"My dear niece, thank you so much! I was thinking of helping your brother Tianming out!"
If my second uncle is willing to let go, what future will he have if he stays cooped up in this remote mountain village for the rest of his life?
I just hope I don't cause you any trouble!
Although Xie Yushu didn't seem to stand out much, Xie Baoshu had already realized that Xie Yushu's influence was evident in all these events, whether in the mountains or in the city!
Moreover, he could clearly sense that while the Liu brothers seemed to be enjoying great success, with all four brothers having taken on jobs, the Xie family only had Xie Tianqi. In reality, Xie Yushu still held the power, so he was truly grateful to his niece!
"One tree cannot make a forest. With Brother Tianming here, Tianqi can look out for each other! We're all family, so let's not stand on ceremony!"
The government office is short-staffed right now, so let him come first. With Liu Qiang training him, he'll probably get selected!
"Hey, hey! Yes, we're family! Let's do as you say and let him learn!"
Xie Baoshu said excitedly.
With grain in hand and the prospect of selling their mountain produce, life finally looked promising. The group, no longer looking gloomy, chatted and laughed all the way and soon arrived at the dock in Jinyang City.
Upon disembarking and leaving the dock, each person had to pay a toll of one copper coin!
Xie Yushu hadn't expected this. Having grown accustomed to modern life, and having never properly traveled the official road into the city, she had no concept of toll fees whatsoever!
Only after experiencing it firsthand did I realize that, under normal circumstances, there were tolls for traveling in ancient times, tolls for crossing bridges, tolls for entering cities, and all sorts of exorbitant taxes and levies!
Compared to the toll fees for reading unofficial historical records, which cost three to five copper coins per person, or even ten for some unscrupulous individuals, the toll fees here are quite cheap!
No wonder people rarely go out!
Knowing that everyone was short of money, and that Xie Tianqi and the Liu brothers, who had come with them, had both found jobs—jobs they had earned honestly and fairly—it was inevitable that they would attract envy. Seeing everyone's troubled expressions, Xie Yushu spoke up.
"We are all fellow villagers. Xie Tianqi was fortunate to get a job and even received a reward. Although he suffered a lot of injuries, it was not a waste of blood. It is a happy event. I wanted to do something for the villagers, but Brother Liu was generous and bought boat tickets for everyone. Xie Tianqi will pay the toll for everyone!"
As Xie Yushu spoke, she secretly slipped a string of copper coins to Xie Tianqi. Xie Tianqi realized what she meant and quickly agreed.
"That's right, that's right, I'll pay the toll for my fellow villagers!"
As Xie Tianqi spoke, he counted out eighty-six copper coins and handed them over. Upon seeing this, everyone's slight unease dissipated considerably, and they immediately felt at peace! They even praised Xie Tianqi and Liu Qiang for being sensible and not forgetting their roots!
Xie Yushu felt it was worth it to spend a little money to buy something good.
The riverbank was bustling with people. Although it was only a little over a hundred miles from Tai'an Prefecture, it seemed to have been largely unaffected by the drought.
That's true. Sometimes it might not rain even if you're several miles away!
Maybe Zhang Zhidao and his cronies in Tai'an Prefecture did something that angered both heaven and man, and were punished by their superiors with mountains of rice and noodles to be licked by dogs for two years before they were finished!
While Xie Yushu was thinking nonsensically, she pulled Qu Xiaodie to look around. The two of them looked like country bumpkins visiting the Grand View Garden, finding everything new and exciting!
Indeed, Xie Yushu, having come from elsewhere, had never visited a real ancient market. Qu Xiaodie was still young, only eleven or twelve years old, before the incident at home, and had never traveled far. At most, she had gone to the local market with her mother. They were truly two country bumpkins!
No, they're a bunch of bumpkins!
Even Xie Baotian and the other villagers had never traveled far from home or visited such a large market!
All kinds of sugar figurines! Flower sellers, bird sellers, rouge and face powder, hair accessories, earrings, all kinds of brightly colored fabrics, fragrant snacks, everything is available, and the group of people find everything novel and interesting!
Xie Yushu felt that everyone was too tired from carrying a bunch of mountain goods, so she calmed down, inquired about the fur market, and led everyone to sell their goods first.
The fur market was in Nanshi, and it took the group half an hour to get there.
It was almost noon, and there weren't many people in Nanshi. The influx of people quickly filled Nanshi.
"Hey! You guys must be from out of town!"
Looking to sell fur? This is the place for you! It's the largest fur market in Jinyang, and the prices are absolutely fair! Come take a look at what you have, I'll definitely give you the highest prices!
The fur merchant on the outermost edge enthusiastically pulled an elderly man walking in front of him over while talking to him!
The old man, perhaps uncomfortable with the vendor's enthusiasm, took a step back and said...
"We just arrived, let's ask about the price first!"
In that short time, other vendors also gathered around, clearly indicating that this group was involved in a big deal!
"Zhu Laosan, can you handle all this stuff by yourself? Let's do this deal together!"
A small vendor who had been standing behind spoke up.
The man called Zhu Laosan looked back and saw a group of people, each carrying a pile of furs, some with one or two pieces, others with rabbit, sheep, or dog skins. He couldn't possibly eat all of it by himself, so he addressed the group.
"Then let's agree on a uniform price. This will save you all the trouble of asking around for prices. You can buy whichever one you like! Do you agree?"
"Agreed, we'll do as Brother Zhu says!" The vendors nodded in agreement.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Laosan turned to Xie Yushu and her group and said...
"As you can see, we're offering a uniform price. Rest assured, we've been doing business here for years and we'll never cheat you or offer different prices. If you ever find out we cheated you, feel free to come back anytime. Let's not keep secrets. Just bring out the goods and let's see who likes them. Cash on delivery, how about that?"
The villagers looked at each other, and finally Xie Baotian asked Xie Yushu.
"Girl, what do you think?"
Xie Yushu said
"Prices in major trading markets are generally similar, and no one will try to negotiate a higher price for another. Let them name their price! If it's a good deal, we'll sell; if not, we'll take it back and resell it!"
He then said to Zhu Laosan
"Brother, to be honest, we've already inquired about the prices, so we have a general idea of how much these things cost. You name your price. If we think it's reasonable, we'll sell them to you; if not, we can discuss it further!"
After Xie Yushu finished speaking, Xie Baotian took out five wolf pelts and several rabbit pelts and placed them on the ground. Seeing this, the others also took out their own pelts and placed them at their feet.
The man looked at them one by one, then pointed to the newly made wolf pelt and said...
"For a mature, new wolf pelt with minimal damage, we offer 800 copper coins per pelt; for a half-grown wolf pelt, we offer 400 copper coins per pelt."
An adult sheepskin costs four hundred copper coins, and a half-grown sheepskin costs two hundred copper coins.
A mature dog skin costs two hundred copper coins, and a half-grown dog skin costs one hundred copper coins.
The old, aged hide inside the dog skin is thirty copper coins cheaper than the new one.
A mature rabbit pelt is worth fifty copper coins, a half-grown one is worth twenty copper coins. Half-grown rabbit pelts are worthless. We are only giving you a high price because you have a lot of rabbits. Normally, we only give you ten copper coins for half-grown rabbit pelts. Old rabbit pelts are ten copper coins cheaper than new ones.
This is the highest price we've offered! Are you all satisfied?
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