The Eldest Daughter of a Rural Family
Chapter 85: Visiting to Catch the Autumn Breeze (1)_1

Chapter 85: Chapter 85: Visiting to Catch the Autumn Breeze (1)_1

Hearing someone following from behind, Pei Qin raised an eyebrow and turned her head to glance back. She saw two figures dart into an alley off the street. Her eyes flashed with amusement, and with a chuckle, she continued into the alley, arriving at the back door of the Moon Tavern.

Recognizing them, the worker hurriedly let them in and went to call for the Shopkeeper.

Ge Liu came out, saw that they were carrying so much, and immediately smiled, coming forward to help, "You’ve gathered this much this time? You must have saved up for several days!"

Pei Qin smiled without elaborating and asked about the Shopkeeper.

Soon the Second Shopkeeper from last time came over and immediately asked about the winter bamboo shoots, "How much of that mountain produce did you bring this time?"

"Everything in this sack here," Pei Qin pointed at the sack at her feet.

Seeing only a half-filled sack, the Second Shopkeeper looked slightly disappointed, "This vegetable really is hard to find!"

"Having this much is already not bad," Pei Qin opened the sack to show him.

The Second Shopkeeper then asked about the other three sacks, and upon hearing they were all bamboo rats, he wanted to haggle the price. However, he also wanted to buy the winter bamboo shoots and decided to stick to the previous price for Pei Qin, urging her to bring more winter bamboo shoots next time. His words suggested a reluctance to take more bamboo rats.

Pei Qin agreed readily, slipping the two taels and forty copper coins of silver into her jacket’s small pocket and handed the sixty copper coins in change to Lady Fang, then led them onto the street, "Let’s buy some oil, salt, spices, and also some more rice and flour. And let’s buy some fabric and cotton for making cotton-padded clothes."

At this, Si Ya immediately pulled a long face, "We’ve just earned this little money, and now it’s going to be spent all at once. When will we ever save any money!?"

Pei Qin turned her head and asked her, "What’s the point of earning money?"

"To live on!" Si Ya said discontentedly.

"Wrong! It’s to live a good life! If you earn money but still live miserably, eating chaff and vegetables and just sitting on a pile of silver, then what’s the point of earning it?" Pei Qin gave her a disdainful glance.

Si Ya wanted to complain further.

Pei Qin said impatiently, "When you earn your own money, you can save it however you like!" She was getting a headache from this!

Si Ya’s face stiffened, and she was at a loss for words.

Lady Fang patted her, "Listen to your eldest sister, now that we have money, let’s live a little better!"

San Ya also chimed in, "Eldest sister’s cotton-padded jacket has several patches and is running out of cotton."

Lady Fang sucked in a breath, "Let’s go to the Clothing Store!"

With a displeased face, Si Ya sulkily followed behind.

Walking ahead, Pei Qin entered the Clothing Store and didn’t pick the expensive types, just ordinary cotton cloth. Each of them took enough for one outfit, spending over four hundred copper coins.

Next door at the cotton batting store, they bought twenty catties of cotton batting.

Across at the rice and flour shop, they bought several kinds of rice and flour, filled up on oil and vinegar, and bought some spices and pickled vegetables.

Just as they finished packing up, Pei Qin turned and entered the cutlery shop, coming out with a sharp chopping knife in hand, "This will be much better for cutting firewood than that old kitchen knife. Let’s go, time to head back!"

The two who had been tailing her watched as she casually carried the chopping knife down the street, her manner so bold and fearless that they trailed farther and farther behind until they finally stopped following. Those goods wouldn’t fetch much money anyway, and they probably had spent most of what they had earned.

Pei Qin took out some small change at the city gate to buy a few baked buns and, turning to look back, saw that the tail was indeed gone. She snorted, then boarded a mule cart.

All the way home, Si Ya’s face was so gloomy it could drip water. Her mother always sided with her eldest sister, doing whatever she said. The silver that had just come into their hands was now gone, and she wondered how they were going to get through this winter!

"The money’s spent, but we’ve bought things with it. This rice, flour, oil, and salt will last us a month," Lady Fang consoled her.

Though they did buy quite a bit, when they returned to the village, where previously no one paid much attention, there were now several people greeting them, all with the intention of inquiring about the bamboo rats.