Chapter 272: Sale
Editor: Atlas Studios
Mu Yangling included the journey from Hanzhong Prefecture to Xingzhou Prefecture. If they walked on foot, wouldn’t they have to walk for two days?
The boss fell silent. Xiuhong encouraged him from the side. “Boss, what are you hesitating for? We’re selling you live sheep. As long as there’s grass, you can raise them and slaughter them when you need to cook it. The price is much cheaper than the ones you buy from butchers.”
Seeing that the boss was tempted, Bowen tugged at Mu Yangling’s sleeve. “Sister, why don’t we find a butcher? Sell it to him for 40 copper coins per catty. If he sells it for 50 copper coins, he can earn 10 copper coins per catty.”
The boss immediately asked, “Miss, how many sheep do you have?”
“How many do you want?”
After weighing the pros and cons, the boss said, “Six, all alive. As for whether we’re going by weight or the number of sheep, I’ll have to take a look before deciding.”
“Sure.”
The boss continued, “You can only sell your sheep to our mutton restaurant.”
Mu Yangling smiled. “That goes without saying.”
Only then was the boss satisfied.
“I’ll deliver them before the sun sets.” After saying that, Mu Yangling picked up two sheep and was about to leave. Seeing this, the boss quickly stopped her. “Leave these two sheep here. Just bring four more sheep.”
“That won’t do. I still have to find other buyers.”
The boss said unhappily, “You clearly said that you would only sell it to my mutton restaurant.”
“I said that I’ll only sell it to your mutton restaurant. However, there’s still the largest eatery, the largest restaurant, and the largest butcher in Three Springs County.”
The boss was dumbfounded. So Mu Yangling was only exclusively selling to one of each type? However, he couldn’t find any fault with that reasoning. Thinking that although there was competition between them, it was much less than that of other mutton restaurants, he didn’t stop Mu Yangling anymore.
He watched as the three of them disappeared and sighed. “Each generation is better than the last. To think they dare to come out and do business at such a young age. I must admit I’m getting old.”
Just like that, Mu Yangling went to the largest restaurant and eatery. Then, she ran back to the butcher from before. She received an order of 34 sheep collectively, which made a total of 40 sheep when including the six from that first mutton restaurant.
Mu Yangling did not have to spend long negotiating with them, half an hour at most for each. However, it still took her quite a long time after adding the time up among the various buyers.
Xiuhong took the money to buy a few buns to fill everyone’s stomachs. Mu Yangling left the two sheep at the butcher’s and took the three taels of deposit he had given her. As she ate the buns, she went back to herd the sheep over.
Of the 40 sheep, Mu Yangling chose 38 from inside the fence. These 38 were less energetic than the others, and they varied in size.
Mu Yangling used a rope to split them into three groups and started herding them forward. Mu Yangling was in a hurry, afraid that she would not be able to return to her rented place before the sun set. So, she stuffed another 100 copper coins into the landlord’s hands and asked them to watch over the sheep for a longer time.
The landlord was overjoyed. He had earned more money today than he had in two months, so he agreed happily. In fact, he even hoped that Mu Yangling and the others would come back as late as possible. This way, they might be able to get an additional reward tomorrow.
He could also tell that although Mu Yangling and the others were not dressed well and had come out to make a living at such a young age, they were even more generous than those merchants.
The three of them herded the sheep into the city. Not long after, Mu Yangling was way ahead of Bowen and Xiuhong. Worried that they wouldn’t be able to leave the city at night, Xiuhong shouted, “Cousin, you can leave first. We’ll walk slowly.”
Mu Yangling waved at them and herded her ten sheep away.
Tied together, the ten sheep were quite well-behaved after entering the city. Mu Yangling carefully herded them to the entrance of the mutton restaurant and wiped the sweat off her forehead. “Finally here. I was afraid that I would bump into something on the way.”
When the boss heard this, he came out and saw the ten tied sheep. Smiling, he said, “Miss, since you can rush here from Hanzhong Prefecture, why are you afraid of entering the city?” He walked around the ten sheep and chose six that looked fatter. He asked casually, “Miss, how many sheep did you herd over this time?”
“There’s not much left. We stopped for a day each at Xingzhou Prefecture and Mingshui County.” Mu Yangling kicked a sheep in the middle and said, “Boss, this one is not bad. It’s energetic.”
Seeing that she did not answer the exact number, the boss did not ask further. He looked at the one Mu Yangling had chosen and thought for a moment before replacing it. He said, “Alright, I’ll take these six.”
Mu Yangling untied the rope and pulled out the six for him. She asked, “Do you want to go by number of sheep or weight?”
The boss chose all the fat and strong ones, so he naturally chose to go by number of sheep. He paid Mu Yangling 18 taels of silver happily.
Mu Yangling appeared a little indignant, but she still held the remaining four sheep and turned to leave.
Seeing that she had left, the boss rubbed his hands and said, “I’ve made a killing this time.”
Mu Yangling went to the eatery next. When she saw Bowen and Xiuhong there, she asked, “Did the journey go smoothly?”
Xiuhong nodded. “Since there were fewer people on the streets, I didn’t bump into anything.”
The next three buyers also chose their sheep. Some chose to pay according to the number of sheep, while others chose to pay by weight. However, even when paying by weight, they were weighed raw. A large part of the reason why they bought Mu Yangling’s sheep was that her sheep were alive and could be kept.
In the end, Mu Yangling received 124 taels of silver. The sun was about to set. Having fulfilled her end of the agreement, Mu Yangling was in a good mood. She waved at the two children and said, “Let’s go to the restaurant today and have a good meal.”
Xiuhong said excitedly, “Cousin, let’s charge them according to weight in catties and not by number of sheep next time. It’s more profitable that way.”
Smiling, Mu Yangling said, “You win some, you lose some. We have a lot more time now, right? Alright, let’s go eat first. After dinner, I’ll go buy some grass. Tomorrow, we’ll still stay in Three Springs County for a day and only reach Xingyuan Prefecture the day after tomorrow. We can’t let the sheep starve.”
“Didn’t you say we’d only stay for a day?”
“Didn’t you see that when we went to the eatery and restaurant to deliver the sheep just now, many people in gorgeous clothes looked at us? I just asked the assistant of the eatery and found out that many of the squires in Three Springs County like to eat mutton, especially hot-boiled mutton. Tomorrow, we can go visit them. We might be able to sell them some. Considering there are still so many sheep left, we can’t place all our hopes on Xingyuan Prefecture.”
“Since they saw it, why didn’t they come over and ask if they were interested? Sister, asking the landlord to help look after the sheep is too expensive.”
With a smile, Mu Yangling said, “They naturally won’t take the initiative to mention it to us because of their status. However, if there’s really a family that likes to eat very much, someone will probably come looking for us tomorrow.”
Mu Yangling was right. The next morning, someone really came knocking on her door. It was Landlord Bai who lived in the north of the city. His mother loved mutton, and in a few days, his mother was hosting a banquet. Many young ladies and daughters-in-law in the city would go to his house for a meal, and he would drink and chat with a group of men in the front yard.
Since the weather these days was so cold, the old lady suggested eating hotpot. How could there be no mutton when eating hotpot? Thus, he asked his steward to go out and look for Mu Yangling for some fresh grassland mutton.
As Mu Yangling did not hide her whereabouts yesterday, they could easily find her by asking around.