Eight days later, Jiangning Prefecture.
The new Xu estate, located thirty miles south of the city, was originally a dilapidated farmstead. Its former owner had absconded with gambling debts, and the property deed hung in the brokerage for half a year with no takers.
Xiaocui bought it for less than sixty percent of the market price and poured another three hundred taels into renovations.
Now, the estate looked completely different from eight days ago.
Sixteen newly built kilns were lined up in two rows along the backyard, their fires burning day and night.
The white smoke billowing from the chimneys was blocked by the courtyard walls, hiding the activity inside from outsiders.
Seven or eight bamboo sheds were erected beside the kilns, filled with newly hired peasant women. Some were washing vegetables, some were chopping them, and others were spreading them out on bamboo trays. The division of labor was extremely detailed.
Xiaocui squatted in the accounting room, a desk full of ledgers spread out before her.
On her left was the purchasing ledger.
One thousand two hundred catties of quicklime, four hundred catties of sulfur, and over sixty thousand catties of various fresh vegetables.
On her right was the labor ledger.
Forty-seven peasant women, twelve kiln workers, and eight general laborers hired.
In the middle lay the bank's transaction slips, with incoming and outgoing silver amounts precise to the lowest denomination.
She flicked the abacus twice, her brows furrowing.
"Nanny Zhang!"
The head servant woman, busy in front of the kilns, trotted over. Her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, and her arms were coated in a layer of white ash.
"Miss Xiaocui, what are your orders?"
"This month alone, we've spent one thousand four hundred taels just buying vegetables. Add the quicklime, sulfur, and labor, and it comes to a total of two thousand one hundred taels."
"The funds at the bank are running low. If we keep burning through money like this, we won't last until the end of the month."
Nanny Zhang rubbed the ash off her hands.
"Miss, the amount of charcoal these kilns burn through in a day is massive.
"Besides, the output of those dozens of acres of land outside the city isn't enough for those fresh vegetables. We have to go to surrounding towns to buy more, and the transportation costs add another expense."
Xiaocui pushed the abacus away.
"I'll figure out the money situation. Has the first batch of goods come out of your end yet?"
Nanny Zhang slapped her thigh.
"It's out, it's out! We opened the kilns before dawn this morning. I was just about to call you over to take a look, Miss!"
The two walked through the backyard to the innermost bamboo shed.
A clean white cloth was spread over a long table under the shed, with over a dozen bamboo trays placed on it.
At first glance, the contents of the bamboo trays looked like leaves dried by the autumn wind.
Thin, wrinkled, and curled up into little balls of dried vegetable leaves.
This was the finished product made according to the five processes in the Eldest Miss's carrier pigeon message.
Washing, blanching, smoking, baking, and sealing—not a single step was missed.
Nanny Zhang pinched a piece of dried vegetable leaf from a bamboo tray and weighed it in her palm.
"Look, Miss. Sixty thousand catties of fresh vegetables yielded about five thousand catties baked."
"This stuff is as light as paper; a gust of wind could blow it away."
Xiaocui took the leaf and turned it over.
Dark green, hard to the touch, and smelling faintly of raw grass.
She checked the dried vegetables in a few other bamboo trays.
Some were mustard greens, some were radish tops, and others were wild shepherd's purse.
Each type had shrunk beyond recognition, their volume reduced by at least eighty to ninety percent.
"Where are the sealed ones?"
Nanny Zhang pulled a wooden box from the corner and lifted the lid.
Rows of oiled paper packages were stacked inside, each about the size of a fist and tied tightly.
"There are fifty packages in this box. Each package can yield two large basins of vegetables when soaked, enough for thirty people to eat a meal."
Xiaocui picked up a package and weighed it; it was less than half a catty.
She was about to ask a few more questions when the sound of horse hooves came from the courtyard gate.
The gatekeeper ran in to report, "Miss Xiaocui, the people from the Xue family are here!"
Xiaocui put the oiled paper package back into the box and wiped the ash off her hands.
"Invite them to the front hall."
In the front hall, Xue Hong had already found a chair and sat down.
Businessmen in Jiangning City knew that the Xue family's escort agency could travel the official roads of the Great Qian's thirteen provinces, employing over three hundred guards alone.
The imperial court transported military rations north every year, and thirty percent of them went through the Xue family's convoys.
