ALL NOVEL Went to the County Town (02)
After buying meat, Jing Chen led Xue Yu to the grocery shop. They spent 120 wen to buy twenty catties of brown rice and 32 wen for four catties of flour. They also spent 160 wen for two sheng of cooking oil. In this era, cooking oil was sold inside a bamboo tube, and one bamboo tube contained a quarter sheng of oil.
They also spent a lot of money buying spices. Jing Chen wanted half a catty of each available spice. There was star anise, fennel, cloves, cinnamon, chili pepper, ginger, cumin, onion, garlic, sesame, and coriander. Unfortunately, there was no sichuan pepper. It seemed like in this era people hadn’t used sichuan pepper as spice yet.
In addition to that, Jing Chen bought a catty of salt and brown sugar, one bamboo tube of vinegar, and a jar of rice wine. Jing Chen also bought several dried fruits such as red
dates, goji berries, longans, and mandarin oranges. He added lotus seeds and peanuts as well. Combined with the previous things that they bought, they spent one tael and 112 wen. Xue Yu almost got a fright. He knew salt, sugar, and spices were pricey; however, he didn’t know that dried fruits could be so expensive.
Their next stop was stationery. Jing Chen wanted to buy ink, brush, and papers. He didn’t want to continue his study with Master Liu yet, but he clearly needed to brush up his calligraphy skill. Although he was familiar with the traditional chinese characters since he had the original owner’s memories, writing it was a completely different matter. He wasn’t good at calligraphy when he was at school because using a brush was tricky. When he graduated and started working, he could almost guarantee he rarely used a pen. There was a computer, laptop, or smartphone, so he used keyboards to write. The technology was so advanced in his previous life. It had been years since Jing Chen wrote manually; his handwriting had to be very bad.
Jing Chen paid 260 wen for two stacks of the cheapest paper. Each stack contained thirty sheets of paper. The papers had rough texture and had a yellowish colour. He also bought inkstone and two low quality brushes for a total of 80 wen. Jing Chen wanted to buy a book which displayed in one of the bookshelves, but it cost 450 wen! Jing Chen couldn’t believe it because the book was so thin. It didn’t look like a learning material either!
After leaving the stationery with a heavy heart, Jing Chen took Xue Yu to the furnishing shop. In this era, all household equipment could be found in furnishing shops, so there was no appliance shop. Jing Chen wanted to buy new bamboo trays and steaming baskets, since theirs at home was old and in poor condition. Surprisingly, it was quite expensive. This time, Xue Yu insisted that he not buy it.
Xue Yu pulled Jing Chen’s left sleeve and whispered, “Chen-ge, uncle Liang in the village also can make these things. It’s cheaper, and it has good quality.”
“I heard he is very fierce, and we’re not close to him either. Will he be willing to make these for us?” Jing Chen whispered back.
“He will, if we give him a fair price!”
“How much is a fair price? A tray cost 20 wen and a large steamer basket cost 37 wen in here. If the price gap is small, I think it’s better to buy them now. It saves us time.”
Xue Yu didn’t give up. He said, “There are a lot of bamboo near the river. I’ll cut it and give it to uncle Liang as materials. It must be cheaper since we only have to pay for his skill.”
Jing Chen looked at Xue Yu’s stubborn eyes. He felt like he couldn’t get off the hook this time. Xue Yu had to be frustrated with how easy he spent money.
“Okay, okay. This husband will listen to you,” Jing Chen said. Xue Yu’s eyes gradually soften. Jing Chen continued, “But we still need to buy a mortar and pestle. Which one is better, the wooden ones or the stone ones? You choose.”
Xue Yu’s soft eyes turned hard once again.
Their last stop was a clothing shop.
Since they didn’t have many clothes, Jing Chen insisted on buying some. He felt bad for the shirts full of patches that their family wore. Knowing that Xue Yu was very good at sewing clothes, Jing Chen decided to just buy the fabrics.
Xue Yu wanted to buy the hemp fabrics that farmers usually wore. However, Jing Chen disagreed. Jing Chen wanted to buy cotton fabrics, which were warmer and softer than hemp. He felt it was a better option for the kids too. But, Xue Yu felt it was too extravagant. They argued in low voices.
