Chapter 7: Grievance and Trembling
Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
“Then how much do you think is appropriate?”
Shopkeeper Qin stroked his beard. This was a test. Even if the price they quote was low, he would still lower it.
Longyue said, “Shopkeeper, look at this lingzhi’s umbrella flower. It’s so big and has many annual patterns on it. This is obviously a precious, aged lingzhi. You might not even be able to buy it for 100 copper coins, let alone 10 copper coins! But you gave me 10 copper coins for one liang. You’re not sincere in doing business!”
“Uh…”
Shopkeeper Qin blushed and looked slightly embarrassed. He had wanted to swindle them, but he ended up meeting someone who knew the ins and outs of medicinal herbs. She even knew about perennial and annual lingzhi. Now he felt ashamed…
He said embarrassedly, “Miss, you’re right. I was being greedy previously. How about this, let’s price it at 110 copper coins per liang?”
“Well”
When Li Qingqiu heard that an entire 100 copper coins had been added at once, he was so excited that he almost bit his tongue off.
He had weighed these lingzhi before coming here. They weighed at least two jin, and one jin was equivalent to 16 liang. In that case… Heavens, the lingzhi would fetch at least three to four taels of silver.
They had struck gold this time!
Li Qingmu touched his brother’s head and felt that this kid had lost his composure. He was a little exasperated.
“This family is too poor,” he thought. He felt that he had been a burden as the elder brother. If he passed the imperial examination in the future, he would definitely not let his family suffer anymore.
Longyue ignored the emotions of her brother-in-law. She guessed that most medical centers would pay 120 to 130 copper coins per liang. Although this price was a little low, it was not too far off.
“Alright, go ahead!”
After measuring, the total weight came up to two jin and five liang. There were also some plantain, honeysuckle, and other herbs. Shopkeeper Qin skillfully fiddled with an abacus and said with a smile, “Miss, the lingzhi is a total of 4070 copper coins. The ordinary herbs here are a total of three jin and one liang. Let’s round off to 4,600 copper coins. How about that?”
“Sure, the shopkeeper is kind.”
“Cough…”
These words were a little frank. Shopkeeper Qin smiled dryly.
“Shopkeeper, help me split the silver and copper coins equally.”
“Okay, here you go, lady.” Longyue gave Li Qingqiu 2 taels and 300 copper coins, and the rest to Li Qingmu.
Li Qingmu was stunned. “Wife, what do you mean?”
Longyue glared at him. “I already said that I would save money for your imperial examination! It will take at least half a month to get to the provincial city. We can’t go with you. If you don’t have enough money along the way, the journey will be difficult.”
Before Longyue could finish, he kissed her and chuckled. “I know your intentions, my wife, but you should take care of this money.”
Longyue was stunned.
“This bastard is always thinking of taking advantage of me!” she thought.
The three of them walked out of the medical center. Li Qingqiu was deep in thought about the money in his hands. “Give these 2 taels to Mom and let her buy some food for our family. She’ll definitely be happy. These 300 copper coins… Well, hehe, just take it as my pocket money. Longyue, I’ll go buy a few skewers of candied haws!”
The little fellow skipped away to buy candied haws. Longyue touched her rumbling stomach and was looking for a place to eat steamed pork buns when she saw Li Qingmu walk towards the entrance of a small alley.
“Wife, this way.”
Longyue dragged her younger brother-in-law, who was eating candied haws, away. The three of them went to the hawker’s stall and ate three steamed pork buns. When they turned around and walked out, they saw a fabric shop diagonally across from them.
“Let’s go and buy a few pieces of cloth.” Longyue knew how to do embroidery, and her skills were excellent. She could make quite a bit of money by turning rags into embroidered handkerchiefs.
The fabric shop was called ‘Jinxiu’. The boss was a young woman dressed in red. After the three of them entered, a shop assistant came up to greet them. Longyue explained her intentions, and he took some cloths from a corner.
“Madam, there are usually many ladies in my store who want these cloths for embroidery work. The prices of these cloths are all different. Look…”
Longyue glanced at them and said, “How much are they in total?”
“210 copper coins.”
“I want them all.”
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“Alright, little madam. I’ll pack them up now…”
“Hey, isn’t this Cousin? You’re the eldest daughter of the Pang family in the capital. Why are you living in such a small place?”
