Chapter 39

Bartering (1)

“Great-uncle, help us make a few cages for rabbits of various sizes. It’d be best if the baskets are weaved beautifully.”

“Yo, you have so many requests?” Liu Daqian chuckled and glanced at the rabbit in Little Bowen’s arms, before nodding and saying, “No problem. I’ll get your uncle to chop a few bamboos later. I can make a small one for you in the afternoon.”

Little Bowen immediately cheered. “Then I’ll go pluck the weeds and feed the rabbits.”

Liu Yun gazed at him enviously, but she didn’t dare to ask Mu Yangling again. She just looked on helplessly.

Unable to reject her due to that gaze, Mu Yangling smiled and said, “Great-uncle, I don’t dare to take something from you without giving you anything in return. I just caught a nest of live rabbits. Why don’t I give a few to my cousins to raise? In two or three months, the rabbits will be able to give birth to little bunnies.”

Liu Daqian glanced at the five children and nodded slightly. “Just give them a male and a female one.”

Mu Yangling only smiled and quickly grabbed two female rabbits from the sack. She gave one to Liu Yun and the other to Liu Lun, then said, “When you guys grow up and want your rabbit to breed, come and look for Little Bowen. His rabbit is male.”

Liu Lun and Liu Yun hugged their rabbit and flashed her a broad grin.

Liu Yun carried the rabbit to look for her older brother, Liu Yang, while Liu Lun ran to look for his older brother, Liu Ting, and older sister, Liu Rong. The children gathered around, discussing who would cut the grass and who would be in charge of cleaning the rabbits…

Wanting to return home to check on things, Mu Yangling left Little Bowen here. She said to the most mature Liu Ting, “Help me take care of my brother. I’m going to town.” She lowered her voice and said, “Don’t let the children in the village bully my brother.”

Liu Ting nodded repeatedly and patted his chest. “Don’t worry. With me around, no one will dare to bully Cousin.” In his heart, he was muttering to himself, ‘With an older sister like you around, the children in the village would need to eat leopard guts to dare to bully your younger brother.’

Only then did Mu Yangling carry the sack back. Mu Shi had already returned from the mountains and was carrying a roe deer and a bunch of rabbits. He was fretting about where he could sell so many prey.

“Father, I’ll go to town with you.”

Mu Shi sighed and said, “If there’s really no other way, I’ll sell them to a butcher at a low price.”

“No.” Mu Yangling said, “Wouldn’t that be a huge loss for us?”

“Then what do you think we should do? If we can’t sell them, the rabbits will develop a stench. The eateries and restaurants don’t need so many rabbits, and we can only sell about 10 rabbits a day in the market.” Mu Shi felt regretful. “Even though there are many people in the county who eat rabbits, unfortunately, it’s too far away…”

Every morning, after hunting and entering the county, he could only stay there for a night, because Mu Shi was worried about his family. The rabbits would not be fresh if kept overnight. If it was winter, he would not have such worries.

Oblivious to what her father was worrying about, Mu Yangling only said, “No, let’s exchange them. It’s almost winter and the cotton has been harvested. We can exchange for some cotton, or some food. That’s not too bad. We have to give it a try. If it doesn’t work, we can only go to the county. There being so many rabbits in the mountains, it’d be a pity not to hunt them.”

Mu Shi had no choice but to bring his daughter to town. For efficiency’s sake, the two of them split up. Mu Shi brought the roe deer and half of the rabbits to the restaurants and eateries while Mu Yangling carried the basket of rabbits and walked through the streets.

She first found a cotton shop and asked the boss, “Boss, does your family own this shop?”

The boss nodded. “It’s my shop. Why? Miss, do you want to buy cotton?”

Mu Yangling nodded shamelessly and asked, “Is it this year’s new cotton?”

“There are new ones, but most of them are from last year. Young lady, if you want to buy new cotton in large quantities, you’ll have to wait a little longer.”

Mu Yangling quickly smiled and said, “I’m not looking to buy much. Just a little.” Mu Yangling asked, “Boss, would you like to have rabbits?”

