The reason Wu Yulan often came to this shop was also because Li Xiuyun had taken on embroidery work here. Her needlework was excellent—while most people earned only two or three copper coins for embroidering a handkerchief, she could earn five.
Of course, Li Xiuyun never actually got to keep that money.
“I was just about to tell you,” Wu Yulan said. “My third daughter-in-law gave birth yesterday, so the handkerchiefs will have to be delivered a little later.”
The shopkeeper waved her hand. “That’s no problem. Let your third daughter-in-law rest up first. It won’t be too late to embroider them afterward.”
After chatting a bit more, Wu Yulan remembered she still had other things to buy and took her leave.
The shopkeeper watched her back and muttered, “This old sister usually looks so bitter and resentful. Today she seems rather cheerful.”
Shaking her head, she turned back to her work.
Wu Yulan placed the bolts of cloth onto her handcart and then looked for a salt shop.
In this era, fine salt had already been refined. On the market, there was coarse salt, fine salt, and even premium refined salt for wealthy families.
Coarse salt tasted bitter, so Wu Yulan had no intention of buying it.
“Shopkeeper, how much is this fine salt?”
The shopkeeper was busy and, upon seeing her, called over a clerk to attend to her.
“Auntie, the fine salt is ten coins per small scoop, one hundred coins per jin.”
Hearing herself addressed as “auntie,” Wu Yulan felt a pang of bitterness.
“I’ll take two jin. Could you give me a small discount?”
“At most I can knock off five coins. How about one hundred ninety-five coins?”
Wu Yulan nodded slightly, counted out the copper coins, paid, and filled her salt pouch.
After buying salt, she went to a butcher’s stall.
“Shopkeeper, how much is your meat?”
The butcher was a young man in his twenties. Seeing Wu Yulan, he grinned. “Auntie, I don’t sell meat—I sell pork.”
Wu Yulan twitched her lips and gave a dry chuckle.
Very funny.
“Auntie, just joking. Leaf lard is twenty-four coins per jin, front leg twenty, hind leg nineteen, pork belly twenty.”
“What would you like?”
Wu Yulan selected a piece of leaf lard weighing over three jin, then a slab of pork belly close to two jin. Spotting some pork marrow bones to the side, she picked up two pieces.
“I’ll take this leaf lard and this pork belly. I won’t haggle over the price—but could you throw in these marrow bones?”
“Hey now, Auntie, you sure know how to joke! These marrow bones sell for three coins per jin. These two pieces are worth at least five or six coins.”
“If you buy a bit more, I’ll give them to you.”
Hearing that, Wu Yulan picked up another piece of leaf lard weighing over two jin. The lard could be rendered into oil and wouldn’t spoil easily anyway.
Seeing this, the butcher readily agreed. “Alright, the marrow bones are yours!”
“Five jin and three liang of leaf lard, two jin and two liang of pork belly. That’s one hundred seventy-one coins—let’s call it one hundred seventy.”
As he spoke, he skewered the pork with bamboo sticks and handed it to her.
“Could you give me a handful of that straw?” Wu Yulan pointed to the straw on the meat rack.
The bucket smelled a bit fishy, and she thought the straw could serve as padding.
The butcher laughed and personally grabbed a handful of straw for her. “Auntie, if you come a few more times, you’ll pluck my whole shed bald!”
Wu Yulan smiled sheepishly, took the straw, placed it in the bucket, and set the meat inside.
After paying, she pushed her cart away. “Thanks, shopkeeper. I’ll come back to pluck more of your straw next time.”
…
With most of her purchases done, Wu Yulan followed the memories in her mind to find the rice shop known for its especially cheap prices.
But as soon as she entered, she saw a clerk refilling the rice bins.
Wu Yulan scooped up a handful of rice and brought it to her nose. People trained in medicine tended to have keen senses of smell, and she immediately recognized that the newly poured rice was old stock.
She shook her head inwardly. No wonder it’s cheaper than other shops—so that’s how it’s cheap.
Seeing her action, the clerk tossed aside the rice sack and barked, “Are you buying or not? If not, don’t use your dirty hands to touch our rice!”
Wu Yulan let the rice fall back into the bin. “What, I’m not allowed to take a look?”
The clerk frowned and sized her up from head to toe. Noticing her faded clothes patched in several places, he let out a cold laugh.
“Heh!”
“If you can’t afford it, don’t pretend. Who knows if you’re standing here trying to steal rice while you have the chance!”
