Although it costs money, the warming stove still has to be made.
Jiang Chun carried the big bamboo basket filled with ironware inside and let Blacksmith Gou weigh it.
The weight was actually a bit more than she had estimated—exactly twenty-five jin, which meant she only needed to buy seventy-five more jin of iron.
Blacksmith Gou scooped up the abacus from the counter and did the math for Jiang Chun: “The iron price in our Qizhou Prefecture this year is three taels of silver per dan, which is thirty wen per jin. Seventy-five jin is two taels of silver and two hundred and fifty wen. As for the labor cost, for ordinary ironware, our shop calculates it at ten wen per jin of iron.”
“But Lady Jiang, your warming stove is not only troublesome to forge, the stove chamber also has to be filled with clay bricks. All the blacksmiths in our shop will have to work together, and I’m afraid it’ll take at least half a month to complete. So the labor fee must be calculated at twenty wen per jin of iron—that is, two taels of silver.
“Adding the iron money and labor fee together, it comes to a total of four taels of silver and two hundred and fifty wen. You’re familiar with the rules of our shop, Lady Jiang—we require half as a deposit first, which is two taels of silver.”
Jiang Chun slanted a glance at Blacksmith Gou and laughed: “Charging me two taels of silver as deposit—Master Gou, are you waiving that two hundred and fifty wen of change for me?”
Blacksmith Gou immediately pretended to wipe his sweat: “Lady Jiang, please don’t joke like that. Our shop has always been fair in pricing, we’re not even making much profit. Two hundred and fifty wen is too big of a remainder for us to write off.”
Jiang Chun lowered her head and took out a piece of broken silver from her coin pouch, placed it on the counter, and snorted with a laugh: “Fine, I won’t haggle with you anymore. But you better take this seriously—if you dare to cut corners, and the stove ends up useless and lets my husband freeze, I won’t let you off!”
This stove really was troublesome to make, charging twenty wen per jin of iron for labor was already a very fair price. She really couldn’t bring herself to haggle further.
Blacksmith Gou accompanied his words with a smile: “Lady Jiang, you can rest assured. Even if we dare to cut corners with others, we wouldn’t dare with you.”
Not long ago, Jiang Chun had given her uncle and her uncle’s mother a violent beating, and the matter had already spread to Hongye County.
The merchants in the county had already been afraid to provoke her, now they feared her like a tiger.
Blacksmith Gou then took out a booklet, wrote and drew in it for a while, then handed it to Jiang Chun to sign and press her fingerprint.
Iron was a material under government control, only blacksmith shops registered with the authorities were qualified to buy iron from the government.
Ordinary citizens had no right to buy iron; if they needed ironware, they could only purchase or custom-order from blacksmith shops.
And after blacksmith shops bought iron, they had to register in official ledgers, recording the use of the iron and the information of the buyer of the forged ironware.
The government would check the records every six months.
Logically, major matters like custom-ordering ironware should be handled by male members of the family, but who in all of Hongye County didn’t know that this stove-keeping woman of the Jiang family was someone who could make decisions?
Jiang Chun picked up the writing brush with her left hand and scribbled the characters “Jiang Chun” crookedly, then dipped her thumb into the red ink paste and pressed a red fingerprint on her name.
In her past life, she had at least practiced brush calligraphy solidly for over a year. Though not good enough to say she had her own flair, it was still presentable.
If she used her right hand to write, it might blow her cover.
After leaving the blacksmith shop, she drove her cart and strolled around Donghuan Street, which was filled with commercial shops, checking in one by one.
[Ding! Checked in at [Hongye County Bookstore], received 3 stacks of white cotton paper and 2 lake brushes.]
[Ding! Checked in at [Hongye County Fabric Shop], received 2 bundles of silk thread and 2 bolts of silk.]
[Ding! Checked in at [Hongye County Jewelry Shop], received 1 velvet flower and 1 pair of jadeite bracelets.]
