Eldest Sister, Why Haven't You Married Yet Chapter 22

Published at 8th of July 2022 06:41:00 AM

Chapter 22
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Chapter 22. Going to the market (part 2)

The surrounding area's villagers liked to buy a needle, thread, or other small bits and bobs during the market day. So the market day in Liutun Town can be said to be very lively: people selling rouge, playing tricks, and even begging along the street. There were more beggars than ever before.

The first two times that You Jin came to town, she was in a hurry. Didn't get to experience the ancient festival full of life and the smell of fireworks. Today, she was just as indifferent.

With a heavy basket on the back, she knocked on the back door of the kitchen of Umami Room. After a while, the guy who was responsible for guarding the back door came to open the door. Initially, he thought it the daily supply farmer. Unexpectedly, it was a half-grown lad. His face was covered with some unknown stuff like soot from the bottom of the pot or something. He couldn't even see his face. Then he asked, "Did you knock on the door?"

Normally, inns and restaurants would have some people sell things to them from time to time. The young man was used to it. He glanced at the big bamboo basket behind You Jin, which was covered tightly: "What are you carrying?"

You Jin pasted a smile on her face: "Brother, what I'm carrying are the pheasants and hares that my father caught on the mountain. They are still alive and kicking. Want to take a look?"

As soon as he heard that it was pheasants and hares, the young man was interested: "Open it and let me see before we discuss."
Now it was the late autumn season, there were more guests coming to Umami Room to eat game than in summer. There weren't many hunters near Liutun Town. And the mountain goods they can receive every day were limited.

When You Jin heard his response, there was a glimmer of hope. She quickly put down the heavy back basket and then lifted the sackcloth covering it in front of the young man. Seven or eight wild chickens cooing and the huddled gray hares all crowded into the basket entered sight.

With a 'hee", the young man let out a grin: "You'e quite capable, boy! With so many pheasants and hares, you can carry them with your bean-sized body to the town!"

He squatted down and energetically examined these mountain goods. Finding that everything was good-quality, he stood up and said to You Jin: "Wait here. I'll ask the steward in charge of purchasing in our kitchen if we want the mountain goods."

You Jin gratefully thanked him: "I have trouble Brother."
You Jin originally thought it wasn't that simple. Surprisingly, it went smoothly. In fact, it was because the pheasants and hares sent by most hunters were often shot and killed. When they reached Umami Room, the body of the pheasants was hard. It was rare for them to be alive and kicking like the ones sent by You Jin. So it was so smooth.

Not even a quarter of an hour after the guy entered, he came out with a slightly fat middle-aged man: "Steward, it is this kid selling the mountain goods."

The steward had a pair of gleaming eyes, which spun around You Jin a few times. Twisting his goatee beard a few times, he asked, "Where did you get all these mountain goods from, boy? What's the price?"

You Jin imitated the ancients and gave a heartily half-bow: "Responding to the steward's words, my family is a hunter on Cuifeng Mountain. These mountain goods are all caught by my father. Because my old mother is sick, my father sent me to the town to sell the mountain goods. I must exchange some money back for my mother to see a doctor."

Hearing what she said, the steward didn't ask any further questions. He motioned her to lift the sackcloth on the top of the basket and checked it carefully. In the end, he asked for eight pheasants and four hares.

***

You Jin was carrying a basket as light as nothing when compared its heaviness when she came. In her arms, she carried the small purse that Mrs. Su sewed out of linen yesterday. It contained the silver from selling mountain goods. You Jin felt that her heart was burning.

After exiting the alley where the back door of Umami Room was located, she made way to the place where everyone set up the stalls on the market day in the West Market. There were still two small wild chickens left in You Jin back basket. She want to sell these two wild chickens while the West Market was lively.

As expected, entering the streets of the West Market, there were people setting up stalls and selling things everywhere. You Jin finally found a narrow place in the crowded corner and hurriedly put down the basket. Afterward, the dead wild chickens was taken out and displayed on the ground.

Looking at the vendors who were constantly hawking around, You Jin opened her mouth but felt a little embarrassed. As someone with two lives, You Jin had never done any job selling along the street. So she really couldn't open her mouth.

When You Jin was almost ready to open her mouth to sell, a middle-aged woman in half-old fine cotton clothes came over with a basket: "Boy, how do you sell this wild chicken?"

When You Jin saw a customer coming, she quickly returned to her senses. She smilingly replied, "Four dimes each."
This was nearly half the price of a live pheasant. In Liutun Town, good-quality pork and farmhouse-raised chickens and ducks cost more than two dimes per jin. This wild game isn't as easy to obtain as poultry. So the price was often much higher than that of domesticated chickens. If a live pheasant was sold, it can be sold for nearly dimes a jin!

However, the woman frowned and pulled the pheasant that had died. She clapped her hands in disgust: "You brat actually dare to ask for this price. It's just a dead mountain chicken! Dare to ask for five dimes! How about three dimes a piece?"

