As I walked into a narrow alley, I heard a series of clanging sounds and saw someone driving a horse-drawn carriage, pulling their belongings, slowly emerging from it.
This street is lined with furniture shops; all the furniture shops, big and small, are here. A waiter stands at the entrance, and when someone comes in, he comes up to greet them warmly.
"Excuse me, are you here to have furniture made?"
Liang Shuyan nodded: "Yes, that's right. I want to buy a table and a cabinet, and I also want to buy a panel!"
"Yes, our Chu Family Furniture Shop has all kinds of furniture. Take a look, is this what you're looking for?"
The servant led them into the backyard, a square courtyard filled with various kinds of furniture. Ancient furniture was simply made of pure wood, without any lacquer.
The roof of the courtyard was a shed built of bamboo. Liang Shuyan looked at it and nodded: "Hmm, this table is nice. How much is it?"
"50 coins, this is top-quality camphor wood!"
She turned around again and saw a simple cabinet standing by the window. It had several shelves in the middle, two doors on the left and right, and even the handles were made of polished wood. It looked quite exquisite.
"How about this one? How much does it cost?"
"200 coins!"
Erniu frowned, looking puzzled: "Mom, let's not sell them now. Let's wait until we have money and build a new house before buying these. For now, let's just buy this dining table!"
The servant was hesitating whether to call the manager down when a man wearing a light blue robe came down from the second floor, walking leisurely.
"Excuse me, are you here to buy furniture?"
Usually, it's men who come to buy furniture. These two people looked very strange. There was a man following behind them, but the one in charge was this village woman dressed in tattered clothes. The shopkeeper looked puzzled.
"That's right, you young servants can't make the decision. How much is this table?"
The shopkeeper walked over, a pipe dangling from his mouth, glanced at Liang Shuyan, and said, "Are you here today, or just browsing?"
"What are you saying, shopkeeper? We definitely want it today. Who would come to your furniture shop to wander around for no reason? If you want to go to a night market, go to the market."
The shopkeeper was speechless for a long time after Liang Shuyan retorted with just one sentence.
"At least 40 coins!"
"Do you have a cutting board? Let me see!" Liang Shuyan said calmly, seemingly unsurprised by the shopkeeper's minimum requirement.
The shopkeeper glanced at Liang Shuyan, then pointed to a reddish cutting board against the wall and said, "This is the best cutting board, 45 coins!"
Liang Shuyan was terrified of haggling. When it came to haggling, both sides were engaged in a tense internal struggle. She smiled and said, "Shopkeeper, I won't haggle with you over these two items. How about 80 coins?"
The shopkeeper's face changed drastically: "Do you know the market price? This cutting board of mine usually costs no less than 50 coins. I only gave you this price because I saw that you were serious about buying it, but you're offering me such a price. Fine, don't buy it then!"
The shopkeeper got angry and turned to leave.
Liang Shuyan sneered: "What's wrong, shopkeeper? You think the price I offered is too low? Even at this price, I'll still give you a higher price. As soon as I walk out of your shop, I'll offer an even lower price and deliver it to our house. Do you believe me?"
The shopkeeper didn't say anything, and Liang Shuyan turned around and pulled her son away!
"Wait! Since you said 80 coins, then it's 80 coins. Deliver it to Jin Dashan's house in Daling Village!"
The shopkeeper suddenly felt like he was losing money. The price of 80 coins for these two items was already the lowest in the market, so why was he being asked to deliver them to Daling Village?
"What? Daling Village? That's so far away?"
Liang Shuyan rolled her eyes: "What's wrong? Shopkeeper, do you mean you don't want to deliver it?"
The shopkeeper gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, I've already sold it to you at a loss. Even if it's just to make a sale, I won't hold it against you. Daling Village it is. From now on, come to our store when you need furniture!"
Liang Shuyan nodded politely: "That's only right! Chu Family Furniture Store!"
After leaving the furniture store, Erniu lowered his head and said, "Mom, is that enough? We've almost spent all our money?"
"Buy some meat, and some candied hawthorns for the kids!"
She remembers her grandson's words more firmly than anything else!
Jin Erniu spread his hands awkwardly: "Mother, you remember your grandson's words clearly!"
"Of course!"
Besides the furniture alley, there happened to be a butcher at the end of the alley, so Liang Shuyan bought two jin of lean meat, as well as some pig skin and pig liver. The old lady likes stir-fried pig liver, so she'll make some for her when she gets home!
Beibei didn't forget the candied hawthorns either. Children love to eat snacks, and whether they are modern children or children in ancient times, they generally like the same things.
Liang Shuyan felt her legs were a little sore. Seeing a candied hawthorn stall not far ahead, she gave Erniu 10 coins: "Erniu, go and buy them. Buy all the candied hawthorns. Mother can't walk anymore, my legs hurt."
Erniu dashed over in one stride, then came running back, carrying a full bag of candied hawthorns, and said with a smile, "Mom, is this your grandson's?"
"What's wrong? Getting jealous? Want one too?"
"Mom, Erniu is so old already, why is he still eating this? People will laugh their heads off!"
Zhang was already quite impatient. Upon seeing her mother-in-law, she rushed over to greet her from afar: "Mother, why did you buy so many things again? The donkey cart is coming over, it's over there!"
Erniu pouted: "If we had known it would be this hard, we should have taken the donkey cart to buy jelly instead of going all the way to Furong Town. It was too much of a hassle. The donkey cart was left at the blacksmith's shop and just sat there in the sun all day."
"Alright, from now on, we'll feed the donkey well and drive the donkey cart to Furong Town to sell cold noodles! Come on, it's getting late, let's go home!"
Erniu was also feeling weak all over. He sat on the donkey cart, stroked the donkey, and said, "Oh dear, from now on, old friend, we'll still have to rely on you to pull us around more often. Walking is hard, and Mother has to carry a lot of things, so it's even harder for her."
Liang Shuyan felt weak all over. She got on the donkey cart, and Zhang Shi sat down next to her mother-in-law and asked softly, "Mother, where do you feel unwell? Would you like your daughter-in-law to massage your back?"
"Forget it, I'll just go home and rest! My whole body feels like it's going to fall apart after this day!"
Zhang said excitedly, "Mother, let your daughter-in-law give you a massage. You've worked so hard for our family, getting up early and working late. Now that Dashan has gone to school, the family is short of a strong laborer!"
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