Chapter Ten Buying Cows

  Lin He smiled and said, "That's natural. I only supply goods to your store, but if others see it in your store and learn from it, that's your business. What I give you is just a sample, and you have your own embroidery workshop make it."

  Wen Shijie agreed and asked Lin He: "Do you want these three hundred and fifty taels to be in silver notes or silver ingots?"

  Lin He said "I want twenty taels of loose silver, and the rest in silver ingots, no silver notes."

  Wen Shijie saw that they were all young children and said "Silver tickets are also very convenient, as long as there is a money house place where you can exchange them."

  Lin He smiled and said "I have a use for these silver ingots." The shopkeeper didn't say much either, letting the young servant take the silver.

  Lin He put the silver in her bundle, the cloth of which was old and tattered. No one would have thought that such a worn-out cloth contained so many silver ingots. The shopkeeper asked, "Miss Lin, do you want us to send someone to escort you back?"

  Lin He said "Never mind, we still need to go buy some things and it will take some time, so let's not trouble the shopkeeper".

  "Then when can you bring over some new fabric next time?"

  Lin He said, "By the end of the month, I'll send over a few new ones and give you some time to take a look at this fabric doll to see if it has any business potential."

  Boss Wen smiled and didn't say a word, but in his heart he thought "This little kid can think of so many things, he's going to be someone big in the future."

  The three siblings walked out of the store with several bundles on their backs, and Lin He said to Da Bao, "Brother, we need to add some things at home, let's rent an ox cart to go back later."

  Dabao nodded, now he really believed that this sister was indeed going to let the family live a good life. One hundred and fifty taels of silver, even if the family didn't eat or drink for a lifetime, would be about this amount. An ordinary family's annual expenses wouldn't exceed two or three taels of silver, yet his sister had earned so much money in just half a day, he believed what she said.

  Lin He thought of several people who hadn't eaten yet, not even breakfast, and now it was almost time for lunch. She took Da Bao and San Ya to a majestic-looking restaurant, thinking "Sister has money now, today we must eat well".

  Dabao saw the luxurious wine house and knew that going in would cost at least a few taels of silver, so he said "Let's just go to the noodle stall up front and eat some noodles, buy a few buns and we'll be set, no need to go somewhere so fancy."

  Lin He said with a smile, "Big brother, we're rich now, we have silver."

  Three people went into the wine building, ordered a few dishes in the wine building, had a good meal, spent one or two silver coins, and Da Bao was heartbroken. Lin He smiled and shook his head, San Ya was a clever one, and asked Lin He in a low voice, "Sister, did you make money by selling your little bear?" Lin He nodded.

  After lunch, Lin Meng thought about what was lacking at home and needed to be added. After thinking for a while, there were too many things that needed to be added, and the places where money could be spent were too numerous. It seemed that 150 taels wasn't a large sum after all. Lin He took Da Bao and San Ya to the porcelain shop to buy a set of chopsticks and bowls. These days, Lin He had been using willow branches as chopsticks, which she was already tired of. Although many people in this era used willow branches as chopsticks, Lin He just wasn't accustomed to it.

  Then bought several pieces of cloth, and went to the cotton store to buy twenty kilograms of cotton, planning to use these cotton to make two quilts, and give each person at home a set of all-cotton cotton-padded jacket, there must be two sets of clothes to replace, these cotton should also be enough. Then bought several dozen kilograms of white flour from the grain store, and bought some corn flour and black flour, temporarily still can't eat white flour for every meal, but occasionally eating some is okay.

  Then went to the vegetable market and bought two catties of meat, which was half-fat and half-lean pork. Lin He had originally planned to buy all lean meat, but San Ya and Da Bao said that fatty meat was delicious, so they ended up buying five-flower pork. They also bought some eggs on the way home. By the end, they had bought a big pile of things. When Lin He saw so many things, she noticed that many people were selling beef at the vegetable market.

  Actually, in a farmer's family, cows are not sold, but when winter comes, for poor families like Lin He's, there is no other choice but to sell the cow used for plowing. After all, being alive gives hope, and what can be more important than staying alive? Lin He thought it would be better to just buy a cow cart back home, anyway, they needed one at home too. Da Bao said he wanted to use this money to buy land, Lin He also thought buying land was a great idea, their family still didn't have their own land until now, and farming required cows, always renting others' cows was also a considerable expense. Moreover, having a cow cart at home would be more convenient. So they left the things they bought at the grain store and went to the cattle market to take a look.

  To be honest, Lin He had rarely seen cows in her past life, and she didn't know which ones were good. Da Bao also said he didn't know how to choose a cow. They walked around inside for a while, and finally saw an old man with a five-year-old child who was dressed very thinly holding onto a cow on the side. The child would occasionally cough. Lin He stopped in front of the place selling cows and asked the old man, "How much is the cow?" The old man said, "Little girl, you kids want to buy a cow? Where are your parents? Will you be able to raise it if you buy it?"

  Dà bǎo said "We use it to harness the ox cart."

  The old man laughed and said, "Little ones, can you drive an ox cart?"

  Lin He was stunned. Indeed, with her three little buns, who would hurry to buy cattle? It's better to wait for parents to come together next time to buy cattle.

  The old man continued, "I'll drive the ox cart. If you want to buy this cow, I can help you harness it and send it back with you. However, you have to give me the money first. After I take my grandson to see the doctor, I'll send it back with you." Lin He thought for a moment and agreed.

  Buying the cow wasn't the most important thing, but seeing that little kid looking so uncomfortable, they should take him to see a doctor first. The old man sold the cow to Lin He for ten taels of silver. Da Bao was familiar with this town and took the old man and his grandson to see the doctor. Fortunately, it wasn't anything serious, just a bit of wind chill, and he would be fine after taking two doses of medicine.

  The old man led the cow with Lin He to harness the cart, then went to the grain store and moved all the things they bought onto the cart. The three siblings and the old man's grandson sat on it, and Lin He covered the things they bought with some broken hemp sacks.

  On the road, Lin He understood why the old man wanted to sell his family's cow. The old man originally lived with his son, daughter-in-law and grandson. Last year, a local tyrant took a liking to his daughter-in-law and wanted to take her as a concubine. His son and daughter-in-law disagreed, so the tyrant forced them out of their home, leaving them no choice but to flee with their young child. Unfortunately, on the road, the daughter-in-law fell ill, and the son had to go work as a laborer in a distant place. He ended up falling from a high wall and died. Not long after, his wife also passed away.

  The old man had to bring his grandson to live in a small village near Tianxin Town, where he usually made money by helping people plow fields with his cow. But now that winter had arrived, his grandson was ill and they didn't have any warm clothes or food for the season, so he decided to sell the cow.

  Lin He asked her "Now that you've sold the cattle, how do you make a living?"

  The old man didn't know either, well, he could only take it one step at a time then.