Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 419: Fresh river fish is hard to come by in winter, please send us the fish if you have any

When the waiter heard that there was fresh fish, which was a rare thing in winter, he hurried forward to take a look.

He saw that there were indeed three river fish swimming around in the two wooden barrels, looking very lively, so he hurriedly said, "Wait a moment, young lady. I'll go in and ask for you."

As he said this, he trotted up the stairs and went into the store.

Shen Yu asked Liu Shun to drive the mule cart forward and stop it in the open space next to the restaurant. The three of them waited for the people in the restaurant to come out.

After a while, a middle-aged man in a thick ochre-red silk cotton brocade robe came out behind the waiter and went down the stairs one after the other.

The middle-aged man bowed when he saw Shen Yu and said kindly, "How are you, young lady? I'm the shopkeeper of this restaurant. I heard from the waiter that you have fresh river fish for sale?"

Shen Yu quickly returned the salute and stepped aside, revealing the wooden barrel on the car behind him.

The shopkeeper looked inside and saw that the river fish in the bucket was indeed good. He nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile, "Fresh river fish in winter is really hard to come by. Yesterday a customer wanted to eat fish soup but couldn't get one."

"Our restaurant wants all three of these fish. Miss, name your price."

Although the restaurant has not bought fish for cooking recently, Shen Yu still has some knowledge of the price of fish.

I heard from Wei Laowu, who sells fish at a stall on Dongcheng Street, that river fish in winter are sold by the kilogram.

If it is a larger river fish, weighing more than one catty, it can be sold for one hundred coins per catty.

It’s just that the winter is so cold that sometimes it’s hard to catch any fish in the river even after a whole day.

Therefore, whenever he caught fish in the winter, he would send them directly to large restaurants without having to set up a stall to sell them.

Although Shen Yu did not weigh the fish, based on his past experience of buying fish, he estimated that each of the three fish he brought weighed more than one kilogram, and the larger one weighed about one and a half kilograms.

So he followed the price Wei Laowu had said and said, "Just follow the market price, 100 coins per catty."

The shopkeeper saw that Shen Yu and the other two were relatively young, all wearing thick long coats, and driving a large mule cart loaded with firewood and grass.

It doesn't look like he makes a living by fishing. He just occasionally gets this fish to sell.

He thought the three men would ask for an exorbitant price, and was thinking about how to bargain if the price was too high.

Unexpectedly, Shen Yu quoted a market price from half a month ago. If I want to buy this fish now, it will probably cost twenty more silver coins per pound.

He smiled and said, "Miss, you've given a fair price. I'll ask the waiter to bring the bucket and take the fish to the kitchen to be weighed. I'll pay the bill for you."

Qi Xi saw that the shopkeeper answered too quickly and knew that Shen Yu's price was too low, so he smiled and said, "Shopkeeper, although we weigh by kilogram, this big one is almost two kilograms."

"Such a big fish is hard to come by in winter, so you should charge more for this one."

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper looked at Qi Xi. He thought the man looked familiar because of his two little fangs when he smiled, as if he had been to the restaurant with the young master of some noble family.

But the customers came and went in the restaurant every day, and no matter how good his memory was, he could not remember a single young follower.

But with this in mind, and since the price of these fish was indeed lower than the market price, he said straightforwardly: "Just do as the young man said, one hundred and twenty coins per pound for this big one."

Qi Xi nodded with satisfaction and said to Liu Shun, "Brother Liu Shun, you stay here and watch over the car. We'll be back soon."

The waiter and Qixi each carried a bucket to the kitchen, while the shopkeeper politely invited Shen Yu to sit in the accounting office for a while.

After entering the accounting office, the two sat there waiting for Qixi to come back from weighing the goods.

The shopkeeper asked Shen Yu where he caught the fish and whether he would have them again in the future.

Shen Yu didn't want to say that the laborers were repairing the river bank for the government and had to find ways to earn some food expenses. She only vaguely said that it was a relative who occasionally caught some fish and asked her to sell them. She didn't know where they were caught.

Seeing that Shen Yu was being vague, the shopkeeper did not ask any further questions, but just smiled and said, "Fresh river fish are hard to come by in winter. If your relatives can catch fish in the future, just send them to Xingshenglou."

"The price is negotiable. For the bigger fish just now, I'll charge you 120 coins per pound. What do you think?"

Of course Shen Yu wanted nothing more than to agree, and just as he was about to nod in agreement, he stopped talking.

From the conversation between Qixi and the shopkeeper just now, she knew that her price was a bit low. After thinking for a while, she said, "Shopkeeper, there is only ice on the river water now. It will freeze over in a few days, and it will be even harder to catch fish."

"If more fish arrive, the shopkeeper will give you a higher price."

The shopkeeper laughed and said, "Of course, the price is different at different times."

"A big fish in the summer only costs a few dozen coins. In the winter, if the river is really frozen, a large fish can be sold for 150 coins or more per pound."

"If the girl brings some fish, we can discuss it based on the size of the fish."

Only then did Shen Yu agree.

Just as the two men agreed on the price, Qixi and his waiter walked in.

The boy reported the weight of the big fish and the two smaller fish, then put down the empty bucket, bowed and left.

After hearing this, the shopkeeper hurriedly asked the accountant who had been waiting on the side to calculate the money and pay it to Shen Yu.

Only then did Shen Yu and Qi Xi come out happily.

The three river fish brought a total of 432 coins.

Shen Yu sat on the mule cart, looking at the strings of silver coins at his feet, and couldn't help thinking happily: "When I go shopping for food today, I can buy more eggs, tofu, and pork."

Before returning to the construction site, Shen Yu went to the kitchen to pack a bag of chicken bones.

Unexpectedly, she ran into Li coming out of the small door of the shop and blocked her way.

Li looked at the dry lotus leaf in Shen Yu's hand with a look of doubt and surprise. Inside was a pile of chicken bones that had not yet been wrapped.

She said in surprise, "Yuzhi, yesterday Sanniang said that you packed a bag of chicken bones and threw them in the kitchen, but I didn't believe it. I didn't expect to see it with my own eyes today."

"Haven't you sold all the firewood you brought in every day?"

"It's been colder these days, and the price of firewood has gone up. How come you don't have money to buy vegetables, and you secretly took chicken bones to cook?"

Before Shen Yu could reply, Li asked angrily, "Did the government take the money you earned from selling firewood?"

"You're being forced to use these unwanted chicken bones to make soup?"

As Li spoke, her eyes turned red. She turned around and was about to drag Shen Yu to find Lu Lang to seek justice, and yelled at Shen Yu to quit this unfortunate job.

Shen Yu was at a loss for words because of what Li said, and he couldn't get a word in.

Seeing her angry and distressed face, Shen Yu hurriedly pulled Li back to the kitchen and told her in a few words about how he had asked the servants to make cages to catch fish.

Li looked at the bag of chicken bones, then looked at Shen Yu's expression, her face still half-believing and half-doubting.