NOVEL NEXT Chapter 41 - 41: Deer Saddle_l
Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Deer Saddle_l
Translator: 549690339
Jiang Cheng brought his two younger sisters to his second brother and saw that almost all the water chestnuts in his basket were sold out. He asked, “You don’t need me to stay and help, do you?”
“No need.” Jiang Quan waved his hand and proudly said: “I can handle it all by myself. ”
This was the first time he’d done business all by himself, and it was going smoothly. He felt a sense of achievement and naturally didn’t want his elder brother to get involved.
Jiang Cheng handed a sticky rice dumpling to his younger brother: “This is from Yingbao for you.”
Without hesitation, Jiang Quan took it, peeled off the mulberry leaf, bit half of it off in one go, and cheerfully said to his younger cousin, “Next time, I’ll buy a small whistle for you.”
Yingbao: …
She didn’t want a small whistle at all.
Since returning from the fair, Yingbao had been staring blankly under the apple tree.
It had been almost two years since the apple trees were planted and both of them had grown to over 10 feet tall, but they only grew in height and didn’t bear any flowers, which frustrated Yingbao.
What went wrong?
Should she wait for her father to come back and ask someone with knowledge to check?
Well, let’s put it aside for now, and think about how to make more money for the move to South Mountain.
At noon, Jiang Quan came back after selling all the water chestnuts, poured out the money bag on the table, and started counting the money with his elder brother.
“A total of five hundred and sixty coins, haha, we’re rich.” Jiang Quan was grinning from ear to ear, he started to divide the money.
“These water chestnuts were found by Yingbao and Dani, so they should share half of the profit.’
Jiang Quan pushed half of the money aside.
“Li Dao and Li He also helped with wrapping the water chestnuts in reed leaves, so let’s give them twenty… no, ten coins each.” Jiang Quan pulled out another twenty coins.
“Let’s also give Grandpa and Grandma fifty coins.”
He pulled out another fifty coins.
“Give Mom fifty coins too, and the rest is all mine. Hahaha.”
Jiang Quan embraced the remaining one hundred and sixty coins into his chest, grinning from ear to ear.
When he raised his head, he saw his elder brother looking at him with a stern face.
“What about mine?” Jiang Cheng asked.
“Yours?” Jiang Quan wrinkled his nose, “but you didn’t do anything.”
Jiang Cheng: “I counted the money.”
Jiang Quan: .
He wanted to slam his head on the wall.
Pouting, he reluctantly counted out ten coins from his share and handed it over, grinding his teeth, “Here you go! For counting the money!” Humph!
Jiang Quan quickly stuffed his money into his pocket, gathered up the money on the table into the bag, and then went to summon Dani to go to his uncles’ houses with him and divide the money with the girls.
Jiang Cheng, who was fourteen, didn’t complain about the small amount of money and picked up the ten coins one by one into his palm and locked them away in his cupboard.
The following day,
Yingbao put a rope around Youyou’s neck, stroked its head, and said, “Youyou,
I’m taking you to the town. You have to behave and not run around.” Youyou stared at its young master with big watery eyes.
“Don’t panic when you see strangers. I will be with you the whole time.” Yingbao patted its neck.
Youyou lowered its head and nuzzled her, then tilted its head and rubbed against her.
Yingbao understood and fed it some Wuding mushrooms.
When Jiang Sanlang heard that his daughter was going to the town to get a deer saddle, he immediately put down everything he was doing to accompany her.
“You are just a little kid, and people will take advantage of you. Let dad take
Youyou there instead.”
Their deer was really majestic, half a man’s height, and its antlers were starting to grow too. Probably by next year, they would be intimidating forks.
A deer like this, if sold in the county, could fetch twenty to thirty taels of silver. Many people with bad intentions might take a risk for such a big amount of money.
Therefore, he definitely can’t let his little girl go, even if her elder and second cousins accompany her.
Yingbao shook her head, “Youyou gets scared in crowded places. It behaves well when I’m around. Dad, I’ll go with you.”
