Chapter 36

Liu Tong drove his carriage to the town. He still went to the old place, Mr. Chen’s restaurant. At the moment, the shopkeeper happened to be in the restaurant, so as soon as he saw Liu Tong, he warmly greeted, “Daddy Xu, here you are! What have you brought me this time?”

All the preys Liu Tong had hunted were sold here, and they were just dead or alive, very popular with the customers here, who liked to eat fresh food. The shopkeeper was very smart, and he bought all Liu Tong’s goods at a high price.

Smiling, Liu Tong took out the things in the basket, “Mr. Chen, all these were made by my husband. They can be served directly or as seasoning. Take a look at them, please.”

Mr. Chen stepped forward and took a look. He pulled out the cork on the bamboo tube and right away a savoury smell drifted out. He said to Liu Tong, “Wait a minute. I’ll get a pair of chopsticks.”

With a pair of chopsticks and a dish in his hand, Mr. Chen couldn’t wait to get some chili paste out of the bamboo tube and put it on the plate, and then he dipped some into his mouth.

Immediately, he nodded with satisfaction, “It’s nice. With this seasoning, it will be more convenient for me to make dishes in the restaurant, and it can also be sold separately. Daddy Xu, how much do you have here? Can you sell them all to me? In terms of price, you are free to make the decision. ”

Liu Tong was surprised. He lifted the whole basket up to the table and said, “With that bamboo tube in your hand, there are twenty in total. As for the price, Mr. Chen, you decide it! This is the first time I sell them, so I know nothing about the price. ”

“Daddy Xu, but do you have any more of this at home? If yes, can you sell them all to me? I’ll give you one tael of silver for every two bamboo tubes of the chilli paste, but I have a requirement that you can only sell them to me in the future.

Two bamboo tubes of chilli paste could be sold for one tael of silver, which was really a high price, but Liu Tong didn’t know whether Xu Ran would agree with it or not. He hesitated and then asked, “Mr. Chen, I need to ask my husband about this at home. As for the price of these items today, that’s for you to decide!”

“Alright then, you can go back to discuss about it. As for these things today, I will keep them all at the price of one tael of silver for two tubes of chili paste.”

“Then, all right. Thank you, Mr. Chen.” Liu Tong smiled and handed the basket of goods to the shopkeeper. Right away, Mr. Chen counted 10 taels of silver and handed it to Liu Tong, who said thanks and left in a hurry.

Ten taels of silver! This was the first time that Liu Tong had seen such a large sum of money, so heavy in hand.

Liu Tong hurriedly returned home, and gave all the money to Xu Ran. Then he reported to him what Mr. Chen had told him in the restaurant.

From Liu Tong’s narration, Xu Ran knew what Mr. Chen’s plan was; he just meant to buy all their chili paste up. After all, this solution was not something bad to them. He was just a farmer now, and his family was still in poverty. It was good to have someone supporting them up.

Thus, he said to Ling Tong, “Tongtong, you send more goods there tomorrow morning and tell Mr. Chen that I have agreed. Remember to tell him that we have conditions, one of which is that he can’t let others know who sell him the paste, while the other is that he has to return all the empty bamboo tubes to us after the chilie paste has been used up.”

“All right. I got it.” Liu Tong nodded. No matter what the decision was, he would just listened to Ran.

And then Xu Ran gave back the ten taels of silver to Liu Tong saying, “From now on, you take care of the money.”

Xu Ran really exerted the virtues of a good man in the modern times who handed in his salary card.

There, Liu Tong held the heavy silver in his hand and bit his lips without saying anything.

He only whispered Xu Ran’s name in his heart,

‘Ran, Ran…’