A tragic journey through ancient times, trying to make money

Zhang Yunyue waved in the direction of Zhang Xingfeng: "Xiaofeng, Xiaofeng, here, here."

Zhang Xingfeng was talking to a new classmate he had met today when he heard Zhang Yunyue's voice. He looked up and saw Zhang Yunyue waving at the door of the private school. He said goodbye to his classmate and ran towards Zhang Yunyue.

"Sister, why are you here at this time? Are you here to pick me up alone?" Zhang Xingfeng asked happily.

Zhang Yunyue took Zhang Xingfeng's hand and walked out: "No, my father and I came together. My father was watching the ox cart outside and asked me to pick you up."

When Zhang Xingfeng heard his sister say that his father had also come, he looked around for his ox cart, but he couldn't find it after looking for a whole week.

"Sister, why haven't I seen Dad yet?"

"Dad is waiting for us outside the alley. It's not convenient to park the ox cart inside the alley." As soon as they finished speaking, the brother and sister arrived at the entrance of the alley.

Zhang Xingfeng saw his father's ox cart waiting at the entrance of the alley. The schoolbag slung across his shoulder rattled as Zhang Xingfeng ran.

"Father."

"Xiaofeng, we are here. Get on the ox cart quickly." As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Xingfeng and Zhang Yunyue climbed onto the ox cart and sat on it.

Seeing that both of them were seated, Zhang's father drove the ox cart to the blacksmith shop at the end of West Street.

Looking at the oxcart heading towards West Street, Zhang Xingfeng asked in confusion: "Dad, aren't we going home?"

Father Zhang shook his head and said, "No, your sister is going to the blacksmith shop to buy some things. We will go back after she finishes shopping. How about school today?"

"School is fun. The teacher taught us to recite the Three Character Classic today. I also made some friends and they all played with me."

"That's good. You must get along well with your classmates and not fight."

Zhang Xingfeng nodded solemnly and said happily, "Dad, don't worry, my classmates are all very nice people, and the teacher also said today that we can't fight in private school, and classmates should get along like friends."

"Yes, your teacher is right. You should listen to your teacher carefully in the future."

When the ox cart arrived at the door of the blacksmith shop, all three jumped off the cart. Zhang's father tied the ox rope to a tree, and then the three walked into the blacksmith shop.

The blacksmith shop owner saw the three people coming in, put down his blacksmithing tools, and walked up to them: "Three guests, what do you need?"

Zhang Yunyue: "Boss, I want to see if there is an iron tool that can cut things up without being a kitchen knife. It's not a chopping knife either, but it would be best if it can be inserted with a stick." Zhang Yunyue has only seen it in the vegetable market in modern times, but doesn't know what it is called. He can only describe it.

The blacksmith shop owner didn't understand what Zhang Yunyue said, so he could only suggest, "My dear customer, why don't you go to the shop and see if they have the kind you're talking about, or tell me what you want, as long as it's not too complicated, I can make it for you."

After listening to the words of the blacksmith shop owner, Zhang Yunyue did as he said and walked around the shop to see if there was any knife similar to the one used today for cutting pickled peppers.

But after searching the store carefully, Zhang Yunyue still couldn't find it. She could only describe the shape of the modern knife used to chop chili peppers to the shopkeeper.

After the description was finished, the blacksmith shop owner said: "This is easy. I can make it for you today. How many do you want?"

Zhang Yunyue thought about it and realized that she had a plan for making pickled peppers, so she said, "I want to make 10 of them. Boss, how long will it take to make them all?"

The blacksmith shop owner thought for a moment and said, "It will take two days. You can come to pick it up at noon the day after tomorrow. I'll tell you the price first. Yours is not difficult. 90 coins each. Ten pieces are exactly 10 coins."

"Okay, that's no problem, but Boss, can you come get five tomorrow at noon? I need them urgently."

"Is that so? That's fine. I'll start today and do a little more in the evening. I'll have half of it by noon tomorrow. You can come after noon."

Zhang Yunyue took out one or two taels of silver and gave it to the owner of the blacksmith shop. The owner returned 100 coins and gave Zhang Yunyue a receipt, indicating that he should take out the receipt when he came to pick up the goods.

After deciding on the necessary knives, Zhang Yunyue, Zhang's father and Zhang Xingfeng left the blacksmith shop on an ox cart and headed for the city gate.

As she reached the door of the grocery store, Zhang Yunyue remembered that it would be better to buy a few large basins so that it would be convenient to cut the peppers.

Zhang Yunyue immediately called out to his father: "Dad, stop at the grocery store. We need to buy a few large basins and a few cutting boards."

Father Zhang heard Zhang Yunyue's voice and hurriedly pulled the ox rope to stop the ox cart. "Yueyue, what are you going to use the big basin and cutting board for? You need to buy a few more."

"Father, we can't use a basin that has been dipped in oil when making pickled peppers. And we need to wait until all the knives are ready the day after tomorrow. If there are not enough basins, we won't be able to make much. The chopping board is placed at the bottom of the basin to protect it. It just so happens that the ox cart is empty right now, so we can just pull it back together."

"Okay, get off the car and go to the grocery store."

Zhang Yunyue and Zhang Xingfeng jumped off the carriage. Zhang's father tied the ox cart to a pillar beside him. The three of them walked into the grocery store. Uncle Xie was sitting at the counter with his eyes closed, resting.

"Thank you, uncle. Thank you, uncle."

Uncle Xie was startled awake by Zhang Yunyue's voice. He rubbed his still blurry eyes and woke up: "Hey, Yueyue is here. I haven't seen you for a long time. What are you going to buy today?"

"Uncle Xie, I want to buy a few large basins and a few large cutting boards."

"Okay, come with me. Here they are. Take a look for yourself which kind of basin you want. The chopping board is also here. Take your pick."

In the end, Zhang Yunyue chose seven large basins with a diameter of one meter, and then selected cutting boards that could fit three items in each basin. In total, she bought 21 cutting boards.

"Uncle Xie, I just want these, how much is it in total?"

"A large basin is 40 wen, and a cutting board is 15 wen, a total of 595 wen, just give 590 wen."

"Okay, thank you uncle, here you go." Zhang Yunyue gave Uncle Xie six cents of silver and got back 10 cents in change.

Uncle Xie took the silver, and together with Zhang's father, moved all the large basins and chopping boards selected by Zhang Yunyue onto the ox cart. After saying goodbye to Uncle Xie, the group finally set out on their way home.

After arriving home, Zhang's father was responsible for unloading the ox cart. Zhang Xingfeng went into the house to put down his schoolbag, and then led the ox to the mountain behind the house. Usually, Zhang Xingfeng and his friends would lead the ox to graze together, and occasionally Zhang Yunxue would follow.

Zhang Yunyue walked into the yard and sat down. "Grandma, put the peppers in the main room today, and start cooking tomorrow when the tools are back. Otherwise, if we use a kitchen knife to cut all the peppers today, everyone's hands will probably get burned by the heat."

After talking to Grandma Zhang, Zhang Yunyue remembered that the butcher had given her two pig's trotters today, which were still in the well.

Zhang Yunyue took the pig's feet out of the well and brought them into the kitchen. At this moment, Zhang's mother and Zhu were preparing to steam buns in the kitchen.