Chapter 024
Chu Xiuming looked at his easily satisfied wife and said nothing more. He took her hand and walked to the leather stall and asked, "Do you have white fox fur?"
The owner of the stall was a dark and strong man. Next to him stood a petite woman. Her facial features were not delicate and her skin was not white, but she had an indescribable charm, like a flower in full bloom, beautiful and fiery. When she smiled, she had a hearty taste. "Is it prepared for the young lady next to you? We have white fox skins. I wonder how many pieces the customer wants?"
"How many are there?" Chu Xiuming asked.
"Let's take a look at the goods first." The woman gave the man behind her a look, and the man bent down and pulled out a complete white fox skin from underneath. "It's a fox hunted in winter, the fur is dense and good."
Chu Xiuming also noticed that his fox fur was indeed good and well-prepared. Shen Jin's eyes lit up as she looked at the pile of fluffy fur. She wanted to touch it but was too embarrassed to do so. When the white fox fur was taken out, she couldn't help but scratch Chu Xiuming's palm with her fingers. Seeing that Chu Xiuming didn't react, she scratched it a few more times. She had never seen so many furs before.
The Rui Wang Mansion was allocated leather every year, but it was all given according to the quota. It was not like Concubine Xu was favored. The Rui Wang always gave Xu a lot more in private. Shen Jin also got extra by being with Concubine Rui, but Concubine Rui still had to give to her daughter and two sons. Chu Xiuming looked down at Shen Jin, and Shen Jin said, "Will it be very expensive?"
"No." Chu Xiuming said, "Do you like these?"
"Yes." Shen Jin said, "All the skins my mother saved were given to me."
Chu Xiuming responded, "Then buy more and send them to my mother-in-law." In fact, there were quite a few in the family's storehouse, but they were used up when the city was besieged. The remaining ones now were all the ones he brought back. Because they had to fight, not all the skins were brought back, only the precious ones were kept.
However, Shen Jin didn't know that there were some in the storehouse at home. Chu Xiuming just realized that he hadn't given the key to the storehouse to Shen Jin yet. In fact, the thing that Border Town lacks the most is leather. On the contrary, cloth is more expensive than leather. He just wanted to get a whole set of white fox fur clothes for Shen Jin, so he had to buy them outside. Since Shen Jin likes leather so much, he will be able to save a lot of leather when the weather gets cold next year. Shen Jin will definitely like it if the room is covered with thick leather. However, Chu Xiuming didn't say anything. He would wait until the weather gets cold before giving her a surprise. "How many white fox furs are there in total?"
"Four." The woman said, "This thing is very cunning and hard to catch."
Chu Xiuming asked, "How much?"
"We don't want money, we want tea and salt." The woman had long seen that these two men were not ordinary. Tea and salt were controlled by the imperial court, so they could only buy them from the government. Since they couldn't buy official salt, they could only buy private salt or wait for the trade to open to exchange them.
Chu Xiuming was not surprised, he just nodded and said, "How much?"
The woman gave a number, and Chu Xiuming frowned and said, "It's too high. The weather is getting warmer, so it won't be useful this year." This is the truth, but not quite the truth. As long as the fur is well taken care of, it will be fine to keep it for two more years, especially white fox fur.
"We can discuss it." The woman said. She looked at Shen Jin who looked innocent, then at Chu Xiuming, and thought to herself, it turns out that pretty boys are unreliable. Isn't it said that men in Tianqi are very concerned about their reputation and like to show off in front of women?
Chu Xiuming then responded, "Bring out some more to choose from."
Upon hearing this, the woman asked the man to take out the good leather that had been put away. Chu Xiuming looked down at Shen Jin and said, "You can choose the one for your mother-in-law yourself."
"Okay." Shen Jin's voice was soft and sticky. She had just been listening to Chu Xiuming communicating with others with a confused look on her face. The woman had a heavy accent, and she understood the first sentence by guessing, but since Chu Xiuming spoke in an unknown language from somewhere, the woman and Chu Xiuming communicated in words she couldn't understand. However, when Chu Xiuming spoke to Shen Jin, he switched back, so she could understand it again.
Shen Jin not only chose for her mother, but also for Prince Rui and Princess Rui. Because her mother still stayed in Prince Rui's Mansion, she would always need the care of Princess Rui. She did not expect Prince Rui to take care of her mother, and maybe her mother didn't want it either.
After Shen Jin finished choosing, Chu Xiuming chose some more, then talked to the two men for a few words, and took Shen Jin away. Shen Jin followed him obediently and said softly, "There are still many places selling leather, let's take our time to choose." She thought the deal was not done and Chu Xiuming didn't want it anymore.
Chu Xiuming paused and smiled, "Don't worry, those leathers are all yours. I'll have them deliver them directly to the Border Town General's Mansion."
Shen Jin responded and didn't ask any more questions. Chu Xiuming continued to buy a lot of things, some of which he paid directly with silver, and some, like the leather, were delivered to the general's mansion. Later, when he saw that Shen Jin was tired, he let Shen Jin sit on his shoulders again. After that experience, Shen Jin sat more comfortably and even swung his legs leisurely.
Chu Xiuming quickly bought everything he wanted and went to the area of the bank. This area not only sold things like horses, but also various live small animals. Shen Jin saw Chu Xiuyuan from where she was sitting high up. She lowered her head and pointed at him, and Chu Xiuming took her over.
When Chu Xiuyuan saw Chu Xiuming and Shen Jin, he was completely stunned. He first looked up at his sister-in-law, then at his brother, and finally at the two guards behind him. Was his brother being taken advantage of?
