My domineering ex-husband is living off his wife in ancient times.

Chapter 47 1 A Chaotic Outburst

When Shaoyang arrived in a mule cart to pick up the two sisters, he was taken aback when he saw the mountain of large wooden boxes piled up in front of the clinic.

He stammered, "Does my little sister need so much medicine for her leg?"

The wooden box was a very simple basket made of wooden strips. Through the gaps between the wooden strips, Shaoyang could see that inside were small porcelain jars the size of small wine jars and small white porcelain bottles.

"Stop looking, just load them all onto the truck." Cheng Ruotong was still feeling dizzy.

The main reason is that the impact of that thousand taels was too great.

Besides, there are so many good things to do with a thousand taels of silver.

Her sister insisted on buying so many medicines with short shelf lives!

The term "shelf life" was something Cheng Ruoan had just taught her, saying that they made money by exploiting this time difference.

Cheng Ruotong didn't understand.

But I feel that this kind of business is easy to lose money on.

Shaoyang didn't say much, and silently carried the boxes onto the mule cart.

There are four and a half boxes of bone injury plaster and two and a half boxes of wound medicine, making a total of seven boxes.

After everything from Shaoyang was loaded onto the train, there was no room left for anyone to stand in the entire carriage.

He sighed and said to Cheng Ruotong, "Wife, you and my little sister wait for me here. I'll go get another mule cart to pick you up."

Cheng Ruotong nodded: "How many did you buy?"

"Three."

Where is our donkey cart?

"Sell them to the cart and horse dealers." Shao Yang handed the remaining money to Cheng Ruotong: "The mule cart is 28 taels each, and I sold the donkey cart for 12 taels."

A donkey pulling a cart is never as safe as a mule with a carriage.

The extra car I bought was for our family. You can adjust the price and make up the difference for your younger sister later.

“Okay…” Cheng Ruotong asked worriedly, pulling Shao Yang aside to voice her question: “Shao Yang, don’t you think it’s strange that my little sister suddenly has so much money?”

Shao Yang looked at the goods in the mule cart, remained silent for a few moments, and then said, "My little sister will definitely tell you why later. I'll go get the cart first."

"Fine……"

Cheng Ruotong turned and entered Kang'an Hall.

Cheng Ruoan was still inside talking to Doctor Zhu, inquiring about the officials of Huilan City and the bandits in the mountains.

Sure enough, she found out some things.

The magistrate of Huilan City was surnamed Cao.

Magistrate Cao had only been in office for three years, and soon after taking office, he organized a campaign to suppress bandits.

They were suppressing the bandits of Panlongzhai.

Geographically speaking, Huilan City is a city within a basin, surrounded by mountains, with the Changjiang River flowing through it.

Huilan City is not suitable for farming; people can only make a living by relying on the mountains and rivers.

After the largest mountain stronghold was wiped out by Magistrate Cao, the river bandits were so frightened that they all changed their fishing spots to a different section of water.

Magistrate Cao then reported to the imperial court that Huilan City had met the safety requirements to be used as a commercial city. He then applied for a considerable amount of funds to build official roads for merchants, widen the river to create canals, and construct wharves and other facilities.

But what did it actually look like after the repairs?

"Don't even mention it. The official road and the dirt roads leading from the county town to the villages are no different. They are narrow and can only accommodate one horse-drawn carriage at a time."

Doctor Zhu waved his hand dismissively, "And the canal and the docks are exactly the same as before, completely different from what was posted on the imperial edict by the government."

What else could Cheng Ruoan not understand?

Isn't this just like those modern officials who want to achieve political success and boost GDP?

A chaotic mess.

It's estimated that eight or nine out of ten of the funds allocated by the imperial court ended up in Magistrate Cao's own pocket.

The mountain bandits were not eradicated at all, and the river bandits may have just moved downstream or upstream. Merchants who travel by water only feel safe in the area around Huilan City. Once they cross Huilan City, they will lose both their lives and their wealth.

