Chen Yuan couldn’t care less what the county magistrate was searching for or whether he would ever find it.
At the moment, she was busy browsing through the goods in an unattended general store.
The owner had already fled to escape the coming war. Unable to take everything with him, he had left behind a large portion of his inventory.
Chen Yuan was looking for a basket carrier.
If she ever found herself in a situation where it wasn’t convenient to enter her Storage Space, she could carry the baby on her back in a basket. Wasn’t that how it always worked in novels?
Yet after searching high and low, she couldn’t find a single basket carrier.
There were only wicker baskets and winnowing trays woven from sorghum stalks.
Had the owner taken all the basket carriers with him?
But those things weren’t worth much money, were they?
Suddenly, a realization flashed through her mind.
She almost wanted to slap herself.
This was the north.
People here didn’t carry children in basket carriers.
Naturally, there were none for sale. There weren’t even any baskets suitable for carrying babies.
What kind of misconception had she been trapped in?
She had wasted so much time for nothing!
Basins, jars, baskets, racks, cloth sacks, burlap bags—anything that might prove useful in the future was swept into her Storage Space.
Otherwise, it would only sit here gathering dust.
She visited several more general stores.
Whether occupied or abandoned, none of them had any waterskins.
Apparently everyone understood how important water was.
In the end, she finally found some waterskins in a general store that was just about to close.
Unfortunately, the owner had already packed everything up and was preparing to leave. He didn’t feel like rummaging through his belongings again.
Left with no choice, Chen Yuan spent a small fortune buying ten pairs of scissors, ten umbrellas, ten sets of straw rain capes, twenty straw hats, and fifty oilcloth sheets.
Only then did the owner agree to sell her two waterskins.
Afterward, she hurried to the mule and horse market.
It seemed she had arrived too late.
The market felt deserted, with only a single sickly-looking horse remaining.
“Boss, how much for this horse?” Chen Yuan asked.
The horse dealer sighed.
“Young lady, you’re too late. Everything except this sick horse has already been sold.”
“That’s fine. Give me a discount and I’ll take it.”
“You really want it? Don’t say I’m taking advantage of you.”
“I really do. How much?”
“How about this? I was selling horses for thirty taels of silver each before. I’ll let this one go for fifteen.”
“Do you have a carriage compartment too? I’d like one.”
“They’ve all sold out over the last couple of days. The only thing left is a flatbed cart. Do you want it?”
“Yes.”
“Great. Then it’s sixteen taels total.”
The dealer grinned.
“Come on, let’s go to the yamen and transfer the ownership papers.”
If Chen Yuan remembered correctly, there was no one left at the yamen.
So she informed him of that fact.
The dealer’s face immediately filled with worry.
“If we can’t transfer ownership, then I can’t sell it to you.”
Chen Yuan blinked.
“Why not?”
“If someone discovers that your horse doesn’t have official registration papers, you’ll get dragged into a lawsuit and thrown into prison.”
Chen Yuan let out a breath of relief.
“Oh, that’s all? I’m not worried about that.”
The dealer stared at her.
“Did you even hear what I just said?”
“I did. I genuinely don’t care.”
The dealer shook his head helplessly.
“Fine, then. I’ll sell it to you. Just don’t blame me later for not warning you.”
After paying, Chen Yuan spent some time learning how to ride the horse and drive the cart.
Only then did she leave.
Once she reached a deserted alleyway, she stored both the horse and the cart inside her Storage Space.
She fed the horse an entire bucket of Spiritual Spring water, tossed it onto the grasslands inside the Space, and promptly forgot about it.
Since it was still daylight, Chen Yuan decided to take a stroll through the city.
Any belongings abandoned by families who had already fled would end up in the hands of the nomadic invaders anyway.
Rather than letting that happen, she might as well collect them herself.
She passed a fabric shop.
Into the Storage Space it went.
A bookstore?
Collected.
A stationery shop selling brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones?
Collected.
A shoe store?
Collected.
A clothing shop?
Collected.
Clay pots and earthenware jars?
Collected.
Pots, bowls, ladles, and kitchenware?
Collected.
Charcoal?
Collected.
A pharmacy?
Collected.
As she wandered through the city, her Psychic Ability suddenly detected a hidden chamber beneath a water vat in the kitchen of a large residence.
Inside were eleven chests filled with silver.
She looked up at the sign hanging outside.
Golden Hook Gambling House.
Well, there was nothing more to discuss.
She took all of it.
By nightfall, Chen Yuan found an unoccupied mansion.
She collected all of the furniture and valuables inside.
Then, while checking the storerooms, she discovered more than thirty sets of clean bedding and quilts and immediately stored those away as well.
Fortunately, she had noticed them.
Otherwise, she would have forgotten entirely.
Although she had plenty of bedding inside her Storage Space, none of it could realistically be brought out and used openly.
Afterward, she selected a clean, empty room.
Inside, she placed her Simmons Mattress Bed.
Then she dragged over two large wardrobes and used them to block the doors and windows.
Tonight, she intended to sleep outside the Storage Space with Niuniu in her arms.
Ever since arriving in this world, she had slept exclusively inside the Storage Space.
The problem was that the Space only had daylight.
To be honest, staying there for extended periods was mentally exhausting.
Besides, it was already summer outside.
Inside the Storage Space, however, the weather remained eternally springlike.
She needed to let Niuniu gradually adapt to the outside environment.
From now on, unless they encountered real danger, she couldn’t allow the child to remain inside the Storage Space for long periods of time.