“Phew, we’ve arrived at the town. Little girl, if you want to take a ride again, come find me before noon.”
“All right! I definitely don’t want to walk all the way back. I’ll be sure to come find you.”
Li Suisui said this and then carried her wooden bucket toward the Xie family fish shop.
As soon as she saw Xie Kuan, she gave a sweet smile. “Uncle Kuan!”
“Little girl, why have you come again today?”
“Hehe, I came to sell some seafood. Could you take a look and see if you’d buy these two items?”
Xie Kuan leaned over to inspect. “Oh my, this geoduck clam isn’t bad. Little girl, your luck is really good today!”
“Hehe, Uncle Kuan, there’s also a big crab in my bucket. Can you see how much it’s worth?”
“This geoduck is quite large, and we’re short on stock in the shop, so I’ll give a higher price—200 wen each. As for this crab, the most I can offer is 30 wen.”
“All right, I’m obedient and sensible—I’ll follow your lead, Uncle Kuan.”
Hearing this, Xie Kuan shook his head with a smile. “This little girl looks so honest on the outside, but you’re actually very clever. Fine, hand these over to the shop assistant, and then go to the counter to collect your money.”
“Alright, Uncle Kuan. You go on with your work. I’ll come back to see you tomorrow.”
“Good seafood isn’t easy to catch, and really good seafood is even harder. Can you really catch such good seafood every day?”
“Of course I can. I trust in my good luck.”
“Little girl, don’t get too confident.”
“Uncle Kuan, you better believe me—I’ll definitely come tomorrow.”
“All right. If you can come tomorrow, I’ll be sure to give you a good price again.”
After saying goodbye to Xie Kuan, Li Suisui, with some time to spare, went to a grocery shop.
Her family only had salt at home, which made cooking not very tasty. She needed to buy some seasonings.
As soon as she entered the store, a shop assistant came forward.
“Little girl, what do you want to buy?”
Li Suisui recognized this young assistant—he was the same one who had sold her malt sugar last time.
“Brother, what cooking seasonings do you have in the shop?”
“We have soybean paste, fish sauce, honey, cane sugar, green onions, garlic, and ginger. Little girl, what do you want to buy?”
She didn’t need much of the pastes, but she could buy some green onions, garlic, and ginger.
“How much for the onions, garlic, and ginger?”
“Green onions and garlic are ten wen per jin, ginger is twenty wen per jin.”
“Why so expensive?”
“To be honest, these are all dried to remove moisture, so the price is naturally higher.”
“Any cheaper?”
“This is the best price I can offer.”
“All right, give me half a jin of each.”
“Okay, please wait a moment.”
That already cost 20 wen, and Li Suisui winced a little. She thought about modern soy sauce—just a little in cooking would instantly raise the flavor. She wondered if there was soy sauce in this era.
“Brother, do you have soy sauce here?”
“Soy sauce? What’s that? Soybean oil? We do have soybean oil—35 wen per jin. How much do you want, little girl?”
Wow, that’s way too expensive.
“No, I won’t buy it. I’d rather eat pork fat than soybean oil. What I want is soy sauce.”
The assistant looked puzzled at her muttering.
“Little girl, what did you just say?”
“Oh, I was asking if you have any other unusual seasonings?”
“Unusual seasonings… let me see… oh, we do have some chili and Sichuan pepper that came from out of town recently. Do you want to take a look?”
Li Suisui’s eyes immediately lit up. She loved spicy food and was most fond of these seasonings.
“Of course I want to see!”
“Look, these are the chili and Sichuan pepper we purchased earlier. Since their flavor is too strong, nobody here likes them, so they haven’t sold. If you like them, I’ll sell them at a low price.”
Li Suisui picked them up, sniffed, and examined them. “Yes, these are dried chili and Sichuan pepper, and the aroma hasn’t faded yet.”
“You know these two?”
“Yes, I do. You said you would sell them at a low price. What price is that?”
“There’s about two jin of Sichuan pepper and five jin of chili. If you want all of it, our shopkeeper said only the cost—35 wen.”
“30 wen, if that’s okay, I’ll take it all.”
“Little girl, I already said it’s cost price.”
“But I only have 30 wen. If you agree, I’ll buy it.”
“Wait a moment. I need to ask the shopkeeper.”
“Go ahead!”
Soon, the assistant returned. “Little girl, our shopkeeper agreed. We’ll sell it at 30 wen.”
“Thanks so much!”
Li Suisui immediately handed over 50 wen. Seeing the cane sugar on the counter, she became curious.
“How much is the cane sugar?”
“Little girl, didn’t you say you had no money? Why are you asking about sugar?”
“Just asking the price. I’ll come back to buy it when I have money.”
“Hehe, of course. The sugar is 11 wen per liang, 100 wen per jin.”
Wow, that’s really expensive. She couldn’t afford it, so she was only checking the price.
“Hehe, this sugar is too expensive for me. I’ll come back when I have money to visit you, little assistant.”
“All right! Welcome to come again, little girl.”
After leaving the grocery, Li Suisui went back to the grain shop and bought ten jin of wheat bran.
Passing by the pork stall, she couldn’t help buying a jin of pork belly.
Today, she wanted to invite Lin Guiying and Li Laotou over to eat; she needed some meat to make the meal more generous.
All told, she had earned 230 wen but immediately spent 95 wen, leaving her with 145 wen.
Adding the 100 wen left from yesterday, she now had 245 wen.
Next, she still needed to buy a bed. Their current house had no doors or windows; if they planned to live there long-term, she’d have to install them—each of these purchases cost money.
Come on, come on! Tomorrow, I’ll keep working hard.