Chapter 33: Too Many Places to Spend Money
◎Jinjiang exclusive◎
Zhou Jin dragged the young man around in circles for a long time, and only stopped when he was sure no one was chasing them. They were both exhausted, and they both leaned against the wall by the roadside, panting heavily.
It seems his original body's physical fitness is still not up to par. How far has he run to get so tired? If his current body were to be put in the apocalypse and the first wave of zombies arrived, he would be doomed...
Zhou Jin panted and despised himself in his heart. He secretly decided to start exercising more after returning. Not only did he have to exercise, but he also had to get his whole family to exercise with him.
Their whole family is too weak now. You have to know that in ancient times, a cold could take someone's life. You can't be immune just because you are in a high position and can afford a good doctor.
Take, for example, the Crown Prince who passed away a while ago. Did he have money? Didn't he have the nation's top doctors around him? And yet, he still died from a cold! His sister said that in ancient times, when surgery was not easily available, longevity depended on a healthy body and a strong immune system.
In this way, the two of them leaned against the wall and gasped for a long time. Only after they had caught their breath did they have time to look at each other.
Zhou Jin saw that the boy in front of him was about the same age as him, about twelve or thirteen years old, slightly shorter than him. His face was covered with mud, leaving only a pair of distinct black and white eyes blinking. His eyelashes were longer than his younger sister's. If it weren't for the boy's obvious Adam's apple, Zhou Jin would have thought he was a girl just by looking at these eyes!
The same thing happened to her body. The outer garment looked like it had been shredded in a paper shredder. The fabric could no longer be described as a single piece, but was in tatters. It was shredded like a hula skirt put directly around the neck. Zhou Jin couldn't even find the right adjective to describe how tattered it was.
But upon closer inspection, the scraps of cloth were actually made of silk!
Moreover, when Zhou Jin was pulling the boy to run, he found that the boy's hands were extremely soft and his skin was very delicate. It was obvious that he was a pampered man who had never done any rough work.
But thinking that it was just a chance encounter, Zhou Jin didn't bother to explore the boy's identity, so he waved at him and said:
"I think we should be safe now. Take care of yourself. I have something else to do, so I'll leave first!"
The young man opened his mouth and was about to say something when he suddenly saw a group of soldiers coming out from the street corner in the distance. He was so scared that he quickly turned around and hid in an alley...
As for Zhou Jin, after parting with the young man, he walked towards the streets outside the town. Now he didn't dare to go to the main streets where the pawnshops were located. Those strong men said that all the pawnshops in the town were owned by their bosses. If he went there now, wouldn't he be walking into a trap?
So, I planned to buy some urgent things for my family from a small shop outside the town.
Alas! He was unlucky today. Not only did he fail to pawn the small mirror, but he was also targeted by the pawnshop in town. Even the bundle of clothes that his mother asked him to pawn was lost during the fight with a few big men. It was really a loss of both the wife and the army.
Moreover, this incident today made Zhou Jin truly realize what it meant to be innocent but guilty of possessing a treasure. From now on, before he has a certain level of strength, he would not dare to pawn his sister's cosmetics in the space. It is too dangerous!
Just now, a small, inconspicuous mirror among a pile of cosmetics caused such a big commotion. If he took out his sister's more exquisite bottle mirrors in the space, wouldn't it bring disaster to the family?!
Zhou Jin felt that for the safety of his family, his plan of relying on his sister's cosmetics and makeup mirror in the space to win had to be put on hold for the time being.
But if it weren't for those things, his family would only have more than 110 taels left, including the goldfish Zhou Wangsheng gave him.
Next, the family has to build a house, buy supplies for the winter, and equipment for him to join the army. I don’t know if it will be enough?
Zhou Jin also learned from Li Gui today that these military households had to buy their own equipment when they went to serve in the army! According to Li Gui, those equipment were not cheap and were sold at a very high price. Even the cheapest one would cost more than ten taels of silver.
But no matter how expensive the merchants sell them, the military households have no choice but to buy them, simply because these outfits and equipment are related to the lives of the men serving in the army. If they try to save money on them, it is tantamount to playing with the lives of the men in the army.
It would be better if the sons in the family who are serving in the army could be assigned to the military camp that is mainly responsible for farming. At most, they would have to work hard and endure some hardships. But if they happen to be caught in a war and sent to the front line, the quality of these equipment would really determine the life and death of their sons.
Facing the same battlefield and the same enemy, their armor can block sharp blades and their swords can kill the enemy, but yours can be pierced through with a single stab and cut in half with a single chop. If you don't die, who will?!
So, aside from those families who treated their children like children, any military family with a bit of resources would buy their sons similar clothes for their military service. Otherwise, it would be really unreasonable, right? You can't let your child risk his life for the whole family and not even give him armor to protect himself?!
Since it concerns his own safety, Zhou Jin naturally did not think about saving money in this regard. He is not in good physical condition and is too young. If he does not get a good set of weapons and equipment, he might become cannon fodder if he goes to the battlefield!
Although he had a lot of weapons and equipment in the space, they were still in the era of cold weapons, so his weapons were not very useful. He couldn't just rush forward with a weapon when everyone else was using swords, spears, and halberds, right?!
Even if he could get it, he would be reluctant to use it. Before crossing over, he and his sister had almost used up all the ammunition in their hands in order to deal with that group of zombies, otherwise they would not have been desperate and blew themselves up!
