Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 407: The food is ready, and the canal repair work is about to begin

Qi Xi looked at the half-cart of food ingredients, and then looked at the strings of silver coins Shen Yu had paid, and said with some worry for her: "Miss, this pile of food ingredients is more than three thousand coins. If you keep buying like this, your expenses will exceed the limit."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "I still have some money from selling firewood. I bought a little more than I paid today, so I'll use it first."

"I've kept a record of all the purchases. I'll deduct the money when the firewood and grass are sold."

Qi Xi could only say: "I know that the young lady has good intentions, but if the money earned from the firewood and grass is not enough for the young lady to make up for the loss, won't the young lady be at a loss?"

Shen Yu was not worried and comforted Qi Xi, "You see, the weather is getting colder and colder. The price of firewood will not drop, but will only increase. As long as everyone is willing to chop firewood and bring it here, I won't have to pay any money."

After Shen Yu got on the mule cart and sat at the front holding onto the board, Qi Xi drove the mule cart toward the canal construction site outside the city.

In the car, Shen Yu talked to Qi Xi about what he planned to cook tomorrow. Qi Xi listened and made some suggestions while discussing what to do.

It didn't take long before they were out of the city gate and at the canal construction site they had visited in the morning.

At this time, there were quite a few people on the construction site, surrounding several large mule carts unloading sand and gravel wrapped in cattail bags onto the river bank. Lu Lang was checking the quantity one by one.

Seeing Shen Yu and Qi Xi driving over, Liu Shun, who was originally standing with Lu Lang, hurried over and together with Qi Xi moved the food from the car into the duty room and placed it on the wooden shelf next to the stove.

Shen Yu followed and took some miscellaneous seasonings, oil, salt and the like.

She also asked two people to fill the water jar with water so that it could be clarified for use tomorrow.

After finishing all this, everyone checked one by one and found that except for the firewood needed for tomorrow, everything else was ready.

Qixi said, "Don't worry about the firewood. The servants won't have breakfast right away when they come tomorrow."

"The young master said that we have to work for an hour before we can have breakfast."

"We don't have to come early, we can just come here in an hour with the servants.

"The first thing they have to do when they start work is to remove the weeds and shrubs on the embankment, so that they will have firewood and grass."

Shen Yu felt relieved after hearing this.

The three of them closed the wooden door and windows of the guard room, walked towards Lu Lang, and prepared to say something to him. Then Shen Yu and Qi Xi went back to the restaurant first.

Lu Lang still had to be busy for a while, so when he saw Shen Yu coming over and saying that the ingredients were ready, he asked them to go back first.

He would instruct the yamen runners on duty to take care of the food in the duty room, and there would be no mistakes.

Because the mule cart they had brought had to carry more sand and gravel, Shen Yu and Qi Xi planned to walk to the city gate and then hire a cart to go back.

After hearing this, Lu Lang called Liu Shun and asked him to drive the carriage to send the two back and then come back to pick him up.

Shen Yu thought for a moment and said, "Liushun can still help you with something here."

"How about this, let Liushun take us to the city gate. It's not time to close the city gate yet, and there are many cars soliciting passengers there. We won't have to worry about not getting a ride."

Lu Lang nodded in agreement and continued, "Tomorrow is the first day of work. I will come to the construction site in the morning to watch over it. I can pick you up from the restaurant on the way."

Shen Yu said happily: "Thank you, Mr. Lu. I was just discussing with Qi Xi how to get here early tomorrow morning. Now we don't have to worry about it."

The two agreed on a time, and then Shen Yu and Qi Xi bowed to him together, then followed Liu Shun into the car and left.

When we arrived at the city gate, we saw quite a few mule carts and donkeys waiting there to pick up passengers.

Only after Liu Shun saw Shen Yu and Qi Xi get in the hired car did he turn the car around and head back to the canal construction site with peace of mind.

When we returned to the restaurant, the shop was already closed and everyone was busy preparing the ingredients needed for tomorrow.

When Shen Yu and Qi Xi saw this, they quickly washed their hands, put on aprons, and joined in the work. It was not until after dinner that everyone had time to sit down.

Shen Yu told Master Zhu that he would be able to come and demolish the old house and build a new one in three or four days.

After hearing this, everyone thought that Master Zhu built these small houses just for Lu Lang's sake. They all said that they would definitely follow Lu Lang's instructions and would not go over to check the progress of the construction or let anything out.

Li said, "I hired helpers to clean up the junk left by the families in the back alley today. It took five or six trips with a cart to clean it up."

"I wanted to tell you at noon today, but you guys left in a hurry after eating."

"There are so many customers in my shop. If you hadn't mentioned it now, I would have forgotten about it."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "Just clean it up, then we don't have to worry about it anymore, just wait for the inn to be built."

After saying this, Li said, "While you were away, we all agreed that tomorrow, the first day, you will have Aunt Jiang accompany you to cook."

"Among us, she's the best cook. She'll be able to help you when she goes there."

Shen Yu thought about what he had promised them earlier to let them take turns following him, to see if he could handle it.

Seeing that Li and the others were determined, they could only say, "Then when we come here tomorrow to deliver firewood to sell, Aunt Jiang can go with us to have a look."

"The restaurants are busy in the morning, so it's more important for us to do our own business well."

Li then agreed, and mentioned the firewood, and said to Shen Yu with a smile: "You don't have to worry about the firewood."

"In the past two days, Sanniang and I went to the homes of the ladies we know around here and told them that you wanted to sell firewood to subsidize the food at the construction site."

"They all promised to come and take a look tomorrow morning. If the firewood is good, they will share the twenty loads of firewood among themselves."

Shen Yu heard this and said with a smile: "Mom and Sister Zheng are really popular. Now I don't have to worry anymore."

Li smiled and said, "Mrs. Lin and the others said that if the firewood is good, they will order it from us in the future."

"They are all things you need every day. You might as well order them from us so that you don't have to worry too much."

Everyone discussed how long it would take to build the canal and whether it could be completed before the river froze in winter.

Knowing that Shen Yu would have to go there early tomorrow and not wanting to disturb her rest, he stopped talking and urged her to go wash up, and then they went their separate ways.

Early the next morning, when it was still dark and the first basket of buns had just been steamed in the restaurant, Shen Yu and Qi Xi were already standing at the door of the restaurant waiting for Lu Lang to come.

Li swiftly took the bamboo basket, padded it with dry lotus leaves, and filled the basket with freshly-baked meat buns.

After covering the basket lid and wrapping it with the prepared cotton basket cover, he handed it to Shen Yu and said, "They said you have to eat the same meals as the servants, but don't be too honest."

"Take this basket of buns with you. I've wrapped it in a basket cover so it won't get cold for a while."