Li Xingyue walked alone through the streets for a while. She needed money, but in this ancient world, how exactly was she supposed to earn it?
In her past life, she had read countless transmigration novels: selling secret recipes, braised pork innards, soap, tofu…
All of these trades required little capital. They didn’t make huge money, but they were enough to get by comfortably.
But this lifetime, Li Xingyue planned to take it easy. She had no desire to go through the backbreaking, early-to-late grind of such trades.
In her past life, she had spent twelve years as a corporate drone, living alone and isolated. This time, she wanted to truly enjoy life.
Besides, she was now pregnant. Her belly would grow bigger by the day, and after giving birth, she would have to care for the child. Just thinking about it made her head spin.
She thought about all the vegetables and eggs in her space farm—it wasn’t like she could eat them all anyway.
The crops in the space grew incredibly fast; radishes and cabbages could mature in a single day. Li Xingyue thought it might be better to sell some for cash.
She arrived at a quiet alley, and with a thought, entered her space. In the wooden shed was a small cart. She loaded a big basket of cabbage, a big basket of carrots, and two hundred eggs.
With another thought, she and the cart appeared back in the alley. Seeing no one around, she quickly pushed the cart toward the main street.
She needed to find a restaurant to sell her goods.
Fu Man Lou was the largest tavern in Xinghua Town. Li Xingyue had heard Gu Mingxiao say before that he sold all his hunted game there.
At the tavern entrance, a middle-aged shopkeeper in his forties sat at the counter, fiddling with an abacus, while servers hurried back and forth.
The tavern only opened at noon and in the evening, so now everyone was busy with preparations.
Li Xingyue walked in, approached the counter, and boldly asked, “Shopkeeper, I have some vegetables and eggs. Does your tavern need any?”
The shopkeeper barely looked up and waved her off.
A server came over and said politely, “Miss, our vegetables are all delivered by a designated supplier.”
Li Xingyue nodded, understanding. Most taverns were like this.
She smiled, turned, and brought a cabbage and two carrots to the shopkeeper. She said respectfully, “Shopkeeper, these vegetables are grown with spirit spring water, so their taste and texture are different from ordinary vegetables. Please try them.”
“This… these vegetables are incredibly fresh!” the server stammered beside her.
The shopkeeper looked again, studying the cabbage—lush green and crisp—and the carrots, crystal-clear and vibrant.
He then looked at the girl before him. Though dressed as a farm girl in simple cotton clothes, they were clean and almost new.
He nodded slightly. Li Xingyue returned a polite bow.
She then handed a carrot to the server and said with a smile, “Try this, it’s sweet and crunchy.”
The server quickly wiped his hands on his apron and took the carrot. Li Xingyue gestured for him to taste it first. After a brief hesitation, he bit down…
“Shopkeeper! Shopkeeper! This carrot is so sweet and crunchy! It’s way better than the ones we usually buy!” the server exclaimed, eating as he spoke.
The shopkeeper looked at him with mild disdain but, seeing how he devoured it, grew curious.
The server picked up another carrot from the counter and offered it to the shopkeeper. After a moment’s hesitation, the shopkeeper took a bite…
Li Xingyue knew today’s business was already successful.
Sure enough, after finishing half a carrot, the shopkeeper finally asked, “Miss, how much do you sell these carrots for per jin?”
Li Xingyue smiled. “Cabbage and carrots are both three wen per jin.”
The shopkeeper nodded slightly, eyeing the vegetables again. The price was a bit high, but the quality was excellent. For a tavern, good ingredients were essential.
“How much do you have?” he asked.
“About a hundred jin of each,” Li Xingyue replied.
“Leave them all for our tavern,” the shopkeeper said promptly.
Li Xingyue’s heart leapt. She hurriedly had the server take the vegetables to be weighed.
The server quickly reported back, “Shopkeeper, one hundred ten jin of cabbage and one hundred three jin of carrots.”
