The old woman felt a pang of guilt but quickly spoke sweet words.
“He’s not sick. It’s just that my nephew spent all his money on his wife’s medical treatment, so he hasn’t had good food to eat. That’s why he’s so thin.”
Seeing Jiang Wanyue turn to leave, she grabbed her arm.
“Take another look, young madam. This is a retired warhorse, still full of strength.”
“No matter how strong, it’s an old horse on its last legs, not likely to live much longer. And it’s so sickly. I’ll think about it.”
The old woman gritted her teeth. “Fifty taels of silver, how about that?”
Her heart ached at the thought.
“My nephew spent over two hundred taels to buy it, and even gave twenty taels to the middleman.”
In the end, he ended up with an old horse on the verge of death—truly a terrible scam.
Jiang Wanyue looked at the old horse, thinking there was no other way to buy one, and said, “Is there a carriage?”
The old woman’s eyes lit up. This was promising.
“Yes, yes, yes! My nephew made the carriage himself. He originally planned to use it to earn money by transporting people, but it never came to use. It’s a bit crude, though. I hope you won’t mind, madam.”
In the end, Jiang Wanyue bought the old horse along with the carriage for fifty taels of silver.
The old woman, overjoyed with the money, handed over the official documents for the horse and vanished in a flash.
As Jiang Wanyue approached, the old horse lazily lifted its eyelids, snorted, and issued a warning.
But it was too weak to retain any of its former majesty.
A bundle of fresh green grass was tossed in front of it. The old horse sniffed it, and even the scent of the space pasture grass made its mouth water. It swallowed the grass in one gulp, and its listless spirit slowly began to recover.
Jiang Wanyue breathed a sigh of relief.
Plants couldn’t grow on their own in the space; they had to be transplanted. This pasture grass had entered the space during the apocalypse when she was searching for fruit trees to transplant.
Back then, it was just a tiny sprout. Who would have thought it would now cover the mountains and plains?
Initially, she had intended to uproot it entirely, but later, by accident, she ate some and was surprised to discover that humans could consume it too.
Researchers analyzed it and confirmed it was edible.
It was rich in dietary fiber and high in protein, and it even helped clean the mouth.
So, she left it on the great mountains in the space, often eating it as a wild vegetable. It tasted quite good.
Now, on all 19 mountains, beneath the closely planted fruit trees, this stuff grew everywhere.
After the horse finished the bundle of space pasture grass with relish, its previously sickly appearance improved significantly.
Its bodily functions recovered, and it no longer lay weakly on the ground. It stood up, staring intently at Jiang Wanyue.
It snorted softly at her, its extended tongue secreting saliva.
It was still hungry and wanted more.
Considering that a horse could eat about ten catties of pasture grass and feed in one meal, she took out another bundle.
Seeing the grass, the old horse tilted its head and hopped in place a couple of times, showing its joy.
Delicious, truly delicious!
The horse’s tail wagged incessantly.
Jiang Wanyue cautiously approached and gently patted its head, ready to retreat into the space at any sign of resistance.
Fortunately, it merely lifted its eyelids to glance at her and, as if understanding her intentions, leaned its head closer, seemingly trying to please her.
It was as if the old horse knew its new owner had something delicious.
Soon, it finished the second bundle of grass with relish, raised its head, and stared at her with eager eyes.
“Want more?”
Jiang Wanyue smiled and said, "As long as you behave, you can have as much of that pasture grass as you want in the future."
As if understanding her words, the horse bent its legs and lay down on the ground.
"Are you asking me to get on?"
Jiang Wanyue was amazed—this horse was so remarkably intelligent.
For a moment, she felt reluctant to harness it to a carriage.
She shook her head.
No, if she didn’t use a carriage, there would be no way to discreetly transport large quantities of rice, flour, grains, and oil.
Since she claimed to be in this world to retire, she had to prepare everything thoroughly.
The space mall building had nine floors in total. Filling it all was impossible and unrealistic—it was simply too vast—but she aimed to stock up on as many supplies as possible.
Having come from the apocalypse, she only felt secure when her space was fully stocked with supplies.
Pasture grass was, after all, just green grass—easy to digest but not very filling.
Jiang Wanyue planned to buy some feed as backup and later mix it with the space pasture grass.
There was plenty of space pasture grass, but she couldn’t spoil the horse too much. Otherwise, over time, it might become picky.
Plants in the space also required a growth cycle—only one batch could be harvested per year.
During the growth process, Zombie Crystal Cores and energy stones were needed to replenish energy within the space.
In ancient times, there were no such things as energy stones.
High-quality jade and emerald could work, but these were non-renewable resources with limited quantities.
Fortunately, if the fruits weren’t picked, they would remain in a plump, peak state, hanging on the branches without rotting.
Through experimentation, she found that fruits in their mature peak state no longer required energy to sustain growth and could even release spiritual energy within the space.
If enough spiritual energy accumulated, it could replace energy stones and also promote plant growth.
Jiang Wanyue didn’t want to overconsume the space’s resources, so she left those fruits hanging on the branches, never picking them.
Although the space offered many benefits, it was also a resource-devouring beast. In her previous life, about eighty percent of the Zombie Crystal Cores and energy stones she obtained were absorbed by the space.
Even so, Jiang Wanyue’s strength in her past life made her one of the top superpower users.
Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but hold her forehead.
Having two resource-devouring beasts was quite a headache.
The space required vast amounts of energy and spiritual energy to sustain, and advancing her superpower also demanded a great deal of spiritual energy.
It really was…
Fortunately, the plants and fruits crammed within the space’s landscape and nineteen mountains had all reached maturity.
They had already begun returning spiritual energy to the space, just enough to maintain its internal operations, with some to spare.
As long as she didn’t engage in large-scale planting or harvesting, the current spiritual energy could sustain itself autonomously.
Jiang Wanyue harnessed the carriage and drove the horse away.
She had once been a wealthy young lady from a prominent family, with a horse-training arena at home, so she was quite skilled at riding.
Checking the time limit on her travel permit, she decided to spend the entire day purchasing supplies and leave tomorrow.
She would continue buying in the next county.
There was no other way—this didn’t seem like a traditional ancient world, as people actually possessed lightness skill and internal energy.
If she wasn’t careful, she might attract unwanted attention.
She was here to retire, not to cause trouble, and certainly not to kill anyone.
Leading the horse and carriage to the morning market.
By now, it was quite late, and only a few people remained at the morning market, though some vendors’ stalls were still set up.
The aunt and her family who had sold her the old horse had already left.
Probably afraid she’d discover the old horse couldn’t work and come to return it.
"Boss, how many meat buns do you have left? Pack them all for me."
The vendor grinned from ear to ear. He had steamed a bit too many buns today and was just worrying about how to sell them all.
And here came the business.