Chapter 9: Finding What Matters

Old Man Ling paused in his escape and looked back at Su Nuan. What was this tigress going to do next?

Su Nuan curled her lips into a smile and threw the shoes in her hand away.

The cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles hit Old Man Ling's face like a brick. I don't know if his nose bone was broken, but blood flowed into two small rivers.

Su laughed awkwardly and said, "I just wanted to return your shoes to you. I was too strong."

After she finished speaking, she glanced coldly at the people around her, clapped her hands and said nonchalantly, "I lost my mother when I was six years old, and was beaten by my stepmother every day. So I learned kung fu from a weird old man, thinking that one day my father would divorce her and I would beat her up."

"Oh... never mind. I can't beat him right now. But they say it's never too late for a gentleman to take revenge, but I'm not a gentleman."

She paused and continued, "I am a woman. If anyone dares to bully me or my family, I will take revenge on them in this lifetime, and I will never stop until they die!"

She spoke with great force, and the people sitting on the ground in the yard hunched their necks like quails.

Su Nuan nodded with satisfaction and turned to go into the house.

She sighed. In such a huge general's mansion, there were only seven people left, and one of them was a living dead.

She said, "Mother, give my husband some water. I'll get him something to eat."

Xue asked in astonishment, "Is Cang'er still alive?"

Su Nuan nodded, "Alive."

Mrs. Xue and the old lady rushed to Ling Cang's side. Mrs. Xue touched his breath with trembling hands, and finally burst into tears of joy, "To be alive... It's so good... Wuuwuwu..."

The old lady was even more exaggerated. She kept kowtowing on the ground and muttering something in her mouth.

Su Nuan was speechless. It turned out that they all thought Ling Cang was dead. No wonder they were so excited at this moment.

Xue cried for a while and then suddenly remembered the important matter, "Nuannuan, can they let you go out to buy some? They should give you something to eat tonight."

Su Nuan smiled and said, "Mom, don't worry. This town was built for the exiled prisoners. It's all for the money in their hands."

"Mother, do you remember the women who searched us? They were all hoping we could take the money out and spend it here."

Xue hesitated for a moment and nodded, "Okay."

She didn't ask any more questions, but just took out the banknotes and stuffed them into Su Nuan's pockets, "Take it, you're the boss."

After knowing that her eldest son was still alive, Xue felt that Su Nuan was the lucky star of the Ling family, and it would be right to listen to her.

Su Nuan did not refuse, as it was safer to keep the banknotes with her.

She handed Tuantuan to her mother-in-law and raised her hand to pinch Tuantuan's face. "Wait for my sister-in-law to come back and bring you something delicious."

Tuantuan said obediently: "Tuantuan doesn't want delicious food, Tuantuan wants sister-in-law to be safe and sound."

Su Nuan smiled slightly. This little girl is so cute.

The old lady suddenly asked: "Did you really do what they said?"

Su Nuan looked back at the old lady and did not answer.

Sometimes, excuses can't clear your name at all, but instead make people think that your excuses are just a cover-up.

She was prepared to be lectured by the old lady, and just let it go in one ear and out the other.

Seeing that she was silent, the old lady sighed and said, "Although you and the Ling family have an engagement letter and betrothal gifts, you haven't married yet. There's no need to put yourself in a difficult position."

Su Nuan didn't expect that the old lady was not preaching, but her words revealed a strange kind of heartache.

She smiled frankly and said, "Grandma, don't worry. I'm already the daughter-in-law of the Ling family, so I will never do anything to embarrass the Ling family."

"As for what others say, we can't control so many people. It would be better to save the energy of defending ourselves and use it to hurry on."

The old lady nodded and said, "Well, don't force it, just be alive."

Su Nuan also nodded, but she turned and walked out without saying anything.

This old lady lectured me a lot in my previous life, but I couldn't hear the kindness in her words at all. I think the old lady must have felt wronged at that time.

When Su Nuan arrived at the door, she heard the captain put his hands on his hips and said, "Each family should send one person out to buy things. You won't be able to find any villages or towns for the next month. Whether you can survive depends on how much food you buy."

