The daily life of the science master's book-wearing group

Chapter 253 The Last Calm
Yun Ying wanted to find someone to play polo with, but unfortunately besides Ning Yueyao, the only one who was not a very good player was Meng Wanfeng, and today Song Qingyue didn't bring Ning Yueyao out at all.

"You guys are so boring!" Yun Ying said unhappily with her lips curled up.

Song Qingyue looked at the guards standing behind her, and asked, "Which one of you is good at playing polo, to play with the side concubine?"

The guards all showed embarrassment, it's not that they don't know how to play, but it's really inconsistent with what His Royal Highness ordered them to do.

"Don't keep silent, as long as eight people are enough, the rest is enough to protect me."

There seems to be no problem in saying this, but the leader of this group of guards, a young man named Qiu Shi, still put on a serious face, and respectfully said: "Shi Zifei, four people! We can only send four people. "

"It's okay, it's okay, four is four, a team of three." Song Qingyue didn't care about this, and turned to ask Yunying: "Is it possible to play a team of three?"

"Successful!" Yunying became excited, clamped the horse's belly, and ran wildly on the oval racecourse, as if leading the horse to do warm-up exercises.

Meng Wanfeng swung the cue a few times and asked Song Qingyue, "Aren't you playing?"

Song Qingyue shook her head: "I won't."

After Yunying finished three laps, the guards were all ready.

Song Qingyue wanted to pull out a hairpin to make a colored head, but touched the bun, but only touched a dogwood, and then remembered that because she was going to ride a horse today, she didn't wear the hairpin, so she put it down a little embarrassedly hand.

That embarrassing look is really cute, she no longer looks like a high-ranking imperial concubine, she seems like an ordinary girl next door.

The guards all looked away at the same time, not daring to look again, and the surrounding maids and concubines all smiled.

She made a little fool of himself, and the atmosphere got even better. A courageous guard said, "Even if it's just the dogwood on the crown prince's head, we'll rush to get it."

However, Qiu Shi gave him a hard look, shrank his neck, and quickly retreated.

Meng Wanfeng also jokingly said, "Okay, there are people who want to pull out every single strand of your hair!"

Song Qingyue shook her head and smiled, "That's not acceptable!" Turning her head to look at Mo Zhu, she asked her to take out 60 taels of silver and put it on the lacquer plate with colorful heads.

"Nine balls determine the winner, whoever wins, each person will take 20 taels of silver."

Song Qingyue knew that the group of guards who worked for the palace were all possessing unique skills, and the monthly money they got was really not low. 20 taels of Yun Ying was neither too much nor too little for this group of guards. I'm happy, I probably won't be too distressed if I lose, Meng Wanfeng, the most important thing is to participate, and I don't care about winning or losing at all.

The six happily started the game.

Song Qingyue chose a docile filly.

Before she rode, Qiu Shi, who was still serious and meticulous, rode around first, and after confirming that the horse, stirrups, and saddle were all right, he helped her onto the horse, and Qiu Shi personally led her. While watching their competition, they walked along the field. Ride slowly while walking.

There were still a dozen guards on horseback behind her, not far or near.

On the way, the steward who was in charge of the racecourse came forward with a smile and asked the guard Qiu if he would like to take a rest, he came to lead the horse for the concubine.

He smiled flatteringly, but Qiu Shiwei's eyes were filled with murderous intent: "Stop! Don't move any further. What's your name? Where do the family members work? What's the purpose of getting close to the princess?" He asked The brothers behind waved their hands, pointed at the person in charge and said, "Take this man down and interrogate him carefully. Where did he send the spy?"

The steward of the racecourse was almost scared to pee, and immediately knelt down and kowtowed to beg for mercy: "No, no, little one, I just want to show my face in front of the concubine Shizi, and I really have no other purpose to flatter you along the way! Guard Qiu, please forgive me, Master Qiu, please forgive me!"

Qiu Shiwei was unmoved at all, regardless of whether he was crying for his father or his mother, he dragged him to interrogation.

Song Qingyue couldn't bear it, and just said, "Master Qiu..."

He was immediately interrupted by Qiu Shi: "Concubine Shizi, don't worry, we know exactly how to tamper with the horse, as long as we don't find anything suspicious on him, we will naturally let him go."

Song Qingyue could only nod with a dry smile and said, "That's fine, just don't destroy good people."

This is really flattering on the iron hoof.

In fact, it’s not that these guards are making a fuss, it’s really that the situation in the capital is tense recently, and Shizi encountered an assassination as soon as he left the capital, hiding it from Song Qingyue and not worrying her was both Li Zhao’s intention and His Royal Highness Su’s intention.