The shopkeeper nodded, clicked away on the abacus, and handed Li Xingyue 639 wen in copper coins.
Li Xingyue took the coins and smiled at the shopkeeper. “Shopkeeper, the eggs are one wen each. Please take a look at these.”
“Eggs from chickens raised on spirit spring water—they’re not only bigger than normal, but they taste better too.”
The shopkeeper glanced at the cart of eggs—they were indeed larger than ordinary ones.
“Alright, leave all the eggs as well.” He had the server count them.
Exactly two hundred eggs. The shopkeeper handed Li Xingyue 200 wen.
In total, she had earned 839 wen today. Combined with previous sales, she had made 1,678 wen—a little over one tael of silver.
After bidding farewell to the tavern, Li Xingyue pushed her cart to the grain shop. She needed to buy cheap brown rice to feed the chickens in her space.
Brown rice cost 5 wen per jin, while glutinous rice and white flour cost 10 wen per jin. Li Xingyue bought 100 jin of brown rice and 10 jin of white flour, spending 600 wen in total.
Grain was surprisingly expensive in ancient times.
She set aside 20 jin of brown rice for immediate use, and stored the remaining 80 jin in her farm shed.
Carrying the 20 jin of rice and 10 jin of flour, Li Xingyue headed to the market to find Gu Wan’er.
From afar, she saw Gu Wan’er standing at the market entrance. It seemed the rabbits had already been sold.
“Sister-in-law!” Gu Wan’er called, running up to her.
Li Xingyue asked with a smile, “Did you sell the rabbits?”
Gu Wan’er nodded. “Sold for fifty wen.” She handed Li Xingyue a string of coins.
Li Xingyue didn’t take them, smiling instead. “Let’s go buy some meat.”
“Okay.”
The two headed to the butcher.
Pork fat was 30 wen per jin, and pork belly 25 wen per jin. Li Xingyue bought one jin of fat and one jin of belly, spending 55 wen.
Seeing leftover pig offal and large bones set aside, she also bought liver, kidneys, stomach, and two large bones.
Offal wasn’t valuable, so the butcher only charged 60 wen for all of it.
Offal was tasty but difficult to clean.
Gu Wan’er handed over the string of coins, and Li Xingyue added another 10 wen.
Gu Wan’er looked at her sister-in-law in confusion. “Sister-in-law, what are you going to do with all that offal and bones?”
Li Xingyue laughed. “Silly girl, of course we’re going to eat it.”
“Can you really eat that?” Gu Wan’er asked.
“I guarantee it’ll make your mouth water!”
Both of them couldn’t help but laugh.
Li Xingyue realized there were still so many things she wanted: sugar, salt, fruit, pastries, snacks…
She gave Gu Wan’er twenty coins to buy a hair ornament for each of them at a nearby shop.
Gu Wan’er took the money excitedly and ran into the store.
Li Xingyue went to a pastry shop with her little teddy, spending twenty wen on two bags of pastries and one wen for some greaseproof paper from the shopkeeper.
After leaving the pastry shop, she found a quiet spot, held her little teddy, and entered her storage room.
She wrapped a jin of sugar, a jin of salt, and some dried meat and candied fruit in greaseproof paper, then left the storage room.
At the jewelry shop, she saw Gu Wan’er still debating between a pink or light green hair ornament.
Li Xingyue decided to take one of each color. After all, there were only a few colors: pink, light green, goose yellow, and light purple.
Gu Wan’er’s eyes went wide with joy—she finally had freedom to choose her hair ornaments!
But then she remembered something and her excitement deflated like a punctured balloon.
“Sister-in-law, if Mother finds out, we’re going to get scolded,” Gu Wan’er said timidly.
Li Xingyue waved it off. “Then we just won’t let her know.”
Gu Wan’er nodded eagerly like a little chick pecking at the ground, thrilled by the secret thrill of doing something mischievous behind the adults’ backs.