Mr. Gu thought it was expensive, but Gu Chengyu found it reasonable. Estimating it this way, a Wen in the Dayan Dynasty is equivalent to a modern dollar. He’d seen the pork his mother bought, twelve Wen per pound! And that’s already cooked, so thirteen Wen isn’t too pricey.
Gu Chengyu pulled Mr. Gu towards the stalls with more won, guessing that they probably sold costics or jewelry. Mr. Gu felt awkward squeezing into a crowd of won, so he could only watch as Gu Chengyu pushed his way in and waited outside. He didn’t understand why his little son liked these things. Was he being raised to have a girl’s temperant by his mother? Thinking of Xiao Bao, who liked to act cutesy too, Mr. Gu felt a bit horrified. No way! He needed to have a serious talk with Jin Niang; Xiao Bao couldn’t continue like this, staying indoors all day and not playing with the boys. That’s not how it should be! Arrangents for studying had to be made soon. Once he went to school, surrounded by reading kids, it would surely fix him.
While Gu Chengyu was selecting jewelry, he was unaware his father was grumbling inside. It wasn’t that he liked these things; he wanted to pick sothing nice for his mother and second sister. Although there was nothing particularly good at these small stalls, their family wasn’t wealthy yet, rely slightly well-off. For now, they could buy these things to wear, and when the family had more profitable businesses, they wouldn’t have to spend money so cautiously.
The stall owner was an older woman. Gu Chengyu listened as she introduced the items on the stall while collecting silver coins deftly. She boasted about the jewelry as if they turned maidens and young brides into celestial beings. Gu Chengyu was really quite impressed.
"Oh my! Whose little child is this? So handso! Why are you at a costics stall? At such a young age, you already know how to buy jewelry to please a girl?" The stall owner teased, seeing the adorable and charming young Gu Chengyu.
"Oh~ isn’t it so! This child is really good-looking, did you co with your mother?" Around them, the young won giggled, and a straightforward one took up the stall owner’s jest.
Gu Chengyu blushed with embarrassnt at the stall owner’s words, then seriously looked at the jewelry and costics on the stall. "I want to buy jewelry for my mother and sister."
"Wow! What a filial child. Alright, you go ahead and pick, and I’ll give you a discount. But you need to have money! Do you have money to buy? If not, beco a live-in son-in-law for my granddaughter! Hahaha..." The stall owner teased, touched by Gu Chengyu’s filial and smart deanor, finding the child utterly adorable.
Gu Chengyu was sowhat speechless. Who told him ancient won were reserved? He had no reply and could only glance over the stall, picking a couple of nice pieces before leaving. With a sweeping look, he saw that most were crude silver and golden hairpins, pearl flowers made with rice-sized pearls, golden bracelets, silver bracelets, hairpins, and rings. The rouge was packed in coarse ceramics. Only the pearl flowers were a bit unique. Gu Chengyu casually picked up a silver hairpin and weighed it in his hand; sothing felt off about the weight. On close inspection, it seed to be coated with a layer of silver. After checking the shine of other gold and silver jewelry, he figured out that these were likely silver-plated and gold-plated, with the thin hairpins being of real gold and silver. The jewelry here was quite crude, and Gu Chengyu wasn’t keen on them.
Glancing casually to the side, oh? A pair of shrimp须bracelets beside a pile of rouge caught Gu Chengyu’s attention. As he reached for the bracelets, a pair of big hands stopped him, "This little boy, you’ve laid eyes on my shrimp须bracelets as soon as you arrived? These are truly pure silver!" The stall owner suspected the little boy couldn’t afford them, as no adults were accompanying him. Who carries so much silver around with a child? Judging by his attire, he didn’t seem like a son of a wealthy family.
Gu Chengyu knew what the stall owner suspected; of course, he had silver on him. However, by etiquette, he should ask his father first before making a decision.
"Granny, how much are these bracelets?" These shrimp须bracelets were different from the other crude jewelry; they were slightly more refined, made with silver threads instead of just silver-plated.
"My father is over there. I think these bracelets suit my second sister well. Granny, na a price. If it’s reasonable, I’ll pick a hairpin as well. Do you have any good hairpins? I want to give one to my mother." Gu Chengyu noticed that even though the jewelry at this stall wasn’t exquisite, since there were shrimp须bracelets, the stall owner might have better items, just not displayed.
"Are you sure you really want to buy? Where’s your father? You need soone to make the decision, right? Good hairpins aren’t cheap!" The stall owner said while pulling a cloth-wrapped box from under the table at the neighboring stall. Inside were two silver hairpins. Gu Chengyu imdiately took a liking to one with hollowed-out floral carvings, finding it exquisitely elegant. It seed it would suit his mother well.
"How much for this hairpin and the bracelets?" Gu Chengyu inquired, pointing at the captivating hairpin. Having been out so early, he was feeling a bit hungry. He thought about buying quickly and then getting sothing to eat before heading ho, since his elder brother was probably waiting impatiently as well.
"The bracelets are three taels of silver, but this hairpin is very expensive, costing five taels!" The stall owner was delighted that Gu Chengyu had a genuine intention to buy, yet worried his family might disagree.
"Dad, co over here," Gu Chengyu called to Mr. Gu.
"What’s up?" Mr. Gu shouted back, heading towards them.
The won surrounding them saw they genuinely intended to purchase jewelry and cleared the way.
"You brat, coming over here to buy things? Co on out," Mr. Gu said awkwardly, walking to the stall. The stall owner gave Mr. Gu a once-over, thinking he didn’t look like soone who’d spend on jewelry.
"Dad, let’s buy a hairpin for mom! I’ve picked it out, eight taels of silver," Gu Chengyu whispered, slipping a ten-tael silver ingot into his sleeve.
"What? Eight taels? That’s way too expensive!" Mr. Gu exclaid, shocked that a brief mont unsupervised, and his son would dare spend money unscrupulously.
"Dad, don’t you want to buy mom a hairpin?" Gu Chengyu looked at his father with a sidelong glance, confident that bringing up his mother would sway him.
"Buy, buy, of course we should," Mr. Gu relented instantly, hearing it was for Mrs. Lv and forgetting his stinginess entirely.
"Granny, since I’m buying two expensive items, can you give a discount? I’ll pick four pearl flowers, and you let have them for less?"
"Oh dear, that’s really not expensive at all. You know, my stall doesn’t fetch high prices. If you went to the Guangqing Silver Building upfront, it’d be much more than this!" said the stall owner, dramatically slapping her thighs and proclaiming her goods as the most affordable.
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