With his grandfather’s permission, the little boy could no longer hold back and wolfed down the food.
The allure of instant noodles for children never changes, from ancient times to the present.
In no time, the noodles were finished.
The old man only ate a small bowl, giving the rest to his grandson, not leaving even a drop of broth.
Zhao Xiao’er’s belly was round and full, but he still licked the bowl with a look of lingering desire.
Jiang Ling then asked, “Elder, what day is it today? Why are so many people heading up the mountain outside?”
“You just moved here, shopkeeper, so you might not know. Today is the ninth. The White Dragon Temple on the mountain is holding a temple fair. Everyone is going to pray for blessings. I took my grandson early and just got back.”
“Oh, so it’s a temple fair.”
If today is the ninth, what day was it when we last met?
“So, elder, do you go up the mountain to pick mushrooms every day?”
“Not at all. Mushrooms only come out when the soil is moist. It hasn’t rained these past few days. It only rained all day on the first. On the second, I wanted to try my luck on the mountain. Surprisingly, there were quite a few mushrooms. I got carried away picking and forgot the time, which is why I came to your place to ask for water.”
The second, the ninth. So seven days had passed!
But for her, it had only been about a dozen hours!
The flow of time here was nearly ten times faster than in the modern world!
Through what seemed like casual conversation, Jiang Ling finally learned this village was called Jishui Village, inhabited by families with the surnames Chen and Zhao.
This old man was Zhao Sheng from the Zhao family hamlet.
The nearest town was ten li away. It took over an hour to walk there.
As they were leaving, Jiang Ling grabbed a handful of White Rabbit milk candies and gave them to the child.
The old man insisted on paying. Unable to refuse, Jiang Ling accepted only five copper coins.
The sun was high, and the early summer temperature was somewhat stuffy, causing a slight sweat.
Jiang Ling didn’t dare change out of her long-sleeved shirt. Her current attire was already considered bizarre for this era.
If she came out in shorts and a t-shirt, who knew what might happen.
Jiang Ling placed the five copper coins in the drawer, planning to exchange them for money once she had saved enough.
Just then, a woman in a pink dress, looking to be in her early twenties, walked in, followed by a maid.
“What kind of shop is this? The decor is so peculiar. Is it selling food or goods?”
The woman in pink scanned the shop with a haughty gaze. Her attire was luxurious, adorned with pearls and jade hairpins. Clearly a wealthy person.
Business had arrived!
“This humble shop is a general store. Grains, oils, rice, noodles, daily necessities—we sell everything. What would you two ladies like to see?”
The pink-clad woman looked around with a skeptical eye, not saying what she wanted.
She just found everything here very strange. The boxes and packaging were all things she had never seen before.
The maid behind her couldn’t help but speak up, “Madam, what good stuff could this remote village general store have? We should go to Xiangbao Pavilion in the city. Their rouge and powder are the most complete in the entire town.”
So they wanted cosmetics. To be honest, she didn’t have many of those items in her little shop.
The pink-clad woman didn’t speak, still wandering among the shelves on her own.
She had come in because she smelled a unique fragrance here.
Otherwise, as the esteemed Second Madam of the Chen family, how could she lower herself to enter this remote village shop?
She walked through the entire shop. This row of shelves was where the fragrance was strongest.
But she couldn’t understand any of the packaging here. Thinking of what she actually wanted made her feel too embarrassed to speak.
“Shopkeeper, you have everything?”
“Everything.”
Compared to ancient needs, wasn’t that indeed everything? Even if she didn’t have something, she could buy it now and it would arrive in time.
The pink-clad woman glanced around again. Seeing no one else nearby, she leaned closer to Jiang Ling and whispered, “Do you have… scented soap? Preferably with a strong fragrance. One that can cover up… cover up…”
She had originally come for the temple fair.
Unfortunately, the weather was stuffy today. Just walking up the mountain had made her sweat profusely.
If it were winter, it might be okay, but this was summer. The odor on her body just couldn’t be masked.
To prevent the smell from spreading, she had been trying to avoid moving around as much as possible.
