Chapter 4

"Quick, go!" Uncle Wang patted Chen Mo's shoulder and laughed, "It's just a small earthen city. If you see the brick and stone walls of the county town, you might be scared to death!"

"Is it different?" Chen Mo was a bit confused about the meaning of brick and stone walls. In his worldview, the city walls of Xiagou County were already the most magnificent buildings in the world.

"Of course it's different. I've heard that the walls of the county town are five zhang high, twice the height of these walls," Uncle Cai said calmly.

"Uncle Cai hasn't seen them either?" Chen Mo敏锐地捕捉到话语中的关键字，相比起凶神恶煞的王叔，他更愿意跟蔡叔说话。

Uncle Cai's face darkened, and he slapped Chen Mo, looking impatient. "Hurry up, hurry up. If we want to return before sunset, we need to leave in the afternoon."

"Oh~" Chen Mo, having been slapped, didn't dare to ask anymore and walked in sullenly.

In those days, for most people, the farthest place they might go in their lifetime was the local county town.

Li Zheng was just handing over the pass at the city gate before entering the city.

"What's that?" Chen Mo, curious, looked at Li Zheng. He had come to the county town before, but no one had asked him for this back then.

"The pass, it seems to have many levels. For someone like us, if you don't have this when entering another city, they won't let you in. If you want to go to other cities, you need to get it from the county town. Even if Li Zheng issues it, it's useless. It's quite troublesome," Uncle Cai explained while driving the donkey cart.

Chen Mo nodded but noticed Li Zheng secretly giving two wuzhu coins to the gate guard, looking puzzled. Others didn't give these when entering the city.

"Don't look around, and don't ask questions," Uncle Cai glared at him before he could speak. "You'll understand in the future."

"Oh~" Chen Mo nodded obediently and didn't ask anymore. He followed everyone into the city, and the gate guard didn't search the donkey cart like they did for others. This was probably the effect of those two wuzhu coins, right?

"Er Gou~" After entering the city, Li Zheng called Chen Mo over.

"What do you need, Sir?" Chen Mo hurried over.

"You're selling grain, and the place you're going is different from ours. We'll part ways here. It's now the hour of Si (9 to 11 AM). We'll meet back here at the beginning of the hour of Shen (3 to 5 PM). Millet should be around 200 coins per dan, but this year, there's a drought in many places, so the price might be higher. The grain merchants in the market might offer a lower price, but it's safer to sell there. The embroidery at Jinxiu Market is priced reasonably well. Your mother's skills are good, and if she sells it herself, it might fetch around 500 coins."

"So expensive?" Chen Mo was surprised.

He remembered that his mother's embroidery usually fetched around 100 coins at most each year.

Li Zheng nodded without saying much. In fact, Chen Mo's mother usually sold it for the right price, as that's what they paid when they came to collect it.

"Go, remember to meet us here at the beginning of the hour of Shen," Li Zheng waved his hand.

"Oh." Chen Mo nodded, put the grain bag on his back, and walked away, his mind heavy.

"Isn't it too much to let a child go like this?" Uncle Wang, looking at Chen Mo's small back, was a bit worried.

"Though he's young, he's the only man in the Chen family now. He needs to experience some things on his own," Li Zheng shook his head. "You go and watch over him, the others come with me."

...

Chen Mo walked down the street, his mind heavy. In previous years, people from the county town would come to various villages and neighborhoods to buy various goods, such as grain and embroidery. Without any comparison, they naturally didn't know the prices. But now, suddenly knowing that these items were worth much more than what the collectors offered each year, made the young Chen Mo feel uncomfortable.

The grain prices weren't much different, but the price of his mother's embroidery was far too low. Thinking about his mother's frail body working hard at the window, sometimes not even finishing a piece in a month, and then being exploited by those people, made him feel very uncomfortable.

After asking around, Chen Mo wanted to find a place to sell his grain.

"Little boy, why don't you take the grain directly to the post station? Selling it at the grain market won't get you much money," an old man, seeing Chen Mo's polite and likable appearance, called him over with a smile.

"Is there a big difference?" Chen Mo was surprised.

"Not much in the past, but this year, with the grain shortage in many places, the price has risen a lot. They sell it for 400 coins per dan, but when they buy, it's probably the same as in previous years," the old man smiled.

In normal years, grain trading isn't very profitable, just a small profit from high volume. But in a famine year, grain merchants can make a lot of money.

"Thank you, Sir." Chen Mo thanked the old man and, after asking for directions to the post station, headed in that direction.

"Wait~" The old man waved to Chen Mo. "If you go like this, the post station won't pay attention to you. They usually buy in large quantities, and your amount is too small for them to handle separately."

"Then what should I do?" Chen Mo asked curiously.

"Stupid, just say it's from the grain market," the old man laughed.

"Lie?" Chen Mo frowned.

"How can it be called lying? It's called being resourceful! Otherwise, how can you sell your grain to them?" The old man tapped Chen Mo's head and laughed. "Just say you were introduced by Old Liu from the West Street, and they'll believe you."

"Oh." Chen Mo nodded, somewhat understanding, and followed the old man's instructions to the post station.

"The grain market didn't say they were sending grain today?" A quarter of an hour later, at the West City post station, the shop assistant looked at Chen Mo and frowned.

"But Old Liu from West Street said it was okay," Chen Mo was a bit flustered, his eyes darting around, and quickly said, thinking of what Old Liu had told him.

"Oh..." The assistant's voice was a bit strange, squinting and looking at Chen Mo. "That old man, alright, put the grain down."

"Where's the money?" Chen Mo put down the grain and looked at the assistant, feeling that his expression was a bit odd, but couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Money?" The assistant wanted to laugh but was slapped on the head by someone.

"Boss?" The assistant instinctively lowered his head and addressed the man who appeared behind him.

"Go get the money." The man looked quite upright, giving a sense of reassurance. He looked at Chen Mo and smiled. "Little boy, have some water. A dan of millet is quite heavy. Where are your elders?"

"They are selling goods over there, and will be back soon..." Chen Mo instinctively said, but halfway through, he realized something was off. Shouldn't he be coming from the grain market? He stopped speaking.

The man just smiled, putting Chen Mo at ease a bit. He patted Chen Mo's head and smiled, "No problem. We've already received it. According to the market price, a dan of millet is 380 coins, but we can only give you 300 coins. We need to make a profit too."

Chen Mo was a bit reluctant but understood the man's point. Moreover, 300 coins was already much more than he expected. He looked at the water bowl beside him, hesitating. He was thirsty from the long walk, but he felt awkward drinking it.

The man seemed to notice Chen Mo's hesitation, stood up, and went to the back room.

Chen Mo hesitated for a moment but couldn't resist, picked up the water bowl, and took a few sips.

"Host, please note, a sedative drug has been detected in the water. Do you want to spend one point of luck to remove it?" The sudden voice in Chen Mo's head as he drank the water startled him...

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