Chapter 31: Handle It According to the Bigger Picture
Shi Gun, having received his Young Lord’s command, quickly sent someone to fetch a buyer from the kitchen to go purchase eggs together.
Upon hearing that a cartload of eggs was to be bought, the buyer’s first question was: How big a cart?
Shi Gun was stunned by the buyer’s question.
Right, how big was this cartload? He had been too shocked and surprised just now and forgot to ask his Young Lord!
There were handcarts, and there were large flatbed carts; the difference in size was enormous!
The buyer looked at Shi Gun’s tense face and said with a smile, “Could Master Shi tell me what these eggs are for? Knowing the purpose, I can roughly estimate how many eggs are needed and what kind of cart to use.”
Shi Gun’s brows furrowed. Even if he explained the purpose of this cartload of eggs, he couldn’t estimate it, so it was better not to say.
“Just…” Shi Gun’s “just” got stuck.
Asking his Young Lord again about the size of this cart would definitely be inappropriate. Besides, his Young Lord probably hadn’t even considered such a trivial matter as the cart’s size.
Should he prepare for a larger scale, or a smaller one?
Hmm, it had to be on a larger scale!
Firstly, his Young Lord’s status was extraordinary. Once he made a move, the grandeur could not be small.
Secondly, his Young Lord, who was in his early twenties, was speaking sweet words to a young lady for the first time. Although this matter was very strange, it wasn’t his place to judge whether it was strange or not. His Young Lord thought highly of that young lady, so he had to be attentive.
As the head eunuch, he absolutely could not go against his Young Lord’s wishes. If he did, he, Shi Gun, would likely be cast out to who knows where.
“The biggest cart,” Shi Gun said with a stern face, giving the instruction with great authority.
“Ah? The biggest cart? Oh! Alright, alright! When does Master Shi need it? Now? Then we must hurry! The biggest cart, a cartload of eggs! Master Shi, you must hurry, we all must hurry. If we’re even a little late, we might not be able to get them all.” The buyer, startled by the mention of the biggest cart, immediately urged Shi Gun.
Buyers from the kitchen always made their purchases early in the morning. The rule for markets like vegetables, meat, and eggs was that goods arrived at midnight and were sold until dawn. Most of the bulk goods would be gone by then, leaving only a small amount for scattered business. At this hour, there wouldn’t be many eggs left in the market. One egg vendor wouldn’t be enough; they’d likely have to visit every egg vendor in the city.
“I’ll need to borrow two of Master Shi’s men. We should call more people from the buyers’ department and split up to go to each egg vendor. If it’s just the two of us running around, even on horseback, it would probably take until dark. Pingjiang City isn’t small,” the buyer, a sharp-minded individual, suggested immediately.
“Hurry and call them!” Shi Gun waved his hand at once.
If it took until dark to buy all the eggs, his task would be considered a failure.
His Young Lord valued swift and decisive action. Working under the Young Lord, he absolutely could not delay; it had to be as fast as possible.
No matter how rushed Shi Gun and the buyers were, by the time they had bought a full cartload of eggs, the sun was already setting in the west.
Li Xiaonan and Li Yin Zhu ran half a street in one go, hiding in the doorway of a shop, cautiously looking behind them and to the sides. After a good while, they didn’t see Gu Yan again, and both breathed a sigh of relief. They whispered and discussed for a while, then decided to continue their shopping. They hadn’t even started exploring yet, and going back now would be too disappointing.
They shopped until the sun began to set in the west, and both were so tired their ankles ached. Only then did they ask for directions and head back towards Academy Street.
As soon as the two arrived home, Li Jinzhu and Li Yuzhu also returned.
Li Yin Zhu eagerly went to meet them, energetically drew well water for her two elder sisters, handed them handkerchiefs, and then quickly boiled water to make tea.
She truly didn’t feel tired; she only felt her heart brimming with excitement and joy, wanting to skip with every few steps.
“Did Eldest Sister check the spinning wheel?” Li Xiaonan was truly tired and moved her small bamboo chair over to ask.
