The craftsmen had eaten and drunk their fill; the dishes on the table had long been devoured. Niu Cuihua helped Shen Shi clear the table.

"Mom, I think the vegetables in our garden are growing well. It's a shame to throw away these old leaves. Why don't we make pickled cabbage?"

Chen Yu is quite skilled at making pickled cabbage. Although salt is expensive, in the past, when we didn't have enough to eat at home, we would throw away the waste vegetable leaves. During the off-season, we would have to go to the market to buy salt. In fact, it would be better to just buy some salt. Pickled cabbage is not as good as salted vegetables, and it goes well with rice.

Therefore, every year Chen Yu makes some pickled cabbage to soak and eat when there are no other vegetables to eat.

Chen Yu has always been good at making pickled vegetables.

"Okay! Mom will take it out to air it tomorrow!" This year, the Niu family's conditions have improved, and Chen Yu has planted more than a dozen more rows of vegetables in her own garden than in previous years. Among them, four kinds are, according to the seed seller, rare varieties.

One is a chili pepper I've never even heard of, one is a sweet potato, one is something like a tomato, and another is called a scallion.

These items were brought from all over the country by the brother who sold the seeds; the Great Zhou Dynasty did not have these four items.

Those seeds were very expensive, and Niu Da bought them with a mixture of curiosity and skepticism.

The vegetable garden also had Chinese cabbage, amaranth, and rapeseed planted before. Chen Yu saved some vegetable seeds and planted them again this year.

Bright red chili peppers and green chili peppers filled two whole rows. Many people have seen them, but have never eaten them.

There are also four rows of sweet potatoes.

Four-row tomatoes.

They all bear large fruit.

A few chopped scallions added to white noodles make it incredibly fragrant.

The other rows are planted with two rows of snow-white cabbage, two rows of rapeseed flowers, and one row of amaranth, all growing lushly.

There are also winter melon, pumpkin, and white radish.

There was also a row of watermelons planted in the vegetable garden.

The winter melons, pumpkins, and watermelons have grown huge!

"Honey, we can't possibly eat all the vegetables in that garden. Why don't you sell the eggs tomorrow and take them with you?"

Chen Yu suggested:

"I'll peel off the outer leaves of the white cabbage tonight and make sauerkraut and pickled vegetables. You can take the fresh vegetables to sell tomorrow; the dishes will look better that way!"

"Well, I picked some sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers tonight to sell! But how much should I sell them for?" Niu Dadao asked.

Chili and watermelon seeds are expensive, more expensive than seeds from the vegetable garden, costing a string of cash a packet. Niu Da himself doesn't know why he bought them on a whim.

Chili peppers only became popular in Jiangzhou last month. I had never even heard of them before. But even though I had never eaten chili peppers before, people in Jiangzhou like to put some non-toxic, slightly bitter chili peppers in their dishes and mix them with the chili oil inside.

"This chili is spicier than chili oil, and it's cleaner and more convenient. It's only just becoming popular, so it's okay to sell it at a higher price. We can lower the price once we break even!" "I heard that this chili is now selling for over 100 coins a pound!"

It's more expensive than pork and beef.

Spicy rice oil is made by mixing and refining dogwood juice with lime. The process is complicated and it doesn't fetch a high price.

"The fifth day of the fourth lunar month is your aunt's birthday. We'll go over and give her some eggs and money! The school construction should be finished by then, and you can go back to school with your second uncle."

Niu Cuihua's aunt married into a small landlord family in Qinglong County. Her surname was Huang, and she had been married for several years without having a son.

Qinglong County and Niushan Village in Niushan County are separated by one county. It is slightly closer than Xiangzhou, but it is in the opposite direction from Zhong Laopozi's Xiangzhou.

My aunt didn't come this year.

Niu Cuihua was overjoyed to hear that she was going to her aunt's house, but when she thought of her aunt's in-laws' attitude, her face fell.