This wasn't Xue Hong's first visit to the estate.
The last time was five days ago, to check on the progress of the kilns. She took a quick look around and left without saying much.
Today, her purpose was clear.
"Miss Cui, I heard your goods are out of the kilns?"
Xiaocui poured her a bowl of tea.
"Boss Xue gets news fast."
"In business, if your ears aren't sharp, you're just waiting to lose money."
Xue Hong picked up the teacup but didn't drink, instead sniffing it under her nose.
"Vice Minister Xu had someone bring me a message back then, saying his Eldest Miss started an incredible business in the north and asked me to prepare a convoy to be on standby."
"I pondered over it for days, but I just couldn't figure out why an Imperial Envoy would go to Zhenbei City to mess around with vegetable leaves."
Xiaocui didn't take the bait.
She turned and instructed Nanny Zhang, "Bring a few samples of this morning's batch."
Nanny Zhang quickly brought in a bamboo tray containing seven or eight different samples of dried vegetable leaves.
Xue Hong put down the teacup and reached out to pinch a piece.
She examined it back and forth for a long time, then held it under her nose to sniff. The expression on her face changed from curiosity to confusion.
"Miss Cui, forgive my bluntness."
Xue Hong tossed the dried vegetable leaf back into the bamboo tray.
"What's the difference between this and the dried vegetables old country women dry in the sun?"
"I've been doing business in Jinling for twenty years. Dried vegetables are everywhere on the streets; no one wants them even for three copper coins a catty."
She counted on her fingers:
"Your estate, sixteen kilns, over fifty workers. You spend hundreds of taels of silver a month just on burning charcoal."
"What's the difference between the stuff you spend so much to make and the dried radish an old woman dries on her roof? I really can't see the trick."
Xiaocui didn't rush to defend herself after listening.
She nodded at Nanny Zhang.
Nanny Zhang walked in carrying a large coarse porcelain bowl filled with boiling water straight from the stove, steaming hot.
Xiaocui grabbed a small handful of dried vegetable leaves from the bamboo tray, about the size of an egg, and placed them on the table.
"Boss Xue, watch closely. Just this small handful."
Then she tossed the clump of dried vegetable leaves into the bowl of boiling water.
Xue Hong stared at the bowl.
For the first few breaths after the dried vegetable leaves fell into the hot water, nothing happened.
The wrinkled leaves floated on the surface, looking no different from dead leaves soaking in water.
But soon, the change began.
The curled-up leaves began to unfurl.
The veins stretched out one by one, and the leaf surface spread from the middle outward. The entire vegetable leaf slowly returned to its original size in the water.
A small handful turned into a large bowl.
The color of the leaves changed from dark green back to a bright emerald, gently swaying in the water, looking almost indistinguishable from tender vegetables freshly picked from the field.
Xue Hong rested her hands on the edge of the table, her upper body unconsciously leaning forward.
"This..."
Xiaocui stirred the bowl with chopsticks, picked up a leaf, drained the water, and placed it on a small plate, pushing it in front of Xue Hong.
"Taste it."
Xue Hong hesitated for a moment, then reached out, pinched the leaf, and put it in her mouth.
After chewing twice, her chewing slowed down.
The leaf was crisp in the mouth, carrying a sweet, watery freshness. Once chewed, it had a faint savory taste, completely different from tough, woody old vegetables.
She fished another piece out of the bowl and chewed it twice.
"This texture..."
"Is there any difference from fresh vegetables?" Xiaocui asked.
Xue Hong did not answer. Instead, she picked up the bowl and brought it close for a careful look.
The water had turned light green, with some finely chopped vegetable bits settled at the bottom of the bowl, but there was no sand or mud, nor any strange odor.
She set the bowl down and stared at the remaining pile of dried vegetable leaf samples on the table, the abacus beads in her head already clacking away.
"Miss Cui, did you just say that sixty thousand catties of fresh vegetables are reduced to only five thousand catties after drying?"
"Yes."
Xue Hong stood up and paced back and forth in the hall for a few steps.
"I have been transporting rations and forage to the north for over a decade, and vegetables have always been my biggest headache."
"Loading fresh vegetables from Jiangnan and taking the official roads to Zhenbei City takes at least forty days. With the bumps and sun exposure on the road, if three out of ten carts arrive without rotting, I would consider it a blessing from the gods."