“Not yet. Spinning wheels have too many intricacies. There are those for weaving cotton cloth, those for weaving silk, with jacquard, without jacquard, wide width, narrow width, and even ones specifically for weaving linen. My head is spinning,” Li Yuzhu replied.
“Ah! So many details!” Li Yin Zhu exclaimed dramatically.
She and Xiaonan had agreed on the way that if their two elder sisters didn’t ask, they wouldn’t mention their outing today.
The reason they wouldn’t mention it was that if they did, they would have to talk about encountering the scoundrel. Knowing they had met a scoundrel on their first outing, Eldest Sister would surely worry and might even forbid them from going out whenever they pleased.
The outside world was so exciting, and they had only just begun to explore it. If Eldest Sister restricted them, it would be too tragic.
“The cloth shops here don’t want coarse cloth, and we only know how to weave coarse cloth,” Li Jinzhu said, wiping water from her face, looking a bit disheveled.
“We…”
“Is this Li Xiucai’s residence?”
Li Yuzhu’s words were interrupted by a crisp shout from outside the courtyard gate.
“Yes, yes, yes!” Li Yin Zhu replied repeatedly, rushing to the courtyard gate, and in a blink of an eye, rushed back, pointing her hand backward towards the courtyard gate non-stop, her eyes wide as she looked at Li Xiaonan, “Yes, yes, yes, it’s that, that!”
Li Xiaonan sprang up with a whoosh and rushed out.
Li Jinzhu, with water still on her face, glared at the two younger ones. Li Yuzhu handed Li Jinzhu a handkerchief and rushed out right behind Li Xiaonan.
Li Jinzhu followed last. Just as she reached the courtyard entrance and before she stepped over the threshold, she bumped into a porter dressed in black cloth clothes and pants. Li Jinzhu quickly dodged. The porter in black carried a bamboo basket on his shoulder, entered the courtyard, looked around, carefully placed the bamboo basket down, moved it, and positioned it right under the window of the main hall.
Before the first porter had finished, the second porter was already behind him, placing down his bamboo basket. One porter after another, carrying bamboo baskets on their shoulders, entered and exited like a flowing stream. In the blink of an eye, the small quadrangle courtyard of the Li family was filled to the brim, leaving no space to even step.
The last porter tiptoed and strained to get through a small gap between the bamboo baskets. Li Jinzhu quickly followed behind the porter, carefully stepping out.
At the courtyard entrance, Li Yuzhu stood pressed against the gate, her eyes wide open, looking at Li Yin Zhu and Li Xiaonan, who stood shoulder to shoulder like a pair of fighting cocks.
Li Yin Zhu had her arms crossed, protecting Li Xiaonan in front and to the side, glaring at a young man in brocade clothes with clear features and a joyful expression. Li Xiaonan was pointing her finger inside the courtyard gate, talking to the young man in brocade. The young man had an incredibly amiable smile, nodding and cupping his hands as he spoke.
“What is going on?”
Li Jinzhu’s first thought was that someone had come to deliver something for Xuedong. Seeing Li Yin Zhu’s combative stance, her heart, which had just settled, rose again.
“He was talking about his master apologizing or something, and A Nan was scolding him. I didn’t understand,” Li Yuzhu truly didn’t understand.
This person in front of them was dressed so well, and kept referring to “his master.” Was he a servant?
How could a servant be dressed so well? And look so good? What family could afford such a servant?
The alleyways on both ends were already filled with curious neighbors. Shi Gun, being questioned by Li Xiaonan sentence after sentence, was sweating all over. His peripheral vision caught sight of the full cartload of eggs already being moved into the courtyard. He immediately cupped his hands and said, “If the young lady has anything to say, please tell our master when you see him. This subordinate takes his leave!” With a turn, he left, half-walking, half-running.
I’ve been busy receiving goods, distributing them, and taking my own goods. Ah, one group is done, there’s another, and it’s almost done too!
Keep going!