Niu Da carried two baskets containing more than a dozen watermelons, two winter melons, four or five pumpkins, a basin of chili peppers, a dozen or so sweet potatoes, more than a dozen tomatoes, more than a dozen peeled white cabbages, and more than a dozen large white radishes. He went out early to sell eggs and vegetables.

Although Niu Da was a farmer, he was quick-witted. Seven or eight years ago, when the old ox was still energetic, he had already managed to get a lot of work by joking around with Jia Dafu's steward.

He worked for Jia Dafu's family for several years, and Jia Dafu appreciated him very much. He had saved a lot of money at that time and was planning to buy another oxcart. But just when things were going badly, Niu Cuihua fell ill. She sought medical treatment everywhere but couldn't get better, which delayed Jia Dafu's work and made things difficult for the family.

Later, when Lao Niu was no longer able to work, one of Jia Dafu's nephews asked for a job, so Jia Dafu let his nephew take over his job. Lao Niu could only make ends meet by fishing and picking up men.

Although most of the people in the East Market were poor, some merchants and servants from wealthy families would also go there to make purchases.

Niu Da was well-known in the East Market.

"Hey Niu Da, what are those two baskets you're carrying?" a sugar figurine vendor asked.

“It’s Brother Shen! I’m picking out watermelons, peppers, and some vegetables,” Niu Dadao said.

"Watermelon, chili peppers? Oh my goodness, those seeds are so expensive! A bag costs two hundred coins!" Aunt Li, who sells children's toys nearby, exclaimed in surprise.

Niu Da stopped to rest for a while, wiped his sweat, and said:

"It's a bit expensive, but thankfully, my watermelons are big, round, and very sweet."

Niu Da continued carrying his load into the market. When he reached his stall, he took out a clean coarse cloth for setting up the stall, then took out bunches of vegetables and arranged them neatly. He also provided a watering can for the vegetables.

He only brought three batches of eggs to sell; he kept the rest at home for wholesale. Most of the vegetable vendors in the East Market were small-scale farmers, and their prices varied.

But the fruit is usually not cheap.

He took out the price tags that Niu Er had written for him and laid them out one by one. Niu Da was illiterate, so he asked Niu Er to draw pictures of vegetables and fruits on the tags so that he could arrange them more easily.

"Boss, how much are these chilies per pound?" Many of the farm women buying vegetables were illiterate.

"Auntie, the chili peppers are 100 coins a pound!" Niu Dadao said, having memorized the price.

"Too expensive! Too expensive! Can you sell it for a lower price?" The old woman gritted her teeth and held up two fingers: "Twenty coins a pound, is that alright?"

Many people had never seen what chili peppers looked like before, so they all came to take a look, but very few people bought them.

"It's not that I'm unwilling to lower the price, it's just that the cost of chili peppers is too high. How about this, if you really want to buy, I'll weigh out twenty coins for you! And I'll give you a chili pepper for free, okay?"

Twenty coins is equivalent to two ounces of chili peppers.

The old woman touched her purse and said, "Alright! Can you give me a bunch of amaranth too?" Amaranth was very cheap, two bunches for one coin.

Niu Da readily agreed: "Okay, Auntie! Auntie, what are you going to stew with these chili peppers?"

The old woman said, "Tomorrow I'll be seventy years old. We won't have a big celebration, but my son and daughter-in-law still slaughtered a sheep and brought it to me. Spicy rice oil isn't as good as chili peppers, so I'm thinking of buying some to remove the gamey smell from the mutton."

"Here are your chili peppers. Your son and daughter-in-law are so filial. You are my first customer today. I'll also give you a longevity egg. Crack it open and eat it tomorrow morning. May you have good fortune and long life, live to be a hundred years old, and be free from illness and disaster," Niu Dadao said.

The old woman smiled: "Young man, you really know how to talk."

Niu Da is twenty-seven years old this year. Although he is already the father of several children, he is indeed a young man in front of a seventy-year-old man.