The ox cart stopped outside the city, and everyone came down one after another. Xiao Jingting and Xu Muan rented a stall at the market in the city.
People came and went to the market, but Xiao Jingting and Xu Muan were a little shy, so Xiao Xiaofan thought it was time for him to show his skills and shouted at the top of his voice, “Selling grapes, selling grapes!”
Xiao Xiaofan was so helpful that the thin-skinned Xiao Jingting immediately treated Xiao Xiaofan differently.
Seeing Xiao Jingting’s appreciation of Xiao Xiaofan, Xiao Xiaodong was envious and anxious, but he couldn’t shout out like Xiao Xiaofan. He was angry in his heart, but his face was stiff and to Xiao Jingting he looked funny.
Xiao Xiaofan looked lovely, so several women came to ask about the price. When they heard that it cost 250 coppers coins, they were immediately scared away.
Xiao Jingting was not annoyed, and cut open a few grapes, inviting people to taste them, finally initiating sales.
However, the impression that the grapes were not delicious was deeply rooted in people’s minds. The price was also expensive, so in one morning Xiao Jingting only sold 30 strings. He was unwilling to reduce the price and the people who were willing to accept this price, wouldn’t hung out in this low-class market, so the situation was somewhat in a stalemate.
Looking at the depressed Xiao Jingting, Xu Muan said, “I have a suggestion.”
Xiao Jingting nodded his head and said, “Just say it.”
“I have some friendship with Zhou Ji, the owner of Yuehe Restaurant. When he opens the restaurant, he needs to prepare a lot of spiritual fruits every day, so we can sell the grapes to him. He should be able to buy a lot. However, I’m afraid the price needs to be lowered,” Xu Muan said carefully.
In the past, Xiao Jingting was headstrong and never listened to Xu Muan and would often scold Xu Muan for meddling in his business and sometimes even beat him. Over time, Xu Muan seldom expressed his opinion.
Xiao Jingting nodded and his eyes lit up as he said lightly, “If he can buy most of the grapes, then the price can be lowered.” The grapes would go bad after they were kept for too long and a lot would be left unsold if they continued like this.
Hearing Xiao Jingting agree with his suggestion, Xu Muan couldn’t help but feel somewhat happy.
Xiao Jingting cleaned up for a while, and Xu Muan found the owner of the restaurant and sold 300 clusters of grapes to the owner of Yuehe Restaurant Zhou Ji for 200 copper coins per cluster. With the money from more than 30 clusters of grapes sold before, Xiao Jingting had more than sixty silver on his hands.
“Hurry up and redeem those mu of high-grade land!” Xu Muan urged.
Xiao Jingting smiled awkwardly and said, “When I went out, one mu of high-grade land was 22 silver. To redeem it, I would need 26. The money I have now can only redeem two mu.”
Xu Muan thought about it and said, “Why don’t you redeem those mu of medium-grade farmland first?” Although high-grade land was good, they didn’t have enough spiritual power to make full use of this resource. With Xiao Jingting’s current strength it would be already difficult to deal with the middle-grade fields.
Xiao Jingting nodded and agreed, “OK!”
The total amount of middle-grade land was six mu. Ten silver per one mu of field plus three percent of interest would take a total of 78 silver to redeem it.
Xiao Jingting took the title deed and shook his head in low spirits. He lost all the money he had just earned and still needed to add some.
Xu Muan’s family had also cultivated land before he married Xiao Jingting, so he had a special affection for the land. Seeing Xiao Jingting redeem the land he immediately felt reassured.
Looking at Xiao Jingting’s ugly expression, Xu Muan comforted him saying, “Outside, one mu of medium-grade field will be sold for about eighteen silver. Although some interest has been added, it is still cost-effective. With these fields on your hands, you can rent them out and have some income every year.“
The owner of the pawnshop must have thought that Xiao Jingting wouldn’t come to redeem the land, so he had lowered the price of the land to ten silver. When Xiao Jingting came to redeem the land just now the face of the owner of the pawnshop was as bad as it could be.
Xu Muan slightly raised the corners of his mouth as he thought to himself, The owner of the pawnshop never thought that Xiao Jingting would come to redeem the land deed. He thought Xiao Jingting would never return.
“I know.” Xiao Jingting smiled helplessly, but he was still distressed by spending so much silver. “Come and pick some seeds with me.”
Xu Muan nodded and said cheerfully, “Good! If you want to buy seeds for medium-grade fields you should buy seeds of a better quality.”
Xiao Jingting did not know that shortly after he left the pawnshop, Wang Erhu would walk in the pawnshop.
The owner of the pawnshop was full of dissatisfaction as he said, “You said that Xiao Jingting would not come to redeem the land, but he redeemed all six mu of land. If I had known, I would have given him more money to earn more money from the interest.”
Wang Erhu chuckled and said, “He was still introduced by me in the first place. Shopkeeper, you earned more than ten silver from nothing, so don’t complain. I just don’t know where he got the money. He told me before that he spent it all, ah!”
Thinking about that nobleman’s words, that as soon as Xiao Jingting and his wife and children were living on the street, he would give him 500 silver Wang Erhu could not help feeling anxious. Originally, Xiao Jingting was addicted to gambling, and his bankruptcy was just around the corner, but now, he didn’t gamble or buy whores, and he had changed his ways. It was just too evil.
Edited by: Tetsu
Proofreader: Taalia
Support translation:
Hmm
So someone is doing something bts 🤔