Before long, the dishes were served. With shopping on her mind, Su Yi ate very quickly and finished her meal in no time.
“The taste is pretty good, I’ll definitely come back next time!” Su Yi let out a satisfied burp. Seeing that Manager Zhao was still busy, she didn’t bother him to say goodbye and walked straight out the door.
Walking down the main street, Su Yi pondered what she should do next. She suddenly remembered that she still had wild mushrooms left unsold, though there weren’t many. “Should I set up a stall to sell the vegetables, fruits, and wild mushrooms? Nah, forget it! Today, I just want to shop, shop, and shop!”
Not far ahead, Su Yi spotted a ready-made clothing shop called Xiu閣 (Jinxiu Pavilion). She jogged right in. Looking at the wide variety of ready-made garments and the brilliantly colored bolts of fabric, her eyes were nearly blinded by the dazzling display.
There weren’t many people in the shop at the moment, so the proprietress eagerly came forward to greet her. “Young lady, what are you looking to buy today?”
“Just browsing. I want to pick out a few outfits to try on first. The clothes I’m wearing right now are a bit too big and don’t fit right,” Su Yi said with an excited face.
Su Yi looked at the ready-made garments in front of her, selected two sets, and went to try them on. Sure enough, they all fit perfectly. Now that she was a great beauty, Su Yi recalled the bitter tears of her past clothes-shopping experiences, where it was a miracle if even one out of ten items fit. Now, she could rock every single piece!
Su Yi immediately put on the new clothes. The light pink outfit accentuated her slender waist and elegant neckline; it would look even better if her face hadn’t been stained black.
“I’ll take these two! I also want to pick out a few bolts of fabric to have some clothes custom-made.” With that, she began choosing patterns and colors. Her slender fingers drifted through the bolts of cloth, and whenever she saw something she liked, she would ask the owner for the price.
“Manager, how much is this bolt of blue cotton fabric?”
……
“Sister Li, how much is this bolt of light green brocade satin?” As they chatted, the way they addressed each other changed. The owner answered all of Su Yi’s questions one by one and even introduced the merits of each fabric type without showing the slightest bit of impatience.
“Sister Li, use these five bolts of fabric to tailor a set of clothes for me from each. How long will it take to get them?”
“About ten days, Sister Su!” Sister Li replied with a wide smile upon hearing this. This was a substantial piece of business, a truly large order.
Su Yi also noticed they sold shoes and picked out a few pairs. Wearing the shoes from her spatial dimension out in public didn’t really fit this era; it would be bad if people saw her wearing strange, futuristic footwear. Finally, her outfit was fully equipped.
Within a short while, the counter was piled high with the items Su Yi had selected. She only stopped entirely after picking out a few purses and scented sachets.
“Sister Li, how much does it all come to? Can you give me a little discount? I’ve bought so much!” Su Yi said coquettishly.
“Alright! Sister Su, the total is eighty taels and seven hundred copper coins. I’ll just charge you eighty taels and five hundred coins. You can pay a deposit of forty taels first, and just pay the remainder when you come to pick up the clothes in ten days!”
“Great! Thank you, Sister Li!” Su Yi thanked the owner and handed over fifty taels instead.
“Let’s make the deposit fifty taels first! No need to give me change!” Su Yi placed all her items into her wicker backpack—though in reality, the moment they entered the backpack, she transferred them straight into her spatial dimension.
“Then I’ll be off, Sister Li!”
“Alright! Take care, Sister Su!”
Leaving Jinxiu Pavilion, Su Yi headed straight for the bank. She would only feel at ease once she exchanged her banknotes into hard silver coins. She snuck in and out stealthily the entire time, terrified of being targeted by petty thieves.
“I still need to buy vegetable seeds, jewelry, a bow and arrows, daggers, coarse rice flour, furniture…” Su Yi muttered to herself as she walked, even counting the things she needed to buy on her fingers.
Weaving through the bustling marketplace, she acted decisively without a shred of hesitation whenever she saw something she liked and found appropriate.
