Song Shi’an was taken advantage of by Jiang Chun; after impotently raging for a while, the matter was then left unsettled.
No way around it—when under the eaves, one must lower their head [人在屋檐下，不得不低头: a Chinese idiom meaning when in a subordinate position, one must endure temporarily]. He was still relying on her to spend money and make effort to help him nurse his body, so now was not the time to fall out with her.
He couldn’t even put on a cold face, because he still had to rely on her to help sell the copied books, and to buy some more paper back.
Jiang Chun accepted the two copies of The Analects that he had spent a full half month copying, stuffed them into a bundle, and grinned, saying: “Rest assured, husband. I will definitely sell them for a good price for you.”
She had pinched his cheeks just yesterday, and thought that even if he didn’t fly into a rage, he’d still act coldly toward her—but unexpectedly, today he could actually speak to her pleasantly and with a smiling face.
Seems like… he didn’t dislike her closeness that much?
If that’s the case, doesn’t it mean she could be even bolder in the future?
She couldn’t help rubbing her hands together, hehehe, truly something to look forward to!
Jiang Chun placed the bundle into the cart bed of the mule cart rented from the Lizheng [里正: village head] of the Zou family, then returned and carried out a basket of radishes from under the eaves to load it up.
This basket of radishes was something Jiang He asked her to bring along and deliver to her aunt Jiang Xi—homegrown, for Jiang Xi to have a taste of freshness.
Jiang Chun hadn’t refused.
It had been a while since she tidied up the mother and son of the Wang family. She didn’t know if they had relapsed into their old habits. Just so happened she’d go today to take a look at the situation.
Driving the mule cart to the front of Wang Ji General Store, Jiang Chun tied up the mule and pushed the door open to enter.
She found Wang Bo slumped behind the counter dozing off, while her aunt Jiang Xi sat in front of a weaving loom, stepping on the treadle as she wove cloth.
“Big Aunt.” Jiang Chun called out to Jiang Xi.
Then turned her head to look at Wang Bo, and said in a sarcastic tone: “Yo, Uncle is actually at home—how come not out eating, drinking, whoring with your gang of scoundrel friends?”
Wang Bo heard Jiang Chun’s voice and suddenly jolted awake, opening his eyes.
Almost wanted to snap back at her.
Ever since she beat him up into a pig’s head that time, his gang of scoundrel friends, afraid of being implicated and also getting beaten, no longer invited him to any drinking parties.
As for whoring—Matchmaker Wang had been beaten into a miscarriage by his mother-in-law and brother-in-law’s wife. His brother-in-law now went in and out of Matchmaker Wang’s house every day, so he wouldn’t go there to ask for trouble himself.
Now, he could only hole up at home and take care of this little general store—bored beyond bored.
But obviously, he didn’t have the guts to talk back.
Not only did he not talk back, he even hurriedly stood up, face full of smiles as he said: “Chun-niang, what brings you here?”
Then instructed Jiang Xi: “Wife, hurry and get a low stool for Chun-niang to sit and rest her feet.”
Seeing that he at least knew how to behave and was staying at home running the shop obediently, Jiang Chun didn’t pick a quarrel with him.
She turned her head and said to Jiang Xi: “Big Aunt, don’t bother. I’m on my way to the county town, so I won’t sit.”
After saying that, she turned and pushed the door open to go out, carried in the basket of radishes from the mule cart, and smiled: “These are radishes we grew at home. My father asked me to bring a basket to you, Big Aunt, for you to have a taste of something fresh.”
Jiang Xi said with a face full of emotion: “Just the other day I saw someone selling radishes on the street and was planning to buy two jin to make shredded radish pancakes. How just right that you brought them today.”
After some pleasantries between the aunt and niece, Jiang Chun took her leave and left.
After coming out of Wang Ji General Store, Jiang Chun hurriedly rushed toward Hongye County.
Actually, if it were purely about buying fabric and cotton, it could be done in Hongye Town—there was no need to make the trouble of going to the county seat.
The reason she made this whole trip was because over the past more than half a month, she had accumulated quite a few sign-in points and needed to go to the county’s shops to check-in and receive rewards.
Winter was about to arrive—she had to quickly gather enough money to buy a mule cart, and also needed to get a sheet metal stove for warmth and buy coal.
After arriving at the county, she headed straight for the calligraphy and painting shop, planning to first sell the books Song Shi’an had copied, and also check in at the door.
[Ding! Check-in successful at 【Hongye County Book Shop】. Received 1 Duan Inkstone and 4 bamboo brushes.]
Bamboo brushes were cheap brushes that could be found in general stores, but the Duan inkstone seemed to be quite valuable.
However, Duan inkstones also had different qualities.
When checking in at stores marked with a yellow “！” at the door, the rewards were items copied by the system from the store’s stock, but the quality was random.
Jiang Chun didn’t understand these things, so she could only take it to the pawnshop later and ask.
She carried the bundle into the shop, took the books out from the bundle, handed them to the shopkeeper behind the counter for a look, and said: “These were brought from Hongye Town on behalf of a scholar to sell. Shopkeeper, don’t try to fool me.”
Because the calligraphy and painting shop she came to this time wasn’t the same one she had gone to with Song Shi’an last time, the shopkeeper didn’t ask much after hearing this.
He opened the pages and gave a rough inspection, then nodded in satisfaction: “The transcription is very neat. I’ll give you 150 wen per volume—two books, that’s 300 wen.”
Jiang Chun snorted lightly: “Shopkeeper, don’t bully me just because I can’t read. Last time I helped another scholar sell books, his writing wasn’t even as neat as this, yet it was still worth 150 wen.”
