Yu Qiu flipped open the paper catalog. It contained both written descriptions and illustrations for identification. Nowadays, there were far too few who could read, and not many were literate. The pictures made it so that even if one couldn’t read, they could still understand. Though the details couldn’t be grasped through drawings alone, it was enough to know what could be traded.
The characters resembled the traditional ones she knew from ancient times. She wasn’t skilled in them, but she could more or less understand their meaning.
The catalog was quite thick. She spent some time reading it, then let Xiaohua and the other two look it over before returning it to the shopboy.
Having understood enough, Yu Qiu led the others to take their leave.
She did not miss the surprise in the shopboy’s eyes, but she didn’t explain further.
He was surprised at how she could read. Clearly, he had misjudged her.
Sometimes, deliberately maintaining a little mystery could make others instinctively refrain from underestimating you.
Leaving the trading post, Yu Qiu had formed a plan in her heart.
In the future, she would still need to venture deep into the mountains to find rarer things to trade.
The most valuable items listed in the catalog were live, large mutant beasts. Next were the corpses of such beasts, or their hides and pelts.
Furs truly never went out of fashion. No matter the time or world, people always adored and pursued them.
Then came rare and precious treasures, and exotic medicinal herbs.
These were the common categories.
Here, one could trade almost anything imaginable—there was nothing that couldn’t be traded.
As long as the appraisal deemed it valuable, it could be exchanged.
What a fragmented world this was…
Yu Qiu sighed inwardly. On one side were poor commoners who couldn’t even fill their stomachs, and on the other side were wealthy people fawning over things useless to ordinary folk.
Truly, while some died of drought, others drowned in floods.
After leaving the trading post, Yu Qiu followed the road to a pastry shop. She only glanced inside and saw the shopkeeper’s wife looking at them with contempt, so she did not step forward to court humiliation.
Next, she went to the medical hall to ask if they purchased medicinal herbs. The old doctor there saw that she was young and brushed her off, telling her to try the pharmacy next door.
Yu Qiu thanked him, and the group went to the pharmacy.
Inside, the shopkeeper was sorting herbs. With one glance, Yu Qiu frowned. From their appearance alone, she could tell the processing was poor. They were damaged, their potency severely diminished.
The shopkeeper lifted his head to glance at her, then lowered it again to continue his work, asking casually, “What do you need?”
Yu Qiu didn’t mind his attitude and stated her purpose.
“I wonder if you accept medicinal herbs here?”
The shopkeeper looked at the young girl before him, thought for a moment, then nodded.
“How do you buy them? What’s the price difference between fresh herbs and prepared ones?”
This time, the shopkeeper stopped his work and looked directly at Yu Qiu.
“Little girl, does your family know how to prepare medicinal herbs? I don’t mean simple drying.”
It wasn’t unreasonable for him to ask. After all, Yu Qiu looked thin and frail, not tall—about 1.5 meters, claiming to be fifteen but appearing only twelve or thirteen, about the same as Xiaohua.
She certainly didn’t look like someone who knew how to process herbs.
“Yes. I want to sell some to buy medicine for my mother to restore her health.” Yu Qiu did not explain further, only went along with the question.
The shopkeeper nodded, glanced at Xiaohua and the other two waiting outside the door, then asked, “Did you bring herbs?”
Yu Qiu shook her head. “I didn’t know if they could be sold, so I didn’t bring them.” In truth, she simply hadn’t had the chance to gather any yet.
The shopkeeper didn’t press further and said directly, “Processed herbs fetch a higher price. I won’t deceive a child. Bring them next time so I can see before setting the price. Different herbs, different prices.”
“Mutant ginseng, about twenty years old—how much would you offer?” Yu Qiu asked in a low voice. She needed to know the going rate in advance. If she were lucky enough to find ginseng in the mountains, she didn’t want to be swindled.
The shopkeeper chuckled and shook his head, finding this little girl adorably naïve. Ginseng wasn’t so easy to find. Nowadays, who dared enter the deep mountains? Even a ten-year ginseng root was worth a fortune. His humble shop couldn’t afford such things.
“I couldn’t afford it. If you truly had something like that, take it to the trading post. Prices there are a bit lower, but it’s safer.” Amused, he offered an extra tip. “If you want a higher price, sell directly to wealthy households. The Song family and Cen family here in town are decent enough—you could try them.”
Yu Qiu clasped her hands and bowed. “Thank you, Shopkeeper. Next time I come to town, I’ll be sure to bring herbs.”
So ginseng really was hard to come by. Even a ten-year root could fetch a fortune. She’d been thinking too wishfully.
The shopkeeper waved her off and returned to sorting herbs.
Afterward, Yu Qiu went to a cloth shop to buy some fabric scraps and needlework tools to mend shoes and patch clothes.
Leaving the main street, they went straight to the general store.
Yu Qiu bought many things—coarse salt, clay pots, wooden buckets, wooden combs, coarse porcelain bowls, chopsticks… basically, everyday essentials.
She also wanted to buy some grain, but seeing how little money she had left, she dared not spend rashly. At home there was still a dou of rice and a dou of mixed grains, enough to last for a while. Food could be purchased slowly. She also had to save for taxes.
Of the one tael of silver she’d had, only half remained. She wondered if it would be enough for a large iron pot. If not, even a small one would do—anything was better than eating boiled vegetables every day.
In her past life, when on missions, she could go without almost anything, but never without a big iron pot!
It could serve for both cooking and defense. Heavy, yes, but as long as she could eat well, what did weight matter?
Oh, but for her current self, the weight really was a burden.
The iron pot was expensive. She bargained with the blacksmith for a long time before buying one for half a tael of silver.
Half a tael could cover a peasant family’s expenses for a month or two—it was no wonder most couldn’t bear to buy one.
The blacksmith looked fierce, and in truth, he was fierce. If not for her young age, he might have raised his hand at her.
Annoyed by her pestering, he finally relented just to send the troublesome girl away, lowering the price of what was originally worth six mace to half a tael.
As for her promise to give him two big fish, he hadn’t believed a word of it.
These days, fish had all mutated—how could a little girl catch big ones? If she really could, would she still need to scrimp for silver to buy a pot?
Watching her leave with her companions, the blacksmith shook his head and returned to hammering iron, pushing the annoyance out of his mind.
Yu Qiu didn’t know she had earned herself the nickname of “troublesome brat.” But even if she had, she wouldn’t have cared. As long as she had the pot, what else mattered?
Nothing was more important than stewing goose in an iron pot.
If only she knew whether geese could be found here.
The original owner’s memories had nothing of the sort. She had never left the village in fifteen years, so her knowledge of this world was mostly what she’d heard from villagers.
The journey home was far less easy than when they’d come, as they were weighed down with goods—all of which were hers. The others had followed her around town for the whole day.
As the sun was about to sink behind the western mountains, they unconsciously quickened their steps.
Hurrying along, they arrived home in the glow of the sunset.
“Tomorrow I’ll trouble you all again to help build a stove and set up the pot,” she said as they reached the house. Seeing Madam Li with the two children craning their necks to look out, her heart warmed, and her fatigue seemed to melt away.
“Come inside, have some water, and rest a bit before heading back.”
Meng Ping answered with a smile.