Husband and Father Youwei

Chapter 32 Buying a Mule

Now that he has decided not to buy this house, there is no need to look any further. After talking to Wu Zhongren, Tu Lin asked him to help him continue to find a suitable house, and then planned to leave.

Wu Zhongren saw that this deal failed again, so he took Tu Lin and the others to run several times, but in the end he didn't get a single penny for the fee, so he was inevitably disappointed, but his time as a middleman was not short. It's not that nothing happened, and it's not too difficult to accept.

After bidding farewell to the Wuzhong people, Tu Lin and the others didn't plan to go back to Lijiagou, but instead went to the livestock market in the county. Now that they have separated, they will naturally not be able to use the butcher's ox cart in the future, and they have to buy their own. It will be more convenient for them to send charcoal or go out in the future.

As the name suggests, the livestock market sells livestock, ranging from small chickens, ducks, geese, and dogs to large pigs, cows, sheep, horses, donkeys, and mules. The smell is not very pleasant, but after walking for a while, you will get used to it. up.

Tu Lin and the others focused on cattle, horses, donkeys, and mules, but to Tu Lin's surprise, among these animals, mules were the most expensive. The cheapest mule he saw cost ten guan, that is, ten taels, while the most expensive cow cost only six guan. The price of horses and donkeys is that the former is above the ox, and the latter is below the ox.

Tu Lin was a little puzzled, so he asked an old man who sold livestock, and learned that a mule is a hybrid of a horse and a donkey. The advantages are that it is extremely flexible and good at running, has strong endurance and is easy to control, and it grows fast and eats less to feed, and it can be used for a long time, so the price is higher than that of ordinary horses and donkeys.

Although cattle are the most important animal power for farming in the countryside, the imperial court still has protection laws such as prohibiting random slaughter, but because of this, in order to prevent the cattle from being too expensive, the people cannot afford to delay farming, so the imperial court deliberately controls them. In the livestock market, cattle are more needed than mules, horses, etc., but the price is much lower than them.

Tu Lin has sold his family's field now, and he may buy another field in the future, but he will not plant it himself, especially if he buys a cow, he has to go to the government to register it, and if something goes wrong, the government will be held accountable. It was very troublesome, so he didn't plan to buy cattle. Among donkeys, horses, and mules, mules are naturally the most suitable for pulling carts.

It happened that there was no need to buy a house, and the money in his hand was enough. Although it was not cheap, Tu Lin still picked a mule that had just grown into a mule and spent nearly eleven taels of silver. After buying the mule, Tu Lin planned to leave, but when he turned his head, he found that Tu An, who had been by his and Ruan Tang's side, had disappeared.

Tu Lin was fine, but Ruan Tang immediately panicked. Tu An was always well-behaved and would not run around, and he was in this strange place, so how could he suddenly disappear? He couldn't help but think of the rumors he had heard about a child being abducted by kidnappers, and his heart became more and more uneasy. He searched around and shouted Tu An's name loudly.

Tu Lin wanted to appease Ruan Tang, but he also knew that only by bringing Tu An to Ruan Tang immediately would he calm down, and words of comfort were useless, so he also went around looking for Tu An with Ruan Tang.

Fortunately, soon, they heard Tu An's voice, "Father, Uncle Ruan, I'm here." Tu Lin and Ruan Tang immediately turned their heads when they heard the voice, and saw Tu An running towards them.

Ruan Tang's expression relaxed, then tightened again, he ran over and hugged Tu An, and then said to Tu Anxun with unconcealed fear: "Didn't I tell you not to run around? Why are you so unreasonable?" Obedient?"

Ruan Tang has always cherished Tu An, and Tu An is well-behaved and sensible, so Ruan Tang seldom reprimanded him coldly, and Tu An saw that Ruan Tang was no longer as gentle as before, even more so. With a stern look on his face, he couldn't help but feel very flustered. When Ruan Tang saw his appearance, he couldn't help feeling sorry for him, and he was even more annoyed that he had been too strict just now.

Seeing that Ruan Tang couldn't bear it, Tu Lin knelt down and smiled at Tu An: "Okay, it's fine, Xiao An can't scare you like this anymore, Uncle Ruan. He couldn't find you just now, but he was in a hurry."

"...Uncle Ruan, I'm sorry, I won't do this again in the future." Tu An also knew that he was wrong, so he tugged at Ruan Tang's sleeve and admitted his mistake in a low voice.

Ruan Tang had been holding on to a cold face just now, but now he couldn't hold it anymore, he patted Tu An's head, and said with pity: "Xiao An is good, Uncle Ruan is not good, I scared you too loudly just now. Come on, don't be angry with Uncle Ruan, okay?"

How could Tu An be angry with Ruan Tang, he shook his head hastily.

Although Tu An was found, the reason why he ran away suddenly was not clear, so Tu Lin asked him, and then found out that just now Tu An saw someone selling puppies, so he couldn't help running away. Look at the puppies.

Tu Lin looked in the direction where Tu An was running, and he saw a bamboo cage about ten meters away from them on the side of the road, and there were three puppies over two months old in the bamboo cage.

