Although they were not well-off, Deng Xian gritted her teeth and, suppressing her heartache, took out thirty copper coins to buy a full two jin of pork with a good mix of fat and lean. She knew this would be an extraordinarily delicious feast for the children. Seeing the children's satisfied smiles made everything worthwhile.
The side dish for the stir-fried pork was spring bamboo shoots that Shi An had repeatedly begged Deng Xian to buy. The price of these spring bamboo shoots was astonishingly low—a dozen or so jin cost a mere two copper coins! As it turned out, these spring bamboo shoots had been dug up by the son of the elderly vegetable-selling woman, who had asked her to sell them on the side, never expecting they would actually sell.
After all, while there was no shortage of wealthy people in the county town, these dignitaries and nobles had hired servants to handle purchasing and cooking, and ordinary goods simply failed to catch their eye. As for the common folk, most could not bear to spend money on spring bamboo shoots, preferring to go up the mountain and dig them up themselves.
Chapter 18