The shopkeeper leaned out from behind the counter to take a look, not too surprised, and just calmly nodded: "Such a big fish is indeed rare."
Yet before Jiang Hu could feel happy, the shopkeeper shook his head.
"But, brother, fish are not a novelty these days, besides someone already brought a bucket of fish before you."
Jiang Hu was instantly in despair, but still forced a smile and nodded: "I see, sorry to bother you, shopkeeper."
At least he wasn't directly driven away, right?
Just when Jiang Hu was downcast, preparing to carry the fish back home, a little boy rushed out from inside and bumped directly into his leg, then sat down on the ground.
The little guy was chubby and adorable, just like his own little Xiaomi, immediately arousing Jiang Hu's affection.
He quickly reached out to pull the little guy up: "Are you alright, did you hurt yourself?"
The little boy was about to cry but immediately saw the big fish in the wooden bucket, stopped crying instantly, and didn't feel his backside hurt anymore. He clapped his hands excitedly, shouting: "Daddy, big fish, big fish!"
Jiang Hu was stunned for a moment, then realized this child wasn't calling him, quickly looking around to see a pretty lady hastily coming out from inside the tavern.
"What big fish, Xiao Bao, don't run around, or daddy will spank you."
Just as these words were spoken, she saw her little boy lying next to a large water bucket, supported by a bewildered peasant who was looking at her.
Jiang Hu quickly bowed his head when he saw the lady: "Ma'am, the little young master accidentally fell just now."
This lady dressed luxuriously, clearly either rich or noble, but one wonders why such a person appears in this small town.
"Mom, look at the big fish, such a big fish, Xiao Bao wants to eat the big fish, not little fish, but big, big fish!"
The little guy didn't see his dad, and his excitement didn't diminish at all. He had never seen such a big fish before!
Jiang Hu's originally low spirits were instantly filled with hope again, he looked at the little young master, feeling there might be a turn for the better.
The lady approached, Jiang Hu hurriedly bent his waist and retreated a step.
The lady was also surprised to see the big fish in the bucket: "Such a big fish."
The fish was so big that the bucket couldn't hold it; half of the fish tail was bent at the bottom, and even the fish head was almost as big as a palm. The opening and closing fish mouth and gills looked a bit intimidating.
"What big fish, what's the lady talking about?" A handsome young man stepped out from inside, the one big and one small both turned back at the voice.
"Husband, look, such a big fish."
"Daddy, big fish, Xiao Bao wants to eat big fish!"
The young man strode over, picked up Xiao Bao, then looked down at the fish: "Wow, it's indeed not small, it's rare to see such a big fish."
Then he looked at Jiang Hu: "Did you bring it?"
Jiang Hu only glanced at the young man before quickly averting his gaze. When asked, he nodded repeatedly: "I brought it, caught it last night, initially wanted to sell it, but the tavern already had fish."
The young man wasn't surprised: "This fish is indeed hard to sell; if you are interested, you are better off trying to catch some wild rabbits or pheasants in the mountains, which are worth much more than this fish."
Jiang Hu nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes, I was planning to go to the mountains this afternoon."
The young man didn't say much more, instead smiled and asked the boy in his arms: "Xiao Bao wants to eat big fish?"
Xiao Bao nodded repeatedly: "Want to eat, very, very big fish, dad, mom, and Xiao Bao will eat together!"
"Alright then, let's have a sweet and sour fish for lunch, dad, mom, and Xiao Bao will eat together." Saying that, he pulled out half a liang of broken silver from his purse: "We'll take this fish, shopkeeper, have the chef make it for lunch."
The broken silver was directly given to Jiang Hu, who was frightened and waved his hand repeatedly: "Too much, too much, it doesn't need to be this much money!"
The young man raised a brow, somewhat surprised, but still directly tossed the broken silver into Jiang Hu's arms: "Take it if given, it's rare my son likes it so much."
Then smiled and asked Xiao Bao in his arms again: "Isn't it so, Xiao Bao?"
Xiao Bao nodded repeatedly, stretching his hands to show a very big shape: "Yes, Xiao Bao wants to eat big, big fish, not little fish."
Jiang Hu didn't expect to be so lucky, he bowed repeatedly to express his thanks, but the young man had already waved it off, held his son, took the lady, and went out for a walk.
The shopkeeper called over the waiter to carry the bucket, watching Jiang Hu with a smile: "You indeed have good luck."
Jiang Hu nodded repeatedly, carefully putting the broken silver into his breast pocket: "Yes, yes, yes, that gentleman is really kind-hearted. I was thinking about taking it home."
The shopkeeper saw Jiang Hu constantly touching his chest and simply put down the brush in his hand: "Brother, you can't do this, it easily attracts attention."
"Huh?" Jiang Hu was startled, then realized and quickly put his hand down: "Thank you for the reminder, shopkeeper, I was too excited and forgot."
With this half liang of broken silver, he could buy a lot of things; not only could he buy salt, but he could also get a few meters of cloth. The clothes of Da Wa and Er Ni were too short, and their bodies were also patched up.
San Ni and Tie Dan had not had a single piece of clothing since birth, always wrapped in an old blanket on the bed.
The more Jiang Hu thought about it, the happier he felt, deeply grateful to the gentleman just now.
The shopkeeper noticed and remembered that several barren villages around had recently taken in some refugees.
He thought for a moment: "How about I exchange it for copper coins for you? Use some for shopping outside, and save the rest carefully."
Jiang Hu quickly took out the broken silver and handed it to the shopkeeper with both hands: "Thank you for the trouble, shopkeeper, thank you, thank you."
The shopkeeper shook his head as if saying there was no need to thank, first using a scale to weigh the broken silver, then counted four hundred and seventy-two copper coins for Jiang Hu, all strung together with hemp rope.
Jiang Hu kept bowing to say thanks, then counted twenty or so copper coins and placed the rest inside his inner clothes, securing them tightly to his body.
At this moment, the waiter brought out the water bucket, Jiang Hu accepted the wooden bucket and was ready to leave, but the shopkeeper stopped him.
"Brother, I heard you say you plan to go to the mountains to catch wild game this afternoon? If you catch some, feel free to bring them here. While fish isn't worth much, if you manage to catch wild chickens or rabbits, those aren't cheap."
Jiang Hu was instantly overjoyed: "Okay, thank you, shopkeeper, if I get any, I'll bring them to you tomorrow."
The shopkeeper nodded, letting him go about his business first.
Jiang Hu was so excited that even his steps felt light, as if he was walking on clouds.
But a cool breeze blew by, successfully calming him down. Although there weren't many people in town, there were still a few. He held more than twenty copper coins in his palm, adding a silly smile on his face, which already caught attention.
Though the passersby were merely curious why this person acted as if he had never seen money before, even a few copper coins made him this excited.
But those looks also successfully reminded Jiang Hu of one thing — wealth moves people's hearts!
He came out with just one fish but exchanged it for nearly half a liang of silver!
To someone without even a single copper coin, this was undeniably a huge sum!
Jiang Hu took a deep breath; he had to stay calm. Today, aside from salt, he couldn't buy anything!
PS: The scale (deng) is a third tone, an ancient term for weighing small amounts of gold and silver.
PS: Everyone, remember Xiao Bao, see if you can recognize him later on~