The little ones didn’t have their wishes fulfilled. By the time
they’ve woken up, their mother and older sister were already gone!
The two younger ones blamed that on the older brother Zheng Yuan.
They pouted and blamed him for not waking them up earlier.
While they were complaining at home, Cheng Xiao Xiao and her mother
had already been well on their way and have already reached the closet large
city.
The large city wasn’t all that large. It has around 10,000 households.
After entering the city, there was one main market street. Other than the
shops, many residents from nearby villages had also brought their goods here to
be sold.
Cheng Xiao Xiao looked around curiously as
she followed Mrs. Cheng into the market. She noticed that most of the merchandises
being offered are regular daily supplies, nothing that stood out. She has also
noticed that not all the merchants were men, there were a few women. So the two
of them did not draw too much attention.
They found an empty spot and Mrs. Cheng put
down her load (danzi), then helped Cheng
Xiao Xiao to put her down as well. The two of them simultaneously lifted their
sleeves to wipe the sweat from their foreheads.1
Danzi
Photo Credit: http://90sheji.com
“Mom, do you think we will be able to sell
these rabbits?” Cheng Xiao Xiao was getting a little bit worried. They had
brought with them 20 chickens and 15 rabbits. That was quite a transaction for
a small town like this.
Mrs. Cheng didn’t seem too concerned. She
looked around and gently replied, “I think so!”
Mrs. Cheng was still quite attractive in
her thirties. Standing next to Cheng Xiao Xiao the two of them looked like sisters.
They have attracted a lot of attention from the passersby in a very short time
and they had also noticed that they were offering chickens and rabbits.
Lots of the passerby looked at them, but
none walked up to ask them the price. After all, Cheng Xiao Xiao wasn’t just
any common person. Ideas were slowly starting to form inside her head.
“Hey, these rabbits and chickens kinda
look alike!”
A middle aged man passing by stopped and
looked at the four rabbits and chickens on top of the cage. After examining
them for a while, he asked eagerly, “Miss, how much for your chickens and
rabbits?
“Um…..” Mrs. Cheng wasn’t sure how they
should price their animals so she turned and looked at her daughter.
Cheng Xiao Xiao understood what her mom
meant and nodded slightly in response. She turned to the man who looked like a steward
and gently said, “Sir, our chickens and rabbits were raised with special care.
Their meats are tender and juicy. We are asking for 20 coppers for a chicken,
and 30 coppers for a rabbit. How many would you like?”
In the last few days that she was being
here, Cheng Xiao Xiao had learned the currency of this world. A tael of gold = 10
taels of silver = 10 guan cooper
money = 10,000 wen copper money.
One guan
copper money = 1000 wen copper money.
One tael gold = 3,000 yuan. One tael silver = one guan copper money = 300 yuan, one wen copper money = 0.3 yuan (0.043 USD).
One “guan” copper money (1000 wen)
Photo Credit: weibo
One “wen” copper money
Photo Credit: cqcb.com
One jo
of silver/gold (measured by weight in unit of taels, each bank could mold their
own jo, so the weight varied)
Photo Credit: quaibao.qq.com
So a chicken was roughly 2 yuan (2.88 USD)
and a rabbit roughly 3 (4.32 USD) yuan. That was an impossible price at her previous
world, but for this current one, that was the fair market price.
The man nodded upon hearing their prices, “Not
bad. I trust your words. Why don’t we do this? Our Ning House need these fowls
for a banquet. Your chickens and rabbits look pretty good. I have other errands
to run right now. Why don’t I give you one jo
of silver right now, and you deliver these to the Ning House on 4th
street?”
Upon saying that, he took out a jo of silver from under his sleeve and
handed it over to Mrs. Cheng before he smiled and left.
“Sir, this is too much!” Mrs. Cheng shouted
after him after it registered to her.
The man didn’t even turn around. He raised
his arm and waived at her as he continued to walk away, “It’s fine, it’s fine.
Just keep it!”
***
Translator’s Note:
1. Really? They walked four hours with chickens
and rabbits in these danzi? That’s
quite impressive :D
___
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Thanks for the chapter!
ReplyDeleteThe hell! Two women walk to town alone, the town takes four hours to walk to as well, and they bring a lot of things, won’t there be someone to rob them later!?
ReplyDeletePerfect setting for a robbery. There are bound to be some thugs who spend the day looking for targets in the market, they choose someone with no protection who made lots of money and follow them home.
DeleteI'm so suspicious of that man .I really do hope he is just there to buy poultry.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be much better to just say One copper Coin ->One silver/guan coin->One gold coin instead of money ?
ReplyDeleteI think a 'guan' is a chain of 1000 copper coins, which is worth 1 tael of silver. And 10 taels of silver is worth 1 tael of gold.
Deleteyo creo que llevaban las cestas vacías y luego sacaron los conejos y gallinas cuando llegaban a la ciudad, si ella tiene el espacio de la granja qq no necesita cargarlos durante 4hs
ReplyDeleteThank you
ReplyDeleteMrs. Cheng was the wrong person to bring to the marketplace. Clearly she was not "a woman who knew how to do business".ca
ReplyDeleteThey shouldn't have brought out so many chickens and rabbits at a time.
ReplyDelete