Chapter 1747: The Rewards Have Arrived
Chapter 1747: Chapter 1747: The Rewards Have Arrived
Ji Zhenniang was sulking and sat silently.
Mrs. Kuang was furious, entered the room, and slapped her on the back of the head, lowering her voice, "On the God of Wealth’s arrival day, don’t make trouble, if you ruin the relatives’ business, you’ll compensate us."
Upon hearing this, Ji Zhenniang shivered, hurriedly got up to get pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, but the tears of grievance welled up in her eyes.
Mrs. Kuang clicked her tongue, "What’s wrong now? Weren’t you happy when I delivered that to you yesterday?"
Ji Zhenniang started crying again, "That was yesterday, today Xie Cheng that bastard..."
"Fighting again? I can’t be bothered with you two, hurry and give the pen and paper to me." Mrs. Kuang snatched the items and went to another room so that Chief Ruan and Gu Jinli could sign the contract over there, lest Ji Zhenniang cry and scare off the God of Wealth.
Seeing Mrs. Kuang leave before she could finish speaking, Ji Zhenniang was even more frustrated and laid on the desk crying... Why is Gu Jinli so ugly, yet the man surnamed Qin is willing to swear a deadly oath for her in public?
And she herself looks so beautiful, but last night at the welcome banquet, Xie Cheng didn’t swear a deadly oath; is it because he made achievements and feels like he’s going to be promoted, so he wants to take a concubine?
Xie Huaihua sighed, the madam is too suspicious of the master, the master would cut open his heart for her to see if he could, yet she gets upset over an oath and cries.
"Madam, stop crying, if Mrs. Qin hears, we won’t get a share of the silver in this deal."
Hearing this, Ji Zhenniang felt more aggrieved but dared not cry anymore, she wiped her tears and continued to keep track of the quilt workshop’s accounts... This is her new task, she must do it well, failure would mean both Gu Jinli and Granny Lei would discipline her.
...
In the next room, Chief Ruan personally wrote two copies of the contract and handed them to Gu Jinli, "Mrs. Qin, take a look, if everything’s in order, we’ll sign and put the handprints."
Regarding the sale of goose down quilts, Gu Jinli and Young Master Dou had already agreed in letters that no matter the sale price, profits would be split 50-50. She was responsible for the quilt workshop, while Young Master Dou handled transport, refinement, and sales.
In addition, Young Master Dou would also collect chicken, duck, and goose feathers in the southern regions for quilt-making, with profits still shared with Gu Jinli at 50-50, but she must provide Dou Family with formulas to remove odors.
However, profits from southern-made quilts would go solely to Gu Jinli and not Mrs. Kuang’s group, since they are not made in the Northwest region.
Gu Jinli had mentioned this to Mrs. Kuang and her group, they felt it was a pity but understood that there were more feathers in the south, and saw no reason to waste them, so making them into quilts to exchange for silver was sensible, thus they had no complaints.
Gu Jinli quickly reviewed the contract, signing and imprinting her hand.
Chief Ruan retrieved the contract, stamped it with the Dou Family seal, and put it away, "I will go to the government office to complete the records, once finished, a copy will be sent back to Mrs. Qin."
He added, "We brought some food and medicinal supplies as bait at the city gate, it seems almost done, soon we’ll deliver it to Company Commander Qin and Mrs. Qin."
Qin San Lang asked, "Is there fresh meat?"
Chief Ruan replied, "Yes, we brought a cart of chickens and ducks, and a cart of pigs and sheep."
In fact, they didn’t just bring these, but a whole convoy of grains, livestock, dried meat, vegetables, medicines, and supplements. It was the master’s special instruction, saying the Northwest was barren with too little food, and he couldn’t let Company Commander Qin suffer, he needed to be well replenished.
Chief Ruan, upon seeing this instruction, wanted to ask: Master, just how worried are you that Company Commander Qin will go hungry?
"Thank you." Qin San Lang was pleased, Xiao Yu would have meat for dinner, he turned to Gu Jinli and said, "Xiao Yu, I’ll see Chief Ruan off, I’ll be back later."
"Alright." Gu Jinli and Mrs. Kuang rose, escorted them out of the courtyard gates, then turned back inside.
Relatives had already gathered from various rooms, eagerly and nervously asking, "Mrs. Qin, is it settled?"
