Having the idea, A-Mian didn't rush off to buy the goods.

I took three days off from the academy, and the next day the peddler came to Qingshan Village to sell his wares. Qingshan Village is close to the city, and the villagers are doing quite well, so the peddler comes every four or five days. In contrast, when A-Mian lived in Lujia Village, the peddler came about once every ten days.

Whenever the peddler came, the village children would surround him, biting their fingers as they looked at the sweets and cakes in his carrying pole.

Some of the more pampered and clever children at home would throw tantrums and roll around on the floor, which would make their parents laugh and scold them, taking out two copper coins to buy a piece of malt candy: "You little troublemaker! Hold on tight, don't drop the candy on the ground!"

Meng Jing used to be one of those who bite their nails.

It wasn't that her family was stingy with money; rather, the entire Meng family believed that if children ate too many snacks, they wouldn't eat proper meals. So, Meng Jing's tantrums usually only worked once or twice out of ten.

However, things are different now.

The children looked on with envy at her new cotton-padded coat and the wooden hairpin carved into the shape of a little rabbit in her hair. She looked like a little adult, talking to the peddler and picking out goods in a very professional manner!

Ten-year-old Meng Jing earned her own coins and didn't have to beg adults to buy anything. She secretly straightened her back and put on a peacock-like posture in front of her friends, showing off that "I'm different from you guys."

The goods were carried in multi-tiered wooden crates. Ah Mian looked them over and saw that they definitely contained the usual needles and thread, things that wouldn't be hard to sell. In addition, there were combs, fine-toothed combs, rattles, and nine-linked rings, etc. The food was mainly maltose and rice cakes.

The goods weren't many. The other wooden box contained the items that the peddler had noted down from the last time, specifically what a particular villager wanted. He would buy those items in town and bring them with him next time.

Once you buy these, you're almost guaranteed to sell them next time; there's no risk of unsold inventory.

After spending a long time choosing, Meng Jing picked out a wooden comb, which cost eight coins; she also bought a piece of malt candy, and went off to play amidst the enthusiastic cheers of her friends.

Amian asked about the prices of each item in the basket, and finally bought a piece of malt candy. Humming a little tune, she and Adou went into town.

Upon arriving at the market, A-Mian began selecting her goods:

She first bought over a hundred of the cheapest wooden buttons made of ordinary pine wood. Each button cost one coin, but she bought a lot and spent ninety coins.

I bought ten ordinary ceramic bowls for fifty coins; ten bundles of lamp wicks (each bundle about twenty feet long), at one coin per foot, for two hundred coins; thirty bars of scented soap (buying in bulk only costs six coins each), for one hundred and eighty coins; thirty packets of rouge (plant-based dye using safflower), at ten coins per packet, for three hundred coins; ten sets of tangram puzzles for thirty coins…

Luckily, A-Mian had brought an abacus and paper and pen. She quickly calculated the accounts, and the shop assistant exclaimed, "What a capable young lady!"

The total cost was only 850 coins. Ah Mian used the remaining 150 copper coins to buy scraps of cloth, which brought her to a total of one tael of silver.

I don't know which product will sell better!

Amian, driving her donkey cart, slapped her forehead and hurried off to another market—how could she have forgotten that many of the scholars and young ladies traveling with her were wealthy? The journey would be arduous, and some were bound to be unprepared.

She hesitated again in front of the oil paper umbrella shop. A plain bamboo umbrella with a single color of oil paper cost one hundred coins; while a bamboo umbrella with a treated surface painted with bamboo joints cost three hundred coins.

If the scholars all brought umbrellas, or if it hadn't rained for several days, she wouldn't be able to sell them; absolutely no country folk would buy them.

That would result in a loss.

In the end, Ah Mian gritted her teeth and bought the most expensive items in this purchase: an oil-paper umbrella painted with bamboo (300 coins) and an umbrella with sandalwood (carved with exquisite patterns) as the ribs, worth as much as 800 coins.

She was thinking that if they really couldn't sell them, she would use the bamboo umbrella herself and keep the sandalwood umbrella. If Xiao Jing got married one day, or she had a child, she could give it to them as a gift, so that it wouldn't be a waste of money.

Then he bought sachets containing mugwort and realgar, which could repel insects. He bought thirty of them (fifty coins each), spending one tael of silver and five hundred coins. He also bought twenty bags each of peppermint tea and chrysanthemum tea, spending four hundred coins.

Ah Mian was meticulous in her calculations, constantly selecting goods based on the remaining money. In this way, she spent exactly four taels of silver on purchasing goods. She still had one tael of silver left to give to the academy as travel expenses.

This feat cost Ah Mian a large sum of money from her savings. When she drove the donkey cart into her courtyard, Meng Jing was stunned.

"Oh my god, A-Mian, if I can't sell all this stuff, I'll be heartbroken for the rest of my life!"

She had always thought that A-Mian was a very well-behaved young lady, but... she was actually bolder than her second brother and sister-in-law, no, even her third brother.

You should know that the capital to buy these goods was simply Ah Mian's hard-earned money, earned from bowls of pear soup, stir-fries, kidney soup, and wages at the fish soup shop...

"It's alright, we'll definitely sell them all!" Ah Mian was so busy during this season that she was sweating profusely as she carefully arranged the goods and loaded them into the carrying pole.

She planned to have Meng Chijian carry the load on a shoulder pole, while she would carry a basket on her back and bring all the goods with her.

Meng Chijian rushed to prepare the goods that A Mian had instructed him to take before setting off.

On the day the academy was to go out for a spring outing, a problem arose.

Ah Mian's basket was full of small, miscellaneous items, but it was so full that she walked like a little turtle, very...slow.

Meng Chijian's load contained ironware, fragile ceramic bowls, and two bags (mainly their changes of clothes), as well as two umbrellas.

He watched the little turtle struggling to move for a while (he found it amusing that Ah Mian, who was usually so quick and agile, was now so slow), before calling out to her and taking the soap from her basket and putting it in his carrying pole.

They managed to maintain their pace and finally arrived at the academy gate.

A number of scholars had already gathered at the entrance, all dressed neatly, wearing turbans, and holding folding fans, chatting with their friends. There were not many women present, because the students were not allowed to ride donkeys or horses this time (only the teachers were allowed), and there were about four or five young ladies.

“Heh, I’m tired of that watchtower and drum tower. There’s nothing interesting about Zhoucheng. There’s also a big academy there,” Ji Hengzhi said, looking at the excited crowd. He then unfolded his folding fan with a “snap”. “I grew up in Zhoucheng.”

Those surrounding him were envious, including one or two young women who urged him to talk more about Zhoucheng.

"I may not be as good as you in academics, but if it comes to which restaurant in Zhoucheng has the best food, then I can certainly say a few things..." Ji Hengzhi's lips twitched a few times when he saw Lu Amian appear. "Are you a peddler?! We're just enjoying a leisurely spring outing, do you think we're going to a market?"