After Picking Up the Lucky Girl, the Whole Village Became Prosperous

Chapter 22 Selling Fish

 When I got home, it was already dark.

The clothes on the three brothers were all frozen with ice, and they were shivering from the cold.

Jiang Dalang was still sneezing and rubbing his nose.

Upon seeing this, Mrs. Zhou quickly pulled her husband to the stove and asked him to take off his clothes and warm himself up.

Old man Jiang and his wife were also busy. They first asked their grandson to get clothes, and then ordered their granddaughter to boil hot water, wash their faces and hands, and change their clothes for the eldest, second, and third sons.

“Oh, my whole body is wet, my hair is frozen.”

Mrs. Jiang was so anxious that she hurriedly rummaged for dried dogwood and boiled water for the children to relieve the cold.

Jiang Sanlang warmed himself up a little, and soon recovered. Together with his thirteen-year-old nephew, he put the fish into a large water tank at home for temporary storage, and ate two bowls of hot noodles before returning home.

At this moment, Chun Niang and her children were lying on the kang and taking a nap. When she saw her husband raising the curtain and coming in, she quickly got up.

"Why are you so late? Have you eaten? I'll go and heat up the rice." Chun Niang stepped onto the kang lightly to prepare food for her husband.

 “Don’t be busy, I’ve already eaten at my eldest brother’s house.”

Jiang Sanlang sat on the edge of the Kang and took off his shoes, got into the warm bed, and sighed, "It's so warm."

Chunniang took the cloth and returned to the kang. While wiping her husband's hair, she asked in a low voice, "Why did your hair get wet and fell into the river?"

“No.” Jiang Sanlang smiled lowly and said, “We had a great harvest today and we caught several big fish, all of them four feet long.”

Chun Niang was surprised: "Four feet? How much does that weigh? The fish we usually see by the river are only three or four kilograms at most and only two or three feet long. Why do we always encounter big fish this year?"

Jiang Sanlang put his hands behind his head and said leisurely: "The river in our area is deep and there are no serious fishermen. I don't have the chance to see it."

He turned to look at his wife: "I'm going to the town to go to the market tomorrow morning. Take a look at what else is needed at home, and I'll buy it all. New Year's Day is coming soon, and I have to prepare all the new year's goods at home. Yingbao is getting bigger now. , I also want to buy some clothes for my little girl.”

 “Okay, let me think about what I want to buy...”

 It was dark the next day. Jiang Sanlang got up early and went to the kitchen to get a pole and bucket to carry water.

 After filling the water tank, he hurried out of the house and went to meet his eldest brother at his house.

When Mrs. Zhou saw her third uncle coming, she quickly invited him to have breakfast and said, "Your eldest brother seems to be ill. He may not be able to go to Jishang today."

“Sick?” Jiang Sanlang was surprised and asked, “Do you want to ask a doctor?”

“I’ll ask Dacheng to invite you later.” Zhou said with a sad face, “Your elder brother still had a fever at night, I’m a little worried...”

Jiang Sanlang: "How about I go to the town to hire a doctor? The ones in the village are not that good after all."

There is someone in their village who knows a little bit about Qihuang, but he can only treat common minor illnesses, not serious ones. Not only is it a matter of medical skills, but also because he doesn’t have any good medicinal materials at hand.

 “Then I’ll trouble you, Sanlang.” Mr. Zhou felt slightly relieved.

After dinner, Jiang Sanlang saw that his second brother had not come for a long time, so he asked his nephew Jiang Quan to visit his home.

As a result, Jiang Quan came back from a run and told him that his second uncle was also sick and had a fever.

 Jiang Sanlang had no choice but to borrow a donkey cart from Chen Cunzheng's house. He and his second nephew Jiang Quan went to the town to sell fish and seek medical treatment.

There are a lot of people in the town today because it is the end of the year and everyone goes to the market to buy new year's goods.

  Jiang Sanlang weighed a large fish in advance, about seventy kilograms.

 At ten cash per catty, the whole fish can be sold for more than 700 cash.

but.

Jiang Sanlang told his second nephew that the live fish could be sold in strips for 900 yuan each; the dead fish could be sold in pounds and weighed at 10 yuan per pound.

 This price can be said to be quite expensive, but Jiang Sanlang is confident that his fish will be sold.