Wu Yulan’s gaze drifted toward the sack of rice, her tone cool as silk. “I suppose even rats wouldn’t bother stealing your rice. Who knows how long it’s been sitting there.”
After saying that, she turned and left without another glance.
When the shop assistant heard her words, he craned his neck and moved to chase after her. “Hey, you old woman! How dare you spout nonsense—just wait till I—”
“Stop!”
The shopkeeper blocked the doorway.
“Shopkeeper, that old woman dared to slander us. Let me tear her mouth apart!”
Watching Wu Yulan leave, the assistant stamped his foot in anger.
The shopkeeper gave Wu Yulan a measuring look, then turned and barked sharply at the assistant, “Shut up!”
“Didn’t I tell you to mix the rice in tonight? Are you deaf?”
The assistant lowered his head and pointed at the rice bin. “But… this rice is almost sold out…”
“Then add new rice once it’s gone. If you make this mistake again, get out of here!”
As he was scolding the assistant, a dull-looking young boy with drool at the corner of his mouth shuffled down from upstairs. Behind him followed a girl of about a dozen years.
“Dad~! Dad~!”
When the boy saw the shopkeeper, he happily trotted down the stairs. He stumbled—and tumbled straight down from the staircase.
Seeing this, the girl rushed down in panic.
The shopkeeper dashed forward to help his son up, his sharp gaze landing on the girl.
Smack!
The girl covered her face with one hand, biting her lip, not daring to make a sound.
“Wasn’t I telling you to take good care of Sichong? Is this how you take care of him?”
Looking at the scrapes on his son’s body, he grew more dissatisfied. He dragged the girl to the stairway and shoved her down without hesitation.
Watching her roll down the steps, the shopkeeper still seemed unsatisfied. He spat angrily, “Bah! Worthless wench! What was the point of buying you? You can’t even look after someone properly!”
“If my son gets hurt again, I’ll sell you to a brothel!”
The girl climbed up from the ground. The fresh scrapes on her body were insignificant compared to the bruises already covering her. She knelt on the floor and pleaded softly, “Master, I know I was wrong. I’ll take good care of Young Master. Please don’t sell me to that kind of place!”
Hearing the girl cry, the boy bounced and clapped his hands. “Hehehe, she’s crying! She’s crying! So fun! Hit her, hit her! I like watching her cry!”
At this, the shopkeeper raised his hand and slapped the girl again.
She fell to the ground, her face turned toward the doorway.
In her daze, she seemed to glimpse a familiar figure. She opened her mouth to call for help, but as something crossed her mind, the words caught in her throat.
Forget it.
Even if she called out, what would it change?
The one who sold her—how could they possibly redeem her? It would already be fortunate if they didn’t sell her again.
Tears slipped silently from the corners of her eyes. Lowering her head, she knelt there numbly.
…
After comparing several rice shops, Wu Yulan finally chose one with reasonable prices and a polite assistant.
“Auntie, what would you like to buy? We have rice bran, brown rice, fine rice, coarse flour, and fine flour.”
The assistant wore a gentle smile as he spoke, scooping up a handful of rice for Wu Yulan to inspect.
“Look, this is all early-season new rice shipped from the south. It tastes great!”
Wu Yulan took the rice and sniffed it. “Mm, it is indeed new rice.”
“I’d like some fine rice and fine flour. What are the prices?”
“Fine rice is fifteen wen per jin, and fine flour is fourteen wen per jin. However much you want, I’ll weigh it for you.”
Thinking of the more than ten mouths at home, Wu Yulan waved her hand decisively. “Give me fifty jin of fine rice and fifty jin of fine flour.”
The assistant’s eyes curved into a smile. “Alright! I’ll give you a bit of a discount.”
After weighing the goods, he pulled out an abacus and calculated with a rapid clatter. “Fifty jin of fine rice comes to seven hundred and fifty wen. Fifty jin of fine flour is seven hundred wen. That’s one tael of silver and four hundred and fifty wen in total. I’ll round off fifty wen—just give me one tael and four hundred wen.”
“Alright.”
After Wu Yulan paid, the assistant helped load the rice and flour onto her handcart.
“Let’s head home!”
Wu Yulan pulled the cart while Song Dalang and Song Erlang pushed from behind.
As they passed a candied hawthorn vendor, Song Erlang licked his lips. He glanced at Wu Yulan, who walked ahead in silence, and lowered his head dejectedly.
“Wait!”
Suddenly remembering something, Wu Yulan stopped in her tracks.