Chapter 48: 48 Want to give less copper coins
Translator: 549690339
Aunt Wang also said, “That’s true, Dashan is a skilled hunter. He’s been hunting for many years, and his fur-cleaning skills are pretty good.”
“Dashan actually does it better, not that we haven’t seen other hunters skin their prey…”
Wang Adou looked at the three holes in the roe deer’s fur, made by the tip of a bamboo, “This is a good quality pelt, but it’s unfortunate that it was damaged.
It won’t fetch much money now.”
“It’s quite a feat to have hunted a roe deer…” the villagers started chattering again.
Aunt Wang, gazing at the roe deer meat, said, “Give me two jin.
I’ll buy more to take home. Preserving it with salt for slow consumption is not a bad idea.”
Another person said, “I originally only wanted one jin, but let’s get an extra half jin..
“I’ll also take an extra half jin…”
On the ground next to the platform, there was a bunch of grass, slightly longer than chopsticks. Xiao Yishan cut and weighed out the meat according to each villager’s request. A hole was made in each piece of meat and strung together with the grass. Knotting the ends of the grass together, the meat pieces could now be carried without getting the hands dirty.
When it was Granny Sun’s turn, he cut about one jin of roe deer meat, weighed it, and handed it to her, saying, “One jin of meat.”
Granny Sun counted the copper coins and handed them over. She wanted to ask Dashan to add a bit more minced meat from the cutting board, but seeing so many people, especially the self-righteous member of the Zhang family, she left without saying anything.
“Wait a minute…” Xiao Yishan called out to her.
“What’s the matter? I still have to rush home to work!” Granny Sun pretended to be impatient, but was actually a bit nervous.
“You’re one copper coin short.” Xiao Yishan spread out the copper coins she had given him on the table, and sure enough, there were only twelve. One less than what should have been given for one jin of meat.
Upon seeing this, the villagers all shook their heads. Aunt Zhang, in particular, glared at Granny Sun and said, “Granny Sun, you’re really penny-pinching! Did you think Dashan wouldn’t count?”
Granny Sun had hoped that Dashan was too busy to notice the missing coin and tried to feign ignorance, but she underestimated his sharpness. After all, if a hunter’s eyes weren’t sharp, how could he catch his prey?
And even when she was exposed, she denied it, took out a copper coin and placed it on the table, “I miscounted earlier. It’s just one copper coin, right? Dashan, as a man, and a fellow villager at that, shouldn’t you be less petty? It’s embarrassing…”
“You wicked old woman…” Aunt Zhang pointed at her and scolded her, “Not only do you take advantage of people, you even have the gall to criticize them. If Dashan were as stingy as you, he would have lost tens of cents from selling just one roe deer. And you dare to accuse him of being stingy…”
Everyone was shaking their heads at Granny Sun, acknowledging she was in the wrong.
Seeing the villagers speaking against her, Granny Sun hastily left with a disgruntled expression.
When it was Aunt Zhang’s turn to buy meat, Xiao Yishan secretly slipped her three copper coins, as a token of appreciation for her support.
Aunt Zhang was startled but accepted it nonetheless, picking up her meat and the wild rabbit and left. She was smart enough not to let the other villagers know, lest they also expected Xiao Yishan to undercharge them.
Su Qingyue, who had eaten dozens of apples, had initially planned to digest them for about twelve minutes before going to the river to bathe. Given her dirty and smelly condition, the distance of the river, and her injury slowing her down, her expected bathing time was several hours before she could return..