Traveling through the mountains and farming

"Xiao Le, Xiao Ke, you guys can set up a stall here."

The three people who were packing up their things and preparing to close the stall heard someone asking them, so they looked up and saw Uncle Dashan holding two wild rabbits standing in front of their stall.

Li Chongle asked with a smile: "Uncle Dashan, are you here at the market too?"

Luo Dashan also smiled and replied: "We caught two hares this morning, so we are a little late. What are you doing?"

At this time, Lin Wan picked up the last bowl of ice jelly from the small table and handed it to Luo Dashan with a smile, "Come, Uncle Dashan, try our new food, crystal ice jelly."

Luo Dashan didn't dare to ask for something that someone else wanted to sell for money, so he waved his hands to refuse.

Lin Wan did not allow him to refuse. She held the bowl with both hands and advised, "Uncle Dashan, this is something we made ourselves. It's not worth much. It's so hot. Just think of it as us treating you to a drink. There's only one bowl left. If you eat it, we can close the stall early."

The two siblings next to him also hurriedly persuaded Uncle Dashan to take it over.

Luo Dashan, who was always taciturn and not good at speaking, didn't know how to refuse the enthusiasm of the three children, so he had to accept their kindness. At the same time, he planned to help them pull the things back later.

After finishing the last bowl of ice jelly, Lin Wan and her friends began to pack up their stall, and the vacant stall was given to Luo Dashan.

When the three of them were closing their stall, there were still many people coming to buy crystal ice jelly.

When they hear the stall owner respond "sold out", they will complain in a low voice, saying "why don't you make more of this delicious food to sell?" and remind the stall owner to come back to sell again at the next market.

When they closed their stalls, it was the peak period of the market. It was still early, and they had plenty of time to go shopping at the market.

Luo Dashan suggested that they leave their stall equipment behind and he would help look after it, and they would go back to the village together after they bought their things.

Lin Wan also thought that this arrangement was very good, so the three of them put away the three taels of silver they brought from home and the one hundred and eighty coins they earned from selling ice jelly, and walked towards the grocery store at the entrance of the village.

That’s right, they earned 180 cents on their first stall sale.

Today's bucket of ice jelly has about sixty bowls. Excluding the ones for tasting and the bowl given to Luo Dashan, a total of fifty-five bowls were sold. Among them, forty bowls were consumed on the spot or not packed in bamboo tubes, and fifteen bowls were packed in bamboo tubes for takeaway. The total profit was one hundred and eighty cents.

Lin Wan didn't feel anything special about these. After all, she was considered a wealthy woman in modern times. This amount of money was nothing to her. She also knew that this was just the beginning and she would definitely make more money in the future.

However, Li Chongle and his sister, who had never had any money before, were so excited that they danced with joy. They felt like they had made a fortune. Especially when Li Chongle was counting the money, his hands were shaking at the end. “This is too much money,” he was thinking at the time.

~

As Lin Wan walked towards the grocery store, she recalled the shopping list she had made earlier:

First, you must buy an iron pot, which is essential for cooking. Then when you return to the village, go to Old Man Wang to buy a wooden steamer. Then you can cook rice and stir-fry vegetables.

The second thing is the staple rice needed for three people in a month. Based on the daily consumption of three pounds, ninety pounds is needed in a month, which is seven and a half dou of rice. So we just round it up and buy eight dou.

There are also various seasonings such as oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, etc. used in cooking.

Then she strode into the grocery store with the two siblings. After entering the store, she first took a quick look around and saw that the store had everything she wanted to buy.

While the shop owner was entertaining other customers in the rice and grain area next door, she walked straight to the area where the iron pots were placed, ready to choose a large iron pot first.

At this time, an old man's voice came from the side: "Shopkeeper, why has the price of rice increased again? A month ago, it was only 70 wen per dou, but now it is 86 wen per dou."

Then the shopkeeper responded: "The prices have increased throughout the county. Our prices are the same as those in the county town's rice and grain store. Our store is just a small branch of the owner. The prices of items in all the stores under the owner's name are the same."

The shopkeeper continued, "I heard that the grain collected from the summer tax not long ago was transported to the front line, so the grain on the market has become tight. In addition, merchants from the north have come to our south to purchase grain, so the grain is becoming increasingly scarce."

The shopkeeper asked again: "Sir, how much do you want to buy?"

The old man only replied: "Not for now, I still have some food at home." I could hear the helplessness in the old man's tone.

After listening to the conversation between the two, Lin Wan's brows suddenly furrowed tightly, and the excitement she had just felt disappeared without a trace in an instant.

