It's hard for my elder sister. I rely on the mountains to farm and pay off my debts.

When Song Zhi led her brothers and sisters out of the grass market, they saw Doctor Zheng waiting for them with an ox cart.

She walked forward and said embarrassedly: "Sorry to have kept you waiting."

Doctor Zheng invited several people to get in the car. "I don't have anything to do today anyway, so it doesn't matter if I stay in this city all day. On the contrary, your business is quite good. You sold out so quickly."

Song Zhi said modestly, "It's just for the sake of novelty."

Doctor Zheng did not continue the topic and asked everyone to get in the car.

When the ox cart slowly drove away, Doctor Zheng said to Song Zhi, "I have to go to the meat market to buy some food. It may take a while."

Song Zhi also wanted to do some shopping, so she smiled and said, "I was thinking of telling Grandpa Zheng that I need to go to the blacksmith shop, too. Why don't you drop me off at the intersection ahead and we can meet at the meat market later."

"I'll take you there first."

Song Zhi refused, "It's not good to be late for the meat market. Let's not waste time on the detour. I know where the meat market is. If we split up, we can go faster."

After hearing this, Doctor Zheng no longer insisted and told the driver to stop at the intersection ahead.

Song Zhi persuaded Doctor Zheng, and then he took out a string of money from his cloth bag and handed it to Yang.

"Auntie, go to the market later and buy a pound of pork belly and two pounds of pork ribs. We've sold all the herbs today, so let the children have some fun too."

Yang hesitated. "Why are you going to the blacksmith's shop? Do you want me to go with you?"

There was nothing to hide about this, Song Zhi said frankly: "I'll go see if there's a bigger iron pot. The pot at home is too inconvenient."

Ironware is very expensive nowadays. Yang wanted to persuade Song Zhi to put the matter of buying the pot on hold.

Because the relationship between the two had just eased, Yang stammered and swallowed the words of rebuttal that were about to come out of her mouth.

The oxcart stopped at the intersection.

Song Zhi jumped off the ox cart and said to Yang, who looked worried, "Don't worry, Auntie. I know what's going on and I won't do anything rash."

After saying this, he told the two children to follow good people and not to be alone, then he hurriedly turned to another street.

"This kid has grown up!"

Doctor Zheng sighed as he looked at Song Zhi's back, then told the driver to continue on his way.

Zheng Hui couldn't help but look in the direction where Song Zhi left, and unconsciously felt a sense of envy in her heart.

She seemed to have really changed, becoming more thoughtful and better than before.

Following the directions of passers-by, Song Zhi found the blacksmith shop at the end of the street.

When Song Zhi stepped into the blacksmith shop, a gust of hot air rushed towards her, accompanied by the crisp and rhythmic "ding ding dong dong" sound between the hammer and anvil in the blacksmith's hand, as if she had stepped into another world.

She looked around, her eyes passing over the various farm tools hanging on the wall, such as hoes, sickles, small pickaxes, and iron pots, but she did not find the large iron pot she wanted.

"Excuse me," Song Zhi raised her voice, "do you have any larger iron pots for sale?"

Upon hearing this, the old blacksmith stopped his work and looked up at Song Zhi, "How big do you want?"

Song Zhi thought about it, gestured to give a rough size, but then felt that the description was not accurate enough.

She turned around and pointed at the iron pot on the shelf, saying, "It would be better if it were as big as these two pots."

Hearing this, the blacksmith shook his head and said, "I don't have this size ready-made here. But if you really want it, I can make one for you."

"But we have to make it clear first. A pot this big requires a lot of iron, so the price is naturally not cheap. And we have to pay a deposit first."

"How much does it cost to build a big pot? And how much is the deposit?"

Seeing that she actually asked for the price, the blacksmith thought for a moment and quoted a price, "Pay a deposit of 300 wen first, and the remaining 400 wen for the goods can be paid when you pick them up."

When Song Zhi heard this, although she was prepared, she was still shocked by the price.

"Seven hundred coins?"

She knew that salt and iron were valuable in ancient times, but she never expected that an iron pot would cost seven hundred coins.

This is equivalent to the harvest of an acre of wheat field. No wonder sisters-in-law with a bad relationship would fight over the ownership of an iron pot when dividing the family property.

It is not unreasonable.

In fact, this iron pot is an important asset of the family, and poor families cannot afford it easily.

The blacksmith nodded. "Ironware is expensive, especially a pot this big. It takes a lot of time and materials."

"It's only in the past two years, when things have been more peaceful, that you can still buy iron tools in the county. If it were a few years ago when there were frequent battles on the border, all the iron would have been used to make weapons, and you wouldn't be able to buy any even if you had money."

Song Zhi understood that what the other party said was indeed the truth, so she didn't say anything more. She took out three taels of silver from her cloth bag and handed it to the other party. "Okay, then please help me make an iron pot like this."

"This is the deposit. Please check if the amount is correct."

The blacksmith took the copper coins, counted them, and after confirming that there was nothing wrong with them, he handed Song Zhi a bamboo tag as proof and asked him to come back and pick it up in three days.

Song Zhi put away the receipt and came out of the blacksmith shop. She did not go directly to the meat market to look for the person, but went to a small shop selling clay pots and ceramic jars.

As the demand for jelly increases, containers for storing jelly at home are also in short supply.

Nowadays, the wooden barrels used to store water at home are used to store jelly.

If I increase the quantity tomorrow, I will run out of containers for the jelly, so I might as well buy two.

As soon as Song Zhi stepped into the shop, she saw a dazzling array of goods. Various ceramic basins were arranged in an orderly manner. Some were as big as jars, some were as small as bowls, and they came in various shapes.

Some have warm colors, while others retain the most rustic form of clay.

She looked around, her purpose clear, and walked towards the most ordinary pottery basin.

Her eyes were fixed on rows of medium-sized round ceramic basins. These basins had a moderate diameter and were deep enough to fit in a backpack for easy carrying and had a large capacity.

The shopkeeper stepped forward at the right moment and asked, "Madam, what do you need?"

"Shopkeeper, how much are these pottery basins?" Song Zhi asked, pointing to a pottery basin on the wooden shelf.

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "My lady, you have good taste. These pottery basins are all fired in our own kiln. They are solid and breathable. Thirty-two coins each."

Song Zhi calculated the amount of jelly she would need tomorrow and the potential increase in sales over the next few days, then said, "Give me two of these pottery basins. Can you sell them for thirty cents each?"

"My dear, our shop is a small business, and we earn our money through hard work. How about this? I'll give you two bamboo lids to cover the pottery basins. They're dustproof and breathable. How about that?"

Song Zhi thought about it and nodded in agreement.

The shopkeeper took out two bamboo covers from behind the counter and placed them on the ceramic basin. They were exactly the right size.

After seeing this, Song Zhi thought that the bamboo weaving was probably originally sold separately, but because it was difficult to sell separately, they came up with the idea of selling it as a set?

This shop owner is quite good at doing business and is very flexible.

The shopkeeper tied it up with a straw rope and handed it to Song Zhi, "Madam, take it."

Song Zhi paid the copper coins, turned around and left the pottery shop with a pottery basin in one hand.