Chapter 41 Da Ya is a very good person

The middle-aged woman closed the door and returned to the gatehouse to continue watering the flowers.

—The county magistrate's daughter is coming to visit in a few days, and the mansion will be hosting a welcome banquet. She must take good care of these dozen or so carefully tended bonsai red plum trees.

A maid ran out from the inner room to deliver a message, and as she turned around, she saw three small seashells on the table.

The white seashells were polished to a lustrous, jade-like finish, making them very appealing.

"Huh? What's this?"

The maid picked up a seashell to examine it.

Mom said, "It's for the face. They say it can whiten the skin. It's a sample from a newly opened rouge shop. It's called something like 'Little Zitang,' the name is weird."

The maid opened it and brought it to her nose to smell it.

It has a pleasant fragrance.

"Mom, can I take two?"

Even if the contents inside aren't good, the seashells can still be used as decorations after being washed and emptied. They'll be perfect to give to her close female friends at the welcome banquet in a few days.

Mom said nonchalantly, "Take it."

The maids serving in the inner room were closer to their mistresses and naturally had more influence than an old woman guarding the side gate. She would always try to curry favor with the maids, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Besides, trial packs are free, so it's not a big deal to give them away.

The maid took the sample and skipped away.

After watering more than a dozen pots of red plum blossoms and pruning their branches one by one, Mom finally had time to rest and sit down for a cup of tea.

Bored, Mom picked up the sample she had just tossed on the corner of the table, opened it, and dabbed some of the white paste inside onto the back of her hand.

A delicate, sweet fragrance wafted out and lingered near my nose.

As the liquid was applied, it gradually spread across the hands, and the hands, which had aged prematurely due to years of rough work, miraculously became delicate and fair.

Moreover, my skin became moisturized.

What's most special is that once the liquid is spread evenly, there's no trace of makeup on it, and the effect is so natural that it's as if she naturally has a slender hand.

Mom liked it more and more the more she looked at it.

It turns out that even a rough and unsophisticated old woman like her could have such delicate and jade-like hands!

As Mom was applying the product, she didn't finish applying the entire sample.

Admiring her own pair of smooth, jade-like hands, she was quite captivated.

Mom slapped her forehead. It's such a waste to use such a good product on hands! She should save it for her face!

Ah... no, no, she should have kept her as a concubine to please the mistress and the steward!

However, the trial pack was already used up, and it was too late to regret it!

Mom looked up and glanced towards the inner room, then glanced again...

Is it too late to ask the maid to return the trial pack?

She quickly opened the side door and peered outside.

Xiao Zitang, right? You didn't say where the shop is located.

They didn't say how much it would cost.

Seriously, how do you do business?!

...

Song Li never expected that she would actually make a deal like this.

The older woman bought three bottles of her whitening liquid in one go, and because she thought the cushion foundation was portable, she also bought twenty boxes.

I imagine that buying so much means I'll be giving it away as gifts in addition to using it myself.

Song Li's whitening cushion foundation is sold out.

I was prepared to lose a little money to advertise when I went to town, but I didn't expect to make a profit of 1.5 taels of silver, which is almost double the profit from my previous two stalls. It was a pleasant surprise!

With the money in hand, Song Li took Song Xiaoxiao to the cloth shop and bought two bolts of kudzu cloth and five catties of cotton, intending to continue making air cushions at home.

I also bought two bolts of fabric for Qian Hutao to make a change of clothes—it's so uncomfortable not being able to change into clean clothes!

It cost a total of over four hundred coins.

Seeing that the price of white rice had risen as he passed by the grain store, he changed his route and went to the general store to buy grain seeds.

We bought 500 jin of rice before, and since we don't have to pay the grain tax this time, we'll have enough to last until spring. We don't need to buy any more. However, it would be a waste to keep the landscaping plants in the green belt, so we might as well pull them all up and plant grain instead, just in case.

Rice prices have risen, but grain prices haven't; the market probably hasn't reacted yet.

Song Li bought several bags of everything the grocery store had, including rice, sorghum, peanuts, pumpkins, and corn, spending a total of only thirty coins.