[Ding! Checked in at [Hongye County Pawnshop], received 1 fox-fur cloak and 1 red-gold spittoon.]
[Ding! Checked in at [Hongye County Moneyhouse], received 3 taels of gold.]
[Ding! Checked in at [Hongye County Pharmacy], received 6 taels of pepper and 3 taels of white fungus.]
[Ding! Checked in at [Hongye County Medical Hall], received 5 taels of astragalus and 4 taels of American ginseng.]
Jiang Chun’s mule cart finally stopped at the entrance of Baohetang.
Last time, she bought one month’s worth of medicine for Song Shi’an. Now, over half a month had passed, and there was only enough for less than half a month left at home.
Next time she entered the city might be in over half a month, when she came to collect the warming stove. Song Shi’an’s medicine obviously wouldn’t last until then.
Not wanting to make another extra trip midway, she planned to take another month’s worth of medicine back today.
After entering Baohetang, she used her sleeve to cover and took out the two liang of ginseng she had drawn earlier from the system warehouse, asking Doctor Cao to help examine the quality.
All the other medicinal ingredients and spices had been given in one go to Zhao Deyang, only this two liang of ginseng had been kept.
If the medicinal strength of this ginseng was sufficient and could be put to use, it should save quite a bit of silver.
Doctor Cao spent some effort to identify it.
Perhaps because the quantity was small, the system had provided sliced ginseng, which obviously increased the difficulty for Doctor Cao to identify.
After quite a long while, he finally spoke with a face full of regret: “This is good ginseng of a hundred years’ age. What a pity it’s been cut into slices—if it were a whole root of ginseng, it’d be worth no less than seven to eight hundred taels of silver.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Chun didn’t feel it was any particular pity. Rewards obtained from signing in and checking in were surprises to begin with—being able to get this two liang of ginseng slices already counted as extremely lucky.
She covered up and said: “Doctor Cao, you dare to think bigger than me—talking about whole ginseng roots. These two liang of ginseng slices were something my uncle gave as a gift and asked around through connections with great difficulty to obtain from the north. I still owe him money for buying them. Even if there were whole roots of ginseng, I wouldn’t be able to afford them.”
“Indeed.” Doctor Cao stroked his beard, had an assistant bring over a scale, personally weighed the ginseng slices, and then said to Jiang Chun: “Just a tad under two liang, enough to match two months’ worth of medicine.”
Jiang Chun made a troubled expression, hesitated for quite a while, then said shyly: “I didn’t bring enough silver today—please just help me prepare one month’s worth of medicine first.”
She had just been crying poor, saying she owed Zheng Yi for the ginseng slices, so to now suddenly act wealthy and buy two months’ worth of medicine would be a bit contradictory.
Anyway, she would be coming into the city again in over half a month—she could just come and get more then.
“Alright.” Doctor Cao nodded, split the ginseng slices in half, returned the other half to Jiang Chun, and without even needing to ask an assistant to fetch the prescription for confirmation, promptly helped her prepare thirty doses of medicine.
Because she brought her own ginseng slices, the original three taels of silver for medicine was sharply reduced to two taels, causing the corners of Jiang Chun’s mouth to rise uncontrollably.
Doctor Cao handed the medicine bundle to Jiang Chun and said with a smiling face: “With this good ginseng of a hundred years’ age, your husband’s body should recover even faster.”
“Many thanks for your auspicious words.” Jiang Chun thanked him, hugged the medicine bundle, and walked out of Baohetang, heading straight to the Fire Fuel Shop.
This was a shop specializing in selling firewood, charcoal, and coal, located in a corner on the west side of the county town. Its storefront wasn’t big, but the backyard was extremely spacious.
“Yes, yes, yes!” Hearing that Jiang Chun wanted to buy one thousand jin of coal, shop owner Boss Yang almost laughed his mouth crooked, and immediately led Jiang Chun enthusiastically to the backyard to check the goods.