Even if there were still some bullets left in their RV, there were only a dozen or so bullets left. Those bullets would be used up one by one, and Zhou Jin would not be willing to use them easily unless it was absolutely necessary.
As for bulletproof vests, although they can block bullets, they cannot block swords, spears, and halberds. Therefore, Zhou Jin feels that money for weapons and equipment cannot be saved, and the house cannot be built too poorly, otherwise it will not only not keep warm, but also be unsafe!
If the walls were too low, or the doors and windows were too shoddy, and a wild wolf came down from the mountain one day and snatched away his little Zhou Ying, he would be so heartbroken! Therefore, this money could not be saved!
There were also cotton-padded clothes, cotton trousers, cotton mattresses, cotton quilts, pots and pans, tables and benches for the whole family. Although these didn't cost much, the family was so poor that they needed so many things to buy that it would cost a lot of money. Moreover, they had to prepare enough food for the whole family from now until the summer harvest, which would cost another twenty or thirty taels.
It would be better if the wasteland allocated to their family next year could be successfully reclaimed and produce some crops. Otherwise, after the summer harvest next year, they will not only have to spend money to buy food, but also have to pay grain taxes, and their lives will be even harder than this year!
This is not Zhou Jin's own alarmist talk, but the actual situation they may face. You know, their family is now full of women and children, and there is not even one person who knows how to farm. It is really possible that they will not be able to reclaim the wasteland and grow crops.
The more Zhou Jin thought about it, the more he felt that the money he had was not enough to spend, but he couldn't think of a way to make money for a while. He could only suppress his anxiety and think about discussing it with his sister when he got back.
Seeing that it was getting late, Zhou Jin hurriedly started shopping. Although his belongings were getting smaller and smaller, Zhou Jin was never the type to be stingy with food and daily necessities. In addition to rice, flour, grain, oil, pots and pans, cotton cloth and cotton, he also bought daily necessities such as needles and thread, dustpans and brooms. Thinking that his brothers and sisters had not had a proper meal for a long time, Zhou Jin went to the vegetable market to buy some fresh vegetables, chicken, duck, fish and meat, as well as various seasonings. After all, when Zhou Jin finished shopping, the rented donkey cart was almost full.
After this shopping spree, plus the one hundred coins for renting the cart, Zhou Jin spent a total of nine taels and eight cents of silver. Zhou Jin thought of rounding it up even, and used the remaining two cents of silver to buy meat buns and sesame cakes with meat. He packed two large bags and put them in the basket he had just bought. Then he sat on the rafters of the donkey cart and directed the driver to go to the small shop where Zhou Ruiquan was resting.
When he arrived, he saw that Zhou Wangsheng and others had also returned. They had also rented a donkey cart and bought a lot of things. They were standing outside the shop waiting for him.
Seeing him come back, they thought that they were still more than sixty miles away from home. In that era, there were no street lights. In order to avoid traveling at night, they exchanged a few words and got on the rented donkey cart to go home.
The driver of the donkey cart that Zhou Jin rented was named Zhong Mingshun. He was a cheerful and talkative man in his thirties who lived in Baili Town. The journey was long, and Zhou Jin saw that Zhou Ruifeng, who was sitting in the same cart with him, was already drowsy. In order to prevent Zhong Shun from getting bored, he started chatting with him.
As Zhou Jin was talking, he naturally turned the topic to the pawnshops in town...
"My mother was planning to have me pawn some of our clothes that we no longer need, but she forgot about it before leaving. Uncle Zhong, do you know which pawnshop in town is the fairest? It'll give me some advice when I go pawn something tomorrow."
"Alas! All crows are black. I tell you this because I think your nephew is an honest young man."
Zhong Shun was not only talkative but also very gossipy. When he heard Zhou Jin talking about the pawnshop in town, he couldn't stop talking and kindly reminded:
"The pawnshops and casinos in our town are owned by Captain Liu. They're specifically designed to rip off outsiders like you. If people in our town want to pawn something, they ask someone to take it to Fuzhouwei. After taking the money from the person who sent the money, they can get 20% more than if they pawned it in our town! I suggest you ask your mother to alter your clothes so that the whole family can wear them. You won't get much money from pawning them in our town!"
"Ah? The pawnshops and casinos in our town are all run by Captain Liu's family? Captain Liu is so powerful? Such a profitable business as pawnshops and casinos can be controlled by their family? Is our commander going to let him dominate his own territory?" Zhou Jin asked doubtfully.
"Bah, what a bullshit!" Zhong Shun couldn't help but spit. "Isn't it all thanks to selling his sister?! A few years ago, Captain Liu gave his sister to General Lan as a concubine. Over the years, relying on his sister's favor, Captain Liu has become so powerful in our area. I guess our Qianzong is just giving General Lan face and doesn't dare to offend him, right?!"
Perhaps it wasn't just General Lan's favor? Perhaps Captain Liu was General Lan Ting's pawn in Baili Town, a way to make money for him? How else could he have the nerve to do so, relying on just a concubine? He'd let General Qian give up the two most lucrative jobs in Baili Town?
Zhou Jin felt that it was impossible, and it would be better if he gave it directly to General Lan Ting.
But these were not things that a mere cannon fodder like him needed to worry about. After finding out who was behind the Baili Town pawnshop, Zhou Jin changed the subject and talked to Zhong Shun about the cost of building a house here...
The author has something to say:
Thank you to everyone who read my stories! This is my first time writing, and it's so heartwarming to see that someone enjoyed it!
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