"When the time comes, we’ll also get a small cart for the ox to pull," An Jing said with a smile, "That way, we’ll have an ox cart, and we won’t have to walk to town anymore."
"Hmm." After a pause, Xiao Changyi asked, "We still have a hundred jin of fermented bean curd at home. Shall we take some to sell in town tomorrow?"
An Jing shook her head, "No, not tomorrow. We will go with empty hands, specifically to buy an ox and a cart. Once we have the ox cart, we can go to sell the fermented bean curd. That way, we won’t have to carry the curd ourselves, and we won’t need to get up so early anymore."
Riding an ox cart would certainly be much faster than walking to town.
"Hmm." He followed her lead, having no objections of his own.
Oxen could not only plow fields but also be used for transportation. In this world, oxen were not allowed to be slaughtered privately. Only when an ox grew old and became useless could its owner apply to the government for permission to slaughter it.
An Jing and Xiao Changyi arrived at the livestock market in Sixteen Town. There were many oxen, but only two types, normal oxen and water buffaloes.
The normal oxen were yellow, their horns shorter than those of water buffaloes, their bodies smaller, and their strength less. They also disliked water, so they were much cheaper than water buffaloes.
A normal ox could be bought for four taels, but a water buffalo cost at least five taels.
"Husband, I want to buy a water buffalo." As soon as the sales pitch ended, An Jing stated her wish to Xiao Changyi without hesitation.
Xiao Changyi went along with her wish, "Hmm."
The livestock seller was both surprised and pleased upon hearing their interest in buying a water buffalo. Surprised because there weren’t many farmers who could afford a water buffalo, and pleased because the profit from selling one water buffalo was equivalent to selling two normal oxen.
In the end, An Jing chose a particularly robust and healthy-looking water buffalo and bought it for five taels and four hundred coins.
Then, An Jing and Xiao Changyi led the buffalo to a carpenter’s shop and bought a small cart for the animal to pull, turning it into an ox cart, which cost a hundred coins.
Passing by a rice shop, Xiao Changyi pulled An Jing inside and bought ten jin of polished rice, which was quite expensive at twenty coins per jin, totaling two hundred coins.
An Jing had actually not planned to buy polished rice, but Xiao Changyi had pulled her inside, clearly intending to buy. She knew he was buying it for her to eat, so she didn’t resist his wish at all and let him buy ten jin of polished rice to put on the ox cart.
They couldn’t afford to eat rice every meal just yet, but having a very thin rice porridge with each meal was still an option. The last batch of polished rice he had bought was consumed just like that.
Spotting a pork shop not far away, An Jing said, "Husband, let’s buy some pork bones."
Without waiting for Xiao Changyi to reply, An Jing lowered her voice and added, "Bone broth is very nourishing, especially when made from large bones. In my original world, pig bones were much more expensive than the meat. People here really don’t know what’s valuable."
Pork cost twelve coins per jin, spare ribs ten coins per jin, but those large bones, as they had little meat on them and people here didn’t realize that bone broth was highly nutritious, were actually quite cheap—only five coins per jin.
As soon as An Jing arrived at the pork shop, she bought four jin of large bones for twenty coins.
When An Jing turned around after purchasing the pork bones, she saw Xiao Changyi standing behind her, holding a stick of candied hawthorns.
Upon seeing her turn, Xiao Changyi handed her the candied hawthorns, "Here."