TATLC Chapter 33 – Selling Gloves

They arrived early at the market and secured a good spot. Normally, they had to pay a fee to claim a place in the market, but today was special. Whoever arrived first could claim their spot for free.

The street was already crowded with people, and many stalls were open for business. There were vendors selling lanterns, wine, tanghulu, bamboo baskets, hemp cloth… all sorts of goods.

Lu Lin spread a piece of cloth on the ground and arranged three rows of gloves.

“This row is three hundred wen per pair.”
“This row is five hundred wen per pair.”
“This row is two taels of silver per pair.”

Chen Xiaocai looked at Lu Lin and said, “Two taels of silver?”

Lu Lin nodded. “Yes.”

Chen Xiaocai blinked. “Do you know how much rice you could buy with two taels of silver? And you want to sell one pair of gloves for that much.” Even three hundred wen was expensive!

“This is fox fur, very rare.” The fox was caught by Chen Xiaomi after winter began. The wealthy officials and nobles in town loved using fox fur to make capes. Unfortunately, the fox Chen Xiaomi caught fell into a trap beforehand, so the pelt was somewhat damaged. Lu Lin had Grandma Shen make it into fox fur gloves instead.

“Xiaocai, Xiaomai, you need to shout loudly when we start selling! If we sell many gloves, I’ll buy you some sweet rice cakes,” said Lu Lin.

Lu Lin was too shy to shout prices himself in public, but when it came to bribing child laborers with small favors, he had absolutely no pressure.

Hearing Lu Lin’s words, Chen Xiaocai’s eyes revealed a hint of disdain. He always felt that Lu Lin’s tone was somewhat fox-like.

Chen Xiaomai blinked at Lu Lin. “Sweet rice cakes, really?”

Lu Lin nodded seriously. “Yes, sweet rice cakes, really.”

Chen Xiaomai bit his finger, then suddenly raised his voice and shouted, “Gloves for sale! Gloves for sale!”

Seeing how eagerly Xiaomai was working, Chen Xiaocai’s face turned slightly red. This kid’s too easy to fool. Just one sugar cake and he’s all in. Still, he joined in the shouting.

Chen Xiaomai had been eating well lately and was growing up nicely. Wearing a new cotton coat and a tiger-head cap, he looked very cute.

Chen Xiaomai’s voice was clear and bright. Soon people came over out of curiosity, but because the gloves were so expensive, most just looked and walked away.

Seeing many lookers but few buyers, Chen Xiaocai became anxious. “Should we lower the price?”

Lu Lin shook his head. “No, this is the price.”

The design is simple. Anyone with half a brain can copy it. If we want to make money, it has to be now. In a few days, there’ll be knockoffs everywhere, and these won’t be worth a thing. Better to let them rot than drop the price.

Chen Xiaocai looked to Chen Xiaomi for help. Without hesitation, Xiaomi said, “Listen to him.”

Chen Xiaocai blinked, vaguely feeling that his big brother was increasingly following Lu Lin’s lead. Although it was typical for a Shuang’er to listen to the man of the house, Xiaocai always felt that his big brother was different. However…

Chen Xiaomi was completely unaware of Xiaocai’s thoughts. He just believed that since Lu Lin used to be a scholar and was knowledgeable, they should follow his lead on something he created. If they couldn’t sell them, so be it. They’d only waste some fur and fabric.

Lu Lin spotted a young master wearing a brocade hat and sable coat, accompanied by a page boy. He immediately signaled to Chen Xiaomai.

Chen Xiaomai, who had practiced with Lu Lin at home, raised both hands and called out, “Gloves for sale! Gloves for sale!”

The young master, who had been looking around curiously, was indeed attracted by the call. “What’s this?”

Lu Lin eagerly picked up the highest-end fox fur gloves and explained, “These are gloves, Gongzi. Look, wear these and you won’t feel cold. There’s this flap that buttons up to prevent the wind from getting in. If you need to work with your hands, you can flip it back.”

“Wearing these gloves, practicing calligraphy in winter won’t be so cold.”

Hearing Lu Lin’s words, the well-dressed young master’s interest was piqued. “Quite exquisite. How much?”

Lu Lin smiled. “Two taels of silver.”

The servant beside the young master frowned. “Two taels of silver? Are you robbing people?”

The boy looked at Lu Lin, thinking he was being dishonest, seeing their master was well-dressed and wealthy, and trying to swindle them.

Lu Lin glanced at the young master’s servant and inwardly smiled, Typical rich family’s servant, those who serve the wealthy are quite arrogant themselves.

Lu Lin smiled calmly. “This is top-quality fox fur, and we only have a few pairs. If you find these too expensive, these rabbit fur ones are only three hundred wen per pair. It’s very affordable, but the style is simpler. They’re also very warm, but for a distinguished gentleman like yourself, rabbit fur might not suit your taste.”

Liu Yi smiled. “Of course I want the best. Two taels isn’t expensive. I’ll take two pairs of fox fur and five pairs of rabbit fur.” Liu Yi calculated that he could use the fox fur ones himself and give the rabbit fur ones as gifts, since they looked similar anyway.

Lu Lin smiled. “That’s five taels and five hundred wen in total. Since you’re our first customer, let’s make it an even five taels.”

“You’re very straightforward!” Liu Yi paid without hesitation.

