Chapter 103: Buying Bu Shu’s hands are so beautiful, she shouldn’t do rough work…
Today wasn't a market day. There was only one regular pork stall at this end of the town's market. It was already noon, and the best cuts of pork had been taken. After all, there were plenty of wealthy families in town, so even the commoners could afford this kind of pork. Those who were interested in a good cut of pork would have come early in the morning to buy it, so why would they wait until now?
The butcher selling pork was a burly man in his thirties. He was not as tall and strong as A Ye, but had broad shoulders and a big waist. When people saw him, they would exclaim, "Oh, he is worthy of being a butcher selling pork."
Nowadays, people prefer to eat fatty meat. The fattest parts and the fat-lean pork belly have long been bought up by the people. Most of the remaining parts are leg meat, tendon meat and tenderloin.
Lin Shu stared at the remaining pork and gestured to the stall owner, "Give me three pounds of pork belly and a pig bone."
The butcher, accustomed to cutting and weighing meat, used his knife to cut along the spot Lin Shu pointed. The weight came out to be exactly three catties, not an ounce more or less. Lin Shu chose a large pork leg bone; each one weighed a catty. The pork leg bone was also cheaper, costing thirty-five wen. Together with the three catties of pork, the total came to one hundred and fifty-five wen.
"Uncle, I've already bought so much pork from you. How about you give me the remainder?" Lin Shu tried to bargain.
The butcher's surname was Wang. He shook his head and refused. "Everyone in Jingxi Town knows that my pork stall never skimps on prices, not even a penny less. If I give you less today, all the other ladies and wives will come to me to bargain. How will I sell my pork then?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Shu secretly glanced at He Guixiang. After she nodded, she knew it was the truth. She immediately changed the subject and said, "Uncle, I see you still have a lot of pig offal left. Why don't you give me some as a bonus?"
Butcher Wang hesitated for a moment before cutting off a small piece of liver for her. "There's no more left. Take what you have and leave quickly. Don't tell anyone I gave you a small gift, or everyone will ask me for a small gift in the future."
Lin Shu sighed and put all the pork into the bamboo basket carried by He Guixiang, smiling and saying, "Don't worry, Uncle. I promise I won't tell anyone. Even if someone else finds out, don't worry. They wouldn't be willing to buy so much pork from you in one go like I did, right?"
"What is it?" Butcher Wang saw someone approaching and quickly waved at her, signaling them to leave.
Lin Shu and Lin Xiaopu smiled as they walked away from He Guixiang, each holding her arm. Lin Xiaopu chose the side with the basket and helped He Guixiang drag the basket. "Mom, it's quite heavy. Let me help you carry it!"
"Aye, thank you for your hard work in paying the money. Please don't count too many coins!" Lin Shu turned around and shouted.
Zhou Ye, who had fallen behind, took down his backpack, grabbed two handfuls of copper coins from it, and counted out 155 copper coins to Butcher Wang. "Count them and see if you think they are correct."
Butcher Wang waved his hand and dropped the copper coin into the money jar. "I can't read or write, but I can count the money clearly. I counted it when you did, and it's just right."
In fact, he recognized the boy in front of him. It was because he was too strong and often brought some pheasants and rabbits to the town to sell. Especially last time, the boy actually came to the town with half a wild boar on his back.
Butcher Wang has been selling pigs for many years. He only needs to take a quick look to know how much the wild boar weighs. It is a rare big fat pig!
Half a pig can sell for quite a bit of money, and this kid's wild boar was hunted in the mountains, so he had no capital at all, unlike a butcher like him. He only slaughtered and sold pigs, not raised them, and made a profit from the difference in price.
When he saw the wild boar, he was envious.
In theory, this boy has the ability to hunt wild boars. He sold half a wild boar for a lot of money last time. His family should not be short of money for these two or three pounds of pork, but the young lady was quite stingy just now.
"Hey, boy, if you want to buy my pork next time, even if it's just copper coins, you can exchange it for pheasants, rabbits, etc."
Butcher Wang was a pork seller himself, so he had plenty of pork to eat. Occasionally, he'd crave other meats, especially wild game from the mountains. Not only did he crave it, but so did his wife. Unfortunately, hunting wild game in the mountains wasn't for everyone; it required a dedicated hunter.
Zhou Yewei paused and nodded, "Okay, next time I hunt pheasants or rabbits, I'll come and exchange them with you for pork."
Butcher Wang grinned and said, "You're a straightforward guy. I wonder what your name is?"
"My last name is Zhou, and I'm the eldest in my family."
"Then I'll call you Zhou Dalang. My last name is Wang, and everyone calls me Wang the Butcher. You can just follow their lead."
He fished out a section of pig intestines from a bucket nearby and handed it over. "Pig intestines are the hardest to sell in the offal. I might not be able to sell them all by the time I close my stall. It's so hot today, and I won't be able to keep them for more than two days, so I'm just giving you a section."
Seeing that he was straightforward, Zhou Ye did not refuse and thanked him. After accepting the pig intestine, he wrapped it with the hay at the bottom of the backpack before throwing it in.
Just then a new customer arrived, so Butcher Wang went to greet him.
Lin Shu and the other two noticed that Zhou Ye was taking a long time to catch up, so they waited in the distance. Unexpectedly, Zhou Ye only chatted with Butcher Wang for a few words before bringing back a long piece of pig intestine.
"How come I didn't know you had this ability? Just chatting with you for a few minutes, people gave you a piece of pig intestine for free?" Lin Shu asked in surprise.
