Chapter 260: Going to the Market
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
The Jiang family arrived at a very opportune time, just in time for the first day of the monthly market at Locust Tree Bay, which lasted for three days in total.
Jiang Chuan and Jiang Xia wanted to head to the market early to see what good items were available. Zhou Lan, having traveled by car all day, was too tired.
Jiang Gu was still in bed, so they let the father and daughter duo go, planning to regroup for lunch.
The geographical location of Locust Tree Bay is excellent, serving as a transportation hub connecting three county towns. There was a high flow of people, and the items they brought for trade were varied and unique. Many of these items couldn’t even be found in the county towns.
However, even though the place was quite open, direct buying and selling of goods was not allowed; bartering was the method of transaction.
Yet, the atmosphere was much more liberal than in the county town of Pushan Village. Everyone openly displayed their goods without hiding anything.
Jiang Chuan and Jiang Xia got up early, and by the time they reached the market, it was already crowded, showing the enthusiasm of the people towards the marketplace.
The market spanned an entire street, and at the end of this street was the supply and marketing cooperative of Locust Tree Bay. This meant that anything not bought or bartered at the market could be exchanged at the cooperative.
Jiang Xia, looking at the vast array of goods on the street, discussed with Jiang Chuan about the must-buy items.
The two stopped at a less crowded alley to take stock of their possessions.
The fish in Jiang Xia’s interspace grew rapidly, with a growth cycle of three days. After one day, they had grown into fat fish weighing two to three pounds, with other smaller fish reaching a pound, ready to grow further by the next day.
Moreover, these small fish had bred new ones. There were now at least a hundred fish in the stream.
The more Jiang Chuan heard, the more he became convinced of venturing into animal husbandry.
They planned to exchange thirty grown fish, seven wild rabbits, and fifty eggs at the market.
They also had several baskets of wild vegetables to barter, ideally with a restaurant to save time and effort.
If they couldn’t barter everything at the market, they could head to the cooperative at the end of the street.
After distributing the fish between their baskets, they decided to split up.
Jiang Xia hoped to diversify the animal species in her interspace and looked for other animals, especially larger ones like cattle and sheep.
While wandering, Jiang Xia’s attention was caught by a small makeup box.
The makeup box was of excellent quality, with smoothly polished wood and a layer of varnish. Such craftsmanship must have come from a big city.
Rural folks didn’t know much about makeup boxes. They hardly had any cosmetics, so most saw this box as a small storage container, inconvenient for home use. As a result, no one even gave it a second glance.
But Jiang Xia liked it.
She had realized just the day before that she had many small items scattered in her interspace, which made them hard to locate.
She also planned to look for some moisturizing cream, considering the dry weather that made it hard for the skin.
Jiang Xia squatted in front of the makeup box and asked the vendor, “How much is this makeup box?”
The vendor, a man in his forties with relatively fair skin, seemed younger than his peers, probably because he worked indoors and wasn’t often exposed to the sun. However, his hands were rough, bearing marks from handling vines. He was weaving something with a vine, but Jiang Xia couldn’t discern what it was.
The man initially disregarded Jiang Xia, seeing her as just a child. But the scent of fish from her basket caught his attention, prompting him to ask, “Two dollars. You have fish in your basket, right?”
The man glanced at Jiang Xia and decided to ignore her since she was a child. However, he suddenly smelled the fishy smell in her basket. He stopped what he was doing and said to her,” Two yuan.” Do you have fish in your basket?”
Given the strong fishy smell from Jiang Xia’s basket, it wasn’t surprising he noticed.
“Yes, each weighs around two to three pounds. How many would you want in exchange for the box?”
The vendor was surprised. Fish were rare those days, and a fish weighing over a pound was unusual.. And her fish were even larger!