Chapter 316: 316 Selling dead fish
Translator: 549690339
“I won’t sell them. If I can’t sell them, I’ll just keep them for myself.”
“How about two cents?”
“Three cents and no bargaining. Buy it or leave it. Even if I can’t finish them, I can make dried fish.”
“Fine, three cents then…” Qian Zhang thought she wanted to eat fish, and she rummaged through her pocket, finding only one copper coin, “Weigh me some.”
Su Qingyue directly picked a small fish, propped it up on the scale, “Exactly three taels and three.”
“This fish is too small… Can’t you give me more…”
“Do you want it? I can give you more, but you need to pay more.”
“Forget it, I’ll take this one.” Qian Zhang took the fish pierced with grass by Su Qingyue, paid the money, and muttered, “The fish is too small, it’s not enough for a bowl of soup…”
“Tsk, tsk… Qian Zhang is really stingy…” Someone nearby shook their head and gave Qian Zhang a big, disdainful glare, “You’re generous, huh? You have a lot of money, don’t you? At least I bought a fish, but I haven’t seen you pay even half a cent!”
The person was embarrassed and bought one Jin of fish on impulse.
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, “Cuihua.’
“Eh, Qingyue, you’re here too.” Wang Cuihua only noticed her then.
“Yeah. 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 I’ll give them to you.” She handed over the fish to her.
“No, your family doesn’t even have food now…”
“It’s okay. Today, I had good luck. I caught two baskets of fish and about 220 jin of mushrooms.”
“So many…”
“Yeah.” She repeated the reason she had made up earlier to others, “My second brother saw a lot of mushrooms while hunting but didn’t pick them, and there’s also a shallow creek in the deep mountains with shallow water and plenty of fish. I got them all. You shouldn’t refuse, we can’t finish them all.” “Alright then.” Wang Cuihua took the fish, “I’ll give you money.”
“No need, it’s a gift. Talking about money would be too impersonal.” She said, “I owe your family one and a half taels of silver. In a few days, when I have some, I’ll pay you back.”
“There’s no hurry.”
“I have to go, then. I haven’t cooked at home yet. I just made some copper coins selling fish, and I want to buy some food. Who has food for sale?”
“Aunt Zhang’s family sells flour and coarse grains. She’s an honest person, and her prices are the same as those in town.”
“I bought flour from her before, but I didn’t know she also sold coarse grains.”
“Her 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.”
“Alright, I’m leaving then.”
Su Qingyue didn’t 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 Zhang’s 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 didn’t 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 didn’t want to have mushrooms as the main course again in the evening.
After all, rice is delicious.
However, Aunt Zhang’s family kept their refined rice to eat themselves and wouldn’t sell it. Moreover, refined rice costs seven cents a Jin, which is two cents more expensive than brown rice. She couldn’t afford to buy that much at once, so she preferred to buy more brown rice instead..