After lunch, everyone rested at the Yuelai Inn. The twins were once again placed by Kangxi's side. Qingyan and Yin leisurely walked out of the Yuelai Inn. The two changed into the clothes of a rich young master and mistress. Qingyan used a pomegranate gold hairpin to tie her hair into a Ruyi bun, dressing more like a Han Chinese woman. The long skirt covered her unbound feet.
On the street, Qingyan's Hanfu was not much different from the other ladies, and she did not attract much attention.
Shops on both sides were open for business, and a lot of seafood was being sold at the small stalls in front of the shops.
The stalls are rented for five coins a day. When the fishermen have a catch, they quickly send it to the nearby county town to sell. The local residents have affordable seafood on their tables, and seafood such as fish can be regarded as a serving of meat.
"Sisi, look at those big buckets." Qingyan was curious. Having lived in the capital all her life, she had never seen the seafood market of the Qing Dynasty.
Now that she could see everything, she walked over to the front of the large barrel, her head tilted, and she was immediately surprised by the mussels in front of her.
Do these mussels already exist now?
"Master, this is delicious." Qingyan loves seafood the most. If it weren't for the fact that it's too far from the capital, she would have come to the seaside more often during Yin's days off.
"Buy!" Yin gave only one word.
"Old man, how many copper coins would it cost to buy all of these?" Qingyan had a rough idea of the local prices, and it should be less than five taels of silver.
The stall owner was an elderly man in his fifties who had been standing there all morning and had only sold two or three catties of mussels. These mussels don't have much meat, and compared to razor clams, they sell very little.
"Madam, this weighs at least a hundred pounds." The old man was a simple fisherman. He hadn't caught any fish on this trip, but he had gathered up the mussels that the women in the village had dug up, hoping to try his luck in the county town.
"No problem." Qingyan really likes mussels.
Back in her modern days, she often bought mussels to cook with.
Sea mussel rice, sea mussel soup, stir-fried sea mussels...
A series of dishes featuring mussels came to mind. To be honest, Qingyan hoped to make them available to the Yuelai Inn.
"Grandpa, have you bought all of these? How was your mussel harvest?" Qingyan looked at the mussels in the large tub; each one was alive.
Erlu sent a guard to the Yuelai Inn to find someone. Such a large barrel, and the subsequent negotiations, should all be handled by the people at the Yuelai Inn.
"Madam, this stuff is very easy to obtain. Every day when we go out to sea, my wives get quite a bit, all for our own consumption." The old man blushed slightly. He had set up his stall here many times, and his wives always had a haughty air about them; it was rare to see them so gentle.
Qingyan pondered for a moment, thinking that the demand for Yuelai Inn would be very high.
"Old man, please take your things and come with us to the Yuelai Inn," Qingyan said in a low voice, taking the opportunity to settle everything.
The old man looked surprised. Everything at Yuelai Inn was supplied by a specialized supplier, and they couldn't get in at all.
"Don't worry, I'm in charge of the procurement," Qingyan said gently.
At this moment, Yin was willing to stand behind her, ready to openly support Qingyan.
Seeing that Qingyan spoke very sincerely, the old man, with the help of Erlu and others, bumped into the oxcart and slowly followed the crowd to the Yuelai Inn.
As they approached the entrance, the shopkeeper personally came to greet them and had the old man drive the oxcart to the side gate. The waiter helped unload and weigh the goods. After the old man unloaded all the mussels, the shopkeeper led him to a private room next to the kitchen.
"Grandpa, we know the weight. Please name your price." Qingyan looked at the old man. How did the old man manage to carry nearly 200 pounds all the way here?
The old man was a little uneasy. He had been to the county town so many times, but he had never been to Yuelai Inn before. Although Yuelai Inn had special dishes every day, some as low as 3 copper coins, in the old man's mind, even that copper coin could buy two pieces of candy for his little grandson.
"Madam, I... will give you the price I sold it for." The old man thought for a moment. The selling price was already the lowest he could offer, and the women in the village still wanted to use these to supplement their household income.
"Is it 6 coins per catty?" Su Lan asked, standing to the side.
The old man nodded quickly. Qingyan noticed that although the old man's hair was completely white, he was still very healthy.
"Old man, this weighs two hundred jin, and each jin costs six coins, totaling 1200 coins." Qingyan wondered how the old man was going to carry so many copper coins. "Do you want silver or copper coins?"
The old man's eyes lit up with surprise; he had never seen so many copper coins at once before.
"It's copper coins; it's the result of the whole village working together," the old man said excitedly.
Qingyan nodded to the shopkeeper, who then turned and went to the counter to prepare copper coins for the old man.
Inside the private room, Su Lan served the old man a glass of chilled plum juice to help him sweat it out, and also arranged a special lunch for the day.
"Your seafood looks very fresh, and I'm considering having you supply Yuelai Inn. Do you have any stock left in your village? Anything is fine, live seafood or dried fish, anything will do." Qingyan likes some seafood, and some rehydrated seafood is easier to transport to the capital.
The old man quickly thanked them, looking at the food in front of him, thinking about his two little grandsons, wishing they could eat this too.
"Young lady, may I take this food back with me?" The old man's mouth was growling with hunger, but he still wanted to bring good food to the children. "I want to bring it to the children."
"Grandpa, this is for you. I'll bring you two more when I leave." Su Lan smiled. It's a blessing to have such an elder.
"Thank you, madam. There's plenty of stock in the village, but... this old man can't carry it all," the old man said regretfully.
Qingyan thought that Erlu and the others were born by the sea and should be able to help.
"Eru, send two men from the coast to go back with the old man and buy everything that's being sold in the village at market prices. Remember, it has to be something the villagers decide to sell; no forcibly taking anything." Qingyan decided to send two guards to accompany the old man back.
After all, it wouldn't be safe for the old man to go back alone with so many coins.
"Yes!" Erlu quickly went out to make the arrangements. The old man was extremely grateful for Qingyan's arrangements. Just now, he had been worried about what to do with the more than one thousand copper coins.
"Old man, I'll take all those things. We can deliver them anytime. As long as you find something, Yuelai Inn will take it all," Qingyan said directly.
The old man's eyes welled up with tears; finally, he could find a way out for the villagers.
"Thank you, Madam, thank you, Madam!" The old man was very excited, but Qingyan was deeply moved.
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