Yesterday, they hadn't expected to be gone so long and hadn't prepared enough. At noon, Lao Wang had offered to invite Zhang Quan and the others to eat together, but Zhang Quan declined—not out of disdain, but because there were too many of them, all big men. If they'd accepted, they could easily have eaten half a month's worth of the family's food in one meal. The smallest silver they carried was half a tael—if they gave that much, Lao Wang, honest and simple as he was, would never take it.
Sweet potatoes and wild greens—even if they ate a whole basket, how much would that cost?
If Zhang Quan and his men ate and offered a few dozen copper coins, Lao Wang, being poor, would surely take them.