Transmigration: Space-Aided Rise to Power and Prosperity-Chapter 86 - 11 Buying a Cow

Gu Chengyu and Mr. Gu prepared to head towards the end of South Street, where Old Wang’s ox cart was parked. Today, they hadn’t rented the cart, so they would have to go there to see.

"Xiao Bao, when Mr. Wen tested you, why weren’t you scared? I couldn’t even understand what you were talking about! Luckily, in the end, he accepted you. Otherwise, we would have to look for another place." Mr. Gu sincerely sighed.

"Dad! Actually, I was nervous at that time too!" Gu Chengyu was also afraid that Mr. Wen would not accept him because he was the best for him.

"Dad! Let’s buy a cow for our family! In the future, when I go to private school back and forth to town, it’ll be inconvenient to always ride Old Wang’s ox cart, and it costs quite a bit if we take it every day! Aren’t we planning to buy land too? With a cow, you and big brother wouldn’t have to work so hard." Gu Chengyu thought it would be more convenient to have their own cow.

"Buy a cow? Now that you mention it, we do need one. But a cow costs about ten taels of silver!" Mr. Gu was somewhat reluctant. Today, he had only brought twenty taels, thinking he would use at most ten taels. If they bought a cow, the twenty taels would almost be used up. But thinking about how Xiao Bao had to go to town every day to study and the inconvenience without an ox cart, and moreover, if they bought land, the three of them couldn’t handle it. Not only would it delay work, but it would also exhaust them.

Resolutely, he decided, "Buy it! Let’s go to South Street, there’s a livestock market there."

Gu Chengyu followed Mr. Gu to a large open area on the edge of South Street, and he saw many people selling livestock, all alive. There were chicks for sale, piglets, too. A section was specifically marked for selling cows. As soon as Mr. Gu and the others entered, and started heading towards the cow section, a man in his thirties welcomed them with a smile, "Hello, are you planning to buy a cow? Just let me know which one you’re interested in, and I’ll handle reporting it to the government for you. Would you like me to show you around? My surname is Liu, and I’m very familiar with this area. Do you have any specific requirements for the cow?"

Gu Chengyu realized that this person was like a broker from a past life, except he only dealt with cows in this era.

Mr. Gu seemed to know how things worked and wasn’t surprised. "Then I’ll trouble Brother Liu. We want to buy a sturdy cow that can plow fields and pull carts. Can you show us around?"

"Farmers need strong cows. Young cows need two more years of raising. There are a few families here with very strong cows, well-fed!" Liu Yazi said as he walked, introducing the families with strong cows to Mr. Gu.

"Mr. Yang, someone is here to buy a cow!" Liu Yazi called out to an old man in the corner.

As Gu Chengyu and the others approached, they saw an old man dressed in patchy coarse clothes. "Hello, we’re interested in looking at your cow."

"Feel free to look. I feed this cow well every day! If I weren’t really short of silver at home, I wouldn’t want to sell it. This cow is only five years old, very strong! And it’s a female, so it can have calves in the future." The old man patted the cow’s back and sighed, clearly reluctant to sell it.

Gu Chengyu didn’t know much about cows, but from the appearance, it did look quite strong. It was a big yellow cow with glossy coat, bright eyes, and four sturdy-looking legs, seemingly without any issues.

Mr. Gu examined and touched the cow carefully, then nodded. "This cow is indeed nice. How much are you planning to sell it for?"

"Fourteen taels." After stating the price, the old man sat on a small stool beside him and started smoking from his waist pipe. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"I’m sincere about buying your cow, but fourteen taels is quite high, isn’t it?" Mr. Gu frowned. This old man was peculiar. Even when someone came to see the cow, he didn’t bother to introduce it and priced it higher than others, then just sat there, indifferent.

Gu Chengyu felt this old man didn’t seem like he wanted to sell the cow. Who doesn’t promote their own product? He was even more aloof than the buyer!

"Mr. Yang, if you keep acting like this, I might not help you anymore. Several families have shown interest in your cow these days, but you’ve ignored people, and scared them off with a high price. Do you really want to sell or not? Are you making a fool out of me?" Liu Yazi was also a bit angry. If this continued, how could he continue his business? He had no choice but to deal with this area.

"Ah, it must be sold, for sure. It’s just hard to let go! Don’t be mad, Liu Yazi." The old man sighed again and stopped smoking.

"No matter how hard it is to let go, you still have to sell it, right? Just name a price. They’ve got things to do and can’t wait around forever, right? If the deal doesn’t go through, they’ll have to look elsewhere!"

"Alright, twelve taels of silver then. That price isn’t too high, is it? Other people’s cows are the same price, but definitely not as good as mine." This time, the old man seemed to have made up his mind and offered a reasonable price.

"Good! Since you’re straightforward, I won’t haggle with you. Shall we settle this with cash right now?" Mr. Gu didn’t want to drag it out any longer, especially as the cow was worth its price.

The old man nodded and took one last look at the big yellow cow, "Alright! Once the payment is made, the cow is yours. Big Yellow is very obedient. Just make sure it’s well-fed! It definitely helps with cart pulling and plowing."

"Of course, we’ll treat it well once we get it back home." They would certainly take good care of it once it became their own.

Mr. Gu took a ten-tael silver ingot from the innermost part of his garment, then took out about two taels from his waist, handing them to the old man. The old man handed the rope tied to the cow to Mr. Gu.

"So the deal is done! Sir, I’ll go get a red contract for your cow. This contract costs 480 copper coins, and I’ll charge you eighty. Is that okay?" Gu Chengyu learned that they had to pay the brokerage fee to Liu Yazi, and he wasn’t sure if the seller had to pay anything separately.

"That’s fine." Mr. Gu handed over five qian of silver and sixty copper coins, which was customary as each broker charged about the same.

Gu Chengyu noticed that his father seemed to have several places to stash money. Farmer men didn’t usually carry pouches; they put silver inside their jackets, around their waists, while heavier copper coins were kept in sleeves, which had hidden pockets sewn inside. But when copper coins were many, they became quite heavy too.

Gu Chengyu watched as Liu Yazi entered a small room, guessing it might be a government office specifically for registering the cow purchase contract. Sure enough, Liu Yazi came out shortly after, "Sir, Mr. Yang, come here. You’ll need to go inside and leave your fingerprint."

Gu Chengyu followed them into the small room, where a clerk sat writing busily at his desk. Gu Chengyu peered over to see a red paper detailing the cow purchase, with the official stamp of the county government beside it. There was space for the buyer and seller’s names, and in between was a "By Broker" column, where it said Liu Hong, presumably Liu Yazi’s name. After the clerk finished writing, he instructed the three to leave their marks, finalizing the deal.

Buying a plowing cow in ancient times was quite complicated. They couldn’t slaughter a cow privately by themselves; even if it died of illness or old age, they had to report it to the government. Then they could either sell it to the government or slaughter it for food. It wasn’t easy to have beef. Gu Chengyu thought about all the frozen beef he had in a space, along with bagged and canned beef, realizing he’d have to sneak a taste there in the future. At this point, Gu Chengyu hadn’t realized this was a society under imperial rule, with privileges for everything.