Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Upon hearing the price quoted by the waiter, Changyun clicked his tongue in amazement. "So expensive! Fifty coins could buy eight catties of flour with some left over." Xia Yu also felt it was expensive, but if they could grow the chili peppers from their spatial storage, then this meal would be a bargain. The waiter, oblivious to Changyun's exclamation, smiled and asked Changyun and Xia Yu if they enjoyed their family's chili peppers. Xia Yu followed up with a few more compliments, which pleased the waiter greatly. After receiving payment, he attentively saw Xia Yu and his companion to the door.

After leaving the restaurant, Zhang Youtie drove to the seed shop in the county town first. This had been arranged before the trip. His family also knew that Xia Yu's treasure could be used to grow plants, so this trip was to select seed varieties that they did not yet have at home.

When they arrived, there weren't many people in the shop. It wasn't the planting season, and the owner, who was dozing off at the counter, was startled awake by the sudden arrival of these people. Seeing that there was business coming in, he immediately perked up.

"Brother, what kind of seeds would you like to choose?" he asked Zhang Youtie.

"Ask my kids, these two want to plant some vegetables in our garden that we've never grown before."

"Boss, do you have any seeds from outside?" Xia Yu asked.

"Foreign seeds? What do you mean, young lady?" The shopkeeper was momentarily taken aback by Xia Yu's question.

"What I mean is, is it a crop that's commonly grown locally, or some unknown seed you collected?"

Hearing Xia Yu's words, the shopkeeper began to think carefully. In his opinion, Xia Yu was just a little girl playing around. These were not commonly grown here, so how could a girl like her grow them? He didn't even recognize the seeds himself, so he didn't believe this little girl would.

"Honey, did you sell that little bag of seeds your nephew brought you back last year?" A voice suddenly came from the back room. Xia Yu then saw a woman in her thirties carrying a winnowing basket filled with seeds Xia Yu didn't recognize. She seemed to be sorting through them in the backyard. Hearing their conversation, she came out before even putting the basket down. "Looks like that bag of seeds isn't selling well," Xia Yu thought to herself.

"Oh, I remember now. Wait for me a minute, I'll go get it." After saying that, she turned around and went to the back.

"Auntie, what kind of seeds are they? They haven't sold after a year, can they still be grown?" Xia Yu asked the woman seemingly innocently.

"Sigh, we don't know what kind of seeds they are, that's why we don't dare to sell them. We've asked many experienced farmers over the past year, but no one can identify them. We've even tried planting them ourselves every season, but they haven't grown. We still don't know what they are! Just now, when I heard that our daughter wanted these kinds of seeds, I remembered that little bag of things. If they could grow here, that would be a good thing, wouldn't it?"

The shopkeeper came out carrying a small cloth bag, about the size of a palm, and said to Zhang Youtie and the others, "Come, come, brothers and sisters, come and have a look. My nephew only said it's a kind of fruit, something like a melon, but I've forgotten the name. He doesn't know how to grow it either, he just told me to try planting it."

Hearing the shopkeeper's words, Xia Yu stepped forward and took a few seeds from the bag. She almost laughed when she saw them, but remembering she hadn't paid for them yet, and to avoid the shopkeeper overcharging, she managed to keep a straight face and not laugh. These were watermelon seeds she'd spat out in her past life! These things needed loose, sandy soil to grow; if you planted them in just any patch of ground, nothing would likely grow. But this shopkeeper was a bit unlucky; he'd planted them all year round, why hadn't he thought to try a different spot?

Seeing Xia Yu's tense little face, and Zhang Youtie and Liu Shi looking like they didn't recognize her, the shopkeeper thought to himself that he probably wouldn't be able to sell her again, judging from her expressions, she didn't seem interested!

"Boss, we don't recognize what these are, but I still want to try them in my yard. Boss, how much are you planning to sell them for?"

This question stumped the shop owner. He hadn't considered this before, and his nephew hadn't told him how much to sell it for. He glanced worriedly at his wife, asking for her opinion. The woman looked at the bag of seeds, then at the other seeds displayed in her shop. "My nephew said this is some kind of melon. How about we price it at the same price as cucumber seeds? Is that alright?"

