In stark contrast to the scene outside the city, the city itself was indeed peaceful and joyful. In fact, it was even more prosperous because of the influx of wealthy families who had fled from the north, with crowds of people everywhere.
After entering the city, Cheng Ruyi did not go to the branch store. Instead, she went directly to the central business district on both sides of the Luoyang River, because it was the most convenient place to buy and sell things or to inquire about information.
After walking around, it's easy to see that in addition to the goods sold in the fixed shops being much cheaper, there are also many vendors from other places selling all kinds of Northwest specialty products.
Ruyi's eyes lit up when she saw it. It seemed her guess was right. Now was indeed a good time to snag a bargain!
If we were to name the most popular goods from the North, they would undoubtedly be all kinds of thick and warm furs. Logically speaking, these furs shouldn't be being sold now, but the entire Northwest of Vietnam is in chaos. Staying there could mean certain death, and escaping to the South might result in the furs being sold cheaply, but at least it would save their lives.
Sure enough, in this awful weather, everyone is eager to stay indoors in the cool shade and enjoy the latest trendy ice cream and cold drinks. Everyone avoids fur with disgust when they see it from afar. Those fur vendors really have a lot to say but can't.
It wasn't that no one wanted to buy from them, but the other party was pushing the price down too hard and had a very condescending attitude. Everyone was a bit angry. These furs were precious items in previous years, and no one wanted to sell them like this.
Cheng Ruyi appeared at this time. Although she also tried to lower the price, it was still within the acceptable range for everyone. Moreover, after experiencing the fat and shady merchants in the prefectural city during this period, the group of rough northern men felt much better when they suddenly saw such a young and smiling woman.
So there was almost no haggling between the two parties, and the deal was quickly finalized.
Among these five cartloads of furs, there were everything from ordinary rabbit, sheep, and deer skins to precious fox and mink skins. Although the quality was average, they would have cost at least five thousand taels in the past, but she only spent two thousand taels to get them!
Of course, two thousand taels is not a small amount. If Lingyun Pavilion hadn't made enough money in the past few months, she wouldn't have been willing to spend it like that.
She then continued to linger among the stalls of various merchants from the Northwest, buying a lot of rare spices and gems. If she hadn't remembered in time that she needed to save money to buy items containing spiritual energy, she almost couldn't resist spending it all.
Women, no matter what kind of world they live in, are indeed born shopaholics!
After searching for so long that her legs were about to give out and the night market had already closed, she finally decided to find an inn to rest.
It was probably because a large number of wealthy families from the Northwest fled to the prefectural city and began to sell their property that Ruyi was able to find twelve antique paintings and calligraphy pieces containing spiritual energy very easily. The total cost was more than 1,400 taels of silver, which was cheaper than fur!
These twelve items brought Ruyi a total of twenty-nine points of spiritual power. Combined with the previous ones, her spiritual power finally reached the forty mark, and Ruyi finally felt a little more at ease.
The next morning, after inspecting the branch stores, Ruyi went to the most famous teahouse in the city, "You Ran Ju".
Youranju is located on the north bank of Luoyang River, separated from Baizhenlou by a river. Due to its excellent location and affordable prices, it is the place where the people of the city drink tea, tell stories, sing operas, listen to music, and exchange information on a daily basis.
Cheng Ruyi was interested in gathering information and originally planned to sit in the downstairs hall. However, she did not expect that a very popular storyteller would be performing today, and the hall was packed. Fortunately, there were a few private rooms on the second floor, so she could still hear the storytelling downstairs. It was both elegant and private, which surprised and pleased her.
After waiting a while, just as the tea and snacks were served, the storyteller made his grand entrance.
This storyteller was indeed very skilled. He was not only vivid in his storytelling but could also play several roles, making it feel like listening to an audiobook. Unfortunately, he only told me sensational gossip stories about the nobles of the capital. These stories included tales of a new courtesan in the capital whose extraordinary dancing skills and unparalleled beauty caused many young men from prestigious families to fight over her, and stories of a newly appointed top scholar who was favored by a princess but refused to submit and almost lost his life.
After listening for a while, she simply walked out of the cubicle and started wandering around the second floor. Unexpectedly, after a few rounds, she actually heard quite a lot of useful information.
First, there was the drought situation. It wasn't just in the northwest of Dai Viet; it even covered the entire area of Western Jin in western Dai Viet, Mu Mu in the northwest, and Dai Qi in the north. The extent of the drought was so vast that it could be described as a super-large drought that occurs only once in a century.
In short, the countries in the northwest were already in chaos, especially the Western Jin Dynasty. Most of its territory was desert and Gobi, and it had received very little rainfall since the year before last. This was the main reason why they launched a desperate attack on Da Yue last year.
Upon hearing this news, Cheng Ruyi felt that the situation was quite bad. Last year, it was said that Dayue paid a huge price to barely repel the Western Jin. If the Western Jin continues to suffer from drought this year, wouldn't they fight us to the death?
She had only lived a peaceful year, and hadn't stockpiled enough supplies or made sufficient preparations. What would she do if the Western Jin Dynasty really attacked? Would she have to flee? And where would be safe to flee to?
Although she didn't want things to get that bad, she had already silently prepared herself for the possibility of having to flee the famine in the future!
The second piece of news was about the illnesses caused by the rising temperatures that she had been very concerned about. Sure enough, as she had expected, there were a large number of patients suffering from heatstroke and even heat exhaustion in various places. Although there were people selling cold drinks and ice cream in the prefectural city, there were not as many as in their Huai Shan county town, and the prices were not cheap, not something that ordinary people could afford on a daily basis.
