Chapter 98 - Dividends (1/2)
After paying for a month’s worth of tuition for Little Shitou and an additional three taels to buy the donkey cart, Xiaocao had about four taels left in her purse. She decided to take advantage of being in town to buy whatever else her family needed.
The father and daughter pair deposited the donkey cart at the entrance of the ox and horse market and paid the attendant five copper coins. Xiaocao had especially given the old man her water pouch and repeatedly instructed him to give the donkey a bowl of the special water every hour.
The two of them then went to the town’s largest food market. At the market, the selection of vegetables and produce was as pathetic as before. The vast majority of vegetables on sale were cabbages, radishes, and sweet potatoes. It was obvious that all of them had clearly been stored in people’s cellars for a long time. There also weren’t a lot of people selling meat or chickens.
Xiaocao first went to the general store to buy some spices, soy sauce, and vinegar. This time, she had a decent amount of money on hand, so she could weigh each seasoning separately. She bought two ounces of each spice she needed, which would last her for about ten days.
In addition, she also brought along seven to eight bamboo tubes of differing sizes which had all been made by her father. As soon as she entered the stall, she gave the shopkeeper the new containers to replace the ones she had borrowed from him last time. She then asked the shopkeeper to put a catty of soy sauce into each of the remaining large tubes
The shopkeeper had only remembered that she was the little girl who had bought seasonings previously when she returned the bamboo tubes to him. He smiled, “Little girl, did you finish using the spices so quickly? Your family must sell food to other people, right?”
“That’s right! How did you know?” Xiaocao gave him the weights of the condiments that she wanted and smiled sweetly at this honest and kind shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper grinned, “Other than selling food, what normal, average family would be willing to spend so much money to season their food? Oh ho! You’re buying more spices than last time, looks like you made some money! Congratulations ah!”
Xiaocao flashed a grin at him and said, “I sold some appetizers at the docks and managed to make a little money. I’m not sure when I’ll have enough money to be like you, Uncle Shopkeeper, and open up a store in town.”
The shopkeeper guffawed and said, “This older uncle is also only making a little money, just enough to survive that is. Don’t think that it’s all sunshine and rainbows opening up a place. When you add up the rent and money spent on goods and other things, there’s really not much leftover, right? Don’t look down at selling food. In fact, as long as you make good salted and pickled vegetables, you can still make a good amount of money. Do you see that pickled vegetable store over there? They’ve been flaming popular these past two days. In fact, my wife really loves that stall’s sweet and crispy dried radishes and spicy pickled cabbage. If she doesn’t have any with every meal, she won’t be able to finish her food…”
“The town is truly a good place to earn money, even salted and pickled vegetables can sell out so quickly!” Yu Hai exclaimed in wonder as he left the general store.
Xiaocao smiled knowingly and said, “Father, when we make enough money one day, we can also rent a stall here in town. The store would only sell different types of braised dishes. As the only stall in town to sell braised food, we can definitely make money that way…”
Yu Hai happily replied, “When our family has more money, we should buy some more farmland. We only have three plots of dry, sandy land. The yield from the land is not enough to feed our whole family.”
“Once we open up a stall in town and make some money, we can buy more farmland then! Father, most of the land in our village is dry and sandy. If we want to buy land, we should buy plots that are closer to town. At that time, we can even move our entire family to town. That way we can avoid Eldest Aunt coming over to bother us all the time…” Xiaocao really despised Madam Li’s bad habits and small tricks. The woman also had a gossipy tongue that never stopped, and she never had anything good to say of others.
Yu Hai frowned and quietly reprimanded her, “How could say something like that about your eldest aunt. Be careful to not let anyone else hear you, they’ll start saying that you’re a bad child.”
Xiaocao sneered slightly and grumbled inwardly, ‘Isn’t Eldest Aunt the most shameless one around here? She’s completely a troublemaker!’
Suddenly, they heard a familiar sounding voice calling out to them, “Brother Dahai, Xiaocao! You guys are also in town now? Looks like you’ve bought a lot of things ah!”
Xiaocao twisted her head around to look and saw that their neighbor, Madam Fang, was waving her hand at them. The basket in front of her had a couple plump and fat hens in it, and the basket next to it was empty.
“Auntie Zhou, did you come to the market again to sell chicken eggs? Business is doing okay?’ Xiaocao scampered a couple steps forward and stopped by Madam Fang’s side. She smiled sweetly at the woman as she asked.
Madam Fang helped her brush away a few stray hairs from her cheek and smiled, “It’s not bad! The chicken eggs all sold out and there are only a few chickens left. Did you guys hitch a ride on Old Zhang’s ox cart to get here? How was the academy? Was Little Shitou able to enter without any problems?”
“With Brother Qian Wen guiding us, it went pretty smoothly. We don’t have enough seasonings at home, so we went to the food market to look around. Auntie Zhou, please continue with what you need to do, but will you be going back to the village on the cart too? We bought a donkey cart today!” Xiaocao was very happy and excited that they were able to buy a cheap donkey cart. She couldn’t help but tell Madam Fang the good news as soon as she could.
Madam Fang replied with an astonished look at her face, “Wow, Xiaocao! You only worked for a few days and you managed to buy a cart? Then when we go back, Auntie Zhou will have to take advantage of you…”
Yu Hai, who was standing at the side, hastily interjected, “Madam Fang, don’t listen to her! When we were at the ox and horse market, we saw a classmate of Shitou’s who desperately needed money and was selling a sick donkey. Xiaocao thought the animal looked pitiful, so she spent three taels to buy the animal and the cart. That donkey looks pretty ill in my opinion. I don’t know if it’s savable or not!”
After finding out they had spent three taels to buy a half-dead donkey, Madam Fang wasn’t sure what she should say. Instead, she smiled and commented, “Our Xiaocao has an especially kind heart! Good things come to good people. That donkey definitely will get better…”
Right at this time, a person came up to ask Madam Fang how much she was selling her hens for. Xiaocao hurriedly said, “Auntie Zhou, do what you need to do! In the afternoon, we’ll go back home together, ok!”
After saying their goodbyes to Madam Fang, the father and daughter pair walked off. Before they had gone a few steps, they were stopped by someone. Jiang Yu, the young lad who ran the pickled vegetable store, came out of his stall with a large smile on his face and greeted them, “Benefactor, benefactor, please wait for a second!”