You Jin sisters had brought a lot of things this time. Still, the weight was much lighter than the day before. The sisters went out early. When they arrived at Luohezhou market, they could easily find an empty stall. The fresh water celery was placed on top of the dry straw, while a basket of locust flowers was placed by its side. The two sisters worked swiftly. Not long later, the stall was set up and they began to sell.
Nowadays, most of the vegetables on the street were Chinese cabbage that were stocked up last year. Few sold wild vegetables. After a while, most of the locust flowers had already been sold. You Jin sisters didn't have a steel scale. The locust flowers were sold in lotus leaves as the packaging and tied with straw ropes. One bag was sold for five wen; which wasn't expensive. Due to this, it was sold quickly.
"Little girl, this is a bamboo rat?" A fair chubby man who was well dressed and followed by a young man merrily asked, "It's the first time I see bamboo rats being sold in Luohe Prefecture!"
"This master has good eyesight. My father caught these bamboo rat in the mountain yesterday. It is alive and kicking. Would you like one?" You Jin uttered lies without blinking more and more smoothly. "Bamboo rats aren't easy to catch. If you sincerely want it, how about two of them for four silver?"
The fair chubby man had yet to say anything when nearby You Zhu gasped. Eldest Sister dared to call such a high price for two bamboo rats!
"Little girl, you dare to call out at a young age. Not afraid of the wind getting big and flashes the tongue?" The fair chubby man was very interested in these two bamboo rats. You Jin's high price didn't frighten him. Instead, he directly pulled the paw of one of them. It made the bamboo rat 'cluck' fiercely at him and arouse a chuckle out of him.
You Jin's stall was set up for a while. Even a few spring bamboo shoots were sold. But no one asked about the bamboo rat. This fair chubby man was the first customer to ask. She must seize this opportunity and sell off these two things: "This master, 'Compendium of Materia Medica' has records that bamboo rat is sweet, nourishes the middle and replenishes qi, and detoxifies. This is not the same as the pork and beef you eat on normal occasion. It's good stuff!"
Seeing that she even mentioned 'Compendium of Materia Medica', the fair chubby man found it a little interesting: "I couldn't tell little girl know more than you're letting on! Just base on those words alone, I'll take these two bamboo rats. In addition, I take all the things in your stall. Pack them up for me."
This was big business! You Jin was so overjoyed that her teeth overshadowed her eyes: "Oh! Right away! I still have three bundles of water celery, six spring bamboo shoots, and half a basket of locust flowers. Plus two bamboo rats, I will charge you five silver coin. What do you think? ?"
The man was rich and powerful. He took out one silver liang from his purse and threw it into You Jin's hands. You Jin was put on the spot: "Master, we're a small business. Your money is too big. Do you have any loose silver?"
It wasn't that she didn't want it. She came out to sell. How could she take so much loose change with her?
The fair chubby man also found it a problem, "This is the loosest change I have. How about this, you bring two bamboo rats and some wild vegetables tomorrow to Yunweixuan in East sidehi. And treat this as advance payment from me?"
After saying that, he motioned to the guy behind him to carry all the things that You Jin had sold. He wasn't afraid of You Jin would embezzle his money.
You Jin pondered before responding, "Master, these bamboo rats aren't something we can get just because we want. So I will give you more wild vegetables, locust flower, bamboo shoots tomorrow. Once the bamboo rat are caught, I will send it to you. What do you think?" This was a long-term business. You Jin had to keep a close eye on this big customer!
The fair chubby man didn't care about the half a silver liang and casually waved his hand: "Sure. If you catch more bamboo rats, I'll pay it market price when you bring it here. If you have any other fresh food, send it over. I'll take it. "After that, he didn't say much. He flung his big sleeves to look elsewhere.
You Zhu watched Eldest Sister put the silver liang into her arms. She still couldn't believe it: "Eldest Sister, the two bamboo rats you caught yesterday are so valuable! One silver liang!"
You Jin roll and put away the straw on the ground. Afterward, she put on the back-basket and patted You Zhu's head: "What are you thinking about? We still need to give them something for half a silver liang! Hurry up and put on your back-basket. If not, what do we send to the customer tomorrow?"
After hearing what Eldest Sister's words, You Zhu came back to her senses. She hurriedly carried her backpack and followed behind You Jin. The two sisters left the city to hurry home.
***
While You Jin and You Zhu went to the city to make money, You Yin and others didn't stay idle at home. The two eldest first washed the large family's clothes. Then they took You Ling and You Luo to the riverside ridge to look for traces of wild vegetables. Because Eldest Sister's explanation of how that they can eat it even if they can't sell it. The few children knew every thing in the family needs money nowadays. They were all very sensible and saved every penny they could.
When You Jin sisters got home, You Yin and others had picked a large basket of water celery and half a basket of bracken back. Hearing that the vegetables picked yesterday were all sold out, the sisters were overjoyed. After lunch, they skipped the nap and went to work on their own in groups of two and three.
