So much seafood, not much less than what was available at the Shancat Supermarket. Moreover, when converted to silver, at the same currency exchange rate, the purchasing power had tripled.
If you don't take advantage of a good deal, you're a fool.
Gu Qingcheng bought fifty catties of each type of seafood. They had the shopkeeper pack the seafood into thick straw bags, and each person carried two bags. The shopkeeper was dumbfounded, thinking this family of three had incredible strength.
As soon as they left the seafood market, in a deserted corner, all the seafood was collected by Gu Qingcheng into her storage cabinet. The Shancat Supermarket mostly had refrigerated products. With this batch of seafood, they would now have fresh, live seafood and could eat it anytime they pleased.
Next to the seafood market was the meat market, which mainly sold pork, lamb, chicken, and duck. Beef was relatively rare, with only one stall selling it in the entire market.
In this era, cattle were important means of production. Every cow was registered with the government. Unless it died of old age, illness, or accident, it was impossible to slaughter beef for sale arbitrarily.
Moreover, even if a cow died of the aforementioned causes, selling beef required approval from the government. After verification, beef could be sold.
The beef stall's business was quite good, with a market due to its scarcity.
However, Gu Qingcheng, who understood history, knew that the beef sold at this stall was not good meat; every cow had a problem, which was why it was slaughtered and sold.
Therefore, she didn't want beef, only purchasing pork, lamb, rabbit meat, chicken, duck...
Most of the live poultry sold here were live. Gu Qingcheng asked the vendors selling live poultry to slaughter them on the spot, paying one wen for each bird as a labor fee. She would buy as many as they slaughtered and collect the butchered meat in the evening.
Everyone was happy to earn money.
Gu Qingcheng paid half of the deposit.
In this era, doing business relied on integrity. Otherwise, without surveillance cameras or identification, one could just take the money and run, and there would be nothing they could do.
But honestly, if such a breach of integrity were reported to the authorities, and they investigated, the dishonest party would have their face branded and be exiled. Thus, most people dared not easily challenge the bottom line of trustworthiness.
The Gu family made extensive purchases, quickly buying another 500 catties of pork, which was divided into ribs, tenderloin, large bones, and leg meat.
They bought 500 catties of fish; 200 catties of lamb; and 100 catties of rabbit meat...
Considering their family ate 1-2 catties daily, that's 60 catties a month, and over 700 catties a year, which could last them two to three years. Moreover, it was unlikely they would eat that much meat every single day.
Coupled with the continuous supply of fresh meat from the Shancat Supermarket, and given their limited silver, they decided to stop at this point.
In addition, regarding vegetables, the pollution-free and organic vegetables of this era were greatly loved by the Gu family.
Whether it was winter melon, pumpkin, cucumber, or gourd, though not large and plump, but rather thin and small, they possessed the most authentic, natural taste.
Shanghai bok choy, spinach, green onions, garlic, chili peppers, water spinach, Chinese cabbage, small bok choy, cabbage, purple cabbage, lettuce, chives, yellow chives, chive flowers, dragon whiskers vegetables, choy sum, bracken, mustard greens, cilantro, crown daisy, amaranth. There were quite a variety of vegetables. The leaves were not large, but thick and firm, with many insect bites visible on them, indicating no pesticides had been used.
Gu Qingcheng took all these vegetables into her possession.
Due to the freezing disaster, vegetable prices had recently soared. However, compared to the prices at the Shancat Supermarket, they were still 2/3 cheaper. Gu Qingcheng didn't hesitate and bought them.
The joy of buying and buying was truly unparalleled!
After a swift stocking spree, Gu Qingcheng's satisfaction points not only did not decrease but even increased by fifty.
Just then, they were attracted by a clanging sound and saw it was the blacksmith shop they had been talking about.
"Dad, Mom, let's go take a look. I wonder if they can forge swords."
Gu Qingcheng was excited.
The family entered the blacksmith shop. A blacksmith with a body full of bulging muscles was forging iron, bare-chested, sweating profusely.
In the entire Jinsha City, perhaps only he dared to be bare-chested and sweating in such cold weather.
The high temperature of the furnace, combined with continuous physical labor, caused a mist to rise from his body.
There were many iron implements in the blacksmith shop. Besides farming tools like hoes, plows, and sickles, there were also common household items like kitchen knives hanging on the wall.
Gu Chaobei asked, "Brother, do you sell swords here?"
"Swords? What do you need weapons for?"
The blacksmith looked at them strangely, finding them unlike warriors and a bit peculiar.
"Oh, we want to go hunting outside the city, so we thought we'd buy a sword to test our skills."
Gu Chaobei said truthfully.
At this moment, one must not appear guilty. The more nervous one appears, the more suspicious it seems.
However, this was his first time buying a weapon in his life, and though his face was calm, his heart was still tense.
The blacksmith said swords were expensive and required custom orders, not something they could get immediately.
"How much is a sword?" Gu Chaobei asked.
"A sword costs ten taels of silver, a top-quality fine steel sword that can cut iron like mud and shave hair with a breath."
The blacksmith boasted.
Gu Qingcheng had bought practice swords at the Shancat Sporting Goods store. They were not sharpened, and their weight was incorrect. When held, they always felt too light and floaty, affecting the force.
"Can you forge three swords of this weight for us?"
After speaking, Gu Chaobei weighed it in his hand and then picked up an iron piece, saying to the blacksmith.
The blacksmith stepped forward, intending to take the iron piece as easily as Gu Chaobei did. However, he was careless. The weight of the iron piece caught him off guard.
Because he saw Gu Chaobei handle it so easily, he assumed it was a light piece of iron and didn't expect it to be so heavy, almost dropping it and smashing his own foot.
"Ah? This weighs over eighty catties. Are you sure you want to forge such heavy swords? Can you even lift them?"
Generally, traditional swords weigh less than one kilogram, about 0.8 kilograms.
The Mo Dao of the late Sui Dynasty was heavier, weighing about 21 catties of modern weight. For cold weapons, weight is a very important indicator. Under the same strength, lighter swords are faster and allow for more endurance. Therefore, most people prefer lighter swords. The blacksmith couldn't understand why Gu Chaobei wanted such heavy swords.
"Because we have great strength!"
Gu Chaobei chuckled, "This is the total weight of three swords. Each sword will weigh about 26 catties!"
Seeing Gu Chaobei smile so easily, the blacksmith suddenly realized that this person had handed him the iron piece with complete ease. He then put away his dismissive attitude and said,
"Alright, but you need to pay a deposit first, and the price will increase. Each sword will cost 15 taels of silver because normal swords are not this heavy, and the raw material also increases by more than double according to your requirements."
Gu Chaobei knew that metals were precious commodities in this era, and iron was not cheap either, so he agreed.
The blacksmith required half of the deposit upfront, which was 25 taels of silver, and they could pick up the swords in half a month, at which time the remaining balance would be paid in full.
Gu Chaobei paid the deposit, wrote a contract for receiving the deposit, and the blacksmith pressed his thumbprint on the contract. He couldn't write, so he solemnly pressed his thumbprint, and the contract was sealed.