After finishing up Ye Yong's business, Ye Caiping finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It's already November, we need to get the house built as soon as possible.

Thinking about it, she entered the system and tallied up her wealth.

Although a lot has happened during this period, apart from the stalls in the county town being closed for 10 days, business in the town has been running normally.

Last time I earned 100 taels from selling a bottle, 200 taels from selling jade, and 50 taels in bonus silver. Adding in the business income from this period, I have a total of 524 taels.

He gave 90 taels to his family, 10 taels to buy land, and about 40 taels for other miscellaneous expenses such as buying cattle, feed, cloth, vegetables and meat, leaving him with only 384 taels.

She has enough to build a house, but she also needs to build a workshop and source goods.

After the last space upgrade, she had three trading opportunities. She spent 10 coins to buy a glass bottle and 300 coins to buy 100 catties of rice.

There is only one last trading opportunity left, and the trading amount is 19 taels and 690 cash.

Ye Caiping thought for a moment and realized that the money could buy 1,969 jin of white pepper.

In those days, white pepper cost 300 wen per jin (500 grams), and 1969 jin would have cost 590 liang (250 grams) if bought outside.

No matter how you look at it, you've made a profit.

But her space was too small, only 1 cubic meter, it simply couldn't fit.

Reselling them is too troublesome and difficult.

How about selling glass bottles like last time? And this time, at a higher price.

But once the idea came to her, she dismissed it.

One glass bottle is already conspicuous enough; if we get another one, people might trace its origin.

She doesn't need to risk it all for a few hundred more taels of silver.

After all, money can be earned again, but life is only once.

[The host has selected a 50-year-old wild ginseng root, priced at 15 taels. Would the host like to purchase it?]

"purchase."

A ginseng root from the forest immediately appeared in her space.

With 19 taels, it wasn't enough to buy two 30-year-old rice plants, so she could only choose one 50-year-old one. Ye Caiping felt a little heartache because she hadn't spent the remaining few taels. She wished she had bought more white rice last time.

[The host has exhausted their transaction attempts. To gain more transaction privileges, please upgrade your space.]

Ye Caiping pressed the upgrade button without hesitation.

[Upgrading the space will cost 100 taels. Host, do you wish to upgrade?]

Ye Caiping pressed the "Yes" button.

[Space is upgrading, 1%, 2%, 3%... 100%. Congratulations, host, upgrade successful! Storage space increased fivefold to 5 cubic meters. Transaction limit: 3 times. Total transaction amount cap: 20 taels.]

The next upgrade will cost 100 taels of silver, expanding the space to 10 square meters.

Ye Caiping found the price acceptable.

Putting aside any potential transactions, simply having a space to store and preserve food is her greatest asset.

Now there are three more trading opportunities, but Ye Caiping is in no hurry to use them.

She carried a basket on her back, turned around and went out the door; she was going to the city to sell ginseng.

Ye Caiping has completely relinquished the task of cooking the spicy soup, leaving it entirely to Old Lady Ye and Madam Du and Madam Wei.

Grandma Ye didn't have to do anything; she just stood by and watched, becoming a supervisor, afraid that her two daughters-in-law would make mistakes.

Ye Caiping took an oxcart from another village to the prefectural city, sold the 50-year-old ginseng, and got 350 taels.

Total assets: 619 taels.

That's enough for her to get the workshop up and running; if not, she can always make another deal.

...

The following day, Ye Caiping returned to the county town to set up her stall again.

This time, he brought Ye Daquan, Du Shi, and Wei Shi with him.

Because they had their own oxcart, there was no need for Ba Jin to deliver it; Ye Daquan drove the cart, taking them and their goods to the county town.

The oxcart can be parked at the carriage shop for half a day for 3 coins.

As soon as the stall was set up, many regular customers came and asked where I had been for the past two weeks.

Ye Caiping just smiled and said she was busy with many things at home.

Some people still remembered Li Zhiyuan's story and said with sympathy, "It's all that scholar Li's fault. I never thought he would be so shameless."

Ye Caiping smiled bitterly: "Sigh, it's all in the past."

Seeing Ye Caiping's distressed appearance, the customers felt even more sorry for her.

Half of the spicy soup had been sold when two restaurants came to ask if they could supply more.

Ye Caiping was overjoyed and agreed to have lunch at one of their restaurants to discuss the supply of goods.

After another hour, all three large buckets of spicy soup were sold out.

Ye Caiping and others rode in an oxcart to Xinhui Restaurant.

As soon as they got out of the car, they heard an angry voice.

"Ye Caiping!"

Ye Caiping turned around and saw Li Zhiyuan and Li Jiaojiao walking towards them together. Beside the father and daughter was a woman in her early thirties, with a graceful and beautiful appearance.

This must be Zhang Shuiniang.

"Oh, Scholar Li actually has the nerve to come to the county town!" Ye Caiping laughed.

Li Zhiyuan's face immediately darkened.

His reputation was ruined after he demanded a prescription in the county town, and he became the laughing stock of the entire academy.

Everyone says he's despicable, shameless, and has no sense of shame.

He also said that his divorce was a setup, and that the allegations of beating his mother-in-law were all fabricated against his ex-wife.

A typical scholar who passed the imperial examinations at the lowest level, Chen Shimei abandoned his wife who had shared his hardships!

He then turned around and married the daughter of a wealthy family in the same village. No one would believe there was anything fishy about it.

Li Zhiyuan was furious, but he was unable to prove his innocence. He was so humiliated that he refused to go to the academy anymore.

Fortunately, Jiaojiao and Shuiniang stayed by his side and encouraged him constantly.

They're right, only by enduring hardship can one rise above others!

When he leaps out of the water, he will soar thousands of miles and transform into a dragon!

The humiliation and suffering he endures today are merely the fertile ground for his success!

Having figured this out, he stopped paying attention to the insults and strange looks from the academy and devoted himself to studying the classics.

After some days of rigorous self-cultivation, he suddenly realized that his state of mind had truly changed!

He believes he can pass the imperial examination and become a scholar!

"Why are you stopping my little sister?" Ye Daquan stepped forward. "What, haven't you had enough shit? Want two more buckets?"

A disgusting memory immediately flooded his mind, and Li Zhiyuan almost vomited.

He didn't dare look at Ye Daquan for even a second, afraid he'd vomit. He turned to Ye Caiping: "I heard you sent Ye Xuan to school? Hmph, he's just an idiot, why waste that money?"

Ye Caiping's eyes flashed with sarcasm: "Whether it's a waste or not is none of your business. You're just being nosy and meddling in other people's business."

Du spat and said, "What? You divorced your wife, and now you're still eyeing her family's money? Last time it was the prescription, this time it's money. How can you be so shameless?"

"You... you're so vulgar!" Li Zhiyuan was furious and too lazy to argue with Madam Du. "Madam Ye, I was just trying to give you some advice. That kind of mediocre person isn't worth wasting your time and money on."

Ye Caiping raised an eyebrow: "I get it. You're jealous!"

Li Zhiyuan panicked: "What...what am I jealous of?"

"You're jealous that Xuan'er is more talented in studying than you." Ye Caiping's sneer intensified. "You've always said that Xuan'er is mediocre and has no talent for studying."

"First, they want my family to support only you; second, they want to cut off Xuan'er's education and suppress him. They're afraid Xuan'er will surpass you."

Li Zhiyuan's face turned pale and then red: "Nonsense!"