“Steward Song, long time no see!”
Gu Nianzhi was dressed in coarse brown linen, with several clay jars packed into the basket on her back.
When Steward Song came out, she greeted him politely.
Steward Song was a shrewd man. His gaze immediately landed on the basket behind her, and a smile spread across his face.
“So, little miss, what fine goods have you brought today?”
Seeing that she had caught his interest, Gu Nianzhi took out one of the jars.
The moment she opened it, a bold, rich fragrance spread through the doorway.
“What is this?”
Steward Song swallowed unconsciously as he inhaled the aroma.
It didn’t smell like meat, nor like vegetables. From a distance, it looked almost like strips of tree bark soaked in oil.
“This is mushroom paste—exclusive to Qing Shan Town. Steward Song, would you like to try some?”
At her words, Steward Song hurriedly invited her into the back kitchen. A sharp-eyed servant immediately handed him a pair of chopsticks.
Steward Song picked up a small piece and tasted it slowly. A completely new flavor bloomed in his mouth—savory, fragrant, and irresistibly fresh.
“How does little miss plan to sell this mushroom paste?”
It was delicious, no doubt about it, but such a small jar would only be enough for the master’s family for one meal. If the price was too high, he didn’t dare make the decision on his own.
“One tael of silver per jar.”
“What?!”
Steward Song couldn’t help shouting it out.
He had expected the girl to ask for ten or eight taels—but it was only one tael per jar!
For an ordinary farming family, one tael of silver was already a huge sum. But for the Chen household, it was merely the monthly wage of a kitchen maid.
What he didn’t know was that Gu Nianzhi still had over three thousand jars of mushroom paste at home. Aside from the oil—which was expensive—the rest of the seasonings came from her space and cost her nothing at all.
Gu Nianzhi thought she might have priced it too high and suddenly felt a little guilty.
The amount in one jar wasn’t much. The jars themselves were custom-fired and cost five copper coins each when bought in bulk. The sesame oil averaged out to just over twenty copper coins per jar. The total cost didn’t even reach thirty coins—it was pure profit.
Just as she was considering whether to lower the price, Steward Song waved his hand decisively.
“How many jars do you have? I’ll take them all!”
Gu Nianzhi: ……
That might be… a lot.
She hesitated, then answered honestly.
“There are three thousand jars at home.”
Steward Song: ……
The brag had gotten too big. Now what?
He awkwardly rubbed his nose and laughed dryly.
“Then… let’s just buy the few jars in your basket today.”
He pulled out eight taels of silver from his sleeve and handed them to Gu Nianzhi, but she shook her head.
“Steward Song, today I can only sell you five jars. I need to take the rest to some large restaurants for tasting. If luck is on my side, I might be able to sell the rest of my stock.”
Steward Song sighed inwardly as he looked at the young girl before him.
Who would’ve thought such an ordinary rural girl could have this kind of courage?
Still…
“Our Chen family owns restaurants too,” he said quickly. “Why don’t you come back tomorrow? Once my master tastes it and approves, wouldn’t this partnership be settled?”
In truth, the moment Gu Nianzhi mentioned supplying restaurants, Steward Song already knew the master would want this mushroom paste. But he was only a servant—he could decide on a few dozen taels’ worth of wild goods, but three thousand jars was far too much for him to guarantee. So he could only ask her to return the next day.
When she heard that the Chen family owned restaurants, Gu Nianzhi’s eyes lit up.
After several interactions, she could tell that Master Chen was a true food lover. This deal might actually work out.
So Gu Nianzhi handed over all the remaining jars of mushroom paste to Steward Song, treating the opened jar as a gift, and only accepted seven taels of silver.
On the way home, she felt exceptionally light-hearted.
If this deal went smoothly, her family would only need to focus on preparing supplies for the coming year. There would be no need to run around desperately trying to make money anymore.
Thinking about finally lying back and living off the supplies in her space, Gu Nianzhi felt unbelievably happy.
When she got home and told Liu Shi the news—that such a small jar of mushroom paste had sold for one tael of silver—Liu Shi stared at the thousands of jars stacked in the house, rolled her eyes, and fainted on the spot.
When she woke up, she saw Gu Nianzhi and Gu Nian’an excitedly counting the jars.
“Nianzhi,” Liu Shi muttered, “how are city folk so rich? One tael of silver! That’s enough for a family to drink vegetable paste for a long, long time!”
Gu Nianzhi wanted to laugh—but also felt a deep sadness.
Behind vermilion gates, meat and wine rot; on the roads, people freeze to death.
Farmers worked themselves to the bone carrying heavy loads for a month in town and earned only two or three hundred copper coins—and that wasn’t even steady work. Yet a rich family’s child could spend dozens of taels on a single set of writing tools.
Poor families scrimped for years just to buy one set of coarse clothes, while the wealthy wore silk worth several taels per bolt.
She couldn’t change the world. All she could do was change her family’s fate—and make sure Liu Shi and the others lived a good life.
“Mother, don’t say town families are rich. Once our mushroom paste sells, won’t we be rich too?”
Yes.
Liu Shi couldn’t quite figure it out. Making money was easy—but also not easy at all.
The next day, Gu Nianzhi once again carried eight jars of mushroom paste to the Chen residence.
She thought that if the Chen family deal fell through, she could always try elsewhere. After all, the living couldn’t be held back by their own urine.
As soon as she reached the gate, Steward Song greeted her with a beaming smile.
“Oh! Little miss, you’re here! My master has been waiting for you—quick, quick, come with me to the study so we can talk properly.”
Judging by his attitude, the deal was almost certainly settled.
Gu Nianzhi followed him into the Chen residence.
It was her first time entering a wealthy household since transmigrating.
Steward Song led her through layer after layer of courtyards before they finally reached the study.
“Master, the little miss is here.”
“Mm. Invite her in.”
A deep, steady voice came from inside—not overly warm, but polite and comfortable.
Inside the study, Master Chen had already instructed servants to prepare tea and invited Gu Nianzhi to sit, showing no trace of condescension despite her young age.
“Little miss, I hear your family has three thousand jars of mushroom paste?”
“Yes.”
Hearing her answer, Master Chen smiled and nodded.
“May I ask whether your family can supply this mushroom paste in large quantities?”
He had tasted it yesterday, and the flavor was truly exquisite.
The Chen family owned restaurants across the counties of Xiangping Prefecture. Once this mushroom paste was introduced, it would surely attract many more diners.
Hearing that he wanted more, Gu Nianzhi shook her head.
“There are only these three thousand jars. There won’t be any more this year.”
Nor next year either, she added silently.
Master Chen frowned slightly.
“What a pity.”
“If Master Chen wants mushrooms, I still have twenty sacks of dried mushrooms. They’re excellent for soups and stir-fries—extremely flavorful.”
She had originally planned to keep those dried mushrooms for use during a famine, but if they could be sold for money, she was more than happy to sell them all.
After eating mushrooms for over three months straight, the three of them had gone from amazement… to fear. Even Gu Nian’an frowned the moment he saw mushrooms now.
Hearing that there were dried mushrooms, Master Chen immediately became interested again.
Gu Nianzhi pretended to take something from her basket, but in truth retrieved about half a jin of dried mushrooms from her space.
“Master, please take a look. Have the kitchen soak these overnight, then use them to cook the next day. The flavor will be outstanding.”
Master Chen nodded and instructed Steward Song to put the mushrooms away.