Translator: 549690339
âI wonât sell them. If I canât sell them, Iâll just keep them for myself.â
âHow about two cents?â
âThree cents and no bargaining. Buy it or leave it. Even if I canât finish them, I can make dried fish.â
âFine, three cents thenâ¦â Qian Zhang thought she wanted to eat fish, and she rummaged through her pocket, finding only one copper coin, âWeigh me some.â
Su Qingyue directly picked a small fish, propped it up on the scale, âExactly three taels and three.â
âThis fish is too small⦠Canât you give me moreâ¦â
âDo you want it? I can give you more, but you need to pay more.â
âForget it, Iâll take this one.â Qian Zhang took the fish pierced with grass by Su Qingyue, paid the money, and muttered, âThe fish is too small, itâs not enough for a bowl of soupâ¦â
âTsk, tsk⦠Qian Zhang is really stingyâ¦â Someone nearby shook their head and gave Qian Zhang a big, disdainful glare, âYouâre generous, huh? You have a lot of money, donât you? At least I bought a fish, but I havenât seen you pay even half a cent!â
The person was embarrassed and bought one Jin of fish on impulse. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Su Qingyue had only two fish left in her basket, and she saw Wang Cuihua coming to pick up water. She pierced the two fish with grass and walked over to her, âCuihua.â
âEh, Qingyue, youâre here too.â Wang Cuihua only noticed her then.
âYeah. I sold half a basket of fish just now, and there are only two left. No one else seems to want to buy them, so Iâll give them to you.â She handed over the fish to her.
âNo, your family doesnât even have food nowâ¦â
âItâs okay. Today, I had good luck. I caught two baskets of fish and about 220 jin of mushrooms.â
âSo manyâ¦â
âYeah.â She repeated the reason she had made up earlier to others, âMy second brother saw a lot of mushrooms while hunting but didnât pick them, and thereâs also a shallow creek in the deep mountains with shallow water and plenty of fish. I got them all. You shouldnât refuse, we canât finish them all.â âAlright then.â Wang Cuihua took the fish, âIâll give you money.â
âNo need, itâs a gift. Talking about money would be too impersonal.â She said, âI owe your family one and a half taels of silver. In a few days, when I have some, Iâll pay you back.â
âThereâs no hurry.â
âI have to go, then. I havenât cooked at home yet. I just made some copper coins selling fish, and I want to buy some food. Who has food for sale?â
âAunt Zhangâs family sells flour and coarse grains. Sheâs an honest person, and her prices are the same as those in town.â
âI bought flour from her before, but I didnât know she also sold coarse grains.â
âHer family is doing okay. They have some surplus grains every year. Their grains are also priced like those in town. There are also other families in the village selling their surplus grains, but they are half a cent to one cent more expensive.â
âAlright, Iâm leaving then.â
Su Qingyue didnât need to count the money she made from selling fish. She had a good memory and knew she had sold thirty Jin of fish, about ninety cents.
She spent all ninety cents at Aunt Zhangâs family on brown rice, five cents per Jin, and bought eighteen Jin. Aunt Zhang gave her a coarse cloth bag to hold it, saying she didnât need to return the bag, as it was a gift.
She also gave her an extra two Jin of brown rice, making it a total of twenty Jin.
Su Qingyue thought about the fish and a basket of mushrooms she had given Aunt Zhang and accepted the gift. She put the balance rod in her back basket and carried the small bag of brown rice back to the Xiao Family.
Having mushrooms as the main course for breakfast and lunch, she really didnât want to have mushrooms as the main course again in the evening.
After all, rice is delicious.
However, Aunt Zhangâs family kept their refined rice to eat themselves and wouldnât sell it. Moreover, refined rice costs seven cents a Jin, which is two cents more expensive than brown rice. She couldnât afford to buy that much at once, so she preferred to buy more brown rice instead..