As he walked, he eagerly explained: “The coal from our shop is hauled from the government-run coal yard of Qizhou Prefecture’s yamen. When burned, the fire is strong and the ash doesn’t harden—it’s definitely not something those privately-run coal yards can compare with. If you buy our coal, we guarantee, Lady, that you won’t suffer a loss.”
As they spoke, the two of them arrived at the backyard.
The coal was piled up like a small mountain in the yard, visibly no less than several tens of thousands of jin. The huge courtyard had only three small paths left leading to the main room and the east and west wing rooms.
Jiang Chun bent down, picked up a piece of coal, and pinched it in her hand, lowering her head to scrutinize it with a pretense of seriousness.
She had indeed burned coal when she was young, but asking her to distinguish quality—now that was truly pushing her limits.
She stiffened her face, turned her head to look at Boss Yang, and said coldly: “Are you sure this coal was hauled from the government-run coal yard?”
Boss Yang was intimidated by her aura and took two steps back. After reacting, he laughed awkwardly a few times and hurriedly said: “Wouldn’t dare to deceive Lady Jiang—this coal indeed comes from Qizhou Prefecture’s government-run coal yard.”
“The Lu Family Blacksmith Shop, the Gou Family Blacksmith Shop, and the Hu Family Blacksmith Shop in our county—seven or eight blacksmith shops in total—all burn coal from our shop. If it didn’t burn well, would they have chosen our place?”
“Mm.” Jiang Chun nodded and asked, “What’s the price of your coal? If it’s reasonably priced, in over half a month, I’ll come pull another thousand jin.”
Come pull another thousand jin? Buying two thousand jin in total? Boss Yang was overjoyed in his heart and immediately said: “The retail price of my coal is one dan for one hundred and fifty wen. For Lady, I’ll count it as one hundred and forty wen—what do you think?”
Jiang Chun gave a light snort and asked: “What price do you give to the Hu Family Blacksmith Shop and the others?”
Boss Yang’s expression stiffened. He wanted to lie but didn’t dare. He forced a smile and said: “They’re major clients—each month they buy at least two to three thousand jin of coal from our shop, so the price we give them is lower: one dan for one hundred and thirty wen.”
Jiang Chun had a sense of it in her heart and bargained: “I’m someone who reasons, and I don’t ask for the same price as big customers. How about this—you count it as one hundred and thirty-five wen per dan for me?”
Before Boss Yang could refuse, she gave a light laugh and said: “Selling to me at that price, you’d still make a little profit. But if I turn to buy coal from someone else because the price isn’t right, you’d directly lose profit on two thousand jin.”
Boss Yang hesitated for a moment, then smiled helplessly: “Lady Jiang is truly an expert at bargaining. Fine, I’ll earn a bit less—take it as a favor for you.”
After he spoke, he shouted a few times to the front, calling in his two sons plus two workers to help Jiang Chun load the coal.
One burlap sack of coal weighed about one hundred jin. Altogether, they loaded twelve sacks.
After the cart was fully loaded, Jiang Chun took out a piece of broken silver to settle the payment.
Boss Yang weighed it on the scale. The silver weighed one tael and six qian, which equals one thousand six hundred wen. A thousand jin of coal totaled one thousand three hundred fifty wen, so he gave Jiang Chun back two hundred fifty wen in change.
Jiang Chun drove the mule cart, hauling a full cart of coal back to Daliushu Village.
She pushed open the main gate, carrying a burlap sack in each hand. With light steps, she walked to the woodshed, put down the two sacks, and then went to move the rest.
Back and forth like this six times, she moved the full thousand jin of coal.
Song Shi’an heard the noise and lifted the cotton-paper curtain on the window to look outside.
Seeing Jiang Chun carrying two obviously heavy sacks as she strolled leisurely toward the woodshed, the corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
In this lifetime, he was probably never going to restore the authority of the husband. Even if his body recovered to its former peak condition, with martial skills at his side, he likely still wouldn’t be her match.
After all, brute strength beats ten techniques.
