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墨書 Inktalez
The name of this town is pleasant and auspicious, called Fortune Town. The village where Xiao Lihua lives is about twenty miles away from here. If one walks, even those with good legs would take nearly two hours. Taking an Ox Cart is faster and less tiring. Further ahead is the county town, which is just over ten miles away, making it convenient for people from this town to go to the county town. Therefore, this town is quite prosperous, bustling with people coming and going.
Fortune Town has a designated area for the market. On the fifth and tenth of each month, it becomes crowded with people coming to trade—some selling goods and others buying—creating a lively atmosphere. Even on regular days, there are transactions happening, but not as many as on market days.
Xie Youshun and his group need to buy oil, salt, and sauces. They initially planned to buy grains as well, but Wang Dashan offered to lend them some, promising to return it after harvest. This saves money and effort since they won't have to carry it back, preventing the elderly at home from saying they are hoarding money. Additionally, they need thread and needles because Xiao Lihua wants to sew clothes for her family and plans to wash the dirty quilts, which will also need mending later. They need to buy these items first at the shops in town before heading to the market for other goods.
Zhang Lianxiang also needs to go to the town first to sell some pouches and nets she has woven and buy some oil and salt along the way.
They first arrive at a shop that is quite large; it sells fabric, makes clothing, offers embroidered pouches and nets, and also sells needles and threads. This shop is named Qiao Xiu Fabric Shop.
The owner of the fabric shop is clearly a couple; a middle-aged man manages the fabric side while a woman oversees the embroidery section.
Zhang Lianxiang seems to know the shop owner’s wife well; they exchange a few friendly words before Zhang Lianxiang introduces Xiao Lihua to her.
The shop owner's surname is Hong, and everyone calls the shop owner's wife Hong Niangzi.
Hong Niangzi is an outgoing and generous person, embodying the typical style of a shopkeeper's wife. She expresses surprise upon learning that Xiao Lihua is Xie Youshun's wife because she knows that Xie Youshun married a rather unconventional bride. However, seeing Xiao Lihua now seems different; although she wears simple clothes and has only a blue cloth wrapped around her head, she appears clean and fresh with bright eyes and an upward-curving mouth. Her earlier conversation was also very straightforward, clearly indicating that she is a spirited, gentle, and generous woman.
"Xie Si Niang, please come by whenever you visit the town. Even if you don't buy anything, I would be happy just to chat with you," Hong Niangzi says.
Hong Niangzi believes that her judgment will not be wrong; she genuinely likes Xiao Lihua and treats her very kindly.
Xiao Lihua graciously replies, "As long as I don't disturb Hong Niangzi's business."
Then Hong Niangzi begins counting the items Zhang Lianxiang brought along while Xiao Lihua listens nearby. She learns that embroidering a pouch costs five wen while weaving a net earns only one or two wen. Of course, more complex designs would cost more. She thinks this is how ancient women earn pocket money during their leisure time; it's impossible to get rich from it since embroidering a pouch requires meticulous work stitch by stitch, and weaving nets takes quite some time as well.
However, for farmers, even a single coin is still money; it can buy eggs, sugar, or even a steamed bun.
Xiao Lihua thought that she could only do cross-stitching; she didn't know how to make knots, but she could tie some. She looked over the knots displayed here and found that the few types she knew were not among them. She didn't know if they had ever appeared before, but she planned to create some with Zhang Lianxiang or the Zi Clan later to show them. If they didn't exist, earning a little money from it would be fine; one couldn't rely on getting rich.
Xiao Lihua bought needles and thread, as well as some colored threads, thinking of using them to make knots.
Xie Youshun was talking with Hong Zhanggui over there. When he saw Xiao Lihua approaching, he asked her if she wanted to buy some fabric to make clothes.
"Let's buy some fabric to make clothes for the two kids," Xiao Lihua thought that money was tight now and decided to save a bit, especially since they had just split from the family and everyone was making new clothes. It wouldn't be good for others to gossip. After a while, when they earned some money, she would buy a little. Xiao Lihua felt that the fabric she was wearing wasn't very good; she preferred fine cotton fabric.
Xie Youshun agreed, and Xiao Lihua picked out a piece of fine cotton fabric in sky blue, thinking it would look nice on the two kids. Suddenly, she remembered that the female protagonists in novels often bought scraps of fabric. She tried asking and found out that indeed there were scraps available. However, those scraps were not unwanted; they naturally had their uses. So Xiao Lihua decided to spend ten coins to pick out some and had them wrapped in paper.
Zhang Lianxiang didn't ask what Xiao Lihua was going to do with them; she assumed Xiao Lihua wanted to use the scraps for pillows or small cushions, as she had done before since it was cheaper than buying whole pieces of fabric. She thought to herself that Xiao Lihua really knew how to manage things.
After leaving the fabric shop, they went to buy cooking seasonings before heading to the market.
