Chapter 9

Chapter 9

On market day, Lu Yuan rose early.

The sky was just beginning to lighten, and the buzzing mosquitoes had left several itchy bites on her.

She scratched the spots before getting out of bed, then retrieved a wooden comb from beneath the clothes by her bedside to comb her hair.

Her original hair was dry and tangled, pulling at her scalp as she combed, making Lu Yuan wince with each stroke.

After combing, she used a briar hairpin to twist her hair into a bun, securing it with a cloth wrap to prevent it from unraveling.

When she got up, the two children also stirred.

Their hair, too, was dry, brittle, and sparse.

She helped Chun Hua tie two small pigtails with cloth strips, then glanced at Qiu Hua...

Well, this child's hair was still too short to be tied up.

At two years old, Qiu Hua's hair was not only thin but also very short—what would she do when she grew up?

Lu Yuan sighed and went out to wash up.

By this time, Old Lady He was already awake, simmering rice gruel for her grandson.

As if fearing Lu Yuan might steal it or hide it for the children, all of Qi Cheng's meals were prepared personally by Old Lady He.

After washing up, Lu Yuan also began preparing breakfast.

"Preparing breakfast" was a generous term, as it merely involved making a few bran patties.

She couldn't help but ask, "Old lady, where did we get so much rice bran?"

Old Lady He cast a fleeting glance at her and replied calmly, "We harvested a crop in early spring, milled the rice, and sold it. The bran, naturally, was what remained."

From Old Lady He's words, Lu Yuan understood: there was no grain, but with the bran, they wouldn't starve.

Lu Yuan wouldn't be back for lunch and would likely get hungry on the road, so she ate an extra patty.

After the morning meal, Old Lady He wrapped five handkerchiefs and three pouches in coarse cloth and handed them to Lu Yuan.

She instructed, "The Cuiyun Rouge Shop in town sells both rouge and embroidery, so they accept good embroidery work. Each handkerchief sells for eight coppers, and each pouch for fifteen coppers—that's eighty-five coppers in total."

From her observations over the past few days, Lu Yuan knew the old lady's eyesight wasn't good, and she embroidered slowly. The items in the cloth bundle likely represented a month's work.

With almost half the earnings going to Qi Cheng's care, it was no wonder their life was so difficult.

Old Lady He continued, "After selling the embroidery, go to Wu's Clinic to find Doctor Wu and ask him to come to the Qi family in Weishan Village for a visit tomorrow. Then buy a bone from the meat stall. Oh, and remember to buy a pound of polished rice—it's ten coppers a pound. If it's more expensive elsewhere, go to another shop."

The polished rice was for Qi Cheng.

His liquid meals were usually made from ground polished rice.

Before even receiving the money, Lu Yuan already felt it would be quickly spent.

Old Lady He rattled off many errands, and Lu Yuan committed each to memory.

Finally, Old Lady He said with a stern face, "I know exactly how much this is worth—don't even think about keeping a single copper for yourself."

Lu Yuan thought: That's hardly necessary.

She looked at the wrapped embroidery and asked, "If I sell these for a higher price, would the extra earnings be..."

The implication was clear.

Old Lady He scoffed, "If you have the skill to get even one extra copper, it's all yours."

Immediately, Lu Yuan thought about hawking the wares at the market.

If she could swallow her pride and sell along the street, she wouldn’t need a stall or have to pay a fee.

Lu Yuan was making the trek to town on foot, so she decided not to bring the children.

The two children watched her with longing eyes, their gazes filled with apprehension.

Having lived together for four or five days, she'd grown somewhat fond of them, and Lu Yuan couldn't bear it. She said, "You two be good and stay home. When I return tonight, there will be something delicious."

After meeting up with Huang Lan, Huang Lan glanced at her basket and asked, "What did you bring?"

Lu Yuan was upfront: "The other day, when I was out gathering firewood in the mountains, I came across some mushrooms. I’m taking them to town to sell and earn some money for food."

Huang Lan seemed taken aback at first but then understood: "Right, Old Lady He sold the house, fields, and almost all the grain to save her grandson. Now that it's all gone, you must need to stock up on food."

"But if you want to buy grain, come to my place. The shops in town buy from tenants and charge exorbitant prices."

"The brown rice in town is seven coppers a pound, but we’ll sell it to you for six. Though we can only spare so much."

Not having to buy from a shop and getting a cheaper price—Lu Yuan naturally preferred that.

She replied, "Alright, if I need grain, I’ll come to your place."

Huang Lan’s face broke into a wide smile.

Then, Huang Lan circled back to Old Lady He.

"Did your old lady ask you to take her embroidery to town?"

Lu Yuan patted her basket and said, "She did."

Huang Lan peered inside and remarked, "Good thing Old Lady He’s embroidery is skilled, or your household would have no income at all."

"I’ve heard her handkerchiefs sell for fifteen coppers at Cuiyun Rouge Shop, and her pouches go for thirty."

Lu Yuan had seen Old Lady He’s work—it was indeed exquisite. If it fetched such prices in town, it would surely fetch more in the city.

But the city was likely further away, and entering required a travel permit. Without one, she might not be allowed in.

Once things settled, she would ask how to get a permit issued.

On the way from Weishan Village to Yunxi Town, they encountered many folks heading to the market.

At first, Lu Yuan enjoyed the scenery, but after half a shichen (an hour), she couldn't appreciate it anymore.

By the time her legs began to tremble and weaken, they finally reached Yunxi Town.

