Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Back home, Liu and her family turned over the dried golden thread lotus leaves again. This batch was almost dry, and they could sell it after drying for another day.

"Xiaxia, do you still have this herb in there?" Liu asked Xia Yu.

"There are still quite a few, Mother, a huge pile, I don't know exactly how many."

After hearing her daughter's words, Madam Liu didn't say anything more. Xia Yu glanced at her mother a few times, waiting for her to say what she was going to say next, but Madam Liu didn't say anything, as if it was just a casual question.

Lunch was prepared by Liu Shi, who made over a dozen steamed buns using wheat flour dough—a task Xia Yu couldn't do. She could probably manage with an electric griddle, but looking at the metal plate her mother used, she knew she couldn't do it.

Xia Yu cooked the dishes: stir-fried green peppers and eggs, stir-fried shrimp with chives, and some pickled radish shreds from Liu's family. They drank simple rice porridge. It was a simple meal, but everyone ate with great satisfaction. Now, her parents were even willing to eat the eggs from their chickens; they never used to fry eggs, always boiling two for the children. Xia Yu had been consistently instilling in her mother the idea that good food leads to good health, and good health prevents illness, as medicine costs far more than flour and eggs. Perhaps because the family had indeed earned money recently, Liu quickly came to terms with it. Now that they didn't need more food, they should eat well and not waste money on bitter medicine later.

After lunch, Xia Yu took out the half watermelon, and the three of them ate it. Liu Shi originally wanted to save it for Zhang Youtie, but Xia Yu said, "Mom, I still have over a hundred left inside." Hearing her daughter say this, Liu Shi gave up her previous idea. Let them eat it then; they couldn't sell it now anyway. It was a pity, however, that they didn't have an excuse to send some to the old house so that her parents-in-law could also enjoy this delicacy.

After her afternoon nap, Liu continued sewing on the work she hadn't finished earlier, while Xia Yu sat beside her mother, helping her organize the threads. Xia Yu had enjoyed learning to iron fabric last time, so she wasn't averse to needlework now. Seeing her daughter's interest, Liu taught her the simplest sewing stitches. It was indeed very simple, and Xia Yu quickly learned them, eagerly picking up a scrap of fabric her mother had left out. Liu noticed her daughter's interest and said, "What do you want to sew? Just choose the fabric yourself, and if you don't know how, come ask your mother."

What should she sew? Xia Yu hadn't decided yet. The scraps of cloth weren't worth much, but she couldn't let them go to waste. After thinking for a while, Xia Yu decided to sew herself a hair tie. She asked her mother for a strip of cloth, and Xia Yu began her first needlework task.

It has to be said that doing all this was quite tiring for her neck and eyes. Xia Yu rubbed her slightly sore neck and looked at the sky; the sun was already setting. Just as she was about to ask her mother if it was time to make dinner, she suddenly heard a commotion and noise outside, as if many people were heading in their direction. Changyun, who was rummaging through the golden thread lotus in the yard, ran out first, and Xia Yu, curious about what was happening, followed her brother out of the yard. They saw an oxcart slowly walking towards them, followed by several villagers. This didn't seem to be the village chief's ox.

"It's Dad! Dad bought an oxcart!" Changyun shouted from the side and ran towards the oxcart like a gust of wind.

Xia Yu called out to the courtyard, "Mom, Dad's back from buying the oxcart!" After shouting, she ran towards Zhang Youtie.

"Heh, Third Brother, you've struck it rich! You bought the oxcart without making a sound."

"Third brother, from now on we'll borrow your oxcart whenever we go out. You won't refuse, will you?"

"What are you saying? Is the third brother a stingy person?"

"..."

The crowd chimed in with their own comments, some expressing envy, some sourness, and others simply remarking on the situation. However, Zhang Youtie ignored all the sour remarks, chuckled, and said, "Alright, alright, as long as my family doesn't use it," and then fell silent.

When Changyun saw Jinbao and Gou Dan following him, he became even more smug. Xia Yu, watching his brother's expression, felt like he was a victorious general returning home.

The group bustled around Zhang Youtie until he drove the oxcart to the courtyard gate. Standing at the gate, Liu Shi stepped forward to help lead the ox, saying with a hint of reproach, "Didn't you say you were just going to take a look? Why did you buy it all at once?"

"Hey, didn't we find a good one? This cow is just two years old, look at its hooves and teeth, it's very healthy."

It wasn't until it got dark and the onlookers gradually dispersed that the family was finally able to sit down and have a proper chat.

"Dad, how much did you pay for this cow?" Xia Yu asked first. This was also the question that the family was most concerned about.

