The three siblings gasped in unison—Mother wanted to buy an ox cart?
Even though they knew Xiao Ying had earned a considerable amount of money today, Chen Xinghai and Chen Xingyun were still reluctant to spend it, and Chen Xingyue was even more so.
“But ox carts are so expensive,” Chen Xinghai said with slight excitement, though he couldn’t help feeling a bit hopeful.
If they had an ox cart, it would make traveling and doing tasks much more convenient in the future.
Xiao Ying said, “Actually, I’d prefer to buy a carriage.”
The three immediately spoke in unison, “Let’s just get an ox cart! An ox cart is fine!”
Xiao Ying smiled and led them toward the shop that sold ox carts.
Seeing their shabby clothing, the shopkeeper was initially skeptical, but when Xiao Ying took out the silver, his face lit up with a smile as he began introducing the products to them.
In the end, they bought an ox cart for two taels of silver and selected a sturdy, well-fed water buffalo for twelve taels, bringing the total to fourteen taels.
Since none of them knew how to drive the cart, the shopkeeper enthusiastically offered to teach them himself. Xiao Ying asked Chen Xinghai to learn.
At first, Chen Xinghai was afraid he wouldn’t be able to master it, but with encouragement from his two younger sisters, he finally mustered the courage.
To his surprise, it wasn’t difficult at all. In less time than it takes for an incense stick to burn, he was driving quite skillfully and couldn’t help but beam with joy.
“Mother, Xingyun, Xingyue, come on up. I’ll take you home,” he said.
Xiao Ying replied, “No rush, we still need to buy a few more things.”
Their home was lacking in everything, and the main purpose of their trip to town today was to shop.
“Let’s go, first we’ll buy some clothes.”
Although she didn’t have high standards for clothing, she had truly had enough of the coarse, patched-up linen clothes they were wearing.
The three siblings couldn’t hide their delight. In the past, they might not even get new clothes for the New Year, and the ones they wore had been on them for who knows how long. Finally, they were going to have new outfits.
Xiao Ying went directly to a ready-made clothing store since she didn’t know how to sew. Chen Xingyun did, but why waste time on that when they could do something else?
Ready-made clothes were more expensive than buying fabric, but considering their life in the village, Xiao Ying chose coarse cloth and slightly better fine cloth, avoiding silk altogether.
She bought three sets of clothes for each of them, including undergarments and shoes, spending a total of six taels of silver. The three siblings were so overjoyed they couldn’t stop smiling.
With new clothes and shoes, they would no longer be laughed at for looking poor.
After buying clothes, they went to purchase grains.
Although they had Spiritual Rice and potatoes in their space, they lacked items like wheat flour, so they needed to buy a bit of everything.
Wheat flour cost six wen per jin, while millet was only four wen. Xiao Ying bought one hundred jin of wheat flour in one go but only twenty jin of millet, just to try it occasionally.
The total cost was only six hundred eighty wen, which wasn’t too expensive.
After loading everything onto the ox cart, Xiao Ying went into the neighboring salt shop.
Salt was much more expensive—forty wen for one jin, and it was yellowish coarse salt.
Xiao Ying frowned slightly. She would have to process this when they got home; otherwise, consuming too much of it could lead to poisoning.
She bought twenty-five jin directly, which came to exactly one tael of silver.
Next, she bought some vegetables. In this world, there weren’t many varieties—only cabbage, radish, spinach, winter melon, and mushrooms.
The prices weren’t high, so she bought a little of each.
Passing by a spice shop, she stocked up on a large quantity of seasonings, including ten jin of oil alone.
There was no vegetable oil here; they mostly used soybean oil, so they would have to make do with that for now.
Seeing a villager selling eggs, she bought them all without hesitation—about fifty or sixty in total.
She specially bought ten jin of pork, and upon finding pig ears and trotters, also purchased some to stew that evening.
Thinking of the worn-out pots, bowls, and kitchenware at home, she added a new set to her purchases, including a good-quality kitchen knife.
Passing by the blacksmith’s shop, she casually bought two hoes and a shovel.
Fortunately, regulations on these items weren’t strict in this era, though each household was limited in purchase quantity.
