It would be better, she thought, to listen to Lu Zhaozhao this time.
She seemed far more experienced in managing daily life than he did.
So, Gu Yan, unusually softening his tone, asked,
“What do you think we should do now?”
Lu Zhaozhao thought for a moment and asked,
“Do you know where the town’s medical clinic or pharmacy is? We can go sell the snake gall first, and then deal with the meat afterward.”
“I do. Then come with me.”
Gu Yan had visited the town before to see a doctor for his mother, so he remembered the way to the medical clinic.
When they arrived, Lu Zhaozhao told Gu Yan not to speak and handled everything herself.
“Little Second Brother, may I ask if your shopkeeper is around? I have a medicinal ingredient, and I’m not sure if you accept it.”
“I’m here. What is it? Let me take a look first.”
The clerk at the door asked curiously. After all, their shopkeeper was quite busy and didn’t meet just anyone. A while back, some villagers had tried to sell herbs they collected from the mountains, but the roots were all dug up and damaged, ruining their medicinal properties. The shopkeeper had scolded them, and since then, the clerk had learned to inspect anything first before calling the shopkeeper over.
Seeing this, Lu Zhaozhao had Gu Yan open the basket for the clerk to see and calmly said,
“Snake gall. Do you accept it?”
The clerk, seeing the contents, took a step back in surprise, then quickly exclaimed with delight,
“We do! We do! Wait here; I’ll go get the shopkeeper.”
With that, he ran off.
After a short while, an older man appeared. His hair was almost all white, and he looked kind and gentle. He said,
“Is it this young friend selling snake gall?”
“Yes, that’s right. May I trouble you to take a look and give us a price? If acceptable, we can immediately collect the galls for your use in medicine.”
Shopkeeper Wang opened Gu Yan’s basket and glanced inside. There were four snakes, not particularly rare, but fairly large. He roughly calculated their worth in his mind and said,
“For these four snake galls, I’ll give you six taels of silver. Does that work? If so, I can pay you immediately.”
“Deal. That sounds perfect. Thank you for being straightforward, shopkeeper; we won’t waste your time.”
Lu Zhaozhao was very pleased to agree. Although she wasn’t yet familiar with the prices in this era, six taels of silver for just the snake galls was already much higher than what the general store owner had offered.
This was a good deal.
Gu Yan’s eyes lit up when he heard “six taels of silver.”
Could they really sell it for so much?
All this time, he had been selling snakes cheaply to the general store owner, clearly being taken advantage of!
Later, Shopkeeper Wang led them to the back, and Gu Yan skillfully extracted the snake galls, which were then sold to the clinic for medicine.
With six taels of silver in hand and the remaining items with them, they left the clinic feeling satisfied.
Next, they went to a larger restaurant in town. Initially, the shopkeeper wasn’t interested in wild chickens or rabbits, but when he heard they had fresh snake meat, his eyes lit up.
Snakes were excellent—highly nourishing and delicious. They were the most sought-after kind of wild game.
However, hunters had rarely caught snakes recently because some had been fatally bitten by poisonous snakes. The restaurant hadn’t sold snake soup for a long time.
The shopkeeper immediately expressed interest and wanted to see the goods.
Gu Yan happily showed him. After confirming the snakes were freshly killed that day, the shopkeeper bought all their game, had an attendant weigh it in the kitchen, and generously paid them two taels of silver.
He even said heartily,
“You two, if you hunt wild game in the future, bring it here. As long as it’s fresh, I’ll buy it. I’ll pay a fair price. You don’t know, sometimes some customers are craving this, and I have to buy it from middlemen at high prices. It’s not ideal, not like your fresh catch.”
“Alright, thank you, Shopkeeper! May your business flourish!”
“Hahaha, this little girl sure knows how to talk; I like that.”
…
When Gu Yan held the eight taels of silver in his hands, he could hardly believe it. They had actually sold that much of their hunting spoils.
Eight full taels!
Since the family troubles began, he had realized how difficult it was to earn money.
And now, he had earned eight taels—the most he had ever made since living off hunting.
His mood was complicated. Because of his lack of life experience, he had been tricked and taken advantage of so many times!
How foolish he had been.
Looking at the slight figure ahead of him, Gu Yan suddenly felt grateful he had married her. Otherwise, he didn’t know how long he would have kept being a fool.
This woman seemed very practical—far more capable than he was.
She also cooked well. An An and Momo liked her, too.
Thinking this, Gu Yan quickened his pace, grabbed her, and quietly said,
“You take this silver. From now on, you’ll manage the household. If it weren’t for you, I might still be selling things for so little. I know my limits. These things aren’t my strength. I can see you’re good at managing life. From now on, you handle the money.”
Lu Zhaozhao hadn’t expected Gu Yan to hand over control of the household finances so quickly.
She looked at him with satisfaction, thinking the young man was sensible, and accepted it readily, replying,
“Alright, don’t worry. I promise every penny will be spent wisely.”
She actually enjoyed this feeling of being in charge—buying what she wanted. Moreover, the household consisted only of the elderly and children, all thin and pale, needing proper nourishment. This money had come at the perfect time.
As the matchmaker had said, Gu Yan was skilled at hunting and would never lack money or meat.
No need to be stingy. The priority was to nourish everyone first.
Otherwise, if they were constantly sick and needing medicine, that would be the most expensive path—and not worth it.
Providing nutrition became the first priority.
“So… the household lacks so many things. Since we’ve sold such a large amount, why don’t we buy some meat for the children to nourish them?”
“Alright, I’ll follow your lead. Let’s go to the market together.”
Gu Yan agreed immediately and took the lead.
When they arrived at the bustling market, Lu Zhaozhao was thrilled. With money in her pocket and seeing all the busy stalls, she felt like a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar—utterly delighted.