At a blacksmith shop, Su Yi purchased a bow with arrows, two sharp daggers, and a wood-cutting machete. With her current immense strength, drawing a bow and shooting arrows was a breeze; she just needed to practice her aim. Although she had plenty of kitchen knives in her spatial supermarket, she couldn’t just waste them recklessly, so buying daggers and a machete was the better option. Using her wicker backpack as a shield, she stealthily moved these weapons into her space without anyone noticing.
When she wandered over to a jewelry stall, she spotted some uniquely styled hairpins and took them without a second thought. The jewelry stores in modern malls didn’t have such exquisitely crafted pearl hairpins; most of those just carried common bracelets, necklaces, and earrings.
Spotting a grain shop, Su Yi walked straight inside. She called out to the shopkeeper, “Boss, I want 20 pounds of coarse rice and 20 pounds of cornmeal!”
“Coming right up! Just a moment, please!” The shopkeeper replied and immediately began weighing the rice and flour for Su Yi.
Su Yi glanced around the shop and noticed they actually sold vegetable seeds as well. This really saved her an extra trip—finding everything in one place.
“Boss! Give me one pound of each type of vegetable seed!” Her spatial dimension could be used to grow vegetables for food. After all, products grown in the space would definitely taste better than the vegetables from the supermarket.
“Ah! Alright, just a moment!” The shopkeeper had just finished packing the rice and flour when he heard Su Yi’s request.
A short while later, the shopkeeper had all the grain and seeds packed up. “That will be 200 copper coins in total. I’ve waived 3 coins for you!” the shopkeeper told Su Yi.
“Great! Here you go.” Su Yi said as she handed the money to the shopkeeper.
Using her wicker backpack as cover once again, Su Yi swept all the grains and seeds into her space, walking out of the grain shop carrying nothing but an empty backpack. She had already repeated this sequence of movements so many times that it was entirely smooth and natural.
Leaving the grain shop door, Su Yi covertly lifted her wrist to check the time. It was still early, only 4:30 PM.
“I’ll look around some more to scout out business opportunities and see what’s suitable to sell. I won’t stay in the mountains forever; let’s see if I can buy a shop or a residence here in the county seat!”
After wandering the streets for over an hour, Su Yi came to a conclusion: shops are not cheap! Houses are hard to find!
A decent shop costs around 500 to 600 taels, but she hadn’t come across a property that caught her eye yet. To have a booming business, she needed to open a shop that didn’t exist in this world yet. That left options like a hotpot restaurant, a braised food shop, or a milk tea shop—but she still needed to properly plan out how to open these specific stores. She hadn’t had time to look at residential houses yet, which would require finding a middleman to ask around.
With her market research concluded, Su Yi’s stomach began to rumble again. Suddenly, a rich aroma of beef drifted into her nose, and Su Yi quickly followed the scent.
Sure enough, not far away was a stall selling beef noodles. The stall only had a few crude tables and chairs, but it was already nearly full, likely because it was dinner time.
Su Yi walked up to the vendor. “Boss, give me a large bowl of beef noodles!”
“Coming up! Please have a seat first, it’ll be ready in a jiffy!”
Hearing this, Su Yi found an empty seat and sat down. In just a few moments, a fine-looking bowl of beef noodles was placed on the table. Thin noodles were submerged in a rich beef broth, topped with several thick slices of beef and a sprinkling of chopped green onions. It looked incredibly appetizing!
“So delicious!” Su Yi couldn’t wait to pick up her chopsticks and take a bite. After eating, she took a sip of the broth, nodding her head—the broth was exceptionally fresh. In no time, the massive bowl of beef noodles was completely polished off by Su Yi, leaving not even a drop of soup.
“Burp—” Su Yi let out a satisfied burp.
Standing up, Su Yi noticed that the sun had already set, and the sky would soon be pitch black. She remembered that the city gates would close at night, so she had to hurry out of the city.
After hastily paying her bill, she bolted straight toward the city gates. The pedestrians on the street were gradually thinning out, making the sound of Su Yi’s running and heavy breathing exceptionally noticeable on the road. Fortunately, she managed to dash out of the city at the very last moment.