Aunt Zhang's voice trembled as she asked, "You mean two and a half pounds of rice for one pound of water chestnuts? Did I hear you right?"
That's two and a half pounds of rice!
A pound of rice costs nine coins, so two and a half pounds would cost more than twenty coins. It's something that can be found everywhere in rivers and ponds, so how could it be worth more than twenty coins?
Aunt Zhang couldn't believe it; she instinctively thought that Fan Jin and Shui Qing were thanking her.
But thinking about it, that's impossible. Fan Jin and Shui Qing aren't exactly wealthy, and besides, Fan Jin said he'd keep wanting more, no matter how much.
"You heard me right. To tell you the truth, it was my husband's classmate who received it. He runs a restaurant, and a soup or pastry costs tens or hundreds of coins, which is a normal price."
When my husband heard him mention exchanging rice, he thought of our village. When he came back, he heard me mention that you helped me, so we asked your family first to see if you would be willing. Shuiqing spoke very fluently.
That's perfectly reasonable.
Aunt Zhang never expected that the simple thing she did that morning would bring her such a great reward!
She silently thanked all the gods and Buddhas in the heavens, nodding repeatedly and replying, "Yes, yes! How could I not?"
Brown rice costs five or six coins a pound, while dark flour costs three coins a pound. Their family always exchanges the harvested millet and corn for dark flour and eats dark flour porridge.
Two and a half pounds of rice can be exchanged for seven or eight pounds of dark flour paste, enough to feed a family for two days.
"Okay, then let me ask, how many kilograms can your family supply per day?" Shuiqing asked.
Aunt Zhang opened her mouth to give a number, but her eyes fell on several children in the yard.
The gold, silver, bronze, iron, and wooden oxen in the courtyard could no longer stay still and got up to walk into the house.
“Mother, my eldest and second brothers and I aren’t going up the mountain to chop firewood to sell. We’re going to collect chicken head rice cakes instead. You and your younger siblings can stay home and peel them. You can spend the whole day peeling chicken head rice cakes!” Zhang Tongniu said.
Their family has little land and a small harvest, so they are most eager to get free food. They are the fastest at peeling water chestnuts in the village.
Nowadays, a pound of water chestnuts can be exchanged for more than 20 coins, which is incomparable to the two or three coins for a load of firewood. Of course, the family will do their best to get this.
If things go well, we might not have to go hungry next year during the lean season...
Aunt Zhang had a good idea of what was going on. She solemnly told Shang Shuiqing, "I'm the most skilled person in the village at peeling water chestnuts. I can peel five or six catties a day. With the children, I can peel at least twenty catties a day."
She was shocked by the number after she told the reporter. Twenty catties of water chestnuts is equivalent to fifty catties of rice, and if it were made of black flour, it would weigh more than one hundred catties.
Can you earn more than 100 kilograms of black flour a day?
She calmed her racing heart and looked at Shui Qing nervously, asking in a shaky voice, "Second brother's wife, isn't twenty pounds too much? We can manage with less."
Shuiqing naturally refused: "No! My husband's classmate said that the more the better, the more the better. Aunt Zhang, you can peel as many as you want."
Aunt Zhang smiled with relief, pointed to the water chestnuts draining in the bamboo tray and preparing to dry, and instructed her daughter: "Quickly put these away and take them back to your second uncle and aunt to have a taste."
Fan Jinshuiqing naturally refused, and finally collected all the peeled ones from today, instructing that the ones peeled in the afternoon should be soaked in water and delivered before dark.
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