Chapter 8 Buying Cows

  Wu Qing was speechless for a moment, and then suddenly smiled: "Oh, my friend, I need a cow that can produce milk."

  "Are you looking for a wet nurse? Oh, little Tang Dynasty friend, you should go find your mother to breastfeed you, I don't have any here." The Westerner said with a straight face.

  Wu Qing was speechless, cursed a few times in his heart, and knew that there was a problem communicating with this Westerner. He pointed to the three-headed Western cow behind him and asked, "Can these three cows produce milk?"

  The Westerner was taken aback and immediately revealed his white teeth, saying: "Oh, my little Tang Dynasty friend, these cows can all produce milk."

  Wu Qing didn't say a word, and directly walked to the back of the cow to take a look. He said angrily: "Oh my god, my friend, you actually said that male cows can produce milk? Are you bullying me because I'm young?"

  The dark red face of the Westerner looked somewhat embarrassed, but he couldn't argue back. It seemed that even the children of the Tang Dynasty were quite knowledgeable. He stood up, patted his chest with one hand, and bowed to apologize: "Oh, sorry my friend, the thinnest one is a dairy cow, just malnourished, temporarily unable to produce milk."

  Wu Qing was taken aback, not expecting this Western Regions person to actually mention the matter of that cow which couldn't produce milk. It seemed that merchants during this era weren't as cunning as those in later generations. He became very angry and said: "You dare to bring out a cow that doesn't produce milk for sale? Aren't you afraid someone will report you to the authorities?"

  "Oh, my friend, I'm going to sell it as a draft ox!" The Westerner hastily argued.

  In the Tang Dynasty, especially in the early Tang, Emperor Taizong was well aware that the court strictly prohibited the slaughter of oxen for farming encouragement. If one cow was killed, it would be sentenced to punishment. However, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong and Wu Zetian, it was not so strict.

  Wu Qing smiled to himself, if it were an ox, the price would be cheaper. If this guy can't sell it again and dies, he might even get into trouble with the authorities. It seems that this guy is anxious, no wonder he's so downhearted. In a year of famine like now, who dares to buy another head of cattle back?

  "My friend, how much do you plan to sell this cow for?"

  "Oh, my Tang Dynasty little friend, I'm preparing to sell twenty guan."

  Wu Qing shook his head, twenty guan was equivalent to twenty taels of silver, which was two thousand coins. Twenty taels of silver were enough for a family of five to live comfortably for a year. Wu Qing turned around and walked away, intentionally looking around, wanting to take a look at other things.

  "My Tang Dynasty little friend, can we discuss the price?" The Westerner hastily shouted.

  Wu Qing stopped in his tracks and said, "My friend, you are not being honest, taking advantage of this child."

  "Oh, my little friend from the Tang Dynasty, how about this, fifteen strings of cash?"

  Wu Qing didn't even turn his head and directly took a step forward.

  "Ten Coins!"

  Wu Qing stopped in his tracks and said in a childish voice: "Five coins, that's my final offer!"

  Wu Qing continued walking forward, when suddenly a very disappointed voice came from behind him, "Deal!"

  Wu Qing turned around, a big smile on his face, and said: "Nice doing business with you!"

  A man from the Western Regions said bitterly: "I understand, the little friends of the Tang Dynasty are also ghosts and spirits."

  Wu Qing laughed and said: "If possible, I'd like to buy another one."

  The man from the Western Regions was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing and said: "Two heads left, twelve strings, seventeen in total!"

  Wu Qing knew that these Westerners were not easy to deal with either. He knew that this trip would probably end in a loss, so he agreed and let them take the cattle home.

  When the three-headed cow was led into the house, Wu Dangniu was stunned for a moment, then took out 17 strings of money and gave them to the Western merchant. Wu Dangniu also understood that her child had been very determined over the past three years, and people say that children from poor families become masters early on, which is not false at all.

  The mother and son led three cows into an abandoned horse shed, then sat down.

  Seeing Wu Dangniang's inquiring gaze, Wu Qing said: "Mother, although our family has some savings now, we can't just sit back and enjoy the wealth without doing anything."

  Wu Daigne nodded in agreement.

  Wu Qing continued: "I know that Mother has suffered a lot in recent years, so I bought a head of cattle that can produce milk, which is enough for our mother and son to use. As for the remaining two heads of cattle, I want to make a cow cart, and as for the other one, I want to slaughter it, we haven't eaten meat at home for a long time, have we?"