“Rabbit?” The boss’s eyes were filled with confusion. He did not understand how buying cotton had anything to do with rabbits.

Mu Yangling took out two rabbits from the basket on her back and said, “I come from a hunter family and we don’t grow cotton. My mother asked me to sell these rabbits to buy cotton, but I’d have to pay a lot of taxes at the market. And I might not be able to make it in time. So, I just want to ask if you would like to barter.”

When the boss heard this, he looked around and checked that there were no patrolling officials. With a light cough, he said, “Let’s talk inside.”

Knowing that there was a chance, Mu Yangling quickly followed him in.

The boss looked at her basket and frowned slightly. “Why are there so many rabbits? Don’t tell me they’ve been kept overnight?”

“Certainly not. They were all caught this morning. Boss, if you don’t believe me, touch them. They’re still soft.”

The boss touched the rabbits and saw that they were indeed soft. Some of the blood was even a little warm, so the rabbit probably died not long ago from heavy injuries sustained previously. Relieved, he thought for a moment before asking, “How do you want to do the exchange?”

As she had never bartered before, Mu Yangling could only look at the boss blankly.

The boss’s heart skipped a beat. Realizing that Mu Yangling had never bartered before, he said, “Your rabbits are only worth 60 to 70 copper coins each. My new cotton costs 40 copper coins per catty. If you want to exchange, I’ll give you half a catty of cotton for each rabbit. How about that?”

Mu Yangling frowned. A rabbit, inclusive of the skin, cost at least 80 copper coins. “The price you’re offering is a little low.”

The boss replied, “Although it’s a little low, you don’t have to pay taxes. If you set up a stall in the market and those officials deduct more, you will have worked hard in vain today.” Seeing that Mu Yangling was still reluctant, he said, “This rabbit meat is good, but how many people are willing to spend 70 to 80 copper coins to eat a rabbit in this era? I’m only agreeing because it’s a barter. If you want me to buy it with money, I won’t buy it.”

The boss wasn’t lying. He merely hesitated for a moment since it was a barter, but if he had to buy it with copper coins, he would rather spend 20 copper coins to buy half a catty of pork should he wish to eat some meat.

“If you’re willing, I’ll introduce you to a few families that are willing to do the barter. The families nearby are all pretty well-off. They’d likely be willing to exchange one or two catties of cotton for a rabbit.”

With the boss’s recommendation, it would indeed save a lot of effort. Mu Yangling only hesitated for a moment before agreeing. In any case, it wasn’t as if they could sell these rabbits for money.

Seeing that Mu Yangling had agreed, the boss beamed with joy. He carefully compared them before choosing a big, fat, and fresh rabbit among the many rabbits. The corners of Mu Yangling’s mouth twitched, and she could not help but say in a low voice, “This rabbit weighs at least seven catties.”

The smile on the boss’s face widened. Seven catties of rabbit meat was enough for their family to eat for four to five days. All that for only one and a half catties of cotton. What a good deal. Because he had taken advantage of Mu Yangling, he was also more diligent about introducing customers to her. He went out first to weigh one and a half catties of new cotton for her and said, “Keep it well. I’ll tell them the exchange rate is one rabbit for two catties of cotton. How about that? I’m being rather kind, right?”

Mu Yangling immediately smiled and said, “Thank you, Uncle.” After thinking for a while, she took out a smaller one from the basket on her back and gave it to him. “Uncle, the registrar always bullies me for being young. I probably won’t set up a stall to sell things for money in the future. When the time comes, I’ll need to barter for a lot of things. Uncle, since you’re familiar with this street, I hope you can give me a hand when the time comes.”

“No problem, no problem.” The boss accepted it with a smile and said, “Wait for me. I’ll go out and talk to them. I guarantee that they’ll come with new cotton.”

As a businessman, even if he didn’t have a glib tongue, he was at least eloquent. The boss had only been gone for less than 15 minutes when four people followed him in, each of them holding a small bag.

“I heard someone wants to exchange for cotton?”

Mu Yangling quickly stood up nervously. “Hello, bosses. I’m the one who wants to barter.”