"Xiao An likes puppies?" Tu Lin asked Tu An with a smile, saw Tu An nodded his head, and thought that there was a lack of a dog to guard the house at home, so he said to Ruan Tang, "Go and see? "

Ruan Tang naturally agreed, and the three of them went to the place where dogs were sold. But when they got to the place, they saw that there were only two puppies left in the bamboo cage. While they were talking, someone had already bought one.

Tu Lin greeted the dog dealer, then knelt down and took out a puppy from the bamboo cage for a closer look. When he was a soldier in his previous life, he had learned some of the simplest and most direct techniques to identify good and bad dogs from his comrades who trained military dogs. Shake to see if the dog's eyes are flexible and responsive, and then check whether the limbs are strong and strong, whether the fur is smooth and soft, and whether there are no obvious signs of hair loss and scab.

While checking, Tu Lin didn't forget to explain to Ruan Tang. Ruan Tang didn't think that a dog has so much attention to detail, and couldn't help being surprised when he heard it, but the dog seller next to him looked a little surprised, as if he didn't expect Tu Lin to know dogs so well.

Soon, Tu Lin looked at the puppy in his hand and showed a satisfied expression. After asking Ruan Tang and Ruan Tang had no opinion, he decided to buy it. He didn't forget to tell Tu An, Tu An was really happy to hear that. It's just that when Tu Lin paid the dog dealer and was about to leave, he saw Tu An looking at the last remaining puppy in the bamboo cage that was barking unceasingly.

According to the dog dealer, that puppy and the one in Tu Lin's hand were bred by his compatriots, and the color of his body was similar, but it was obvious that the puppy was weak from birth, or did not get enough milk the day after tomorrow. Its brothers are a little smaller, which probably means that its brothers were all picked away, and it was the only one left in the end.

Tu Lin then asked Tu An: "Does Xiao An like this one?"

Tu An shook his head, then nodded again, and finally pointed to the puppy in the chicken coop and asked Tu Lin: "Father, why does it keep barking? Because there is only one left, is it very scared?"

Tu Lin didn't say anything, because he thought it was not impossible, just now the puppy was still fine, lying obediently, and when he took its brother out of the cage Not long after he came out, the puppy barked, maybe he was really uneasy because there was no familiar smell around him.

Seeing that Tu Lin seemed silent, Tu An bit his lip, then tugged on Tu Lin's sleeve, and said, "Father, I, I don't want a dog anymore, so why don't we buy it?" Of course it's impossible not to buy

it Even if Tu Lin returned the dog, the money would not be returned, but Tu An's young and kind heart could not be ignored, so in the end Tu Lin simply gave away the remaining dog. I also bought a puppy, of course, the price cannot be compared with the previous one, it is much cheaper.

The dog dealer was also very happy to see that Tu Lin had bought both dogs at once, especially the puppy that he thought he could not sell, so he generously gave them the bamboo cage for the dog, and let them It is more convenient to walk with the dog.

Leading the mule and carrying the bamboo cage for the dog, the three of them came out of the livestock market and went to a carriage and horse dealer to buy a wooden cart and a set of bridles. Put the mule on the bridle and tie it to the carriage, and it is a mule cart.

It was getting late at this time, and even if they rushed back at this time, it would be dark when they got back to Lijiagou, so Tu Lin and the others were not in a hurry to go back. I wandered around the county town again, and after finding a small restaurant to fill my stomach, I left the county town and headed towards Lijiagou with the twilight sky dotted with scattered stars on my head.

It was completely dark when we arrived in the village, and most of the village was dark. Fortunately, the moon was bright and the stars were thin tonight, and the cold moonlight barely illuminated the road, preventing Tu Lin from driving the mule cart to the side of the road. Go to the ditch.

It was late when we got home, and after setting up the mules, Tu Lin and the others also took a rest.

The next day was the day to deliver charcoal to Zhou's house in the county, so after waking up in the morning, Tu Lin didn't go to the woods to burn charcoal, but instead burned the charcoal that he and Ruan Tang had cooked in the past three days. More than three hundred catties of charcoal were loaded into the mule cart, and after breakfast, the family of three drove the mule cart to the direction of the county again.

Naturally, they met people from Lijiagou on the road. They were very surprised to see Tu Lin and the others driving a mule cart, but because of the previous incident, everyone was still afraid of Tu Lin, and Tu Lin Lin also kept his face down on purpose so that no one dared to step forward to ask anything, allowing Tu Lin and the others to get out of the village without any hindrance.

Although Tu Lin and the others said they were going to the county town to deliver charcoal to Zhou's family this time, but after two-thirds of the journey, Tu Lin turned around in the mule cart and headed for Zhuxi Village. Although Ruan Tang, as the owner of the house, had agreed to allow Tu Lin to live in his home, but Tu Lin was from another village after all, so he had to talk to the village chief of Zhuxi Village first.

After only three days, the villagers of Zhuxi Village naturally still remembered Tu Lin, and when they saw him, they all said that they came to see your sister again. Tu Lin had a good impression of the people in Zhuxi Village, and he was worried about Tu Xinmei and Ruan Tang, so he didn't have a gloomy face like he did in Lijiagou, but smiled and was very kind.