And this group of guards was so stressed that they couldn't even sleep recently, they were afraid that the vicious black hand who would assassinate His Royal Highness would not turn around and take a knife on His Royal Concubine.

The female relatives didn't know this, Shen Xiang watched from a distance, and joked: "The group of guards really almost confessed to the concubine."

Li Qiushui said with a smile: "If something happens to the concubine Shizi, your Highness must not go crazy?"

"That's right." Shen Xiang said these two words a little sourly, she stood up and said, "I want to go horseback riding too, which one of you will go with me?"

"I want to go!" Li Qiushui said.

"I want to go too." Yan Jiuwan stood up.

"I go!"

"I am coming too!"

The concubines stood up one by one and walked towards the stable.The royal mansion is rich and powerful. This horse farm raises nearly 160 horses, some of which are used for the daily travel of the royal mansion, and some are raised for the guards of the prince and his son. There are also more than a dozen smaller horses with special personalities. The docile horses are specially bred for the fun of the female relatives.

The polo match went back and forth, and it looked intense, but in the end the side concubine won, and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

Song Qingyue also gave Yun Ying the jade bracelet in her hand, making her dance with joy, and rewarded all the guards who accompanied her out today, five taels of silver per person.

We had a great time playing in the morning, and everyone planned to go back together after lunch at the racecourse.

"You are so generous." Meng Wanfeng sighed before parting.

"Then you really can't be stingy, he worked his life for me." Song Qingyue said.

"By the way, this year's soap is selling better than last year. Would you like to visit my Duobao Pavilion? It's not too far from here. I've doubled the size of the store this year." Meng Wanfeng invited.

"Okay!" Song Qingyue readily agreed, and asked the others to go back to the residence first. She followed Meng Wanfeng to Chongwenmen Street, and Duobao Pavilion was at the end of that street.

The original small shop has turned into a large-scale store. There are jewelry, ready-to-wear, and cloth shoes. The prices are not high, and they are all good-looking and affordable products.

"My store sells a variety of things, but the best seller is your soap! It's better than that moisturizer." Meng Wanfeng took Song Qingyue to the workshop behind the store.

There are several courtyard houses behind the store, and there are female workers working hard inside.

"After the cloth is brought in, we sew it into garments first, and the leftovers are used to make shoe uppers, and the rest are used to make silk flowers." Meng Wanfeng explained with a smile.

"That's good, there's no waste at all." Song Qingyue smiled.

"This yard is dedicated to making soap." Meng Wanfeng led Song Qingyue to another yard, where a large pool was built with green bricks in the middle of the yard.

Bamboo pipes with holes dug into the pool led into the pool, and there was a smell of chlorine in the air.

"My shop is also responsible for selling water to the whole street. We pull water from the Tonghui River four times a day, filter it with sand, and then flow it into this pond for ventilation. Neighbors on the street say that although the water here is smelly It's a bit weird, but drinking it doesn't cause stomach upset or worms. Buying water from me is cheaper than buying alum." Meng Wanfeng said.

Song Qingyue frowned slightly and said, "Can you tear down the wall here? It's not good to smell too much of this gas. Tell the neighbors that it's best to boil this water before drinking it. The strange smell will be worse after boiling." Much smaller."

"Yes, that's what I told them. Now they are willing to boil water to drink when it's cold, but they don't want to boil it when it's hot. Boil water to fill the room with heat."

Song Qingyue sighed and shook her head. The average life expectancy of ordinary people these days is less than 40 years old. The harm of drinking some chlorine water is much less harmful than accidentally getting parasites or diarrhea due to bacterial infection.

Afterwards, Song Qingyue followed Meng Wanfeng to watch the workers stir the soap.

This job doesn't have to be as easy as grinding tofu. In addition to the muscular bodies of the male workers, Song Qingyue also saw the scars on their arms that had been corroded by caustic soda.

"The gloves made of linen are not easy to use, are they?" Song Qingyue sighed.

The workers smiled very plainly, and replied: "It's okay, it's okay! This method of using concentrated brine to make caustic soda is much better than using soda ash and lime. Gloves, just put on a few more layers, in case you are not careful If it gets stained, take it off in time, it’s not a big problem.”

Song Qingyue nodded, thinking of rubber gloves, but unfortunately there was only a bit of oxidized rubber tree sap left in her place, and she was still thinking about mixing it with something to make an eraser.

"How much do you pay for a month here?" Song Qingyue asked curiously.

