Quantum Leap - Vol. 1 The Leap That Starts It All

C010 Trade

This was my first time trying on fresh mussels directly from the sea. Otherwise, in my previous life, these mussels can be bought from the supermarket frozen section and mainly those sizes that Eun had brought in were mainly from Australia.

It was like as if these three brothers were the 'Fresh Food People', aiming to deliver only the freshest of all seafood down on the platter...!

The freshness!! The sweetness!! The chewiness!! Sensations ran wild as the mussels were slowly chewed and savoured between my molars, setting off multitude explosions of tastes on my taste buds. It was the high of living in this era I suppose.

The rest of the brothers too picked the freshly roasted mussels and quickly ate them while blowing them to cool it off before scraping the meat and placing them into their mouths.

They used their utility knife that was usually their main tool to remove the mussels from the mass of the dangling rope in the sea.

Their look of positive indulgence on their palate shows that they are generally satisfied with their haul and the freshness of the mussels. There wasn't a single pea crab inside the mussels that was a type of parasite for these mussels.

"Today we do not have much to bring ashore, yes? The rest of the mussels would take a few days to a week before harvesting."

"We will come back the day after tomorrow for another harvest," said Ding as a matter of fact as he stuffed another piece or morsel in his mouth and spoke between eating.

The rest nodded in agreement including myself.

I took a few more roasted mussels to consume, and the same goes for the rest of the brothers.

Before long, the small basket of raw mussels had been baked and consumed all that was left was a pile of empty shells next to the glowing embers, leaving about some five to seven pieces inside the small carry-all basket for me to take home for Ani.

I pondered on how many mussels were there on a single piece of rope that lay suspended in the ocean.

There are more than 50 of those cultivating ropes and the brothers had just hauled in 15 large wicker baskets filled with them.

Cheng then gathered all the empty shells and buried them under the sand near the edge of the pine trees, most probably to let it decompose naturally as a kind of fertilizers.

Cheng went into the trail afterwards and brought back a bunch of yellow coconuts along with him on the way back to the makeshift A-frame shelter.

He places them on the ground next to me as he removed one of the fruit and cradle it between his laps.

He then used his dagger to took the top off and punched a triangular-shaped hole on top of the core and popped the triangular-shaped part with his dagger before he handed the fruit back to me.

I reached for the fruit and tipped the triangular part that had been popped out and drank it up almost immediately while thanking him.

The taste of the sweet and saltish juice dribbling down my throat as I gulped every single mouthful. I then wiped my mouth against the back of my hand when I had emptied the contents.

Such simple pleasure of this type of drink could be found in abundance at the forest behind the pine trees and I was wondering how much it could cost if this was being sold in the markets of my previous life.

"Time to take a short nap before the merchants come and trade the 'treasures'." Cheng highlighted to everyone as he went to the makeshift A-frame shelter and stretched himself down.

The rest followed him to the shelter and lay down side by side like sardines.

With a full stomach and the soft billowing of the sea breeze, I find it hard to keep my eyes open. Before I dozed off, I made a mindful reminder to ask the brothers whether they had seen what I had seen the night before.

Before long my eyes were shut and I was lost in the midday nap...

=*=

After about an hour's nap, the 3 brothers stirred up and sat down on the soft bedding that was made from dry moss. I subconsciously rubbed both of my eyes and asked, "Is the merchant on the way right now? I wish I could rest some more since I find it hard to get much sleep last night."

I highlighted in the direction of the brothers. "Soon... We are going to trade off these baskets with the items brought by the merchants," explained Cheng while the other two brothers stood up and walked towards their beached craft and began to remove the 15 baskets filled with the green mussels.

I saw them took out their paddle from the beached craft and carefully placed the two ends into a few of the baskets.

This provides easy access to carrying these baskets over a long distance without using their bare hands. The wicker baskets have a type of handle at the top to be slung over the paddle with ease.

After slipping the baskets at the ends of the paddle, they hoisted the paddle on their shoulder deftly and used their 'sarong' as a type of padding on their shoulders to prevent chaffing.

Soon, all the three brothers have done the same while carrying one wicker basket each in their hands and walked towards the trail with me in tow behind them.

I had by then taken my top, the sarong as well as the keris with me after I had cleared away the smouldering fires near the A-frame shelter. This would prevent any mishaps from starting a forest fire when we are not there at all.

The leftovers of the raw mussels which was brought up earlier for lunch was carried off with me for Ani to prepare for dinner later. As we walked and headed towards the clearing of the trail and towards the main path, I heard the cloppity-clap sound of hooves as an incoming horse-drawn wagon was creaking past on the left side of the path.

The brothers placed their baskets and paddles down alongside the path and waited for the arrival of the merchant.

A burly man about early '30s was seen on the horse-driven wagon and was traversing his way towards our direction. By the look of the carriage's weight alone, I had the presumption that this merchant does travel a lot to ply his trade.

"Hello, Cheng...! How has it been? There wasn't much harvest for the past few days because of the stormy seas, am I right?"

