Li Xinniang and Li Yueniang had just recovered from Yan Qingqing's flattery when they saw Yan Qingqing winking at them. So they quickly took the baskets off their backs and placed them in front of Doctor Zheng.
Doctor Zheng bent down, picked up the medicinal herbs that Yan Qingqing and the others had prepared, and examined them. They were of uniform thickness, dried just right, and looked quite good.
Dr. Zheng stood up, coughed, and said, "The quality is indeed quite good. Although we don't produce much woad here, there are many substitutes. Moreover, it's relatively simple to process, so the price isn't high."
Yan Qingqing nodded in agreement, because what Dr. Zheng said was true.
Yan Qingqing didn't mince words and said directly, "Since these things are being sold here by Doctor Zheng, it's because we trust him. You can give me a price; I believe Doctor Zheng won't take advantage of us orphans and widows."
Doctor Zheng rolled his eyes at Yan Qingqing and said, "I've done a lot of good deeds in my life, how could I possibly take your hard-earned money?"
I get my medicine from the supplier for twenty coins a pound, but I'll give you an extra two coins, making it twenty-two coins a pound.
Upon hearing this, Yan Qingqing's eyes crinkled with joy, and she patted Doctor Zheng repeatedly. Doctor Zheng, in turn, smiled broadly, his eyes practically disappearing from his grin.
Then he said to the young shop assistant, "Half a jin, come and weigh these medicinal herbs."
The young waiter, who was called Half a Catty, quickly replied, "Yes, sir."
Yan Qingqing and her group brought three baskets of woad, each containing about ten kilograms.
Yan Qingqing was secretly amazed. These things could be sold for more than 600 coins, which solved her immediate problem.
Finally, Doctor Zheng paid Yan Qingqing 672 coins and told her that if she had any good quality medicinal herbs in the future, she could sell them to him, and the price would definitely be fairer than elsewhere.
Yan Qingqing naturally expressed her deepest gratitude to Doctor Zheng.
The mother and her two daughters walked out of Renshantang carrying empty baskets, all feeling a little unreal.
Especially Li Xinniang and Li Yueniang, they sold such a small amount of stuff for more than 600 coins, they had never seen so much money in their lives.
Although Yan Qingqing didn't show it on the surface, she was also very excited. This was the first pot of gold she had earned since coming to ancient times.
After calming down, Yan Qingqing looked at the two women and asked, "Xinniang, Yueniang, do you know where Dalang, Erlang, and Sanlang are working? I want to go and see them."
In ancient times, communication was very underdeveloped. Li Xiangping had been away from home working for several days, and Yan Qingqing had no idea where he had gone.
Especially Li Xiang'an and Li Xiangjian, Yan Qingqing hadn't seen the two brothers since she woke up. After all, they were only thirteen years old, and she was worried about them.
Li Xinniang and Li Yueniang shook their heads upon hearing this. Neither of them had ever been to the city, let alone knew where to look for it.
Since she couldn't find Yan Qingqing, she stopped worrying about it and said to the two sisters, "Forget it, let's not ask about it today. We've earned some money today, so Mom will take you around. Let's see if there's anything we need and buy it back."
The two were delighted to hear this and began strolling around the streets with Yan Qingqing.
Thinking of the bowl of thin porridge she had eaten that morning, Yan Qingqing turned and headed towards the grain shop.
In the original owner's memory, there was a shop called Wugufang, which had a wide variety of goods at reasonable prices.
The mother and her two daughters arrived at the grain store. The shopkeeper, seeing that there were customers, quickly came out to greet them and asked, "Sister-in-law, are you looking to buy some grain to take home?" He did not neglect them at all because of their clothes.
Yan Qingqing nodded and asked, "Um, how much is the flour per pound, shopkeeper?"
Yan Qingqing's words surprised the shopkeeper. It wasn't that he looked down on people, but Yan Qingqing's clothes certainly didn't seem like someone who could afford to eat white flour.
However, the shopkeeper was a shrewd man, so he naturally didn't show it on his face. Instead, he smiled and said, "This white flour is a bit expensive, fifteen coins a pound, but we also have black flour here for only six coins a pound."
In addition, we recently received a new batch of brown rice, which is very cheap, only two coins.
The price of this flour is indeed expensive, almost as high as that of pork.
