his wife also working as an odd jobber here, adding up to more than seven taels, and he still felt it was worth it.

  Deng Keshan hastily ran in from the open gate, also with a head full of sweat. He greeted everyone and then rushed to Liu Minyou's side and asked: "Brother Liu, are the three pieces of Tian Pozhu's work that were ordered three days ago ready?"

  Liu Min stared with red eyes, took out the goods catalog, he himself drew into a familiar table, turned to the order three days ago, the status was still ordering, not even preparing materials.

  "It's not done yet, how can it be done in time? The eighty pieces for the merchant from Linqing are still unfinished, and yesterday you went to the dock to receive an order from a Beijing merchant, which requires fifty more pieces. You also said that the merchant cannot wait, and the ship will leave by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. Isn't this all because of your two businesses?"

  Deng Keshan took over the goods ledger from Liu Minhao, and after studying for a few days, he could already understand the two-dimensional table. He scratched his head and said: "I forgot, but it's really difficult to do. The saleswoman hasn't done the ones from three days ago, and these past two days we've taken back more than 30 pieces. Can't we find some more people to help with this kind of cutting? We can ask some aunties or mothers to help, and let Zhou Ge specialize in making cardboard."

  Because everyone's size is different, the clothing stores of this era are all made to order. Because materials like silk and satin are expensive, in order to avoid mistakes and waste materials, they first need to be cut out with paper according to size, then compared to the paper to cut the fabric. Liu Minyou didn't have any experience making clothes, so he couldn't make multiple sizes at once like later generations did, so every piece of clothing needed a new paper template made, and only professional tailors like Zhou Shifa could do that, so production was limited by the number of tailors and it was hard to increase output.

  Liu Min now regrets it, if he had known that business would be so good, he should have set up large, medium and small numbers, but who would have thought it would be so busy. He is currently revising it, and the two batches of goods for Linqing and Beijing are starting to use fixed specifications.

  He listened to Deng Keshan's words and impatiently said, "You say it's easy, but all the people in this neighborhood who can be found have been found. Now every household is making our clothes, you haven't seen that several tailors from Liji Fang have come to work as night workers? Not everyone's wife and aunt are willing to do night shifts either. And also, Yuan Mujiang has fallen ill from exhaustion, I just went to his house, he can't do any carpentry for the next two days, who knows how we'll deal with the clothes rack?"

  Liu Min finished speaking and stared at Deng Keshan for a few moments, but found that he had a dark bruise on his forehead. He couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Brother Deng, what's with your forehead? Did you get into another fight?"

  Deng Keshan's face was filled with indignation: "It's that Shen Lou again, you know my neighbor Zhang's towel hat shop also set up a wooden platform and hired Li the tailor from Liji Fang to work at night. If the noise is just a little louder, Shen Lou will scold and curse every night, saying all sorts of unpleasant things..."

  "Did you have a fight with him?" Liu Min suddenly thought of Shen Lou, and then he remembered that Shen family's daughter, Shen Li Shi. He had been busy every day and hadn't seen her for a long time.

  "I was about to beat him up, but before I could, his wife advised him and he got a good beating in the house. I couldn't bear it, so I went to the door to persuade him, just as he smashed out a bowl that hit me on the head. If Liu hadn't told you not to mess with him, I would have dragged him out and beaten him half to death."

  Liu Min hurriedly advised, "Brother Deng, don't mind it, he didn't do it on purpose. His whole family has no income now and is having a hard time. We really did disturb their rest by working so late every night."

  Deng Keshan suddenly slapped his forehead: "Ah, how could I forget the two women from Shen Lou's family? They have no income, isn't it perfect to call them over to work as laborers?"

  Liu Min stared at Deng Keshan in surprise: "Why call his wife out to do what? That day, she came to serve the meat and was beaten until her nose was blue and her face was swollen. Does Brother Deng think she's living too long?"

  "Look at Liu Ge, no matter how you say it, he still has to eat, his mother is a good person, last time she talked to me and cried, saying that they don't have much money left, Shen Lou can't do anything, she's afraid of being idle and not making any money, but Shen Lou has become someone who doesn't take out money."

  "Really?" Liu Minyou hesitated again, "Then you must have agreed with Shen Lou first, don't implicate Shen's wife in suffering."

  "I, Deng Daode, will take care of things for you, Brother Liu. Don't worry at all. These past few days I've been going to other nearby streets to take a look around, and if there are any willing workers, I'll bring them back together. Honestly, every day I go to the dock to handle things for you, Brother Liu, you said something about an exhibition, and then we have to find work all over the place... Brother Liu, you say this business is good but it's also a lot of trouble." Deng Keshan smiled happily.

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  Note 1: China's ironing tools have a long history, dating back to the Jin Dynasty, and were called "ironing tools". They were generally made by putting heated stones or charcoal into bronze irons, which could be used to iron clothes. Today, they have transformed into decorative pieces, thank you for your continued support.