"Two taels of silver a month, and two meals!" The man who mixed the soap smiled very satisfied.

This kind of income of 24 taels of silver a year is indeed more than the income from farming. More importantly, the harvest is guaranteed in drought and flood. Farming depends on the weather, so the work is more stable and the tax is less.

Song Qingyue took Meng Wanfeng's hand and came back to the store from the backyard. The soap here is sold cheaply, it has been cut into pieces of about the same size, twenty yuan a piece, which is much cheaper than the one made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

"Are you willing to buy?" Song Qingyue asked.

"Yes! If you buy soap, you don't need to beat it with a stick, and your clothes won't spoil so quickly, and they can still be washed clean. We import a hundred catties of oil and fifteen catties of salt every day. Because we import a lot, the oil shop gives me The price is 500% lower than the retail price, and the combined cost of oil and salt is about 120 Wen. On average, we cut out five bars of soap per catty of oil, and make 100 yuan a day, which is ten consistent income, and the daily profit is [-] Wen. The monthly cost is [-] guan. After deducting the workers’ money and adding the money for selling water, the monthly net profit is more than [-] guan. This does not include the occasional merchants from other places who come to buy goods. You can go to this street and ask, where It's thanks to you that this shop can make as much money as I do. When the weather cools down, our sheep oil will sell out quickly." Meng Wanfeng smiled and poured Song Qingyue a cup of tea.

Holding the tea in her hand, Song Qingyue asked, "Aren't there any workers here who know the secret recipe, go back and make it themselves, and open their own shop?"

Meng Wanfeng shook her head: "It's so easy, making soap is highly profitable, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs found out that they wanted to come to collect money! I have the name of the palace and you have shares, so they didn't come to ask for money , I can sell it so cheaply. I just sell it to the ordinary people. Isn’t the soap used in the palace made inside?”

Song Qingyue took a sip of tea noncommittally. There is nothing wrong with charging patent fees, but there is no concept of patents in this era, so she said: "The Ministry of Internal Affairs sells soap, and I will share the money with them."

Meng Wanfeng snorted: "It should be yours. If you didn't give them the method of making soap, would they still force you to take it out? Also, I don't know what they reported to you. How much less, the eunuchs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs are all full of fat. Let's start a small business, and the censors are staring at each other like flies, saying that they are competing for the interests of the people. Such a big pile of shit in the Ministry of Internal Affairs Here they are all silent!"

Song Qingyue giggled amused by Meng Wanfeng's statement.

State-owned enterprises, no matter what era they are in, are full of big moths, but state-owned enterprises are also rich and powerful when they start technological research, just like the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The craftsmen of cattle, but the money goes to the pockets of the managers, but the real technicians don't get much. This is the contradiction.

Seeing that it was getting late, Song Qingyue planned to leave.

Meng Wanfeng took her hand and said: "I had a great time today, next time you go out to play, remember to call me again! I really don't like staying in the palace. If you ask me to come out to play, our princess will definitely It will not be allowed."

"Well, I will definitely call you when I have a chance, see you next time!"

"See you next time!"

After getting into the carriage, Song Qingyue suddenly remembered that this place should not be too far from the small orphanage in the south of the city, so she took a detour.

Every time the concubine Shizi appeared suddenly without saying hello, it really made Guanshi Wu enough. He was crossing his legs, knocking walnuts and eating melon seeds in the yard, and the melon seed shells on the ground hadn't had time to clean up.

"Are there any new children in the past few days?" Song Qingyue pretended not to see the melon seed shells on the ground, and led the people directly into the house.

This time she came with a scale.

"Yes!" Steward Wu cautiously bowed and followed Song Qingyue, "I don't know where those people heard about it, but some of them came to the door with their children in their arms."

Song Qingyue sat down and didn't ask any questions. She just asked the mothers-in-law to take out the children and weigh them one by one. Mo Zhu was on the sidelines taking care of the records, and Wu Guanshi was watching from the sidelines, his palms and back were covered with sweat.

He took care of those wives and told them to shut up. Unexpectedly, the concubine Shizi asked someone to weigh it. Fortunately, the scale was not checked last time. He was greedy for the goat milk he brought. Yes, but I'm afraid it won't work in the future.

Can a child fed rice soup be the same as a child fed goat milk?

"Bring me the new baby and have a look."

A mother-in-law brought out a thin girl, Song Qingyue took it, looked carefully at the baby's little face, and asked, "Is this child over a year old?"

"Two years old." The mother-in-law replied.

"Can you sign the deed of sale?" Song Qingyue asked again.

