A light rain began to fall from the sky, and Jiang Yue felt that it would be fine as long as the rainstorm did not collapse the mountain road.
She pinched Jiang Nian's nose and forced him to drink a bowl of isatis root to prevent a cold. Then the two of them put on straw raincoats and drove out in a mule cart.
The roads are slippery due to the rain, so the mule cart is moving very slowly today.
Not wanting her face to get wet by the rain, she turned sideways and buried her face in Jiang Nian's shoulder, only occasionally looking at the road.
Jiang Nian was still licking his lips, looking bitter and resentful. She smiled, took out a candy given by the grocery store owner, and stuffed it into his mouth.
His tongue rolled subconsciously and touched her fingertips, causing a tingling sensation.
She took her hand back and asked, "Is it delicious?"
She didn't like the candy of this era; it was of low quality, but Jiang Nian would probably like it. She could buy some next time to appease him.
Next door to Jiangjia Village was Yahe Village, one of the villages Yan Gu had once tried to matchmake for her. She had come here with the village chief to buy stone before, so it wasn't unfamiliar to her.
She first went to look for the Huang Shitou family, a stone dealer she had dealt with before. The name was actually a nickname, earned because of their stone business.
"Grandma Huang."
The other person is Huang Shitou’s mother, who is over fifty years old and considered to be a very old person. She is now sitting under the eaves picking vegetables.
Granny Huang looked up and saw two men in straw raincoats disembarking from a mule cart. Her eyesight was poor, so she didn't recognize them. But they had a mule cart! That meant they were rich. Were they here to buy stone?
She stood up and put the basket aside. "Are you here to buy stone?"
The two men tied the mule under a tree and walked over to it out of the rain.
Seeing her confused look, Jiang Yue took off her straw hat, straightened her hair, and said with a smile, "Grandma Huang, I'm from the next village. I came here to buy stone before. Do you remember me?"
Granny Huang squinted her eyes, then glanced at the tall, intimidating young man beside her. Then she remembered that it was the wealthy and generous young woman. She smiled and replied, "I remember, I remember. Are you here to buy stone again this time?"
Grandma Huang invited them into her house and poured them some water.
Jiang Yue didn't want to bother taking off her straw raincoat and said directly, "Grandma Huang, I'm not here to buy stones this time, but meat. I want chickens, ducks, geese, eggs, fish, and pigs. The price is the same as in town. I'll weigh them and pay after weighing. If you can send them to me after slaughtering them, I'll add 1 cent per catty. I can give copper coins, grains, cloth, shoe pads, and scraps of cloth. They are all goods from the capital."
For the capital city, those old goods that cannot be sold are in great demand in the countryside.
Granny Huang listened to Jiang Yue's words and before she could react, she opened the oilcloth she had just held in her hand and said, "I have cut the cloth directly. One piece is one foot, no more, no less. I will borrow your place. Please help me talk to the villagers and I will give you this cloth and this insole."
Jiang Yue stuffed the thing into her arms. The insole was embroidered with flowers. She thought it was too eye-catching, but she couldn't help but think the old lady liked it!
Also, this cloth is not the roughest linen/rag that you wear that will tear after washing it twice. This kind of cloth is softer and of better quality. A foot of cloth is sold for between 30 and 35 coins. What's more, the pattern on this cloth is beautiful!
This time, Granny Huang reacted quickly. She smiled brightly, took the item, and said, "Don't worry, Xiao Jiang, I'll definitely get it done for you!"
Now the mainstays of each household were in the fields harvesting rice, but there were still people at home. Granny Huang first went to look for her relatives and a few families she was close to.
Jiang Yue asked them to stop for a while before calling out again, as the place was too small to move around.
She shouted at the top of her lungs what the various prices were, and explained each one again.
I wish I could go back to modern times and get back the recording speaker.
When Huang Shitou and his family returned home, they were confused as they watched the mothers-in-law coming and going. They shouted, "Mom, what are you doing?"
Granny Huang answered from the kitchen but didn't come out. When they went in, their mother/mother-in-law/grandmother made them some porridge with pickled mustard greens while she butchered a chicken.
The grandson swallowed and asked, "Can we eat chicken today?"
Granny Huang shook her head. "This chicken isn't for you. I sold it to Xiao Jiang."
She pulled her daughter-in-law over and explained, "...These two chickens can be exchanged for two pieces of cloth and a pair of insoles. Add to that what Xiao Jiang gave us, and we'll have enough for my granddaughter's dowry. It's all from the capital!"
The daughter-in-law's eyes lit up. Her daughter would be married in a while, but the harvest was not good, so she didn't want her family to spend too much on dowry. But if she could have a few more pieces of cloth from the capital, it would make her look better!
Now she no longer felt the hardship of working in the fields. She simply folded up her sleeves and helped her mother-in-law pluck the chicken feathers. She quickly finished and went to exchange for other things, so that no one would pick out all the good cloth.
It is impossible to choose the light, Jiang Yue bought too many things.
From morning to evening, people kept coming to exchange things. Even if someone only exchanged three or five eggs, Jiang Yue would give them a pair of insoles or a piece of rag.
Villagers cannot go to the town to sell things mostly because they have few goods and it is not cost-effective to pay stall fees.
This time Jiang Yue's exchange business was in line with everyone's wishes.
Bring over the chickens, ducks, and geese, all already slaughtered, saving her the trouble. Just kidding, a pound and a penny more!
She drove the mule cart back and forth three times to hide from everyone before she finished loading the things.
Seeing that it was almost done, Jiang Yue went to the pig farmer's house in Yahe Village. Because his family raised pigs, they lived some distance from the village center, so he didn't know about the exchange.
When Jiang Yue knocked on the door, the whole family was turning over the rice. They had a small plot of land and many people, so they worked quickly.
Jiang Yue took out the samples for them to see. These were all exchanged by the villagers just now.
"Because it's late today, I want to ask you to help me kill the pig. I'll come and get it tomorrow morning."
The pig farmer's son was agile and ran fast. He asked around in the village and came back in no time. It turned out that it was indeed people from the neighboring village who came to exchange goods.
The pig farmer looked at the pigs in the pigpen and felt a little reluctant to let them go. He thought he could still raise them for another two or three months, and they would grow at least ten pounds.
His daughter kept staring at the blue cloth, it was so beautiful!
"Oh, Dad, the weather is so bad, and we still have to pay taxes. These pigs are hard to raise. Why not just sell them and use the money to buy food?"
His wife also nodded and said, "Master, our family eats a lot, and we can't do without money to buy food."
Their family built a big house by raising pigs, but with sons and grandchildren coming out one after another, they couldn't withstand the famine if it really happened.
The pig farmer had no choice but to agree, "How many do you want?"
"I want as many as I can get." If she wasn't afraid of being beaten, she would even want the piglets. Piglets make delicious roast suckling pigs, and Jiang Nian would definitely like them.
The pig farmer was shocked. He didn't expect that this young lady was so rich. She even let the man next to her make decisions without saying a word.
Jiang Nian had no money, so he naturally kept silent. His eyes were always fixed on the fat pig in the pen. Jiang Yue was afraid that one day he would be so hungry that he would chase after the pig's butt and gnaw on it!
The scene is so beautiful that I can’t even imagine it!
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