"The ox costs eight taels of silver, and the cart costs two taels of silver." Zhang Youtie was quite satisfied with this price.

"The price isn't expensive, but I hope there's nothing wrong with it. How can it be so cheap? I remember the village chief's cow cost more than ten taels of silver." Liu was a little worried that there might be something wrong with the cow.

"Don't worry, we've already registered it with the government and exchanged the deed with the seller. Now this cow belongs to our family." Xia Yu looked at her father's face and thought, "It's true that men love cars, even in ancient and modern times." She felt that her father was shining brightly today.

The family was talking when someone came in. The voice sounded like Grandpa Zhang, so they quickly stood up and went to greet him. Grandpa Zhang entered with his two sons.

"Father, eldest brother, second brother, you're here! Please come inside and sit down."

"Hmm, it's nothing. I heard from the villagers that your family bought an oxcart, so I came to take a look. Changyun's mother, go light a lamp; I want to check on the ox first."

"Sigh, I'll go light the lamp now. Father, eldest brother, second brother, you all go inside and rest for a while," said Madam Liu, already heading back inside to light the lamp. Once inside, Madam Liu beckoned to her daughter, "Xiaxia, shall we cut a melon for your grandfather? Just say it's something your father brought back from town. We eat well every day, but we haven't been able to properly honor your grandparents; I've been feeling really uneasy about it."

“Okay, Mom. Let’s cut one then, and Dad will bring one to Grandpa later…” Before she could finish speaking, Xia Yu suddenly remembered something. “Mom, don’t rush to cut it. I’ll go to the backyard to see how the melons are doing. Last time my brother watered them with so much space water, and after we cleared away all the vegetables and weeds, we didn’t plant anything. Maybe the soil’s fertility is still there. None of us have gone to check on them all day. You take a lamp to Grandpa first, and I’ll go check on them.”

"Yes, yes, go check the backyard. If it's grown big, we'll just say it was planted a while ago and just happened to bear fruit. Anyway, no one but us has ever been to our vegetable garden."

"Yes, I understand," Xia Yu said before walking towards the backyard, while Liu Shi carried a lantern to see the old man off.

Grandpa Zhang took the lamp his daughter-in-law brought him, walked to the cow in the yard, carefully examined its four hooves, then had Zhang Youjin pry open its mouth to check its teeth, and finally moved to the cow's rear end to look at the freshly excreted dung on the ground. "Hmm...not bad...not bad, this cow is a good choice." The old man muttered to himself as he looked at it, but it was clear that he was quite satisfied with the cow Zhang Youtie had chosen.

"Third brother, you got a good deal on this ox. If it's the price you mentioned earlier, it's not expensive. You've got a good ox; it looks only two years old, and it'll be very useful in the future!"

Zhang Youtie was even happier to receive his father's approval. He had initially worried that his father would be unhappy since he had bought the cow without saying a word, but it seemed that he had been overthinking it.

After inspecting the ox, the group went into the main room. The Zhang brothers, Youjin and Youyin, punched Zhang Youtie in the chest, saying, "You little rascal, you quietly went and bought an oxcart all by yourself, not bad!" It was Zhang Youjin who said this, but anyone could tell that he was very happy for his brother.

The main room of Liu's family housed only a regular eight-immortal table for meals. The father and sons sat down around the table and talked about farming matters in the fields.

Looking at Xia Yu's side, some things don't exist in your mind until you notice them, and then you want to know the result without delay. Walking into the vegetable garden, the melon seedlings had indeed grown thanks to the water from the space she'd used last time. It was dark, so she couldn't see very clearly, only that dense watermelon vines covered the entire garden. She first went to the spot where she'd planted the chives last time. She chose this spot first because it was on the edge, and also because the water from Changyun's ladle had been used there last time.

She pulled out a tinderbox from her person, lit it, and looked at the melon vines. Sure enough, several round, large watermelons had already grown, though they weren't as big as the ones in her space. She wasn't sure if they weren't fully ripe yet or if the size difference was due to the different growing locations. She patted the melon rinds, a subconscious action, something almost every Chinese person buying melons would do. But she couldn't figure out why.

As long as watermelons can grow here, it doesn't matter if they're ripe or not, as long as her grandfather has something to look at when he wants to. Thinking this, she took out three large watermelons from her space, holding one herself and placing the other two directly in the middle of the vines.

The people talking at the table in front were startled by Xia Yu's sudden entrance, or rather, by the large, bright green ball she was carrying. What was that? "Dad, come quick, I can't carry it anymore!"