On the thirtieth day of the first lunar month, Gu Dashan led a convoy of twelve mule carts, carrying dry tofu triumphantly to the Gu’s warehouse in the county town.
Gu’s warehouse in the county was dedicated to selling dry tofu. In colder weather, they would also sell so fresh tofu.
Gu Dalin had been waiting in the shop early in the morning. Seeing Gu Dashan arriving with the convoy, he hurriedly greeted with a smile, "Brother Dashan, you’ve co early today. It’s only just past this hour."
"Phew~" Gu Dashan stopped the mule cart and said with a smile to Gu Dalin, "Not early. We have to make three trips today."
Dry tofu could be stored for a long ti and sold to distant places. Therefore, each shipnt involved transporting more than ten thousand catties.
"We have enough ti, this batch of goods won’t be shipped until tomorrow," said Gu Dalin and shouted towards the shop, "Liu Zi, Dazhu, Xiao Mazi, Qingliang, Qingtian, Qingxi, co out and move the goods!"
"Coming." Liu Zi and the others heard and imdiately ca out of the shop to start moving the dry tofu from the mule carts.
"Uncle Dashan." After the three cousins Qingtian ca out, they greeted Gu Dashan before moving the dry tofu.
"Hey." Gu Dashan responded with a smile. Seeing Qingxi also carrying a sack of dry tofu into the shop, he hurriedly said, "Qingxi, take it easy. You’re young, you don’t have to carry. Ah Jiang and the others are here."
Qingxi replied without turning back, "Uncle Dashan, the dry tofu isn’t heavy. I can handle it."
The dry tofu was sothing Sister Xiao Yu had spent a year to perfect. It was tofu from which the water had been removed. The entire piece of tofu was full of small holes, very dry, and very light. A large sack looked big, but it was hardly heavy, weighing only about fifty catties.
Gu Dalin smiled and said, "Brother Dashan, don’t worry about him. He’s young, but he works more nimbly than his two older brothers."
Gu Dashan nodded, "Mm, Qingxi has grown up and can help us with work."
Then he asked, "Have Qingtian and Qingliang been helping out at the shop every day recently? Aren’t they preparing for the county examination? Why aren’t they studying hard?"
Good Brother An, Jin Sheng, Brother Ming, and Brother Xing were all studying hard every day, even staying at Master Ouyang’s house for the past few days to quest imdiately whenever they encountered sothing they didn’t understand.
Even so, their families were still worried that they might fail the exam.
Gu Dalin said, "Qingtian and Qingliang’s knowledge can’t compare to Good Brother An, not even Brother Xing. This ti, we only want them to broaden their horizons. The chance of them passing is slim, so they’re not studying too hard, just like before."
Old Mrs. Yan’s family had already braced for the children’s failure, thus they didn’t give it much importance. Life went on as usual.
Gu Dashan didn’t say anything after hearing this, but his concern for his own eldest son increased. His son, Good Brother An, was very competitive, and would be deeply distressed if he failed the exam... No, no, he shouldn’t think like that. His son Good Brother An was the most capable—how could he possibly fail? He was bound to pass!
While comforting himself, Gu Dashan carried two sacks of dry tofu into the shop.
Ah Jiang called out from behind, "Boss, be careful. Don’t hurt your back."
Gu Dashan: "It’s okay, the dry tofu isn’t heavy."
Back in his hotown, he often carried goods for others. Those stones, millstones, pottery jars and whatnot were really heavy, with a single large stone weighting hundreds of catties. But to earn a few copper coins, he had no choice but to shoulder the burden with gritted teeth.
...
Not far from the alley entrance, Liu Eniang, who had carefully dressed up, was carrying a basket and clutching a handkerchief, watching Gu Dashan’s retreating back... Look at how strong Brother Gu’s physique is, carrying two large sacks of stuff yet still striding as if on wings, if she were to marry him, surely within a year she could quickly give birth to a son.
And once she had a son, she would be able to claim a share of the Gu Family’s assets.
These past few days, she had inquired a lot about the Gu Family’s affairs, and what she didn’t know before really scared her upon finding out. She never imagined the Gu Family from the countryside was so wealthy.
It is said that even the Futai Building in the county town has a share owned by the Gu Family, and the Hu Family has to give them a sum of silver every month. As for how much? So say it’s a few hundred taels, and so say a few thousand taels. Whether it’s hundreds or thousands of taels, it’s money that Liu Eniang could never earn in her entire life.
Upon hearing about the extent of the Gu Family’s wealth, Liu Eniang was so excited that her eyes turned red.
And Liu Eniang, a woman with no background, was actually able to obtain this information through selling herself.
Among her lovers, there was a man nad Qian Dabiao, a thug from the county’s gambling house, who knew a lot about the county’s affairs. He even told her that Gu Dashan would co today to deliver dry tofu to Gu’s warehouse.
Qian Dabiao knew that she wanted to sche against Gu Dashan and even reminded her, "That Gu Dashan has a nephew by marriage who is the Squad Leader Luo in the county, you better not be courting death."
Squad Leader Luo had so fa in the county, and there was also Company Commander Qin from the Military Office who often appeared in the county together with Squad Leader Luo, both not to be trifled with.
Their own boss had long instructed them not to provoke these two people, nor to provoke anyone from Gu’s warehouse. That youngster from the Gu Family was highly favored by County Magistrate Zheng, and if they provoked this family, the consequences would not be good.
But when Liu Eniang learned of the imnse wealth of the Gu Family, how could she resist not scheming against Gu Dashan?
Besides, no matter how terrifying Squad Leader Luo and Company Commander Qin were, they were still juniors, could they really control Gu Dashan?
As long as Gu Dashan liked her, everything else was not a problem.
After seeing Gu Dashan, Liu Eniang wanted even more to hook up with him, but she didn’t rush out imdiately to et him, and just kept waiting.
She waited for almost half the day, until it was past mid-afternoon, Gu Dashan delivered all the dry tofu to the county, finished the work, then went to the cloth shop to buy two bolts of good cloth for Mrs. Cui, before driving the mule cart ho.
At this mont, Liu Eniang hurriedly stepped out with a rushed pace.
She was not afraid of death, and in order to climb up the ladder through Gu Dashan, she directly threw herself onto the mule cart.
With a loud bang, Liu Eniang fell to the ground, the eggs in the basket shattered all over the place, she cried in pain, but still quickly reached out her hands to scrape together the broken eggs on the ground, sobbing, "My eggs, I’ve been saving these eggs for half a year, my little Xiao Lian is still sick, relying on these eggs to trade for dicine, wuwuwu..."
Liu Eniang cried softly, not very loudly, but quietly sobbing, she was at the peak of youth and beauty, and was wearing a white cloth coat, which really made her seem pure and angelic, evoking pity.
Imdiately three n crowded around her, offering earnest comfort: "Young lady, don’t cry, we will certainly get justice for you, get up quickly."
Saying that, they reached out their hands, intending to help Liu Eniang.
Liu Eniang was startled and retreated, yelling, "Step back, don’t touch ."
After that, she quickly turned her head, looking at Gu Dashan who had already stopped the mule cart, and pleaded grievously to him, "Please help , big brother, as long as you help drive them away, I’ll consider this accident of mine cancelled."
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