There is a street in Anchang County, which is full of cloth and tailor shops. They are colorful and look very festive. Er Gouzi put most of his silver into the gourd last night, and took some copper coins from it and put them in his bag. Now he feels more at ease walking on the street, without worrying about being robbed all the time. He looked around the street for a long time early in the morning, and finally chose a relatively simple tailor shop and walked in. At this time, there was an old woman in the shop, who was sewing a sole. When she saw Er Gouzi coming in, she quickly threw the sole in her hand. "Young man, do you want to buy cloth or sew clothes?" "I want to buy a pair of shoes." Er Gouzi looked at the black cloth shoes on the shelf, which were of different sizes and shapes. Some of the smaller ones had plum blossoms or lotus flowers embroidered on the uppers. "Do you want to make custom shoes or buy ready-made shoes?" "Let's buy ready-made shoes!"
Custom shoes will naturally fit better, but you have to wait a long time. Besides, he is already barefoot, so why should he care about such details? The old woman looked at Er Gouzi's bare feet and knew that it might be his first time to buy shoes, so she introduced them to him in detail. Only then did Er Gouzi know that there are so many things to pay attention to when wearing shoes in the city. There are cloth shoes, cotton shoes, and waterproof boots. Er Gouzi is most interested in this pair of waterproof boots. The fabric of the sole and upper is brushed with many layers of tung oil and dried, then nailed together with iron nails, and then brushed with several layers of tung oil. The finished shoes are hard and heavy, like stones, but they will not get wet when stepped into the water. And one good thing is that the shoes made in this way are extremely durable and can be worn for more than ten years. The old woman took a look at Er Gouzi's feet and took a pair from the shelf for him to try on. As soon as Er Gouzi put his feet in, he found that the size was just right, very warm and comfortable. "No, this pair is too small!" But he still took off his shoes and changed to a larger pair. He is only 14 years old this year and is growing fast. This year is just right, but he can't wear it next year. He must buy a few sizes bigger to be cost-effective. A pair of tung oil boots weighs four or five pounds, and it takes a month to make tung oil, cloth, and countless nails. The price is not cheap, it costs one or two silver, which is several times that of ordinary cotton shoes. If you can't wear it after a year, it's really a waste. Er Gouzi asked the old woman for some rags and stuffed them all into his shoes, so that they wouldn't look too big and could keep warm. Before leaving, the old woman also gave him a pair of socks.
This pair of feet, which had suffered more than a dozen hardships with Er Gouzi, wore socks for the first time today. The nobles in the city really know how to enjoy themselves. It is not enough to have shoes to wear, but they also wear socks inside. When Er Gouzi walked to the tailor shop, he walked more carefully, for fear of getting dirty. There are several iron shops in Anchang County, but they are mainly forging iron pots, kitchen knives and other daily necessities. There is a shop that is different from others, with many shining swords hanging inside. This is the one! "Sir, our shop specializes in making various weapons. What style do you need?" A short and fat young man asked in a muffled voice. "I want a heavier sword, at least one weighing more than 10 jin." With his current strength, he can practice with a sword weighing more than 7 jin. But just like buying shoes, he considered that his strength would increase in the future, and it would cost money to change a sword at that time. "A sword weighing more than eight catties is considered a heavy sword. Come over here and take a look." Following the fat man to the side, there are several swords on the shelf here, all weighing more than eight catties. And there are two swords that meet Er Gou's standards. One is made of fine steel, looks cold, and the hilt is inlaid with gems. The price of such a sword is 50 taels of silver. Obviously, this sword is not Er Gou's cup of tea. There is another sword, forged from ordinary steel, weighing 11 catties and 2 taels, black, and the blade does not look very sharp. But it is cheap, only 4 taels of silver. "This one!" "Do you want a scabbard? A wooden scabbard costs 200 coins." The little fat man was very sensible and recommended the cheapest scabbard to him. He didn't even mention those gorgeous scabbards inlaid with gold. "No need!" Er Gouzi shook his head decisively. There was no need. He took out four strings of copper coins from his bag to pay, and then took the sword to the sword shop. Then he went to the old woman who sold shoes and bought three feet of linen cloth. After wrapping the sword, it was also very convenient to hold it in his hand. Three feet of cloth only cost one hundred coins, and he could take it apart and sew a pair of pants when he went back. Now that the shoes and sword were bought, he bought a piece of black salt and 10 meat buns in the county town.
It was time to go home, but he always felt that he seemed to have forgotten something. It was not until he walked to a stall and saw many little girls' hair flowers and hair bands that he suddenly realized. He used to be taken care of by Xiao Ezi, but now that he made a lot of money, he had to buy her some small things. So he bought a pair of hair flowers, a piece of maltose, a candied haws, and a pound of sweet-scented osmanthus cloud cake. This sweet-scented osmanthus cloud cake is very expensive, costing 300 coins per pound. Er Gouzi had never eaten it before. He tried a small piece and it was fragrant and sweet. It was really delicious. After buying all these things, he strode to the county town. ……………… Sword shop in the county town. When a middle-aged man counted the income from the pawnshop, he suddenly exclaimed, and then his hands rummaged through a large box of copper coins. After a while, he selected four strings of copper coins from the box, put them on the table and carefully identified them for a long time, but he was still not sure. "Dad! Dad! Dad..." The middle-aged man ran into the inner room with the four strings of coins. "What are you making a fuss about!" An old man in the inner room, with gray hair, scolded his son loudly for making a fuss. "Dad, look at these strings of copper coins." The old man took the copper coins and examined them carefully for a long time. "Yes, this is the hundred-refined copper essence!" The old man who just scolded his son was so excited that his beard trembled slightly. Hundred-refined copper essence is made from ordinary copper by special methods. But after 100 kilograms of copper is refined time and effort, only one kilogram is left. Hundred-refined copper essence is expensive, and the quality of all aspects has been improved many times. When making swords, add a little refined copper essence to it, the swords will not rust easily, they will be hard and sharp, and not easy to chip. I don't know why, but they actually use refined copper essence to make copper coins? "What did you get it from?" "I don't know, I received too much money today, I just found it when I counted it." "Don't make this matter public, don't act rashly," The father and son were a little too excited at the moment, after all, the old man was the first to calm down. This is a windfall, but it may bring disaster to his life.
