Luo Wangshu and Mo Li exchanged a glance before the latter honestly replied, “My wife grew these fruits.”
The shopkeeper stared at Luo Wangshu in disbelief. “Grew them? These fruits can withstand the cold?”
“You can grow them in a heated shed. If the shopkeeper wants some, there are still a few at home. I can provide around twenty jin. Besides, once the fruit is picked, more will grow, so supplying them through this winter won’t be a problem,” Luo Wangshu said calmly.
The shopkeeper thought for a moment before asking, “What kind of fruit is this?”
“Strawberries.”
“I’ve traveled to quite a few places before, but I’ve never heard of this fruit…”
Luo Wangshu naturally understood what kind of consequences the appearance of a new species could bring. Some people might claim it was poisonous.
But that proved nothing.
As long as it tasted good, that was all that mattered.
Besides… strawberries had health benefits and anti-cancer properties, alright? Normal people definitely wouldn’t have any problems eating them.
“If the shopkeeper is worried about safety, then we can discuss cooperation later. Didn’t you just eat several of them?” The strawberries in his space wouldn’t rot anyway. As for the ones growing outside, he could give some to the village chief, and his family could handle the rest themselves since there weren’t many.
Since the conversation had reached this point, the shopkeeper hesitated for a while before saying, “Can I give you an answer in three days?”
“Sure.” Luo Wangshu answered cleanly and directly. Time didn’t matter much to him.
Mo Li glanced at the sky before turning to the shopkeeper. “Shopkeeper, I’d like to head back early today. Just deduct the missed time from my wages.”
He really couldn’t relax if Luo Wangshu had to bring two children home alone.
The shopkeeper understood. “Alright then. Go home and rest well. Spend some time with your wife and children. It’s also your turn to have two days off this month. Be careful on the road.”
“Mm.”
After tidying up the bowls and chopsticks, Mo Li brought the three of them out of Meiweizhai.
The moment they stepped out of the restaurant, Luo Wangshu let out a sigh of relief.
Eating inside really wasn’t as comfortable as eating at home. People kept staring at him carefully the entire time.
Just because he had a pair of golden eyes, did they really have to look at him like he was some sort of monkey?
“Wife, what do you want to eat tonight?”
Luo Wangshu tilted his head at Mo Li and revealed an extremely sly smile.
Li Miaomiao and Mo Guang both instinctively hid behind Mo Li. Auntie—no, Mom-Dad—looked terrifying like this.
“I bought pig intestines, pig liver, and pig bones. Hehe… you know how to cook them, right?”
Those golden eyes stared at Mo Li full of anticipation.
Mo Li immediately felt a headache coming on. “Those don’t taste good.”
“How could they not?” Luo Wangshu clearly remembered these things tasting amazing in modern times. Restaurants even sold them at pretty expensive prices.
“Stir-fried pig liver, cleaned intestines cooked into soup, and tomorrow we can crack the pig bones and cook porridge with them. They even help with calcium supplements.”
“Supple… what?”
Mo Li’s expression twisted in confusion.
He recognized every word individually, but when they came out of Luo Wangshu’s mouth, why did they sound so strange?
Luo Wangshu realized he had said something wrong and coughed awkwardly.
“Who cares what they supplement? Anyway, they’re really good for growing taller. Xiao Guang said his knees hurt last night. Drinking more pig bone soup will fix it. It’s way better than medicine. It’s a family secret recipe, got it?”
That last sentence completely blocked all of Mo Li’s remaining questions.
Helplessly, Mo Li replied, “Alright. We’ll eat it when we get back. Right now let’s go buy some glutinous rice, oil, and salt.”
“Glutinous rice? Are we making rice cakes?”
“No, steamed sticky rice. In half a month it’ll be festival time, so we need to prepare ahead of time,” Mo Li explained.
The two chatted while walking.
Li Miaomiao was tightly holding Mo Guang’s hand. With two unreliable adults leading them around, they could only carefully follow without getting lost.
Li Miaomiao didn’t care much though. She grabbed a candied hawthorn stick from the basket on Mo Li’s back and happily ate it while asking Mo Guang if he wanted some.
“How about buying some red dates and red beans too?”
“Mm.”
Luo Wangshu tugged on Mo Li’s sleeve, signaling him to lower his head. Mo Li obediently leaned over.
“I brought one hundred taels with me. Should we buy some fabric and cotton so everyone can have two sets of winter clothes? Mm… although I’m not very good at sewing, you can teach me. I can make my own clothes myself.”
The warm breath brushing past his ear made it itch slightly.
Mo Li smiled. “Mm.”
The two whispered together openly in the middle of the street. The surrounding people frowned and moved farther away, as if avoiding a plague.
But Luo Wangshu himself didn’t feel much.
After receiving enough dirty looks, his mental endurance had naturally improved.
No matter what he did, people would still look down on him anyway. Since that was the case, he might as well stop caring about other people’s opinions and just focus on being happy with the people he cared about.
“Auntie, we need to buy books.”
Li Miaomiao suddenly spotted a bookstore and hurried over to tug on Luo Wangshu’s sleeve as a reminder.
Luo Wangshu froze. “Right! I almost forgot we were supposed to buy books.”
Mo Li looked at them in confusion.
Luo Wangshu explained, “Yesterday I originally wanted you to bring a few books back for us, but I forgot. Today I wanted to buy some beginner learning books.”
After thinking for a moment, Mo Li slowly said, “Bookstores only allow teachers and students preparing for the exams inside. If you want books, you can ask Brother Kangle from Uncle Li’s family to lend you some.”
“Huh?”
You needed to be a scholar just to buy books?
That was blatant discrimination, alright?!