However, with how much she cherished him, it shouldn’t come to her laying hands on him, right?
Otherwise, if she slapped him, he’d have to kneel immediately and cry while begging her not to let him die.
Completely unaware of his inner complaints, Jiang Chun returned the mule cart to the village head Zou’s family. After washing her hands, she came in carrying the medicine bundle.
She shook the medicine bundle at Song Shi’an and said with a smile: “I bought another month’s worth of medicine for Husband. Just in time, Bao He Hall got some good ginseng slices. I had Doctor Cao mix them in—this way, Husband’s body should recover faster.”
Song Shi’an felt a bit moved inside and said gently: “Made niangzi spend again.”
Jiang Chun was putting the medicine bundle into the cupboard. When she heard this, her back instantly tingled, and her heart also gave a faint ache.
She closed her eyes and took a long deep breath.
Heavens, the lethality of the term “niángzi” was truly high. Every time she heard it, she felt like she couldn’t resist.
She rested a moment before closing the cupboard and standing up.
To reward him for taking the initiative to call her “niangzi,” Jiang Chun took out the reward she got from checking in at the bookstore—two lake brushes—and placed them on the kang table in front of Song Shi’an.
She smiled brightly and said: “There were a few scholars fighting today in the county town. The scene was a mess. I squeezed in and fished in troubled waters and picked up two brushes. Husband, see if you can use them?”
Song Shi’an had originally wanted to criticize her reckless behavior of “grabbing chestnuts from the fire” [an idiom meaning to take risks for others or to gain something at great personal danger], disregarding her own safety, but the moment his gaze fell on those two writing brushes, he was speechless.
The two writing brushes on the table were fine lake brushes made of wolf hair. Before the Song family incident, this was exactly the kind of wolf-hair lake brush he used.
In fact, the quality couldn’t even match up to these two.
It was obvious these were not things that so-called “scholars” who brawled in the street could afford to bring out.
Most likely, they came from that divine ability of hers to produce things out of thin air.
He cast her a sidelong glance and said coolly, “Then my wife truly has an eye—one pick, and you picked up two wolf-hair lake brushes worth twenty to thirty taels of silver.”
Jiang Chun’s pair of almond eyes suddenly widened.
What?
These two unremarkable-looking writing brushes were actually worth twenty to thirty taels of silver?
She didn’t know much about writing brushes. In her previous life, she just bought fifty brushes for fifty yuan from Pinduoduo, used one until it broke, then threw it away—purely going for cheap.
So she was indeed a bit lacking in discerning quality.
She stared eagerly at the two brushes, wanting to take them back and pawn them for money—but couldn’t bring herself to say it.
Gifts once given, how could there be any reason to ask for them back? Did she have no shame?
But that was twenty to thirty taels of silver! You could do so many things with that.
She was really reluctant.
Song Shi’an saw the shifting expressions on her face—changing like the inside of a paint shop—and more or less guessed her thoughts. He took the initiative to say: “I can just use bamboo pens. These two fine brushes—you go and pawn them.”
Jiang Chun had still been struggling internally, but seeing him so thoughtful, she instantly made up her mind and said painfully: “Pawn what? My husband, such a refined and handsome person—could it be that he’s not worthy of using such good brushes?”
“Worthy, but unnecessary.” Song Shi’an pursed his lips and gently persuaded: “Be good. Go and pawn them. Such fine brushes shouldn’t be wasted copying texts—it’d be a crime against fine goods. I wouldn’t feel at ease using them either.”
When he spoke with such soft and gentle words, his lethality was too strong. Jiang Chun felt her mouth no longer listened to her commands—she actually changed her mind on the spot: “Alright. I’ll listen to Husband.”
Seeing her so agreeable and not making a fuss, a faint smile appeared at the corners of Song Shi’an’s lips.
Just then, the main door was suddenly pushed open. A familiar voice rang out from the courtyard: “Brother-in-law! Chun-niang! Are you two home?”