When they arrived in town, Madam Li and Auntie Tian went to the embroidery shop to sell their works. Shen Yijia drove the carriage to the restaurant that An Dong had mentioned.
As soon as the carriage stopped, a waiter greeted them warmly. Those who could afford a carriage could afford to eat, even if they weren’t nobility.
“Sir, leave this carriage to me. Please come in.”
Shen Yijia avoided the waiter’s hand that was about to take the reins and went straight to the point. “I’m here to sell prey. Do you accept it?”
“I guess even those who can afford a carriage might not necessarily be here to eat.” the waiter thought to himself.
However, the waiter did not change his expression because of this. He scratched his head awkwardly. “We accept prey here. Please wait a moment. I’ll call our shopkeeper over.”
Soon, the waiter came out with a middle-aged man with a big belly.
“Young lady, do you have prey to sell?” The shopkeeper did not expect it to be a delicate and pretty girl. Surprise flashed across his eyes.
Shen Yijia nodded and lifted the curtain for him to see. She said expressionlessly, “Five rabbits, three pheasants, and a mule. Do you want them all?”
She had always remembered what Da Hua had said. When negotiating, you have to put on a serious front, lest others think that you’re easy to manipulate.
To Shen Yijia, being serious was equivalent to not smiling, just like Song Jingchen.
The shopkeeper was indeed intimidated by Shen Yijia. He put away his contempt and looked at the things in the carriage. He was delighted and hurriedly said, “I’ll take them. If you have more, you can send them all over.”
Shen Yijia looked at him strangely. This restaurant was not big. Would they be able to use so much meat?
Having been a shopkeeper for many years, how could he not have good judgment? The fat shopkeeper laughed and said, “To be honest, it’s Old Master Liu’s 50th birthday in our town in half a month. He’s booked our Full Fortune Restaurant to prepare a banquet. That Old Master Liu likes the taste of wild meat. A few days ago, Young Master Liu came to visit and asked us to prepare more wild meat for cooking.”
The fat shopkeeper entered the carriage and was even more satisfied when he saw that these prey were only injured and that it would not be a problem for them to stay alive for a few more days.
He couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Who hunted these prey? The wounds don’t look like they were caused by a trap.”
“I hit them with a rock. Is there a problem?” Shen Yijia rolled her eyes. She didn’t know how to set traps either. “Why would you care about this when you’re just collecting prey? Just take the prey and give me the money.” she thought.
“No, there’s no problem,” the fat shopkeeper said, shaking his head. He did a double take and said in surprise, “You… you hit these animals with a rock?”
He could not help but size up Shen Yijia again. He could not tell what she was capable of.
Shen Yijia said, “Yes.”
“How about this? If you can still guarantee that they’ll be sent over in this condition, I’ll add three copper coins to the market price for each type of prey. How about that?” The fat shopkeeper’s principle in doing business was to befriend as many capable people as possible. Even if he couldn’t befriend them, he would avoid becoming enemies with them. Moreover, he needed a lot of meat. Ordinary hunters really couldn’t provide them in this condition.
“Sure, that’s all for today. I’ll send you more tomorrow.” Not only did he not scam her, but he also gave her more money. Shen Yijia’s impression of this fat shopkeeper instantly improved.
The rabbit meat was originally fifteen copper coins a catty. For each catty, it was seventeen copper coins for the pheasant, and twenty copper coins for the deer. The fat shopkeeper added three copper coins to each catty.
After weighing it, the fat shopkeeper took out two pieces of silver with a smile. “A total of 1.35 taels of silver for the meat, I’ll make it 1.4 taels to round it up. Including these furs, I’ll give you a total of two taels. Count them.”
Shen Yijia took the money. Although it was only two taels of silver, she was already very satisfied. After all, it was impossible to have the luck to encounter wild boars every time.