“Alright.” Jiang Sanlang picked up his daughter, ready to place her in the carrying basket.
“Dad, I’ll ride Youyou.”
When Yingbao was training Youyou, she would occasionally ride it for a walk, so as long as Youyou didn’t run, she could sit on it steadily.
Jiang Sanlang put his daughter on the back of the deer, and reminded, “Be careful, don’t fall off.’
“I won’t fall.” Yingbao sat steadily on the back of the deer, her father led it with a rope, and they headed towards the town.
They passed the Shigong Bridge, Xichen Village, and took the dirt road onto the official road.
The official road runs through the middle of the town, one end leads to Qinchuan County, and the other end leads towards Yuzhou.
The father and daughter arrived at a saddlery shop. The towering and majestic deer instantly stupefied two of the shop assistants.
Even the shopkeeper ran out, marveling, “I have lived for fifty years, and it’s the first time I have seen such a large deer. No wonder you need a saddle.” He then waved the shop assistant over to take measurements.
Youyou became nervous when strangers approached and retreated behind Yingbao, stomping its hooves uneasily.
Yingbao calmed it down, taking out a handful of wheat from her pocket to feed it.
Only then did Youyou calm down, lowering its head to nibble the grains of wheat in its young mistress’s hand.
The shop assistant handed the recorded measurements to the shopkeeper, then stood by and curiously watched the interaction between the young girl and her deer.
The shopkeeper patted the deer’s back and said to Jiang Sanlang, “Although your deer is big, its spine is thin and cannot bear a heavy load. So, a cowhide saddle is not suitable. How about choosing sheepskin instead?”
Jiang Sanlang nodded, “Sounds good. The deer was not meant for adults to ride, it’s just for the kids to ride occasionally. Please make sure the saddle is sturdy.”
“No problem.” The shopkeeper pondered for a while, then went inside the house to find materials.
After waiting for a while, Jiang Sanlang asked, “Shopkeeper, when can you have it ready?”
If it was going to take too long, he and his daughter wouldn’t wait.
The shopkeeper threw several pieces of leather on the ground and said, “I’ll cut it right now. It will be done very quickly, within a couple of hours at most.” Jiang Sanlang looked at the sun, it was still early, so they could wait.
He sat down on the stool brought over by the shop assistant, while Yingbao looked around curiously.
There were no other shops near the saddlery. Not far away, there was only a grassy shack where someone was selling pork.
The pork was sold out by this time, and the butcher and his son were cleaning up and getting ready to go home.
The butcher, Tu Da, took down the iron hooks from the wooden rack and threw them into the basket, put a few knives in as well, and then picked up the basket.
His fifteen-year-old son, Tu Xiong, didn’t want to go home yet. He said, “Dad, you go ahead, I have something to do, I’ll be back later.”
Tu Da glared at his son and warned, “Don’t mess around with your rowdy friends. If you cause trouble again, I’ll beat you to death.”
“What trouble could I possibly cause?” Tu Xiong rubbed his nose, “I’m going to join Chen Santi to hunt birds in the mountain. What could go wrong?”
Tu Da snorted, picked up his load and walked away.
Seeing that his father had gone far, Tu Xiong smirked and called to a pile of grass behind him, “Aren’t you coming out yet?”
Two young men, one tall and one short, both about seventeen or eighteen years old, came out from behind the grass pile, each with a slingshot made of tendons at their waist.
“Are we still going to North Mountain?” Tu Xiong asked.
The tall one, with chiseled features, grinned and said, “Why go to North Mountain? Look over there…” He gestured with his mouth in the direction of the saddlery shop.
Tu Xiong turned his head and looked, confused, “Look at what?”
“The deer.” said Mr. Chiseled Face, “That big deer standing over there, didn’t you see it?”
“I saw it earlier, so what?”
“Guess what?” Chiseled Face leaned his arm on his short and squat companion, his eyes sparkling.
Tu Xiong caught on, narrowed his eyes and wore a malicious smile, “Brother Thirty, aren’t you scheming something again?”