Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Manager Li stroked his sparse goatee, looked at the ginseng in Madam Liu's hand, frowned, and pondered deeply about how much silver he should pay.

After a long pause, he said, "Sister-in-law, may I take a look at it?" Manager Li was somewhat unsure, so he spoke to Madam Liu.

Upon hearing Manager Li's words, Madam Liu immediately stepped forward and placed the ginseng she was carrying on Manager Li's table. Manager Li took out a magnifying glass from somewhere and examined the ginseng carefully, from top to bottom. He then leaned closer to the ginseng on the table and smelled it. Afterward, he cut off a piece of ginseng rootlets and chewed it.

"Wow, that's really great!"

"That's wonderful, that's really wonderful!"

"This is a rare find. Very good, very good."

Listening to Manager Li's mutterings, Madam Liu stood quietly to the side, watching and waiting for him to slowly appreciate it. Xia Yu, on the other hand, was very interested in the magnifying glass in Manager Li's hand. Since magnifying glasses existed in this era, didn't that mean that glass existed in this dynasty?

After a long while, Manager Li finally looked up from the "beauty" of the ginseng. He then said to Madam Liu...

"Eight hundred taels. I'm willing to offer eight hundred taels for this ginseng. What do you think?"

The mother and daughter exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes, far exceeding their expectations.

“Alright, eight hundred taels it is.” Madam Liu immediately nodded in agreement.

Hearing the other party's quick agreement, Manager Li happily picked up the ginseng from the table and placed it in the brocade box he had just found. "I'll settle this treasure first, then we'll go to the accounting office to get the silver."

However, Manager Li didn't keep them waiting long. He carried the box of ginseng and led them to the accounting office. He showed the ginseng to the accountant, and then Manager Li signed and fingerprinted a receipt written by the accountant. Only then did the accountant carefully retrieve eight hundred taels of silver from a small side room and give it to them.

After leaving the accounting office, Manager Li didn't bother with pleasantries with Madam Liu and the others. He quickly greeted them, arranged for the medicine boy to see them out, and then went to his room to admire the ginseng.

The young apprentice escorted Liu Shi and Xia Yu to the outside of the clinic, politely said goodbye, and thoughtfully reminded them to be careful on the way.

Looking at the smiling face of the young medicine boy, Xia Yu felt that if this scene hadn't happened at the entrance of Baohetang Medical Clinic, it would have been a bloody battle in any other place.

Holding the silver notes, Liu returned to the cloth shop with her daughter. From a distance, they could see their mule cart parked outside the shop.

"Your father has come to pick us up," Liu said to her daughter with a smile.

"Yes, I see our mule cart too."

Holding her daughter's hand, Liu quickened her pace. They had noticed the weather seemed even more gloomy when they left the clinic. They needed to finish buying the rest of their supplies quickly so they could head home; it might snow.

Upon entering the fabric shop, they found only two customers selecting fabrics, being served by a young shop assistant. The shopkeeper was sitting with Zhang Youtie, drinking tea. Seeing Liu and her companion enter, the shopkeeper exclaimed with delight, "Sister-in-law, you're back! Brother Zhang has been waiting for quite a while!"

After exchanging a few more polite words with the cloth shop owner, Liu told Zhang Youtie to hurry up and load the fabric onto the mule cart; she was going to buy cotton. Seeing her in such a rush, the shop owner also went to help. After several trips, they finally loaded all of Liu's purchases onto the mule cart. Their commotion was quite loud, and the two women who had been selecting fabric earlier couldn't help but whisper among themselves.

"I thought that pile of materials was from their shop, but I never imagined it was what that family bought!"

"Yes, they don't look like a very wealthy family, so why are they so extravagant? A single bolt of fabric can cost dozens of feet, tsk tsk." The young shop assistant chuckled as he overheard their discussion.

"Ladies, that lady just bought not only cotton cloth, but also two bolts of silk." Seeing their envious looks, she continued...

"They're not from our county town; judging from their speech, they're probably farmers. She bought fabric from us twice before, saying our fabric is good and cheap, so she came specifically to buy more today. Even though they're farmers, they're incredibly generous. Her little girl just touched the silk, and her mother bought two bolts for her daughter in one go. She said it's almost New Year's, and she wants to make two nice outfits for herself and her daughter." He then took a bolt of embroidered silk from the back shelf and said to the two women...

"Please feel this silk with your hands. Isn't it incredibly comfortable? If you ask me, you two aunties should buy a few feet of silk and make a padded jacket. You'd look so impressive wearing it when visiting relatives during the New Year!"

The two men were somewhat tempted by the young shopkeeper's words. If even peasant families could afford to buy silk, they, being city dwellers, couldn't possibly be dressed worse than the women in the countryside. So, they each bought four feet of brocade silk, which cost 100 coins per foot, intending to make a padded jacket as the young shopkeeper suggested, to wear when visiting relatives during the New Year and to look presentable.

The shopkeeper listened to the young shop assistant's boasting and shook his head helplessly. What nonsense was this? The old lady hadn't said much except for haggling, yet he'd made such a big show out of it.

Over there, Zhang Youtie, leading his mule cart, took Liu and her daughter straight to the general store, where they bought eighty catties of cotton to make quilts and cotton-padded clothes. This year, Liu had some money, and she didn't want to leave it unused while her children suffered. While Liu was buying cotton, Xia Yu also picked out some odds and ends needed for the household. When paying, Xia Yu was astonished to learn that cotton cost seventy wen per catty. No wonder everyone here slept on kangs (heated brick beds); in winter, heating the kang meant less need for thick quilts. Otherwise, with so many people in the family, just finding enough cotton-padded clothes and quilts for winter would be a nightmare.