Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably. Xiaoyue struggled to her feet, rubbing her sore bottom. A dark cloud hung over her, heavy with worry. She had lost two close friends in a single day. Xiaoyue staggered home, collapsing onto the kang (heated brick bed) without even taking off her shoes, and fell asleep immediately.

The kang was cold. Xiaoyue wanted to pull a quilt over herself, but suddenly she sneered in her heart: There's nothing here. I don't need to save up a dowry for Xiaodouding anymore, and I don't need to worry about Lu Xiaomei's illness anymore. Thinking about this, I suddenly wondered what I was living for.

Moonlight streamed through the window, casting swirling, pale halos across the floor. Xiaoyue lay sprawled on the edge of the kang (heated brick bed), her eyes fixed intently on the halos of light.

The early autumn nights were cold. The windows hadn't been closed during the day, and Xiaoyue was too lazy to do anything. She curled up, thinking about going to town tomorrow to buy some cotton to stuff the bed. There was also some cloth in the west room.

As I was thinking, I saw that it was getting light. I sat up abruptly, washed my face, and went to the yard to release the chickens, ducks, and geese. I herded them into the cabbage patch behind the yard, then packed the peeled ramie into a basket to take to the market.

There's still a large field of ramie at home that hasn't been harvested yet. We need to see how much silver we can get for it in the market. We also need to see if there are any looms for sale in town. Xiaoyue currently has six taels of silver and nine copper coins.

Xiaoyue went back into the shack and put the sickle hanging on the wall into her basket. She closed the door, tied it with several ropes, picked up the basket, and left without taking the oxcart. Since Liang Qi was engaged, Xiaoyue didn't plan to ride in Uncle Liang's cart anymore; she felt uncomfortable, and neither would anyone else.

Because she exercises every day, Xiaoyue walked for more than half an hour to reach the town. After paying the money at the market, Xiaoyue stood next to some people selling ramie bark, looking dejected and not saying a word.

Just then, a young shop assistant came over and bought all the ramie bark from Xiaoyue and the others, for only three copper coins a pound. Xiaoyue lined up, weighed her basket, and found it to be six pounds and three ounces, for which she received nineteen copper coins.

Xiaoyue, clutching a copper coin, passed by a shop selling linen and asked curiously, "Shopkeeper, do you still buy linen here?"

The shopkeeper said, "I'll take them. The good quality ones are 350 coins, the slightly lower quality ones are 300 coins, and the lowest quality ones are also accepted, but I can only give 200 coins for them."

Xiaoyue nodded hurriedly to thank the shopkeeper, and as she walked away, she pondered. Buying loose cloth cost three copper coins per pound, while a bolt of cloth, thirty-three meters long, was priced at ten pounds. The cheapest option was two hundred coins, which would cost twenty copper coins per pound. She decided that weaving cloth was the more suitable option.

Xiaoyue wanted to buy a loom and put it in the west room. In the autumn, she would peel the ramie, spin it, and roll it up. In the winter, when there was nothing else to do and it snowed outside, she could weave cloth inside the room.

Thinking of this, Xiaoyue packed up her basket and headed straight for the farm tool shop. Xiaoyue immediately spotted the loom in the left corner of the shop. After asking about many prices, she casually asked how much the loom cost.

The shopkeeper said, "Three taels of silver."

Xiaoyue walked over and touched it: "Can you make it cheaper?"

"Do you want it or not? If you really want to buy it, it's two taels and eight mace of silver. If it's any lower, I'll lose money."

Xiaoyue glanced at the shopkeeper: "Two ounces and five mace, for delivery."

"It's too low and won't fit. Add some more."

Xiaoyue glanced at the loom. "I don't necessarily need to buy it. It's just something I don't really need. I just think it looks pretty good. Okay, boss, I wish you good business." With that, Xiaoyue strolled out the door.

Seeing that Xiaoyue didn't turn around, the shopkeeper chased after her and said, "Here you go, consider it making friends."

Xiaoyue smiled and said, "Shopkeeper, I don't make friends."

"Okay, okay, where do you live? Pay the deposit and I'll deliver the goods to you."

Xiaoyue took out one tael of silver and handed it to the shopkeeper, saying, "I'll buy some more things to take back with me. Tell the shopkeeper to wait for me."

The shopkeeper took the money and returned to the shop.

Xiaoyue looked for a cotton shop, and after asking around, she found it was Xingfei Textile Shop. She pushed open the door and went inside: "How much is the cotton?"

The waiter came out to greet Xiaoyue: "Ten coins a pound, how much do you want?"

"Thirteen jin, please," Xiaoyue paid. The shopkeeper rolled up the cotton, tied it with a rope, and draped it over Xiaoyue's basket. Xiaoyue returned to the shop selling farm tools and bought a mat as well.

Xiaoyue had just arrived home on the oxcart carrying the loom.

The shop assistant helped Xiaoyue put the loom in the west room and carried the cotton to the east room. Xiaoyue paid the money and the shop assistant left. Xiaoyue then looked around and found a stack of paper for pasting on the wall.

Xiaoyue burned a small basin of paste, spread the paste on the kang (a heated brick bed), and then pasted the wallpaper onto the kang.

After pasting one layer, Xiaoyue lit the fire on the west side. After the pasted layer of paper dried, Xiaoyue pasted another layer. She repeated this process three times before finally laying down the newly bought mat.

After wiping away the dust, Xiaoyue felt that something was missing from the room.

Xiaoyue remembered that Gao Sheng was Gao Lei's father. She had found a lot of wooden planks in the backyard that day. Could she ask Uncle Gao to make two kang cabinets for her? But when she thought of Gao Lei and Gao Yu, Xiaoyue gave up the idea of ​​asking Uncle Gao.

Let's wait until we go to the market in town and see if there are any cabinet makers there.

After tidying up, Xiaoyue prepared to cook a meal. Looking at the grains, she found that there was still a lot of cornmeal left, but only a small amount of millet remained at the bottom of the jar. Xiaoyue scooped out half a ladle of cornmeal.

The person poured warm water into the pot, stirred it, covered it, and set it aside.

Xiaoyue picked three more cabbage leaves from the garden. She noticed that the cucumbers had also grown a lot, and the green beans were all old. The rapeseed was also old, so Xiaoyue picked a bunch of rapeseed.

After washing the vegetables, Xiaoyue chopped them up. She put half of the vegetables into cornmeal and made cornbread. She also put some of the vegetables into the pot for the chickens, ducks, and geese, adding some raw cornmeal. After stirring it, she took the pot out.

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