Chapter Thirty-Five: Qiaomu Town

  Qiaomu Town, located more than ten miles outside Zengjiacun Village, is a town with just over 10,000 people and the only village-town within tens of miles around.

  For small villages like Zengjiacun, villagers usually go to Qiaomu Town to sell things or buy necessities such as rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea.

  On this day, early in the morning, every household in the village had packed up and arranged the things they needed to sell at home, preparing to head to Qiaomu Town.

  At the village entrance, two carts pulled by oxen were parked. If any family in the village had a large quantity of goods that one person could not carry, they could be placed on the cart, such as those few large wild boars.

  Five big wild boars, except for Zhao Ji's exclusive one and another that was slaughtered and divided among the group, the other three half-dead ones were all loaded onto a flatbed cart, ready to be taken to Qiaomu Town to be sold.

  "Alright, everyone check again if there's anything left behind. If not, we'll set off."

  Everyone's preparations were almost complete, and Zeng Yu reminded them one last time. Seeing no response, he announced their departure.

  Today, going to Qiaomu Town, the village including Zeng Yu and Zeng Dazhuang, a total of ten people will go, plus Zhao Ji, Ding Dian and Yuan Chengzhi, that is thirteen people.

  A distance of over ten miles can be covered quickly by Zhao Yi, Ding Dian and Yuan Chengzhi with their lightness kung fu skills, not even taking half a quarter of an hour.

  Thirteen people set out on the road together, pulling so many things that they couldn't hurry up. When Joewood Town was in sight, more than half a time had already passed.

  "This town of Qiao Mu is pretty good, and it even has a city wall."

  Gazing at Qiao Mu Town in front of him, Zhao Ji smiled.

  The wall surrounding Qiaomu Town is more like a low earth wall than a city wall, and it's no more than one zhang high.

  The city gate of Qiaomu Town, rather than saying it's a city gate, it's better to say it's just an entrance. There is only a hole, but no door, and no one guards it. This saves the trouble of entering, and there's no need to be searched by anyone.

  After entering the city, Zhao Ji found that although Qiao Mu Town was a bit broken, it was even more dilapidated than he had imagined. Perhaps, among some towns on Shen Gui Island, it was also at the bottom, but the town's atmosphere was not weak at all.

  The town is bustling with people coming and going, and most of them are heading deep into the town, probably to attend today's gathering.

  As the only concentrated trading place within a radius of ten miles, Qiaomu Town has a fair every Sunday. When it's time for the fair, villagers from surrounding villages who want to buy and sell will come early.

  "Zhao brothers, let's go, we're going to the market."

  While Zhao Ji was watching with wide eyes and appreciating the ancient style, he had called out to him once, turned around and walked in one direction.

  Inside Qiaomu Town, a special area was cordoned off in the market. When Zhao Ji and his group arrived, it was already packed with people.

  Inside the market, there are free stalls specially set up for sellers to use. Some of the better locations have already been occupied by people, you can see how early they came.

  "Oh dear, I set out early just to get a good spot, but unexpectedly, it's still a bit late and all the good spots have been taken."

  Helplessly heading towards a relatively remote stall, he instructed the villagers to push the board car into the stall while expressing his regret.

  Qiaomu Town gathering situation, Zeng Yu can be said to know very clearly, those good stalls were also known by him, and he intentionally walked a bit earlier in the morning, but unexpectedly, after rushing, he was still a bit late.

  In the end, it was a miscalculation. Previously, when they set out from Zeng's village to Qiaomu Town, it would take about half an hour or so. Today, with too many and too heavy items, they slowed down their speed, which is why they were late.

  The boards were arranged in rows on the stalls, and all kinds of animals, both dead and alive, were placed on top. Then, Zeng Yu loudly shouted to attract buyers to come and make a purchase.

  Failed to grab a good spot, and had to sell the goods at a very high price quickly. The only way Zeng Yiwu thought of was to shout loudly and advertise widely.

  In the villages within the reach of Qiaomu Town, there are indeed hunters who occasionally bring back some gains and sell them in Qiaomu Town. However, it is rare to see a situation like today's where the villagers of Zengjia Village have brought back so many hunted animals at once.

  It has to be said that Zeng had a talent for business, and under his enthusiastic sales pitch, all the goods were sold out in just a moment.

  In this world, gold, silver and copper are all hard currencies. The game brought back by the village hunters, although numerous, were sold together for only a few pieces of gold.

  One or two gold coins, divided among ten or twenty families, and when it finally reached each person's hands, there wasn't much left. As for Zhao Ji, he didn't even get a single copper coin, because the spoils of war never included him to begin with.

  "Alright, now that we've divided the money, let's discuss what we need to buy and get everything ready as soon as possible. We have to head back by noon."

  After dividing the money, Zeng Yu reminded them a few times and announced the disbandment.

  In the past, they would also leave for the market before dawn and return to the village around noon, just so they wouldn't have to eat in Qiaomu Town.

  The restaurants or hotels in the town, not to mention how good the food is, are very expensive. The price of one meal is enough for all the villagers' expenses for a trip to the town.

  "Zao brothers, you haven't been to Qiaomu Town before, have you? If not, I'll be your guide and take you on a stroll around the town. It may not be as prosperous as some big cities in many ways, but it also has its own characteristics."

  Zeng Yi proposed to Zhao Ji.

  "Alright then, I'll have to trouble Old Zeng with this."

  Zhao Ji agreed.

  Qiaomu Town, is the first step Zhao Ji came to Tianjie, no matter what this town is like, having a better understanding of it will help understand Tianjie better, at least, it can also make people more familiar with the local conditions and customs of Shentu Island.

  Zhao Ji, Ding Dian, Yuan Chengzhi and Zeng Yu walked around in Qiaomu Town. In this process, Zeng Yu acted as a guide and was quite competent. He pointed out to Zhao Ji where the residential area was, where the commercial area was, and where there were martial arts halls.

  After walking around the town, Zhao Ji's impression of Qiaomu Town was greatly improved. Although the town is not big, it looks like a square with a radius of only a few hundred meters, but its planning is quite reasonable, much better than some modern cities in China that are disorderly built and laid out.

  "This town is indeed quite good, although small, it has everything, including a blacksmith shop, hotel, inn, martial arts school and so on."

  After roughly understanding it, Zhao Ji smiled and praised.

  Originally, Zhao Ji thought that a small town like Qiaomu Town, which is relatively remote and only serves as the center of some insignificant villages, should have relatively simple infrastructure, and may even lack some functions, but unexpectedly, everything was complete.