Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

The group squatted against the wall, discussing some plans for their home.

"We'll get back early this afternoon, so let's head to town first and register Changyun. We'll go to the school our fourth brother attends," Zhang Youtie said.

"Dad, if I go to Uncle's school, won't I be unable to come home every day?"

"Yes, then you'll be like your fourth uncle, coming back every ten days."

"Father, what am I going to do if I miss you all?"

"Brother, if you can't come back, we can visit you. We have an oxcart, and Mom and Dad will visit you often."

Xia Yu sensed that her brother had been a bit sentimental these past few days, so she quickly spoke up to comfort him.

"Okay, then remember to come see me." Chang Yong wiped his eyes with his sleeve, forcefully removing the moisture from them.

As dawn broke, Xia Yu and the others could hear sounds of people moving and talking inside the mansion from outside the wall. Zhang Youtie stepped forward and knocked on the brass ring on the side gate. The door opened quickly, and a woman in her fifties poked her head out. Seeing that Zhang Youtie was a stranger, she asked him with some curiosity...

"Who are you looking for? Is there something you need?"

"Auntie, I've arranged with Steward Wang from the manor to deliver watermelons today. Could you please call Steward Wang for me?" Zhang Youtie said with a smile as he stepped forward, and then stuffed ten coins into the old woman's hand.

He squeezed the copper coin in his hand, glanced at the three women standing behind him, and said, "Wait here, I'll go call them for you." Then he slammed the door shut again.

Zhang Youtie and the others could only wait again. However, the scene of Zhang Youtie's smiling face made Changyun, who was standing behind, feel very uncomfortable. He couldn't say what was different about his father's smile compared to his usual one, but he just felt that the smile was different.

Another ten minutes or so passed before the side gate opened again. Manager Wang, who had met Zhang Youtie and the others a few times, came out and saw that they were still damp from the morning. He knew that they must have been waiting there since before dawn.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, buddy. I'll get someone to come and weigh it right away."

“Brother Wang, we don’t need to weigh these big ones. We used to sell the smaller ones for fifty copper coins a pound, but these big ones are all over twenty pounds each. So the family has decided to sell them all for one tael of silver each. What do you think?”

Manager Wang glanced at the watermelons laid out on the ground, picked one up, and weighed it in his hand. "Hmm, it's quite heavy, definitely over twenty pounds."

"That's fine, it'll be more convenient that way, but you'll be losing money," Manager Wang said politely.

"Not at all, thank you so much, Brother Wang, for patronizing our business," she said, then gestured for her son to pick up the two smaller watermelons from the ground and said to Manager Wang.

"Brother Wang, these two watermelons are a bit small, but they taste the same. Brother Wang, take them home for your wife to try."

Manager Wang looked at the two watermelons Zhang Youtie had mentioned. They were smaller than the ones delivered today, but each one still weighed about fifteen or sixteen pounds, and the two together weighed over thirty pounds. So he clasped his hands in a fist and smiled at Zhang Youtie, saying, "Brother Zhang, you're too kind. These two watermelons are worth quite a bit of money. You've gone to so much trouble!"

"They all grew on our own land, I'm glad you don't mind, Brother Wang." Zhang Youtie scratched his head, seemingly embarrassed.

After the two finished their pleasantries, Steward Wang turned around and called to the servants behind him, "Go and call a few people over to carry all these watermelons inside. Be careful, these are for the Madam to send back to our mansion and the Liu mansion in the prefectural city. Not a single one is allowed to break!"

"Yes, Steward Wang, I'll go get them right away." With that, he dashed off. A few minutes later, the servant returned with seven or eight people carrying baskets.

"Be careful, handle them gently. They're going to be sent back to the prefectural city. Don't damage a single one," the servant said to the men carrying the baskets, repeating what Steward Wang had told him.

Several men quickly and quietly packed the melons into the baskets they had brought. The first servant approached Steward Wang for instructions.

"Manager Wang, have all the melons been packed up and are they all being sent to the warehouse?"

"Hmm, send it to the warehouse first. I'll consult with Madam later before making a decision. Tell them to be very careful and not to cause any damage."

"I understand, sir, please rest assured!" the servant replied, bowing.

"Yes, go! The lady will reward you if you do a good job."

"Yes," the servant said, bowing and retreating.

Having experienced the Shen family mansion yesterday and witnessed the situation at the Wang family mansion today, Zhang Youtie understood that even servants were divided into different ranks.

After all the watermelons were moved inside, Manager Wang readily paid Zhang Youtie forty taels of silver for the watermelons. After exchanging a few pleasantries with Zhang Youtie, he led two servants back home carrying the two watermelons that had been given to him.

After doing all this, it was only the hour of Chen (7-9 AM). Zhang Youtie handed the bag of silver ingots to his daughter and told her to put it away.

"Changyun, Xiaxia, we're rich now. Just tell us what you want to eat, and Dad will buy it for you," Zhang Youtie said generously.

"Dad, I want to eat big meat buns, spicy soup, and fried dough sticks," Xia Yu said without any hesitation, starting to say what she wanted to eat.

"Dad, I'll just have a sesame seed cake." Seeing his father's apologetic smile earlier, Changyun didn't want to spend any money now.

"Silly boy, there's no meat in the sesame seed cake. Today we're having one with meat!" Zhang Youtie said, giving his son a light pat on the back of the head.

"Mom, what do you want to eat? After dinner, let's take a good look around the county town. We've been here several times but haven't had a chance to explore it yet."

"Let's do as Xiaxia says. I also want to eat fruit and finish my hot and sour soup."

