Chapter 264: Conversation
Editor: Atlas Studios
Wulie flipped the three skins and said, “This is quite nicely tanned, similar to the ones tanned by our hunters.” Wulie threw the things aside, clearly not in a good mood.
“We occupied the land of the Great Zhou Dynasty and ruled the Han people, but we didn’t learn their farming and weaving. Every year, we still have to buy a large amount of grains from the Great Zhou Dynasty. However, their people have learned our hunting methods. They even learned the formula and method of tanning leather. Father refuses to heed any advice, and the leaders of the various tribes are short-sighted. If they had followed my instructions to develop forest conversion and cultivate land after conquering the Jingzhao Prefecture and Hanzhong Prefecture, our people might have also mastered the advanced farming techniques of the Han people. Instead, such fertile land was wasted on pasture for them to graze cattle…”
Pidusi lowered his head in shame.
Wulie sighed. When he walked to the window again, he realized that there were two more youths at the stall. The two of them were dressed in embroidered clothes and had a servant and guard behind them. Wulie was about to look away, but when he saw the two of them chatting happily with one of the young ladies selling leather goods, he couldn’t help but take a few more glances.
Wulie pointed at them and asked Pidusi, “Who are those two?”
In charge of the intelligence work in Hanzhong Prefecture and Xingzhou Prefecture, Pidusi walked to the window and took a look before saying, “Fourth Young Master, that’s Qi Xiuyuan’s younger brother, Qi Haoran, and his cousin, Fan Zijin.”
“Qi Haoran, who was the first to open the gates of Hanzhong Prefecture?”
“Yes!”
Wulie narrowed his eyes. “He seems young. Let’s go down and take a look.”
“No, Fourth Young Master, although this Qi Haoran is an idiot, his martial arts skills are excellent…”
“To be able to occupy Qinghe Town without alerting anyone and even charge into the heavily-guarded Hanzhong Prefecture, do you really think he’s an idiot? I think this word more aptly describes you.” Wulie turned around and went down.
Pidusi’s face turned red as he hurriedly chased after them with his guards.
Facing the window of the teahouse, Mu Yangling smiled and asked Qi Haoran in a low voice, “Do you think friends from neighboring countries will visit such a lively temple fair?”
Qi Haoran’s eyebrows did not move as he said matter-of-factly, “Of course. Why?”
If he could get his people to infiltrate the Jin Kingdom and West Xia, so could the two countries.
“Nothing. I just feel that those people are very likely nearby.” Mu Yangling had been observing her surroundings. When she saw Wulie coming out of the teahouse with a group of people behind him and walking towards them, and the suspicious-looking Pidusi, she said with a smile, “Perhaps the new guest wants to meet you and make friends with you.”
Recalling the plot in ancient dramas, Mu Yangling smiled and said, “I just don’t know if you two will grow to admire each other or something.”
Fan Zijin looked Qi Haoran up and down seriously for a while before turning to Mu Yangling. “That’s very likely.”
Qi Haoran stomped his feet in anger. “The two of you are ganging up to scold me?!”
Mu Yangling and Fan Zijin looked at Qi Haoran seriously and said, “When did we scold you?”
Qi Haoran looked at them suspiciously. “Then what did you mean by what you said just now?”
Before Mu Yangling could answer, Wulie and the others walked over. Mu Yangling shut her mouth and smiled as she picked up the bundle containing the fiery red fox skin and stuffed it into Qi Haoran’s arms. She said with a smile, “Little General, take these two fox skins as a gift from me. I’ll need you to take care of our family’s business in the future.”
Qi Haoran looked at her in a daze and did not react for a moment. On the other hand, Fan Zijin picked up two pieces of pure white rabbit skin with his fingers and threw them to her. “Wrap these up. I’ll use them as scarves.”
Mu Yangling immediately tied them up with a rope and smiled respectfully. “Young Master Fan, if you like it, just take it. If it’s not enough, I’ll look for more with pure colors.”
Wulie found an opportunity to interrupt. “Although it’s not difficult to find pure white rabbit skin, it’s not easy to find in large quantities.” He glanced at Fan Zijin’s face and smiled. “With his handsome looks, this young master does look good with a white scarf, but in fact, gray isn’t bad either.”
Qi Haoran still had some tacit understanding with them. Seeing this, he immediately understood what was going on. He sized up Wulie and asked, “You’re familiar with these. Judging from your clothes, you’re a Hu, right?”
Actually, he could tell that Wulie was a Hu because he looked like a Hu. However, the guards behind him were all dressed like Han Chinese, and many of them had the appearance of Han Chinese.
Seeing that he had finally spoken, Wulie replied with a smile, “My mother is a Hu. My surname is Wu. May I know your names? I heard from my servant that the temple in Hanzhong Prefecture will be very lively, so I came over to play.”
Seeing that they had started a conversation, the corners of Mu Yangling’s lips curled up slightly. Xiuhong, who was focused on selling the goods, pointed at the group of merchants in front and whispered, “Cousin, they’re out.”
Mu Yangling turned her head to look. The group of merchants were the ones who had gone shopping to compare the various sellers’ leather goods. Now that they were out, Mu Yangling observed their expressions and saw that they did not look happy. She knew that their business must not have succeeded, so she gave Xiuhong a look.
Xiuhong immediately climbed onto the cart and grabbed a piece of wolf skin. She waved it and shouted, “Leather goods! Leather goods! High-quality leather goods, fox skin, wolf skin, rabbit skin of a wide variety of colors. Don’t miss them!”
The sudden voice startled Wulie and Fan Zijin, who were talking. The two of them looked up at Xiuhong speechlessly. Qi Haoran smiled and winked at Mu Yangling. He cupped his hands at Wulie and said, “Young Master Wu, why don’t we find a place to sit down and talk?”
“Brother Fan and I hit it off at first sight. I have the same intention. Since my men booked a private room in the teahouse just now, why don’t we go upstairs and sit?”
The group returned to the teahouse, leaving Mu Yangling and Xiuhong behind. The duo successfully attracted the attention of the group of merchants.
They quickly surrounded Mu Yangling’s cart. She greeted them with a smile. “Boss, take a look. Let us know if anything catches your eye, and I’ll wrap it up for you.”
Mu Yangling and the others opened the leather goods and placed them on the cart. One of the bosses took a look and shook his head. “It’s good, but it’s too little.”
“Boss, this is only a portion. I don’t have much fox skin and wolf skin, but I have a lot of rabbit skin. I wonder which kind you like?”
“Do you have a lot of rabbit skin?” Southerners preferred fox skin and rabbit skin, but fox skin was expensive. It was even rarer if it was pure color. However, very few people had a large batch of fox skin. At this time, since rabbit skin was the most popular, they mostly bought rabbit skin when they came to replenish their stock.
Mu Yangling managed to hunt rabbits in the mountains almost every day. Sometimes, she had to skin the rabbits before selling them because the buyers didn’t know how to skin them, let alone tan them. Skinned rabbits was cheaper than unskinned ones, and it saved them a lot of trouble. Naturally, the Mu family had a lot of stock.
Coupled with the rabbit plague at the beginning of spring this year, she had also stored up a lot of rabbit skin, so there were especially many rabbit skins this year.
Mu Yangling turned around and took out a large bundle from under the felt and placed it on the cart. She patted it and said, “Look, these are all rabbit skins. There are another three bundles underneath.”