Steward Wu groaned twice, knelt down and pleaded guilty: "No, no signature, someone sent the child, so I took it."

"Let's raise them for a few years, and people want to go back, what do you say?" Song Qingyue raised her eyes and asked, "It's fine if you want to go back, if the parents take our well-raised children back and sell them to the kiln, sell them to us. What should I do if the old man is a housekeeper girl? The children raised by this concubine who spent money and effort are to let them become Sister Yao and housemates in the future?"

Song Qingyue has now learned to use malice to guess people's hearts. Sometimes when poverty reaches a certain level, evil is forced out.

"It's the old slave who didn't think carefully, please punish the princess!" Steward Wu knelt down and kowtowed again.

Song Qingyue took a disgusted glance and then looked away: "Forget it, it's not an example. Remember to go to the Yamen of Shuntian Mansion to apply for a household registration, and the identity is the same as that of the prince's family."

After weighing the weight, Mo Zhu and the others took off the children's little clothes, and checked whether there were any inexplicable bruises or scars on their bodies.

"Everyone is optimistic. Today is September [-]th. I have written down the weight of the children. I will send people to come over from time to time to weigh and check the children. This princess does not want good things to turn into evil things. If Let me know who of you abused your children, and I will make it difficult for your family to stay in the capital!"

The mothers-in-law knelt down one after another and said they dared not, "We will definitely take good care of the children, please rest assured."

"I wish you could reassure me."

After returning to the palace, Song Qingyue asked Nanny Bai to find a jade bead with a hole in the warehouse, and made a sword tassel, and asked Mo Zhu to give it to Qiu Shi.

Qiu Shi received the sword tassels sent by Mo Zhu, excitedly said: "Is this made by Shi Zifei herself?"

"Yes, she said Master Qiu has been hard these days!" Mo Zhu looked at him with a smile.

Qiu Shi was so blushed by Mo Zhu's laughter, he knelt down on one knee, and said loudly: "Thank you for the reward, for the sake of the concubine, my subordinates will go through fire and water, and I will die!"

Mo Zhu was amused by his stern behavior, covered his stomach and laughed for a long time, then said: "This is not a reward, Shi Zifei said, this is a thank you gift from her, and let me tell you, don't be too serious Work hard, pay attention to rest."

Qiu Shi stuttered in one sentence: "Many... many... many, thank you, Princess Concubine." A square face with Chinese characters flushed red.

Mo Zhu glanced at Qiu Shi again, covered his mouth, and trotted back.

The other guards gathered around curiously to see the gift from the concubine, Qiu Shi snapped the lid of the brocade box containing the sword tassels, and roared fiercely: "What are you looking at! Go back and stand guard ! You don’t know what time it is now? Be vigilant!”

Mo Zhu went back to the room and told Song Qingyue about Qiu Shiwei's embarrassment, which made all the sisters in the room laugh.

"Mo Zhu, are you fourteen this year?" Song Qingyue asked suddenly.

"En... En!" Mo Zhu was quick to respond, and hurriedly waved his hands and said: "Shizi Concubine, Mo Zhu is still young, don't worry about getting married!"

Song Qingyue burst out laughing: "That's right, you're still young. I don't want to let you go until you're thirty."

"Ah! That's... that's..." Mo Zhu blinked, looking aggrieved, and everyone laughed again.

"Sister Mo Zhu is in a hurry to get married!" Dongping said quickly.

"Don't talk nonsense! Dongping! You child, you really made you fatter!"

Mo Zhu made a gesture to slap her on the head, and Mo Ran hurried to fight.

"Okay, don't worry, you don't have to worry, I will prepare your dowry, and I will help you find a good husband, and I will let you go out to marry when you are 25. If you have someone you like, don't be shy , tell me, Nanny Bai and I will at least help you gain insight, don't let dubious people fool you."

It was a Double Ninth Festival, and everyone was having a good time. Song Qingyue was already very tired, but she didn't feel sleepy at all.

She asked Bai Momo to heat up a pot of sweet-scented osmanthus wine, sat under the window, and sipped slowly.

Drinking in front of the waning moon like this, I suddenly missed that pig's trotter.

When this autumn passes, the peaceful days will probably come to an end.

In a few days, she will find someone to make the washing machine. Let the maids in the house use it first. You can also develop washing powder. They think it is easy to use and then mass-produce it. You have to think about the price.

Song Qingyue sat on the rocking chair and thought about these things leisurely, but she didn't expect that the storm came much earlier than winter.

(End of this chapter)