Meng Ping’an hid behind the tree, watching the group of beggars head toward the large restaurant. About a hundred meters from the restaurant, they stopped and found a place to squat.
Whenever a passerby came by, they would shout at the top of their lungs, “Kind sir, kind lady, please have some pity and spare us something to eat!”
“Go away! Get lost, you filthy beggars!”
“Stay away from me!”
“I don’t have any money! Get lost!”
The passersby looked at them with disgust. Some even complained to the waiter and shopkeeper after entering the restaurant.
“There are so many beggars outside. Can’t you do something about them? It’s ruining my appetite just looking at them.”
“Please, come inside. I’ll have someone drive them away immediately!”
The shopkeeper smiled apologetically and exchanged a glance with the waiter beside him.
The waiter quickly picked up the broom by the entrance and walked toward the group of beggars.
“Go, go, go! Don’t stand here and block our business!”
When the beggars saw the waiter coming at them with a broom, they hurriedly grabbed their bowls and ran away.
After the beggars were driven off, more and more customers entered the restaurant, and the waiter and shopkeeper became busy again.
Once Meng Ping’an saw the group disappear into the distance, she finally came out from behind the tree.
She squatted down by the roadside a little farther away from the restaurant, hugging her knees and resting her face against them.
Occasionally, a kind passerby would still leave a copper coin or two.
After the restaurant’s customers finished eating and came out, they would pass by Meng Ping’an. Seeing the little girl squatting there all alone, looking so pitiful, they would often leave a coin behind as an act of charity.
By noon, Meng Ping’an had collected more than thirty copper coins.
After counting them, she had thirty-two wen.
Adding yesterday’s twelve wen, she now had a total of forty-four copper coins.
The waiter from yesterday also gave Meng Ping’an a sesame flatbread and two steamed buns when things weren’t too busy.
“There aren’t any leftovers today. The two steamed buns were left by customers just now, and the flatbread was part of my lunch that I didn’t finish. Take them and eat.”
When Meng Ping’an realized it was the same young man who had given her steamed buns yesterday, she quickly bowed gratefully.
“Thank you, big brother! Thank you!”
“All right, hurry up and eat. Go home early after you’re done.”
After watching him walk away, Meng Ping’an tucked the steamed buns and flatbread into her clothes.
Once she left the street, she found a quiet place, scooped half a bowl of spiritual spring water, and ate the flatbread.
After she was full, she hid inside her space and rested for a while.
By the afternoon, there weren’t many people on the streets.
Meng Ping’an spotted the group of beggars again outside a gambling house in town.
It seemed that all of them had come out.
Then…
Wouldn’t that mean there was no one left in the abandoned village?
Why not go and…?
Hehe!
Meng Ping’an acted as soon as she made up her mind.
After eating and drinking her fill, she felt full of energy and jogged toward the abandoned village east of the town.
You bullied me, so I’ll steal from your home!
When she was close to the village entrance, Meng Ping’an quietly followed the walls of the houses, slowly making her way toward the largest earthen houses.
When she was almost at the courtyard entrance, she stopped and observed the movements inside.
Through a broken window, she saw what appeared to be an old man in his sixties staying behind to guard the house.
Meng Ping’an cleared her throat.
Then she shouted loudly,
“Ah!”
The old man inside heard the noise. Leaning shakily on his cane, he slowly made his way outside.
Meng Ping’an quietly hid inside her space.
The moment the old man stepped out of the house, she immediately emerged from the space and slipped inside.
She began searching through everything in the house.
Two wooden basins—take them!
A wooden bucket—take it too!
The table and stools—take them!
Several baskets filled with wild vegetables—take them!
Two pieces of cured meat hanging on the wall—take them!
Earthen jars, a clay pot, and even an iron pot…
Take them all!
The bedding lying on the dried grass—
Ugh! It stinks too much. Never mind!
Anything that could be useful went straight into her space.