After hearing this woman's words, You Jin couldn't help but want to laugh. Taking advantage of her cause she look young! She moved the pheasant that she had turned over without a trace and then smilingly said, "Auntie, three dimes is too little. Don't coax me because I'm young."

The woman's face was a little hot when she said this. She tsked: "Don't know how long they have died and you dare to sell them. Aren't you afraid of people getting sick from eating it and reporting to the officials to arrest you!"
Then she twisted her butt and walked away angrily.

You Jin didn't take it seriously. The transaction was unsuccessful, righteous still exist. She didn't expect it to sell so soon. Seeing that the old auntie walked away swearing, she quietly retreated to the corner and continued to guard her two mountain chickens.

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Facts have proved that the price of You Jin's wild chickens wasn't too high. Within half an hour after the woman left, You Jin sold all the pheasants for a price of four dimes. Afterward, she carried an empty back basket and left the West Market humming a tune. On the way back, she spent five cents to buy a large bag of caramel and eight big meat buns, which was three cents each.

After leaving the town and meeting the uncle who drove her over, You Jin happily paid a penny and got on the ox cart. Now, the sun was hanging high in the air. There were many people rushing to the market. The ox cart was filled with five people after a while. The uncle drove the ox cart to the direction of Cuifeng Mountain.

Once they reached official road in the south of Cuifeng Mountain, You Jin got off the ox cart at the place where she got on the cart in the early morning. After waving goodbye to the driver uncle, she went up to Cuifeng Mountain with a bamboo basket on her back.

On the way back, because there was no weight of the mountain goods on her body. You Jin's pace were much faster. She trekked back to the north of Cuifeng Mountain. After seeing the figure of Cuifeng Village, she slowed down and went to gather pigweed again. Only then, she returned home with the heavy load of pigweed.

***

Within half an hour after You Jin arrived home. Old Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Chen also came back from outside. However, their return was a little different from You Jin, who came back with joy at the corners of her brows and eyes. Old Mrs. Chen was displeased. While Mrs. Chen had a drooping face. She trialed behind old Mrs. Chen with a dejected slump.

You Jin, who was cutting pigweed and preparing to feed the pigs in the courtyard, saw that something was wrong between the two of them. She waved to You Zhu, who was picking vegetables at the corridor of the west wing, and whispered, "You Zhu, quietly go to the back of the main room. Listen and see what Grandmother is saying to Eldest Aunt."

In the past, You Zhu would sometimes eavesdrop. But it was all trivial matter. Now that she had decided to leave Yue Family, the more she knew, the more handle she had. She hurriedly released the little spy, You Zhu.

You Zhu's round eyes were shining. She nodded vigorously before quietly going to the backyard. Sitting on the porch picking vegetables, You Yin watched You Zhu's movements. She felt a little uneasy in her heart: "Third Elder Sister, what if she gets found out?"
It's not an exaggeration to say she'll get killed!

You Jin gave her an assuring look: "Little Fifth is very clever. You can rest assured."

You Zhu lived up to You Jin's expectations. Silently, she approached the window at the back of the main room and then crouched under a window that opened a few inches. Just in time to faintly hear Mrs. Chen's defense: " Mother! I have never embezzled the public fund. You must not be angry!"

However, old Mrs. Chen snipped: "Then I wrongly blame you? You thought I could be coaxed since I didn't go to town for a long time? Eggs are sold in town for two cents each. You black-hearted thing  came back and told me it's one cent for one. If it's not you who embezzle my money, who did?"

Mrs. Chen was choked up by her rapid-fire rhetorical question. Then she sobbingly defended herself. It was nothing more than saying that her two sons wanted to study and the family was spending a lot of money.

But it was these words that stung old Mrs. Chen's nerves. Sitting on the kang, she almost jumped up and pointed at her as she scolded: "What kind of your money did Wen Tao brothers spend on studying? Which time it wasn't subsidize by the family fund? Even the 100 liang they wanted to use buy the papers this time were all from the public fund. Have you ever paid a cent?"

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law quarreled fiercely. In the end, Yue Da Fu made the decision: "Enough! What else do you know besides quarreling? Eldest's wife, don't think about it. It's not like we didn't know you have private fund. But embezzling the public fund can't do. According to my opinion, you go and get two silver liang. Treat it as the money embezzled all these years. The rest, I won’t settle with you.”

After listening to Yue Da Fu's words, both Chen jumped up: old Mrs. Chen found it too little. Mrs. Chen found it too much. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law spoke over each other.

In the end, it was Yue Dafu who directly slammed the small wooden table on the kang with his pipe: "Enough! It's settled like this. Eldest's wife, you can go get the money now."

Mrs. Chen pouted her mouth in reluctance. However, she didn't dare not take it out. Unwillingly, she went back to the east wing to get two silver liang and handed it over to old Mrs. Chen. Old Mrs. Chen snatched the silver and then glared at her fiercely: "If I find out again in the future, I'll rip your skin off!"

Mrs. Chen eyed the money she had saved for an unknown amount of time. In a blink of an eye, it entered the hands of her mother-in-law. Her heart filled with unwillingness.

Chapter end