Chapter 23 Entering the County
Qianhuan went to other shops to ask about the price of scales, but she found out that the cheapest scale cost about one or two taels of silver.
Qianhuan only had more than 900 copper coins left, and she still had to buy food ingredients such as maltose. She had to put the purchase of a scale off for the time being and ask her parents to borrow one from the village.
This street in the town was not very long. Qianhuan walked and stopped along the way, asked the prices of various items, and finished walking around the entire street in just fifteen minutes.
She was a little puzzled. Aren’t there many vendors on both sides of the ancient streets in TV dramas?
Why are there only a few small vendors selling food in this town?
After asking around, she found out that there were fixed dates every month when people could go to the town to set up stalls.
People usually come here early in the morning and the market closes in the afternoon.
She arrived at an unfortunate time and missed the market day.
After walking around the town, Qianhuan asked for the address of the car rental shop. She spent 2 cents to take the cheapest ox cart to the county town.
She had already made up her mind to visit both the town and the county town, but because she was afraid that her parents would worry if she told them she was going to the county town, she just said she was coming to the town to buy things.
The ox cart started from the town and arrived at the county town in about an hour.
After entering the city gate, Qianhuan found it extremely lively inside, with a lot of people coming and going. The streets here were wide and long, and were obviously more lively and prosperous than the town.
In addition to some open shops on both sides of the streets in the city, there are also various small vendors setting up stalls and selling their goods on the street.
There were vendors selling candied haws, steamed buns, some farmers selling fresh fruits and vegetables grown at home, some selling straw and hemp shoes woven by themselves, and some scholars making a living by selling paintings...
In short, there are all kinds of vendors hawking all kinds of things in the city.
But she didn't see anyone selling sugar-roasted chestnuts, which made her even more certain that people of this era really didn't know how to make sugar-roasted chestnuts.
Qianhuan strolled back and forth on the streets of the county town for a long time and asked about the prices of many items. She found that some daily necessities in the county town were one or two cents more expensive than in the town.
The food stalls on the street sell food at prices ranging from a few coins to more than ten coins. This shows that the consumption level of people in this county town is much higher than that in the town.
After investigating the market, Qianhuan had a rough idea of the price she would like for the sugar-roasted chestnuts she was about to sell. She felt that 10 cents per pound was a suitable price, which was neither too high nor too cheap.
After all, this is the first new food to appear in Dayuan Country, and her small business can only be sold in the county town.
After walking around for a while, Qianhuan felt a little hungry. She bought two steamed buns and asked the vendor, "Uncle, is this stall free?"
"Young Master, this stall is not free. I have to spend two cents every day to occupy such a stall."
"Is it the tax collected by the government?" Qianhuan continued to ask.
"The government doesn't collect taxes from our Caoshi. It's Young Master Cai who collects them. He and his brothers patrol the streets every day and collect 2 cents as protection money. If anyone takes something and doesn't pay or wants to cause trouble, Young Master Cai and his brothers will subdue them without saying a word."
The uncle selling buns spoke of Mr. Cai with great admiration. It seemed that everyone was willing to pay the two cents.
After Qianhuan inquired about the situation of the stall, she walked around for another half an hour.
She bought a book titled "The Eternal River", which contained introductions to various countries of that era as well as their customs and practices. Fortunately, she was familiar with the characters of that era.
In this era, paper was extremely expensive, not to mention books. Normally, buying a book would cost at least half a tael of silver. However, because the book she chose was too unpopular and few people liked to read it, it was covered with dust on the bookshelf and the pages were a little yellowed. The boss just wanted to get rid of it quickly, so he sold it to her at a low price. She only spent 10 cents on the book.
After buying the books, she had learned most of the information she needed, so she prepared to take the ox cart back to the town to get the spatula, and then go to the Liuchen shop she had visited earlier in the town to weigh some maltose and oil to take home.
The oil and sugar in the county town are more expensive by one or two cents per pound. She can save a few coppers by buying them in the town, so she naturally won't buy them in the county town.
When she entered the Liuchen shop in the town, the boss was so angry that he almost lost his temper when he saw that it was the young man who asked about the prices of all the things in his shop but left without buying anything.
Unexpectedly, Qianhua said, "Boss, give me 5 jin of maltose and 500 jin of cooking oil. And give me oil paper bags."
The boss's curse words got stuck in his throat, and he put on a standard big smile and replied: "Sir, OK, I'll give it to you right away."
5斤饴糖总共300文，一斤清油15文。500个油纸包花了5文钱，总共花了320文。
The boss packed her food, and then walked her out of the store with a smile, saying, "Goodbye, dear customer. Welcome to visit our store again next time."
Qianhuan went to the blacksmith shop to get a spatula and then went home.
She calculated that the spatula cost 50 wen, the book cost 10 wen, the buns cost 2 wen, the ox cart cost 4 wen, and the trip cost 320 wen. She spent a total of 386 wen on this trip. She had 985 wen left, and 599 wen were left.
It was around four o'clock in the afternoon when Qianhuan got home. Liu and Liang Laoer were relieved to see her back.
"Qianhuan, why did you take so long? Your father and I were worried to death." Liu asked with a hint of complaint.
"Yes, Qianhuan, if you didn't come back, your mother would almost go to town to look for you." Liang Laoer was also very worried about his daughter.
"Mom and Dad, I'm home safely now. Don't worry, I can go to town by myself. I just couldn't help but wander around town for a while longer."
"Don't hang around for too long next time. You have to come back early, okay?" Liu instructed.
"I understand. I will come back early next time I go to town." Qianhuan nodded obediently in agreement.
"Mom and Dad, look, I've almost bought all the ingredients and tools needed to stir-fry sugar-fried chestnuts. The only thing missing is a custom-made iron stove, which won't be available until tomorrow morning."
"Then can we make sugar-roasted chestnuts now?" asked Liu.
"Yes. It takes a lot of strength to stir-fry sugar-roasted chestnuts. I am not strong enough and cannot stir-fry for too long by myself. You and Dad can come to the kitchen to help me. It is a good opportunity to learn the specific method."
"okay!"
Qianhuan went to the yard and collected all the sand and gravel. She took out 10 kilograms of sand and gravel, and put the rest in a sack and hid it under her bed.
Liu helped to harvest the chestnuts, by which time the water stains on the chestnuts had already dried up.
Qianhuan and Liu went to the kitchen, one carrying a basket of sand and gravel and the other carrying a basket of chestnuts.
Liang Laoer also leaned on his crutches and slowly followed his wife and daughter to the kitchen.