It went without saying You Jin intended to go to the mountain to find bamboo rats. Bamboo rats were the best at digging holes. So You Jin came up with the idea of smoking it out. These bamboo rats weren't the same as rabbits. It will come out naturally as soon as it was smoked. You Zhu had tasted the sweetness of the bamboo rat and hollered to go with You Jin. You Jin thought about it; it was a lot of work for one person. So she brought the only one who wasn't afraid, You Zhu, with her to help.
You Jin's back-basket was carrying a basket of dried straws today, while You Zhu's back-basket had a large sack. It will be used to smoke bamboo rats later.
The two sisters reached the mountain and circled around a few times before You Jin roughly determined which holes were connected. Once one of the holes were chosen, You Jin got You Zhu to hold the sack tightly around the hole: "I will smoke on the other end in a while. The bamboo rat will definitely come. You have to hold on to the sack!"
You Zhu was a little nervous. She pursed her lips and nodded: "En, I know. Eldest Sister, quickly go!"
You Jin picked up a lot of wet bamboo leaves, stuffed them with dry straw into the other two holes, and took out the fire sticks and lit them one by one. After a while, thick white smoke curled up. Before You Jin returned to the hole where You Zhu was guarding, You Zhu felt the sack in her hand stretch. Then the sound of squeaks kept coming from the sack. You Zhu was afraid that the bamboo rats would run away. Despite her fear, she tightly held the mouth of the bag: "Eldest Sister, caught it!"
You Jin ran over in a few steps. The sisters hurriedly closed the mouth of the bag and then tied the sack tightly with sturdy rattan. Only then, You Jin picked up the bag with an unknown number of bamboo rats. The sack felt heavy. Her eyes curved and said, "There are at least four or five bamboo rats!"
"This much!" You Zhu's mouth opened wide: "Then it can be exchanged for a lot of money!"
She looked like a little money-lover in the eyes of You Jin. Amused, You Jin nodded: "Yeah! It can be exchanged for a lot of silver!"
After catching the bamboo rats, You Jin asked You Zhu to guard the heavy sack while she wandered around the mountains to shave bamboo shoots. This time, You Jin honestly cut out two baskets of plump spring bamboo shoots. You Zhu was stunned: "Eldest Sister, you are planning to wipe out all the bamboo shoots on the mountain!"
"Now is a good time to eat bamboo shoots. Let's give it to Yunweixuan. The leftover can be taken to sold in the West Market, right?" You Jin gave her a surprised glance: "What? You Zhu, you dislike money so much now?" You Zhu shook her head again and again; how could she dislike having more money? As soon it can sell for money, she had the urge to get You Jin to dig more!
After the sisters brought the two large baskets of bamboo shoots and the bamboo rat home, it was still pretty early. They ran up the mountain again and dug up two more baskets of bamboo shoots before calling it a day.
Looking at the neatly arranged bamboo shoots under the kitchen porch, Mrs. Su laughed a little: "You guys are going to bring back all the bamboo shoots on the mountain!"
But she also knew that the two daughters were doing it for the family's good. Swiftly, she cleaned up five or six small and not-so-pretty bamboo shoots to prepare for tonight's dinner. It had been almost a month since Mrs. Su gave birth. Even two-year-old You Chou went out to pick wild vegetables. The sisters agreed to let Mrs. Su start doing some light housework after much persuasion.
Mrs. Su's health had been getting worse and worse in the past two years. On top of that, she had been pregnant and giving birth to children continuously. That's why, she was bedridden for at least ten months throughout the year. Still, her cooking skills were indeed beyond You Jin and her sisters. It was the same dish, but the food made by Mrs. Su tasted much better than the food made by the sisters. Today, five bamboo rats were caught. The smallest one weighed nearly two jins. You Jin slaughtered one and made a pot of stewed bamboo shoots and bamboo rats for Mrs. Su. All the sisters ate until their mouths were covered with oil. Quite unsatisfied.
"It turns out that bamboo rat meat is this delicious. It's even better than pork!" You Bao remarked with a grin as she clipped a piece of meat for You Luo, who was too focused on eating.
You Zhu nodded: "No wonder that person is willing to spend so much money to buy bamboo rats today. It's really delicious!" While saying that it was delicious, she clipped a piece of bamboo shoots to eat. There weren't many bamboo rat meat. Su Family's children were sensible; they didn't snatch. After all, it was already pretty good to be able to eat meaty dishes, wasn't it?
After dinner, You Jin gave the two little ones a bath. Then the older ones took turns taking a wash before going to rest. Recently, the children had been running around outside and got all sweaty. Plus, under the influence of You Jin, Su Family's children love to be cleaner than the children of ordinary village families. They really can't sleep without taking a bath.
In the daytime, everyone was working outside. Now they were lying on the kang comfortably after taking a bath. After a while, Su Family's yard was tranquil. The genial mountain breeze warmly blew by. The crickets in front and back chirped. Everything was peaceful and quiet. The few children fell into sweet dreams.