Even underneath the bedding, Meng Ping’an didn’t let it escape her search. She searched everything thoroughly.
Not bad…
There was quite a harvest.
A jar of copper coins, and there seemed to be several pieces of broken silver inside as well.
Wow, she had struck it rich!
Meng Ping’an happily put the jar into her space and quickly ran out of the house.
Before leaving, she even took the several pieces of clothing hanging in the courtyard and put them into her space.
She slipped through a broken wall behind the house and disappeared into the overgrown grass.
She ran quite a distance before finally stopping to catch her breath.
Hahaha!
When that group of beggars returned and discovered that their home had been robbed, their expressions would definitely be priceless.
Just thinking about it made Meng Ping’an incredibly happy.
She had finally gotten some of her anger out.
The moment she thought about the money inside that little jar, she couldn’t wait any longer. She found a bush to hide in and entered her space.
Meng Ping’an poured the money from the little jar onto the empty ground inside the space and began counting the coins one by one.
There were a total of 369 copper coins and four small pieces of silver.
Each piece of silver should be about one tael.
That meant she had four taels and 369 wen.
Adding her own forty-four wen, she now had a total of four taels and 403 wen.
Wow!
That wasn’t bad at all.
Meng Ping’an took out one piece of silver and 203 copper coins separately.
She planned to go to the town’s cloth shop to buy a bolt of fabric and some cotton.
It was still early. Once she returned to the abandoned temple, she could make herself a set of bedding.
Then tonight, she would be able to sleep comfortably under a warm blanket.
After leaving the space, Meng Ping’an headed toward the town’s cloth shop.
There were four or five cloth shops on Qingcheng’s main street.
Meng Ping’an chose a relatively small one. The shopkeeper was a man in his forties.
“Shopkeeper, how much is a bolt of coarse cloth?”
Meng Ping’an looked at the several bolts of gray, blue, and brown coarse cotton cloth displayed at the entrance.
The shopkeeper looked at Meng Ping’an and asked uncertainly, “You want to buy cloth?”
Meng Ping’an nodded and took out a piece of silver from her clothes, placing it in her palm.
“Yes. Besides the cloth, I also want to buy several jin of cotton. How much is cotton per jin?”
When the shopkeeper saw the silver in Meng Ping’an’s hand, he knew she genuinely intended to buy cloth and wasn’t there to cause trouble.
He smiled and replied, “You’re still so young, so I won’t make much profit from you. Although these fabrics don’t look very pretty in color, they’re actually comfortable cotton cloth. I’d normally sell one bolt for 400 wen, but I’ll charge you 360 wen. As for the cotton, I’ll charge you 25 wen per jin. I’m basically only covering the cost!”
Meng Ping’an knew that his price was indeed very low.
She had asked around the streets earlier about the prices of cloth and cotton and had planned to buy them once she had saved enough money.
“All right. Shopkeeper, please give me ten jin of cotton and one bolt of gray cloth.”
“Sure! I’ll weigh it for you now!”
The shopkeeper brought out a balance scale and took some cotton from a large cloth bag inside the shop.
He tied it up with coarse cloth strips, placed it on the scale, and weighed it.
“Ten jin and four liang. I’ll let you have the extra four liang for free!”
The shopkeeper then took two more coarse cloth strips and securely tied up the cotton.
He also took a bundle of white cotton thread and a packet of needles from a nearby basket.
“I’m giving you these needles and thread for free. Keep them.”
Meng Ping’an reached out to accept them and tucked them into her clothes.
She was just about to take the bolt of cloth when the shopkeeper stopped her.
“Wait. I’ll give you a pair of cloth shoes too. Try them on and see if they fit!”
The shopkeeper took a pair of brand-new black cloth shoes from underneath the bolts of fabric and handed them to her.
Meng Ping’an gratefully accepted them.
She carefully took off her tattered shoes and tried the new ones on.
They were a little big, but they didn’t affect her walking.
“They fit. Thank you, Shopkeeper!”