Mother really is so knowledgeable!
She can actually quote sayings that carry so much of Huaxia’s ancient culture.
“Eldest Brother, did Mother teach you a lot about Huaxia’s ancient culture?”
Perched on Zhuo Chang’an’s shoulder, Zhuo Ling blinked at him enviously.
“Hardly anyone in our underground city studies that stuff.”
Zhuo Chang’an nodded gently.
“Mother understands a great many things.”
“Chang’an! Ling’er! Why did you two take so long to come back?”
The moment Fenniang spotted the brother and sister in the distance, she hurried over with her basket on her arm.
“It’s been ages! I couldn’t find either of you—you nearly scared me to death!
“The world’s in chaos these days. What if child traffickers had taken you? How could I go on living?”
Her eyes were red with worry, and sweat covered her forehead.
“Chang’an, don’t blame your mother for being upset. Look how frightened she is!”
Aunt Fang from the same village, who had also come to town to sell wild vegetables, deliberately frightened him.
“Disasters are breaking out everywhere. I just heard someone say that in some places people have already started eating other people. If child traffickers snatched you away, they’d sell you to those butchers who deal in human flesh. They’d eat you alive!”
Zhuo Chang’an lowered his eyes and said softly,
“It won’t happen again, Mother.”
Only then did Fenniang finally breathe a sigh of relief. Quietly wiping the corner of her eye, she murmured,
“As long as you’re safe… that’s all that matters.”
Having someone who worried about you…
It felt wonderful.
Warmth welled up inside Zhuo Ling. Holding up the half-eaten lotus pastry, she pushed it toward Fenniang’s mouth.
“Mother, eat! Sweet! So sweet!”
Fenniang caught her little hand, her face full of surprise.
“Chang’an, where did you get this lotus pastry?”
“Pretty big sister!”
Zhuo Ling grinned innocently, pretending not to understand.
“Don’t worry, Mother. Ling’er and I went to the Pang Residence just now.”
With a faint smile, Zhuo Chang’an explained,
“Ling’er found the young madam’s gold hairpin from the Pang family, so we returned it to her. That’s why we were delayed.”
As he spoke, he took the heavy money pouch from his robe and handed it to Fenniang, deliberately raising his voice.
“The young madam bought our firewood and the wild rabbit Uncle Feng gave us. Look! She paid us a lot of money, and she even gave Ling’er pastries.
“She also said that if we gather more firewood or mountain goods in the future, we can bring them directly to her…”
“The Pang Residence? You mean the Pang family that owns the pharmacy in town?”
One of the village women leaned over in astonishment.
“Heavens! The Pang family is unbelievably rich!”
The moment the people selling mountain goods nearby heard it was the Pang family, their eyes nearly popped out with envy. Everyone started talking at once.
“That’s right! Their pharmacy is the most profitable business in town. They even supply medicine to the Imperial Palace in the capital!”
“I heard the young madam’s maiden family is also one of the biggest grain merchants around. Forget silver—even people who desperately want to curry favor with the Pang family can’t get close to them.”
“These days, people could starve to death at any moment. If you’ve earned a favor from the Pang family, surely you could at least beg for a bowl of food at their gate when times get hard.”
“Ma’am, your children really have stumbled into incredible good fortune!”
…
Listening to the crowd’s discussion, Zhuo Chang’an and Zhuo Ling exchanged a knowing glance.
The news had successfully spread.
Things would be much easier from now on.
Fenniang accepted the money pouch. As soon as she opened it and saw the pieces of silver along with the pile of copper coins, her eyes widened in shock.
“Heavens… This has to be two or three taels!
“But it was only some firewood and a single wild rabbit. How could they possibly be worth this much?”
Zhuo Chang’an answered casually,
“The young madam said the hairpin Ling’er found was a token of love between her and her husband, so she insisted on paying us extra.
“It wasn’t really a big deal, so I didn’t feel right accepting too much from her. But since she insisted, Mother, just keep it.”
“Not a big deal?”
The moment Aunt Fang heard that, she nearly jumped up in frustration.
“Chang’an, are you a fool? The Pang family is loaded! Even if you’d asked for ten or eight taels, do you think they’d have refused?”
Zhuo Chang’an ignored her.
“Th-This is already so much…”
Fenniang said excitedly.
“I sold the eggs too. They were nice and big—they fetched fifteen copper coins each!