At this time of year, there weren't many vegetables for sale. Zhang Lianxiang said her family still had potatoes and suggested buying some tofu later, picking some bok choy, getting some meat, buying some vermicelli, soaking yellow beans, and also getting some eggs; that would be about enough.
"Wang Ersao, thank you so much."
Xiao Lihua thought that Zhang Lianxiang really considered everything for her and was even willing to share things. She was much better than Xie Youshun's relatives. Of course, the Zi Clan couple had quietly given her some money for emergencies; she wouldn't forget that.
Zhang Lianxiang smiled and said, "What are you thanking me for? Thank Fourth Brother instead; he helped us too. When Copper Coin's father and I first split from our family, we were in such tight circumstances. Fourth Brother and Copper Coin's dad went hunting together; they clearly hunted a wild boar together but he didn’t take any share of it. Thanks to that wild boar, we managed to get by; otherwise, we would have gone hungry that year. Now that you’ve split from your family, we naturally want to help you too. Why are you being so polite?"
Xiao Lihua realized that Xie Youshun had done such good deeds before and thought about how he truly was that kind of person. However, she still felt grateful towards Wang's family.
Xie Youshun remained silent beside her. When a woman spoke, men generally did not interrupt. He held onto the wood, his eyes on the stones and Copper Coin, making sure they didn't get lost.
After buying some vermicelli, they went to buy meat.
Sure enough, the fatty meat was a bit more expensive; pure fat cost eighteen wen per catty, lean meat fourteen wen, and pork belly sixteen wen. If it were for Xiao Lihua, she would definitely buy pure lean meat, but she knew that people nowadays lacked oil in their diets, so she bought one catty of fatty meat and one catty of pork belly, thinking that along with the piece of meat Zhang Lianxiang had given her yesterday, it would be enough. As a time-traveling woman, she naturally wouldn't forget about pig offal and bones. She found it quite strange that those poor people who ate coarse grains and often went hungry would consider pig offal as useless things that they would almost give away for free. After all, it was still meat!
"Boss, how much are these offals? And what about the bones?"
"The pig heart is five wen each, pig liver and pig lung are five wen per piece, and two wen for a large intestine. Do you want some, miss? They are all processed pretty well; you just need to wash them a couple more times at home."
The chubby boss said this while adding, "As for the bones, they are three for one wen."
Xiao Lihua felt a little happy inside; it seemed that the prices weren't as low as those written in novels where everything was practically given away for one wen. However, compared to meat, it was still cheap.
"I'll take this pig heart, these two pieces of pig liver, three large intestines, and six bones. That totals fifty-seven wen, right? Can you give me a better price?"
Having calculated everything, Xiao Lihua began to haggle; as a qualified housewife, how could she not bargain?
The boss smiled and said, "Then it'll be fifty-five wen!"
Xiao Lihua paid him and then placed all these items into Xie Youshun's basket.
Zhang Lianxiang also bought one catty of fatty meat and one catty of pork belly; there was no helping it—Copper Coin was tugging at her clothes with eager eyes.
Having bought most of what they needed, the group strolled around a bit more before preparing to head back.
Xiao Lihua had a pretty good understanding of the current living standards. Although some methods for getting rich mentioned in novels no longer worked, she was sure that there were still some that did; she just hadn't discovered them yet. Once she did, her family would surely be able to live a good life.
After leaving the market and noticing that it was still early, the three adults decided to take the children for a stroll. There were quite a few stalls on the street, offering items of a higher quality than those at the market. Of course, the best goods were all in the shops, but they didn't go inside since everything there was expensive. Xiao Lihua watched as Stone and Wood gazed longingly at the elegantly decorated high-end shops, thinking that if they could make money, they could take their son inside to buy whatever he wanted.
However, children found everything new and exciting; even the small stalls by the roadside could captivate them. The three children were sensible and didn't ask for anything. No matter how much they liked something, they would quickly move on to the next stall. Because of this, they walked fairly quickly and soon reached the busiest street.
At that moment, a crowd had gathered ahead, and they could vaguely hear the sounds of commotion from within.
“Xiao Ziyi! What good is your beauty? You're so short and lack any presence. How can you expect to be a proper lady? Do you think my cousin would like you? You two don't even match! Just give up on that idea! The Gao Family looks down on you!”
Xiao Lihua stood outside the crowd and heard a crisp yet somewhat sharp female voice speaking. She frowned slightly, wondering who this woman was. Wasn't she just pointing out someone's shortcomings? Moreover, discussing whether a woman matched with a man in public was too humiliating. Didn't women in ancient times pay attention to such topics? Why was this woman so indifferent?
Zhang Lianxiang saw that they couldn't get through for the moment and decided to ask someone nearby what was happening.
People loved to gather around and share what they knew. The woman who was questioned immediately excitedly told Zhang Lianxiang what had happened.
“Let's go,” Xie Youshun suddenly said, grabbing Xiao Lihua's wrist tightly and turning her around to head back.
Xiao Lihua felt that grip was very tight, and Xie Youshun's expression was somewhat tense. She wondered what was wrong with him.
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