Negotiating prices by pinching fingers in sleeves

The Sala people had been doing businesses since the ancient times, and when doing businesses, they had a kind of unique custom. That is, when the double parties negotiated about the prices and bargained, they did not speak, but went on it by pinching fingers in sleeves. The method was: when the index finger was pinched, it indicated 1, 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000; when the index and middle fingers were pinched, it indicated 2, 20, 200, 2,000, and 20,000; when the ring finger was added, it indicated 3, 30, 300, 3,000, and 30,000; when the little finger was also added, it indicated 4, 40, 400, 4,000 and 40,000; when the five fingers were pinched together, it indicated 5, 50, 500, 5,000 and 50,000; when the thumb and little finger were pinched together, it indicated 6, 60, 600, 6,000 and 60,000; when the thumb, index finger and middle finger were pinched, it indicated 7, 70, 700, 7,000 and 70,000; when the thumb and index finger were extended, it indicated 8, 80, 800, 8,000 and 80,000; and when the index finger was pinched in a circle, it indicated 9, 90, 900, 9,000 and 90,000. When the parties were bargaining, generally the fingers moved in the sleeves, and they said: “How about this price?” The fingers would not stop moving until a reasonable price was agreed. If there were a great gap between the numbers that the double parties showed, they would give up respectively and tried to find new trade partners. For example, when deciding the price, one party firstly pinched the thumb and index finger of the other party, and then pinched the thumb, index finger and middle finger, and said: “just this price”. Then the other party would understand that it was 87 yuan, or 870 yuan or 8,700 yuan (The approximate prices within 100 yuan, 1,000 yuan and 10,000 yuan were decided according to the quality of commodities, both the parties knew the approximate prices).  

In the past, people bargained with fingers in their sleeves. Because the sleeves of the fur-lined jackets they wore in winter and the clothes they wore in summer were both very long and wide, it was very convenient to bargain in sleeves. At present, with the changes of people’s clothing, the sleeves of both the fur-lined jackets in winter and the clothes in summer are very short, small and thin. So it is not convenient to negotiate prices in sleeves, then they change to go on it under the front of clothes or sheepskin, etc. But the mode of pinching fingers has not changed.