“I’ll do as you say, Uncle Lin.” An Jiuyue nodded.
“Okay.” Uncle Lin was delighted and immediately instructed the person next to him, “Go to the counter and fetch 100 taels of silver. I want ready money.”
“Yes, Manager,” the worker replied and turned around to run inside.
“Jiuyue, I think this wild boar is really big. I’ll pay you 100 taels of silver.”
He was offering a lot. A wild boar would usually be sold for a quarter of the price—25 taels of silver was already considered very good.
However, the situation was different now. A flood had just occurred, and there was no food to eat.
An Jiuyue nodded without hesitation.
“I’ll listen to you, Uncle Lin. I also have a few baskets of mushrooms here. Do you want to buy some?”
“Mushrooms? That’s good stuff. Given our current situation, I’ll pay 100 copper coins per half a kilogram. You probably have over… 50 kilograms of mushrooms here.”
Uncle Lin nodded and looked at the mushrooms in the bamboo baskets. They were not only big but also white and tender.
Although the mushrooms could not be stored freely, this was a restaurant! The mushrooms weighing over fifty kilograms could be sold out in less than two days. Customers might not be able to eat them anymore if they came a few days later.
Moreover, such good quality mushrooms would be sold for even more money on the streets.
…
An Jiuyue received a total of 110 taels of silver after selling the wild boar and mushrooms. She put the basket on the ox cart and prepared to go to the market to buy something before returning home.
The vegetables sold in the market were extremely expensive due to the recent flood. One cabbage cost 30 copper coins!
She stopped the ox cart and bought ten sweet potatoes, with the intention to plant them in her space. She also bought some potatoes and corn.
She spent almost a tael of silver on these.
Then, she bought four cabbages. It cost her 100 copper coins even after haggling over the price. It was really too expensive.
However, she was in for a shock when she placed the four cabbages into her basket.
“This is…”
She placed the cabbage on the cart and picked up a child from the basket.
“Whose child is this? Who placed this child in my basket?”
What kind of luck do I have? Have the heavens sent me another child?
The child did not look as young as the other two and seemed only a little over a year old. He blinked his large, lively eyes at her and did not cry even though he was lifted up by a stranger.
“Uncle, did you see anyone passing by? There is a child in my basket,” she grabbed the old man selling cabbages and asked, carrying the child in an arm.
“Sigh.” The old man glanced at An Jiuyue. “Why don’t you bring this child back with you, Miss? You can just give him some food and raise him like a brute.”
“What?!”
An Jiuyue thought she had misheard.
Raise him like a brute? I didn’t pick up a mere chicken or duck! This is a living human!
“Uncle, how can you say that? Someone just lost their child. His parents must be so worried. I have to find an official. Otherwise, I’ll go to the county.”
Although she was not keen to go to the county to meet that person surnamed Lan, this child…
“Miss, you shouldn’t go. The officials don’t care about this,” the old man said helplessly.