Remembering how the children at the town chief’s house loved pastries, she made a special trip to buy two jin of pastries, along with two jin of brown sugar and one jin of white sugar.
“Still missing one thing.”
“Mother, what’s left?”
Chen Xingyun was already beaming with joy, feeling immensely happy just looking at the ox cart piled high with goods.
“Some bedding is still needed.”
Xiao Ying felt exasperated thinking about the hard, worn wooden beds and quilts, so she took the three children to each buy a set of sheets and blankets.
Because Chen Enke was a scholar, the house built during the previous family division had prepared a room for the couple and each child.
After Chen Xinghe and Chen Xingyue were sold, those two rooms had been left empty.
Now that Chen Xingyue had returned, she naturally needed a place to stay.
With several sets of bedding piled on, the ox cart was completely full, making it difficult even to find a place to sit.
In the end, Xiao Ying and Chen Xinghai sat together at the front to drive the cart, while the two daughters sat on the blankets, happily leaving the town.
Including the ox cart, this shopping spree cost thirty to forty taels. After deducting the expenses for redeeming Chen Xingyue and repaying gambling debts, Xiao Ying had only a little over thirty taels left.
With such a small amount, building a new house was definitely not enough—it might barely cover the purchase of a few mu of farmland.
Xiao Ying calculated that she needed to continue earning money.
After walking around town today, she noticed the purchasing power was quite good; perhaps she could make use of the potatoes.
By the time they returned to Chenjia Village, it was already Shen hour. Fortunately, the weather wasn’t too hot yet, and they were riding an ox cart, so they didn’t arrive drenched in sweat.
It was currently the rice transplanting season, and almost everyone in the village who could work was out in the fields.
However, since Xiao Ying was returning with so many goods and her home was at the village end, they had to pass through almost the entire village. As a result, many people saw them, and discussions buzzed along the way.
“Isn’t that Widow Xiao? She actually bought an ox cart! Where did she get so much money? Weren’t people just coming to her door for gambling debts yesterday?”
“Yes, not only did she buy an ox cart, but also a cart full of goods. How much must that have cost?”
“Wait, isn’t that Xingyue on the cart? Has she been redeemed?”
“It really is Xingyue! Then why isn’t Xinghe with them? Did Widow Xiao only redeem her daughter and abandon her son?”
“…”
Xiao Ying showed no reaction to these discussions, while the three Chen siblings had mixed expressions.
They felt both joy and pride, but also some displeasure.
Especially upon hearing that only the daughter was redeemed and the son was abandoned, they nearly rushed to argue. But then, remembering that Chen Xinghe hadn’t wanted to return himself—which was quite embarrassing—they held back.
“I know, I know! It seems Madam Xiao hunted another Sika deer yesterday afternoon and went to town early this morning to sell it. Looks like the Sika deer fetched a good price,” said a woman who had gone to town with Xiao Ying and the others that morning, her eyes full of envy.
“No wonder then. It seems Sika deer are indeed valuable. I hope my husband can go into the mountains when he’s not too busy—what if he manages to hunt one too?”
Several women were immediately tempted.
“Give it a rest, the mountains are too dangerous. Even if you want to make money, you need to see if you have the luck to spend it.”
Someone else scoffed dismissively—as if hunting was that easy?
Their tone carried a veiled mockery, sneering at Xiao Ying for potentially earning money she wouldn’t live to enjoy.
“What a bunch of gossips,” Chen Xingyue snorted coldly.
Chen Xingyun was also displeased; these people were clearly just jealous of her mother.
Finally home, Xiao Ying and the three siblings cheerfully carried their purchases inside. The ox cart was left in the yard, while the ox was temporarily tied up in the pigsty, which had been unused for many years.
“Mom, I’ll organize the kitchen.”
Chen Xingyun, arms full of seasonings and kitchenware, volunteered to tidy up.
“Mom, I’ll go cut some grass for the ox.” Chen Xinghai also found his own task.
“I… I’ll make the beds.”
Chen Xingyue didn’t want to idle either—she still needed to clean her room—though she still struggled to call Xiao Ying “Mom” smoothly.
Seeing all three children occupied with tasks, Xiao Ying nodded approvingly and began arranging the grains and tools.