After buying some more rice and flour, Xiang Xi took Second Fool Liu to a cloth shop on the main street.
In this era, most people bought fabric and made their own clothes. Very few people bought ready-made clothing.
But Xiang Xi certainly wasn’t going to buy fabric. Even if she bought it, she couldn’t make clothes. And even if she could, she didn’t want to.
With the time it took to make clothes, she could pick mushrooms and earn enough money to buy several sets of ready-made clothes.
First, she bought Second Fool Liu a set of hemp clothing.
That guy had thick skin, a tough body, and loved rolling around everywhere. Naturally, durable coarse hemp clothing was the best choice for him.
The main reason was that it was cheap.
A set of hemp clothes cost 100 copper coins, and for another 20 copper coins, he could get a pair of hemp shoes.
Second Fool Liu hadn’t worn new clothes in at least three years.
He immediately changed into them on the spot, so happy that drool dripped from the corner of his mouth.
That foolish appearance truly made him look like a complete fool.
After buying clothes for Second Fool Liu, it was Xiang Xi’s turn.
As a fair-skinned and beautiful little fairy, she obviously couldn’t dress like Second Fool Liu.
So she began looking through the silk clothing for something suitable.
A small cloth shop in a market town like this usually only carried hemp and silk.
Depending on the weaving method, silk was also divided into several grades. Jian was the roughest and lowest quality, while lian was the finest.
After being dyed, these fabrics were known as brocade, which was the high-end stuff.
There was a saying about wearing brocade clothes while walking at night, referring to wealthy people wearing luxurious clothes and making others jealous.
So Xiang Xi finally decided to buy a ready-made outfit made from white lian silk.
“Miss, you certainly have excellent taste!”
Seeing that she was buying an expensive outfit, the shopkeeper immediately showered her with compliments.
“This ready-made outfit was made yesterday by Wang the tailor, the finest tailor in our cloth shop. It was only put on display this morning. The fact that you took a liking to it at first sight is truly fate!”
Xiang Xi chuckled inwardly.
Forget about fate.
Just tell me whether I can haggle over the price.
“How much?”
“Not expensive, not expensive. Only 666 copper coins!”
Damn, this guy really knew how to do business.
He actually opened with 666?
Xiang Xi said,
“Eighty!”
Shopkeeper: …
I’ve encountered a tough one today!
Just as he was preparing to roll up his sleeves and battle it out for three hundred rounds, a melodious, bell-like laugh came from the entrance.
“Where did this country bumpkin come from? She actually wants to buy lian silk clothing for only eighty copper coins. That’s hilarious!”
Xiang Xi turned around.
A young woman stood there, dressed elegantly and properly.
She had an exquisite silver hairpin in her hair, large hoop earrings dangling from her ears, and two maids behind her.
It was obvious she was a young lady from a wealthy family.
But no matter how incredibly wealthy her family was, could that stop this lady from haggling?
When Second Fool Liu saw someone mocking Xiang Xi, he immediately became unhappy.
But without Xiang Xi’s orders, he didn’t dare act recklessly.
He simply widened his eyes and glared at the young lady who had just walked in.
That glare stirred up a hornet’s nest.
One of the young lady’s maids marched over to Second Fool Liu.
“What are you staring at? Get out!”
“Are you deaf?”
Seeing that he didn’t move, the maid shouted even louder.
“I told you to get out!”
“I… why?”
“Why?”
The maid looked as though she had heard something unbelievable.
“Our young lady has entered, and you, a country bumpkin, actually dare to stare at her. What kind of manners are those?”
Second Fool Liu scratched his head.
“What are manners?”
The maid didn’t know he was a fool and thought he was deliberately being a scoundrel.
Her face immediately turned dark with anger.
“Ladies, ladies…” The shopkeeper, who believed in keeping the peace to preserve his business, hurried over to mediate.
“He’s here to buy clothes too. He’s already chosen his clothes, but he hasn’t paid yet.”
The meaning was obvious.
If you drove him away, who was going to pay me?
At that moment, the young lady spoke.
