Chapter 14 Don’t You Like It?

Zhang Juexia was helpless seeing Ye Beixiu like this.

"What's the point of being involved? If someone gets sick, they need treatment."

"I'm not sick, I just have a lame leg."

"If your legs are lame, you are sick."

Ye Beixiu's face darkened. He let go of Zhang Juexia's hand and walked forward alone.

"Where are you going? Well, wait for me. A cripple can walk faster than I can."

Zhang Juexia muttered to himself and followed Ye Beixiu into the grain shop.

After entering the grain store, Ye Beixiu went straight to the point, "Hey, how much is this cornmeal?"

"Sir, you have a good eye. This cornmeal is freshly brought from the mill by our grain shop. It's eight cents a pound. How much do you want? I'll weigh it for you."

Zhang Juexia reached out and gently tugged at the corner of Ye Beixiu's clothes, "Husband, don't rush to buy it. Ask the waiter if he can give you a discount."

Ye Beixiu looked at Zhang Juexia's cautious look and suddenly felt that he had been a little fierce just now, and was afraid that he had scared her.

Then he thought again, she was doing this for his own good.

He sighed helplessly and pointed at the sign at the door.

Zhang Juexia tilted her head to look at the place where Ye Beixiu pointed. She didn't recognize some of the traditional Chinese characters, but she could understand what they meant even by guessing.

"This grain shop doesn't allow bargaining."

Then she realized that Ye Beixiu could read, and her mouth opened in surprise, "You can read?"

"I attended a private school for two years when I was young."

"oh."

"This shop has been in this town for many years. We buy our food here. The prices are really fair. Don't you want to eat white flour?"

Zhang Juexia quickly shook her head. She had just asked the waiter, and he said that white flour was too expensive, twenty cents per pound.

Ye Beixiu ignored Zhang Juexia and said to the waiter, "Weigh out 20 kilograms of cornmeal and 10 kilograms of flour for me."

Zhang Juexia hurriedly stopped him, "Let's weigh five catties of flour. It's too expensive."

"Buy more, I like to eat it too."

The waiter cheerfully weighed the noodles and handed them to Ye Beixiu. "Sir, you can buy our grain with confidence. Think about it, if you spend five cents to buy a pound of corn kernels and then have to grind them yourself at home, it's not as convenient as ours."

Although these words were spoken to Ye Beixiu, they were actually meant for Zhang Juexia to hear.

Zhang Juexia kept complaining in the shop about the high price of grain, and the shop assistant probably couldn't stand it anymore, so he added a few more words.

In fact, this is not Zhang Juexia's fault. The grain yield in that era was low. A harvest of about 100 kilograms per acre of land was considered a high yield.

Ye Beixiu put the food into the backpack and looked at Zhang Juexia, "See if there is anything else you want to eat. If not, we will leave."

All Zhang Juexia wanted in her mind was to get Ye Beixiu to go back to the pharmacy, so she had no intention of buying other food.

"Let's go."

Passing by the butcher shop, Ye Beixiu stopped and said, "We're running low on oil at home. Let's buy some pork fat and make some lard later."

Zhang Juexia saw some big bones thrown in the corner of someone's shop, asked for some, and asked the boss to give him a pair of lower-quality goods.

Ye Beixiu frowned as he watched from the side. How greedy must his young wife be to pick up things that other people don't want?

Passing by a grocery store, they bought a few pounds of salt, as well as the seasonings used for cooking, such as soy sauce and vinegar, plus some spices, such as star anise, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, angelica, and cumin.

The clerk in the grocery store looked at how many spices Zhang Juexia had bought. His hands were shaking as he weighed them. "Sir, you don't know that these spices are also available in the pharmacy. But our shopkeeper insisted on buying them in, saying that if someone wants to buy them, they will run out of stock."

"Your shopkeeper is really a good man."

Zhang Juexia took the opportunity to say a few nice words and asked the waiter if their shop would accept dried black fungus, Sichuan peppercorns and other mountain products.

After the clerk packed her things, he said, "I can't make the decision on what you just asked. Please wait a moment. I'll go to the backyard and ask the shopkeeper."

Soon the shop assistant came back panting, "Our boss said that if you have any, we will buy them. But he has to guarantee the quality. If the quality is not good, he will not buy them, so as not to ruin the reputation we have built for so many years."

Zhang Juexia nodded to show that he understood.

In order to maintain their reputation, the ancients also knew about quality control.

Ye Beixiu said nothing in the grocery store.

After leaving the shop, he followed Zhang Juexia silently.

The street vendors called out, "Perfume, rouge and powder."

Zhang Juexia walked over curiously to take a look, then picked it up and smelled it.

"My dear lady, you have a good eye. This is the best soap we sell."

"How much is it?"

Zhang Juexia thought, if it is cheap, he will buy one, it will be convenient for washing hands and hair on daily basis.

"Eighty cents a piece."

Zhang Juexia was once again shocked by the prices in ancient times and quickly put down the soap.

With this kind of work, with this kind of..., she thought it would cost at most ten cents.

"My dear, if you use this scented soap sparingly, it will last you for several months."

When Ye Beixiu saw Zhang Juexia pick it up and put it down again, he knew that she was reluctant to let it go.

He took out eighty coins from his pocket and put them in the peddler's hand, saying, "Pack it up for me!"

Zhang Juexia couldn't stop him.

Ye Beixiu picked up the fragrant soap and put it in the backpack, then pulled Zhang Juexia and continued walking forward.

Zhang Juexia complained as he walked, "Why do you take the blame? This thing is so expensive, and you still buy it."

"Don't you like it? Besides, we need this thing too, so it's not a waste of money."

"Is it easy to make money? In just a short while, I've already spent all the money I earned from selling prey."

Ye Beixiu touched Zhang Juexia's head and said, "No, there are still some."

Zhang Juexia glared at him.

Ye Beixiu pursed his lips and smiled, "Let's go buy some eggs in front and then go home."

"The hens that lay eggs are cheap."

When Zhang Juexia heard this voice, he had an idea. Instead of buying eggs, it would be better to buy a chicken and take it home. That way, he would have eggs to eat every day.

This time Zhang Juexia ran ahead of Ye Beixiu, "I'm going to check on the hens."

After some bargaining, Zhang Juexia bought two hens and asked the seller to give them ten eggs as well.

She looked at Ye Beixiu proudly, meaning that she wanted him to praise her.

Ye Beixiu simply took the hen, helped her put it in the backpack, and carefully packed the eggs.

"Do you want to go home, or go shopping?"

"I want to go to the pharmacy."

"I really want to go."

Ye Beixiu looked at Zhang Juexia with his dark eyes. She nodded firmly and said, "You must go."

"Oh well."

Zhang Juexia was surprised by Ye Beixiu's sudden change in attitude, "Didn't you just say you didn't want to go?"

"Don't you want me to go? I don't want to disappoint you, but I'm also afraid that you will be disappointed."

Ye Beixiu's words made Zhang Juexia a little confused.