Lin Zezu and Madame Jiang had just descended the hillside with the two children when they ran into Fugui, who was rushing over from the town in a panic.
"Young Master... I..."
Only then did Fugui notice Madame Jiang and the two children following behind Lin Zezu.
Knowing that a few words could not explain everything clearly, Lin Zezu simply skipped the explanation and said to Fugui, "Fugui, this is Madame Jiang and her two children. Take them to town and arrange for them to have something to eat."
"Get two sets of clothes for each of them, and on the way, drop them off at the three sheds at West Village End so the three of them can stay there temporarily."
"Also, give some copper coins to Li Tieshuan and have Madame Li of the Li Family prepare extra food during meal times. On your way back, try to take the paths where fewer people go."
"Understood, Young Master."
Fugui's mind was full of questions, but he did not ask them out loud.
Lin Zezu said to Madame Jiang, "Madame Jiang, this is my attendant, Fugui. You will go with him first and follow his arrangements."
"Thank you very much, benefactor, for troubling Young Brother Fugui."
"It's just what the Young Master ordered, no trouble at all."
With that, Fugui led Madame Jiang and the children away from Lin Zezu, heading toward the town one after the other.
Lin Zezu arrived at Hu's Grain Shop. His main purpose this afternoon was to figure out the current market prices so that he would have a clear idea for the future.
After stepping into the grain shop and asking a series of questions, he finally ended up annoying the shopkeeper, at which point Lin Zezu sensed the situation turning sour and promptly stepped outside.
In his mind, he now had a rough estimate of grain prices:
Fine rice: twelve cash per jin.
Coarse rice: seven cash per jin.
Flour: ten cash per jin.
Soybean oil: eighteen cash per jin.
Sesame oil: twenty cash per jin.
Coarse salt: twenty-six cash per jin.
Fine salt: thirty cash per jin.
Turbid rice wine: fifteen cash per jin.
Glutinous rice: twelve cash per jin.
Paddy rice: five cash per jin.
Wheat: seven cash per jin.
………
Lin Zezu then strolled over to the town's sundry shop. Several large water vats placed right at the entrance were particularly eye-catching.
Nested inside the water vats were medium-sized grain vats. Ordinary commoner households did not have much surplus grain, so they usually stored their grain in these bulbous grain vats, which protected against both moisture and rodents.
Nested inside the grain vats were jars used for pickling sour cabbage.
The sundry shop mostly sold household sundries along with various jars and pots.
Lin Zezu was also surprised to find that the sundry shop actually sold a set of white porcelain tea cups and a tea caddy, though they were entirely plain and undecorated.
A white porcelain tea cup with a lid cost five cash, and the white porcelain tea caddy—small in shape and estimated by eye to hold about half a jin of tea leaves—was priced at four cash.
Seeing that Lin Zezu was interested in this set of white porcelain tea ware, the sundry shopkeeper came forward and enthusiastically introduced them.
"You have a fine eye, Young Master! These white porcelain tea cups and caddies are luxuries that only wealthy families in the Prefecture City can afford."
"When I went to the Prefecture City to purchase goods, I happened to run into them and brought back more than ten sets. Now this is the very last set left. If you need it, Young Master, I can sell it to you for one cash cheaper."
"Shopkeeper, I am indeed interested in this set of white porcelain tea ware, but I don't want plain ones."
"Would the shopkeeper happen to know if words can be engraved on the bottom of these tea cups and caddy? If they can be engraved with a custom inscription on the base, I will take them and order five hundred of each kind with the inscription."
"If characters cannot be engraved on the bottom, then I must trouble the shopkeeper to bring back ten of each the next time you go to the Prefecture City."
The sundry shopkeeper looked at Lin Zezu in some disbelief.
"This humble person's surname is Gao. May I ask your esteemed surname, Young Master?"
It was hardly a wonder that Store Manager Gao was skeptical, considering a scholar of fourteen or fifteen years of age had just casually requested several hundred pieces with custom bottom inscriptions.
Understanding this, Lin Zezu smiled and said, "Store Manager Gao, my humble surname is Lin, given name Zezu. My home is in Linjiang Village, and I study at Songshan Private School. Recently, due to family matters, I am taking a temporary leave from my studies at home."
"Could you be the son of the Lin family from Linjiang Village..."
"Precisely, my late father."
"Ah. That explains it..."
"If it is convenient for you, Young Master Lin, you may leave the inscription and prepay one tael of silver as a deposit. Whether the deal succeeds or not, I will give Young Master Lin word in half a month. How does that sound to you, Young Master Lin?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Store Manager Gao went back into the back room and brought out brush, ink, paper, and an inkstone.
Without hesitation, Lin Zezu took up the brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote the two characters "Chunying" in running cursive script on a sheet of Xuan paper. He then pulled out a tael of silver and handed it to Store Manager Gao.
After taking the silver, Store Manager Gao wrote out a receipt for Lin Zezu.
Lin Zezu put away the receipt and lingered no longer. Beaming with smiles, Store Manager Gao escorted him out of the sundry shop.
Lin Zezu then wandered over to the nearby Chen Family Blacksmith Shop.
The blacksmith shop was run by a father-and-son pair surnamed Chen. The shop mainly forged farming tools, kitchen knives, chopping knives, bamboo-stripping knives, and other iron utensils.
Lin Zezu spent five hundred cash to order a large iron wok used for stir-frying tea leaves, and Master Chen told him he could come back to collect it in three days.
Finally, Lin Zezu dropped by the butcher shop. He agreed with Butcher Zhang on a price of fifteen cash per jin for pork, pre-ordered three portions of rib meat, and after paying the deposit in advance, arranged for Fugui to come collect them tomorrow morning.
These three portions of rib meat were intended as gifts for the clan head and the two elder uncles of the clan.
After that, he stopped by the sundry shop again and spent twenty-five cash to buy two packages of fine tobacco, intended as gifts for Elder Uncle Ershu and Elder Uncle Sanshu.
This made Store Manager Gao so happy that he kept exclaiming he had bumped into the God of Wealth today.
Seeing a pastry shop nearby, Lin Zezu thought for a moment and walked inside, spending thirty cash to buy a gift box containing eight varieties of pastries. He asked the owner of the pastry shop to pack them into a gift set and, after paying the bill, left them at the shop so Fugui could pick them all up together tomorrow.
By the time he finished taking care of these matters, the sky was growing late, so Lin Zezu simply walked over to a noodle stall and spent ten cash on a bowl of plain noodles with an egg. The noodles tasted ordinary, barely palatable.
When Lin Zezu returned to the Lin Estate, it was completely dark. As he entered the gates, he saw the gatekeeper boy Ping'an and asked, "Ping'an, have you seen Fugui come back?"
"Reporting to Fourth Master, this humble servant hasn't seen him."
"Then make sure to leave the side door open for him. I sent him to take care of some business, so he might be back a bit late."
"Understood, Fourth Master."
The reason Lin Zezu gave these instructions was that Fugui had previously been given a hard time by Ping'an, and the original owner had always preferred to avoid trouble whenever possible, eventually letting the matter slide.
Over the past two days, the entire estate had been buzzing with rumors that this "jinx" was about to be expelled from the household. Ping'an still felt a twinge of sour envy that Fugui was able to go out into town. Besides, since this "jinx" was someone leaving the estate anyway, there was no need to put on a sour face the way he used to.