As a result, the major medical clinics and pharmacies in the prefectural city are packed with patients and their families every day, making them arguably the busiest places in the city today.
To her greatest surprise, she heard rumors about her family's spa from others. They said there was a magical hot spring pool there, decorated like a snowy wonderland, filled with countless precious medicinal herbs. Soaking in it felt like being in a fairyland, and an hour of soaking could keep you cool all day!
"Unfortunately, that's not a place that ordinary people like us can just enter at will. I heard that not only do you need a membership recommendation, but the expenses inside can easily reach a thousand taels of silver. Tsk tsk tsk!"
"Really? Brother Xu, where is that place you're talking about? I've never heard of it before?"
"I've heard of it! That shop is extremely unassuming; ordinary people would hardly notice it if they passed by. It's said that the person behind it is incredibly mysterious, probably some reclusive family of divine healers!"
"How come I heard that the person behind this is the Gu family? In the prefectural city, which family can compare to the Gu family in terms of power?"
"That's true! Only someone as wealthy and powerful as Gu Jia could be that kind of person."
"Tch! The Gu family isn't all-powerful. I think there's someone else with real power!"
"Speaking of which, has anyone been to the Summer Peach Banquet at the Gu Family's Baizhen Restaurant? It's said to be incredibly luxurious!"
"I'm not very good at this; I've only been there once. That night..."
After realizing the topic had gone astray, Ruyi quietly withdrew from the crowd and returned to her room to process the information.
When the Lingyun Pavilion branch opened, did they send an invitation to the Gu family? But for some reason, the Gu family did not respond. Did Gu Pingting not mention it to her family?
In the current situation, the Gu family has clearly shielded them from some of the limelight. I wonder if the other party thinks it's harmless or is too busy to care.
She only hoped that Lingyun Pavilion could make money discreetly in the city and avoid trouble as much as possible, and that the Zhou family could handle things well.
The third piece of news, and the most unexpected gain, is that relations between Da Yue and Da Qin have become increasingly tense in recent years. Da Qin has always been a major country in silk cultivation and textile production. After the deterioration of relations, the price of silk textiles entering Da Yue from Da Qin has risen sharply, almost becoming a luxury item.
To change this situation, Dai Viet began to introduce cotton cultivation from the north, hoping to compete with silk textiles. This year, thanks to ample sunshine and the fact that cotton is relatively drought-resistant, Dai Viet's cotton harvest was very good. However, unexpectedly, the sales were not satisfactory.
Currently, the cotton-padded jackets and quilts circulating in the Dai Viet market are almost all made of silk floss, which is mainly silk wadding. This is because there are not many people growing mulberry trees and raising silkworms here, and the technology is not mature, so the price has remained high.
In the past, the price of silk floss was 700 to 900 wen per jin (500 grams), and a thick long cotton-padded coat or a set of cotton-padded clothes and trousers would require at least three jin of cotton, plus the fabric, which would cost at least three taels of silver.
When Cheng Ruyi first transmigrated, the Cheng family only had three short cotton-padded coats. Cheng Yan's coat had been worn for decades, hers was left by the original owner's mother, and Xiaoman's coat was the original owner's dowry. The family originally only had one cotton quilt, and they only added another one two years ago when Cheng Yunping got married.
Although the original owner's family was an ordinary middle-income family in the county, silk floss was not something they could easily afford.
Cotton is only just beginning to be promoted now. Because it has not been planted for long, people don't know much about it yet. In addition, the weather has been hot this year, so the price is several times lower than that of silk. You can buy a pound for about two or three hundred coins. Ruyi overheard this information when two merchants in the next room were complaining.
Her eyes lit up immediately, and she quickly made an excuse to sneak over next door and chat with the cotton merchants. After some haggling, Ruyi finally bought two thousand catties of top-quality cotton for two hundred wen per catty, which only cost a few hundred taels in total. It was incredibly cheap.
These goods are all stored in the dock warehouse. She only needs to find a cargo ship to help transport them back to Huaishan County when she leaves. There are far more cargo ships than passenger ships traveling between the prefectural city and Huaishan County.
When Ruyi left Youranju, she was in a great mood. She had found out almost all the information she wanted to know. No wonder the protagonist in the story loved to visit teahouses so much. It was true!
After returning to the inn, and considering the information she had gathered, she decided to use the first Spirit Rain Talisman.
That night, rain suddenly began to fall within a radius of a hundred miles centered on the prefectural city. Although most people had already gone to sleep, the prefectural city was a place of nightlife, and naturally many night owls witnessed this magical rain.
So people got excited and ran into the streets shouting. As more and more people joined in, the noise grew louder and louder, even waking up people who had already fallen asleep. Finally, the crowds gathered until midnight before slowly dispersing.
Although the rain was not heavy, it was exceptionally gentle and refreshing, and it lasted for two whole days. By the time Ruyi returned to Huaishan County with all the goods, the rain had not yet stopped.
Ruyi glanced at the large "Current Spiritual Power: Nineteen Points" displayed by the system and couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache.
The spiritual energy I had painstakingly gained was almost entirely gone in an instant, which is roughly equivalent to a thousand taels of silver!
Apart from the Lantern Festival incident at the beginning of the year, the system has not issued any new tasks. Although it's been peaceful and comfortable, it also means there's no way to obtain spiritual power. Now she suddenly hopes for some simple special tasks, like catching thieves, which is both safe and profitable!
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