Bab 53: Chapter 53: First day on the job, part 2

A small girl with pigtails was holding up two paper cats. They were as big as milk jugs and were in a position ready to leap.

"Can I buy these for my brother and me, trader Nikola?" She said in the sweetest voice he had ever heard, and he wanted to gift them to her on the spot. But he knew that, should he do it, people will begin to haggle more with him and demand free stuff.

It was bad enough he had given away the cranes.

"A copper each, dear," he told the girl.

He wasn't really certain on the value of things. Seeing as he spent only for food and clothes. But if granny Nuo Nuying deemed it fit to sell her steamed buns for a copper, then he could sell his paper figurines for that much too.

The girl placed two coppers on the counter and bounced towards a little boy, who looked like New Year had come early. Nikola watched the picture for a time, a small smile playing on his lips, as a woman came forward with a pan.