Three years later, Songzi Manor was bustling with activity. The soy sauce workshop had already been standing there for over two years, with several hundred vats, each about the height of half a person, placed on the large empty space next to the threshing ground. They were filled with soy sauce.
Looming over the soy sauce vats, there were giant conical hats woven out of bamboo; they were very thick, and bound with a layer of thick oiled paper, serving as protection against rain and frost.
More than two years ago, Gu Jin'an went to the Prefecture and bought back three families of servants, totaling fifteen people, with surnames Xiong, Ma, and Mei, who were brought in specifically for soy sauce making.
However, Gu Jinli had also transferred Xiangzi to Songzi Manor to act as housekeeper, specifically overseeing these three families.
Xiangzi, the elder brother of Xiao Ji, with the given names suggestive of good fortune, one could tell they were family just by looking at their names.