“Xiaoqing, Xiaohe, let him stay. We can’t interfere with Shopkeeper Liu’s business either. Although a poor country bumpkin like him probably doesn’t have much money, even a mosquito is still meat, right, Shopkeeper Liu?”
“Hehe…”
Shopkeeper Liu smiled awkwardly but didn’t respond to her remark.
Instead, he gestured politely.
“Miss Zhou, please head upstairs. Whichever clothes you like, I’ll have someone bring them up for you.”
“No need.”
Miss Zhou pointed with her delicate hand.
It was the very outfit Xiang Xi had been looking at.
“I want this one. This lady will take it.”
That put Shopkeeper Liu in a difficult position.
Although selling it without haggling would allow him to earn considerably more, the problem was that Xiang Xi had chosen the outfit first.
The two of them were already negotiating the price.
Suddenly selling it to someone else would make it seem as though he didn’t respect his customer.
His business was a long-term one.
His shop was an established old brand in the town.
He couldn’t ruin his reputation over something like this.
Miss Zhou was also quite troublesome.
Relying on her family’s wealth, she spent all day wandering around the streets with her maids and servants, basically making a point of bullying people with her family’s power.
“Miss Zhou,” Shopkeeper Liu said, “this outfit is actually quite inexpensive. How about…”
“I said I want it!”
Miss Zhou suddenly lost her temper.
“Shopkeeper Liu, do you not want to keep your cloth shop open anymore?”
“This… Of course not…”
“Then why haven’t you brought me the clothes yet?”
Caught between both sides, Shopkeeper Liu could only apologize to Xiang Xi.
“Miss, how about…”
“It’s fine. Sell it to her,” Xiang Xi said. “I’ll just choose another one.”
Shopkeeper Liu immediately breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“Thank you, Miss. I’ll give you a discount on the next one.”
Xiang Xi had already known that in a feudal society like this, she would inevitably encounter situations like this.
But she didn’t care.
Miss Zhou had spent 666 copper coins on an outfit just to win an argument.
She had paid at least twice as much as necessary.
Shopkeeper Liu was the one who actually earned money.
Xiang Xi hadn’t lost a single copper coin.
The shopkeeper had even promised to give her a discount later.
All she had suffered was a few sarcastic remarks.
It wasn’t as if she’d lost a piece of flesh.
Besides, if being mocked a few times could get her a discount, she wished everyone would come mock her.
Then she could get a discount upon a discount upon a discount upon a discount…
Seeing that Xiang Xi had surrendered the outfit without putting up a fight, Miss Zhou felt as though she’d punched a ball of cotton.
She just couldn’t feel satisfied.
“Hmph! At least you, country bumpkin, know your place!”
“Otherwise, this lady would have made you regret it today!”
Tsk, tsk.
She even knew how to make threats.
Xiang Xi turned her face away.
With people like this, if she looked at them one second longer, she’d consider herself the loser.
But she hadn’t expected Miss Zhou to become even angrier.
I’m talking to you, yet you actually turned your face away?
You really don’t take this lady seriously!
“Miss Zhou, your clothes are packed!”
Shopkeeper Liu had sharp eyes.
He immediately saw that the young lady was about to cause trouble, so he quickly brought the clothes over.
“666 copper coins.”
Miss Zhou angrily paid the money, but she still felt irritated.
Then she happened to catch sight of Second Fool Liu’s foolish-looking face.
The anger in her heart suddenly erupted.
“Country bumpkin, what are you looking at?”
Second Fool Liu froze.
He hadn’t even been looking at her anymore.
Why was this woman still scolding him?
He glanced at Xiang Xi.
Seeing that she had turned her face away, he imitated her and turned his face to the side as well.
That made things even worse.
“You bastard!”
Miss Zhou’s anger surged.
“This lady is talking to you, yet you dare turn your face away and pretend you can’t hear me?”
She gritted her teeth and shouted,
“Xiaoqing!”
“I’m here, Young Miss.”
“Slap—her—!!!”
She looked meaningfully at Xiang Xi, smiling with a hint of mockery.
“This lady doesn’t haggle.”