"It’s not botherso to figure out, but the real trouble is how to concoct it without Yaya finding out. Maybe I could just treat it as a secret recipe and not let her know."
Having grown accustod to using shampoo for hair washing, she naturally wouldn’t use the thod of the ancients. She found it a hassle and felt it didn’t clean as well.
Because today’s weather was nice, sunny with crisp autumn air.
So after she finished washing her hair and was sitting in the courtyard combing out her locks, Yaya ca back sweating profusely with a small bamboo basket on her back, setting it down to look.
"Wow, you’ve got quite a haul there, all these are the common mushrooms we see around."
"Yeah, I didn’t dare pick the ones I hadn’t seen before. Wow, it slls great—sister, have you washed your hair again? With the shampoo you made yourself?"
"Yes, there’s still water in the pot. You should wash as well, quickly. Once we’re done, let’s dry it off fast. Who knows when the broker will co by? We can’t afford to delay."
"Ah, no need for ; I just washed a few days ago."
"We’ve been cleaning and making such a ss these past few days. Go wash up quick."
Originally Yaya considered the shampoo precious and was reluctant to use it, but now urged by Xiao Yu and worried about being thought dirty, she quickly went to wash.
After washing, the sisters sat under the sun to dry their hair, and once it was naturally blown dry by the wind, they both set their hair in buns.
She combed a double bun for the little girl, a style she had learned from Aunt Zhang. At first, when she was in the fishing village, she would simply braid her hair into two strands, and that was it. Yaya, a girl from the countryside, didn’t know how to do her hair, so she usually just braided it however it worked for her.
In ancient tis, all young won underwent the coming-of-age ceremony. At fifteen, she’d been on the island and naturally had no one to celebrate it with her. Having grown up and left the island, she also lacked a role model, so learning these feminine intricacies was quite difficult. She’d need to hire a respectable lady’s teacher sooner or later, but that would wait until she was familiar with life in Beijing.
"Just revert to your identity as a girl; it will be more convenient. I’ll need to go out frequently, so I’ll continue dressing as a man."
The main reason was that n’s hairstyles were simpler, just put into a bun and fastened with a hair crown. Furthermore, in the age rankings of won, she wasn’t considered young, but as a man, no one would criticize her for being too old and unmarried. That was the difference.
A girl had her coming-of-age ceremony at fifteen, a man at twenty.
Just as they finished cleaning up, the broker arrived with people from the brokerage. She could have found a brokerage herself, but not one nearly as acquainted as the broker. Moreover, she needed him to discuss the matter of buying a shop, so she had asked for his assistance.
The brokerage brought over about thirty people, two of which were families with dependents, the husbands and wives around thirty or forty years old, and the children around eight or nine.
She inquired carefully about their backgrounds, whether they had an education, and what kinds of work they had done.
In the end, she chose one of the families and bought ten long-term workers.
The long-term workers had a life contract; each worker cost five silver taels, so ten added up to fifty taels.
For the family of four, the total ca to fifteen taels. The broker, pleased with her decisiveness, specifically selected ten young and strong workers for her, then left with great satisfaction.
This family of four had once worked for a wealthy family but ended up being sold off due to their employer’s troubles.
In ancient tis, not being sentenced to the frontier to endure hard labor was already considered good fortune.
Previously, the woman was in charge of the inner courtyard while the man managed the front yard. She needed experienced people like them, and this family appeared honest and reliable, so she decided to try them out.
Their surna was Yuan, so for now, she referred to them as Uncle Yuan, Aunt Yuan, and their two sons—one called Yuanbao, nineteen, and the other Fubao, twelve—who were educated and seed rather clever, which caught her attention imdiately.
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