  Hearing the slaughter of cattle, Wu Daigne hastily said: "The front I promised, but the back one, slaughtering cattle is against the law. If it's discovered by the authorities, our family will be punished."

  Wu Qing thought for a moment, and then agreed not to slaughter the cattle, so as to avoid trouble. In fact, at that time, the gentry landlords still ate beef, it's just that no one reported them.

  Next, the mother and son discussed the purchase of fodder and the household registration. The household registration in the county seat was relatively simple, and Wu Qing could be considered a local, so it only needed to go to the Li Zheng's place to say something. What the mother and son discussed more was Wu Qing's studies. After planning everything, Wu Qing asked: "Mother, is there saltpeter here?"

  Knowing that his mother did not understand, Wu Qing asked again: "Is there saltpeter?"

  Wu Dang's wife still didn't know, and Wu Qing gave up for the time being. Perhaps this era wasn't called saltpeter, nor was there a term like "saltpeter earth". However, it seemed that refining elixirs required large amounts of saltpeter. At present, the Tang Emperor revered Taoism, and Taizong often took golden elixirs. The entire Tang Dynasty began to flourish in alchemy. Saltpeter must exist; one could only try searching for it at a pharmacy. If none was found, then they would have to think of another way.

  If there were no thousand years of thought, plus a little bit of historical knowledge, Wu Qing really didn't know how to survive in this era of survival of the fittest. Fortunately, although he knew very little, he still had a few things, and if he could promote them in this era, his life with Wu Dang would definitely be better, and he wouldn't care about the low status of merchants!

  Taiyuan Prefecture's Jin City County has hawthorns, Wu Qing had been thinking of making candied hawthorn for a long time. He knew that candied hawthorn originated in the Song Dynasty, and this era was already gone. For this little friend's favorite, he still had confidence in opening up the market of the Tang Dynasty. It's just that now is not the season for harvesting hawthorns.

  Only thinking of shaved ice and popsicles, two things that only existed in the industrial era. The refrigeration problem was too difficult for Wu Qing. Although he clearly understood that refrigeration equipment relied on the expansion principle of Freon to work, it was impossible for him to find Freon in this era. Fortunately, having studied chemistry, his professional skills had not fallen behind, and after some thought, he could only think of a way using endothermic reactions.

  As for what substance can absorb heat in a very simple situation, he finally thought of saltpeter. When saltpeter is put into water, it absorbs a lot of heat and quickly stirs to cause freezing. Although the smell of saltpeter ice is a bit unpleasant, if you add honey or sugar water, there shouldn't be much of an unusual smell. Moreover, saltpeter is also a Chinese medicine that can treat dizziness and is non-toxic and harmless. Of course, Wu Qing wouldn't use any method like burning earth to refine saltpeter, the smell was unbearable, let alone eating it.

  Now is the hottest summer day, he believes that popsicles and shaved ice must be sold. Of course, if possible, he also wants to get soda or beer, unfortunately, it's not realistic. In order to make money, he has other methods.

  Saltpeter was used for alchemy and as a medicinal ingredient in this era, and Wu Qing also knew that Wenshui was the place where Shansi's Wenshui County would be located later on. Shansi is rich in saltpeter deposits, so there's no need to worry about not being able to buy it at the pharmacy.

  In this era, the cotton fabric was called white stacked cloth, which came from the Western Regions and was relatively expensive. In a prosperous place like Datang where silk and satin were prevalent, it had no market. However, it wasn't difficult to buy either. Wu Qing thought back to when he was young and followed his uncle to sell ice popsicles. He pushed a bicycle with a tightly wrapped box on top, which served as an insulated container, holding the ice popsicles inside. When the lid was opened, a lot of white mist escaped, and it had to be covered quickly. Later, Wu Qing understood that this was for heat preservation.

  Relying on his memory, Wu Qing drew the trunk on paper and instructed Wu Dangni to pay attention to some matters when asking the craftsmen to make it tomorrow. Then he entrusted the purchase of white fabric and saltpeter for a while.

  Wu Daniu didn't know what his son was going to do, but he still agreed as promised. Fortunately, he knew that his son had the title of "prodigy", so he didn't think much about it.