The shop assistant was interrupted by a gentle voice from behind.
Longyue frowned as she looked over. Two women and a man were selecting fabric in the opposite corner of the fabric shop. One woman was wearing a light purple dress, and the other woman was wearing a pink dress. Beside them was a man dressed in blue who looked like a scholar.
Longyue curled her lips into a cold smile. The girl in purple who had spoken was her distant cousin, Zhou Zhiqin. Her family background and appearance were far inferior to Longyue, so she had always felt inexplicably jealous of her. In her past life, whenever Zhou Zhiqin was down and out, she would run to Longyue’s step-sister, Pang Shuangyue, to conspire against her.
Now she was here to disgust her again. Longyue glanced at her calmly. She wanted to know what she had to say.
“Well, Cousin.” She walked forward quickly and bowed. “I forgot. I heard from the people in the capital that Cousin seemed to have done something… Oh, how you must have felt wronged.”
After saying that, she deliberately glanced at Li Qingmu, who was beside Longyue.
“Ugh, she wants to dredge up the past rumors about my affair to repel us,” Longyue thought.
“Unfortunately, that thorn has just been removed not long ago.”
She smiled and said, “Thank you for your concern, Sister. I’m living a very good life. Marrying my husband is my good fortune from my previous lives. I don’t feel wronged.”
The girl’s expression immediately turned ugly. On the other hand, Li Qingmu’s eyes lit up.
“Yo, of course, you can’t say that you’ve been wronged. After all, don’t you know what kind of person you are? Someone who is guilty of having an affair… Aiyah! It’s not easy to find someone to marry. Why would you ask for anything more?”
A coquettish laugh could be heard. It was the girl in pink who had followed Zhou Zhiqin here. Her words were sharp and carried deep mockery and malice.
On the other hand, the man in a green shirt beside her frowned.
Longyue looked up and was just about to reprimand this indiscriminate young woman when Li Qingmu, who had been silent all this time, suddenly raised his head and asked with a blank expression, “This young lady said that my wife was involved with someone else, but I, Li Qingmu, don’t know what ‘involved’ means. Can you explain?”
“Pfft!” The girl in pink found him funny and said to the man in green beside her, “Young Master Xiang, listen to me. This person is a bookworm. Being involved… Isn’t that losing her chastity? Heh heh…”
“Eh? Losing chastity? Young Miss actually knows about this. Could it be that you’ve experienced it?”
“Uh…”
The girl’s expression froze immediately, and Longyuue giggled.
“This man actually knows how to play dumb and pretend to be innocent. Did he defeat his opponents like this in his previous life?” she wondered.
“Stop talking nonsense. I’m innocent. How could I have lost my chastity?”
“Oh, then I apologize for my impoliteness. I just saw that you were beaming with joy when you mentioned this, so I thought that you were very experienced.”
“You…”
The girl in pink had wanted to humiliate Longyue, but it did not work out. Instead she got herself into trouble and was so angry that she was trembling.
However, this man’s words were civil, and he looked respectful and humble. It was really hard to fight with him.
Humiliated, the girl in pink turned to the man in blue beside her. “Young Master Xiang, don’t listen to his nonsense. There’s no such thing!”
Young Master Xiang frowned. “Women should refrain from talking too much. Miss Lu’s words were over the top.”
“I…”
The girl in pink widened her eyes and looked at him in disbelief. Young Master Xiang had always treated her well. Even if she had disputes with other women, he would still side with her. “But what the heck is going on today?” she wondered
At this moment, Li Qingmu bowed to Young Master Xiang. “Brother Xiang, I have something to do at home. I’ll be taking my wife back first.”
“Brother Li, take care.”
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Both sides exchanged greetings before Li Qingmu and the other two left. When they were gone, the girl in pink was about to query him when she was stopped by Zhou Zhiqin. She looked at her in disdain, feeling that her companion was a little stupid.
Then she asked slowly, “Why was Young Master Xiang so polite to that person?”
“Polite? Ha, Miss Zhou, you’re overthinking. I’m just keeping a respectful distance from that person.”
“Why?”
Young Master Xiang did not utter a word. His gaze turned distant as he clenched his fists tightly.. No one could see that his fists were trembling slightly…