Chapter 16: KaChing! Seven Taels

Chen Xiao Cai woke up after Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi left, he went to the kitchen in great delight, he was even more delighted after he took a bite of the egg pancake.

He immediately knew it was Lu Lin who cooked breakfast because the pancakes Chen Xiao Mi cooked tended to be dry and tasteless.

'Lu Lin is such a great cook!' Chen Xiao Cai sighed with emotion.

Chen Xiao Mai stared at the pancake on Chen Xiao Cai's plate, drooling. He tugged at Chen Xiao Cai's sleeve to get his attention.

Chen Xiao Cai looked at his little brother and cut his pancake in half.

Chen Xiao Mai gobbled it down with a few seconds, then he continued to stare at Chen Xiao Cai's plate.

Chen Xiao Cai sighed, he cut the rest f his pancake in half and shared it with Chen Xiao Mai.

Chen Xiao Cai stroked Chen Xiao Mai's face, it wasn't until then did he realize his little brother's complexion looked so much healthier than before.

'We've been eating so well thanks to that Lu Lin. There must be eggs in the pancakes.' Thought Chen Xiao Cai.

As a matter of fact, Chen Xiao Cai had been worried about the way Lu Lin cooked, he was so afraid that one day Lu Lin would make them bankrupt. But the reality was the opposite, and Chen Xiao Cai couldn't find fault with Lu Lin.

To return to Lu Lin, how he wished he could have his car back! He had been gasping for breath and admiring Chen Xiao Mi's stamina the whole way.

And finally, they have arrived when Lu Lin thought he was about to collapse.

Chen Xiao Mi took Lu Lin to a wealthy family, but he knocked on the back door instead of the big front gate.

A young page opened the door for them, and he knew who Chen Xiao Mi was. The page then went inside to report to the steward.

"This is Councilor Yang's house, his steward always buys steward from me." Chen Xiao Mi told Lu Lin.

Chen Xiao Mi used to sell the game in a stall, but he needed to pay five cents to rent the stall and people haggled a lot.

But one day he met Councilor Yang's steward who was organizing a banquet for Councilor Yang, the steward bought everything Chen Xiao Mi had in the stall and he told Chen Xiao Mi that he could go directly to him whenever he hunted new game and he promised Chen Xiao Mi a reasonable price.

Chen Xiao Mi appreciated it so much, not only could he save the rental fee but also the time to haggle with people.

The steward beamed with smiles on seeing the fresh game, he didn't even haggle a single bit.

Chen Xiao Mi asked for a tael for the game, a hundred cents for two pheasants.

"Xiao Mi, you are such a great hunter, look at the pheasants, still so lively."

Chen Xiao Mi smiled humbly, "That's just luck, sir, can I ask you a favor? Can you take me to meet the Young Master? I have something that he must be interested in."

The steward was a bit surprised, he looked at Chen Xiao Mi with disbelief and said, "Is that so?"

The steward knew Chen Xiao Mi was just a poor villager, he didn't think Chen Xiao Mi would have anything valuable or interesting.

The steward's expression didn't escape Chen Xiao Mi, Chen Xiao Mi pulled the steward aside and showed him the glass marble.

The steward's eyes glowed on seeing the marble, "I'm reporting this to the Young Master right now!"

Poor villagers filled up their lives with farm work and house chores all day long, but the wealthy family in town took pleasure in collecting curios and winning beautiful women's hearts.

Glass marble was definitely something the rich kids would vie with each other for.

The Young Master laughed cheerfully on seeing the glass marbles. Chen Xiao Mi said he found them when he was hunting, the Young Master was even happier on hearing that, he thought they might be some auspicious treasure, he bought the two marbles with three taels of silver each, he told Chen Xiao Mi that he was interested in continuous buying if he could find more.

Chen Xiao Mi walked out of the backdoor with seven taels in hand, he felt like he was dreaming.

Lu Lin walked towards Chen Xiao Mi and asked with concern, "How did it go?"

Chen Xiao Mi nodded, "It went great, seven taels in total! One tael from the game, six taels from the two glass marbles! The Young Master said he was interested in buying more!"

Chen Xiao Mi's cheeks were so rosy due to excitement.

'Gee! Rich kids yo! One glass marble is worth three boars! And you can buy a box of glass marbles with two Yuans!'

Chen Xiao Mi also sighed with emotion, 'The glass marbles are worthless in us villagers' eyes, they can't feed you, they can't keep you warm. But the Young Masters are willing to pay a good price for something exotic like that, it's a shame we can't walk to even bigger towns, probably we can sell one for ten taels there!"

Lu Lin admired his partner even more, 'He is so smart for someone who hasn't travelled much, so much more visionary than his fellow villagers.'

Lu Lin had more glass marbles in the store, but he didn't want to sell them all at the same time, it might arouse suspicion, plus a thing was only valued if it was rare.

Chen Xiao Mi took a look at Lu Lin and said, "We have money now, shall we go get some essentials?"

Chen Xiao Mi thought they could buy some fabric, Lu Lin didn't have anything to wear except the ragged old thing he was wearing, and his little brothers had been wearing his old clothes with patches.

Lu Lin had also been wearing Chen Xiao Mi's clothes, but the thing was Lu Lin was taller than Chen Xiao Mi, Lu Lin had a hard time squeezing himself into the smaller clothes.

"Sounds great!" replied Lu Lin with a smile.