Luo Wangshu asked, “Then can we at least buy brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones?”
“You can buy those.”
“Then let’s buy a set. Worst case, I’ll just copy books myself.”
He was bored at home anyway. During winter they couldn’t go wandering around much, so copying books would be a good way to pass the time.
Luo Wangshu sighed helplessly.
His calligraphy with a brush was admittedly ugly, but it was still readable. If it really didn’t work, then Mo Li could do it instead. As an ancient person who could write, his handwriting definitely had to be better than Luo Wangshu’s.
The bookstore smelled strongly of ink.
The scholars inside were like starving wolves pouncing on food as they crowded around the bookshelves. Some sat cross-legged on the floor while others leaned against windows reading. Different people, yet all of them had the same dark circles beneath their eyes.
Were exams coming up?
Looking at them, Luo Wangshu couldn’t help but think of libraries before exams in modern times.
Apparently cramming at the last minute wasn’t just a modern problem. This bad habit had probably been passed down since ancient times.
“Boss, one set of brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone.”
Luo Wangshu’s voice wasn’t loud, but inside the unusually quiet bookstore it could still be heard clearly.
The bookstore owner, who had been calculating accounts, glanced at Luo Wangshu before looking toward Mo Li and the two children at the entrance.
With a sneer, he said, “This isn’t a place people like you should enter. Hurry up and leave.”
Luo Wangshu frowned slightly.
Considering this was the closest bookstore, he let the owner’s words go in one ear and out the other. As long as he could buy what he needed, it was fine.
So he repeated calmly, “One set of brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone.”
The owner coldly snorted. “The cheapest set costs five taels.”
Seeing the man clearly unwilling to do business with him, Luo Wangshu took a deep breath and pulled twenty taels from his chest.
“Give me a better quality set.”
The moment the silver appeared, the owner’s eyes widened. He instinctively reached out for it, but before he could touch the money, Luo Wangshu pulled it back.
“Where’s the stuff?”
Suppressing the shock in his heart, the owner took out a set from the cabinet behind him.
When he looked at Luo Wangshu again, his attitude had become more proper.
“One set costs twenty taels.”
“Oh?”
Luo Wangshu raised an eyebrow.
“Then trouble the boss to bring out a few more sets.”
The owner’s eyes rolled around greedily as he happily asked, “How many do you want?”
“How many do you have?”
“Twenty sets.” The owner held up two fingers.
Luo Wangshu spoke with the tone of a rich master. “Bring them all out.”
The owner was overjoyed.
His smile became much more sincere, though the contempt and delight hidden in his eyes grew even stronger.
Originally, these sets only cost six taels each. But now that there was a fool willing to overpay, why not sell them all?
Besides, this person was a jade-born. Cheating him was no big deal.
The people reading nearby looked at Luo Wangshu mockingly.
So what if he had money?
If he didn’t understand prices, he’d still get scammed.
Heh…
Meanwhile, Mo Li stood casually at the entrance with the two children, completely unconcerned about Luo Wangshu’s “wasteful spending.”
After hesitating for a long time, a thin man wearing patched gray clothes walked over to Mo Li.
“Brother, those supplies are worth at most six taels a set. Before the owner comes back down, you should hurry and take your family away.”
Mo Li was genuinely surprised after hearing this.
Looks like not every scholar thought themselves superior and only knew how to watch drama from the sidelines.
“Thank you for the warning. But my wife makes the decisions in this family, so there’s no need for brother to worry.”
Would someone with Luo Wangshu’s personality really suffer quietly?
Mo Li only worried about how badly other people would end up getting tricked instead.
The man realized he had meddled too much and awkwardly smiled before retreating back into the corner to continue reading.
“Young Master Xu, if you want to meddle in other people’s business, at least make sure they appreciate it. Instead of wasting time here, you should study harder and pass the exams sooner. Otherwise your wife will die full of resentment too, hahaha…”
A man sneered while the people around him burst into laughter.
Out of the corner of his eye, Luo Wangshu glanced at the speaker.
Yellow hair, pale face…
Probably someone who had nearly starved before.
The bookstore owner ordered people to carry all the writing sets over before saying to Luo Wangshu, “That’ll be six hundred taels total.”
Luo Wangshu looked around here and there before casually throwing out a sentence:
“Oh. Can’t afford it. Goodbye.”
The bookstore owner froze like a machine that had suddenly been paused.
Only after a long moment did he finally recover.
“What the hell did you just say?”
“Can’t afford it.” Luo Wangshu shrugged, put the silver away, and walked toward the entrance.
Mo Li tried hard not to laugh as he brought everyone away while the furious bookstore owner cursed endlessly behind them.
Luo Wangshu felt satisfied now, but they still hadn’t bought anything.
“Mo Li, do you know any other bookstores nearby?”
“Let’s ask around.”
Mo Guang softly said, “Mom-Dad, if it’s too troublesome, then maybe don’t bother…”
Luo Wangshu sighed and rubbed his head.
“Don’t worry. It’s fine.”
Mo Guang lowered his head silently.
Actually… he really wanted to know what it felt like to hold a writing brush.
“Wait! Please wait!”
An urgent voice called from behind them.
They turned around.
It was the man who had warned them earlier.
“What is it?” Mo Li asked.
The man panted heavily before saying, “I know a shop with fair prices. Their supplies are also pretty good for beginners.”
Luo Wangshu found this whole thing a little strange.
Still, the man didn’t seem like a bad person. After exchanging a glance with Mo Li, he nodded in agreement.
The man happily grinned, giving some color to his waxy yellow face.
“Then I’ll take you there. This way.”
“Is it far?” Luo Wangshu asked.
The man shook his head. “Not far. Just a bit hidden.”
“Mm.”