EHCR 15

 Chapter 15: Do You Fancy Me?

"So expensive?!"

"Uncle, rarity makes things valuable. These wild mushrooms are scarce, taste amazing, and have high nutritional value—they are no less impressive than chicken or pork. Most importantly, I can guarantee that your tavern will be the absolute only place offering them."

Seeing that Tiechui was still hesitant, she dropped another surprising offer: "I won't charge you upfront. You can settle the payment with me after you've sold them, and if any are left unsold, I'll take them back."

Tiechui's hesitation all along stemmed from the fear of failing to sell them or taking a financial loss.

Even though in this era of scarce resources, filling one's belly practically trumped eating well, Song Zhaodi had observed that his tavern catered to high spenders in town, and those with money to spare for alcohol certainly weren't short on cash.

A risk-free deal with no chance of losing money—there was no reason not to try. Tiechui immediately agreed.

Song Zhaodi weighed the mushrooms, instructed Tiechui on how to cook them and what precautions to take, and included the preparation method for the termite mushrooms as well.

"Uncle, the termite mushrooms are a bit cheaper, ten copper coins a catty."

Tiechui jotted everything down, and after they drew up a cargo invoice and stamped it with their handprints, Song Zhaodi headed over to the apothecary.

The most important task for today was selling the Lingzhi mushroom.

Instead of selling it right away, she first visited two different pharmacies to inquire about market prices. Once she had a solid grasp of its value, she headed to the exact same apothecary where Song Yaodong bought his medicine.

Hearing that she had a Lingzhi and inspecting its exceptional quality, the assistant immediately invited Manager Wu out from the back.

"Oh my, oh my! This Lingzhi is truly magnificent!" Manager Wu admired it like a priceless treasure, muttering under his breath, "This is just like someone handing over a pillow right when you're feeling sleepy."

It seemed Manager Wu was precisely in urgent need of a Lingzhi.

That worked out wonderfully.

"Manager Wu, how much do you think it's worth? As long as the price is fair, I'll sell it to you."

Manager Wu glanced at Song Zhaodi, held up his hand, and gestured as he said, "At most, five taels of silver."

Fearing she might refuse to sell, he quickly added, "To be honest, young lady, if you took a specimen of this quality to a major city like the county seat or higher, it would definitely fetch more than this."

"But, young lass, being able to offer this price right here is old man's absolute greatest sincerity."

Manager Wu was right; neither of the previous two pharmacies had offered anything above five taels. Fully aware of the market value, Song Zhaodi didn't try to haggle and sold it for five taels.

Beaming with joy, Manager Wu collected the Lingzhi and reminded Song Zhaodi that if she ever came across more medicinal herbs in the future, he would definitely buy them at a fair, honest price.

Song Zhaodi readily agreed. After receiving the five taels of silver, she worried that carrying such a massive sum on her person wouldn't be safe—especially since Sun Xiuhe was far from easygoing.

After some thought, she decided to pay off her father's remaining medicine costs in full right then and there, and asked Manager Wu to add some qi-tonifying and vitality-nourishing herbs into the original prescription.

Manager Wu showered Song Zhaodi with praise, calling her a deeply filial child. Remembering the distressed state of Song Yaodong and his wife during their previous visit, he couldn't help sighing with emotion.

"Your parents having a daughter like you is truly their great blessing."

"Manager Wu, you must keep this a secret for me. Absolutely no one can find out."

Instead of taking all the medicine home at once, she made an arrangement with Manager Wu to collect a batch every ten days.

That way, it wouldn't look too abrupt or arouse any suspicion from Song Dachuan and Sun Xiuhe.

At that moment, the assistant handed over a paper parcel and asked with curiosity, "Young lady, what do you need so much Sichuan peppercorn for?"

Song Zhaodi just smiled without offering an explanation. If she told them it was meant for cooking, people would surely think she had lost her mind.

In this era, Sichuan peppercorns were strictly classified as medicinal herbs, and people hadn't yet started incorporating them into cooking. Thus, Song Zhaodi had no choice but to purchase them—along with a few other spices—directly from the apothecary.

