Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Buying meat.
Ji Xu opened his mouth and shouted,
"Come and take a look! Bamboo steamers are lighter and more durable than ceramic ones. Eight cents each, fifteen cents for two! And the lid is free!"
When she came, she went to the cooking utensil store to inquire about the price of the ceramic steamer. It was twenty cents each. It looked simple and heavy, narrow at the bottom and wide at the top, with a deep belly, and much taller than a single bamboo steamer.
However, she made a set of two bamboo steamers stacked together, and sold them for eight cents each, so fifteen cents for a set was also reasonable. They were sold with the steamer lid, so selling them for free was just a gimmick.
"I've only heard of pottery steamers and iron steamers, but are there also bamboo steamers?"
A woman stopped in front of the stall. Winter was coming soon, and her family was planning to buy a clay steamer and a colander to heat up food.
"Yes, it can not only heat food, but also steam food, such as steamed crab, steamed fish, steamed meat, steamed milk cakes... It can do everything that a clay steamer can do."
"It looks exquisite, but it's so short. It's not as good as a clay steamer. If you put a sieve in the middle, it will have two layers." The sieve is a partition placed in the clay steamer with a hole in the middle, and you can put rice and dishes on the sieve.
"No need for a sieve." Ji Xu stacked the two clay steamers together. "This is two layers. Stack it again and it will be three layers. It will be as tall as the clay steamer, but much lighter than the clay steamer."
I saw a child with a bun on his head beside the woman.
"Besides, bamboo woven things won't break when dropped."
The woman was attracted when she heard that it could not be broken even by falling. Her old pottery steamer was broken by her child by accident. It cost 20 cents each and had only been used for a short time. The iron steamer was also resistant to falling, but it had to be purchased at a store set up by the county government. The price of iron was shockingly high, nearly 200 cents for one, which was unaffordable for her family.
"Okay, give me one, no, two!"
Two would be cheaper, and he confirmed, "Is this lid a gift?"
"Yes, two covers for free."
Once there is one, there will be two. With the shouting, many people gathered in front of the stall.
There are some unusual things, some of them couldn't help but stop when they heard that they could give away a steamer lid.
"Will this size fit the pottery tripod in my house?" The bottom of the pottery steamer fits perfectly on the edge of the pottery tripod, so I'm worried that the size won't fit when I buy it back.
"The bamboo steamer is placed on top of a pottery cauldron or pottery tripod. It doesn't need to be embedded in. As long as you have a boat-shaped stove at home, the size will be suitable."
Ji Xu explained.
She made it according to the size of the stove eye on her own boat's bow, and boat stoves were very popular in the Wu and Chu areas.
"My family uses a bow stove. Give me two!" The old man immediately took out the money.
After looking around at the stall where someone was still holding their bamboo steamer and wondering, Ji Xu called out, "The last four, the last four! Be slow or they'll be gone!"
"I want one!"
"Young man, let's shop together and save a penny. Then we can buy another penny of vegetables and split it in half, isn't that great?" Some people were quick-witted and quickly pulled others to share the order.
"Okay, okay, let's buy it together."
I snatched it from the hands of someone who was just looking but not buying, and quickly paid for it, fearing that it would be gone. This bamboo steamer is much cheaper than a ceramic steamer.
A vendor selling clay dogs also came over and said, "Girl, how about I trade you some clay dogs?"
"My clay dogs are in great demand. Children from all over the town love them."
"It's time to play with your little sister."
The peddler deliberately went around to Ji Zhu and waved the clay dog in front of her. He had noticed that the little girl looked at his clay dog stall from time to time.
Jizhu turned her head away and said, "I'm a big kid and I don't like toys."
What child doesn't love toy toys? The clay dog with a broken leg at home was picked up by Ji Feng from the Feng family for her to play with. Every day before going to bed, she would play with it on the bed for a while and then put it back in the corner as a treasure.
"I can exchange it, but your clay dog costs three cents, and you have to give me another five cents." She had just seen the vendor sell one and receive three cents.
"That won't do." The vendor was unwilling to pay a cent and took the clay dog back home.
Ji Xu's bamboo steamers were already selling well, so there was no need to exchange them. After shouting for a while, the last two bamboo steamers were sold out.
He also sold the two bamboo brooms to two customers who were buying a bamboo steamer together, at five cents each.