“How can this be extravagant? Their price is almost similar. Hemp fabric cost 5 or 6 wen a chi, while cotton cost 8 wen. Hemp fabric is too rough on skin; it’s not very comfortable,” said Jing Chen.
“But many villagers wear hemp clothes, we will attract attention if we wear cotton clothes. People will be suspicious of where our money comes from.. Chen-ge, it’s not good to cause rumours.”
Jing Chen sighed, “Then let’s buy both fabrics. Buy enough fabrics to make two sets of cotton clothes, and two sets of hemp clothes for each of us. Also, buy extra cotton fabrics to make inner clothing. We can wear cotton clothes at home and hemp clothes outside.”
Xue Yu still felt reluctant but he nodded in the end. He also asked Jing Chen to buy a sewing kit since they didn’t have any at home.
“Do you want to buy this embroidery kit too?” Jing Chen casually asked Xue Yu. He noticed Xue Yu had looked at it with longing.
“Can I buy it?” Xue Yu’s eyes lit up, “I, I’ll pay you back, Chen-ge. I want to embroider purses and sell them. When I get the money, I’ll give it to you.”
Jing Chen raised his left eyebrow, “Why is Xiao Yu talking like this, ah? Can your husband not afford it so you have to pay it back?”
Xue Yu blushed, “It’s not like that.., I just think.. I don’t know.. If Chen-ge wants to buy it for me, then I’ll gladly accept.”
“Thank you,” Xue Yu added.
Jing Chen touched Xue Yu’s forehead softly, “No need to thank your husband. What’s mine is yours, afterall.”
The shopkeeper cleared his throat. He felt embarrassed by the affection shown by the couple in front of him. This was in public!
Xue Yu felt so embarrassed; how could Jing Chen say those things casually? Xue Yu deliberately moved away from Jing Chen. He pretended to look at the beddings and bed sheets which were placed at the back of the shop.
“How much is the bedding?”
Jing Chen asked the shopkeeper. He also wanted to buy new beddings since the beddings at home had musty smells.
“This one cost 200 wen, the thicker one cost 260 wen. We also have thinner bedding in a good quality which costs only 180 wen.”
Xue Yu quickly whispered to Jing Chen, “Will we buy the beddings too?” Jing Chen nodded, “Yes, the beddings at home smell musty. It’s better to change it.”
When Jing Chen saw Xue Yu wanted to refute what he said, he told him to pick the embroidery threads. Jing Chen also asked the shopkeeper to show as many colours of embroidery threads as possible to Xue Yu. Xue Yu could pick as many as he wanted.
Feeling relieved that Xue Yu was distracted by embroidery threads, Jing Chen picked two thicker beddings and several bed sheets. In addition to that, Jing Chen bought two thick blankets. Winter would come around in three months, so it was better to prepare.
In the end, they spent 2 taels and 215 wen at the clothing shop. Xue Yu scolded himself in his head for being a prodigal. On the other hand, Jing Chen, who felt they spent their money wisely, happily asked Xue Yu if he wanted to try wonton noodles across the street.
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Notes:
- Ancient people is really shy.
- 1 sheng = 1 litre, a quarter of sheng = 250 ml
- 1 chi = 33.3 cm or 1/3 m; so 3 chi = 1 m
For you who are curious about the price, here's the additional information:
- The price of 1kg of flour 16 wen, a catty 8 wen. The price of brown rice 1kg is 12 wen, a catty 6 wen. The price of white rice 1 kg is 30 wen, a catty is 15 wen. The price of oil is 80 wen per litre/sheng. One bamboo tube of oil = 20 wen
- Cotton price: 24 wen a yard for normal quality, in white colour. 36 wen a yard in green, blue, and brown colour. 48 wen in red colour.
- Hemp price: 15 wen a yard; Best quality hemp: 18 wen. Hemp fabric only has brown colour.
Pics from left to right:
[1] Spice shops, Mortar & pestle, Steaming baskets, Bamboo trays
[2] Hemp clothes, Cotton clothes
