CHAPTER 626: CHAPTER 626: HE WILL COME TO PICK ME UP

Three years later, Songzi Manor was bustling with activity. The soy sauce workshop had already been standing there for over two years, with several hundred vats, each about the height of half a person, placed on the large empty space next to the threshing ground. They were filled with soy sauce.

Looming over the soy sauce vats, there were giant conical hats woven out of bamboo; they were very thick, and bound with a layer of thick oiled paper, serving as protection against rain and frost.

More than two years ago, Gu Jin’an went to the Prefecture and bought back three families of servants, totaling fifteen people, with surnames Xiong, Ma, and Mei, who were brought in specifically for soy sauce making.

However, Gu Jinli had also transferred Xiangzi to Songzi Manor to act as housekeeper, specifically overseeing these three families.

Xiangzi, the elder brother of Xiao Ji, with the given names suggestive of good fortune, one could tell they were family just by looking at their names.

Having been born in an escort agency, Xiangzi was naturally skilled in martial arts. In these three years, he had been dragged by Han Liu for daily training and occasionally tossed into Dafeng Mountain by Gu Jinli to fend for himself. He had become quite capable. Not only was he loyal to the Gu Family, but he could also keep an eye on these three families and protect the soy sauce recipe.

At the moment, Xiangzi was urging the three families: "A heavy rain is coming. Hurry, follow me to the threshing ground to gather the crops!"

"Coming!"

The three families grabbed burlap sacks, brooms, and large pieces of oiled paper and dashed off to the threshing ground.

But the rain came too quickly; after a few rumbles of autumn thunder, the downpour began.

Gu Jinli, Xiao Ji, and the elderly Mi couple were already at the threshing ground. Seeing the rain pouring down, they hurriedly shouted to Xiangzi and the others: "Quickly sweep the grains together, cover them with oiled paper, and after weighing them down with stones, hurry back to take shelter from the rain."

Xiangzi and the rest immediately followed suit, sweeping the grains into piles and then promptly covering them with oiled paper and weighing them down with stones.

However, the threshing ground was too large, and there was too much grain harvested in autumn; it was impossible to finish sweeping in just a short while.

"Young Master, you go take shelter from the rain first," Xiao Ji said to Gu Jinli, continuing to use the broom without pause. After coarsely sweeping a pile of rice grains together, she and Gu Jinli pulled open the oiled paper to cover the neatly arranged piles and placed stones on top.

Gu Jinli replied, "Stop the chit-chat, and get the rice covered quickly, otherwise we’ll lose the sun drying it all for nothing. If it starts to sprout, the grain will be completely ruined."

She had managed to avoid famine, but over these years, she had always been building up her health and considered herself quite resilient—a bit of autumn rain was nothing to worry about.

Knowing the Young Master’s temperament, and seeing that she was unwilling to leave, Xiao Ji could only continue to sweep the rice grains, racing against the downpour.

Old Lady Mi and Elder Mi didn’t go take shelter either; their bodies were remarkably resilient, not showing signs of aging over the past three years but instead seemed more energetic.

After bustling for over 30 minutes, everyone finally managed to cover all the rice, but half of it had gotten wet.

"Let’s hurry up and go. We can dry the grain out after the rain stops," Gu Jinli shouted to them, running with Xiao Ji to the main living quarters of the manor.

The manor was vast, and the courtyard a bit distant; it took a frenzied run of 30 minutes to get there.

Gu Jinli suddenly felt like cursing; a large place was not so great after all—it was enough to run someone to death.

The place where the elderly Mi couple stayed was closer, and they arrived after a short run. Old Lady Mi even shouted to Gu Jinli, "Young Master, don’t worry about us, just run quickly. Change out of your wet clothes once you’re in the room, and don’t catch a cold!"

"Got it!" Gu Jinli replied and continued to sprint. Mud and water dirtied her shoes, and after finally reaching the main courtyard, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief: "Damn you, God, for sending such heavy rain in the middle of autumn. Do you have any shame?"

It wasn’t even summer.

Xiao Ji said, "Young Master, you can’t speak ill of God like that. If he hears you and gets angry, he won’t bless you."

She then hurriedly put her hands together in prayer, apologizing to God on behalf of Gu Jinli.

Gu Jinli: "..."