Liu Yi handed the silver to Lu Lin, who immediately passed it to Chen Xiaomi.

Chen Xiaomi pocketed the silver, amazed that they actually sold the gloves, and seven pairs at once.

Lu Lin’s novel product attracted many curious onlookers, but most only looked without buying. After all, pelts weren’t that expensive, and many likely planned to make their own.

After Liu Yi left, a few more people came to buy gloves, but they only bought the cheapest rabbit fur ones.

…

More than an hour after Liu Yi left, there weren’t many customers coming for the gloves. Later, another wealthy-looking noble lady came and bought two pairs of fox fur gloves.

Chen Xiaomi couldn’t help but think, This town really has no shortage of wealthy people—who’d spend two taels on something like this?

After a while, six or seven people came together.

They were all well-dressed. They were obviously from families that didn’t lack money and came to buy the novel goods.

“Do you still have fox fur gloves?”

Lu Lin looked at the newcomers and smiled. “Only four pairs left.”

Lu Lin guessed these people must be acquainted with the young master who had bought gloves earlier. That young master had probably been showing them off.

“I’ll take them all.”

“Hou Li, that’s not fair! We came together, why should you take all of them?”

The habit of one-upmanship among rich young masters was quite serious. The price of fox fur gloves was somewhat expensive for ordinary households, but for these rich young masters who could spend half a year’s worth of common people’s household expenses on a single meal, it was nothing.

“I’ll pay three taels each, sell them all to me.”

“Yun Feng, you bastard, that’s not playing by the rules!”

…

The wealthy young masters argued loudly as they bought up all the remaining gloves.

Seeing that all the gloves were sold, Lu Lin was happy to close up the stall early.

Among the hundred-plus pairs of gloves, seven pairs were fox fur, selling for fourteen taels of silver. The other wool and rabbit fur gloves were cheaper, but there were more of them, bringing in nearly forty taels. This trip had earned them fifty-four taels of silver in total.

Chen Xiaomi’s cheeks flushed red as he kept the silver safe.

Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiaomi and said, “Everything’s sold out. Let’s walk around for a bit.”

Chen Xiaomi nodded. “Okay.”

…

Lu Lin noticed several familiar faces watching from around them. When the young masters came to grab the goods, these people’s expressions became a bit strange.

Chen Xiaomi looked at Lu Lin, unable to contain his excitement. “I never thought gloves would be so valuable! If I’d known, I would have made more to sell.” He had sold all his previous animal pelts so cheaply! If they had all been made into gloves, how much money would that have been!

Lu Lin narrowed his eyes. “They won’t be worth as much next time. It’s also because Grandma Shen’s craftsmanship is so good.”

Chen Xiaomi nodded. “Grandma Shen’s skills are really good.”

With money in his pocket, Chen Xiaomi was unusually generous and bought several pieces of sweet rice cake. The soft, glutinous cakes were delicious. Chen Xiaocai and Chen Xiaomai ate with great satisfaction.

Chen Xiaomi, at Lu Lin’s insistence, bought two new cotton quilts. In Chen Xiaomi’s opinion, there was nothing wrong with their old quilts, and this year had been much better than the previous two. But Lu Lin saw things differently. Now that they had money, they should replace all the shabby items at home.

Although Chen Xiaomi thought Lu Lin was spoiled and behaved somewhat like a young master, he didn’t object.

…

As Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi walked through the streets, Chen Xiaomai wanted everything he saw, and Lu Lin bought him whatever he liked.

Since they earned so much from selling gloves, Chen Xiaomi gave Lu Lin some “pocket money,” but watching him spend so freely still made Xiaomi’s heart ache a little.

“Chen Xiao-ge¹, out with your little brothers?”

Chen Xiaomi nodded. “Yang-gongzi, what a coincidence!”

Yang Hengzhi glared at them. “What coincidence? I came looking for you specifically. I heard you were selling some kind of gloves in town. How could you sell such fine items to those clueless fools?”

Chen Xiaomi immediately realized that Yang Hengzhi had set his heart on the gloves, but they had sold too well and all were gone.

“If Yang-gongzi likes them, I still have a few pairs here, but not many,” said Lu Lin.

Chen Xiaomi looked at Lu Lin with surprise.

Yang Hengzhi was taken aback. “You really still have some?”

Lu Lin nodded. “Yes, but not many.”

Lu Lin took out three pairs of gloves from the mule cart and gave them to Yang Hengzhi.

Yang Hengzhi was delighted to see that one pair was actually the fox fur gloves that his classmates couldn’t get.

“You even have fox fur ones left,” Yang Hengzhi said with surprise.

“I thought Yang-gongzi might like them, so I saved them especially for you.”

“How thoughtful of you, Lu Xiao-ge.” Yang Hengzhi gave Lu Lin five taels of silver without asking for change and left with the gloves.

Chen Xiaomi looked at Lu Lin, puzzled. “How did you still have gloves?”

Lu Lin smiled. “I was originally keeping them for myself, but since we ran into Yang-gongzi, I might as well sell them to him.”

Chen Xiaomi pursed his lips. A rabbit fur pair would be good enough for himself. Who needed fox fur? Such young master behavior.

Lu Lin and the three Chen brothers ate many snacks at the market and played until evening before heading home.