Chapter 242 Don’t tell anyone!
"You stay here and help me sell the sheep while I go to buy things. You don't know how to bargain, so I'm afraid you'll overpay."
Li Shunzi was even more confused: "I don't know how to bargain when buying things, so I can't bargain when selling sheep either?"
"The price of sheep is fixed by my mother! Twenty copper coins per pound! No matter who asks, you must sell it at this price."
"Twenty copper coins per pound?" Li Shunzi was extremely surprised. "This year's price is much cheaper than in previous years!"
"The lambs are not good this year, so we can only sell them at a lower price. Twenty copper coins is the lowest price. If we can't sell them, we can keep them and kill them for the New Year. This is the price, it can be higher but not lower!"
"Okay! I'll listen to you!" Li Shunzi agreed, took the rope that tied the sheep from his mother's hand, stood where his mother had originally stood, and shouted outside to sell the sheep.
After handing the sheep to her son, Gao asked her son for copper coins: "Give me the copper coins in the bag. I will use them to buy things..."
As he spoke, he stretched out his right hand and tried to take the knapsack from his son's chest.
Li Shunzi's face changed, and he quickly covered the bag hanging on his chest, "Mom! You took the copper coins away. If someone comes to buy a sheep later, and they only have silver and no copper coins, where can I get the copper coins to make change?"
Gao paused and said, yes, if a customer comes to pay with silver, she will have to give him change, and it won’t work without copper coins.
Gao said, "I won't take all of it. You can give me half of the copper coins so that I can go buy some things. We haven't bought many things yet. We must buy everything today!"
Half a copper...
Li Shunzi's right hand trembled slightly, and he reached into his sack to feel the copper coins inside.
When he came today, his mother gave him three hundred copper coins, and he secretly took out another two hundred copper coins from his private savings.
However, he gave all the 200 copper coins he brought with him to Zhang, and also used some of the copper coins given by his mother to buy charcoal.
Now there are still two hundred copper coins left in my bag.
Now his mother wants half, which she can certainly give out, but how can she make up for the one hundred coppers she spent before?
Li Shunzi was extremely anxious, but he remained calm as he pulled out a string of copper coins from his bag and asked his mother to spend them first.
"You don't have anything on you to hide the coins, so spend this string of coins first. If it's not enough, you can buy something else after selling the sheep. I'll keep some more here, in case the change is not enough, it will be troublesome."
Gao was not sceptical when facing her son. She thought what her son said made sense, so she took the copper coin handed over by her son, said something to her third uncle, and happily squeezed into the crowd.
Third uncle also planned to take the siblings away, and they also had to go to East Street to buy mutton.
Just as he was about to take a step forward, Li Shunzi suddenly called out to him, "Uncle Gu, please don't leave yet... Nephew, I have something to tell you..."
The third uncle looked puzzled: "What's the matter?"
"Just now, just now..." Li Shunzi stammered, his eyes a little empty, and he moved aside with a flicker, not daring to look at his third uncle.
Third Uncle waited patiently, but no one knew what he wanted to say.
Gu Tang suddenly had an idea and asked, "Uncle Shunzi, do you want to talk about the charcoal you bought just now?"
Li Shunzi's expression changed, and he stared at Gu Tang with a somewhat stiff expression: "Yes, yes...it's that thing..."
Gu Tang smiled at him and said, "You really worry too much. The three of us, the grandparents and grandchildren, don't have a good memory and we forget everything after it's over.
I am not a talkative person and I never spread gossip in the village. Don't worry, we, the grandparents and grandchildren, will not tell anyone about your purchase of charcoal."
Li Shunzi felt a little embarrassed for some reason after hearing this. He became more and more dissatisfied with Gu Tang and felt that this girl's tongue was too unpleasant.
If Gu Tang was the only one in front of him, he would definitely scold him severely, but now that his third uncle was also there, Li Shunzi could only swallow his dissatisfaction.
He said, "I was asked by an acquaintance to buy the charcoal, but my mother never likes me to buy things for others, so I wanted to hide it from her."
It was obvious that this was a lie. Gu Tang was too lazy to pay attention to him. He lowered his eyes and teased the little yellow dog in his arms.
Li Shunzi's attention was also attracted by the little yellow dog, and his face darkened for a moment.
This girl is really cold-hearted!
Her mother, Zhang, lived a hard life and only had one meal a day. But her daughter bought two dogs without hesitation and never thought of saving any money to give to her mother.
Li Shunzi's eyes changed without being concealed, and his third uncle saw it clearly. He frowned and looked unhappy.