At this moment, her mind was full of thoughts: Food is running out? She must find a way to store food quickly!

"Sir, do you want to buy an iron pot? A six-seed pot or an eight-seed pot?" The shopkeeper saw that the order could not be completed, so he did not worry too much. He had seen such scenes many times recently, so he turned around and greeted Lin Wan and the others.

The shopkeeper's question interrupted Lin Wan's thoughts. She put aside the urgency of storing grain for the time being and planned to purchase the things she planned to buy today. If she wanted to store a large amount of grain, she would need money, and she would have to go to the grain shop in the county town.

She then took out a piece of dry straw and said, "For an iron pot with such a long diameter, I just compared it and it should be a six-seal pot." This was the size she measured according to the hole in the stove where the pot was placed at home before she went out.

"Yes, according to the size you gave, the six-seal pot is just right for you." The shopkeeper took the dry straw given by Lin Wan, looked at it, and nodded, "The six-seal pot costs one tael of silver. Do you want anything else?"

Lin Wan was shocked and muttered to herself that ancient iron products were really expensive.

In addition to the iron pot, she then ordered eight dou of rice, a bottle of soy sauce, and a bottle of grape vinegar according to her own list.

Finally, she specifically asked the shopkeeper whether the price of salt had increased. When she heard the shopkeeper's answer, "No, it's still 25 cents a catty," she immediately decided to buy more. She knew that in the turbulent ancient times, in addition to food, salt was also an important commodity. She asked for 25 catties, which could last the three of them for more than a year, and if they were frugal, it could last for two years.

Looking at his sister-in-law's shopping spree, Li Chongle next to him was stunned. Although he felt a little sad about the money spent, the two siblings had great trust in their sister-in-law.

They felt that what the sister-in-law bought were necessities. Even though she bought so much salt, they felt that the sister-in-law must be right and that she must have a use for it. Maybe she had other ways to make money that she had not told them yet.

Yes, that must be the case. Li Chongle kept brainwashing himself.

In fact, he was more concerned about how to store all their belongings more safely.

So, at his suggestion, they bought a large clay jar to store the things they bought today, and also bought a lock so that they could lock the door when they went out in the future.

When buying the large clay jar, Lin Wan saw the various ceramic jars next to it, so she bought some of various sizes as backup.

Afterwards, the shopkeeper used an abacus to calculate the bill while confirming the purchased items and prices with Lin Wan:

Six-stamp iron pot, one liang (one thousand wen);

Rice costs 86 wen per dou, and 8 dou equals 688 wen.

Salt 25 catties, 625 coins;

A grape of soy sauce costs eight cents;

A grape of vinegar costs ten cents;

A large earthenware jar costs 78 coins;

Several ceramic jars cost eighty wen;

An iron lock costs eighty cents.

The total amount was two thousand five hundred and sixty-nine coins. Because Lin Wan used her lifelong bargaining skills to bargain with the shopkeeper, the deal was finally settled at two thousand five hundred and fifty coins. As a result, she only had half a tael of silver and one hundred and thirty coins left in her pocket.

Afterwards, she placed the purchased rice and small items into a large clay jar, and persuaded the shopkeeper to give her a wooden lid for the jar. The shopkeeper decided to be a good person and provided a hemp rope to tie the lid to the jar.

So from the surface, what they bought could only be seen as a large earthenware jar, an iron pot and several ceramic pots.

After she agreed with the shopkeeper to store the items in the store, she took the two siblings to the pork shop next door because they had not bought oil yet.

After arriving at the pork shop, Lin Wan asked the price and learned that lard was 40 cents per pound and pork was 30 cents per pound.

She then said, "Boss, give me a pound of suet and a pound of pork."

Li Chongle next to her immediately grabbed Lin Wan's sleeve and said, "Sister-in-law, let's buy lard. Pork is too expensive. Let's buy it next time when we make money." He thought that after buying lard, he could eat the oil residue and save the money for pork.

If someone asked him at this moment why he didn't comment when he bought so many things just now, but now he is reluctant to spend a pound of pork?

Then he will definitely answer: Because what he just bought at the grocery store were all daily necessities, and he can bear not to eat pork, and it is good enough to eat more rice and fish caught by himself.

Lin Wan turned around and said to Li Chongle with a smile: "We are making money now, let's celebrate our successful ice jelly business!"

She just saw that the two children around her had their eyes glued to the pork, but they kept shaking their heads and saying they didn't want to buy it. It was really cute and funny.

Finally, the three men walked out of the shop carrying lard and pork, with only half a tael of silver and sixty coins left in their pockets.