Between the 150 copper coins from the water celery and the five taels from the Lingzhi, minus the cost of the medicine, she was left with a neat sum of two full taels of silver.

With all her personal errands finished, it was time to hit the market and buy groceries, otherwise she wouldn't have a proper explanation for Song Yaozu when she got home.

After strolling around the market, Song Zhaodi decided to spend the minimum amount of money to acquire the maximum amount of goods.

In this era, pork was the staple meat dish, but because people lacked cooking oil, fatty meat was actually more expensive than lean meat.

The more fat a cut of pork had, the costlier it was.

Consequently, Song Zhaodi bought two catties of lean meat and one catty of pork belly.

Because pig offal carried a heavy, gamey odor and didn't sell well, the butcher had originally planned to take it home for his own family.

Seeing that Song Zhaodi wanted it, he let it go cheap.

A whole set of pig intestines cost a mere two copper coins—bought!

Two large slabs of pig blood cost just one copper coin—bought!

Two pork kidneys cost five copper coins—bought!

That morning before leaving, Song Yaozu had instructed Sun Xiuhe to catch and slaughter a chicken, insisting that since they missed out last time, today's feast was non-negotiable.

After thinking it over, Song Zhaodi pointed at a pig's stomach and asked, "How much for this pig stomach?"

"Ten copper coins."

"Uncle, look—I've already bought so much from you. Be a bit generous and give me a fair price so I can take it all together and you can pack up your stall early."

The butcher was straightforward as well, "Alright, let's call it eight copper coins then."

Song Zhaodi paid the sum, picked up a large head of Chinese cabbage, and finally—following Song Yaozu's explicit instructions—headed over to buy two catties of white rice and three catties of liquor.

When everything was tallied up, she had spent a total of eighty-nine copper coins.

This was the very first time Song Zhaodi had ever spent such a large sum of money on food.

Back in the day, this much money would have covered their entire family's living expenses for several months.

Today, just to host Song Yaozu's fair-weather friends, Sun Xiuhe was truly bleeding her savings to keep up a false front of wealth.

Since she was the one doing all the running around to shop and cook, pocketing a small service fee was only fair.

With that thought in mind, Song Zhaodi comfortably rationalized the leftover cash as her own hard-earned labor fee.

It was time to head back, but the items in her back-basket were so heavy that she broke out into a sweat after walking only a few steps.

Right at that moment, a rough, booming male voice rang out:

"Zhaodi-meizi, you bought so much stuff today, come on, load it onto my cart."

Before Song Zhaodi could even get a refusal out, Shen Che had already effortlessly lifted her back-basket and the rest of her parcels.

He carried them as if they weighed nothing at all, prompting her to inwardly marvel: It really is nice to have muscles.

Once Shen Che secured the items and turned around to find her still standing frozen in place, he grinned broadly, "Are you too exhausted to move?"

Song Zhaodi quickly snapped back to her senses, wiped the sweat off her face with her sleeve, and without any awkward hesitation, climbed right up onto the opposite side of the ox-cart.

If she could save herself some physical exertion, she was never one to make things hard for herself.

Seeing her seated and settled, Shen Che tugged the rope around the ox's nose, and the cart smoothly set into motion once more.

After catching her breath and regaining her stamina, Song Zhaodi pulled a couple of copper coins from her tunic to hand over, but Shen Che just raised an eyebrow and refused to take them.

Not understanding what he meant, Song Zhaodi pushed the coins a bit closer and spoke up, "This is my fare."

This time, Shen Che still didn't take them, instead using his large, calloused palm to gently push her hand back.

Song Zhaodi looked slightly bewildered. Watching her retract her hand, Shen Che's gaze flickered with deep, swirling undercurrents.

"You don't need to pay to ride my cart." With that, he pulled a greasepaper package from his tunic and thrust it straight into Song Zhaodi's arms. "Here, something to eat."

It was a meat bun.

Cradling the warm meat bun in her hands, a sudden fuse in Song Zhaodi's brain snapped.

Incredulous and uncertain, she blurted out, "Do you... by any chance, fancy me?"

--