Gu Jinli nodded, "It’s settled, whatever number of goose down quilts we produce, they will transport to the Capital to sell, prices may drop in the future, but this winter’s price won’t be less than a hundred taels per quilt."
"Oh my God, really sold for a hundred taels per quilt!" The relatives exclaimed, a few couldn’t bear the excitement and fainted.
"Quick, press their philtrum." Gu Jinli shouted, the relatives hurriedly did so to revive them.
Soon, the fainted relatives came to their senses.
Lin Tongshan’s wife, Mrs. Yang, cried tears of joy, "Boohoo, we’re making money, finally we’re wealthy."
Although the share they received wasn’t huge, it wouldn’t be less than ten taels.
Mrs. Yang, a hard-luck woman who had never seen so much silver in her life, felt that the hardships suffered traveling to the Northwest weren’t in vain.
Gu Jinli laughed, "This is just the beginning, Mrs. Lin, wait and see, there’ll be more good days ahead."
"Mrs. Qin is right, as long as we follow her, our days will only get better!" The relatives chimed in, their faces beaming with joy of making big money.
Seeing this, Ji Zhenniang snorted coldly, wanting to make a sarcastic remark at Gu Jinli, but recalling Gu Jinli’s warning, held her tongue and said with a sob, "Still, you have it lucky."
Her tone was sour, Gu Jinli couldn’t be bothered with her, and simply said to the relatives, "The Dou Family brought us grain and meat, tonight we’ll slaughter a pig and a sheep to give everyone a nice meal."
The relatives cheered again, exclaiming, "Following Mrs. Qin truly is our blessing!"
Gu Jinli smiled but didn’t linger, after assigning tasks she left with Sanqing.
Mrs. Kuang left as well.
Seeing this, Ji Zhenniang chased after them with tears streaming down, "Gu Xiaoyu, didn’t you see I was crying?"
Gu Jinli clicked her tongue, looking at her, "What’s your crying got to do with me, you think I’m going to comfort you? I’m not your Xie Company Commander."
Mentioning Xie Cheng made Ji Zhenniang sob aloud, "Boohoo, Xie Cheng, he didn’t swear a deadly oath."
"What? You’re upset about that all day? Ji Zhenniang you’re truly insane." Gu Jinli felt immense sympathy for Xie Cheng, intending to scold Ji Zhenniang but seeing two figures ahead, likely Xie Cheng and Nanny Xie, she swallowed her words and said, "Xie Company Commander treats you well enough, stop causing trouble, if dissatisfied just speak up."
With those words, she and Sanqing left.
Before long, Xie Cheng arrived, holding Ji Zhenniang’s hand and handing her a letter, "Zhenniang have a look."
He only understood why Zhenniang was angry with him after Nanny Xie explained, it was laughable.
"I don’t want to!" Ji Zhenniang was being capricious.
Xie Cheng said, "It’s written by my own hand, it’s proof of never divorcing, taking concubines, or taking beauties, signed and with handprints."
Ji Zhenniang froze, quickly turned back, picked up the letter, opened it to find Xie Cheng’s promises written within.
"Boohoo, husband, you’re too good to me!" Ji Zhenniang cried tears of joy, feeling Xie Cheng indeed loved her most.
Seeing she finally calmed down, Xie Cheng felt relieved, gently patted her head, and sighed, "In the future, just speak up, if you don’t, I can’t guess, otherwise, we’ll end up like before."
Reminded of their past, Ji Zhenniang shuddered and quickly promised, "Alright, from now on I’ll tell you everything, no more sulking!"
Nanny Xie laughed quietly, the relationship between the young master and young madam was getting better and better.
Amidst the joy, Manager Xie came rushing in, Nanny Xie knew it must be important and quickly reminded, "Master, Manager Xie is here."
Xie Cheng let go of Ji Zhenniang’s hand, turned and took a few steps forward to meet Manager Xie, and asked, "Uncle Xie, has something major happened in the city?"
Uncle Xie managed external affairs, so his hurried arrival indicated something big had occurred.
Manager Xie nodded, face beaming with joy, "Scouts sent by General Liang report that people from the Capital are almost at Xing’an Prefecture, bringing rewards from the Emperor for the soldiers, including supplies and military pay!"