The Jin family across the street hasn't sold a single loquat yet.
I had previously made some joint purchases at Ji Xu's place, and now I wanted to go to Jin's stall and buy a coin of pears to split in half.
At this time of year, pears are cheap and you can buy six for one penny.
Unexpectedly, Jin kept picking out the small and green ones, and even held the ones with worm holes in her hands and quietly put them into the other person's backpack, thinking that they were young men and women and easy to fool.
"You evil woman, I don't want this rotten thing!" After Xiaolang found out, he returned everything in the basket to her.
"How is it rotten? It's overripe. This is how it should be sweet!" Jin refused to admit it.
"Keep it for yourself. If you have the good red ones, don't pick them for me. Let's go. There are plenty of pears to buy in the market."
"My good ones have to sell for two cents. Can you afford it, you poor little kid?" Jin muttered and buried the inferior ones underneath.
Ji Xu put the seventy coins he earned into a bamboo tube he had prepared in advance, tied the bamboo tube around his waist, put on the basket and closed his stall.
Jin fiddled with the pear fruit, listened to the sound of the string of copper coins falling into the bamboo tube, and clenched her teeth.
Ji Xu led Ji Zhu to the clay dog stall and stopped, "Give one to my little sister."
"Sister...I don't..."
"Do you like it?" Ji Xu had already paid three coins and handed the clay dog forward.
How could Ji Zhu not like it? After hesitating for a moment, she held it in her arms, feeling it like a treasure, and whispered, "I like it."
"Mom, I want a dog too!"
"Jizhu has them all! I want them too!"
"I want it, I want it, I want it!"
In Ji Huhai's eyes, when will the children of his uncle's family have something that he doesn't have? He has always coveted those rows of clay dogs, and now he sees that Ji Zhu actually has them.
They rolled on the ground and started making a fuss.
"Okay, okay, mother will buy it for you later!" Jin said loudly. She also did not allow the second wife's children to go beyond her own house.
Ji Huhai rolled around and made a noise: "What will it be later? I want it! I want it in my hands and in my heart!"
Jin couldn't say that she didn't bring any fruit with her this time. She thought she would have money after selling the pears, but she didn't sell a single fruit.
Everyone who passed by went to look at the bamboo steamer. Seeing that the two little kids bought the clay dogs and went to the meat stall again, she shouted even harder. Unfortunately, Ji Huhai rolled on the ground crying and making so much noise that no one wanted to stop. The guy selling the clay dogs even wanted to move away.
"Auntie, please take good care of your child!"
"If you weren't here selling clay dogs, would my child keep crying?" Jin was already feeling annoyed.
The two started quarreling across the street. When Ji Huhai saw that no one was listening to his crying, he calmed down, lay on the ground and picked up a pear to eat.
The butcher's stall owner, looking in from the corner of his eye, quickly greeted the customers as they arrived:
"Girl, do you want to buy some meat? My meat is fresh. It's all fat pigs that I just slaughtered this morning!" People at that time called pigs "豕".
Not only are there stalls selling pork, but there are also mutton stalls further away, as well as stalls selling fresh chickens, ducks, and geese.
"How much is this meat?" Ji Xu asked.
"Meat is seven coins per pound, and fat is fifteen coins per pound."
The boss was referring to a piece of lean meat and a piece of lard.
At that time, the main edible oil for the common people was lard, which could be refined into oil and sold at more than twice the price of lean meat.
"How about this one?" Ji Xu took a fancy to a piece of pork belly that was three parts fat and seven parts lean.
"Fat meat is ten coins per pound."
"Give me a pound of meat with fat." She picked a part with even fat and lean parts and asked the stall owner to cut it.
You still have to bring fat to get the most out of it.
The stall owner picked up the knife and weighed it, "Just right, one pound!"
Ji Xu felt something was wrong, so he took the meat strung with straw rope and weighed it. It was about 250 grams in later generations, or half a catty.
She didn't suspect the boss of underestimating her claims, as the meat stall had many regular customers that morning. She also knew that the weights and measures in the Han Dynasty were different from those in later times, but she only felt the reality when she held the meat in her hands.
"Give me another pound of fat." There was no lard at home, so she could only make stews or soups. She had to buy fat and refine lard. This would make it convenient for her to cook, and also give her some meaty flavor.