However, the price of this brown rice is really cheap. Normal brown rice costs four coins per pound, but Wugufang only charges two coins.
Yan Qingqing knew that being greedy for small gains would lead to big losses, so she asked, "Shopkeeper, the price of this brown rice is half that of other shops. That's not very realistic."
The shopkeeper smiled wryly and replied, "Sister-in-law is right. This batch of brown rice was transported from the south. It got soaked in heavy rain on the way, but fortunately it was dried in time."
There was absolutely no musty smell, but the rice cooked from it didn't taste quite right.
This grain workshop has been passed down through generations of the Yang family. Honesty is paramount in business; even if we lose money on this batch of unpolished rice, we cannot afford to damage our reputation.
Yan Qingqing nodded to herself. She couldn't help but admire Manager Yang for upholding his principles in the face of profit.
In the end, Yan Qingqing bought five catties of white flour, twenty catties of black flour, and thirty catties of brown rice, for a total of two hundred and fifty-five coins.
Shopkeeper Yang hadn't expected this to be such a big customer, so he smiled and said, "This lady has quite a lot of things to buy, so I'll give you a discount and round it down to two hundred and fifty coins."
Yan Qingqing: ……
Yan Qingqing really wanted to yell at Manager Yang, "You're a complete idiot! Do you think I need your five coins? Who do you think you are?"
But in the end, she opened her mouth and forced a smile, saying to Manager Yang, "Thank you very much, Manager Yang."
Two hundred and fifty it is, at least I saved five coins. I've already spent more than a third of the money I made from selling medicinal herbs today.
Yan Qingqing divided the items equally into three baskets, and the weight was still within the capacity of the three people to carry.
Yan Qingqing thought that her family had been starving for years, so she decided to buy a few more pounds of meat to supplement the children's diet. Of course, Yan Qingqing herself was also craving meat; she used to be someone who couldn't live without it.
The pork seller was a burly man in his thirties who looked every bit the butcher. When he saw Yan Qingqing and her companions approaching, he flashed a few bright white teeth and said, "Sister-in-law, would you like some meat?"
Yan Qingqing nodded and then said, "Boss, this meat is all leftovers. Are you selling it off cheaply?"
There wasn't much meat left on the butcher's block. Hearing Yan Qingqing's words, he explained, "Sister-in-law, although I don't have much meat left, it's very fresh. It's all from pigs that were just slaughtered today."
The meat from today's meal was delivered to the Ding family mansion because the old mother of the wealthy man is celebrating her birthday the day after tomorrow.
Sister-in-law, you don't know this, but Master Ding is a very filial son. Every year on his mother's birthday, he not only throws a huge banquet, but also rewards anyone who gives a gift that pleases Old Madam Ding.
Of course, this generous reward is only for us ordinary folks; those high-ranking officials and nobles wouldn't even look at it..."
The butcher talked on and on, and Yan Qingqing's eyes lit up, but she didn't show it.
These days, fatty meat is mainly used for rendering oil and is quite expensive, costing fifteen coins per pound, while lean meat is relatively cheaper, costing twelve coins per pound.
In the end, Yan Qingqing ordered two catties of fatty meat and two catties of lean meat, which cost her fifty-four coins. The shopkeeper also gave her a few large pork bones for free.
After buying the meat, Yan Qingqing went to buy some sugar and salt, as well as a bag of pastries.
Knowing that Yuan Huiniang usually liked sewing and mending, she bought some needles and thread, and also bought a red ribbon for Li Xinniang, Li Yueniang and Xiao Niu Niu.
All these things cost Yan Qingqing another 130 coins, mainly because salt and sugar were too expensive, and those two alone cost 100 coins.
After buying all the herbs, Yan Qingqing's wallet shrank visibly. Of the 672 coins she earned from selling the herbs, she now had 238 coins left.
Although there were still many things to buy, Yan Qingqing dared not spend any more money; she always needed to keep some money on hand for emergencies.
When the three of them were about to go home, Yan Qingqing realized they hadn't even had lunch. So she gritted her teeth and bought three meat buns, spending another six coins.
Li Yueniang looked at the steamed bun in her hand and tears streamed down her face. She finally knew what meat buns bought in the city tasted like, and she no longer had to envy others.
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