In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chen Da frowned, wondering why the two soldiers guarding the city had drawn their swords against each other, while the villagers of Chenjia Village behind Chen Da were startled.

"What's going on? Why did this soldier draw his sword at us?"

"Could they be mistaking us for bandits?"

"Are we not allowed to enter the city?"

"..."

Many villagers showed fear on their faces. In those days, most ordinary people were afraid of the army. Therefore, when they saw the two soldiers draw their swords, many villagers had the idea of ​​retreating.

"Put down the knife!"

As the two sides stared at each other, Zhang He pressed down the sword of the soldier beside him and said to the puzzled soldier, "Don't worry, they are not thieves."

With that, Zhang He walked towards Chen Da with a smile and said, "Brother Chen, it's been a long time!"

Zhang He has an excellent memory; having visited Chenjia Village once, he recognized Chen Da at a glance.

"You are……"

Chen Da sized up Zhang He, and after a moment's recollection, his eyes lit up: "You're the Zhang He who came to our village with the county magistrate last time?"

It's me!

Zhang He smiled and nodded, raising an eyebrow at the villagers behind Chen Da, and said, "Brother Chen, are these all villagers from your Chen Family Village?"

"Yes."

Chen Da replied, "They are all here in the city to buy things, not thieves."

At this moment, Chen Da realized why the two soldiers guarding the city had drawn their swords against each other. Putting himself in their shoes, if Chen Da were one of the soldiers guarding the city, he would also suspect that these people were coming to attack the bandits in the county town when he saw a large group of people coming.

Fortunately, Zhang He was there; otherwise, they would have had a hard time getting into the city today.

"Are they all here to buy things?"

Zhang He's eyes widened in disbelief. Looking around, he saw that behind Chen Da were villagers, both men and women, numbering no less than a hundred. These hundred or so people had set off together to the county town to buy supplies...

How much stuff would they have to buy? Are the villagers of Chenjia Village really that rich?

"Yes."

Chen Da nodded and said, "Our village received its wages yesterday, so the villagers thought they would come to the city to buy some things to take back with them!"

"salary?"

Zhang He's eyes widened even more. Although he wasn't very educated, he still understood the meaning of the word "salary." It was similar to "remuneration," "salary," and "compensation." But it was precisely because he knew the meaning of "salary" that Zhang He was so shocked.

The villagers of Chenjia Village are just farmers who toil in the fields for a living; where would they get a salary?

"Brother Zhang He, can we go into the city?"

Chen Ziran had no idea what Zhang He was thinking, so he simply asked.

"of course can!"

Zhang He nodded without hesitation. Even if it was only for Chen Dao's sake, he couldn't refuse the villagers of Chenjia Village from going to the city, let alone...

He was also thinking about building good relationships with the villagers of Chenjia Village so that he could do business with them in the future.

So Zhang He signaled the two soldiers guarding the city to put away their weapons, and personally led Chen Da and the others into the county town.

"It's so lively!"

The villagers who entered the town couldn't help but exclaim that the bustling crowds and the neat, beautiful buildings in the county town were far superior to those in Chenjia Village.

Chen Lian stood on the stone-paved road, a look of bewilderment flashing across her face.

This is the stress response of humans as social animals when faced with unfamiliar environments.

For Chen Lian, the respectable pedestrians, the street vendors, and the dazzling array of shops were all sights she had never seen in her eighteen years of life.

Not only Chen Lian, but many villagers who came to the county town for the first time couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, praising the prosperity of the county town.

"Brother Chen."

At this moment, Zhang He said to Chen Da, "What do you need to buy? Do you need my help?"

"no need."

Chen Da thought for a moment and said, "We're just here to buy some grain, salt, cloth, and the like. There's no need to trouble you."

Chen Da had already noticed Zhang He's constable's uniform. Taking a constable with him to go shopping... that was somewhat inappropriate, after all... these days ordinary people were still somewhat afraid of constables.

"All right!"

Zhang He didn't insist, but simply said, "I'm right here at the city gate. If you need any help, you can come find me anytime."

After saying this, Zhang He returned to the city gate, leaving the place to the people of Chenjia Village.

After Zhang He left, Chen Da looked at everyone and said, "Going east from here will lead to the East Market, and going west will lead to the West Market. In either the East Market or the West Market, you can buy grain, cloth, and salt. Everyone, go your separate ways to buy things and return here to gather before Shenshi (3-5 PM)."

As soon as Chen finished speaking, the villagers immediately sprang into action. Those who had never been to the city before followed those who had, heading to the East and West Markets to purchase supplies.

Chen Lian followed Wu Yun and the other women to a fabric shop in the East Market.

When the shop assistant saw a group of women enter, he hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Esteemed guests, please come in."

As he gestured for Chen Lian and the others to enter the shop, the shop assistant began to introduce the fabrics in the shop to everyone: "The fabrics in our shop are all top-quality fabrics, and the prices are reasonable. We treat everyone fairly, young and old."

As he spoke, the shopkeeper pointed to a piece of linen and said, "This is the cheapest linen in our shop; a bolt costs only one tael of silver."

The shop assistant was clearly perceptive; he knew that Chen Lian and her group wouldn't be buying high-end fabrics like silk, so he only introduced linen.

In fact, Wu Yun, Chen Lian and the others had always been looking at linen. Unlike Chen Dao, they would not be extravagant enough to buy cotton fabric. Linen was sufficient for them.

"One coin per bolt?"

Wu Yun said, "Isn't it a bit too expensive?"

"This is already very cheap!"

The shop assistant quickly replied, "One bolt of linen can make at least ten garments, enough for each member of the family to have two new outfits."

"No, no, no."

Wu Yun still shook her head: "Too expensive! I think eighty coins a bolt is more reasonable."

"Eighty coins is too little. Our shop will lose money. It should be at least 95 coins."

“We’re buying quite a lot, eighty coins a bolt. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll check out another shop.”

"How many do you want to buy?"

"There are 20 of us in total, so we need to buy at least 20 bolts of linen."

20 horses?

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up, and he said, "If you buy 20 horses, I can charge you 90 coins per horse."

"80 coins, we don't want any more."

"Uh……"

After some haggling, the price of a bolt of cloth was finally settled at 80 coins.

When it came time to pay, the shopkeeper and his assistant looked a little pained, but they were secretly overjoyed.

At a price of 80 wen per bolt, the cloth shop could still make a profit, even if the profit was small, because the quantity was large and the earnings were small.