The shopkeeper, hearing her speak so convincingly, gritted his teeth and said: “I’ll add ten wen per book for you. This is already the highest price in my shop. If you’re still not satisfied, you can go try asking at other shops. No way they’ll offer higher than me.”
Only then did Jiang Chun nod with satisfaction: “Alright then, Shopkeeper is honest. If I help this scholar sell books again next time, I’ll come to your place.”
After receiving 320 wen of copper coins, she counted out 50 wen and bought a stack of white cotton paper.
The gray ink she bought last time still hadn’t been used up, so she didn’t need to buy more this time.
Coming out of the calligraphy and painting shop, Jiang Chun continued checking in while heading toward the cloth store.
[Ding! Check-in successful at 【Hongye County Money Shop】. Received 530 wen of copper coins.]
[Ding! Check-in successful at 【Hongye County Jewelry Shop】. Received 1 silver ring, 1 pair of silver lilacs.]
[Ding! Check-in successful at 【Hongye County Pharmacy】. Received 4 qian of borneol, 7 liang of bird’s nest.]
[Ding! Check-in successful at 【Hongye County Medical Hall】. Received 5 liang of realgar, 8 liang of astragalus root.]
[Ding! Check-in successful at 【Hongye County Blacksmith Shop】. Received 1 hoe, 1 iron pickaxe.]
[Ding! Check-in successful at 【Hongye County Pawnshop】. Received 1 rosewood round-back chair, 1 gold hairpin.]
“Rosewood round-back chair, one; gold hairpin, one?” Jiang Chun stopped at the pawnshop entrance, forcefully suppressing the ecstasy in her heart.
This was hitting it big!
But these two items were too eye-catching, and there were quite a few people in the county who knew her, so she didn’t plan to pawn them just yet.
She only took out the silver ring, the pair of silver lilacs she received from the jewelry shop check-in, and that Duan inkstone, and said to the white-haired, white-bearded old shopkeeper: “Pawning these on behalf of relatives from Hongye Town. Shopkeeper, don’t try to trick me—if my relatives complain later that I pawned them for too little, I’ll smash your pawnshop to bits!”
The shopkeeper originally didn’t recognize Jiang Chun, but when she mentioned “Hongye Town,” and coupled with that female mountain bandit–like bearing, he immediately matched the rumors to the real person.
He hurriedly smiled apologetically and said: “Miss Jiang must be joking, this old one has always conducted business with integrity, never deceived customers.”
Jiang Chun let out a mocking laugh, not bothering to refute him, only looked at him with a smile that was not quite a smile.
The old shopkeeper couldn’t hold it together, quickly rushed to inspect the goods and quote a price, wishing only to send this Sea Patrol Yaksha away as fast as possible.
In the end, the ring and the silver lilacs were priced at six qian of silver, the Duan inkstone at six taels of silver, totaling six taels and six qian.
Under Jiang Chun’s “reasoned arguments and forceful words”, she finally got seven taels of silver.
Adding it to her previous savings of nine taels and four qian, and the 530 copper coins earned from the money shop check-in just now, she had about seventeen taels—just enough to buy a good mule cart with a strong adult mule.
As for the money for a sheet-metal stove and coal, she’d have to keep saving.
After leaving the pawnshop, she looked back several times to see if any blind, troublemaking rascal had set their eyes on the silver she’d pawned for—but nothing unusual happened.
Was this the benefit of having a fierce reputation and being a tyrant in the local countryside?
She drove the mule cart forward for a while and arrived at the biggest cloth shop in the county—Huang’s Cloth Shop.
Since she was already here, she might as well check in.
[Ding! Check-in successful at 【Hongye County Cloth Shop】. Received 1 bolt of Songjiang fine cotton cloth and 2 embroidered sachets.]
The rewarded bolt of fine cotton cloth was natural white, which could be used for the lining of padded clothes and quilts, so she spent 700 copper coins to buy one bolt of indigo fine cotton and one bolt of dark blue fine cotton, then spent another 400 copper coins to buy 10 jin of cotton.
In an instant, one tael and one qian of silver disappeared.
Seems like in this Great Zhou, the cotton planting rate wasn’t very high—cotton cloth and raw cotton were extremely expensive, so ordinary people’s padded clothes were worn new for three years, old for three years, patched up and worn again for another three years.
As for quilts, the elderly passed them down to the young, and it wasn’t rare for one quilt core to be used for several generations—at most, it would be re-fluffed midway by a professional cotton-beater.
••
Jiang Chun finished checking in at all the shops that could yield valuable items and didn’t bother wasting her check-in points at other miscellaneous stores—she headed straight home.
When she got home, the house was quiet. Jiang He hadn’t yet returned from the town, and Song Shi’an—perhaps tired from copying books—was curled up asleep on the kang in the west room.
She didn’t disturb him, quietly stepped back out, grabbed a small stool, and sat in the kitchen, while flipping through the warehouse in the system and doing her accounting.
After finishing the calculations, with nothing better to do, she remembered that Song Shi’an’s bird’s nest supply had been cut off for two days already. So she took out one serving of bird’s nest from her newly drawn stock, planning to soak it first and stew it for him to drink later.
At the very same time, Song Shi’an, having just woken and hearing the soft rustling sounds from the kitchen, thought a thief or rat had come in, so he tiptoed to the end of the kang, and peeked outside through a crack in the door frame.
Then his pupils suddenly dilated, and he froze completely on the spot.
Jiang Chun—she—a bowl of bird’s nest actually appeared out of thin air on her hand!!!