"So, it seems that you have more than the usual 9 baskets than you normally trade, yes? Today must be your lucky day, eh?" exclaimed the burly man as he slowed down to a complete stop right beside the three brothers. The horse neighed and sort of scratched the ground with its two front hoofs.

"Yes, that's right, Boss Fei. The harvest had been very good today and we managed to haul in more than enough harvest to trade with you."

"Another exchange date will be scheduled in the next three days, would that be alright with you?" replied Cheng while Ding peered over the side of the carriage and looking at the goods that will be used for the barter trade later.

Eun was at the front of the wagon and was petting the horse's head while smoothing its mane. "Bo....come and help me offload these goods down and the rest can help out carrying the baskets of mussels up, "

Suggested Boss Fei to me as I nodded in acknowledgement. Maybe it is normal for me to help the Boss to offload the precious goods that would be beneficial to the other settlers back at home as I went to the back of the carriage and hoisted myself up.

"Boss Fei, do you want me to bring down all of these baskets?" I asked the merchant as I scanned the number of baskets on the carriage.

"Yup, all of them are for the settlement," replied Boss Fei towards me. There were three hemp sacks filled with grain I supposed. Since you guys had brought in extra mussels for me to trade, I have no other choice but to provide with additional 2 more sacks of grains."

"Go ahead and bring down all the 5 sacks of grains there, Bo. Luckily I had brought extras over or else I would be owing you and would pay you off on the next trip, I suppose."

I acknowledged by making a sound in my throat as I dragged the sacks of grains across to the edge of the wagon as Eun helped me to bring it down on the ground.

Each sack of grain weighed about 15 to 20 pounds. With the additional 2 more sacks of grains, it would be more than enough to last for 5 days.

If the settlers were to cook thick gruel, the grains would last more than a week...!

Next, I pulled four large wicker baskets filled with an assortment of tubers; such as sweet potatoes, tapioca, yam, and potatoes while another basket was filled with onions, ginger, garlic, fresh and dried chillies, stalks of coriander, parsley and chives.

A total of four similarly large-sized baskets and 5 sacks of grains were being exchanged for 15 wicker baskets of mussels.

"No wonder these were called 'treasures'. Barter trade is all about trust and fairness. At least the merchant knows how to use his own initiative to give away 2 more sacks of grains. This would come in handy for the settlers."

I thought to myself aloud. These mussels were worth as much as the goods exchanged as no such coins or credits existed in this era.

The merchant looked back at the 15 baskets of mussels and smiled with satisfaction. He patted Cheng's shoulder and said, "Thank you so much for the harvest and the trade, boys."

"It is time for me to move on now and I would better be off now. Remember to be here in 3 days time and see if I could bring in more things to trade or not."

"Ask your settlers what they need in exchange and I see to what I could do later, alright?" Boss Fei the merchant reminded Cheng as he nodded and was thinking of how to carry back the additional 2 sacks of grains that weighed almost 40 pounds altogether.

The other two brothers had finished securing the 2 baskets on each paddle while awaiting for Cheng.

Ding, on the other hand, pulled the horse's reins and turn the carriage about towards the path the merchant had come from. Now there are 5 sacks of grains and 3 sacks had been secured on a paddle.

Now the question lies on the weak Bo, that was me as I rarely involved in manual work at all...!

We all waited for the merchant to move along the path and once the carriage was far ahead then the brothers picked up the paddles; balancing the baskets and placed on their shoulders after placing their 'sarongs' as a cushion once again.

They all looked at me as I stood there looking at the 2 sacks of grains that weighed almost 40 pounds and they were wondering how I would be carrying those since I do not have a paddle at all.

I looked around and saw the young coconut trees and I began to pull one of the fronds off. "This would make a great tool for me to pull the frond once i had placed the items on it carefully.

The brother watched me in amazement as I carried one of the sacks and place it squarely on the palm frond so it would not get damaged when it was pulled over the gravel.

After placing both of the sacks on the palm frond, i pulled it along and find that it was much easier than to lift them up.

The brothers laughed and joked with me and discovered that I was not a totally mindless fool after all.

I was thinking, did I take over a mindless fool's body? No wonder I was treated in a special kind of manner since last night as my actions were like a 6-year-old kid.

Even I was chided by Ani who was fussing with me when I came up to the house after the evening shower and had made the floor dripping wet.

Maybe... I was considered as the town's i***t of some kind and it would be better for me to find out casually of what happened to me, how I end up here in the first place and what kind of significant impact does it apply to me here in this era.

The brothers walked about and were happily chatting about their collection of 'treasures' in exchange with the goods this time.

"Bo...I am sure Ani would be busy later on after we arrive at our settlement. Why don't you join us at the 'port' later on." chimed Ding towards me as I trudged in front of them, dragging the palm frond and the brothers ensured that the sacks do not have a hole after being dragged in that manner.

"Alright, just let me hand these sacks of grains to her along with the mussels that she had asked for." I replied and later I learned that the 'port' they had mentioned earlier was the meeting point under the canopy of the shady tree within the courtyard.

=*=

Dear friends, if you spot any errors, please leave your comments in the paragraphs or the chapter section. Thank you for the POWERSTONES and God Bless.