Chapter 103
103 Buying a Horse (3)
Su Xiaoxiao spread her hands and said, “Five taels is enough to buy a cow in our countryside. What donkey is this? An immortal donkey? You’re selling it for 5 taels!”
The old dealer covered his chest and looked at Huang Hai as if to say, “Huang, if you bring such a customer over again, I’ll cut ties with you!”
Huang Hai cleared his throat and smiled awkwardly. “Uncle Yang, why don’t you give me some face? This mule will be …”
Before he could finish, Su Xiaoxiao flipped her chubby hand. “10 taels!”
The old dealer was furious. “15 taels!”
Huang Hai said quietly, “I was preparing to cut to 18 taels.”
The old dealer regretted it after saying that. What had he just said? 15 taels? Had he been angered to confusion by this fat girl?
Su Xiaoxiao chuckled and prepared to pay.
But at this moment, a change occurred.
The three little ones ran over and grabbed her sleeve. “Mom.”
Huang Hai and the old dealer were dumbfounded.
Were this little girl’s sons already so old?
The three little ones only pulled her to another shed. It was the official’s horse shed.
The three of them pointed at a weak newborn foal inside.
It was a premature foal. It had been born two days ago. The mare had been seriously injured and had died not long after giving birth.
The foal had nothing to eat and had been hungry for two days. It could not even stand steadily.
If this continued, it would starve to death in a few days.
A foal could not survive without a mare, so the soldiers at the courier station did not spend much effort to take care of it.
The three of them looked at the foal that had lost its mother with deep sympathy.
“Do you want that foal?” Su Xiaoxiao asked.
The three of them nodded.
Su Xiaoxiao touched their little heads. They were only two and a half years old and ignorant. Perhaps even they did not even understand why they felt so much sympathy for a small lonely horse.
The three little ones stared unblinkingly at the unattended foal.
Liu Ping whispered, “No, you don’t have to spoil the children like this. Just buy them a couple of sweets later.”
“Do you really want to bring it home?” Su Xiaoxiao confirmed with the three of them again.
The three of them nodded seriously.
The official horse of the courier station was not for sale, even if it was only a small foal. However, this foal was in a special situation. The mare was dead, and there was no other mare to feed it after giving birth.
Huang Hai stepped forward to negotiate with the soldiers. “If you keep it, it will be dead. Can you just treat it as dead?”
The officer said, “No, it’s against the rules.”
Huang Hai said, “Does it conform to the rules after it dies? Why are you so rigid?”
In the end, Huang Hai found the old postman who had once owed him a favor and got someone to make an exception. He sold it to Su Xiaoxiao at the price of a retired old horse.
He did help, but he couldn’t bear to see what would happen.
They were paying forty taels of silver on a newborn foal that may die anytime.
This was simply throwing the money away!
Su Xiaoxiao asked Su Ergou to get some hay from the courier station and put it on the ox cart. She carried the weak foal up.
Because she had bought a foal, she only had five taels of silver left.
She silently went to the old dealer’s horse shed. “Um, are you still selling your donkey?”
The old dealer was speechless.
“Five taels!”
Su Xiaoxiao emptied her purse. “I only have three taels left.”
Fifteen minutes later.
The group of six left the horse market with a sickly foal and a skinny donkey.
Liu Ping never dreamed that they could buy such animals.
They had completely deviated from their original plan!
Liu Ping comforted himself as he drove the ox cart. “A donkey… A donkey is good. It eats little and has strong endurance. It can pull mills, haul goods and its temperament is gentle…”
As soon as he finished speaking, the docile donkey beside him kicked its hind legs and the sign at the entrance of the Horse City collapsed instantly!
Liu Ping did not know what else to say.