Chapter 29: Yan Lao’er’s Skills

Very soon, Yan Lao’er got another chance to go to town.

The villagers were deeply moved by the Scholar’s actions and decided that each household would pitch in to see if they could buy another mule or two.

The Scholar was right—these animals could both serve as transport and be eaten if necessary. They were like buying reserve grain.

Village Chief Luo came running to the Yan Family with the collective silver from the entire village, followed by the young men who would accompany them.

Without a word, Yan Lao’er started hitching up the cart.

Village Chief Luo’s eldest son, Luo Laoda, his grandson San Tie, Physician Cui and his boy Da Gouzi, Qi Si, and Wang Erlang—all of them knew a bit about handling carts—joined the trip.

When they got to the livestock market in town, the prices had changed again. More people were selling livestock, and the prices dropped even lower.

Just a few days ago, mules were seven taels of silver each. Now they were down to six taels and five qian. Donkeys had dropped from three taels to two taels and six qian.

And this was the price with carts included—basically a tearful clearance sale.

Yan Huaiwen had given the village fifteen taels, and the villagers had scraped together another six taels.

The group wracked their brains, practically breaking their fingers trying to calculate: after buying two mules, how many donkeys could they still afford?

Yan Lao’er: …

He couldn’t stand it anymore and went over to haggle with the mule sellers.

“These are all draft mules, not horse mules. How can you ask for six taels five? Five taels seems more reasonable.

Let me check the teeth.

Lift the hooves too, let me have a look.

Not good… this mule isn’t young anymore, is it? How many more years of work can it do?

Don’t want to buy it, feed it well for a couple of years, and then have it drop dead on me.

Can you lower the price? If not, I’ll go check out the donkeys.”

Then he went over to the donkey sellers and launched into another barrage:

“Look at this skinny donkey… hold it still, let me check its belly. Don’t want it hiding some illness.

Teeth—yeah, open up, let me see.

Wow! This cart… a family heirloom? How many generations old? Looks like it’s about to fall apart.

And this donkey’s shedding fur—is it sick? And you still want two taels six for it? One tael five and I’ll take it home for meat…”

By the time he was done, every mule and donkey seller at the market had been thoroughly harassed.

They were fuming. Bargaining was one thing, but why did he have to do it in such a ridiculous way?

Physician Cui suddenly remembered Yan Lao’er’s skill at hoof-trimming and had a revelation. Weren’t they all being stupid? They had someone who actually understood livestock right here and hadn’t even asked him.

If Yan Lao’er could fix hooves, he obviously had more experience with animals than they did.

“Brother Yan Lao’er, come help me figure this out,” he called.

Yan Lao’er trotted over. “What are you guys thinking? What exactly do you want to buy?”

“We heard mules can haul more than donkeys, and mule carts are bigger. We want to buy two mules,” Wang Erlang said.

“After buying the mules, we’ll use the leftover silver for donkeys,” Luo Laoda added.

Yan Lao’er nodded. “Alright, give me all the silver. I’ll buy them for you.”

The group exchanged glances.

Luo Laoda gritted his teeth and handed over the tightly wrapped bag of silver.

If they couldn’t trust Yan Lao’er, then who could they trust? After all, the Scholar had contributed the bulk of this fund.

Then everyone watched as Yan Lao’er roamed freely through the livestock market like it was his own backyard.

Going here, going there—he quickly settled on two mules.

One for six taels one qian, and the other for five taels eight qian.

Then he bought four donkeys: one for 2 taels 3 qian, one for 2 taels 1 qian 5 fen, one for 2 taels 2 qian, and the last for 1 tael 5 qian.

Yes, that’s right. He even bought the shedding, sick donkey.

No one said a word. They were frantically doing mental math. The first purchases were definitely bargains, but they wondered how much meat that sick donkey would yield when slaughtered.

After buying two mules and four donkeys, there was still silver left over.

Yan Lao’er weighed the remaining nine fen or so of silver and said, “Let’s go.”

When they were leading the mules and donkeys, they suddenly realized—they’d have to count Da Gouzi, the kid, just to barely have enough people to manage all the animals.

