Chapter 3, Chapter 3: Four taels and five hundred coins
He first strolled around the market, roughly determining the prices of dried shiitake mushrooms and dried white fungus, before slowly carrying his basket to the entrances of several restaurants.
Dried shiitake mushrooms aren't exactly cheap in modern supermarkets, which he had anticipated. So when he saw that a pound of dried shiitake mushrooms cost 300 wen, he was somewhat surprised but could barely accept it.
However, the price of dried white fungus exceeded his expectations, because at that time, there was no way to artificially cultivate white fungus, so white fungus, as a "nourishing delicacy", could be priced at one tael of silver per kilogram.
That price is for ordinary quality white fungus.
The system store only offers high-quality dried white fungus, so the price could double again.
Before leaving home, I only felt that my pockets were empty, but now, it's like being handed a pillow when you're sleepy, and I feel completely refreshed.
He originally intended to sell both cloth bags he had directly at the dried goods store, but after thinking about it, he figured he might be able to get a higher price at the restaurants in the county, so he decided to come and try his luck.
Instead of choosing a restaurant directly, he looked at several restaurants from a distance across the street, selected the two with the best business, and then pretended to rest while sitting on the stone steps of a bridge not far away for a while.
Seeing a little beggar squatting at the door waiting for alms from kind-hearted diners, one family immediately had the two waiters at the door take brooms and chase the child away. The other family also tried to persuade the little beggar to leave, but they still gave him half a steamed bun, just telling him not to block the entrance of the restaurant.
Guo Baiwen observed for a while before carrying his basket and approaching the man distributing cornbread. He greeted the man, a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a dark-colored round-necked shirt. Upon seeing Guo Baiwen, a hint of surprise appeared on his serious face.
"Are you here for a meal, sir?" He looked past the little beggar and at Guo Baiwen, who shook his head slightly at him.
The man looked him up and down, unable to quite figure out what the newcomer meant.
Seeing this, Guo Baiwen took down the basket on his back and whispered, "I'm from Guojia Village outside the county town. I went into the mountains a few days ago and picked some good things. I saw that your business is doing well and I thought you might need them, so I brought them over to see if you could buy these mountain products."
"Mountain products?" The middle-aged man, Uncle Zhao, hesitated for a moment after hearing this. "It's not some wild fruit or something, is it? We have people who supply these things to our restaurant, and our customers don't use them much usually."
Zhao Bowen smiled ingratiatingly and opened the cloth bag in his basket for him to see: "It's not wild fruit, everything is here. I'm just taking the time to let you take a closer look."
Uncle Zhao wasn't initially concerned, but since the person had come to him for help, he figured they must be in some real difficulty, so he took a look as well.
That one glance made him freeze on the spot. "This, this is!"
"I can't make that decision. Young man, come with me through the side door, I'll go call the shopkeeper."
Guo Baiwen thanked him and followed Uncle Zhao through a small door into the courtyard behind the Tongfu Restaurant's kitchen. The courtyard wasn't as spacious as the front, but it was about the same size as his own home. Inside the kitchen, cooks and helpers were all busy at work.
Uncle Zhao told him to wait there while he went to call the shopkeeper.
"Uncle Zhao told me you're here to sell mountain products?"
The man who walked over was also quite old, with a beard and a good-natured appearance. His voice was gentle as well. Guo Baiwen was unsure whether his decision was right or wrong, and simply nodded.
Uncle Zhao came out of the house: "Shopkeeper, I saw it clearly just now. This is a rare find. He said he's from Guojia Village nearby..."
Uncle Zhao turned around and asked, "What's your name again?"
Guo Baiwen paused for a moment: "My surname is Guo, you can just call me Bawen."
“Yes, Bawen, show the shopkeeper what you just took out of the bag.”
So he repeated the actions he had taken at the restaurant entrance. The innkeeper had obviously noticed how rare the dried white fungus was. Ordinary people would send fresh white fungus, since it mostly grows on dead trees in deep forests, making it difficult to harvest and a rare find.
What's more, Guo Bawen sent dried white fungus, which can be stored for a longer time, and the quality of this dried fungus is so good.
Manager Li of Tongfu Restaurant stroked his beard and said, "Well then, I won't mince words with you. This bag of dried white fungus is indeed of good quality. Even if you take it to a dried goods store, this bag can easily fetch three taels of silver."
Three taels of silver?! Two taels of silver at this time was enough for a family of three farmers to live on for a whole year.
Before Guo Baiwen could even get excited, he heard Manager Li continue, "But this white fungus is valuable. If it's placed in our Tongfu Restaurant, it will attract more customers. So I'll give you an extra tael of silver. Along with that bag of high-quality dried shiitake mushrooms, I'll give you four taels of silver plus five hundred copper coins."