"Okay!"
I spent twenty-five cents on the meat.
"Go away, girl!"
Now that I have bought the meat I have been longing for, of course I cannot cook it randomly. The only ingredient left at home is salt, so I need to buy everything else.
This seasoning is also sold in the market, but not at a stall, but in a shop along the street.
The cloth sign at the door had the word "Salt" written in large official script.
Looking along the road, there is a sign that says "Wine" behind, which is quite eye-catching.
The salt shop also has all kinds of other seasonings. The shopkeeper in a gray and black robe greets customers warmly.
"For savory flavors, there are soy sauce, salt, and fermented black beans; for sour flavors, there are vinegar and white plums; for sweet flavors, there are local malt and glutinous rice, as well as white honey from Tianshui, Longxi!
If you want spicy flavors, we have turnips, ginger, and Sichuan peppercorns. We also have orange peel, cinnamon, and dogwood... our shop has them all. What would you like, girl?
The main seasonings at that time were salt and sauce.
"How much are the salt and bean paste?" Ji Xu had limited money now, so he only picked up some things he could use first.
There wasn't much salt left at home, so she asked about it all at once.
"Salt and sauce are both two cents per liter."
"One liter each."
"Okay!"
Planning to buy seasonings, Ji Xu cut a bamboo tube to make a container when he came, and filled it with dry leaves, planning to use it to store salt.
However, the sauce could not be stored in a bamboo tube as it would leak easily over time. So she spent another three cents to buy a palm-sized sauce jar with a lid to hold the liter of sauce.
A total of seven cents were spent at the salt shop.
After the payment and goods are settled, you can leave.
She went to the wine shop and spent five cents to buy a liter of fine wine in a bamboo tube. The fine wine was the key to the meat dish she was going to make.
Jizhu held the clay dog in her hands and watched as the things were put into the basket one by one, her eyes shining brightly.
The meat and vegetables are in order, and the staple food is of course indispensable.
Ji Xu took Ji Zhu by the hand and went into the family store.
I asked around and found out that rice now costs 40 coins per dou, and I have to pound it myself when I get home.
The price of buying pounded rice is even more expensive. According to the fineness of the pounding, it is divided into brown rice, glutinous rice, fine rice, and imperial rice. The finer the rice is, the lower the rice yield is. The grain stores in the country and the market only sell brown rice and glutinous rice. The latter two are just mentioned by the shopkeeper in passing. The shopkeeper has never even seen the imperial rice.
For brown rice, it is 56 coins per hu.
After some calculation, they decided that it was more cost-effective to buy rice. Fortunately, they had a mortar and pestle at home, which only took some time and effort, and the chaff from the pounding could be kept. When conditions improved, they would not have to eat the chaff anymore, and could use it to feed poultry in the future.
"Buy two dou of rice." That's eight cents.
"Boss, how much is the flour?" She thought about making some other food to sell.
"Sixty coins per hu."
"The wheat is shipped from Jingzhou. We only grow japonica rice here and don't produce wheat. That's why flour is slightly more expensive than rice." The shopkeeper prefers to do business with refined grains and even talks more.
Ji Xu counted the money and bought two dou for twelve coins.
She had brought two clean sacks with her to store the two kinds of grain.
With the last ten coins in her pocket, she went to the utensil shop and bought a ten-coin clay basin. She had asked about the price of the clay steamer earlier in the morning, so the price she paid for the grain was just right.
All the seventy cents I earned were spent, but the basket was still full.
When they got home, it was noon, the time when the autumn heat was fierce. Ji Xu and Ji Zhu were both sweating, but neither of them felt tired.
Ji Zhu even came forward to help. Ji Xu took out two pounds of meat, a liter of salt, a jar of sauce, a liter of wine, two buckets of rice, two buckets of flour, and a thick ceramic basin from the basket. She took them and touched them like a treasure, then ran to put them away.
"Sister, it feels like Chinese New Year."
Jizhu grinned.
"I hope my second sister will come back soon to see it!"
She couldn't wait for her second sister to see so many things.
"Sister will cook the meat now. You and your second sister can take a portion." They had a bland breakfast, and Ji Feng didn't bring any dry food. They must be starving.
They also had a decent lunch.
"Okay!" Jizhu jumped up and down, looking a little childish.
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