“We’ll take it, we’ll take it. Miss—where’s the black bear?”
The shopkeeper looked past Xia Wanyue, then glanced outside the door, frowning slightly in confusion.
Is this girl trying to fool me?
Xia Wanyue knew exactly what he was looking for. Calm and composed, she said,
“The goods aren’t here. Can you wait a moment? I’ll go push it over.”
The shopkeeper nodded and urged her on.
“Go on then, miss. This old man will wait here.”
Recently, the competition between several restaurants in town had become fierce. His establishment hadn’t had anything novel to offer in a long time.
If they didn’t introduce something new soon, all the wealthy households in town would flock to other restaurants instead of his.
And without those rich patrons, relying solely on ordinary townsfolk, his restaurant would sooner or later be pushed out by the others.
Xia Wanyue first found a place to rent a handcart. She wheeled it to a deserted street corner, checked that no one was around, and then took the black bear out of her space.
She pushed the cart back to Taian Restaurant. The shopkeeper was pacing anxiously at the entrance.
He was afraid another restaurant might intercept the deal halfway. If that happened, he really would have nowhere to cry.
After pacing several rounds, he finally spotted Xia Wanyue.
He hurriedly waved to the waiter.
“Quick—go help her!”
The waiter tossed a towel over his shoulder and strode quickly toward Xia Wanyue.
“Miss, let me do it.”
He took over the cart and pushed it toward the back door.
The shopkeeper and Xia Wanyue followed behind. At the back entrance, they weighed the bear.
After quite a while, Xia Wanyue finally emerged, holding a money pouch. She weighed it in her hand, smiled, and tucked it into her clothes—slipping it into her space at the same instant.
“Sold it for eighty taels. Not bad.”
The actual price was seventy-five taels and nine qian, but the shopkeeper was pleased and added a bit extra to round it up.
With business done, Xia Wanyue began her shopping spree.
She went in and out of all kinds of shops—oil, salt, sugar, assorted pastries, buying a little of each.
She also bought rice, millet, cornmeal, and flour—five hundred jin of each.
She transported everything to the same street corner and, when no one was watching, stored it all in her space.
Next, she went to the blacksmith’s shop and bought kitchen knives, sickles, firewood-chopping knives, and even two hoes. She also bought two iron pots, spatulas, bowls, and chopsticks—ten of each.
She added two daggers and two bows as well. Anything useful for daily life, she bought in pairs. Even water skins—she bought ten, just in case.
Then she entered a clothing shop and bought three bolts of fine cotton cloth and three bolts of coarse cloth. The fine cotton could be used for undergarments; the coarse cloth wouldn’t draw attention when worn outside.
Since she couldn’t sew, she also bought ready-made clothes—two full sets per person, from innerwear to outerwear.
Spotting oilcloth for sale, she bought five bolts of that too.
On the counter were small accessories. She picked out two hair ties, a velvet flower, and two ribbons. Seeing wooden hairpins beside them, she selected one as well.
After paying, she gathered her hair up and secured it with the wooden hairpin. Not long after leaving the shop, she clearly sensed someone following her.
Given how often she’d gone in and out of shops, buying large bundles of goods, it was inevitable she’d attracted attention.
Xia Wanyue quickened her pace, trying to shake her tail. She walked fast until reaching a corner, then swiftly turned into the alley.
“Where did she go?”
The people following rushed after her, but when they rounded the corner, she was gone.
“Boss, she disappeared.”
“Shut up! Can’t I see that? That damn woman got away!”
The bearded man known as the boss slapped the back of the skinny man’s head, his voice full of humiliation and anger.
“Looking for me?”
A woman’s voice sounded from behind them. The bearded man spun around, a dagger flashing coldly in his hand.
Before he could fully turn his head—
Bang.
Xia Wanyue’s stick struck his neck.
The skinny man’s mouth fell open. He turned and bolted, hurling threats as he ran.
“You damn woman, just wait! I’ll get my brothers to kill you!”
Xia Wanyue casually twirled the stick in her hand, then raised her arm and hurled it.
The stick slammed straight into the back of the fleeing man’s head.
He collapsed face-first to the ground, stars bursting in his vision before he blacked out.
“…Pretty effective.”
Xia Wanyue retrieved the stick, stored it in her space, dusted off her hands, and searched their bodies.
“That’s all the money you’ve got, and you dare rob people?”
After feeling around for a while, she found only two taels of silver between them.
She slapped the bearded boss across the face, pulled out the dagger she’d just bought from the blacksmith, and swiftly slit his throat.
“So quick to see blood?”
She slit the other man’s throat as well, then stored both bodies in her space.
After that, she strolled casually out of the alley.
“Seems like there’s nothing else I really need to buy.”
Grain would have to wait until the next trip. Buying too much at once would raise suspicion.
She could disguise herself and come back every couple of days to buy another batch. That should last the few of them a long time.
Although her space contained supplies, it was only enough for her alone for about a year—two if she rationed carefully.
But now she had three children to raise.
That amount of grain was nowhere near enough.
The courtyard could be used to grow crops, but with her level of laziness, planting a little vegetables was fine—anything more was unrealistic.
In her previous life, with her money-making abilities, there’d been no need to farm. Whenever she ran out of money, she’d just take on a few jobs and earn enough to live extravagantly for a long time.
She had no idea what crops to plant in which season.
“I still need to stockpile more grain. Otherwise, there’s no sense of security.”
She wondered if there were chickens or ducks for sale. The factory building behind her space was empty—she could raise some there and slaughter them whenever she wanted.
She wandered around town again, but only found cattle and sheep for sale—no chickens or ducks.
After thinking it over, she bought two cows and two sheep—one male and one female of each—so they could produce offspring. She also bought a mule.
She even bought a flatbed cart on the livestock street; it would definitely come in handy when fleeing famine later. All of it went into her space.
Leaving the livestock street, Xia Wanyue spotted a pork stall nearby and bought some pig’s trotters, ribs, and pork belly.
As it was getting late, she headed back. Near the city gate, she noticed a shop selling seeds.
She walked straight in and waved her hand.
“Boss, pack me two jin of every seed you have.”
She didn’t bother sorting them—anything usable was fine. Better to keep them for later.
In the corner were fruit tree saplings. Xia Wanyue pointed at them and said,
“Boss, I’ll take two of each of these as well.”