Zhou Ye explained: "Butcher Wang wanted to trade pheasants and rabbits with me. He's selling me a good one in advance."
Lin Shu held her chin with the back of her fingers and thought for a moment, "There are chicken and duck vendors in this town, so why would they have to buy pheasants and rabbits from you? Nine out of ten times, it's probably because Butcher Wang wants to get to know you, so he found an excuse."
As she spoke, she narrowed her eyes and smiled. "That's good. Once we get to know Butcher Wang well, it will be much easier for us to buy pork in the future. For example, if we want to buy pork, we can just let him know in advance and ask him to save a piece of prime pork belly for us. He'll definitely agree to such a small favor."
Lin Xiaopu cheered, "Great, great! Then every time we come back to town, let's tell Butcher Wang to leave a pound of pork belly for us."
Lin Shu corrected, "One jin is not enough, it needs to be at least two jins."
He Guixiang held her forehead and scolded with a smile, "The market is coming up in a few days. Do you two want to buy pork every time you go to the market? You two greedy people, our family can't afford to eat like that."
Lin Shu said confidently, "How can I not bear it? Xiao Pu doesn't need to take medicine anymore. I wonder how many kilograms of pork I can buy with the money I save on medicine. Xiao Pu and I only buy two kilograms each time, which helps Auntie save a lot of money."
Lin Xiaopu nodded vigorously, "Mom, calculate it, there's still a lot of money left for medicine!"
"...I won't tell you anything. I can't argue with you."
Lin Shu chuckled and said, "Since you can't convince me, then just listen to me. Let's go to the cloth shop and buy some cloth to make new clothes! Mother, this was agreed upon long ago. You promised it before."
"Go ahead. Mother should have bought some new cloth and made you two new sets of clothes."
"Mother, not only me, but everyone in our family has made new clothes. Xiao Pu is in good health now. Isn't this a more festive occasion than the Chinese New Year? Father and A Ye are also making new clothes together!"
Lin Shu said, turning around and looking at Zhou Ye, "Your clothes are all worn out from washing, it's time to change into new ones. You and Daddy wear out your clothes even more when working in the fields, so it's a good idea to have a couple of extra sets."
Zhou Ye looked at her and hummed, "I'll listen to you."
As for this money, you can earn more after spending it all.
There were three cloth shops in the market. One sold only high-quality goods, so several people simply avoided it. The remaining two shops sold cloth only, and one sold both cloth and ready-made garments. However, ready-made garments added a considerable labor fee, and the villagers were reluctant to spend the money, so they bought the cloth and took it home to make their own clothes.
Lin Shu visited both shops, compared the quality of the cloth, asked about the prices, and finally decided to buy ready-made clothes from the cloth shop.
Silk was expensive, and they couldn't afford it. Few people at the bottom of society wore silk either, so they all bought linen. Fortunately, linen was produced in Jingxi Town, so linen was not expensive.
However, this linen is also divided into different grades. The coarsest linen costs only twenty cents per piece, and one piece of cloth can be made into two clothes. Of course, a tall man like Zhou Ye can't afford it.
Twenty cents a piece is cheap, but it is not comfortable to wear. For someone with delicate skin like Lin Shu, wearing this rough linen would probably rub her skin and leave red marks.
Lin Shu also asked the price, and then looked at the cloth, only then did she realize that what she was wearing was not this cheapest coarse linen, but the short brown trousers that her father and Zhou Ye usually wore. Coarse linen like this is mostly yellow-brown or brown-gray in color, and the texture feels rough to the touch.
High-quality and fine ramie cloth not only has a good texture, but also has more elegant colors. It is the natural light color of linen, such as gray, beige and light brown.
A piece of cloth like this only costs forty cents, which is equivalent to the price of a pound of pork.
The more expensive item was dyed linen, which was even more expensive than the lower classes.
Lin Shu was looking at the fine linen that cost forty cents a piece.
Because she had just spent a lot of money to buy three pounds of pork and one pound of pork bones, she felt that this pork was particularly cheap by comparison.
"Mother, let's buy these forty wen. One piece of cloth can make two sets. We three will buy two pieces, and father and Ye will buy two more. That's four pieces of cloth in total, one hundred and sixty wen."
He Guixiang gritted her teeth and said, "Okay, let's buy it!"
Zhou Ye thought for a moment and said, "Aunt, you three can buy it. My uncle and I will buy burlap. Burlap is more resistant to stains. These are too light in color. After working in the fields for a day, they will be stained beyond recognition."
Lin Shu blinked and said, "Who said that buying this cloth means we have to make outerwear? Can't I make two sets of innerwear for you and dad?"
Zhou Ye was stunned for a moment, "Underwear?"
The villagers all slept shirtless at night, wearing at most a pair of pants, so he was no exception.
But at this moment, Zhou Ye couldn't say anything to refute. He always felt that if he couldn't explain clearly in front of Ah Shu, she would be embarrassed and angry.
Lin Shu suddenly giggled, "I'm just teasing you. Who says you can't wear light-colored clothes when working? Dark clothes absorb heat, don't you understand? You have to wear light-colored clothes to stay cool in the hot summer. If you don't like washing clothes, I can wash them for you if they get dirty, okay?"
Zhou Ye said hurriedly: "You don't need to wash my clothes. I wash my clothes myself. If you want to buy some, just buy it."
Ah Shu's hands are so beautiful, she shouldn't do rough work.
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