They had started in the early morning and arrived in the mid-morning—walking for over two solid hours.

The thought of walking back for another two hours made her legs go weak at the mere prospect.

Lu Yuan paused for a moment before surveying the market in Yunxi Town. The marketplace was filled with the constant calls of vendors and lively activity, selling all kinds of goods.

Huang Lan asked, "Where are you headed?"

Lu Yuan replied, "I need to deliver the fungi to the eatery."

By now, Huang Lan's heart was already set on exploring the market, and she wasn't keen to accompany Lu Yuan any further. She said, "The town isn’t that big; you’ll find the eatery quickly if you look around. I’ll go browse for a bit, and you can find me in the market later."

Lu Yuan responded with an "Mm-hmm," and then the two parted ways.

After wandering for about fifteen minutes, she found the eatery called Welcome Guest Restaurant.

At this hour, it wasn’t yet mealtime, so the eatery was quiet, with only two or three people eating noodles.

As Lu Yuan stepped inside, everyone in the eatery glanced at her almost simultaneously.

After all, the woman’s clothes were covered in patches, and she didn’t look like someone who could afford to eat out.

Except for turning away beggars, the waiter would approach anyone dressed neatly and not disrupting business.

"Ma’am, what would you like to eat?" he asked.

Lu Yuan said, "I’m from the Qi Cheng family in Weishan Village. I gathered some cloud ear mushrooms and came to ask if Manager Liu would like to buy them."

Hearing she was from Qi Cheng’s family in Weishan Village, the waiter paused and asked, "How is Mr. Qi doing?"

These days, people in a coma were rare, and news of one could spread across ten villages. Not to mention, Qi Cheng was good-looking and often delivered wild game to the town, so most people in town knew him.

When they heard he had fallen into a coma, many felt sorry, and quite a few young women were disappointed.

Lu Yuan replied, "Still the same."

The waiter sighed but then caught himself and asked, "What relation are you to the Qi family?"

Lu Yuan couldn’t very well say she was the betrothed, so she had to say, "I’m Old Lady He’s foster granddaughter, Qi Cheng’s foster sister."

The waiter was puzzled, wondering why Mr. Qi had never mentioned this, but then thought maybe Mr. Qi just didn’t want to talk about it.

"Sister from the Qi family, please wait here. I’ll go get the manager," he said.

The waiter went to the backyard and called for Manager Liu.

A man in his middle years lifted the curtain separating the backyard and stepped out. He glanced at Lu Yuan’s shabby, threadbare clothing but showed no disdain, instead saying sympathetically, "I’ve heard about Mr. Qi. Tell the old lady not to lose heart."

Lu Yuan nodded respectfully in acknowledgment.

After a few polite words, Manager Liu said, "Show me the cloud ear mushrooms."

Lu Yuan first took out the embroidery from the basket, then handed the basket to the waiter.

Manager Liu looked and said, "Cloud ear mushroom prices have gone up recently. For this batch, I’ll raise it to seven copper coins per liǎng."

Lu Yuan was slightly taken aback.

She’d seen sellers raise prices, but it was rare to see a buyer offer more.

Probably, it was out of compassion because of his ties with Qi Cheng.

Lu Yuan really needed this compassion—after all, even a single copper coin could stymie a hero, let alone someone like her.

The waiter weighed the cloud ear mushrooms; it was just shy of ten liǎng, but Manager Liu rounded it up to ten liǎng.

Ten liǎng came to seventy copper coins in total.

When she received a string of coppers, Lu Yuan couldn’t contain her excitement—it felt just like getting her first wages back when she started working.

She finally had money. It might not be much, but it was a big step toward improving her situation.

Lu Yuan carefully placed the copper coins in her pocket, double- and triple-checking to make sure they were secure and wouldn’t fall out. Then she began organizing Old Lady He’s embroidery work.

She spread out all the embroidered pieces in the basket and started looking for potential customers.

Her first choice was young married women who paid attention to their appearance and wore good-quality clothes—these types usually loved to dress up and had a little extra to spend.

After scanning for a while, Lu Yuan picked out a prospect and approached her.

"Ma’am, would you like to buy some beautiful handkerchiefs?"

While peddling, she made sure to show the basket forward so the embroidery designs were clearly visible.

The young woman who was stopped looked displeased and impatient. "No, don’t block the way."

Lu Yuan, persistent, held up the basket and said, "Just take a look. It’s fine if you don’t want to buy."

The young woman was getting annoyed and about to snap at her, but when she saw the embroidery in the basket, she held her tongue.

Admittedly, the handkerchiefs’ designs were quite pretty.

The young woman acted hesitant and said, "Since you’ve stopped me, I might as well take a look."

She picked up one handkerchief and looked it over carefully, then another.

"The embroidery and designs are quite fine, but they look a lot like the ones sold at Cuiyun Rouge Shop…" the young woman muttered, then asked, "How much for one handkerchief?"

Lu Yuan smiled. "Twelve copper coins per handkerchief, twenty copper coins for a pouch."

The young woman raised an eyebrow. These were the same handkerchiefs, probably from the same embroideress, who might have decided to sell them on the street because she wasn’t paid enough.

The same handkerchiefs for a few copper coins less—might as well.

The young woman began seriously considering her options, torn between several handkerchiefs.

Seeing someone looking at the handkerchiefs, other young women were drawn over.

Even if they didn’t necessarily buy, onlookers drew a crowd, making it easier to sell the handkerchiefs.