Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

The shops on East Street were slightly inferior to those on South Street, but the crowds were immense, making East Street the busiest street in terms of foot traffic.

During market days, the spacious streets are lined with all kinds of stalls.

Villagers from all around flocked to this street to buy things, like bees returning to their hive.

West Street was the mule and horse market, where people would come to buy all kinds of poultry and livestock on weekdays; it was like an animal paradise.

Today is market day, so the streets are bustling with activity. The vendors on both sides of the street are shouting their wares at the top of their lungs, like a grand concert.

"Qing'er, what do you want to buy?" Wang Cuiying asked as she led her daughter-in-law to East Street.

"Mother, I want to buy some cotton and cotton cloth, and I also want to go to the seed shop and the medicine shop."

Going to the pharmacy was a spur-of-the-moment decision for Wang Qing'er; she wanted to see if they sold spices like ginger, star anise, and cinnamon.

There were so few seasonings available at home that she couldn't bring out her full culinary skills.

Wang Cuiying led her to the entrance of a cloth shop. "Qing'er, this shop has both cotton and cloth. The shopkeeper is honest. Our family has always bought cloth here."

Wang Qing'er was new to the area and not very familiar with it. Since her mother had agreed, she said, "Mother, let's go to this place."

The shopkeeper, a woman, saw the mother and daughter-in-law enter and warmly greeted them, "Do you two need to buy fabric or ready-made clothes?"

"Shopkeeper, I'd like to buy some fine cotton cloth and cotton," Wang Qing'er said with a smile, indicating what she wanted.

"Alright, I'll go get the cotton for you right away. Please wait a moment." The female shopkeeper said as she went into the inner room and returned shortly with a small bag of cotton.

“Young lady, this year’s new cotton hasn’t been on the market yet. This is what’s left over from last year. This is all the cotton I have left. If you want me to give you a discount, it’s thirty coins a pound. Also, fine cotton cloth is fifteen coins a foot.”

Wang Qing'er wasn't familiar with the prices here, so she had to ask Wang Cuiying for help, "Mother, what do you think?"

"Qing'er, this is the price of cotton cloth, and cotton is also cheaper than in winter. If you want it, you can buy it."

Hearing her mother-in-law say this, Wang Qing'er said to the shopkeeper, "I want all this cotton, two meters of white cotton cloth, one meter of this blue kind, and five feet of this red floral pattern."

"Alright, alright, I'll weigh the cotton for you right away." The female shopkeeper became even more enthusiastic when she heard that Wang Qing'er had bought so much at once.

When Wang Cuiying saw her daughter-in-law buying so much cloth, she asked, "Qing'er, why are you buying so much fine cotton cloth?"

"The white one is for Mu Nan's nightgown; I noticed it has several holes in it. The other one, the red one with small floral patterns, is for Mu Qin and Yao'er each to make a dress; the weather's getting warmer!"

"Qing'er, Mother... Mother..." Wang Cuiying was so moved that she felt like she had a fishbone stuck in her throat and didn't know how to express it. She just felt that her Mu Nan had finally made it through.

"Mother, what's wrong? I'm not good at making clothes, so I'll have to trouble you to make them for me."

Wang Cuiying quickly agreed, "Okay, okay, I'll do it."

"Also, I'm using that cotton and that meter of blue fine cotton cloth to make menstrual belts. I don't know how to make them either. Mother, could you make them for me as well?" Wang Qing'er whispered in her mother-in-law's ear.

It's not that she doesn't know how to do it, but she doesn't want to spend so much time doing it. It's more important for her to go to the mountains every day to find things that can be sold.

Even though Wang Cuiying had given birth to several children, when she heard her daughter-in-law ask her to help make a menstrual pad in front of everyone, her old face instantly turned as red as an apple. She gave her a doting look and said, "You child, don't you know shame? Fine, I'll make it for you."

The shopkeeper packed all the items they needed and placed them on the counter. "Miss, the cotton weighs 10.3 jin, so it's exactly 10 jin. The cotton costs 300 wen, plus the cotton cloth costs 210 wen, for a total of 510 wen."

Wang Qing'er had just noticed a basket of scraps of cloth in the corner when she pointed to it and asked the female shopkeeper, "How much are those scraps of cloth?"

The shopkeeper looked in the direction she was pointing and said, "Oh, those scraps of cloth are useless. I was just about to take them away and throw them away."

As Wang Qing'er paid, she said, "Since you don't want it anymore, could you give it to me?"

The shopkeeper thought to himself, "Although this girl is a new face, she bought so many things at once, she might be a potential big customer! Those scraps of cloth were going to be thrown away anyway, so I might as well give them to her as a favor."

So he said generously, "If you want it, just take it!"

"Thank you very much, shopkeeper." Although Wang Cuiying didn't know what her daughter-in-law wanted those things for, she still helped her put the scraps of cloth into a cloth bag, thanked the shopkeeper, and then left with the things on her back.

After leaving the shop, the two entered a pharmacy. Wang Qing'er asked about the items she needed, and the pharmacy had them all, but the prices were a bit expensive.

Wang Qing'er then asked if there was any fresh ginger for sale. The shopkeeper replied that he had just received a batch yesterday, which had not yet been dried, but he could sell it if she wanted.

Wang Qing'er purchased a small amount of each spice, and the ginger she bought was fresh.

Wang Cuiying spent five hundred coins at the pharmacy, and her one tael of silver was about to be gone. Although she felt bad, she didn't say much, after all, it was her daughter-in-law's money.

Finally, the two entered a seed shop, but it was more of a general store than a seed shop, with all sorts of pots, pans and utensils on display.

The seeds were piled up in a corner. Wang Qing'er searched for a while in the corner, but they were all common local seeds, not the ones she wanted.

Wang Cuiying took a fancy to a large jar of pickled vegetables and bought it for ten coins.

Just as the two were about to leave, Wang Qing'er noticed several sprouting things, which looked like potatoes, placed in a bamboo sieve by the door.

She picked one up and examined it closely, confirming it was indeed a potato. Her heart was filled with excitement, as if countless little deer were pounding inside her.

"Mother, wait for me a moment." After saying that, she rushed into the shop like an arrow, leaving Wang Cuiying standing there blankly, "This child, how can she be so fickle."

Wang Qing'er walked quickly to the counter and asked the shopkeeper, "Shopkeeper, do you still have that sprouting clod of earth by your door?" She didn't know what the locals called potatoes, so she simply called them clods of earth for convenience.

"Oh! You mean those potatoes, young lady? There are still over ten pounds of them in the inner room. How do you know about potatoes?" The shopkeeper was very curious that Wang Qing'er knew about potatoes.

Wang Qing'er had no choice but to make up an excuse and said, "I've seen these potatoes elsewhere before, shopkeeper. Are you selling them?"

When the shopkeeper heard Wang Qing'er ask him if he wanted to sell, he thought there was a chance. Selling it would at least allow him to recoup some of his costs, so he told her the whole story of how the potatoes came to be.

"These potatoes were consigned to me by a merchant friend. They are definitely going to be sold, but potatoes are a rare commodity from foreign lands, and no one here knows how to grow them."

The shopkeeper sighed and continued, "They're all going to rot and we haven't been able to sell them. If you want them, young lady, we'll give them to you for five coins a pound. Anyway, they'll just rot eventually if we keep them and can't sell them."