Chapter 21 Purchasing Goods
Let's turn back time to when Fan Xiaoxiao saw Zhu Er off.
Aunt Wang spat in annoyance as she watched Zhu Er's departing figure, and asked Fan Xiaoxiao with some displeasure, "Girl, why are we still giving these bullies food for free?"
Hearing Aunt Wang's question, Fan Xiaoxiao smiled and said, "Not only will I send some, but I'll send double the amount tomorrow."
"What a waste of all our ingredients."
Aunt Wang shook her head, indicating she didn't understand, while Fan Xiaoxiao just smiled and offered no explanation. The three of them quickly packed up their stall and then went to the market to buy ingredients for the next day.
"Pork, fresh pork!"
Old Zhang, the butcher, had a slow morning. He had even slaughtered two extra pigs today because he'd heard the merchant ships were about to dock. Now, however, he'd only sold half a pig, and he was getting a little annoyed.
"Boss! Is there any sewage left today?"
As soon as Old Zhang saw who it was, his brows furrowed immediately: "It's you again!"
Fan Xiaoxiao completely ignored Old Zhang's somewhat disdainful tone, instead grinning at him. Old Zhang glanced at Aunt Wang and her husband behind Fan Xiaoxiao, the words he was about to say about kicking them out swirling in his throat. He thought to himself that the people this girl brought today were clearly the ones who could make decisions in the family, so why not have this girl buy some pork!
Thinking of this, Old Zhang smiled and narrowed his eyes, saying, "Yes! There's quite a bit of offal today! If you buy two pounds of pork from me, I'll give you all the offal for free! What do you say?"
That's easy to say, but pork isn't like the big bone from yesterday; that's much more expensive. Fan Xiaoxiao didn't immediately agree, but instead asked, "So, how much is your pork?"
"Twelve coins a pound, two pounds is twenty-four coins! How about it, young lady? I have three sets of offal here today! Isn't that a good deal?"
After hearing the price, Fan Xiaoxiao quickly calculated the number of bowls she would sell that day. She had been counting the bowls carefully that morning, selling sparingly, and had managed to sell a total of fourteen bowls of braised offal and twenty baked buns. Ultimately, her initial investment of twenty-four copper coins wouldn't result in a loss. Having made her calculations, Fan Xiaoxiao nodded and agreed, "Okay! But we need to agree that if you have any more offal tomorrow, you still have to sell it to me at this price!"
Upon hearing this, Old Zhang was overjoyed. Those sewage items were just dirty junk, the kind of things only the poorest families would buy for a small treat. It was just an add-on item anyway; whoever bought it from would buy it. And this little girl was willing to buy pork—giving it to her was much better than giving it to those penniless bastards selling pork bones!
"Okay, it's a deal then!"
After they finished exchanging money and goods, Fan Xiaoxiao carried the items and went with Uncle Wang and the others to buy some mung beans, spices, and other things. Uncle Wang, seeing her carrying so many bags, asked with some confusion, "Girl, why are you buying so many mung beans?"
"These can be used to make foods that can be preserved for a longer time, and we can also cook mung bean porridge to sell. Tomorrow, we will not only sell braised pork offal, but also cold-dressed pork kidneys, so that we can earn more money."
The three of them walked quickly towards Old Zhao's house, leaving the market. As they passed the port, Granny Wang stopped—the merchant ship that was supposed to arrive that day was entering the port, and the workers were unloading the cargo, shouting slogans, creating a lively scene.
When Fan Xiaoxiao turned around, they had already walked quite a distance, while Granny Wang was still standing there, gazing longingly at the harbor. Uncle Wang sighed and was about to call out to Granny Wang when Fan Xiaoxiao quickly stopped him, saying, "Uncle, don't call Granny Wang yet. Granny Wang is probably thinking about things in Jingchuan County."
Uncle Wang sighed, "Oh, girl, your aunt has been working herself to the bone these past few days, just so she won't think about this. She's a strong-willed person, and she keeps all her worries to herself, afraid of making me worry. But little does she know, the more she does that, the more worried I become!"
“I know. I also inquired with the port yesterday. The merchant ship bound for Jingchuan County will arrive here in nine days. You will then take the merchant ship back to Jingchuan. In these chaotic times, it would be very dangerous for the two of you to travel alone. I will take advantage of these few days to prepare some easy-to-carry dry rations for you!”
Uncle Wang hadn't expected Fan Xiaoxiao to have considered things so meticulously for them. This grown man's eyes welled up with tears right there in the street. He rubbed his face and said, "Hey, girl. I..."
“Oh, Uncle, stop with the ‘you’ and ‘me’ talk. My sister has troubled you all so much in the past, and I’m just doing my duty to you two on her behalf. Don’t mention this to Aunt Wang yet, let’s talk about it when the merchant ship arrives.”
Uncle Wang nodded and wiped his face. After composing himself, he called out to Aunt Wang, "Old woman! Time to go home!"
The shout snapped Wang, who was watching the ship, back to reality. She glanced one last time at the merchant ship with some reluctance before turning and quickly following Fan Xiaoxiao. Her face still bore the traces of worry and concern she hadn't had time to compose. Uncle Wang called out to her again from ahead. Only then did Wang hurriedly respond.
"Hey! I'm here! Don't rush me! I'm coming!"
The three of them made no further delays on the rest of the journey. When they reached the river near Old Zhao's house, Uncle Wang stopped the car and unloaded the wastewater to do some basic cleaning.
This was Aunt Wang's idea. She said that since they were going to make this food, the cleaning method should be Fan Xiaoxiao's own secret recipe, and they couldn't just wash it openly outside anymore.
So the three of them cleaned the large intestine and the most wasteful part of the pig lungs, then simply washed the liver and kidneys, before returning to Old Zhao's house to prepare the food they would buy for the next day.
Little did they know that inside the cabin of the merchant ship that was entering the port, Gu Zhongtai was talking to a young man who looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six years old.
"Brother Gu, are you telling the truth?"
Gu Chongtai shrugged, leaning against the cabin window with a hint of boredom: "What's there to lie to you about? Your court's affairs have absolutely nothing to do with me. I only heard about it by chance, so I thought I'd come and inform you."
The young man looked into Gu Zhongtai's green eyes, feeling somewhat uncertain. Gu Zhongtai didn't even look at the man. Leaning against the window, he suddenly spotted Fan Xiaoxiao and her two companions pulling something in the distance. Raising an eyebrow, he tossed out a sentence, "Alright, I've finished my business, time to go!" and leaped out of the window, quickly following behind Fan Xiaoxiao and her group.
(End of this chapter)
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