After all, this Magistrate Cao is in cahoots with these bandits and scoundrels!

Cheng Ruoan sighed, feigning regret: "No wonder Doctor Zhu said that there are fewer and fewer merchants in Huilan City."

"That's because the official road and the canal haven't been repaired yet," Doctor Zhu said, changing the subject. "However, Magistrate Cao said that this is because the funds allocated by the imperial court are insufficient. In order not to increase the corvée labor and taxes of the people, we can only repair them slowly when we return to Lancheng."

Cheng Ruoan: ...

So, the people in Huilan City had no idea that officials and bandits were colluding.

Then she stopped talking.

Cheng Ruotong stood for a while, waiting for them to finish talking, before relaying Shao Yang's words to Cheng Ruoan.

And, give all the remaining money from buying the mule cart to Cheng Ruoan.

Previously, Si Shaoheng had given Shaoyang four hundred taels of silver to buy a car, and now Cheng Ruotong was returning three hundred and forty-four taels to Cheng Ruoan.

Cheng Ruoan knew her older sister was surprised by the origin of the money, so she pushed the money back to her and whispered to her:

"Big sister, this money was all smuggled out of the bandits. It was earned by brother-in-law, Si Silang, Si Sanlang, and me."

The 1,100 taels I brought to buy medicine will also be split among the three of us if they make a profit.

Now that we've bought what we need for our journey, please keep the rest of the money safe for us.

It wouldn't be good if others found out.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Ruotong immediately stuffed the three hundred taels of silver notes into her bosom: "What three hundred taels? There are no three hundred taels."

Even a second's delay is disrespectful to "secret stash of money".

The forty-four taels of loose silver were not stuffed in, because it would have made the container too bulge.

Cheng Ruoan: ...

She silently gave her older sister a thumbs up.

The matter of the silver notes has been clarified, but Cheng Ruotong still has other concerns.

"Little sister, are we really going to take these bone injury plasters and wound medicines to the north to sell? Don't the people there have these medicines? What if they break on the way? What if the people in the north don't buy them?"

Cheng Ruoan quickly grabbed her hand and comforted her, "Don't worry, sister. We'll put more dry grass in the wooden box later, so it won't break. The northern border defenses are short of supplies, so things sell very well."

"But don't these medicines have an expiration date or something?"

"Of course I have ways to extend their shelf life."

Cheng Ruoan couldn't say she had space, so she could only change the subject, "Big sister, we're in a hurry."

Take this list to your brother-in-law now, and together you can buy some more supplies for our journey.

I'll go ask Doctor Zhu for more hay to stuff the boxes. Once you've finished shopping and returned, we'll hurry out of town.

"Okay, okay." Cheng Ruotong took the "shopping list" written by Cheng Ruoan and left.

As soon as Cheng Ruotong left, Cheng Ruoan asked Doctor Zhu for a lot more hay, and then went back to the mule cart to wait for his sister and brother-in-law.

Once she was inside the mule cart, just like in the mountain village, she touched the porcelain bottles in each box with her fingers, silently chanting, "I only want the porcelain bottles, not the hay and the boxes. I only want the porcelain bottles, only the porcelain bottles!"

Soon, all the porcelain bottles that her fingers touched, as well as those that came into contact with them, were stored in her spatial storage.

To maintain weight, Cheng Ruoan found many white pebbles of various sizes in the space villa and put them into the wooden box.

It's those white pebbles used for landscaping in villa courtyards.

Now, looking through the gaps in the wooden crate, all you could see was dry grass mixed with white stuff; nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

But Cheng Ruoan suddenly thought of a way to get the Xia family to leave their main force, so he took out a bottle of wound medicine powder and a bottle of bone injury ointment and put them back in the outermost wooden box.

Once we return to the dilapidated temple, the Chao Xiong children and their family will surely leave the group on their own initiative!