She stopped pacing and turned around.
"But what if we switch to this?"
Xiaocui kept quiet, waiting for her to calculate it herself.
Xue Hong made rapid calculations in her mind.
The weight of a cart of dehydrated vegetables was equivalent to a tenth of fresh ones.
That meant a job that originally required ten large carts could now be packed into just one.
Fewer carts meant fewer mules and horses, fewer drivers, and less fodder and food needed along the way.
She could save seventy to eighty percent on transport costs alone.
More importantly—this stuff would not rot.
Dried vegetable leaves sealed with oiled paper and quicklime could last not just forty days, but three to five months. As long as they did not get damp, you could open them up, soak them in hot water, and eat them just the same.
Ten carts' worth shrunk into one, zero loss on the road, and ready to eat with a quick soak in water upon arrival.
Xue Hong's breathing grew heavy.
Having hustled in the merchant world for twenty years, she had seen all sorts of premium goods.
But looking at this pile of unremarkable dried vegetable leaves, the more she thought about it, the more a chill ran down her spine.
The soldiers of Zhenbei City went without a single bite of fresh vegetables all year round; their teeth fell out, and their wounds festered.
The eldest miss of the Xu family had spent time in the north and had seen those tragic scenes with her own eyes.
Once this batch of dehydrated vegetables was transported to Zhenbei City...
"Boss Xue."
Xiaocui interrupted her thoughts.
"My eldest miss's intentions are very clear.
The first batch of goods is already out of the kilns. It is a total of three hundred and twenty catties, which is equivalent to four thousand catties of fresh vegetables.
They are all sealed in oiled paper and divided into sixty wooden boxes, exactly enough to fill two horse-drawn carriages."
She paused.
"These two carts of goods must take the land route, not the waterways controlled by the Water Transport Gang. They must be sent north, traveling day and night."
Xue Hong's expression changed slightly.
Not taking the waterways—she understood the weight of those words.
The Water Transport Gang controlled sections of the Grand Canal from Jiangnan to the capital region. Not only did they extort cuts along the way, but more crucially, they had murky connections with several prominent noble families in the capital.
Once these goods boarded the Water Transport Gang's ships, the news would spread across half the Jiangnan officialdom on the very same day.
Although taking the land route was slower, the Xue family's escort agency convoys traveled the official roads and had their own escort stations along the way for support, offering far better concealment.
"Which route?"
"Depart from Jiangning and head northwest, pass through Luzhou and Kaifeng, head west through Tong Pass into Guanzhong, go north to Yan'an and Yulin, straight to the Hetao region, and then reach the Central Route Prefecture of the Northern Frontier."
Xue Hong ran the route through her mind. It was over three thousand li; riding fast with whips cracking, it could be done in fifteen days.
But escorting cargo carts would take at least a month.
Xue Hong leaned back in her chair.
"Miss Cui, I would not dare not give face to Vice Minister Xu."
"But let me be blunt: this job is no ordinary escort run."
"Traveling four thousand li by land, crossing three provinces, avoiding the eyes and ears of the Water Transport Gang along the way, and defending against mountain bandits and local inspections."
"I will have to dispatch elite escorts, and all meals and lodging will be on the road."
She stood up, walked to the door, then turned back, pinching another dried vegetable leaf from the bamboo tray and tucking it into her sleeve.
"I will keep a sample to let my managers back home broaden their horizons."
Xiaocui did not stop her.
She walked outside the manor gates and vaulted onto her horse.
The two escort leaders following behind her approached.
"Boss, are we taking this job?"
Xue Hong pulled on the reins and looked back toward the manor.
White smoke from sixteen kilns rose behind the courtyard walls, scattering in the damp Jiangnan wind.
"Go back and gather the men. Pick forty veteran escorts who have run the northern route.
Also, hitch the eight fastest mules in our stables to light carts. We leave before dawn the day after tomorrow."
The escort leader was stunned.
"Forty? Boss, isn't that a bit too grand of a display? It is just dried vegetable leaves."
"Dried vegetable leaves?"
Xue Hong rested her riding crop against the saddle.
"If you think these are just dried vegetable leaves, then you will only ever be fit to run short-distance, petty escorts for the rest of your life."
She squeezed the horse's belly with her legs and led the charge down the dirt path between the fields.
