Chapter 63 – Cutting Meat
The fur scraps Yan Xiaosi received were only palm-sized; some were even smaller. Yan Shuyun, who was most skilled in sewing, couldn’t understand why Yan Xiaosi would exchange an entire dog skin for these seemingly useless fur scraps at Xu Family Fur Store.
“Xiaosi, what are you going to do with these fur scraps you exchanged for?” Yan Shuyun asked out of curiosity.
After taking a look at the fur scraps in the bag, Yan Xiaosi tightened the opening of the sack and held it in her arms like a treasure.
“Third sister, do you still have any thread?” Instead of answering Yan Shuyun’s question, she asked if she had any thread left.
Yan Shu Yun nodded, puzzled, “I still have some.”
Yan Xiaosi squinted her eyes with a satisfied smile, “Third sister, let’s use these fur scraps to make jewelry.”
Yan Shuyun had never heard of making jewelry from animal fur before, nor had Ms. Zhong.
While driving the cart, Ms. Zhong spoke to Yan Xiaosi with her back facing her, “Xiaosi, who told you that animal fur can be used to make jewelry?”
In her previous life, Yan Xiaosi had seen many furry jewelry items, such as furry earrings, hairpins, headbands, and so on. Although she didn’t like wearing those furry accessories, their designs were simple enough that a few glances would be sufficient to replicate them. Moreover, now she had the skillful Yan Shuyun to help her. “Mother, no one taught me. I came up with this idea myself. I don’t know if it will work. If it does, we can make some furry jewelry and perhaps make some money from it. Since Third sister is good at sewing, I can draw the designs for her to create.”
Yan Shu Yun loved sewing and immediately became excited at Yan Xiaosi’s suggestion. “Xiaosi, you should draw the designs when you get back. I’ll try to make some, and next time we go to the market, we can sell them.”
Yan Xiaosi knew that Yan Shu Yun was eager to make money at the moment.
“Third sister, don’t worry. Let’s go to the market to buy some oil, salt, rice, meat, and vegetables first, and then we’ll head back.”
After lingering at Xu Family Fur Store for a while, there were fewer people on the street. Many people who came to the market were walking towards the town’s exit with their baskets on their backs, ready to go home.
Ms. Zhong guessed that the vendors at the vegetable market should be lowering their prices by now, so she hurriedly drove the ox cart in that direction.
With the smooth progress of the ox cart, the family soon entered the vegetable market.
It was already afternoon, and the vegetable market was in a mess. There were very few buyers and sellers left, with just a few scattered stalls remaining. The stall owners were listlessly sitting in front of their stalls.
Ms. Zhong stopped the ox cart and Yan Xiaosi quickly jumped off.
Ms. Zhong, Yan Shu Xue, and Yan Shu Qin followed suit, while Yan Shu Yun, who had difficulty moving her legs, stayed on the cart, watching the fur scraps and the ox cart.
“Mother, let’s buy some meat to eat. Big Brother Long Hao is injured, so he needs to eat meat to recover.”
Yan Shuqin chuckled and affectionately ruffled Yan Xiaosi’s hair, “You little rascal, you just want to eat meat yourself and are using Brother Long as an excuse.”
“Big sister, you caught me.”
Yan Xiaosi unashamedly used Long Hao as an excuse. Seeing that Ms. Zhong didn’t say anything, she pulled Yan Shuqin and called Yan Shuxue to walk towards the pork stall ahead.
“Boss, we want to buy meat.”
The butcher at the pork stall was dozing off. Yan Xiaosi stood in front of the stall and shouted, startling the napping butcher.
The butcher almost fell off his chair. He was initially angry, but when he saw that Yan Xiaosi and the others were there to buy meat, he quickly put away his angry face.
“Young man, how many pounds of meat do you want?”
“Boss, how much is this pork belly…”
Yan Shuqin was about to ask how much the pork belly cost per pound, but she was interrupted by Yan Xiaosi’s excited tone.
Yan Xiaosi pointed to a large piece of pork belly on the stall, which was about ten pounds, and asked, “Boss, how much is the pork belly per pound? Give me a discount, and I’ll take all this pork belly.”
Her words stunned Yan Shu Qin and Yan Shu Xue.
According to the prices in the Great Chu Dynasty, pork belly cost fifteen wen per pound. The piece of meat in front of them would definitely cost more than a hundred wen.
Ms. Zhong, who caught up from behind, remained calm and composed.
The children were thin and pale, so it was time for them to eat something nourishing. Besides, Yan Xiaosi had earned fifty taels today, so she had no reason to object.
There was only one piece of pork belly left on the meat stall, along with some pig intestines hanging on an iron hook. The pig intestines were meant for the butcher to take home and cook, so once the pork belly was sold, he would close up shop and go home.
When Yan Xiaosi said he would buy the whole piece of pork belly, the butcher’s eyes lit up immediately. It was already late in the afternoon and he was getting impatient to close his stall.
“Originally, the pork belly was fifteen wen per pound. If you buy the whole piece, I’ll give you a discount of one wen per pound.”
The butcher was running a small business. A discount of one wen per pound of pork belly was already a significant concession.
Yan Xiaosi agreed readily, “Please weigh this piece of pork belly, boss.”
“Please wait a moment, young man.”
The butcher happily picked up the scale, hooked the pork with the iron hook on the scale, and weighed it. The piece of meat was exactly ten pounds.
“Young man, it’s a total of ten pounds of pork belly, which is 140 wen.”
Ms. Zhong watched the butcher weigh the meat from the side, making sure he didn’t cheat with the weight before letting Yan Xiaosi pay.
Instead of taking out the money right away, Yan Xiaosi looked at the pig intestines hanging on the iron hook.
“Boss, how much for the pig intestines?”
In her previous life, she didn’t eat animal organs, but now that her body was weak, she craved all kinds of meat. The sight of pig intestines even made her eyes shine. The butcher hadn’t thought about selling the pig intestines, but when Yan Xiaosi asked, he hesitated for a moment before answering, “Young man, you have a good eye. Actually, stir-fried pig intestines taste quite good, but it’s just a bit troublesome to clean them. If you really want them, I’ll sell them to you for fifteen wen.”
Yan Xiaosi, with the original owner’s memories, knew that people in Great Chu didn’t like to eat animal organs, especially smelly pig intestines.
“I’ll buy the pig intestines for eight wen if the boss is willing to sell, .”
The butcher often slaughtered pigs and had plenty of pig intestines to eat, so he wasn’t particularly interested in them. He thought that eight wen was still money, and although he was somewhat reluctant, he agreed.
As he took the pig intestines off the iron hook, he said to Ms. Zhong, “Big sister, your child here is really good at bargaining.”
Ms. Zhong smiled faintly. After Yan Xiaosi paid, she took the pig intestines from the butcher.
Yan Shuqin and Yan Shuxue carried the large piece of pork belly onto the ox cart and asked Yan Shuyun to watch it. “Third sister, we have meat to eat tonight.”
