Chapter 22 Yun Zhen's Deal
Yun Zheng took the cured meat to pick his teeth at Dou Sha Guan, and bought two clean second-hand clothes and a pair of shoes for the cured meat. The cured meat refused to put on the shoes because the ground was muddy, fearing that it would get dirty. Barefoot and hugging the shoes, he followed Yun Zheng's back to stroll around the street.
Lai Ba and his friends wanted hemp cloth, needles, thread, and even a small flower for their hair. Before long, Yun Zheng's body was covered with all sorts of things. The New Year's festival was approaching, and the mountain people also needed to exchange some good things for themselves, such as a jar of fine wine.
The ox cart was loaded with goods, and Yun Zheng only drove the ox cart out of the Dou Sha Pass. Today's gift for the old soldier guarding the city gate is a small jar of rice wine, which can't warm up the body, but can only deceive the mouth.
The cured meat sat on the ox cart, secretly gazing at the young man driving the cart ahead. He smiled very nicely, always starting from his eyes and then the smile would spread like ripples, finally revealing eight white teeth. His teeth were very white, he was clean to an excessive degree, and his skin wasn't as dark and coarse as others, which made the cured meat feel very self-conscious, quietly pulling her muddy feet under her skirt.
"Salted meat, from now on you're one of our family members. Don't worry, no one will bully you. Your job is to take good care of my little brother, he's only three years old and will turn four after the new year. He's very obedient, just make sure he doesn't get sick or catch a cold, and don't let him run around everywhere."
Yun Zheng had a bit of wine today, his head is spinning, this delicate body is not used to alcohol yet. All the way home, he chatted with Cured Meat about trivial matters, from now on, there will be one more person at home.
"Yes, young master, I will take good care of little master with all my heart."
"Haha, I've also become a young master. A young master who's poor and has a leaky house is quite rare. Call me Yundage. From now on, we'll live together, whether rich or poor. As long as I have food to eat, you won't go hungry."
Cured meat couldn't understand what Yun Zheng was saying, only knowing that he had a great time today, and in all his years, he had never had such a good time. Someone even helped him buy clothes and shoes, and at the wine house, he could even gnaw on meat bones, so delicious!
"Oh, cured meat, how did you manage to crunch through the big bones and eat the marrow inside? I tried twice but couldn't bite through, my teeth are still aching now, I have to compliment you on your good dental work."
Yun Zheng's joke made Jia Rou's little face turn bright red, and she tried hard to lower her head to her chest, not daring to look up at the road outside.
The big green stone arrived, and Yun Zheng whistled loudly. Before long, a group of people emerged from the grass thicket. Lian Rou looked at these savage-looking men in fur clothes with terror, as they unloaded things from the ox cart. She tightly hugged a piece of hemp cloth, not letting the scar-faced bandit take it away. These things were bought by the young master for a lot of money, more valuable than her own life.
"Salted meat, these things originally belonged to Lai Ge and his brothers. They are good people, not robbers. Listen, let go of your hands and give the hemp cloth to Lai Ge. They also want to make new clothes for their daughter. This small roll of hemp cloth is ours."
Lai Ba smiled and couldn't straighten his waist, pointing at the cured meat to Yun Zheng and saying: "Yun, is this your little daughter-in-law? Not bad, she knows how to take care of the family. When looking for a wife, one should look for someone practical, a pretty face is useless."
"Take your things, don't talk nonsense. This time, remember to hunt a wild deer, preferably one with antlers on its head. The Liang family wants a big deer as a New Year's gift, this thing is auspicious and the price is good, at least four taels of silver. With this money, I can buy some iron tools for you, using wooden sticks to farm is sinful."
Yun Zheng has already figured out the thoughts of the people in the city over the past few days. The steward of the Liang family has asked three times, if he finds the large deer, Yun Zheng is confident that he can exchange some iron tools with the mountain people, those things are too expensive.
Lai Ba threw a bunch of pheasants onto the cow cart, Yun Zheng's eyes widened as he looked at the dirty pheasants and said to Lai Ba: "Do you know that pheasant meat is not valuable, but the long feathers on top are precious goods, worth more than eight times the value of pheasants. From now on, if we catch any golden pheasants, be sure not to damage their feathers."
Lai Ba scratched his head, he couldn't understand why people in the city would want those useless chicken feathers, didn't like meat, and couldn't understand it either. Anyway, Yun Da wouldn't cheat everyone, these days, many good things from the mountain were sold by Yun Da, no one was deceived, since he wanted feathers, next time I'll pay attention to it.
"Cloud is big, there's a leopard skin at home that's considered good stuff, I brought it to you. Tomorrow, bring me back two sickles from the market, my wife wants a kitchen knife, and also bring some nice silk threads and embroidery patterns for my daughter, who knows who she's embroidering them for?"
"No problem, Uncle Hu, do you want anything else? This leopard skin is precious, and this piece of skin has no arrow holes, it's a good piece of skin. I'll give you another 100 coins, that's more suitable."
The old villager waved his hand, indicating that it was settled, and then carried his things back into the bushes. Lard meat stared blankly at Yun Zheng, who kept writing in a small notebook. The goods on their own ox cart disappeared one by one, but many birds and beasts appeared on the cart, including some embroidered chicken eggs.
The ox cart walked to the market at the foot of the mountain, the early market had already dispersed, but under the thatched hut there were still a few people dressed in bright clothes drinking ginger tea, as if waiting for something. Seeing Yunzhong's ox cart swaying over, they suddenly burst out laughing.
"Mr. Liang, I have something good to show you today. Take a look at this, it's the skin of a golden leopard. There isn't a single arrow hole on the skin. This is a rare treasure shot by an old hunter with one arrow through the leopard's eye."
Yun Zhen hated the rules here, even buying something required looking at status. Generally, it was this mysterious Liang Guan Jia who looked first, and if he didn't like it, then others would have a turn. There was no chance for Yun Zhen to set the price.
"It's alright, old master's old legs will act up at this time, wrapping them in leopard skin will warm them up a bit. You're just a young kid, don't be careless with six taels of silver, be careful." After saying that, he tossed over a money bag, as copper coins were scarce in Shu, and small pieces of silver were used more often, especially for large transactions like this one, Yun Zheng also didn't want to carry tens of kilograms of heavy copper coins around.
It was said to be six taels of silver, but the most valuable silver in the bag was only worth five taels. Yun Zheng intuitively put the money bag into his bosom without asking where the remaining one tael went, thanked Liang Guan's family and promised to bring the head deer next time.
"I like dealing with smart kids like you, it's reassuring. The deer will be sent directly to your mansion, you won't lose out." Liang the steward smiled in satisfaction as he carefully folded the leopard skin and held it in his arms before getting into the carriage.
After Yun Zheng finished the transaction, Liu Dutou suddenly appeared out of nowhere like a ghost and together with Yun Zheng drove the cattle cart to a secluded place. The two sat on the cart counting money together.
