As soon as I entered the yard, I saw many baskets piled up inside, all lined with straw, probably to prevent the persimmons from getting damaged.
"Dad, you're back! All the persimmons have been picked, and we're just waiting for you to come back and weigh them!"
The old man's eldest son said to him, "No rush, let this young master and his wife rest for a while."
"This is my eldest son, whom I just told you about. He's a bit reckless, please don't take offense!" the old man said to Xu Han and the other woman.
"It's alright, sir! This man seems like an honest person."
At this moment, a young woman brought tea and invited the two of them into the house to sit down, rest, and drink water.
"This is my eldest daughter-in-law, whom I just told you about," the old man introduced.
"Hello, sister-in-law!" Xu Han greeted sweetly.
"Oh! Very good! This young lady is really beautiful!" the woman said warmly and cheerfully.
"Have you two eaten yet? The food at home will be ready soon. Please stay for a simple meal!" the woman said again.
“We’ve already eaten, so let’s not trouble you any further, sister-in-law. Let’s weigh the persimmons first!” Lu Chuan suggested.
Farmers have it tough, and if the two of them stay for a meal, they will definitely bring out the things they wouldn't normally eat to treat them.
Authentic farmers are generally very simple and honest, though there are some exceptions.
Xu Han agreed with Lu Chuan's idea and continued, "Yes, yes! We've already eaten, and it's because we've kept you from eating!"
"No delay! No delay! We sold all the persimmons at once, saving us a lot of time!" the old man said with a smile.
The group stopped exchanging pleasantries and began weighing the persimmons. There were a total of 1,560 catties of persimmons, and each catty of persimmons cost one wen, so the total was 1,560 wen.
Xu Han offered the old man more money for the basket, but he refused to accept it. "If you hadn't bought all the persimmons, we wouldn't have made so much money. In previous years, we never sold all the persimmons. Now that they're all sold out at once, we're overjoyed! Besides, we wove these baskets ourselves; they didn't cost us anything!"
Xu Han couldn't refuse the old man and finally gave him 1600 coins.
The old man's family helped load all the persimmons onto the cart, and Lu Chuan drove the oxcart back to the county town with Xu Han. Before leaving, the old man also put some vegetables he had grown on the cart.
The two hurried back to the county town, and along the way, they found a secluded spot to store the persimmons in their spatial storage.
It was nearly 2 p.m. when they arrived in the county town. The two hadn't had lunch yet and were starving. They found a small stall and started eating their lunch.
After finishing their meal, Xu Han suggested finding a pawnshop to pawn the mirror in the space, otherwise they wouldn't have any money to go out next time.
I hadn't planned to pawn anything today, but I ended up spending almost all my money on this trip to the county town.
“Okay, there’s a high-end pawn shop in the rich area. I’ll go check it out. Give me the item and wait for me outside. Let’s not show ourselves together. We’ll come back next time, otherwise it’ll be too conspicuous.”
"Okay, I'll wait for you outside!"
The two arrived at a deserted place.
Xu Han took out an antique-style mirror from her spatial storage. She had bought it at a tourist attraction when she went out for fun!
She took out two more glasses, the more conventional kind. Xu Han didn't dare to take out anything too pretty, as they were clearly not things that should exist in this era.
Xu Han didn't want to put herself and Lu Chuan in a dangerous situation. She'd better just live her own life peacefully!
Originally, Lu Chuan disagreed with Xu Han pawning the items in her space, saying that since they were Xu Han's own things, she must really like them, and if she pawned them, they would be gone forever.
Also, fearing that Xu Han might miss her parents in the modern world, they kept some modern things so that she could at least look at them when she felt homesick.
It wasn't until Xu Han took out many mirrors and cups from her spatial storage that she clearly saw the embarrassment on Lu Chuan's face, and she stopped teasing him...
After handing the items over to Lu Chuan, Xu Han went to a nearby teahouse, where she listened to storytelling while waiting for Lu Chuan to return.
When Lu Chuan arrived at the pawnshop, he first looked around before approaching the shopkeeper.
"I want to pawn something," Lu Chuan said to the shopkeeper.
"What do you want to pawn? A live pawn or a dead pawn?" A live pawn means that you can redeem it later, while a dead pawn means that you buy it outright.
“I’ll take it all.” Lu Chuan said, then took out a mirror and a cup from his package.
The shopkeeper was visibly taken aback when he saw the mirror Lu Chuan took out, but he quickly hid his expression, though Lu Chuan, with his sharp eyes, still noticed.
The shopkeeper took the cups and examined them carefully before saying, "The cups are just ordinary glass cups. I'll give you 30 taels for two. As for this mirror? How about 50 taels? If so, I'll give you the silver."
Upon hearing this, Lu Chuan knew that the shopkeeper was trying to trick him, to see if he knew what he was talking about.
So he put the items back into the package. When the shopkeeper saw this, he quickly stopped Lu Chuan from putting the items away.
He said, "Young man, is it true that all buying and selling requires negotiation? Don't rush, let's talk some more!"
"I don't think the shopkeeper really wants to close this deal. He's dishonest!"
Upon hearing this, the pawnshop owner dared not deceive Lu Chuan any longer! He immediately changed his tune.
"How about this? I'll offer 80 taels for the mirror and 40 taels for the cup."
Lu Chuan remained expressionless, and the shopkeeper, seeing this, gritted his teeth and said:
"The mirror is 100 taels, and the cup is 45 taels. That's really the most I can ask around. This price is already very high. Other places might not be able to offer it."
"How about this? These two will cost 160 taels together. If that doesn't work, I'll go look elsewhere."
"How about 155 taels? Let's each compromise. You have to let me make a little profit!"
Lu Chuan didn't wait for the shopkeeper to continue speaking and continued packing his own baggage.
"Alright, alright! 160 taels it is. I really don't make any profit at this price. Consider it making friends with you. Next time you have good goods, remember to bring them from me! I guarantee the price will be higher than others!"
Lu Chuan echoed the shopkeeper's words, saying, "As long as the price you offer is fair, I certainly will!"
Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper quickly added, "Of course, young man, you can ask around; the price I'm offering is absolutely fair."
Lu Chuan didn't expose him, and said, "Please trouble the shopkeeper to exchange them for 5-tael and 10-tael silver ingots!"
"Alright! Please wait a moment, sir!" With that, he turned to get the money.
After receiving the silver, Lu Chuan went to the teahouse to find Xu Han. When Xu Han saw Lu Chuan return, she quickly poured him a cup of tea and handed it to him, indicating that he should drink the water first.
They didn't ask about the situation, since they were still in the teahouse, where there were many people and distractions.
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