“By the way, how is Sifu doing in town? I haven’t seen him for a long time.” Li Hehua asked.
Jiang Yue and Xue Yan both said that he was doing okay.
“That’s good, that’s good.” Li Hehua immediately felt relieved.
At home, Liu Guixia, Xue Dafu, Xue Yifu, and Xue Wufu had just returned from the fields, carrying buckets of manure. They had all carried them and placed them behind the latrine.
Seeing the two of them return, Xue Wufu immediately rushed over like a monkey. “My babies, you’re back! I heard that you two went to town to sell some mushrooms called goat’s belly. How was it? How much did you get? Is it enough to buy you guys a stick of candy?”
Before they could answer, Xue Erfu laughed, “Are you st*pid? It costs four coins to take the ox cart back and forth. If you can’t even afford a stick candy, why would Xue Yan bring Jiang Yue to town to sell mushrooms?”
“It’s called a moonbelly mushroom,” Yu Hongyan said with a smile.
“They’re just mushrooms,” Xue Erfu laughed.
Xue Dafu wiped the sweat off his face and smiled. “I’ll sell it for as much money as I can. It doesn’t matter if I can’t sell it. I’ll just take it as a trip to town. ”
Jiang Yue and Xue Yan looked at each other. Each was unsure what to do and what to say.
“Xue Yan, Jiang Yue, tell me, how much did you sell it for?” Xue Wufu had always been impatient, so he asked.
“Let’s go in and talk.” Xue Yan said.
Jiang Yue did not say anything. She clearly wanted Xue Yan to say it.
“Why do we have to go in and talk? It’s just a few coins, why is it such a big deal?”
Although it was strange, Xue Wufu was the first to turn around and go to the central room.
Xue Dafu and the others were also confused, but they also went in. Xue Yifu was no longer busy under the shed and entered the house as well.
Jiang Yue silently closed the courtyard door.
Xue Yan stood at the door of the central room until Jiang Yue came back. Then, he entered the central room with Jiang Yue and said, “So about that basket of mushrooms… Jiang Yue and I sold it for six hundred silver.”
Xue Dafu was just about to sit down, but he fell to the ground when he heard this.
Everyone was shocked but had no time to sit around as they hurriedly went to help Xue Dafu up.
Xue Dafu didn’t feel any pain as he was helped up. He felt like he was in a dream as he shivered and said, “S-six hundred?!”
“Yes, six hundred.” Xue Yan nodded affirmatively.
Jiang Yue also nodded.
Liu Guixia and the others were stunned. Xue Dafu opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything. He was also in a daze.
It was Xue Wufu who was the first to recover. He rushed over with his eyes shining and became extremely excited. “Where? How? Show me!”
He bent down and tried to search Xue Yan and Jiang Yue.
“Wufu, don’t get too excited.” Xue Yan first stopped his brother, then he took out the one hundred silver from the bottom of the basket and put it on the table.
Although it was only one hundred taels, everyone’s eyes were still wide open.
Xue Yan quietly took out the five hundred silver notes from his chest and put them on the table. His family had never seen silver notes before, so he said, “These are silver notes, one hundred silver each, so there’s five pieces.”
“Wow.” Xue Erfu picked up the banknote and stared at it. Although he didn’t know who it was on the piece of paper, since Xue Yan said that it was a hundred silver per note, it must be the case.
“There’s also the five hundred coins I got from selling my books, but I don’t have that five hundred coins anymore. I bought something else.” Xue Yan took out the rest of the money and put it on the table.