Happenings in Shangjing (V)

Xu Ke was speechless, as if he had never thought of such an incident before. He wanted to say that was what husband and wife relationship was like, but the words just floated in his mouth, and he could not say them.

"Did you not bring any money? Did all of it go into paying taxes?" Jiang Pengji asked.

"Of course I brought some." To prove his point, Xu Ke reached for the money pouch at his waist and asked doubtfully, "Do I have to surrender all of it?"

Jiang Pengji did not understand and said, "When I was at Langye, I met a woodcutter. He cuts wood for fifteen days a month. He sells biscuits that his wife bakes on a cart for the remaining days. I conversed with him light-heartedly and found out he thought the highest denomination of money is a copper coin…"

Xu Ke was doubtful, and did not understand. "The simple commoners have a hard time working. The most common form of money they have is copper coins. There is nothing strange about this."