Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

The family left Baohetang happily. They had just spent about ten taels of silver yesterday to buy an ox, and today they had new income. How could they not be happy? Xia Yu saw that Zhang Youtie was carrying several large baskets and it was inconvenient for him, so she suggested that they put the baskets back first and then go out to buy things. After all, the oxcart belonged to their family, and they could go back whenever they wanted.

Liu planned to make some clothes for her family so they could dress neatly when going out to sell things. After discussing it, they decided that Liu would take the children to the cloth shop to buy fabric, while Zhang Youtie would first return the basket and then go to the shop to meet them. As for the silver that had been left in the basket, they found a quiet alley and had Xia Yu store it in her spatial storage. At the same time, Xia Yu took out a small carrying basket from her spatial storage to carry the things she had bought. To those around her, it looked like she was taking a small basket from a large one.

After parting ways with Zhang Youtie, the mother and her two daughters went directly to the fabric shop. When they entered, there were other customers selecting fabrics at the counter. Seeing that the shopkeeper and the clerk were busy with customers, Xia Yu and the others stood aside without saying a word and looked around on their own, while also listening to the prices that other people were paying.

After listening for a while, Xia Yu realized that cloth was really expensive at this time. The cheapest coarse linen cost ten coins per foot, fine linen thirteen coins per foot, and fine cotton twenty coins per foot. Xia Yu glanced at her mother's fine cotton long skirt. No wonder her mother had stopped worrying about calling another person when her father mentioned how pretty her skirt was and worried about it getting torn. That skirt must have been at least four feet of cloth; it would be such a waste if it got torn.

Xia Yu assumed her mother would buy coarse linen, since most of the family's clothing was made of coarse linen, except for underwear, which her mother pieced together from scraps of fine cotton. However, after asking several prices, Liu Shi ordered twelve feet of lake-blue fine cotton cloth, five feet of light green fine cotton cloth, and five feet of pomegranate-red fine cotton cloth. Then she ordered twenty feet of indigo coarse linen and twenty feet of gray linen. Xia Yu and Chang Yun watched, somewhat confused by their mother's decision. Why was she buying so much fabric? It was enough for the four of them to make several new outfits.

If you don't understand, just ask. Xia Yu tugged at her mother's sleeve. Liu Shi turned around and saw her son and daughter looking at her with puzzled eyes. Liu Shi bent down and hugged the two children to her side, whispering, "I have my own plans. I'll explain to you when we go out in a little while."

Having agreed on the fabric she wanted, Liu began bargaining with the shopkeeper. They eventually settled on 18 coins per foot for fine cotton and 9 coins per foot for coarse linen. The total came to 756 coins. Liu haggled with the shopkeeper for a while longer, finally rounding down the remaining 6 coins. Xia Yu, using the basket as cover, took out a string of coins from her storage space and handed it to Liu. Liu took the money, saying it was 250 copper coins, and was about to hand the money to the shopkeeper when she suddenly withdrew her hand.

"Shopkeeper, do you have any unsold scraps of cloth here?" The shopkeeper, who was reaching for the money, awkwardly withdrew his hand, thinking about what Liu had said.

"Unsold scraps of cloth?" he asked again, uncertainly.

"Yes, even small sizes or defective fabrics are fine," Liu said, elaborating further.

"Yes, there is, but it has too many flaws. You can't use it to make clothes," the shopkeeper said somewhat uncertainly.

"It's okay, take it out and let me see. I'll check if it's feasible first."

"Okay, please wait a moment, I'll go to the back and bring it out for you." After saying that, she said to a young shop assistant next to her, "I'm going to the back storeroom to get something. Please prepare what this lady wants."

"Alright, shopkeeper, I'll pack up everything your sister-in-law wanted right now, don't worry."

Liu sat patiently on a chair to the side, while Changyun and Xiayu were still looking at the fabrics at the counter. Seeing that the shop was not busy now, the young shop assistant that the shopkeeper had arranged was carrying the things they wanted to the counter. Xiayu asked the shop assistant, "Brother, how much is that red patterned fabric?"

The young shop assistant looked in the direction Xia Yu was pointing. "Oh, the one you asked about, that's flower-patterned mulberry, red flower-patterned mulberry. That's a really good piece of material, it feels incredibly soft and smooth." The shop assistant was so focused on praising how good the material was that he didn't even mention the price.

"How much is it per foot?" Changyun asked again from the side.

"Eighty coins"

"Eighty coins a foot?" Changyun asked again, somewhat incredulously.

"Yes, eighty coins a foot, that's good material, it's mixed with silk, it's very comfortable to wear!"

Changyun slipped over to Liu's side and complained to his mother, "Mother, did you hear that? That red cloth cost eighty coins a foot! How can it be so expensive? Wouldn't it cost several hundred coins to make a skirt?"

"Yes, it is a bit expensive, but we can't afford such good fabric right now. You should work hard to earn money so that your sister and I can wear clothes like that, okay?" Mrs. Liu joked with her son.

“Okay, Mother, I won’t eat meat anymore. Let’s save the money to buy you and my sister some fine clothes,” Changyun promised Liu.

Xia Yu, listening from the side, was speechless. She hadn't been this stupid when she was the same age as Chang Yun in her past life. If they couldn't even afford meat, why buy such expensive clothes? Would wearing them make them sentient? Thinking of this, Xia Yu suddenly remembered that someone she knew used to eat instant noodles for two months to buy a designer bag. It seemed that their behavior was similar to Chang Yun's.

Just then, the shopkeeper brought out a bolt of cloth. "Sister, take a look at this bolt of cloth. If you think it's worth it, I'll give you a discount."

Liu stood up and, together with the shopkeeper, stretched out the fabric to examine it. The lake-blue cloth had many black marks, as if it had been stained by something else. The whole piece of cloth looked dirty.

"Boss, what happened to this cloth? How did it get so dirty?" Liu asked the shopkeeper.

“Sigh, the year before last, a tile on the roof of the warehouse behind us broke. We didn’t notice it in time, and as a result, these few bolts of cloth got wet when it rained. Luckily, the others were at the bottom, so only part of them were stained. This one was on top, and the whole bolt of cloth was stained this color.”

"It's so dirty, there's no way to avoid it when cutting clothes!" Liu murmured.

Hearing Liu's mutterings to herself, the shopkeeper knew that the deal was probably off again. There had been women who wanted this kind of fabric before, trying to save money, but this piece was just too filthy. He'd been selling cloth for so many years and never knew what to do with it.

"Boss, how much is this whole bolt of cloth?" Liu suddenly asked.

"Want the whole bolt? Madam, have you thought this through? This bolt of fabric is defective and can't be used to make clothes. Besides, this batch is fifty feet long." Although the shopkeeper really wanted to sell the goods, he still kindly reminded her.

"It's okay, just tell me how much it costs. If the price is right, I'll take it; if not, I won't."