Chapter 59 - 59: There are Premium Products in Golden Ear 1

Translator: 549690339

Once the golden mushrooms were harvested, they needed to be spread out to dry.

Previously, Yingbao had also planted some next to the old house, not many, just about a hundred, plus another hundred of Xue’er.

Both of these two hundred variations were grown from mushroom spores of golden mushrooms and Xue’er. They were watered with a blend of a small amount of Wudingzhi and pond water, so they grew very well.

After Yingbao harvested them, she spread them out to dry and obtained more than four catties of dried golden mushrooms and four catties of Xue’er.

She didn’t plan to sell all of these dry mushrooms but gifted half a catty of golden mushrooms and half a catty of Xue’er to grandfather and grandmother for them to stew and eat.

She also gave half a catty of golden mushrooms to Sister Wen.

She kept less than a catty for herself, and gave the rest to her father, telling him that these were premium golden mushrooms and should not be sold for less than ten taels of silver per catty. The Xue’er mushrooms were also premium quality and should not be sold for less than a tael of silver per catty.

Jiang Sanlang nodded in agreement.

Following that, the three brothers carried the golden mushrooms to the county town to sell them to Zhou Mao at the Furuifeng Trading Company.

When Zhou Mao saw that the three brothers had brought more golden mushrooms, he immediately ordered his servant to serve tea and the young shopkeeper to bring the steelyard weight and weigh the mushrooms.

This time, there were twenty-eight catties of golden mushrooms in total.

Of these, fifteen catties belonged to Jiang Sanlang. Jiang Erlang and Jiang Dalang each had ten catties, and the old man Jiang had the least, just three catties.

After weighing the golden mushrooms, Zhou Mao noticed that there were still two carrying baskets on the donkey cart that hadn’t been brought over, and couldn’t help but ask, “Sanlang, what’s this…”

He suspected that Jiang Sanlang had started doing business with other merchants.

Jiang Sanlang calmly replied, “These are the premium products from our family. They cannot be sold for less than ten taels per catty.”

“What?” Zhou Mao was somewhat displeased, “Are you trying to jack up the price?”

Jiang Sanlang shook his head, “If I wanted to jack up the price, I wouldn’t have sold the other ones to you. These really are premium products.”

Zhou Mao looked at Jiang Sanlang with suspicion, “What premium products? You better explain quickly.”

Although Jiang Sanlang didn’t understand why his little girl insisted on treating these golden mushrooms as premium products, since she said so, there must be a reason.

So, he said, “Premium products, of course, have value. I can’t explain it well. But if Steward Zhou thinks it’s too expensive, it doesn’t matter. I can take them to another place. Doctor Li told me that he wanted all of these.”

In fact, Doctor Li hadn’t said anything like this to him. Most likely he hadn’t even used up the several catties from last year.

Even if he had used them up, Jiang Sanlang wouldn’t have gone back to him anyway because he had been upset about the matter with Old Man Wen.

Zhou Mao frowned, clicked his teeth, and slapped the table, “Alright, I’ll take these first. If I find out you have been playing tricks, Zhou will chase you back to your old home and demand an explanation.”

Having said that, he asked the young shopkeeper to come over and weigh the golden mushrooms and Xue’er.

Three catties of premium golden mushrooms, four catties of premium Xue’er, for a total of thirty-four taels of silver.

Jiang Dalang and Jiang Erlang looked at each other.

When did their third brother come up with a premium product?

The money made from these few catties of premium products was unexpectedly more than their own ten catties.

Zhou Mao was actually a little annoyed in his heart, but he had no choice but to accept these so-called premium products.

Jiang Sanlang, this little guy, seemed honest and straightforward, but in reality, he was very clever.

If he let his golden mushrooms fall into the hands of others, he would definitely lose out.

Especially the head steward of the trading company, Zhao Kun, that old fox was a crafty character and had always been coveting the supply of golden mushrooms.

Fortunately, Jiang Sanlang only recognized him, and the amount of supply each time was not large, which didn’t give the old fox an opportunity.

Humph, later he would cook some and compare them. If Jiang Sanlang were to try to deceive him, he would definitely make him suffer.