Yan Lao’er used the silver Old Yan had given him to buy grain, then bought saltpeter, and spent the rest at the butcher’s stall.

The others just followed along watching him buy and buy, unable to say much.

Without Yan Lao’er, they wouldn’t have gotten everything so smoothly, nor at such low prices.

No one had the heart to fuss over the leftover few coins of silver.

But unexpectedly, at the village entrance, Yan Lao’er brought it up himself.

“Let me tally the accounts for you all: two mules, eleven taels nine qian; four donkeys, eight taels one qian five fen. That’s twenty-one taels in total. We spent twenty taels five fen, leaving nine fen five li of silver.”

“This leftover silver is just right to treat the shedding donkey’s illness. It’s nothing serious.

Mix saltpeter with lard into a salve, apply it two or three times, and it’ll be fine.

The saltpeter cost five fen of silver. As for the lard… honestly, it’s hard to calculate. I bought some lean meat along with it; let’s say the fat part counts as four fen five li. Sound fair?”

“Uncle Yan Lao’er, you’re taking a loss. Fat meat costs more than lean,” San Tie immediately piped up, glancing at Yan Lao’er, remembering how well he had handled things in town, saving them enough for two whole donkeys.

Qi Si added, “Yan Lao’er, that sick donkey only cost one tael five. If this salve works, we’re saving at least six qian of silver. It’s us who owe you.”

“We’ll pitch in again when we get back,” Wang Erlang said honestly.

Luo Laoda nodded. “Right. We’ll chip in again. We can’t let you take the loss.”

Yan Lao’er laughed helplessly. “I’m not losing out. My family prefers lean meat.

Also, I’m giving you this account breakdown so you all remember the numbers yourselves. That way, if anyone asks, you’ll have a clear answer. This silver came from every household in the village, and the animals are for everyone to use together. The accounting needs to be transparent.”

Physician Cui kept nodding. “Every household should know. Without Brother Yan, we couldn’t have bought this cheaply.

And Brother Yan, you’re amazing at doing the math so fast!”

The others joined in praising him until Yan Lao’er was embarrassed.

This? Barely elementary school level.

…

With new mules and donkeys, the whole village—young and old—stayed up late at night. They lit torches and gathered to excitedly watch the animals taking turns grinding wheat.

San Tie was the most lively. He told everyone how they’d gone to the livestock market, what it was like there, how awesome his Uncle Yan Lao’er had been—haggling down the prices again and again, using twenty-one taels to bring back six animals!

The villagers were stunned. Was this really Yan Lao’er?

So capable?

Meanwhile, the capable Yan Lao’er was applying salve to the shedding donkey.

“Dad! Here, try this—see if it’s sweet.” Yan Yu handed him a piece of roasted sweet potato.

“Who roasted it?” Yan Lao’er’s mouth watered at the smell.

“Mom said just throw it in the stove. I tossed in two,” Yan Yu said. “We divided the rest between Big Uncle, Big Brother, and Eldest Sister. This one’s for the three of us.”

Yan Lao’er took a bite straight from his daughter’s hand.

His eyes lit up. “So sweet!”

“Oh right, where’s the meat I brought back?”

“Mom and Sister Daya are rubbing it with coarse salt. Said they’ll hang it up to dry soon, hehe!”

“How’s your Sister Daya doing?”

“She looks fine now, but Mom says I’m sleeping with her tonight to keep her company.”

“No one’s gone into our room, right?”

“Don’t worry, Dad. We’ve been outside all day. The lock’s still hanging there.”

“I’ve already told Qi Si to ask his brother to help build a cart shed. The village’s wheat is rough-milled and goes fast. Not sure if we’ll finish in time.”

(End of chapter)

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Brief Explanation of Currency:

Liang (两 / liǎng) = Tael → Unit of silver (used like big currency, like dollars)

Qian (钱) = 1/10 tael

Fen (分) = 1/100 tael

Li (厘) = 1/1000 tael

Wen (文) = Copper coins for small daily purchases