Twenty jin of sugar-roasted chestnuts at eighty wen per jin came to a total of one thousand six hundred wen; the other fifteen jin of sugar-roasted chestnuts were sixty wen per jin, which brought in another nine hundred wen. Added together, that made two thousand five hundred wen. In the Kingdom of Yunliang, the exchange rate was one tael of silver for one thousand wen; in other words… Li Menglan now had more than two taels of silver in her hands.
Hehe… Forget Li Dazhu—even Li Menglan herself had never dreamed of such a thing. Even after they had walked a long way from “Xianke Ju,” Li Dazhu still felt as if his head were spinning. “Girl, your dad wasn’t dreaming just now, was he? Why don’t you pinch me and see if it hurts?” Li Dazhu still felt that what he had seen not long ago did not seem real at all.
“Dad.” Li Menglan shot her father a reproachful look. “Dad, it’s still broad daylight, and you’re already talking nonsense.” Still, this father of hers was truly rather adorable.
“Hehe… Girl, don’t be mad at your dad. Isn’t your old man just too happy?” Li Dazhu’s honest, simple face was full of smiles.
“Dad, don’t worry. Our family’s days will definitely get better and better from now on.” Li Menglan was genuinely happy. With this money, she could buy many things the family needed; this winter, she would no longer have to worry about how they would get through it.
“Mm.” Li Dazhu lovingly reached out and patted Li Menglan on the head. “Dad believes my girl. Our family’s days will get better and better.” It had to be said that Li Dazhu really was quite a good father.
“Dad, it’s still early. How about we go stroll around the market?” Li Menglan made full use of the advantages of this body of hers, affectionately linking her arm through Li Dazhu’s and acting spoiled. “I want to buy some things.”
“Oh… Girl, what do you want to buy?” Li Dazhu found it a little strange. How did his daughter suddenly have so many ideas?
“Dad, you, Mother, Grandpa, and Grandma should all buy some cotton and cloth to make padded clothes. The weather’s getting colder and colder now.” Li Menglan counted carefully on her fingers, listing the things she wanted to buy. “And Big Brother and Second Brother too. We should also add a few quilts at home. And rice, flour, salt… Right, I also need to make a trip to the medicine shop.”
“The medicine shop?” Li Menglan’s final words immediately startled Li Dazhu. “Girl, are you feeling unwell somewhere? You have to tell Dad. Don’t hide it from me, understand?” Li Menglan had only just recovered from a serious illness, so Li Dazhu was now rather jumpy at the slightest sign of trouble.
“Dad, I’m fine. I just want to buy a few medicinal ingredients and see if I can make the fragrance I want.” Li Menglan smiled as she soothed Li Dazhu’s fragile heart. “Dad, how about we go into that cloth shop and have a look?”
Sharp-eyed, Li Menglan had noticed a newly opened cloth shop at the place they had just passed by. She casually pointed at it. “Dad, look, that cloth shop seems like it only opened recently. Uh… its goods should be quite complete. Shall we go in and take a look?” Li Menglan tossed the decision back to Li Dazhu.
“All right. Whatever my girl says, we’ll do.” Li Dazhu smiled honestly, and father and daughter turned a corner and walked into the cloth shop.
“Customers, what would you like? Please take a look around.” A big shop was indeed a big shop; this level of service was far beyond what an ordinary small cloth store could compare to. A trace of appreciation appeared in Li Menglan’s eyes.
The cloth shop assistant, dressed in blue, ignored the Li father and daughter’s clothing and appearance. With a warm smile, he enthusiastically introduced the goods. “Esteemed customers, please come this way and take a look.” The assistant led Li Menglan and Li Dazhu toward the counter on the left.
“Customers, these are all a new batch of fabrics our shop just brought in.” The blue-clad assistant pointed at the fabrics on the counter and explained them in detail to Li Menglan and Li Dazhu. “Although these blue and cyan fabrics are ordinary in color, the material is good and very durable.”
Li Menglan blinked curiously and pointed with her finger toward the right. “Big Brother, what about those over there?” Although the distance was a little far, Li Menglan could still see clearly: on the counter to the right were all kinds of bright-colored silks and satins.
Hehe… Well now, who would have thought that even in ancient times, there were already sales guides? Li Menglan could not help secretly marveling at the wisdom of the ancients. Mm… it seemed the owner of this cloth shop was no simple person. The left side followed the commoner, mass-market route, while the right side took the refined, high-end, upper-class route. This cloth shop was really quite interesting.
“Customer, everything on the right is silk and satin. For you, it probably wouldn’t be very practical,” the blue-clad assistant said honestly.
“Mm, thank you, Big Brother!” Li Menglan smiled and nodded, casually thanking him.
“Big Brother, how is this blue cloth sold?” Li Menglan touched the blue and cyan fabrics with her hand. The texture was not bad, a bit like the homespun cloth she had seen when she was little in her previous life. Just as the blue-clad assistant had said, this kind of cloth should be very durable.
“Customer, our humble shop is opening today. Plain homespun cloth is all ten wen per chi; patterned homespun cloth is two wen per chi more expensive than the plain kind.” Ho… good fellow. Li Menglan really had not expected it—so this truly was homespun cloth.
Li Menglan secretly calculated in her heart. Her father, grandfather, grandmother, big brother, and second brother each needed at least one set of clothes. Uh… that was the most basic. Ancient people’s tailoring basically did not waste much extra fabric, but even so, one set of clothes for her father would require at least seven or eight chi of cloth, not to mention her grandfather and her two brothers…
“Big Brother, if I buy more, can you make it a little cheaper for me?” Li Menglan began to bargain with the blue-clad assistant.
Uh… the blue-clad assistant frowned somewhat awkwardly. “Then, customer, how much do you want to buy? Actually, ten wen per chi is already very cheap. In all of Qingshui Town, other than our shop, you won’t find a second place with a price this low.”
Uh… all right! Li Menglan had to admit that what he said was probably true. But… when Li Menglan thought about how many things she still needed to buy, her originally wavering heart became firm again.
“Big Brother, if I not only buy cloth here, but also buy cotton from you, can you make it a little cheaper?” Li Menglan saw the cotton beside the counter, and an idea suddenly came to her.
“This…” The blue-clad assistant was extremely troubled. He was only a small shop assistant; how could he make such a decision? “Customer, why don’t you wait here for a moment? I’ll go inside and invite the shopkeeper out to personally discuss it with you.”
“No need. Just do as this young lady says. Whatever she wants to buy, give it to her at the original price.” A clear voice came from the entrance of the cloth shop. The white-clad young man who walked in from outside against the light—who else could it be but Zhao Qingyun from “Xianke Ju”?
“Big Brother Zhao.”
“Young Master!”
Li Menglan and the blue-clad assistant’s voices rang out at almost the same time.
“Young Master?” Li Menglan’s face was full of surprise. “Big Brother Zhao, this cloth shop is also opened by your family?” Good heavens, Li Menglan secretly clicked her tongue. Could this guy be some rich second-generation and official second-generation rolled into one? Looking at the white-clad young man before her, Li Menglan thought of the famous rich second-generation and official second-generation of later times.
Dear—can I say you’ve hit the truth?
Don’t even say it; Zhao Qingyun’s identity really was quite similar to those rich second-generation and official second-generation of later times. If not eighty percent, then at least seventy percent alike, right?
“Lan’er, what a coincidence. I didn’t expect we’d meet again so soon,” Zhao Qingyun said with a smile. Originally, Zhao Qingyun had only intended to stop by his family’s newly opened cloth shop today on his way back to the residence to take a look. He truly had not expected that there would be a surprise waiting for him here.