Jiang Sanlang quickly picked up the boning knife, gestured at the fish, and asked, "Which piece would you like? The fish spine has delicate meat and can be made into fish sashimi, while the fish belly is fat and can be braised or grilled. What do you think..."
The man in the fox fur hat reached out and circled the fish, "Right here, cut two more fins, cut deeper, and stick more live meat."
The piece of meat under the fish fin is the most delicious, especially the fin meat of big fish, which is delicious even when stewed. His master likes this the most.
"Okay." Jiang Sanlang raised his knife and cut off a large piece of fish meat, then cut off two pieces of fish fins, tied them up with a thin hemp rope, and hooked them on the scale.
"It's twenty-one pounds and three ounces in total. I'll take away the hemp rope and count it as twenty-one pounds. I'll give you two hundred and ten coins as a favor."
The man in the fox fur hat took out four strings of money from the purse tied around his waist, counted out ten copper coins and gave them to Jiang Sanlang.
Jiang Sanlang took the money and counted it. There were four strings of fifty in total, plus ten coins in change, which totaled exactly two hundred and ten coins.
"Thank you for your patronage." Serving the fish with both hands, Jiang Sanlang smiled and saw the first customer off.
The first order was completed successfully, and the rest went much smoother. Several people who had been waiting and watching each bought a large piece and took it away.
More and more people came to the market, and the fish on the Jiang brothers' cart were almost sold out.
At this time, the tax collector also came, stood in front of the cart, took a look, and asked for twenty cents in market money.
Jiang Dalang was displeased and was about to argue when he was stopped by his third brother.
Jiang Sanlang counted out twenty coins and gave them to the township official, then cut a piece of meat from the fish head and handed it to him: "We are brothers who have come back to the town to set up a stall. This little gift is not enough to show our respect."
The township official looked at him, smiled, took the fish and asked, "Which village are you from? Will you come again next time?"
"I'm from Chencun. If I catch more fish, I will definitely come back." Jiang Sanlang also smiled.
"That's fine." The township official said, "Next time you come, you can set up your stall here. I'll pay you a business tax of ten cents each time."
Jiang Sanlang thanked him: "Thank you very much."
After the township official left, Jiang Dalang said in dissatisfaction, "The stalls around here only charge three or five cents each, and the people who carry baskets to sell vegetables and eggs only need to give one or two cents, but they insist on asking us for twenty cents. Why are you still giving them?"
"A powerful dragon cannot defeat a local snake. Our village is far from the town, and we are not familiar with these people. If we want to open a stall and sell fish smoothly in the future, we can only be inferior to them for the time being."
Jiang Sanlang explained: "Besides, we don't have time to bother with him."
"Sanlang is right. Maybe we will come again next time. It's good that the township has arranged a fixed place for us."
Jiang Dalang was silent for a moment, then asked, "Come again? Can we still catch such a big fish?"
Jiang Sanlang scratched his head and said nothing.
I don’t know if I can catch big fish, but ordinary fish should be no problem.
My little girl still has two fishing baits left, probably enough for two uses.
By noon, the last bit of fish meat was sold out, even the fish heads and bones were sold at a low price, and the three brothers pushed the empty cart home.
After returning to the mansion, the three brothers quickly hid in the house to count their money.
With a loud crash, the purse fell down, and the pile of copper coins made people dizzy.
Several people counted together and quickly came to a conclusion.
"Four thousand five hundred and thirteen coins. A fish was sold for more than four thousand five hundred coins!" Jiang Dalang was very surprised.
This is almost as much as his family’s annual income.
Jiang Dalang worked in the fields for a living, but his total harvest was only 15 or 16 strings of cash a year. After deducting the land tax and some miscellaneous taxes, and the cost of seeds, he was left with only about 5 or 6 strings of cash. Life was very tight.
Fortunately, my brothers and I have some hunting skills, and we go hunting some small prey every winter to supplement the family income, otherwise we would not be able to make ends meet.
I didn't expect to be so lucky this year. In the summer, my third brother and I earned more than two strings of coins, and today we earned more than four strings of coins, which adds up to seven strings of coins.
Although the money was finally divided equally among the three people, it still belonged to the Jiang family.
Hehe, Jiang Dalang couldn't help laughing out loud, and asked his third brother expectantly: "Sanlang, are we going fishing tomorrow?"
Jiang Sanlang scratched his head. "Why don't we go again in a few days? There will be a big market in ten days or so. We can go fishing before the market so that we can sell them fresh the next day."
The first and fifteenth day of every month are the days for temple fairs, and almost all the villagers come out. If you want to sell fish, you have to take advantage of that time so that you can sell them at a higher price. Besides, it will be New Year's Day in a while, and the big fair before the festival will be even more lively. Everyone has to prepare New Year's goods and is more willing to spend money.
"Yes, yes, yes! Third brother is right."
Jiang Erlang nodded repeatedly, "New Year's Day is just a month away. If we catch fish before the festival, we will definitely be able to sell them for a good price at the market."
Jiang Dalang felt a little regretful, but still agreed with his brothers: "Well, this is good. We have already caught the big sturgeon, and there will definitely not be another one like it in the river for a while. Let's wait and see."
After the three brothers reached an agreement, they began to divide the money.
Four strings of cash is a lot of money. First, remove the decimal places and divide the whole four strings into three parts, and each family will get 1,334 coins.
Of the remaining 511 wen, Jiang Dalang gave 200 wen to his parents as a filial gift, and asked to leave the remaining 311 wen for Yingbao.
Because yesterday he saw that Yingbao put something in the river, and that was why the two big fish swam over.
"Is it okay for us to divide it this way?" Jiang Dalang is the eldest brother, and his words are full of the authority of an elder brother.
Jiang Erlang nodded quickly: "I agree, the big fish is coming for Yingbao. Without my niece, we can't catch such a big fish."
Jiang Sanlang smiled and said, "Thank you very much, brothers. I will accept it for Yingbao first and give it to her when I get home. However, there is one thing I want to tell you brothers first."
Jiang Dalang and Jiang Erlang were stunned. "Sanlang, you say, the brothers are listening."
Jiang Sanlang coughed and said, "I speak frankly, elder brother and second brother please bear with me, but since this concerns my daughter, I have to say something in advance.
Well, we are family, so we have nothing to worry about. But outside, don’t say that Da Yu is coming for Ying Bao. Your niece is still young, and I’m afraid someone will make up something unpleasant and spread it out.”
"I see." Jiang Dalang patted his third brother on the shoulder. "You are right to remind me. I forgot about this. The brothers will pay attention to it in the future."
Jiang Erlang also assured: "Second brother, I will only say this in front of you and will not mention it outside. Don't worry, Sanlang."
Jiang Sanlang bowed to his two brothers and said with a smile, "Thank you for your understanding."
"This is not sympathy or not, it's a reminder for us. I'll tell the second kid not to go out and talk nonsense."
"Uh-huh."
After returning home with the money, Jiang Sanlang immediately told his wife and daughter the whole story. He also took out the money that belonged to his daughter and gave it to her.
Yingbao happily accepted it and put it in a small wooden box on her kang.
Haha, she finally earned her first money.
Although it was not much, as a child less than two years old, she was already a rich woman in the village.
Sister Dani is almost ten years old, and her family has already started looking for a husband for her, but she has no money.
Compared to my cousins, I am extremely rich.
Well, after a while, she will definitely ask her father to take her to the market to buy some colorful silk and silk flowers for her cousin to tie her hair.