Most people would never be so paranoid that they would infer that there were pirates just from the words "a boat came over" on the water. However, Zhang Shou was used to using his imagination to interpret Ah Liu's words, so his first reaction was to grab Zhu Ying's reins.
When he looked into the distance and saw a small boat floating on the calm river, with a fisherman wearing a bamboo hat on it, he gradually felt relieved.
At this time, Old Salted Fish once again showed his ability to know the way. He rode forward and shouted, "Hey, are you going fishing today? Do you have any fresh fish, shrimp or crabs? If so, give me a price!"
The fisherman wearing a bamboo hat on the boat immediately rowed over, laughing and shouting, "I just caught a net of fish this morning. Most of them were sold to Mr. Liu in Liujia Village ahead. There are still two live fish left here, weighing four or five pounds. If the customer wants them, I will sell them at a discount of one hundred yuan. These are fresh carps, tender and plump, definitely not inferior to the Yellow River carp!"
"One hundred coins, why don't you go and rob? There are so many fish in the floating river, even a country boy could probably catch one or two if he dived into the water. But your two fish are worth at most fifty coins!"
"Brother, you are lying with your eyes open! If this were in the capital, such fresh fish would cost at least one or two hundred coins per catty. In Cangzhou, there are a lot of water and fish, so twenty or thirty coins per catty is the minimum. All the guests are riding on tall horses, and you still want to calculate these tens of coins from me? Isn't this too much of an insult?"
Old Salty Fish had already jumped off his horse and reached the shore, arguing with the others with saliva flying everywhere: "Are those who ride tall horses rich? We are a caravan that just came back from the north selling horses, and we have to spend every penny carefully! You said 20 or 30 cents a pound of fish, but you want to buy fresh fish, and your fish is just what others have left..."
Although Zhu Ying had been to Rongshui Village, she had never seen such a fierce bargaining scene. Seeing Lao Xianyu and the fisherman bargaining back and forth for several rounds before they finally reached the deal at a price of sixty-five cents, she raised her eyebrows in confusion.
For her, copper coins were never used for daily expenses. In her purse, besides a few beautifully minted gold melon seeds, there were a dozen silver coins. She would never carry copper coins, which were worthless and heavy. Seeing that Old Salted Fish counted out the copper coins to the fisherman, just like the miser in the rumors, she couldn't help but look at Zhang Shou.
Zhang Shou smiled at her and said, "Don't think that Lao Xianyu really cares about the thirty-five coins. Think about it, will we let him pay for the fish? No matter how much he spends, will we not give him the money?"
Zhu Ying had just realized what was going on. The old salted fish, who had already given the last copper coin, smiled and returned with two fish on a straw rope. Behind him, the fisherman also rowed away with a smile. Obviously, he was quite satisfied with the price of 65 copper coins. The old salted fish was also very satisfied. He showed off proudly in front of everyone.
"Although none of you care about the money, you still have to fight for it when you need to, otherwise you will be taken advantage of if you are not careful. Although this carp has been online for a long time, it is still alive. We can kill it and pickle it immediately, and then grill it over a fire. We don't need to rush at this moment, let's take a break, eat something to eat, and avoid the hottest time of the sun."