"What Tang girl said is what I want to say. Don't worry. I promise you that we will never tell anyone about your purchase of charcoal!"
After hearing the guarantee in person, Li Shunzi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He glanced at his uncle and saw that he was a little angry. He felt very embarrassed and wanted to say something to justify himself: "You..."
Just as he was about to say a word, Gu Tang suddenly spoke again: "Uncle Shunzi, I have something to remind you. When you bought charcoal earlier, you may not have paid attention to the surrounding situation.
When you were "negotiating" the price with the charcoal seller, not only we saw the scene, but several villagers also saw it.
But they didn't come up to talk to you, they just glanced at you a few times, and I don't know if they recognized you. If they did, I'm afraid they would spread some gossip. "
Li Shunzi was frightened by these words, his face turned pale and panicked.
Why is there someone else here?!
At that time, he looked around several times but did not see any familiar fellow villagers.
"Are you kidding me? When I bought the charcoal just now, I kept the people around me. Apart from you, there were no other people from the same village!"
"Really? Then maybe I saw it wrong." Gu Tang's reaction was very unexpected, and she did not argue with Li Shunzi about this.
You said I saw it wrong?
Okay, then I must have seen it wrong.
Gu Tang's reaction not only failed to reassure Li Shunzi, but made him even more uneasy.
Could it be that this girl really saw people from the same village among the crowd around him?
Seeing people's suspicion, Gu Tang added fuel to the fire: "You know what kind of person my grandfather is. He always says one thing and two things. When we go back, if there are rumors about this in the village, I hope you don't misunderstand us. It's better to ask the villagers to see how many people saw you buying charcoal."
Li Shunzi: ...Why is this getting more and more scary the more you talk about it!
Gu Tang stopped looking at him and tugged at the corner of his uncle's clothes: "Grandpa, let's go. East Street is not close to here. If we go too late, I'm afraid the mutton will be sold out."
"Okay, let's go." The third uncle responded and led the siblings eastward.
Li Shunzi wanted to ask Gu Tang again whether she really saw the villagers or just pretended to see them.
When he saw the person had left, he wanted to go up and call him back to ask him clearly.
Just then, a skinny man squeezed in front of Li Shunzi and asked him how much the sheep cost.
After waiting for so long, someone finally asked for the price. Li Shunzi was both angry and happy.
What made her angry was that Gu Tang's words were vague, which made her feel anxious and unable to calm down. Then she just walked away.
The good news is that someone finally showed interest in these three lambs!
Li Shunzi temporarily suppressed the urge to pursue Gu Tang, and with a smile on his face, he stretched out two fingers to the man and said, "Twenty copper coins per pound."
The man exclaimed, "Twenty copper coins per pound?! This sheep is so skinny, and you still want twenty copper coins per pound?"
Li Shunzi nodded and kicked the three sheep beside him to the front. "Don't be fooled by their thinness. They are short-legged sheep and their meat is very delicious! Twenty copper coins is really not expensive!"
The man waved his hands repeatedly: "I know about short-legged sheep. This kind of sheep must be fed until it is fat all over, and the meat will be delicious!
You are not feeding it well. Look at this head. It has been bloated for three months and has very little meat on it. After killing it, it will taste no different from other sheep."
After saying this, the man turned and left without any reluctance.
Li Shunzi's heart choked, he looked down at his own sheep with an embarrassed look on his face.
They were right, this sheep was indeed not very big, and it was at most three months old.
The ewes eat poorly and have little milk, so the lambs are often hungry and the heads and meat cannot grow.
Li Shunzi was a little worried that these three sheep might not be easy to sell.
Standing on tiptoe and looking eastward, looking at the bustling crowd of people coming and going, Li Shunzi could no longer find the figures of the Gu family's grandparents and grandchildren.
He was still thinking about what had just happened and was very uneasy. He wanted to chase after them and ask clearly, but now he couldn't go anywhere with these three sheep.
Besides, he still had a "debt" of one hundred copper coins.
After much thought, he realized that the only way to pay off the debt was to sell all three sheep before his mother came back.
One sheep doesn't weigh too much, you can just report one or two pounds less, and three sheep can be concealed as weighing about five or six pounds.
There are twenty copper coins in one catty, and five catties are one hundred copper coins, which is just enough to fill the one hundred copper coins.
Thinking of this, Li Shunzi became more enthusiastic in selling his goods, and his mind was full of thoughts about selling the sheep as soon as possible.
…
After squeezing out from West Street, we were not far from the courtyard where Gu Tang lived. There were obviously fewer people here.
