bullyxtreme 0013 Longtan
0013 Longtan
The older generation mostly liked to use the order of characters passed down in the family genealogy when naming their children. However, by the time of Zhu Shiting's generation, influenced by foreign cultures, the naming process became less particular than before.
For the sake of ease of remembering, his uncles' cousins were named Zhu Jun and Zhu Chao, but when they were re-assigned to the genealogy in their old age, the character "仙" (xian, meaning immortal) had to be added to their names.
"The descendants of Zhu Yuanzhang have spread for dozens of generations, including direct and collateral lines. It is estimated that there are millions of people in the country today who are related to Zhu Yuanzhang in some way."
"In my hometown, Aodi Village, the majority of the residents have the surname Zhu."
"It just so happens that I am a descendant of the 33rd generation of the King of Lu, and I have the ability to travel back in time."
Closing the family genealogy book in his hand, Zhu Shiting looked at the shimmering reservoir outside the old house and fell into deep thought.
He felt that there was a divine force pushing him forward.
Touching the ancient jade pendant on his chest, and thinking of the lives of the mountain people in Jiyun Village who were starving and poorly clothed, Zhu Shiting's eyes suddenly hardened.
Since the Zhu family's court could not save Wenzhou Prefecture and the people of the world from their suffering at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
So, can this descendant of the Zhu family, who traveled from the modern era, make up for this regret?
"The people in Jiyun Village are all descendants of my ancestors, but they were forced to go up the mountain and become outlaws."
"To stand by and watch someone die is not how the Zhu family behaves."
With that thought in mind, Zhu Shiting took out his phone, took some photos of the genealogy book, put it back into the tin biscuit box, and drove away from Aodi Village.
In fact, Zhu Shiting did not have a deep understanding of that period of Ming Dynasty history; most of his knowledge came from high school history classes.
After graduating and entering the workforce, most of that knowledge was forgotten by the teachers.
If he wants to save the people from the suffering of the late Ming Dynasty, he has to proceed step by step according to his own methods.
……
After driving for more than half an hour from my hometown in the mountains, the rented old Nissan Sylphy arrived at the shopping mall in Ruixian County.
This place used to be the largest small commodity wholesale market in southern Zhejiang and eastern Fujian. Long before the rise of Yiwu International Trade City, it thrived for a period of time thanks to the small commodity supply chain of the entire Wenzhou area.
At that time, merchants from all over the country flocked here, selling all kinds of goods, including clothes, shoes, and buttons. In the early 1990s, you could earn a hundred or two hundred yuan a day by driving a tricycle to deliver goods for people at the entrance of the mall.
Unfortunately, the Wenzhou area has many geographical disadvantages. Due to its mountainous terrain and limited land, coupled with the lack of a large container port like Ningbo, and the high cost of rail and land freight, this Ruixian commercial town was destined to be submerged in the tide of history.
It has gradually declined from a large-scale comprehensive wholesale market that could originally reach the whole country to a market whose influence can only reach a few districts and counties in Wenzhou.
The last batch of small business owners who invested in stalls in the mall suffered huge losses and were furious, watching helplessly as the rent for their stalls kept dropping.
Fortunately, the mall has a wide variety of goods. Although business and popularity have declined year by year, it can barely maintain operations thanks to the rise of e-commerce and the influx of people during holidays.
Zhu Shiting had taken many orders at the mall when he was working for Lalamove, so he was very familiar with the layout of the stalls inside.
After parking his car, he slung a small bag over his shoulder and went to the shoe and clothing section. He found a stall selling work clothes, pointed to a set of gray work clothes with reflective strips hanging on the wall, and asked, "Boss lady, can I take this set down and have a look?"
The woman tending the stall was middle-aged and busy processing online orders from the previous night. Seeing that there was business coming in early in the morning, she grabbed a clothes fork and picked up the work uniform.
Zhu Shiting touched the texture of the work clothes; they were sturdy, durable, windproof, and dirt-resistant—very common on construction sites. They would be perfect for wearing in early spring during the late Ming Dynasty.
So he asked the price: "Boss lady, I'll take 200 sets of this style, one size fits all. Give me the lowest price!"
"200 sets? That's a lot!"
