Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

At the dinner table, Zhang Youtie looked at the prawns, which were almost as big as his palm, and sighed with admiration. He'd lived for nearly thirty years and had never seen such large prawns before; the biggest he could catch in the river was only a finger's length. Seeing that her parents hadn't yet started eating, Xia Yu took one herself, peeled it, and placed it in her father's bowl. Then she took another, peeled it, and placed it in front of Liu Shi, while calling out to Changyun, "Brother, try one! See if it's good?"

"Dad, Mom, why don't you try it without the dipping sauce first and see if it tastes good?"

"Xiaxia, won't it taste fishy if we cook it like this?" Zhang Youtie picked up a shrimp that his daughter had peeled. The shrimp was orange, and the tender white meat inside looked very tempting. But he had eaten shrimp before, and in his memory, it wasn't very tasty.

Mrs. Liu picked up a shrimp and took a bite. How could a shrimp raised in such a precious gift from the gods not taste good? Besides, she trusted her daughter. "Hmm? Xiaxia, this shrimp tastes a little sweet," Mrs. Liu asked her daughter in surprise.

"Hmm, sweet? Let me try it." Hearing what Liu said, Zhang Youtie quickly ate the shrimp he was holding, chewed it carefully in his mouth, and his eyes suddenly widened. "Hmm, it really is sweet."

"Changyun, try the shrimp your sister made, it's delicious!" Turning her head, she saw that her son already had several shrimp shells peeled in front of him. It turned out that while Zhang Youtie was still doubting the edibility of salted shrimp, Changyun had already eaten one. Following his sister's advice, he first ate one without sauce, then one with sauce, and found that the one without sauce was better. So, ignoring what his parents were saying, he started eating without any fuss.

Seeing that her parents had already eaten, Xia Yu started peeling dumplings for herself. She had been in this world for more than ten days, and apart from the dumplings made by You Suozi that she ate that one meal, she had only eaten one large meat bun and two meat meals in town. She was really craving them, and she followed her brother's example and ate them in silence, one bite after another, fresh, fragrant and bouncy. She ate with great satisfaction.

No one had time to talk, and the bowl of shrimp was visibly disappearing. Xia Yu ate almost twenty in one go, finally feeling full, so she stopped eating. After all, she still had a bowl of millet porridge in front of her. The millet porridge had cooled down, and Xia Yu picked up the bowl and drank it all in one gulp, then let out a satisfied burp.

Finally, the bowl of shrimp was completely devoured by the group, and everyone was very satisfied. After all, none of the people present had ever eaten meat so freely before, especially shrimp.

"Dad, Mom, I'm thinking of taking those shrimp to town to sell tomorrow. What price do you think would be appropriate?"

Upon hearing their daughter's words, the two began to make their own plans.

Thirty coins

"Thirty coins, please," the couple said in unison.

"Will this price sell? I went to buy meat with my sister a few days ago, and the fatty meat was only 14 coins. This shrimp meat is delicious, but it's not very oily," Changyun said, somewhat pessimistic about the price.

“These prawns are quite rare around here. You usually only see dried prawns in dried goods stores, but they’re never this big. I’ve never seen prawns this big in the river or streams either.” These were Zhang Youtie’s words. Xia Yu thought his father was right; things are valued for their rarity!

“Your father is right. Shrimp is all about freshness. Although shrimp costing thirty coins doesn’t have the same satisfying taste as fatty meat, you can’t taste the freshness of shrimp with fatty meat either. I think we can still give it a try. If it doesn’t work in town, we can go to Ming’an County, thirty miles away, to sell them. There are more wealthy families there.” Liu Shi also expressed her thoughts when her son raised his doubts.

Xia Yu felt very lucky. Her parents had surprisingly insightful opinions and perspectives on business, and her brother's suggestions were also quite reasonable. With such a family and her own space, Xia Yu felt she could easily live a life of comfort and ease as a wealthy landlady in this era.

After some discussion, they decided to tentatively set the price at thirty coins per pound, and try it out in town first. If that didn't work, they would try the county town. They figured they could find a market for it. Before going to bed that night, Xia Yu put all the baskets of vegetables into her spatial storage. Whether for personal consumption or to sell, storing them there would keep them fresh.

The next day, originally only Liu and Xiaxia were going to town, but because of what happened the day before, Zhang Youtie decided that all four of them would go. Xia Yu's two aunts didn't plan to go to town that day; however, her grandmother, Liu, gave her mother money, asking her to bring back a few things.

Her father left early in the morning, and Xia Yu had no idea where he was going. About twenty minutes later, he returned in an oxcart. Xia Yu and her brother, overjoyed, didn't even bother to eat and ran out to greet him. After asking him, they learned that he had borrowed the oxcart from the village chief for twenty coins a day. They planned to sell shrimp that day, and riding the oxcart from Li Village wouldn't be convenient, as they would have to carry several buckets. Besides, he didn't want others to know what they were doing, so he went to the village chief's house early to borrow the oxcart, insisting on paying twenty coins for fodder. He got angry when the village chief refused.

Xia Yu overheard her father whispering to her mother about borrowing the oxcart, and she truly thought her father was very capable. She took three empty buckets from home, covered them with wooden lids, and placed them on the oxcart. In Xia Yu's spatial storage, she placed two large basins of well water she had fetched that morning, intending to put the water and shrimp in after arriving in town, so that no one else would see them on the road.

Zhang Youtie drove the oxcart, with Liu Shi and their two children riding on it, each holding a water bucket. When villagers asked them where they were going, her father would always laugh and say, "Taking my wife and children to the market," before making up some other conversation. By then, the oxcart would have already passed them several meters away, and they could no longer press them for more information.

Xia Yu watched her father practice Tai Chi with great joy from the car, feeling incredibly impressed.

When they were almost in town, Xia Yu wanted to put the shrimp in the bucket, but considering that the oxcart could only stop outside the town and she would have to carry the bucket all the way, she thought it would be better to put them in at the door.

Her father didn't park the oxcart where he had parked it last time. Instead, he drove it on until they reached a large, dilapidated-looking courtyard. A young man dressed in shorts and a broad smile ran over and said, "Brother, parking the oxcart?" He was already helping to pull the oxcart along.

"Okay, deposit it. How much?"

"Feeding the cattle costs eight coins, not feeding them costs five coins."

"Hey, where do I pay?"

"Brother, this way please."

Zhang Youtie instructed Liu Shi and the two children to wait by the oxcart, saying he would be right back. Then he followed the young man to complete the formalities. Xia Yu looked at the dilapidated courtyard and thought that if the place where she parked the oxcart last time was a bus station, this must be a privately owned parking lot with fees.

"Mom, should we go to the market to sell first, or go to the restaurant first?" Xia Yu asked her mother.

"Let's go to the market first, while there are more people in the morning. The restaurants are always open, so we can go later."

"Yes, Mom, I think what you said makes a lot of sense," Xia Yu immediately offered her compliments, which were actually what she truly thought.

The mother and her two daughters were talking by the oxcart when Zhang Youtie returned, having finished his business. The young man who had greeted him earlier offered to help unload the buckets from the oxcart, but her father politely declined. The buckets were empty; wouldn't asking someone else for help give them away?