Song Zhaoxi glanced at her own miserable appearance. She really did look like a beggar. She said patiently:
“Each of these lingzhi mushrooms is worth eight taels. If you don’t want them, forget it.”
“I’ll take them.”
A clear male voice rang out. It came from a customer inside the shop.
The man looked about seventeen or eighteen. He wore a moon-white scholar’s robe and held a long folding fan. His features were refined and elegant. A faint smile played on his lips, causing the female customers in the shop to blush unconsciously.
His beautiful peach-blossom eyes fell on the lingzhi in Song Zhaoxi’s hands.
“Little sister, would you sell these to me?” he asked with a smile.
The shopkeeper’s expression changed immediately.
“Sir, these mushrooms were meant to be sold to our pharmacy. Little girl, I’ll take them—eight taels each, sixteen taels for both!”
Seeing this, Song Zhaoxi inwardly sighed. She should have asked for a higher price earlier.
Unexpectedly, the young man smiled and said, “Fifteen taels per mushroom.”
The shopkeeper instantly fell silent, looking at the man like he was a fool.
Song Zhaoxi’s impression of this handsome stranger changed slightly. She didn’t try to exploit him and said calmly:
“Sir, fifteen taels each is too expensive.”
“It’s not expensive.” His voice was gentle. “Little girl, take it. Think of it as your big brother buying you candy.”
Song Zhaoxi: “……”
This man didn’t look like a fool. There were only two possibilities: either he urgently needed these lingzhi, or he had another channel to resell them at a higher price.
Fifteen taels each—thirty taels total—was enough to solve her immediate financial trouble.
After a brief hesitation, she handed them over. The attendant behind the man immediately paid her thirty taels of silver.
After she left, the attendant asked in confusion:
“Young master, are these mushrooms really that valuable?”
The young man chuckled softly. The servant suddenly realized something and thought: As expected of our young master—so cunning. Even a little beggar was tricked.
The “little beggar” Song Zhaoxi took the silver and first went to a fabric shop.
Inside, bolts of cloth in various colors and textures filled the store. Many clothing styles already formed in her mind, but unfortunately, she was short on money.
After choosing for a long time, she bought several bolts of fine cotton cloth, planning to make clothes for herself and for Changlan and Chang’an.
After buying the fabric, she asked about silk prices. One bolt cost ten taels of silver.
Biting her teeth, she spent two taels and five qian to buy ten feet of silk, planning to make small items to sell later.
After leaving the fabric shop, she had already spent over three taels. Although it hurt, she understood that making money required initial investment. Living frugally like Yao-shi and making simple embroidery work from coarse cloth would never bring much income.
Next, she went to the grain shop.
Rice cost five wen per jin, glutinous rice eight wen, white flour three wen. She calculated carefully and bought some of each, planning to buy fish and meat later to have a proper meal.
Passing by a cosmetics shop, she hesitated but ultimately didn’t go in.
The original owner’s skin was yellowed and thin from years of wind, sun, and malnutrition. Fixing it would require a lot of money.
Although she had made a windfall today, she did not dare to spend recklessly before finding a stable way to earn income in this world.
At the East Street market, after buying ingredients and necessities, she planned to get some snacks for the children. There were not many snacks in this era, and most were unappetizing. She bought a bag of cheap hawthorn fruits and a pack of rock sugar, planning to make candied hawthorn sticks.
After everything, she had 25 taels and 6 qian left. She carefully tucked the remaining silver away and went to find Yao-shi.
Yao-shi had not sold many baskets and was worrying about how the family would live. Seeing the large bundles behind Song Zhaoxi, she was shocked.
“You bought all this? Where did you get the money?”
“I got lucky and dug up two lingzhi mushrooms on the mountain. We won’t have to worry about food this month. When we go back, I’ll make new clothes for Changlan and Chang’an.”
Yao-shi felt a bit embarrassed.
“How can we use your money?”
Although the fool was nominally Ji Changfeng’s wife, Yao-shi had never truly considered her family. Changfeng was too outstanding; it was unlikely he would spend his life with a girl with no background.
Song Zhaoxi, who had not transmigrated into a female lead script either, smiled:
“I consider it a windfall. Don’t be polite. Just treat it as my rent for staying with your family.”
Just as she finished speaking, two passersby chatted nearby:
“Did you hear? The Sun family in the south of the city is offering a high price for a wild ‘king lingzhi.’ They paid a hundred taels for one! The old madam is saved now.”
“Who’s that lucky?”
“It’s that man always dressed in moon-white robes—the most cunning merchant in the city, Su Muqing.”
Song Zhaoxi: “……”
Her expression turned slightly ugly. Yao-shi asked worriedly:
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
“I’m fine.” She forced a smile. “Aunt Ji, let’s rent a bullock cart back. I bought too many things.”
……
So that man was Su Muqing.
The great villain in the original story who would later become mortal enemies with Ji Changfeng for the sake of the heroine.
He deserved to never get the heroine!