"Alright, son and daughter, sit tight, let's go!" With that, he cracked the whip and made two "Giddy up" sounds. Hearing the call, the ox slowly began to move forward.

On the way, Zhang Youtie stopped a passerby and asked for directions to a shop that stored oxcarts. He drove the oxcart there and paid the shopkeeper for the ox's feed. After getting the storage tag, the family walked to the market in the west of the city for breakfast. Zhang Youtie drank two bowls of spicy soup and ate four large meat buns in one go. The other three each drank a bowl of spicy soup, Liu ate two fried dough sticks, Xia Yu ate one meat bun and half a fried dough stick, and Changyun ate one bun and one and a half fried dough sticks. Everyone ate to their heart's content, and Zhang Youtie patted his slightly bulging belly and let out a happy burp.

After the mother and her children finished eating, Zhang Youtie suggested going for a walk in the street. After all, they were going to visit Pork Long's family at noon. They lived with his parents and had two sons. They felt they should bring some gifts for their family when they visited.

As they walked, they looked at the various goods displayed along the roadside. Xia Yu stopped in front of a stall selling velvet hairpins, admiring the small ornaments on display. Of course, no woman dislikes such things. Liu Shi also picked up an ebony hairpin, its head adorned with several jade petals.

"Sister-in-law, you have a good eye! This hairpin is made from the famous Hetian jade, and it's a fresh arrival. There's only one left. If you like it, try it on." The peddler selling hairpins immediately started introducing the hairpin as soon as he saw Liu pick it up.

"Young man, how much is this hairpin?" Liu held it in her hand and looked at it for a while, still quite liking it, so she asked the price.

"Sister-in-law, this is not expensive, only two hundred coins."

Upon hearing the peddler's price, Liu silently put down the hairpin in her hand and remained silent. Zhang Youtie, who was standing nearby, became somewhat anxious and said, "Mother, if you like it, why don't you try it on? I think it looks quite nice."

"Forget it, I won't try it on. It's pretty, but it's too expensive." Madam Liu glanced at the hairpin again and said.

"Sister-in-law, two hundred coins for this hairpin isn't expensive. Look at the jade on it; although it's small, it's genuine Hetian jade. The luster and texture clearly indicate it's a high-quality piece."

After saying that, she looked at Zhang Youtie and said, "Brother, you should also take a look at this jade. Look at the color. If my sister-in-law wears it, her hair will definitely look black and shiny. It will look really good. Why don't you try it on for her? If it doesn't look good, let her choose another one. Don't underestimate my stall. We have a wide variety of goods, and many different styles."

The peddler was shrewd; he could tell at a glance that Liu liked it. The man following behind him didn't react much to the price he quoted, which proved that this family definitely had the money to buy the hairpin. Saying the price was too high was just an excuse to bargain later. So he promoted it even more enthusiastically.

Zhang Youtie picked up the hairpin the peddler handed him and helped Liu Shi put it in her hair bun. Xia Yu, who was standing next to him, only then noticed that her mother's hair had become jet black and shiny, without any of the dryness and roughness she had seen when she first opened her eyes. After noticing this, she turned her gaze to her mother's hands and found that the skin on her hands had also become much smoother, and the roughness and cracks of the past were gone.

"It looks beautiful, Mother, you look so good in this hairpin." Zhang Youtie sincerely praised his wife, then looked at the peddler and said, "Brother, give us a discount, we'll take this one, and we also need to buy other things, and a pair of flowers for my daughter to wear."

She then looked at her daughter, who had remained silent to the side.

"Xiaxia, choose whatever you like, Dad will buy it for you." As he spoke, he picked up a pair of red velvet flowers and held them up on his daughter's head, muttering to himself, "Hmm, pretty. My little girl looks better with flowers on."

"Young man, how much are these velvet flowers?" Zhang Youtie asked.

"These velvet flowers cost twenty coins."

Upon hearing the peddler's price, Zhang Youtie held up the velvet flower to Xia Yu's head a few more times, confirming that it looked really good on his daughter. He then spoke to the peddler...

"How about this, I won't haggle with you anymore. We'll buy this hairpin, and you can give us these two velvet flowers as a gift, okay?" Zhang Youtie offered a price right off the bat.

Upon hearing Zhang Youtie's words, the peddler's face instantly turned into a bitter expression. "No way, brother, my little stall doesn't have that much profit. I'll lose money if I do this. No, no way."

"Why not? This is fine. I'm not good at bargaining, and I won't dawdle. How about two hundred coins for these two items? If it really doesn't work, we can look around some more." Zhang Youtie said, making a move to leave.

"Don't go, brother! Give me a few more coins, at least let me earn some money from my hard work. I really have no profit at the price you're offering!" The peddler called out to Zhang Youtie, who was pretending to leave. Seeing that he really wouldn't add a single coin, he shook his head and sighed, "Here you go, here you go, brother. I haven't opened for business yet. You're my first customer today, so let's hope for a good start."

After the peddler agreed, Zhang Youtie took out two small strings of copper coins from his pocket and gave them to him. The peddler then took out a small copper scale from under his cart and weighed the strings of coins on it.

"Alright, brother, this price is just right. Thank you so much. Is there anything else you need? I'll give you a discount." The peddler said happily to Zhang Youtie and the others.

Hearing the peddler's question, Zhang Youtie looked at Liu Shi and his daughter with his eyes, asking if they had anything else they liked. Seeing that they both shook their heads, he said to the peddler, "I won't buy anything today. I'll come back to you when I need something."