Chapter 1353: Chapter 1331 Helping
Bai Erlang said, “Just for ten coins, you got a beating. How could you be so shortsighted?”
The buyer was stunned, montarily at a loss for words.
Bai Shan chuckled, “Uncle, you better head back now. It’s already noon; go ho, have lunch, and take a nap. But make sure to tell your friends and family not to buy cattle from the Jia family anymore. I’ve heard they’ve swindled several families for inspection fees already.”
Upon hearing this, the buyer was furious, “They’re deliberately deceiving us!”
After calming down, he frowned at Bai Shan and said, “Why do you call uncle? I have grandsons older than you. My surna is Jiao. Call Grandpa Jiao.”
Manbao, seeing he looked younger than her father, said, “My father is even older than you.”
Old Jiao imdiately fell silent.
Bai Shan insisted on not asking him to return the money. Old Jiao glanced at their clothes and, after hesitating, kept the money.
Bai Shan waved to the others.
After they left, Manbao still felt sothing was not right. She looked at Bai Shan and asked, “Why did you pay the ten coins for him?”
Bai Shan laughed, “Ten coins is not much. I genuinely don’t want them to start fighting. Isn’t your family interested in buying a cow? This might be a good opportunity.”
“They offered too high a price; our family won’t buy.”
Bai Shan replied, “Prices are set by people, sotis high, sotis low. Just wait.”
Manbao blinked and began to ponder.
Bai Shan said, “I wonder if they urgently need money.”
“That’s easy to find out; just ask,” Manbao said, turning around to look for the young man from earlier. She spotted him andering toward the market.
Manbao caught up with him and asked, “Big brother, why does the Jia family want to sell the cow?”
“It’s already pregnant. Keeping it would an another calf next year, which is great.”
The young man replied with a smile, “The two brothers got into gambling outside and owe the gambling house a lot of money, so they want to sell the cow to pay off the debts.”
Manbao, who detests gambling, frowned and asked, “But they don’t seem to be in much of a hurry.”
“As long as they gather the money before the year ends,” the young man said, “The cow is easy to sell. If the price isn’t right, they’ll just hold on to it. If one family doesn’t buy, another will be tempted, so the brothers are not in a hurry.”
Bai Shan imdiately grasped the key point and asked, “Are there no cows for sale in the county now?”
“There are, but not many,” the young man said, “Any cow put up for sale gets snatched up quickly. So even though the prices at the cattle market aren’t high, once bidding begins, no cow sells for less than four taels.”
He seed to be quite inford, “I heard it’s because County Magistrate Yang left, and cattle traders outside aren’t willing to keep much stock in Luojiang County.”
Where did Yang Heshu get so many cows before?
He spread the word that if a cow was for sale, the county governnt would buy it directly and resell to farrs at a fair price.
Many farrs couldn’t afford such amounts at once. So, what could be done?
Like the Zhou Family, they borrowed first, then paid in installnts.
Luojiang County is poor; the county office didn’t have the funds for cattle. Yang Heshu personally fronted the money, filing paperwork continuously, temporarily loaning it to the county office.
Once the farrs paid back, the county office would repay him, essentially making him the middle man using his own funds.
Now he’s gone, Captain Liu was promoted to magistrate. Not only could Liu not shoulder such costs for cattle and grain storage, even if he could, he wouldn’t dare.
The gentry below couldn’t suppress Yang Heshu, but that doesn’t an they couldn’t suppress Captain Liu.
So, following Yang Heshu’s departure, grain prices temporarily rose in the town, while rural purchase prices dropped.
In general, the county rules haven’t changed much.
But now, only two months after Yang Heshu left, no one knows what things will be like in two, five, ten, or even twenty years.
Bai Shan whispered to Manbao, “Captain Liu might struggle to control county affairs, but he manages to maintain the status quo. If you want to buy a cow, you might need connections to be inford about sales in town.”
Manbao said, “When we have ti, we’ll visit town ourselves. If we can’t buy one, I’ll ask my Second Brother to go ahead and watch out for it.”
Bai Erlang said, “No need for all that trouble. Just tell , how many cows do you want to buy, and what type? I’ll speak to my father so he can help find them for you.”
“Will it be expensive with your father’s help?”
“Don’t worry. Our families are close; my father won’t charge you. Even if he wanted to, my grandmother wouldn’t allow it,” Bai Erlang said. “You wouldn’t believe how much my grandmother praises you. Yesterday, during dinner, she kept saying it was thanks to you that my elder brother was treated, or he wouldn’t have known how much suffering he’d endure.”
Manbao said, “I want to buy two more oxen, preferably a year and a half old, two years old ideally.”
“Doesn’t your family already have a cow?”
“But we have quite a bit of land. My Sixth Brother has so land too, but many of my brothers are away from ho. Only my elder brothers are busy. Having more cows will ease the work.”
“Feeding cows isn’t easy either.”
Manbao said, “Oh, there’s grass everywhere in the fields. Grazing cows isn’t as hard as plowing.”
Having once tried pulling a five-step plow for fun as a child, Bai Erlang fell silent. Indeed, what job could be tougher than pulling a plow?
Bai Shan pointed toward the Jia family’s backyard and said, “What if you could buy that cow?”
“I’d still want to buy two more oxen.”
Bai Shan said, “Can your family’s cow shed hold so many?”
Manbao said aningfully, “Once bought, my father will find a way.”
She asked, “How will you ensure my family gets to buy their cow?”
Bai Shan replied aningfully, “You’ll know in a couple of days.”
Indeed, a couple of days later, Manbao learned from her elder brother.
Bai Dalang’s condition was almost recovered. Manbao just prescribed dicine for him to take and perford acupuncture once a day.
She had just returned from the Bai family carrying a dicine box, when Zhou Dalang hurriedly ca in from outside, greeted Manbao, and rushed to find Old Zhou, “Father, does our family still want the Jia family’s cow in Dali Village?”
Old Zhou was sitting beside the fire pot, smoking a pipe, and replied slowly, “Didn’t their family insist on five taels of silver? It’s too costly. No, we don’t want it.”
“Jia Li just ca to see and offered four taels and five coins for the cow. If our family is interested, they’ll sell it to us.”
Old Zhou said, “Weren’t they quite firm? Why are they willing to bargain?”
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