"I will wait for you."
The two said goodbye, and before leaving, Xu Jiang said with a double meaning, "Sir, you can bring this rare edition of yours with you when you go. We can compare them and see if they are real."
Yuan Zuzhi readily agreed.
After bidding farewell to Yuan Zu, Xu Jiang kept thinking about the "Donglingzi Collection" in her mind. The black donkey carried her, and when she couldn't find the way for a long time, she spread her hooves and ran straight towards the West Market.
When Xu Jiang came to her senses, she was already in Zhao Zhang's horse farm. The donkey under her pawed the ground, impatiently signaling her to get off.
She was so angry that she laughed. She raised her hand and slapped it on the butt, scolding it: "They say that old horses know the way, but you, a stubborn donkey, only know the good stuff."
The donkey swung its butt and almost knocked her off.
When Zhao Zhang saw this, he couldn't help laughing. He hurried over to lead the donkey for her and helped her down to the field.
"My lady, are you here to go to market again?"
"Let's buy some mountain products for the winter." Xu Jiang saw Zhao Zhang feeding the donkey fodder and said with a smile, "It's been spoiled with such good food that it knows to come to you every time it goes out."
Zhao Zhang laughed heartily and patted its head, "He's a connoisseur."
Xu Jiang tied the donkey to Zhao Zhang and asked him to take care of it, and then went straight to the market.
She arrived early today. There were more vendors and buyers in the city than usual. They were shoulder to shoulder all the way. It took her nearly half an hour to squeeze her way to the West Street market where mountain products were sold.
As the winter solstice approaches, the West Street Market is packed with people. Almost every stall is surrounded by people. At a glance, there are no goods to be seen, only people's heads.
She could only tell what goods the vendors were selling by their shouts, but even if she heard what she wanted to buy, she couldn't squeeze in and could only stand outside the crowd, looking around in confusion.
"My wife?"
Xu Jiang looked back and saw that it was the woman who sold pine mushrooms that day.
"Is it really you?" The woman pulled her towards the open space. Seeing that her eyes were still fixed on the crowd, she asked, "Are you here to buy mountain products?"
Xu Jiang came back to her senses and asked hurriedly, "Auntie, do you have any ideas?"
"I have a nephew who owns a stall in the West Market. He sells a wide variety of local produce and seafood. Would you like to take a look?"
"If you want to go, please lead the way, Auntie."
The woman led her to North Street. There were many people on North Street, but fewer than on West Street. At least she didn't have to fight with others.
"Just ahead."
The two of them turned into an alley along the main street and walked about a hundred steps. They saw a row of low stalls crowded in the narrow alley.
It is indeed much quieter than the West Market. There is no one around, and the few people selecting goods look like regular customers. They leave after making their purchases, very efficiently.
"This is it." The old woman called inside, "Kuiwazi, a guest is here!"
"Hey!" Kuiwazi, a man in his thirties, dark-skinned, short and thin, but looking very capable, smiled as soon as he saw the old woman and said hello to Xu Jiang: "Hello, my lady, what would you like to see?"
When Xu Jiang saw him and the alley full of goods, she was inexplicably reminded of the rat spirit in the story of the hoarder. She suppressed a smile and said, "Hello, sir. I'd like to see some mountain products."
"Then you've come to the right place." Kuiwazi cleared a path with his feet and invited her in. "What kind of food would you like to buy, ma'am? Dried mushrooms? Winter bamboo shoots? Recently, we've also got some Chinese yams and young kudzu root, which are also good."
"Kuzu root? I don't want Kuzu root. I want Kuzu powder. Do you have any?"
"Yes!" Kuiwazi got into the stall, pulled out a sack, untied the hemp rope, and said, "There are two types of kudzu root: white kudzu and wood kudzu. White kudzu is white, while wood kudzu is yellow. This is the white kudzu. Look, the powder is so white and fine. It will be clear and bright when brewed. It's guaranteed to taste good."
Xu Jiang dipped some of the flour in it and tasted it. It was indeed good. "Remember five pounds."
"Okay, kudzu starch, mark it down to five pounds." Kuiwazi took out a piece of paper and marked it with a charcoal stick.
Xu Jiang looked around and suddenly saw a row of small clay jars with red paper pasted on them, on which were written the names of various mushroom oils.
The old woman smiled and said, "I made this using the method my wife taught me. I have a lot of mushrooms at home, so I made some of each and left it with Kui Wazi to sell on consignment."
Xu Jiang took a jar of hazel mushroom oil, opened the seal and took a sniff. The aroma filled her nose. She squinted her eyes and smiled, "That's the smell. It's really fragrant."
"Who says it's not? My old man can eat a whole bowl of this noodles."
"Is it selling well?"
"We just started selling it not long ago. We can sell three to five jars a day."
"How many mushrooms are there at Auntie's house?"
"These days are the mushroom season. I go up the mountain every day to look for mushrooms, and I can find a whole basket every time."
Xu Jiang had an idea in mind, so she discussed it with her, "Aunt, how about this? I'll buy all the mushrooms you've picked these days, but I'll boil them into mushroom oil and package them like this. You can figure out how much you'd like to sell each jar to me."
The old woman was delighted and asked, "Madam, do you want them all?" Then she said worriedly, "It's quite a lot."
Xu Jiang nodded and said firmly, "I want both. Just name the price."
"Kuiwazi, please calculate for me how much this mushroom oil costs per jar so we can give my wife a fair price."
"Okay." Kui Wazi came over with an abacus, clacking away. "The jar, cooking oil, and various seasonings. The mushrooms will be double the price of fresh mushrooms, so one jar will cost... twenty-five wen."
It is almost the same as Xu Jiang's estimate.
After he finished calculating, the old woman said to Xu Jiang, "My lady, you taught me how to make mushroom oil. I can't let you down, but I can't let myself down either. How about this? I'll sell you a jar for thirty-five coins."
Ten coins per jar wasn't much, so Xu Jiang nodded and agreed. "Deal."
The old woman breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "When do you want it? Do you want to come to the market to pick it up yourself, or should I bring it to your door?"
"Just send it to the Zhanchun Bookstore on Huailiu Street in Yonghe Lane. It's ready anytime, and payment is in cash."
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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