Schemes of the Noble Households Chapter 20

The third year of Taihe, the fourth month, Dingmao

It had been raining heavily in Jiankang for days, and the river had risen sharply, almost approaching the stone riverbank. There were no small boats or sampans on the river, only large merchant ships traveling north and south.

At the dock, more than a dozen strong servants wearing straw raincoats gathered under the only pavilion that could shelter from the rain, waiting for the merchant ship to dock.

"Have all the merchant ships from Hepu arrived?" a strong servant asked, "I saw two large ships that day. I heard that they were carrying pearls and corals. One pearl is enough for an ordinary family to live on for several years."

"I don't know." A strong servant wiped the rain off his face and said in a muffled voice, "No matter how expensive the pearls are, it has nothing to do with us. It's better to be diligent than to have that leisure time. It's only been half a month, and the price of corn has risen again."