"How much do cucumber seeds cost per kilogram?" Xia Yu asked.

"We don't sell these vegetables by weight. Besides, most ordinary families don't grow that many vegetables; buying a few dozen is enough." These were the shop owner's words.

"Ah, is that so?" Hearing the boss say that, Xia Yu remembered that, apart from grain seeds which were sold by weight, other vegetable seeds were packaged in bags, with dozens of seeds inside.

"How are these seeds sold?" Xia Yu asked again.

"Twenty coins, thirty seeds"

Actually, the price wasn't expensive, but Xia Yu looked at the small bag of seeds and wanted to buy them all. The moment she saw the watermelon seeds, she thought about making a fortune from them. What if someone else bought them and grew them? Even if no one else bought them, once her watermelons hit the market, everyone who ate them would see the seeds inside. But if she said she wanted all the seeds now, not only would it cost more money, but it might also arouse the shop owner's suspicion.

Xia Yu tugged at Liu Shi's sleeve and pulled her aside, whispering, "Mother, I recognize those seeds. They're a kind of fruit. I want to buy all of them."

After hearing her daughter's explanation, Liu turned back to the counter, no longer mentioning the seeds. Instead, she asked the shopkeeper if he had any other seeds. The shopkeeper, seeing the mother and daughter exchange a few words and then return without mentioning the seeds, assumed they didn't want them and was somewhat disappointed. Money was one thing, but more importantly, he wanted to know what kind of seeds they were and what kind of melon they would produce. Seeing that Liu and Xia Yu no longer mentioned the packet of seeds after their conversation, the shopkeeper's wife also assumed they didn't want them and turned back to the backyard to continue sorting through the items in the winnowing basket.

Here, Liu selected seeds for several other vegetables, including scallions, coriander, cowpeas, and bok choy—all of which she didn't have at home. The total came to seventy coins. As she was about to pay, Liu's eyes inadvertently fell on the packet of seeds again, and she asked, seemingly casually, "How much for all of these seeds, shopkeeper?"

"Huh? Ah! You want them all?" Liu's words startled the seed shop owner. After realizing what she meant, he became worried again. He had just thought she didn't want them anymore, so why did she want them all now?

"Ah, wait a moment, I'll go ask my wife." After saying that, he actually left Liu and the others in the shop and went to the backyard to ask.

After waiting for two minutes, the boss ran back from the backyard, this time with a normal expression on his face.

"Well, if you want all of this, it'll be 500 coins. There are about a thousand seeds in here. Normally, it would cost over 600 coins, but since you've bought it all, it's a flat price of 500 coins."

"It's too expensive, boss, can you give me a discount?" Liu wanted to lower the price even further.

"No, no, this is my wife... um, this is the lowest price I can give you, no bargaining." The shopkeeper shook his head like a rattle drum, afraid that he would not be able to resist lowering the price. Just now his wife said, "This family must know that kind of seed, otherwise they would not have bought it all. We will not cheat them, but we cannot let them cheat us either. Five hundred coins is the lowest price we can offer."

"Oh, boss, could you give me a few more persimmon seeds? We've bought so much stuff, a few seeds would be fine too." Seeing that the price was indeed too high, Liu asked for other seeds.

"I'll give you ten persimmon seeds. My seeds are of good quality and have a very high germination rate." The shopkeeper stingily counted out ten seeds from another cloth bag, wrapped them in leaves, and put them together with the other kinds of seeds.

"Okay, thank you, boss. We'll come back for seeds again if we need anything like that in the future." Liu took out five small strings of copper coins from her money bag and handed them over. She then took out another small string, counting out thirty coins in total. She handed the rest to the boss along with the five strings.

Holding the various seeds packed by the shopkeeper, the family prepared to head home. However, when they encountered a vendor selling candied hawthorns on the road, Xia Yu asked her father to stop, jumped off the oxcart, and ran to buy seven skewers. Seeing his daughter return with a large bunch of candied hawthorns, Zhang Youtie asked her curiously, "Xia Xia, why did you buy so many?"