There were so many things to do that Shen Ruyi felt she couldn’t remember them all just in her head. She decided to write them down.
She thought, Nie Wenyong didn’t say I couldn’t use his brushes and ink, right? He didn’t forbid it, so it must be fine.
Shen Ruyi went straight into his room, sat at the desk, and spread out a piece of paper. She tried grinding water into the ink, but the soft brush refused to cooperate.
She went to the kitchen, found a medium-thickness stick, sharpened one end to a point, dipped it in ink, and managed to write legibly enough.
The next morning, the voices of Xingyu and Ping’er calling outside the yard woke her.
Fortunately, she had slept well the night before and was already washed and ready when they arrived.
She grabbed the small basket she had bought a few days ago, locked the yard, and went with them to the market.
The dawn was just breaking, yet the village was already bustling.
Many other soldiers’ wives were coming out of their homes, and the streets were filled mostly with women like Shen Ruyi.
She saw several former maids from the Wu’an Marquis household. Though they had only been acquaintances before, now they greeted each other politely with smiles and joined their own companions toward the market.
From a distance, Shen Ruyi could see the area Nie Wenyong had pointed out earlier, crowded with people buying and selling.
The three of them had rarely visited markets in the past, only having one day off per month. Seeing so many vendors excited them greatly.
Shen Ruyi, with her basket on her arm, started browsing the stalls one by one.
Most of the products were local: peaches, apricots, plums, melons, and a variety of vegetables—cucumbers, beans, loofah, eggplant, and more.
Shen Ruyi was amazed at the richness of Da Yue’s produce. If not for the ancient clothing around her, she would have thought she was in a modern-day vegetable market.
Her curiosity about this era and Yongzhou grew.
Since she couldn’t find Nie Wenyong, she decided to focus on buying food for now.
She purchased some vegetables, a melon, and two cucumbers, then continued exploring the market.
Following one street to the end, she found a stall selling breakfast, offering lamb soup with bread.
The creamy aroma of the lamb soup wafted toward her.
Her legs felt heavy, as if filled with lead, unable to move. She was hungry from walking since morning.
“Boss, one lamb soup, and one bread, please.”
“Sure, wait a moment,” the vendor replied.
Xingyu and Ping’er were still shopping. Shen Ruyi ate while observing her surroundings.
Compared to the capital, many women in Yongzhou ran stalls on their own. Not only married women but also young unmarried girls worked independently.
Men would buy from them, and everyone treated it as normal.
She also noticed several visibly mixed-race people eating breakfast at the market. Besides the soldiers’ wives, the locals seemed unbothered by it.
Apparently, the people of Yongzhou were more tolerant than those in the capital.
After finishing her breakfast, Shen Ruyi felt much more comfortable.
Since Yongzhou allowed women to do business, she no longer had to worry about running out of food. She planned to explore the city more over the next few days and make careful plans.
The market wasn’t just one street but a large open area, like a modern vegetable market, divided into several aisles.
Shen Ruyi went through the remaining aisles, seeing stalls selling handmade baskets, backpacks, and tools. Prices were slightly cheaper than at the general store.
She bought a hoe and a small shovel. With the mountain behind the camp, she could dig for wild vegetables and mushrooms after rain.
On the last aisle, there were few stalls, mostly offering services: building or repairing houses, kitchens, or toilets, running errands—essentially short-term labor.
She was surprised at how advanced Yongzhou was. Perhaps her three years in the Marquis household in the capital had left her sheltered.
She saw two honest-looking teenage boys carrying hoes and asked if they could dig a garden and how much it would cost.
After measuring the front and back yard areas, they said it would take at most two days and the price was reasonable. She hired them.
They took her to the registration office at the end of the market and registered the job. Shen Ruyi asked why, and they explained it was to handle any issues later.
For example, if someone built a house and it had problems shortly afterward, the person who paid could find the worker through registration. Conversely, if a worker didn’t get paid, the office could help claim the money.
The two boys were from nearby villages with small land and many siblings. They usually did short-term labor and brought their own tools.
Shen Ruyi didn’t provide lunch but could offer a place for them to warm their dry food.
She also asked them to help carry a water container home since she didn’t have a bucket or tub. They suggested bringing it from their village the next day for a lower price than the store.
The boys proved reliable: in two days, they brought a water barrel, two buckets, dug the front and back yard gardens, and even planted seasonal vegetable seedlings for her.
After paying them, Shen Ruyi scheduled them to come again after her potatoes and sweet potatoes sprouted.
Tasks she had imagined as complicated were neatly resolved in just two days, making her eager to embrace life in Yongzhou.