Miss Xiao Ji, you’re so young, yet you’re already so keen on praying—is that really okay?

"After you finish praying, come in and change your clothes quickly." Gu Jinli immediately took off her soiled shoes, entering the main courtyard barefoot and heading to the right wing room.

Sometimes when there was too much work on the manor and an overnight stay was needed, she would reside in this right wing room.

The Zou family is really extravagant, even a wing room is divided into an outer room, an inner room, and a servant’s room, so it’s very spacious for her and Xiao Ji to live here.

Gu Jinli returned to the inner room and hurriedly changed out of her wet clothes and into a set of clean ones, but her hair was a bit more troublesome.

Ancient people were not allowed to cut their hair; she thought about secretly doing it, but Mrs. Cui caught her and ended up crying over it, so she could only keep her long hair. Now, after taking it down, even just drying it takes 30 minutes.

Then ...

Achoo!

She very appropriately sneezed twice.

"Are you alright, Young Master?" Xiao Ji came over with a dry cotton towel to help wipe her hair: "Young Master, you always say your health is great. See, you just sneezed, but I didn’t."

Next time, don’t boast anymore.

Gu Jinli said: "It’s almost my time of the month, my resistance is weakened, so sneezing because of getting wet in the rain is normal."

Since last year when Gu Jinli got her period, Xiao Ji has known what that means, and also knows Gu Jinli’s particular rules. Xiao Ji asked: "Does Young Master need to take medicine?"

Referring to medicine for treating the common cold.

Gu Jinli shook her head: "No need to take any, it’s not good, I’ll just drink ginger tea."

"Okay, I’ll go and cook it soon."

Gu Jinli: "Remember to add sugar, oh, without sugar it’s too strong, can’t drink it."

Xiao Ji is very stingy, always prepares ginger tea without sugar, only adding it when specifically instructed.

"Got it, Young Master is just delicate. Brother Cheng drinks his ginger tea without sugar."

Gu Jinli disagreed, retorting: "That’s because he was scolded by Big Brother, who said men don’t like sweet things, so now he doesn’t add it. But he used to add a lot before."

And added: "Also, Big Brother has been misleading him. Big Brother’s favorite dish is sweet and sour pork, and that’s both sour and sweet."

Listening, Xiao Ji laughed: "I heard Brother An telling Brother Cheng, a sour and sweet taste doesn’t count as a sweet dish."

Brother Cheng listens to Brother An a lot, and then happily believes his own Big Brother.

But Brother Cheng is smart, he must know that his Big Brother’s words are misleading, yet he trusts Brother An, thinking that whatever Brother An says is right, so he does not expose his Big Brother.

After the time it took for a cup of tea to brew, Xiao Ji finally finished drying Gu Jinli’s hair: "I’m going to boil water, you’ll be able to bathe and wash your hair soon."

Xiao Ji went to the kitchen next to the main courtyard, which is used by the Dong Family, where there is a well, making it very convenient to use water.

Meanwhile, Gu Jinli was looking at the account book in the room, calculating how much silver she has earned this month, and the more she looked at it, the happier she became, feeling extremely content. Life with money is just so good.

But it’s still not enough; the silver needs to continue to be used to buy manors and bury treasures.

Since surviving the famine, Gu Jinli has lost hope in Great Chu, feeling it is bound to fall sooner or later. Therefore, in the past three years, she has sent Mu Tong and Feng Jin to travel in all directions - east, south, west, and north - using the money earned to buy some manors along the expressways and bury silver there, as a precaution for crisis.

The manors she buys don’t have to be large but must be close to the official roads, with ones located near the official roads in the southeast, northwest, and other directions, hence the significant investment.

"Young Master, the water is ready. Drink your ginger tea first, and then you can take a bath after," Xiao Ji brought in the ginger tea and handed it to Gu Jinli.

Gu Jinli blew on it, and after it cooled down a bit, she gulped it down and walked across the covered corridor to a room at the back of the courtyard.

This place was specially used for bathing, it was large and very clean.

Xiao Ji carried the hot water in, poured it into the big wooden tub, and asked: "Young Master, are we returning tomorrow afternoon?"

Gu Jinli nodded: "Mm, Brother Qin is coming home tomorrow and will pick me up as he passes by Songzi Manor."