"Hey, it really is Aunt He. Please come in and sit down. It's not proper for me to keep you standing outside." Manager Guan's face, which had been gloomy for days, finally showed a wry smile.
Without further ado, He Tiantian stepped inside.
The shop was filled with a dazzling array of fabrics and ready-made garments, all hanging there neatly. He Tiantian thought to herself, "This shopkeeper really spends a lot of money when it comes to purchasing goods."
"It's been a long time since I've been to your shop. With such dazzling array of fabrics, which woman could leave empty-handed?" He Tiantian couldn't help but sigh.
Manager Guan almost cried when he heard this. "Oh, Aunt He, please don't be so sad for me. I'm really having a run of bad luck. I just imported a batch of the finest silk gauze from the south. Before I could even sell it, the plague started."
Now everyone is keeping their doors tightly shut and afraid to go out, so who would want to go shopping?
He Tiantian stepped forward and touched the "Yanyu Sha" that Manager Guan had mentioned. It was silky smooth and must have been made of top-quality silk.
It is indeed a fine product. If she weren't just a village woman who didn't need such a good thing on a daily basis, she would definitely have bought a few bolts to make clothes.
He Tiantian nodded. "Shopkeeper, you have a good eye. This thing is so precious, it must have cost a lot to buy, right?"
"Yes, the cost price is three taels of silver per bolt. After adding the manpower and resources spent on the long journey, I sell it for ten taels of silver per bolt."
Normally, the shopkeeper wouldn't reveal such confidential matters in business. But now that this batch of misty rain gauze can't be sold, it's equivalent to getting nothing.
He didn't care about secrets anymore; he had invested a thousand taels of silver, and it seemed like it was all going to be stuck with him.
He just wants to vent to someone to make himself feel better.
He Tiantian was quite surprised; the price of this misty rain gauze was far beyond her imagination.
"This plague won't end anytime soon. I'm afraid by the time it's completely cured, we won't need to buy the misty rain gauze anymore."
This misty rain gauze is as thin as a cicada's wing; it can probably only be sold in the summer.
Once autumn and winter arrive and the cold winds blow, the nobles will all be buying the finest silks. Who would still buy such thin fabrics to make clothes?
Moreover, if we wait until next year, the patterns and designs on this batch of gauze might already be outdated, and the price will be even lower.
No wonder the shopkeeper was crying; if she had to lose so much money, she would have cried too.
He Tiantian asked some more questions about the plague. It turned out that as early as two months ago, people in Changning County had started to show symptoms such as fever and cough.
At first, the county clinics treated it as a common cold, but in just a few days, more and more patients with similar symptoms appeared in the county.
Moreover, some people endured the pain for more than ten days, eventually developing symptoms such as respiratory failure.
This matter caught the attention of the county magistrate, so all the doctors from the city's clinics were invited to the government office to study prescriptions for treating the plague.
The more He Tiantian listened, the more familiar it seemed, as if it were similar to the modern COVID-19 pandemic.
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