The proprietress, who was busy typing up orders at her computer, perked up as soon as she heard that a big business was coming in.
She glanced at Zhu Shiting, picked up an old-fashioned calculator, pressed the "zero, zero" button a few times, and immediately quoted a price: "If you really want 200 sets, I'll give you a discount, 35 per set is the lowest. Go compare with other stores, my work clothes are the lowest priced in the mall. If there are any cheaper ones, the quality will definitely not be as good as mine."
Zhu Shiting smiled upon hearing this; that's the kind of sales pitch people use when they're in the wholesale business.
However, he was in a hurry to get the goods, and none of the nearby stalls selling work safety supplies were as big as this one. After some bargaining, he finally managed to get the price down to 32 yuan per set.
After paying half the deposit, adding the older sister on WeChat, and getting her business card, Zhu Shiting also sent her the warehouse location.
Before leaving, Zhu Shiting instructed, "Sister Chen, make sure it's delivered to me today. If this order goes well, I'll come back to you if I need anything else."
"No problem, my factory and warehouse are in Feiyun Town. I'll have them arrange delivery right away, and it'll be sent to you by noon."
Seeing that the young man was efficient and capable, Chen Zu'e realized he was a potential big customer, so she put down her work and made a special call to the factory to urge them to place the order.
Most of the stalls in the mall operate on a front-store-back-factory model.
A stall is one way to acquire customers, but production and distribution depend on small workshops or factories at home.
Of course, after buying the most cost-effective work clothes for the villagers of Jiyunzhai, Zhu Shiting went to the shoe section not far away.
I visited several stalls that sell shoes for the elderly and purchased 200 pairs of old-fashioned, non-slip, and wear-resistant Liberation shoes at a low price of 12 yuan per pair.
These liberation shoes are not unfamiliar to rural people. Zhu Shiting's grandparents wore these shoes when they went to the tea garden to pick tea. They were durable and did not rub the feet, making them very suitable for the damp and muddy mountain roads of Jiyun Mountain in the late Ming Dynasty.
When Zhu Shiting thought about how most of the Sun family members were wearing straw sandals or tattered cloth shoes, and the children were barefoot with some of their toes frostbitten, he felt that the 12-yuan pair of liberation shoes was indeed a worthwhile purchase.
"Liberation shoes, liberation shoes, let's liberate these mountain people of Jiyun Mountain first."
"And then gradually extended to the entire Wenzhou Prefecture."
Zhu Shiting held a pair of sample liberation shoes and muttered to himself.
……
Meanwhile, in the late Ming Dynasty.
About ten miles away from Jiyun Village, on a mountain path called Longtan Mountain, Sun Lu, carrying a bow and holding a stick, was gritting his teeth as he cleared the weeds from the mountain path.
Behind her followed four young and strong members of the Sun family. They were carrying rusty machetes and carrying poles, and they were also gathering haystacks, looking around the surrounding mountains and forests with wary expressions.
"Young Miss, are we really going to inform Zhou Family Village?"
"Zhou Gang and his gang are ruthless bandits who kill without blinking an eye!"
"Last year we heard they robbed several wealthy families in Wenzhou of their tax money and killed more than a dozen people. We haven't been in contact with them for two years," a clansman reminded him.
Sun Lu looked up at the stone houses on Longtan Mountain and said with a solemn expression, "Since it is an imperial edict from the Immortal Lord, we must go and inform him no matter how dangerous it is."
The surrounding mountains stretch for dozens of kilometers, and the mountain people living there are a diverse mix of people. Villages like the Sun family's, which were forced into banditry, are relatively peaceful and do not randomly come down the mountain to block roads or harm people.
Even when they went down the mountain to rob, it was mostly because the village was running out of food and they were so hungry that they went to the wealthy households to steal some grain and fruit from the fields to feed their people.
However, Zhoujiazhai is an anomaly among the surrounding villages!
It is said that at least eighty to a hundred people have died at the hands of Zhoujiazhai. The entire village is full of ruthless killers who don't blink an eye.
Just to be on the safe side, and so as not to delay the divine deity's instructions, Sun Lu sent several elders to notify the other three villages early in the morning, but she personally led a team to deliver the message to Zhou Family Village.