TATLC Chapter 14 – Glass Marbles

After days of coming back with nothing, Chen Xiaomi finally got lucky when he hunted down a wild boar.

Many villagers witnessed Chen Xiaomi dragging the wild boar down the mountain.

With Chen Xiaomi’s fierce reputation, nobody dared to approach and ask questions, but many couldn’t hide their envious expressions.

Chen Xiaocai and Chen Xiaomai were ecstatic and started jumping up and down with excitement when they saw Chen Xiaomi return with the large wild boar.

As soon as Chen Xiaomi got home, Chen Xiaomi immediately butchered the boar.

Chen Xiaomi planned to keep the less valuable parts, the large bones, head, and offal, at home, and sell the rest.

In the evening, Lu Lin prepared stir-fried blood tofu with garlic and meat bone porridge.

Although the yam porridge tasted good, Lu Lin had grown tired of eating it every day. The three Chen brothers, however, seemed to love it and never got tired of the dish.

With Chen Xiaomi finally catching a wild boar, Lu Lin finally had a chance to try a different porridge recipe.

These bones were treasure! It was rich in collagen and could supplement calcium…

In his previous life, pig bones had been even more expensive than meat.

When making the porridge, Lu Lin deliberately cracked the bones to release the marrow.

The wild boar’s stomach was also valuable. It was good for the digestive system. In his previous life, some wealthy businessmen would pay over two thousand yuan for a single wild boar stomach. According to Chen Xiaocai, Chen Xiaomi just threw these parts away several times before. What a waste!

As Chen Xiaomi ate the bone porridge, he thought to himself: Handing the kitchen duties over to Lu Lin is definitely the right decision. I never imagined bone porridge could taste so good. We wasted so much in the past! The stir-fried pork with garlic is delicious too.

Lu Lin watched as the brothers ate every last bite in their bowls. None of them are picky eaters, and they all have great appetites.

As Chen Xiaomi gnawed on a bone, he became confused. Bones were very hard, yet these bones looked like they have been neatly cut in half by some kind of sharp tool. He wondered what kind of blade could do that.

As a hunter, Chen Xiaomi was very interested in weapons.

Although he was confused, he didn’t ask about it.

…

“Da-ge, you’re going to town?” asked Chen Xiaocai.

Chen Xiaomi nodded. “Yes, I need to sell these things so I can buy some things to bring back.”

He had planned to go to town several days ago, but with the regenerating amount of food at home and Chen Xiaomi’s recent poor hunting results, the trip had been delayed.

Lu Lin was very happy to learn that Chen Xiaomi was going to town.

“Are you taking the ox cart?” Lu Lin knew from the memories he received that the village head owned an ox cart, and villagers who wanted to go to town often paid two copper coins to ride along.

Chen Xiaomi’s expression changed, as if somewhat displeased. “We’re walking.”

Lu Lin suddenly understood. With Chen Xiaomi’s poor reputation in the village, borrowing the ox cart would naturally be difficult. Besides, the village head’s ox cart didn’t travel to town regularly. Usually several families would arrange to go together.

Lu Lin had been wondering why Chen Xiaomi butchered the pig before taking it to town instead of selling the whole carcass. Now he realized it was because the dead pig would be too heavy to carry.

“I want to go too,” Lu Lin said.

Chen Xiaomi nodded. “That’s fine, but we’ll have to walk.”

Lu Lin nodded. “Alright.” He had already been here for a few days, and he was quite curious about the ancient county town.

Lu Lin hesitated before saying, “I have something I’d like to sell in town. Do you know any potential buyers?”

“What is it?” Chen Xiaomi asked curiously.

Lu Lin took out a glass marble. Chen Xiaomi’s eyes were immediately drawn to it.

Lu Lin’s convenience store had many valuable items, but most were too strange in this era to sell publicly.

A couple of days ago, Lu Lin found seven or eight glass marbles in the store. In his childhood, these had been popular toys in rural areas. Later, as conditions improved, they were replaced by various new and fancy toys.

Lu Lin knew that glass products existed in this place too, but they were only imported by foreign merchants and were considered rare treasures.

The glass marble was semi-transparent with naturally formed patterns inside. In his previous life, such an item might be ignored if dropped on the street, but here, it immediately captured Chen Xiaomi’s attention.

Chen Xiaomi asked excitedly, “What a beautiful bead! Where did you get this?”

Lu Lin had anticipated this question and had already prepared an answer. He claimed that eight years ago, when he was still a young boy, he had seen two strangers chasing a merchant. The marble had fallen out of the merchant’s bag.

When Chen Xiaomi heard it was stolen property, his expression changed for a moment before relaxing again.

It happened several years ago. With all the wars since then, countless people have died. No one would likely investigate something from several years back.

“I’ll find a buyer. But for this kind of item, it all depends on whether it catches a wealthy person’s fancy. It’s hard to say how much it’ll sell for.”

Lu Lin smiled and said, “As long as it sells, that’s fine. We can use the money to buy some household supplies.”

Chen Xiaomi was quite pleased with this. Winter was approaching, and earning a bit more money was always a good thing.