“Altogether…
“Chang’an, this should be enough to buy your father’s wound medicine for two or three days!
“Ling’er, you’ve saved your father’s life!”
Her heart pounded wildly with excitement, and even her hands trembled as she stroked Zhuo Ling’s little face. Suddenly, she choked up.
“Everyone says our Ling’er is a foolish girl, but what do they know?
“Our Ling’er is the most blessed child of all.”
Zhuo Ling’s nose stung.
To everyone else, she was just a foolish little girl.
But in her family’s eyes, she would always be their precious treasure.
“Mother, it’s getting late.”
Zhuo Chang’an reminded her softly.
“Father is home alone, and it’s inconvenient for him. Let’s buy what we need and head back.”
“Right, right! Let’s hurry and buy everything.”
Unable to contain her joy, Fenniang nodded through tearful eyes.
“Ling’er, tell Mother what you want to eat. I’ll buy you something delicious!”
“Meat! Want… meat!”
A string of sparkling drool immediately escaped from the corner of Zhuo Ling’s mouth.
Fenniang smiled warmly.
“Then we’ll buy meat! Mother will buy meat for my little girl!”
“Mother, I want… meat too!”
The third child, still hugging his pastry and nibbling it one tiny bite at a time because he couldn’t bear to finish it, instantly lit up at the word “meat.”
Fenniang took the children to the pork stall.
The moment she asked the price, she was dumbfounded.
In previous years, the finest streaky pork belly with a good balance of fat and lean meat cost at most thirty-five copper coins a jin. Pure lean meat without any fat was only a little over twenty copper coins.
But now, with disasters driving prices through the roof, even the poorest cuts sold for forty copper coins a jin, while rich, fatty pork belly that oozed grease with every bite had climbed to sixty copper coins.
Although they finally had a little money, the price still made her grit her teeth. In the end, she only dared to buy one jin of lean front leg pork with very little fat, paying forty-eight copper coins.
“Ma’am, how many people are in your family? What can one jin of meat possibly do?”
The burly butcher called out in his booming voice.
“Buy another jin. I’ll knock a few coins off the price.”
Fenniang hurriedly waved her hands.
“N-No need. It’s enough for the children to have a taste of meat.”
“Sigh… Business is impossible these days.”
The butcher sighed helplessly. He threaded the meat with a straw rope and tossed it to her before casually throwing a heap of chopped pig offal into a basin.
“Boss, are you selling those?”
A gleam flashed through Fenniang’s eyes as she asked eagerly,
“If you’ll make it cheaper, I’ll buy all of it.”
“I’ll sell it, sure. But offal is hard to clean. If you don’t do it right, the whole pot will stink so badly you won’t be able to eat it. Don’t come complaining to me afterward.”
The butcher glanced at the filthy entrails and curled his lip in disgust.
“Thirty copper coins, and it’s all yours.”
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Overjoyed as if she’d found a priceless treasure, Fenniang ignored the foul, choking stench and stuffed the entire basin of pig offal into her basket.
Because the bloody smell and the strong odor unique to pork were extremely difficult to remove completely, few people ate pig offal.
Most wealthy families bought it only to feed their dogs.
But she knew a way.
She could turn the offal everyone else despised into something delicious, letting the children eat a few more pieces of meat.
Carrying the heavy basket on her back, she continued shopping.
People along the road covered their noses and waved her away in disgust, but Fenniang’s face remained bright with a happy smile.
Next, they went to the grain shop.
Because the drought had dragged on without relief, no rain had fallen during the crucial grain-filling season. Not only had the prices of rice and fine flour increased by five copper coins, but even coarse grains like sorghum, beans, and buckwheat had gone up by three copper coins.
A jin of polished white rice now sold for fifteen copper coins, while finely sifted white flour cost an astonishing eighteen copper coins a jin.
Wanting the children to eat something better, Fenniang steeled herself and bought two jin of rice, one jin of flour, and another ten jin of the cheaper mixed grain flour.
After all that, the once-heavy money pouch felt noticeably lighter.
“Chang’an, here’s ten copper coins. Go buy some coarse salt. I’ll stop by the pharmacy and ask about medicine for your father.”
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Fenniang walked toward the pharmacy, her eyes filled with hope.
The wound medicine was Great Wu’s only hope of surviving.