I trade in both worlds

Seeing Xu Jizong opening his mouth to speak, Xu Xu stopped him and said, "Uncle, listen to me first. This is my plan. You buy an adult bull, and I'll buy a female calf, and then you can help me raise it. An adult bull can work right away, and during the slack season, I can pick up passengers and goods. Maybe it won't take long before I can earn back the money I spent on the bull."

"Can you really make it back quickly?" Second Aunt Xu looked at Xu Xu in surprise: "If I can make it back within a year, I'll buy it. If it's not enough, I'll borrow from you."

Looking at the expectant eyes of Aunt Xu and Xu Jizong, Xu Xu rubbed his face and said affirmatively, "Of course it can. Let's do some calculations. A bullock cart can carry at most 10 people. Each person is paid one cent per trip. Ten cents a day means 3650 cents a year. Go in the morning and return in the afternoon. In the middle, help others to pull goods twice. At least 10 cents, right? Let's calculate it based on 10 cents, which means 7300 cents a year. See if you can buy the bullock back."

"Are there so many?" Aunt Xu was stunned.

Xu Youyin said with longing eyes: "Two cars, one year's salary, it's actually more than what I could earn by building houses."

Although Xu Xu wanted to persuade them to buy cattle, he didn't expect them to understand it this way. If they couldn't make that much money by the end of the year, then...

Thinking of that scene, Xu Xu quickly stopped him: "This is the most ideal situation. It is impossible for 10 people to go to the county every day. You have no time to solicit customers during the busy farming season, and people are busy with the harvest and have no time to go out. But within two years, we will definitely be able to earn back the money for buying the cows."

As excited as she was just now, she felt as disappointed now. However, it was worth it to be able to earn back a cow in two years. Aunt Xu slammed the table with a firm look and said, "Buy it. Let's go buy it tomorrow."

The fact that the family could afford to buy a cow was a matter of great honor to Lin Erya and Chen Lihua. However, the first thing that came to Xu Youliang and Xu Youyin's mind was that with a cow, they would no longer have to pull the plow like a cow.

Not to mention Xu Jizong. Since ancient times, men have had an obsession with cars. They have been looking forward to it from their youth to their old age and finally got it. How can this feeling not be beautiful?

Xu Xu smiled happily, with the corners of his mouth curved into a graceful arc: "There's more."

"What else?" Aunt Xu felt that besides plowing the fields and pulling people, there was really nothing else that the cow could do.

Everyone looked at Xu Xu with curiosity. She smiled and said, "When the cow calf grows up, we can give birth to calves to sell."

“Oh my.” Second Aunt Xu clapped her hands and laughed so hard that she couldn’t close her mouth. “You’re really smart. I wouldn’t have thought of it if you hadn’t mentioned it. Hahahahaha…”

Since he had decided to buy a cow, he had to arrange a cowshed. Xu Jizong hurriedly got up and went to borrow bricks from someone he knew. He planned to build a cowshed outside the wall of the toilet and open the door inside the yard. In this way, the water used to clean the cowshed could flow directly into the toilet pit, and the yard would not become smaller.

The roof should be thatched first, and tiles should be bought in a few days. Xu Xu suggested that the cowshed be separated by wooden fences to prevent the calves from being bullied. If there is no wood, mud bricks can be used, and a 1-meter-high mud wall can be built to separate them.

Xu Youliang and Xu Youyin went to work right away. They found someone to dig the ground and prepared to build the cowshed before the cows were bought back tomorrow. When they left, they took two baskets of Gastrodia elata and Hericium erinaceus with them.

The next morning, Xu Xu packed up and had breakfast, then took the children to Xu Jizong's house. Today, Xu Jizong and Aunt Xu went to buy a cow together, while the Xu Youliang brothers stayed at home to repair the cowshed, and Lin Erya and Chen Lihua stayed at home to look after the children.

The three of them walked to Xiejiaxu and saw a donkey cart soliciting passengers. They went up and asked, and they were told that it cost 2 cents per person. Aunt Xu thought the price had increased and began to worry whether the price of cattle would also increase: "This is too expensive. It was only 1 cent before. Why did the price increase again?"

The driver touched the donkey's head and said with a smile: "The price has not increased. It has always been this price. One cent is for an ox cart. Mine is a donkey cart, so it costs two cents."

When they heard that the price was not going up, Second Aunt Xu and Xu Jizong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Second Aunt Xu asked unconvincedly, "We are all going to the county, why are the prices different? Brother, how about 1 cent?"

"Of course it's different." The driver looked at Aunt Xu with disdain. "It takes half an hour for an ox cart to go to the county town, but my donkey cart only takes a quarter of an hour. It saves you a lot of time."

Xu Xu looked around and saw that all the nearby ox carts had left, and the ox carts that were farther away had not yet arrived. Lala said to Second Aunt Xu, "Second Aunt, take the donkey cart, otherwise you will have to wait a long time. The other ox carts that are farther away are not coming that fast."

Finally, Aunt Xu rode the donkey cart to the county town with great pain. After getting off the cart, the three of them discussed and decided to go to the clinic to sell the Hericium and Gastrodia elata first and then go to the cattle and horse market.

There are two medical clinics in the county. One specializes in selling medicinal materials and has doctors on duty, called Xinglin Caotang. The other is called Rendetang, which sees patients, prescribes medicine, and also buys medicinal materials. Xu Xu and his friends usually go to this clinic more often. Today, it mainly sells medicinal materials, so Xu Xu wants to go to Xinglin Caotang to take a look.

Xinglin Caotang has five shop doors and is very large. You can see the busy scene inside the shop from the door. Second Aunt Xu is waiting at the door. Xu Jizong and Xu Xu enter the shop and see that everyone is busy with their own business and no one has time to pay attention to them.

Looking around, Xu Xu saw two waiters putting medicine in the medicine cabinet. He pulled Xu Jizong over and asked with a smile on his face, "Waiter, do you sell medicinal materials in your store?"

The two waiters turned around and saw Xu Jizong carrying a backpack covered with banana leaves, so they couldn't see what was inside. They replied expressionlessly, "Yes, but we don't accept loose goods. Go ask somewhere else."

Xu Xu nodded, thanked him, and walked out of the Xinglin Thatched Cottage with Xu Jizong. Seeing the two of them coming out so quickly, Second Aunt Xu asked anxiously, "How is it?"

"They don't accept bulk goods." Xu Jizong didn't stop and walked directly to Rendetang: "Let's go to Rendetang. Doctor He said before that their pharmacy accepts medicinal materials."

When we arrived at Rendetang, the shop here was not as busy as Xinglintang and was a bit deserted. At this time, Doctor He was sitting on the medical records and chatting with someone.

Xu Jizong, along with Aunt Xu and Xu Xu, walked straight towards him: "Doctor He."

Doctor He turned around and saw that Xu Jizong had some impression but couldn't remember where he was, so he asked directly, "Are you here to see a doctor or get medicine?"

Xu Jizong put down the backpack and introduced himself: "Doctor He, I am from Xu Village. My sister-in-law was sick before, and I asked you to see her."

"Oh, I remember now." Doctor He asked directly, "What is the matter with you guys coming here this time?"

While unpacking the banana leaves from the backpack, Xu Jizong replied, "When I asked you to see a patient before, I heard you say that your pharmacy would accept medicinal materials. We went up the mountain to pick some Hericium erinaceus and Gastrodia elata yesterday and brought them over today. Take a look, do you accept them?" As he said that, he handed over the Hericium erinaceus wrapped in banana leaves.