Chu Xiuming's face was too calm, and Shen Jin's expression was also very matter-of-fact. Chu Xiuyuan felt that he shouldn't make such a fuss. After Chu Xiuming carried Shen Jin down, he took the initiative to say, "Brother, there is a mare that has foaled, but the price is high and I don't know what breed the stallion is. Come and take a look."
"Okay." Although Chu Xiuming put Shen Jin down, he didn't let go of her hand. The pregnant mare was tied up alone. Her belly was already bulging and it looked like she was about to give birth. It was the first time Shen Jin had seen this. However, the smell around here was very bad. No wonder Chu Xiuming brought her here at the last minute.
It was hard to see anything from a distance, so Chu Xiuming thought for a moment before letting go of Shen Jin's hand and said, "Don't you want to buy something small? Let Xiuyuan take you somewhere else to have a look."
"I'll wait for you here." Shen Jin said very obediently.
Chu Xiuming felt warm at heart when he heard that. Just as he was about to say something, he heard Chu Xiuyuan say, "Sister-in-law, there are people selling snow rabbits over there. I just saw a nest of them. The little rabbits are not even as big as my hand."
Shen Jin's eyes lit up, and she said in a more obedient and sensible manner, "My husband, please get busy. It's easy for you to be distracted when I'm here. Remember to come find me and Xiuyuan when you're done."
Chu Xiuming looked at Shen Jin's innocent expression and was speechless. He paused before saying, "Go ahead."
"Don't worry, brother. I will take good care of my sister-in-law." Chu Xiuyuan promised.
Chu Xiuming waved his hand, and waited for Shen Jin to happily leave with Chu Xiuyuan, and kept urging, "Hurry up, what if someone buys it?"
"Don't worry, sister-in-law. Even if you eat that thing, there's still less than two taels of meat. No one wants it." Chu Xiuyuan said.
Chu Xiuming's expression remained unchanged and he said, "Let's go."
The two guards who stayed behind looked at the general's back with special sympathy, then turned to look at the general's wife who had no reluctance. It turned out that in the lady's heart, the general's status was not as good as a nest of rabbits. They looked at each other and then followed the general in.
Because the things sold here are all living things, there is inevitably some animal feces on the ground. When walking with Chu Xiuming, he always chooses a clean place to walk or directly picks up Shen Jin. Chu Xiuyuan doesn't pay attention to these. Shen Jin stepped on the soft thing under his feet and didn't dare to think about what it was.
However, all these discomforts disappeared when they saw the litter of rabbits that Chu Xiuyuan mentioned. These rabbits are very cute, with shorter ears than ordinary rabbits, shorter tails, big and round eyes, and fluffy fur on their bodies, but not in a solid color. The fur is different shades, as if they are molting. Their abdomens are white, and their ear tips and eye circles are dark brown, while their paws are light yellow. Two slightly larger rabbits are squatting, and four or five smaller rabbits are beside them. Chu Xiuyuan said, "Don't look at their ugly fur color now, they will turn white in winter, and these little rabbits should be less than 20 days old."
"You know so much, little brother." The rabbit seller said, "I wanted to sell the skin, but I didn't know this rabbit had a cub and couldn't be killed. My family didn't want to keep it, so we just brought it here. The mother rabbit gave birth on the road, and the cub is only eleven days old today."
"How do you know they are less than twenty days old?" Shen Jin asked curiously.
"Because when the rabbit cubs are 20 days old, the adult rabbits won't be so close to them." Chu Xiuyuan said, "Do you want them, sister-in-law?"
When the rabbit seller heard Chu Xiuyuan's address, he realized that the girl was already married. He thought the two were just innocent friends playing around.
"Can I touch them?" Shen Jin asked the man selling rabbits.
"Just don't get hurt by them." said the rabbit seller. He was afraid that no one would have the heart to reject such a lovely girl. However, it was a pity that she got married too early. However, it should have been that she married into a wealthy family, otherwise they would not have been able to raise such a lovely girl.
Shen Jin nodded, his eyes wide open. Chu Xiuyuan almost laughed, because the two big rabbits in the cage were also looking at Shen Jin with their eyes wide open. It was as if they were communicating through the cage. Their eyes were round and bright. Shen Jin stretched out his finger and poked the rabbit along the gap in the cage. He immediately retracted his hand and stared at the rabbit. Seeing that the rabbit did not react, he reached in and poked it again. This time the rabbit reacted. The poked rabbit moved slowly, then pointed its short tail at Shen Jin.
"How much?" Shen Jin's face was full of love. She decided to go back and fence off a place to plant lots of grass for the rabbits to eat, and make a rabbit that could change color!
She remembered that there were two lines in "The House of Yin Xi" by Wei Zhuang of Former Shu: "Spring cocks are crowing in the misty evening rain, snow rabbits are jumping in the cold weeds." It was exactly this kind of rabbit.
The rabbit seller didn't ask for much, just said a number. Shen Jin looked at Chu Xiuyuan, who nodded and said, "We'll buy it."
Shen Jin paid without waiting for Chu Xiuyuan to take out the money. Chu Xiuyuan did not argue with him. However, after Shen Jin paid, he took the initiative to pick up the rabbits. So many rabbits of different sizes would be quite heavy. If Shen Jin was seen carrying the rabbits by his brother, he would definitely punish him when he got back.
Everyone should shop rationally on Double 12. The weather is changing, remember to take care of your health.
I will reply to your comments after I recover in two days. I am currently working on these three chapters and don’t want to stop updating. I can’t hold on any longer.
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