Chapter 315: 315 carrying pole 2
Su Qingyue entered the master bedroom and looked at the three men sitting on the bed against the wall. Her gaze fell on second brother, “Second brother, how much are the fish sold for?”
“In Living Fish Town, it’s five cents per jin. Sometimes people catch them in the village and sell them at the same price. Dead fish are cheaper, sold for only three cents.”
“That’s so cheap.” She asked, “Does anyone sell dried fish? How much is it per jin
“I heard it’s the same price as pork.”
Su Qingyue knew that pork was eleven cents per jin. The two back baskets of fish she caught were all dead fish, and making dried fish would take about three jins to make one jin.
Three jins of dead fish can sell for nine cents, but if dried fish is eleven cents per jin, dried fish is more worth it.
It was now evening, and many households had started cooking.
Drying fish would take 10 to 15 days, and it would also need to be sold. The money would come in too slowly.
With the hot weather, the water pot on the table in the room was empty again. After filling the pot with water, she went back to the kitchen, emptied half of the back basket of fish onto the pile of fish on the ground earlier, carried half a back basket of fish, took a large handful of grass prepared before, took some more, went to the storage room to fetch the scale that second brother used to weigh the game, and walked towards the village well.
It was just about time for dinner, and many people were returning from the fields. Many people were lining up to fetch well water. Some people were also resting in the shade under the tree beside the village well.
“Su Qingyue, what’s in your back basket?” Qian Youfa asked upon seeing her.
Su Qingyue walked to an empty spot not far from the well, “Half a back basket of fish. If anyone wants to buy fish, come and buy!”
“Dead or alive?” One of the people in line to fetch well water asked.
A passing middle-aged man answered, “Must be dead if it’s in a back basket? Of course it’s dead.” Saying that, he stopped in front of Su Qingyue.
Qingyue recognized him. Master Yang, who had attempted to save Liu Xianglian when she tried to “commit suicide” by drowning herself in the river, was a skilled tanner of animal skin and fur in the village. “How much is your fish per jin?” Master yang asked.
“Three cents.”
He flipped through the fish and smelled them, “Not smelly, they must have just died.”
Qingyue smiled and said, “Yep. Just caught them in the stream.”
“Weigh these two for me.”
“No problem.” Su Qingyue picked up the ancient balance rod, hung the weight, and put the two fish onto the scale, “Two and a half jin, seven cents and a half. It’s a bit hard to calculate the money. How about adding a small one?” “Alright.” Master Yang nodded.
Su Qingyue selected a fish about half a jin in size, “Almost three jin but a little below, I’ll charge you for three jin.”
“Deal.” Master Yang paid nine cents.
Su Qingyue took the money and put it into her sleeve pocket, used two long grasses to twist them into a ‘rope’, threaded the fish through the mouth and out the gills, threaded them together, tied the grass rope into a knot, and handed it to Master Yang.
Several people bought fish one after another.
Qian Zhangshi also came to fetch well water with an empty bucket. Seeing Su
Qingyue selling fish, she couldn’t believe it, “Hey, I say, wife of the Xiao Family, you just gathered mushrooms this morning. Where did you get the fish to sell?”
“Caught them in the stream.”
“Which stream?”
Su Qingyue got impatient, “What’s the point of asking so many questions when it’s not even from just one stream?”
A woman laughed, “Qian Zhangshi must want to catch fish too.”
“Don’t you?” Qian Zhangshi glanced at her, then asked Su Qingyue, “Wife of the
Xiao Family, how much is your fish per jin?”
“Three cents.”
“It’s getting dark, and your fish won’t sell. They’ll go bad.. One cent per jin?”