But the strange glances from those other ladies in the distance, accompanied by their laughter, pricked her ears painfully.
She had only just arrived at the temple fair not long ago. Before she could even begin to enjoy it, she hurried back down.
Moreover, whenever summer came, her husband wouldn’t visit her room anymore!
Even though she had a face that could “make fish sink and geese alight,” why had heaven given her this unique scent?!
As soon as she approached, Jiang Ling caught a whiff of her odor.
And it was only early summer now. Come the hottest days of summer, the smell would be unimaginable.
This kind of condition could basically only be cured through modern surgery; in ancient times, there was almost no permanent solution.
Scented soap, that was it.
“Please wait a moment, miss.”
Jiang Ling selected two bars of soap with particularly strong fragrances from the back shelves.
She had initially thought these scents were too overpowering; no one would like them. Sensitive individuals might even feel dizzy or nauseous upon smelling them.
That’s why she had put them in the back. Who would have thought their customer would find them so quickly.
Jiang Ling handed her the boxes. “One is osmanthus fragrance, the other rose. Which one would you like, miss?”
The girl eagerly took them. Even through the box, the overwhelming fragrance hit her!
She felt no discomfort; on the contrary, she was overjoyed.
The floral scents were very distinct. The osmanthus was stronger, the rose sweeter and fresher.
Several times more fragrant than the scented soap from Xiangbao Pavilion!
This was exactly what she wanted!
Xiangbao Pavilion claimed to be the biggest cosmetics shop in the city, yet they didn’t even have the scented soap she wanted!
She bought the most expensive kind, but the fragrance was gone less than two hours after her bath. She’d never go there again!
She had money, but she wasn’t a fool!
“Shopkeeper, I’ll take both! How much?”
“As for the price…” It came too suddenly. Jiang Ling hadn’t thought about how to price them yet.
The maid behind her spoke up loudly, “Look carefully. This is the Second Madam of Landlord Chen. Money is no object. When buying things from Xiangbao Pavilion, our Madam doesn’t even blink. How much more so for items from your remote little shop.”
The wife of a landlord? Well, then, no need to hold back.
“One hundred wen per bar.”
“Xiao Cui, pay her.”
…Should have charged more!
After seeing off the landlord’s wife, it was almost noon.
Jiang Ling’s biological clock was struggling to keep up.
She had earned two hundred and five wen today. That was already enough.
But thinking about it—if she slept for eight hours, three days would pass in this world.
She felt that was a bit too wasteful.
…
In the carriage, Landlord Chen’s Second Madam, Wang Yue, happily held the two boxes of soap, urging the coachman to hurry.
Upon returning to the Chen residence, she didn’t even stop to greet the First Madam whom she passed, rushing straight to the bathhouse.
The maid, Xiao Cui, quickly ordered servants to heat water for the Second Madam’s bath.
Before the tub was even half full, Wang Yue couldn’t wait. She stripped off her clothes and jumped in.
“Xiao Cui, hurry up and come scrub my back!”
She herself took the osmanthus-scented soap, vigorously scrubbing her underarm area, while instructing Xiao Cui to use the rose-scented soap to scrub the rest of her body.
The temple fair wouldn’t end until the shen hour (3-5 pm). If she bathed quickly, she could still make it in time. Today, she was determined to wash away her shame!
“That little wretch from the Zhao family, she’s not even as pretty as me, yet she laughs at me all day for my smell. Her laughter was the loudest at the temple fair today! If this scented soap can help me mask this odor, even for just two hours, it’ll be enough! I’m determined to take her down a peg!”
As Wang Yue spoke, her hands never stopped moving. She mechanically repeated the scrubbing motions. Instantly, the entire bathhouse filled with the scents of osmanthus and rose.
Xiao Cui, holding the rose-scented soap, scrubbed the Second Madam’s back. She was more sensitive than her mistress. The intense fragrance overwhelmed her, and she was already feeling a bit dizzy.
“Madam, don’t worry. This scented soap is so fragrant, it will definitely cover up your odor. Later, you just stand next to the Third Madam of the Zhao family. She’ll be the one embarrassed!”