Chapter 17
It’s a Milking Cow
The foreigner looked around helplessly. “What are you laughing at? What are you laughing at?” He asked the crowd.
He didn’t understand why they were laughing at him. Milk was so good. “We’ve all been drinking this since we were kids. It’s delicious.”
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone laughed out loud again. An intrusive woman from the crowd shouted with her arms crossed, “Yo, is this cow your mother? You drink cow’s milk and not your mother’s milk?”
Hearing her words, loud laughter sounded from the crowd again. One of the onlookers said, “Drinking milk really makes you different. Did it give you your yellow hair? Hahahaha… ”
Although he couldn’t quite understand what they were saying—the foreigner could tell that those were unkind words—judging by the mocking looks among the onlookers. He began to look annoyed. Before he could speak again, the person who had just chased him out said impatiently, “Leave. We do not like drinking cow’s milk here.”
The foreigner’s face was ashen. He desperately needed money to find his family. Feeling despondent, the foreigner walked away resignedly among the sound of laughter from the crowd. Xiaoguo waited a while before hurrying after him when he was far from all the commotion.
Xiaoguo called out to him, “Hey, wait a minute.”
The foreigner stopped and looked at the skinny woman running towards him, he felt puzzled.
“How much are you selling the cows for?” Xiaoguo asked directly.
The foreigner’s surprise turned to joy in that split second. “Are you going to buy my calves?”
The words were spoken in fragments. He didn’t know how to pronounce the words. They all sounded funny.
Xiaoguo suppressed a smile and nodded.
“Only a silver tael for the cows,” the foreigner said hesitantly. He watched Xiaoguo’s face, worried that she would find the price too high. He added, “Cow’s milk is really good and nutritious.”
Xiaoguo could only hear a babble of words, spoken with a strong foreign accent. She nodded and agreed to the price. One silver tael was a real bargain. It would cost two taels of silver to buy a cow for farming now, let alone a milking cow. She had struck gold. Although the cows were still young, Xiaoguo could make a lot of dairy products when the cows were older. She could also sell them for money. That would be another source of income.
Although the foreigner in front of her was very tall, he seemed to be quite young. She could tell from the look in his eyes that he was very young. He must have encountered some difficulties. Xiaoguo felt pity for him. She felt like a cheat, getting the cows for such a low price from this lad.
Unaware of the hurricane of thoughts in Xiaoguo’s head, the boy was ecstatic. He could finally use this money to find his family.
The both of them exchanged cash and cows to complete the transaction. Xiaoguo felt guilty for taking advantage of him and passed him the last two copper coins she had, so he could buy some buns to eat. The boy was crying in gratitude and kept saying words of thanks in broken mandarin.
Xiaoguo felt even more guilty. Without daring to look back, she hurriedly pulled the cows along with her and left.
When she arrived at the entrance to the market, the carriage driver almost refused to let her get on. Two cows would occupy so much space and he had never heard of a carriage transporting cows.
While they were still bargaining and negotiating, Mrs. Yang returned. Upon hearing what the two had to say, she handed the driver some cash. It was enough to pay for two more people on the carriage, but in this case they were cows.
The driver then reluctantly let Xiaoguo bring the calves up the carriage. He instructed her to keep a close eye on the calves so that they don’t dirty themselves on the car. Xiaoguo gritted her teeth and acknowledged with a grunt.
Xiaoguo and Mrs. Yang sat themselves down in the carriage and told each other what they had bought.
Mrs. Yang had bought a lot of stuff including clothes and food, while on the other hand, Xiaoguo had only two little cows and some seeds.
“Do you need me to help you with one?”
Mrs. Yang looked at Xiaoguo, who was holding on to the cows and offered her help.
“I’m strong enough to handle it.”
Xiaoguo flexed her biceps at Mrs. Yang, to show her there was no problem.
Mrs. Yang had also bought a lot of things. Xiaoguo didn’t want to inconvenience her.
Although the calves were milking cows, they were malnourished and had just been weaned. Their bone structure was big but they looked very skinny. Xiaoguo vowed to fatten up the calves. She would not be fit to call herself a chef if she failed to do so.
The two of them chatted and laughed as they returned to the village. After getting out of the carriage, the two of them walked home together. To be very precise, Mrs. Yang was walking, while Xiaoguo was inching along like a turtle.
The two cows did not want to move forward because of the unfamiliar environment. After much coaxing with grass and physically pushing them, Xiaoguo managed to get them moving.
Before arriving at Mrs. Yang’s house, Xiaoguo could see Zhuang Zhuang, Xiaohua, and Xiaohu from a distance, playing at the front door of the house.
The moment Zhuang Zhuang heard them arriving, he threw down the stick in his hand and ran towards Xiaoguo. The boy was going to jump onto her, but Mrs. Yang and herself quickly stopped him. It had not been easy for Xiaoguo to calm the cows down. If Zhuang Zhuang were to jump forward and frighten them, they could respond in shock and injure Xiaoguo.
Xiaohua and Xiaohu fan over and said to Mrs. Yang, “We were playing in the house, but Zhuang Zhuang insisted on coming out to wait for his mother.”
Xiaohu continued, “That’s right. Zhuang Zhuang had asked dozens of times why his mother wasn’t back yet.”
Xiaoguo looked at the bashful Zhuang Zhuang with amusement. This boy was still a mommy’s boy. He really needed his mother by his side.
“Ey… What’s this? A big dog?”
Xiaohu’s voice drew everyone’s attention to the cows. The three children crowded around the calves curiously, discussing quietly among themselves.
Xiaohu even reached out to touch one of them. The gesture frightened the little cow and it darted away from Xiaohu with a kick.