The crowd was so crowded that the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren, who were squeezed hard, suddenly relaxed and gasped loudly.
After resting for a while, I planned to continue walking towards East Street.
But before that, I have to go back to the yard and send the two puppies back.
It was very inconvenient to carry them all the way. They looked small, but they were quite heavy to hold.
After turning the corner and returning to the courtyard, the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren did not enter the courtyard. They only opened a door, stuffed the two puppies in, and then immediately closed and locked the door.
The puppies were whimpering quietly behind the door, perhaps because they were cold or because they were in a strange place.
Gu Tang was a little worried, so he simply asked Gu Ping'an to stay and look after the puppies, and find some things to build a nest for them.
Gu Ping'an was not happy with Gu Tang's arrangement. He was worried about the old and the young going to East Street.
Unfortunately, his words were mild and he could not outsmart Gu Tang, so Gu Tang forcefully opened the door and pushed him into the yard.
Third Uncle watched this scene without saying a word, with a smile on his face.
After arranging for Gu Ping'an and the puppy, Gu Tang followed his third uncle to the East Street butcher shop to buy mutton.
There are fewer people on East Street than on West Street, so you don’t have to squeeze with other people when walking on the street.
Gu Tang often comes here, but has never bought meat from the butcher shop.
After traveling through time for so long, the only meat she ate was either chicken or fish, and she never bought pork because she disliked the strong fishy smell of the pork here.
I seldom eat mutton either, and I also dislike its smell!
After asking someone on the way, they found the butcher shop closest to them.
The grandfather and grandson went to the butcher's shop and asked if they had any mutton for sale.
"You really asked the right question. Today we are going to kill a short-legged sheep, about 40 kilograms, very fat!
The price is not cheap, and I haven’t sold even a pound. I was planning to send it to the restaurant. If you had come a little later, I’m afraid you would have missed out.”
The butcher was a man in his early thirties. As he said this, he turned around and went to the ox cart behind him and brought over a skinned and gutted sheep.
The butcher put the sheep on the chopping board, with a proud look on his face, and asked the grandparents and grandchildren to come forward and smell the sheep.
"Just smell it. If there's even a hint of fishy smell, I won't charge you a penny!"
Third Uncle knew that Gu Tang was very picky, so he stepped forward and sniffed it carefully, then nodded with a smile, "Indeed, there is not even a trace of fishy smell."
The butcher grinned more and more proudly.
"Girl, come and smell it yourself." Third Uncle made room for Gu Tang and let her go forward and smell it herself.
Gu Tang imitated his uncle's movements, sniffed carefully a few times, and nodded involuntarily: "This short-legged sheep is really rare, it doesn't even have the fishy smell of mutton."
"This sheep is unique to us. You can't eat it anywhere else!" The butcher's tone was full of pride.
"How much is this mutton per pound?"
"Eighty copper coins per pound!"
Oh my god!
Eighty copper coins per pound? !
Gu Tang smacked his lips. This was too expensive!
The butcher seemed to see what Gu Tang was thinking and explained, "Everything has gone up this year, especially food and things to keep warm. These two have gone up the most. The price of this short-legged sheep is 70 copper coins per pound every year, but this year it has gone up to 80!
In two days, the price of meat will go up! Every household is talking about the snowstorm, and the rich families seem to believe it. I heard that every household is stockpiling food. When the people outside see that everyone else is moving, they also follow suit and stockpile food. If this continues, I'm afraid there will be chaos!"
The grandparents looked at each other in bewilderment. The news about the snowstorm was becoming more and more outrageous.
Fortunately, they will not live in Bei'an City forever, and they will be able to return to the village to live soon.
"How much mutton do you want? Which part do you want? I'll cut it for you!" The butcher took out a knife and gestured at different parts of the sheep.
Third Uncle didn't dare to make the decision on this matter, so he asked Gu Tang to make the decision.
Gu Tang pointed at a whole sheep and said, "We want the whole sheep. Just disassemble it and pack it, and then find someone to help us send it back. A sheep this heavy, two of us can't carry it."
When the butcher heard this, he smiled so hard that his teeth showed. He was lucky today as he actually met a big customer!
"Don't worry, I'll find a capable boy to carry it all the way home for you!"
The butcher found a hemp rope and tied it to the sheep. Then he took out a large scale specially used for weighing heavy objects and called a servant. The two of them worked together to hang the sheep on the scale.
As the weight continued to move backwards, the weight was soon measured.
"Forty-two pounds!"
Eighty copper coins per catty, forty-two catties is three thousand three hundred and sixty copper coins, nearly three and a half taels of silver.
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