Traveling to ancient times, with space

Chapter 18 Buying a Mule

Su Yue arrived at the mule-selling area and carefully examined the only mule there; she didn't want to buy one with problems.

They found that the mules were fine except for being a little thin. In this year of famine, not only were the mules too thin, but even the people were starving to death.

The mule seller saw a little girl circling around his mule and wanted to chase her away.

But seeing that there wasn't a soul in sight on the street, he decided to just let it be; after all, this little girl couldn't steal a mule.

Surprisingly, the little girl actually wanted to buy it.

The mule seller picked at his ear and asked again, incredulously, "You really want to buy this mule?"

"What, you think I won't give you the money? Just tell me how much it costs. If you can afford it, I'll take it; if you can't, you can keep it." Su Yue acted like a little adult.

"Hey, you little girl, don't let its thin appearance fool you, this mule is better than an ox. It was fed during this famine year when there was no food, otherwise I wouldn't be willing to sell it. It'll cost at least twenty-three taels of silver." The mule seller assumed the little girl was asking on behalf of an adult and didn't dare to ask for an exorbitant price.

Su Yue didn't know if twenty-three taels was expensive for a mule, but she always had to bargain when buying things.

"Sixteen taels, I'll pay if you want to sell it." Su Yue immediately cut the price by one-third.

The mule seller almost physically kicked the man out, but after a sigh, he reluctantly sold it to him: "Fine, I'll sell it to you. Pay up now, and you can take the mule away right away."

If we run out of food at home, and the mule needs to eat and drink every day, and we're almost out of water ourselves, where would we find food and water to feed the livestock?

Just then, his daughter-in-law had given birth to his grandson, so he absolutely refused to sell him.

It's better to sell at a loss than to starve at home if you can't sell anything.

The boss sold it so readily that Su Yue felt she hadn't bargained enough and kept saying she'd lost out.

Having no other choice, Su Yue really didn't want to walk back and forth every day, so she took out a ten-tael ingot, a five-tael ingot, and a few pieces of loose silver from her bosom, which was actually from her spatial storage.

After paying, Su Yue called Su Erbao over to lead the mule.

Su Erbao didn't know how Su Yue had the money to buy a mule, but he knew that Su Yue was incredibly powerful now, though she could also hit people quite hard.

He made up his mind to follow Su Yue from now on, hoping to eat meat every meal and avoid getting beaten up.

He would be happy to lead Su Yue's mule every day, which shows that Su Yue is no ordinary person.

Didn't you see that even the third uncle in town didn't dare to utter a sound when he saw her?

After leaving the livestock market, Su Yue sat on the back of a mule, and Su Erbao led the mule toward the blacksmith shop.

There were pots in the space, but no stoves, so Su Yue wanted to go to the blacksmith's shop to have a few stoves made for her.

Su Erbao led the mule to the blacksmith's shop. Su Yue jumped off the mule and told Su Erbao to wait outside while she went in alone.

Upon entering the blacksmith's shop, there wasn't a soul in sight. Su Yue called out twice, "Is anyone here? Is the blacksmith here?..."

Just as Su Yue thought no one was around and turned to leave.

A burly man ran out from the small side gate at the back and called out to Su Yue, "Little girl, what do you want to fight? Where are your parents?"

When Su Yue saw the blacksmith come out, she showed him the drawings she had made.

"Really? Money is no problem!"

This was the first time the blacksmith had ever seen someone bring blueprints to make something. He took a look at the blueprints and was amazed to find that they were incredibly detailed.

"Girl, your drawing is really good. Even I, a rough old man, can understand it. But this is the first time I've seen a stove like this. I can make it, but it may take a few days."

"Okay, make me two of these furnaces from this drawing, two of these small furnaces from this drawing, and three of these round ones." Su Yue pointed out the three styles of furnaces from the drawing to the blacksmith.

When the blacksmith heard that he wanted to make several, the wrinkles on his face deepened even more as he smiled, and he happily agreed.

"Little girl, don't worry about this job! Come pick it up in three days, and I promise I'll make it perfectly straight."

Su Yue also ordered several iron pots to match the stove from the blacksmith.

“Little girl, I won’t ask for much. You can ask around the town and find out that our shop’s prices are the most reasonable. Since you’re selling this much, I’ll give you a price of sixty-five taels of silver. You can pay ten taels as a deposit first, and pay the rest when you pick up the goods.”

Su Yue thought the price was acceptable, considering that iron was quite expensive in ancient times.

Su Yue pretended to take out a ten-tael silver coin from her bosom and put it in the blacksmith's hand.

Then he asked the blacksmith, "Master, do you have any weapons for sale in this shop?"

The blacksmith, who was initially pleased to receive ten taels of silver, was so frightened upon hearing this that he almost dropped the silver. He quickly pulled Su Yue into the shop and whispered, "Girl, we blacksmiths can't forge weapons on our own. If we're caught, we'll be beheaded. You must never ask about this again."

Su Yue glanced at the terrified blacksmith and said, "You misunderstood. I don't want to forge weapons on my own; I just want a weapon to defend myself."

"You should have said so earlier! You scared me to death! I do have a few weapons for self-defense. Come with me to this room and see if there's anything you want." The blacksmith was really frightened by the little girl in front of him, but then he thought about it and realized that even if someone really wanted to buy weapons, they wouldn't call a little girl to do it.

Su Yue followed the blacksmith into another room, where she saw a few daggers and some farm tools like hoes, hammers, and shovels hanging on the earthen walls…

After looking around, I still couldn't find a weapon I wanted, so I'll just buy a dagger for self-defense for now!

"I'll take all of these daggers."

The blacksmith happily took the dagger off, wrapped it up, and handed it to Su Yue. "A dagger is only worth three taels of silver. There are three here. Consider it a good deed and give me eight taels of silver."

This time, I've really met the God of Wealth.

Su Yue took the dagger, checked it and found nothing wrong, then took out a ten-tael silver ingot from her bosom.

Just as the blacksmith was checking the silver in his hand and about to give back two taels of silver, Su Yue spoke up again: "Master, can I have a spoon made like this?"

Su Yue used the dagger in her bosom to draw a serrated spoon on the ground.

The blacksmith looked at it and thought it looked like a spoon but not quite, so he asked, "Girl! What you drew looks like a spoon to me. But why isn't it round, and why does it have these serrated edges? Can you even use a spoon like this to hold rice? Won't it scoop through the pot?"

"Master, is it alright if I make this?" Su Yue asked the blacksmith.

"That's easy. I'll only charge you two taels of silver. Just come and pick it up with the iron boiler," the blacksmith said happily.

"Alright! I'll come back in three days." Su Yue was quite satisfied and left the shop with the dagger in her arms.