Everyone was talking about it, and some smart people immediately guessed that the court was unkind and disloyal, and these officers and soldiers wanted to make money, so they allowed them to buy things.

Su Nuan was not surprised. She walked out confidently. She would not be able to leave the official road for the next month, so she had to buy some practical things, otherwise she would only be able to eat black-faced steamed bread.

The town was quite big, and Su Nuan didn't want to go far, so she went to a nearby pub.

Why the tavern? Because there's a lot of jerky there, and there's something that's only available there.

The waiter saw the blood on Su Nuan's face and was stunned for a moment before asking with a smile, "What would you like to order, sir?"

Su Nuan asked, "How much jerky is left?"

The waiter replied, "The village just delivered a lot of dried meat today, but it's ten times more expensive than fresh meat."

The town is close to the capital, and the prices are not low. Pork costs ten coins per pound, and a pound of dried meat costs a hundred coins.

Su Nuan said nonchalantly, "Bring them all here, and send a cart of wine to the people at the post house."

"Okay." The waiter's eyes lit up. What a big customer.

Soon, the waiter weighed out all the dried meat. There were 80 kilograms of meat pieces as big as fingernails, and 50 kilograms of meat strips as long as fingers. All of this was without salt, after all, salt was expensive.

But there is also bacon cured with coarse salt, which is smoked very dry and has a black appearance.

Bacon is durable, so there are more than 60 kilograms.

Su Nuan recalled that there seemed to be more than a pound of salt in the space. After all, the purchase of salt was limited at that time, and you had to have a household registration to buy it.

She didn't see what she wanted, so she asked, "Are there any other pickled goods?"

The waiter nodded, "Yes, but I don't know if you can accept it."

As he said this, he swiftly took out a clay pot from the shelf behind him, opened it and took out a handful of dried fish about an inch long.

Su Nuan picked one up and put it in her mouth. It was a sea fish with a strong salty and fishy smell, exactly what she wanted.

I remember that in my previous life, someone had a thick neck disease, and later a large piece of his neck was rotten. The doctor said that eating food from the sea could prevent this disease.

Now that we have sea fish, eating some from time to time can prevent the disease. The disease in the previous life infected many people, and my aunt was young and weak and could not escape it, leaving ugly scars.

At that moment, she was delighted and said, "I want this one too. Let me know how much it costs."

In my previous life, these dried fish were bought by an old woman named Qian. She was not a good person and always instigated her stupid son to sleep with her. Fortunately, I always managed to escape.

The waiter calculated for a while, "It's thirty taels in total. Since you bought a lot, I'll give you this bag of dried fish as a bonus."

This shows that the dried fish is not easy to sell, but people are unwilling to throw it away, so they use it as a substitute.

Su Nuan reached into his sleeve and took out a silver note worth one hundred taels.

The waiter checked the banknotes and returned fifty taels of banknotes and twenty taels of loose change.

Su Nuan said, "Give the minced meat to the soldiers to go with their wine, and I'll take the rest."

"Okay." The waiter is a quiet man.

Su Nuan walked out with a sack in each hand, and the waiter was amazed.

She ran to the alley, looked around and saw that there was no one, so she put the things in the bag into the space and took out two thin quilts to stuff them in.

Anyway, they don’t know what they bought, so isn’t it up to them to decide what to take out when they get back?

She walked out of the alley carrying two bags. Considering that the old lady had bad teeth and the young girl had a weak stomach, she went to the blacksmith shop.

The blacksmith asked, "What would you like to buy, sister-in-law?"

Su Nuan asked, "How big is the smallest pot?"

The blacksmith pointed to the side and said, "It's all over there."

Su Nuan walked over and took a look. The smallest caliber was one and a half feet and could be used.

"I want this."

The blacksmith nodded, "One tael of silver."

Su Nuan pursed her lips. It was really expensive, but this was someone else’s territory, and there was nothing she could do about the high prices.

She gave the silver and placed the pot in a sack.

After leaving the blacksmith shop, Su Nuan found someone following her. She pretended not to know, but was secretly happy in her heart.

It's a good thing that someone comes to your door and gives you money.

She quickened her pace and went into the alley. When she reached the end, she turned around, crossed her arms and waited for the fish to take the bait.