A few dozen coins can buy a chance to survive; it's a great deal.

After leaving the grocery store, I went to the butcher shop to buy meat.

—If grain prices are rising, how can the prices of pigs, which are fed by people who eat grain, not rise as well?

No amount of money is as important as filling your stomach.

The pre-cooked food and instant noodles in the space would eventually run out, so while the market wasn't as quick as her, Song Li bought dozens of kilograms of pork, specifically choosing pieces with fat so she could render oil at home.

"Young lady, can you finish all this meat?"

The butcher, seeing that she bought a lot, asked her out of curiosity.

Song Li replied without changing her expression, "It was my wife who instructed me to buy it."

As a young woman dressed as a village girl, it would be strange for her to buy so much meat at once. She might even attract the attention of someone with ulterior motives. So she pretended to be a maid from a wealthy family.

Upon hearing that it was the head of the household who gave the order, the butcher lost his curiosity.

Although Song Li's strength increased dramatically after drinking the spiritual spring, it was limited to the power she could unleash. Normally, she was still a delicate and frail woman who couldn't lift a finger or carry anything on her shoulders.

"Little one, look! A flying saucer!"

She pointed to the air to distract Song Xiaoxiao, then quickly stored the pork in her spatial storage.

Back home, Song Li arranged for Song Xiaoxiao to practice calligraphy on a wooden board with charcoal pencils, while she herself couldn't wait to enter the space, remove the landscaping from the green belt, and turn over the soil.

The space is as warm as spring, day and night, and planting is possible regardless of the season, much like the Happy Farm that Song Li played in when she was a child.

The original owner of this body was a peasant girl, skilled at hoeing and farming. Following the original owner's memories, Song Li quickly leveled the land in the green belt and sowed corn and pumpkin seeds.

The plants grew quickly in the space, just like in a happy farm, and soon new shoots appeared.

Looking at the green belt filled with crops, Song Li patted the dirt off her hands and let out a long sigh.

She used to think that making money was the primary goal in life, but today she realizes that having grain in the fields is the real key!

After finishing everything, Song Li left the space.

It was already late outside the window, and Qian Hutao was cooking dinner in the kitchen.

Song Xiaoxiao had finished practicing a set of calligraphy exercises and was squatting behind the stove to help with the fire.

Song Li walked over and handed the newly bought cloth to Qian Hutao.

Qian Hutao was stunned for a moment, then quickly wiped her hands on her apron and took it, saying gratefully, "Da Ya, thank you."

"You're welcome."

Qian Hutao held the soft linen cloth, hesitant to speak.

Song Li asked, "Is something the matter?"

Qian Hutao asked hesitantly, "Da Ya, will I get paid?"

She knew that Song Daya provided her with food and lodging, and that she had eggs or meat soup every day, and sometimes even meat pies.

She used to cut pig feed with her younger siblings and give it to the village head's family to raise pigs. She often saw the village head's family eating, and Song Daya's family was not much worse off than the village head's family. Moreover, Daya was a very kind person. She didn't let her do heavy or tiring work, nor did she make her feel bad. It would be excessive for her to ask for wages again.

But her family only has her father, a strong man, who will definitely have to go to repair the imperial tomb this time. With her father gone, the family will lose its pillar, and they won't be able to farm next spring. The whole family will starve to death.

Back then, her parents and grandmother disliked her because she had been abused by Wang Laocai, and they wouldn't let her come home. They even told her to die. Now that something has happened to her family, she doesn't want to get involved.

But her younger brother was still at home, and when the whole family rejected her, only Hudan stood up for her.

She couldn't abandon her younger brother!

“My family is really in dire straits. I can’t let my younger brother starve to death. Even for his sake, I can’t abandon my family.”

That's what she truly thought, but that's also what her mother said when she came to beg her in the afternoon.

"How much do you want?" Song Li asked.

“Three hundred coins a month,” Qian Hutao said after thinking for a moment.

She knew that was the price for cooks in town, but the employers didn't provide food or lodging, let alone clothes, blankets, baths, or heating.

Qian Hutao was uneasy, unsure whether Daya would agree.