Chapter 44 Price

Had it been his previous life, Zhao Mu would have arranged for someone to watch the fishing net even after setting it, just to prevent it from being stolen.

However, in the present times, he felt quite at ease.

First, the area around Lesser Wang Village was sparsely populated; very few people ever came here, let alone knew about a fishing net set in these waters.

Second, although many people were starving, the general lack of fishing tools meant that most would not venture near the river.

Therefore, after setting the net, Zhao Mu and Wang Wu returned directly to the small courtyard.

By this time, Wang Wu’s wife had already taken advantage of the pre-dawn light to boil a pot of millet porridge for everyone.

After finishing his meal, Zhao Mu’s eyes fell upon the hemp ropes left over from yesterday.

He had no idea what Lesser Wang Village used to rely on for a living, but the village was surprisingly well-stocked with hemp ropes.

Still, it worked out to his advantage.

Now that the catch-all net was already woven and set in the water, he decided to weave a hand-cast net as well.

His previous hand-cast net had been made of inferior material, and since he hadn't needed it after entering the city, he had hidden it somewhere.

By now, he couldn't be bothered to go searching for that old net, so he simply decided to make a new one.

Before noon, Zhao Mu had finished weaving a brand-new hand-cast net.

Moreover, this net was larger and sturdier than the previous one.

Zhao Mu sent Wang Wu out to scout the surroundings, and upon confirming that the area was deserted, he carried the net down to the riverbank.

Wang Wu stood guard at a distance while Zhao Mu scanned the water's surface and cast his net to catch fish.

His luck today was quite decent; after casting the net a few times, he actually hauled in two large fish, each weighing at least ten jin.

This was thanks to the abundant aquatic resources of ancient times, which had never been subjected to overfishing.

Had it been his past life, he could have labored hard for an entire day without managing to catch even a few fish.

Let alone fish of this size.

Upon returning to the small courtyard, although everyone cast longing glances at the catch, no one urged him to rush.

Even though there was no one nearby, they were unwilling to light fires during the day, fearing that the smoke might attract unwanted attention.

They waited until nightfall before finally lighting a fire to brew a pot of fish soup.

During the afternoon, they dug a dedicated pond to hold the fish and filled it with water.

The next morning, at the break of dawn, Zhao Mu led Wang Wu, his son, and Wen Zhi back to the spot where they had set the fishing net.

It took the four of them exerting all their might to finally haul the heavy net out of the water.

Seeing the net completely packed with fish, the men were overjoyed.

"So many fish? How much silver will these sell for?"

Wen Zhi stared at the fish, his eyes glowing with excitement.

Zhao Mu smiled without a word, joining the others to retrieve the fish from the net and place them into crude bamboo baskets.

These bamboo baskets were discarded items they had scavenged from the village.

Once all the fish were transferred, everyone beamed with delight.

There were easily over thirty fish!

Even if a single fish only fetched a little over ten wen, the total batch would bring in half a tael of silver.

Besides, these were massive fish weighing several jin each; it was impossible they would sell for a mere dozen wen.

At a conservative estimate, each fish could fetch at least thirty to forty wen!

"We're... we're getting rich!"

Wen Zhi swallowed hard, muttering continuously.

Back when he served as a gate guard, his monthly salary was only two taels of silver.

Catching this many fish on just their first day was already equivalent to half a month's salary!

Zhao Mu looked at Wen Zhi with a smile and said, "Don't be impatient, Brother Wen. This is only the first day; there will be plenty of days ahead for us to count money."

Wen Zhi chuckled, his heart beating even faster.

Even if Zhao Mu failed to reach an agreement with Shopkeeper Qin, these fish alone were enough to ensure they wouldn't starve to death.

Leaving the city with Zhao Mu had truly been the right choice!

After resetting the fishing net, Zhao Mu looked at the harvest and still felt a bit unsatisfied.

"Brother Wen, since you have nothing else to do today, why don't you head into town to inform Shopkeeper Qin? Tell him to wait at the city gate first thing tomorrow morning to collect the fish."

After a brief hesitation, Zhao Mu made his arrangements.

When he had previously discussed terms with Qin Jian, he miscalculated, originally planning to let Wen Zhi notify Qin Jian only after arriving at the city gate tomorrow.

However, since Wen Zhi had nothing pressing on his hands, he might as well make the trip today, eliminating any risk of failing to reach Qin Jian tomorrow.

Wen Zhi raised no objections and immediately set off to carry out Zhao Mu's instructions.

After Wen Zhi departed, Zhao Mu, Wang Wu, and the others transported the large fish back to their residence and released them into the newly dug pond.

Next, he gathered the remaining people and discussed weaving two more catch-all nets.

The others raised no objections to Zhao Mu's plan.

The more nets they wove, the greater their harvest would be.

Since they had idle time on their hands, they might as well put it to good use.

Furthermore, having gained experience from the previous attempt, the group successfully wove two new catch-all nets by noon.

Following the usual routine, Wang Hu scouted ahead, and upon confirming the surroundings were clear, Zhao Mu and Wang Wu baited and secured the two new nets in the water.

Meanwhile, Wen Zhi returned from the county town.

He and Qin Jian had agreed that the moment the city gates opened tomorrow, Qin Jian would bring his workers to the gate to collect the fish.

Wen Zhi roughly described the size and quantity of the fish they had caught.

Qin Jian immediately sent Wen Zhi back with a message, asking Zhao Mu what he thought of a flat rate of forty wen per fish.

After all, although Peace County appeared peaceful and prosperous on the surface, the cost of raw ingredients alone for a single serving of pickled cabbage fish was forty wen. When factoring in the seasonings and the profit margin required by Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion, customers would have to pay around sixty or seventy wen for a single dish.

If they paid Zhao Mu too much for the fish, the procurement costs would inevitably rise significantly.

Regarding this price, Wen Zhi felt both a trace of dissatisfaction and a sense of anticipation.

They had caught over thirty large fish in a single day; selling them all at forty wen apiece would yield twelve hundred wen.

Converted into silver, that amounted to one tael and two wen.

If Wen Zhi were dissatisfied with such a large sum of money, he would simply be ungrateful.

On the other hand, fish were normally sold by weight.

Even with the constant natural and man-made disasters plaguing the Great Qi Dynasty, a fish this large should cost at least ten-odd wen per jin, if not twenty-odd wen.

Since the fish they caught generally weighed three to four jin or more, even at ten-odd wen per jin, a single fish should be worth forty to fifty wen.

Yet this time, Qin Jian was only offering the baseline price.

Regardless of whether Wen Zhi liked it or not, he was not in a position to make the final decision and could only wait for Zhao Mu's verdict.

Qin Jian had also instructed Wen Zhi to let him know that if Zhao Mu was dissatisfied, they could renegotiate the price when they met tomorrow.

Regardless, as long as Zhao Mu could deliver the fish to the city gate, Qin Jian was prepared to buy every single one of them!

Upon hearing Wen Zhi's report, Zhao Mu smiled and said, "We are selling wholesale now, and Shopkeeper Qin is buying in large quantities. A lower price is only reasonable. Forty wen it is."