"This is called a tent. Anyone want to try it? Take off your shoes and go inside."
Qin Zixuan and Qin Qingyu were the first to act, and the two little ones immediately rolled around inside, finding the soft mat fun and novel.
Qin Qianya took off her little shoes and followed her inside, immediately giggling and reaching out her hand: "Sister, come on in!"
Liu Xiaoyun glanced at her mother shyly, and seeing her mother nod and smile at her, she took off her shoes and sat down.
The tent provided by the system was large enough to comfortably sleep four children. Mo Qianchang then instructed Xiao Yao to set up another tent.
With both tents set up, while Xiao Yao was starting a fire, Mo Qianshang lay in one of the tents checking the system.
Compared to tents made of waterproof fabric, cotton quilts are much cheaper; three quilts cost only ten taels of silver.
Although she had already told Xiao Yaoshi and didn't intend to keep it a secret forever, Mo Qianshang knew that human nature couldn't withstand testing, so she decided to just put on a show and not take out the quilt for now, and would talk about it another day when she had the chance to go to the county town.
Having made up her mind, Mo Qianshang carried out a bag of rice, set up a pot to cook porridge, and said, "You all take your bowls too, let's eat together for now."
Even through the pot lid, Xiao Yao could smell the aroma of the rice—the finest rice they couldn't afford: "No, no, we still have some pancakes we made on the way here that we haven't finished. Besides, we're not very hungry right now. We can eat when we're hungry."
Mo Qianshang ignored her and forced herself to eat two full bowls of porridge when it was ready: "That's enough. Let's get some sleep tonight. I need to go to the nearby county town to buy some things tomorrow."
The next day, Mo Qianshang set off lightly, leaving Xiao Yaoshi to take the children on the mountain. She also reminded them not to wander around unless necessary, as they were unaware of the surrounding area and it was easy for them to attract wild animals.
That was probably meant to scare people, but just in case, she exaggerated a bit.
She asked around as she went, and eventually found the county town. Fortunately, there was nothing going on in town recently, and the city gates were not heavily guarded, so she carried her bundle and went in.
The first place Mo Qianshang went to wasn't shopping, but rather a pawnshop. She wanted to use the system to make money by buying and selling things!
As soon as Mo Qianshang entered, she felt the waiter scrutinizing her. She glanced at herself and regretted not buying a nice set of clothes to change into first. She was still wearing the old clothes she had worn on her journey, patched upon patched.
She opened her bundle, took out a kitchen knife she had redeemed in the system, and looked at the waiter, saying, "This is what I want to pawn. Tell me how much you can give me."
When the waiter saw that the woman wanted to pawn a kitchen knife, he was still cautious because she was from a large store and the knife did look different from an ordinary kitchen knife.
Ordinary kitchen knives have wooden handles, but this kitchen knife's handle is made of some unknown material; it's black, and the entire knife is shiny.
The waiter reached out and picked up the cleaver, examining it from all angles: "This cleaver looks different from ordinary ones. I wonder how it was forged; it looks extremely sharp."
He examined it carefully, and after confirming that it was just a kitchen knife, he put it back in its place: "But I don't care how it was forged, it's just a kitchen knife, right? Could it be that it was made by some famous craftsman? I know some famous people who forge weapons, but I've never heard of any famous person who forged a kitchen knife like this."
The waiter raised his chin and gestured with his hand: "But our pawnshop is willing to pay a high price for such novelties, even if they are not made by famous craftsmen. I'll give you ten taels of silver."
The waiter was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected the person in front of him to actually bring out something he'd never seen before. But he was certain that it was indeed a finely crafted kitchen knife. Kitchen knives didn't fetch much of a price, and usually no one would pawn them. Ten taels of silver was enough for a farmer like this, who had been living comfortably for a long time. It seemed like a generous offer.
He offered this price simply to prove himself, but to his surprise, Mo Qianshang sneered and covered his bundle up again.
"Oh, sir, what do you mean by this?"
Mo Qianshang looked at him with a puzzled expression: "What else could it mean? It's obviously because I'm not satisfied with the price you offered. Sorry to bother you."
The waiter was naturally unwilling to accept this and reached out to stop Mo Qianshang: "You woman! The price I gave you is clearly fair. Go ask other pawnshops, and I'm afraid they won't even give you five taels of silver. But you refuse to pawn it to my family. It's obviously because you're holding a grudge from our previous argument. Isn't that a bit unfair?!"
Mo Qianshang turned to look at him: "What do you mean by that? Isn't that a bit too petty and treacherous? If I wanted to sell, and you offered a fair price, even if I didn't like you, I would still sell. But clearly, the price you offered is completely different from what I expected. Does your pawnshop only allow taking in but not taking out?"
Pawnshop owners are very superstitious about things like "allowing people to take in but not to take them out," because such talk would definitely damage the pawnshop's reputation. The shop assistant was convinced that Mo Qianshang held a grudge against them, and in his anxiety, he actually tried to stop her.
As a mercenary, Mo Qianshang's safe distance was much greater than that of ordinary people. Her eyes sharpened, and she reached out to grab the waiter's wrist!
"Wait, don't make a move!"
Just then, a male voice suddenly broke in. Mo Qianshang looked in the direction of the voice and saw a man who looked to be in his forties walking out from behind the curtain of the shop.
The waiter turned around and immediately called out, "Manager!"
Mo Qianshang thought to herself: It seems that this is the person in charge of the pawnshop.
The shopkeeper stepped forward and glanced at the waiter: "Why can't we talk things out instead of resorting to violence?"
After he finished speaking, the waiter shrank back, and then the shopkeeper turned to Mo Qianshang and said, "Sir, my surname is Zhao. This waiter is young and impetuous and doesn't know how to speak properly. I apologize to you in advance."
Mo Qianshang was initially furious, but seeing that the shopkeeper's attitude was indeed good, she didn't want to create any discord with such a large pawnshop because of a shop assistant, so she nodded and said, "Shopkeeper Zhao, you flatter me. My son is still young."
Taking the matter lightly, Manager Zhao pointed to her bundle and asked, "May I take a look at what you brought?"
The shopkeeper was busy in the back and had only vaguely heard the reason for their argument. He came out now to resolve the dispute, and his desire to see what Mo Qianshang had brought was merely out of courtesy.
She then took out the kitchen knife again and spread it out on the table.
Manager Zhao was caught off guard. He looked down at the cleaver and was momentarily puzzled, then his eyes widened in surprise!
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