After getting their silver coins, the Jiang brothers returned home cheerfully.

Jiang Dalang said, “Sanlang, we might as well put our money together and buy a donkey cart. We can’t keep borrowing one from Uncle Chen, it’s really not right.’

Jiang Sanlang was also considering this.

It was truly inconvenient not to have your own cart.

In the future, they would often travel to the county town, and it was indeed too inconvenient to always borrow someone else’s cart.

“Let’s go, let’s go to the Mule Horse Market and take a look.”

“Okay, let’s go to the Mule Horse Market. Anyway, the money we have together is enough to buy a donkey cart.”

And thus, the three brothers headed towards the Mule Horse Market.

Upon asking the price, a sturdy green mule cost over thirty taels of silver.

Horses were even more expensive, costing four to five ten taels. Even a donkey cost more than twenty taels.

This didn’t include the cart itself. A new one also cost over ten taels.

The three brothers sighed, but still bit the bullet and bought a mule, but couldn’t afford to buy the cart.

They could ask someone to build a cart when they got back, which would save quite a bit of money. There was a person in their town who built carts. If they brought their own good wood, the labor cost would only be three or four taels.

Let’s not discuss how cheerful the three brothers were when they led the mule home. Let’s talk about Zhou Mao instead.

As soon as the three Jiang brothers left, he called his servant boys to cook some golden mushrooms, a little bit of both types.

After they were cooked, he first tasted the premium golden mushroom soup, finding it extremely fragrant, indeed different from common golden mushrooms.

Zhou Mao thought for a while, then took a sip of the common golden mushroom soup, smacking his lips and shaking his head, “It does seem to be somewhat different.’

At this time, the head steward, Zhao Kun, walked over, saw that there were two bowls of golden mushroom soup on his table and laughed, “Well, have you started using them yourself?”

Zhou Mao secretly rolled his eyes and laughed, “Just tasted some. We just received some premium golden mushrooms, so naturally had to see if they were worth it.”

Zhao Kun lifted his robe and sat down, reaching out to bring a bowl to his nose,

“Isn’t this stuff all the same, what’s the difference between premium and non-premium?”

Zhou Mao saw him taking the bowl of premium golden mushroom soup and immediatelv took it back, laughing, “I’ve eaten from this bowl, vou taste the other one.”

Zhao Kun didn’t suspect a thing, picked up the other bowl, stirred it with a spoon, and began to eat by himself.

This stuff was precious. Even as the head manager of a trading company, he couldn’t afford to buy it for consumption. Now that there was a free supply, it would be a waste not to eat it.

Zhou Mao also picked up a bowl, stroked his increasingly sparse forehead, picked up a spoon, and started drinking spoonful by spoonful.

Don’t mention it, after drinking the premium golden mushroom soup, he felt an incredible sense of comfort throughout his body, and even his hair seemed to be more energetic.

After the head steward left, Zhou Mao instructed his young shopkeeper,

“Record all these in the book, the premium ones are bought for eleven taels per catty, and the ordinary ones are still the same as before, bought for three and a half taels per catty.”

“Yes.” The young shopkeeper was Zhou Mao’s nephew. He was learning the ropes and had a lot of trust with Zhou Mao.

While the young shopkeeper was recording, he secretly asked, “Uncle, this premium golden mushroom is so expensive, how much should our trading company sell it for per catty?”

Zhou Mao picked up the tea cup and skimmed off the froth, laughing, “Naturally we need to increase the price. When goods are scarce, the price goes up. A catty of premium product can be sold for about five taels of silver. There are plenty of rich people in Prefecture City. This little thing is nothing to them.”

The young shopkeeper was astonished, and secretly looked at the stew pot.

There were still some leftovers. When his uncle went out, he also wanted to taste what something that was several dozen taels a catty tasted like.

Zhou Mao sat there sipping his tea with his legs crossed, and suddenly stood up.

The young shopkeeper was overjoyed, waiting for his uncle to go out.

However, Zhou Mao leisurely walked over to the small table, picked up the stew pot and looked at it, then carried it outside.

The young shopkeeper: .

Did uncle not eat enough?

Or did he want to wash the pot himself?