As expected, many people came to watch, many asked, few bought, and everyone thought it was expensive.

 After that, a rich man came and bought two big live fish at once, and the others were also busy paying for it.

 Because there were only eight big fish in total, and only five were alive. Two were bought at once, leaving only three. Second nephew Jiang Quan smiled from ear to ear. While weighing the fish, he said to Jiang Sanlang: "Third uncle, our fish are really easy to sell."

Jiang Sanlang smiled, but his eyes glanced at the crowd.

He saw Xiang Zhi again. There was another person beside Xiang Zhi, who seemed to be a tax collector.

Jiang Sanlang sighed inwardly, and quickly picked up two medium-sized live fish and put them in the donkey cart.

There are many types of taxes in the imperial court, including local tax, household tax, young crop tax, city tax, fishery tax, carriage and horse tax, etc. Jiang Sanlang now accounts for three of them.

  Municipal taxes must be paid, but it is difficult to say about fishing taxes, carriage and horse taxes.

 Because this donkey cart is not his own, maybe Chen Cunzheng has handed it over to him.

But if these tax collectors are unreasonable, you will have to pay it again after using it without accepting any rebuttal.

As for the fishing tax, even though he catches fish and sells them at the market, if it really comes down to it, he still has to pay it.

 “The people from Chencun are here to sell fish again?”

The forty-year-old village official walked over expressionlessly and pointed at the remaining fish on the ground, "You have opened the market, it's time to pay taxes."

Jiang Sanlang hurriedly responded with a smile, took out ten coins and handed it to Xiangzhi. He also took out a fish hidden in the donkey cart and handed it over: "It's almost the festival, and we don't have anything good at home. I've specially left this for you to try." Try something new.”

Hangzhi was not polite, stretched out his hand to take it, and said to the side, "This is my colleague, he is responsible for the fishing tax."

Jiang Sanlang had a sharp eye and quick hands, so he quickly took out another fish and handed it to the man next to him: "A little kindness is not a sign of respect. The common people also come here at the end of the year to sell some fish to supplement the family income."

Yuzhi took it with a smile, "Yes, I understand, but I won't do it next time."

 After seeing off the two great gods, Jiang Sanlang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At this moment, there are still two big live fish left that haven’t been sold, but the dead fish are being sold for about seventy or eighty percent.

Jiang Sanlang asked his nephew to look after the stall, and he went to the only drug store in the town to seek medical advice.

Unexpectedly, when I arrived at the medicine shop, I saw that it was full of people, all coming to see a doctor.

The only doctor in the shop was so busy that he refused to see anyone.

Jiang Sanlang begged for a long time, but the old man still refused and asked the medicine boy to ask him out.

There was no other way, Jiang Sanlang had no choice but to ask him to prescribe two pairs of typhoid and antipyretic medicines and carry them back.

Going back to the donkey cart, I saw the fox-skin hat that day was haggling with Jiang Quan with his belly puffed out.

“I’m a regular customer of yours. Why, two fishes won’t cost you a hundred cents?”

Jiang Quan said aggrievedly: "No one can bargain like you. It's only a hundred coins. How can I sell it to you?"

Fox Fur Hat raised his eyebrows, and when he saw Jiang Sanlang, he pointed at him and said, "What did you say?"

Jiang Sanlang smiled and said: "A hundred yuan less is still too much. This fish does not belong to my family. You saw it last time. We are a partnership of three people."

Seeing the fox fur hat's face sinking, Jiang Sanlang quickly said: "Well, I have a fresh fish here, which weighs four kilograms. I'll give it to you as well. What do you think?"

The fox-skin hat's face softened slightly, and he nodded reluctantly, "Okay."

 After paying the money, Fox Fur Hat asked the porter to come over and carry the fish.

He picked up the four-pound one and said to Jiang Sanlang: "I came here specially from the county. I wanted to see if there were any white sturgeons that day. Our master likes to eat fresh fish. If you catch it again, Just send it to the county town, and I’ll pay for it.”

Jiang Sanlang smiled and handed him over: "That's a good feeling. I will definitely send him to the county if he is captured. May I ask who your family is..."

 Foxskin Hat reported his address and left with the porter.

 (End of this chapter)