"If you can find more such delicacies in the future, please bring them to our restaurant. We can discuss the price."
Manager Li also wanted to stabilize the supply of goods. Not to mention, they could only get this kind of white fungus once or twice a year, which was considered a signature dish of their restaurant.
After all, at that time, only the wealthy and powerful could afford to eat white fungus.
So when Guo Baiwen came out of Tongfu Restaurant, the two bags of mountain goods in his basket had turned into three taels of silver and 1,500 coins.
This was the first time he had ever touched silver coins from this period; the small silver ingots that Manager Li had given him were still relatively new.
He touched the silver, then carefully counted the copper coins, wrapped them in a cloth and carefully put them away against his stomach. He didn't plan to use the silver for the time being, but the copper coins that he had asked Uncle Zhao to give him as change were just right for going to the street to buy some things.
Thinking about the thin porridge he had last night and the dark cornbread he had this morning, he decided to go to the rice shop on the street first.
On his way here, he saw two or three rice shops open on the street. But as he walked, he smelled the aroma of food wafting from the side, and his stomach, which had only eaten a dark cornbread bun that morning, suddenly started rumbling.
It was lunchtime. We had walked for so long in the morning that the cornbread was long gone. We were so surprised by the amount of money we could get at the restaurant that we didn't even think about being hungry.
Now that I'm out of the country and have some money to spend, my stomach is starting to rumble.
He glanced at the roadside stalls and found one that looked relatively clean. The proprietress worked quickly and efficiently, and the food in the pot smelled delicious, so he ordered a bowl of clear soup noodles with vegetables.
The noodles sprinkled with cilantro smelled wonderful when they were served. Although the portion wasn't large, it was the best he had eaten in the past two days. Picking up his chopsticks, one bite made him forget his troubles for a moment. This bowl of vegetarian noodles, without meat or eggs, was made with mixed grain flour and cost eight coins.
He paid the bill and then asked the shopkeeper for another bowl of hot noodle soup, which was free. While carefully drinking the soup, he began to think about what he should buy next.
We definitely need to buy rice and flour, and we also need to buy at least two hens that the little girl said she couldn't afford to raise when I woke up, so that we can have a long-term supply of eggs for the family.
Although chickens can eat wild vegetables and insects, in order for the hens to lay more eggs, a handful of bran must be added to their feed every day, which requires buying about two pounds.
And that stiff quilt, it's already the best one in the family. Grandma originally planned to have the cotton inside re-fluffed when she went to the market in a while. But he also touched the quilts that Xiaohua and Grandma used, and they were a bit too thin. He was afraid they would be hard to bear when winter came, so he would have to buy two more quilts.
And we need to add another raincoat to keep out the rain.
...After calculating, he realized there were quite a few things he needed to buy. He put his basket back on his back and decided to take advantage of the early hour to visit a few more shops.
He waited until almost dusk, when the sunset painted the bluestone slabs of the street, before Guo Baiwen finally boarded an oxcart at the entrance of the county town and headed home.
He had bought a lot of things, and it was difficult for him to carry them all by himself in a basket. His feet were also very sore after walking all day. If he continued to walk back, he was afraid that he would get blisters on his feet that night.
Today wasn't a big day, and not everyone was willing to spend two coins to ride in an oxcart. There were only two or three people in the oxcart, and the driver, seeing that it was getting late, hurried on his way home.
He had taken almost two hours to walk into the county town this morning, stopping frequently, but now he was taking an oxcart back, which would only take him a little over half an hour.
"Brother, we've arrived at Guojia Village," the oxcart driver said, tapping on the cart's plank.
These two coins were well spent.
After paying, he had to carry all the things he bought down in two separate trips. The driver, seeing that he was having some difficulty, even helped push the basket on his back.
After thanking the person, as he was struggling to walk along the road with a bunch of things, Grandma Guo appeared out of nowhere with Guo Xiaohua. "Wenzai, you're finally back."
She was about to say something, but her worried expression turned to shock when she saw the pile of things he was carrying. "Why did you bring so much stuff back?"
Guo Xiaohua spotted the two hens at first glance. "Brother! Hens!"
This wasn't his own home, so Guo Baiwen didn't explain much on the way. He simply handed over the two hens he was carrying, saying, "Xiaohua, take these two chickens home first. They almost pecked the meat off my hands on the way. Be careful when you're carrying them."
Besides the tall baskets piled high on his back, his hands were also full of things.
He lifted the things he was carrying in his left and right hands, handing the lighter items in his left hand to Grandma Guo, saying, "There's a lot of stuff, let's talk about it when we get home."
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