Chapter 23: Making Money

"I haggled with him and he gave me all five skewers for eight copper coins in the end. There are five people in our family, so we can have one each."

As she spoke, Qin Xiaoyao handed a skewer to Song Yun, who was the closest to her.

"Thank… thank you, Sister-in-law." Song Yun saw Song Ye eating so happily and was already craving it, so she took it immediately.

Qin Xiaoyao couldn't resist patting her little sister-in-law's head.

Then, she smiled and walked toward Madam Liu.

"Mother, this one is for you." Then, she picked one that still looked good and handed it to Madam Liu.

"I… I won't be eating it," Madam Liu turned down her offer subconsciously, though she couldn't take her eyes off the skewer.

It wasn't that she was a glutton, but her family was too poor, and she hadn't had anything sweet for a long time. Her body instinctively yearned for it.

"Sigh! I said one for each person. Mother, just take it!" Qin Xiaoyao stepped forward with a smile and shoved one skewer toward Madam Liu.

Only then did Madam Liu accept it.

"Thank… thank you." She blushed and said awkwardly.

"What's there to thank? We're all one family," Qin Xiaoyao replied with a teasing laugh.

Then, she walked over to the two little ones.

"This time, I'll have to trouble Ye'er to make a trip. Take this candied hawthorn to your Big Brother." After she finished speaking, she handed the last stick of candied hawthorn to Song Ye.

"Alright, Sister-in-law!" Song Ye happily accepted this task.

He took the candied hawthorn and ran off at once.

Qin Xiaoyao looked at the back view of the little child as he sprinted away, her heart bursting with joy.

After that, she also started eating the candied hawthorn in her hand.

After stuffing the candied hawthorn into her mouth, Qin Xiaoyao began to take out the things in the bamboo backpack.

There were two bowls, about two catties of pig liver, and two bags of food.

Seeing this, Madam Liu was quite taken aback.

Qin Xiaoyao explained, "Out of that bunch of Chinese yam that I brought to town, I sold ten catties to Doctor Li of the Hundred Herbs Hall. From the remainder, I gave ten catties to my father. And I asked my father to give the rest to my Uncle Zhao."

Madam Liu nodded but did not say anything.

The Chinese yam was brought back by her daughter-in-law, so it was her freedom to deal with it however she wanted.

Seeing this, Qin Xiaoyao was satisfied.

Then, she told Madam Liu about her experience while selling the Chinese yam, and also her intention to sell the Chinese yam to Fortune Mansion.

When Madam Liu heard the details, she was extremely shocked.

"Six… six copper coins per catty?" she stammered.

After that, she quickly looked in the direction of the kitchen counter.

Rice was being cooked on the stove right now.

In order to save food, she had put a lot of Chinese yam in the pot.

If she had known that this thing was more expensive than rice and flour, she could never bring herself to cook this for her own consumption.

Qin Xiaoyao laughed out loud, amused by her mother-in-law's reactions.

"Yes." She reaffirmed with a smile.

"But that was the price given by Doctor Li. If we sell it to Fortune Mansion, I'm afraid it will be lower. However, my Uncle Zhao is a fair man and will not push too hard for a low price." She estimated that it could be sold for four copper coins per catty.

Madam Liu nodded.

"We do not have to pay for things in the mountains. It's good enough as long as you can earn money," she said.

Qin Xiaoyao nodded in agreement.

"In addition, this pig liver was given to me by my father. I'll take it to the stream to wash later, and it'll be nice to add another dish." As she spoke, Qin Xiaoyao picked up the pig liver.

She was looking forward to having pig liver soup later.

When Madam Liu heard this, she felt grateful.

Although the in-laws had come to their house to make a scene in the past, it was indeed their family's fault at that time.

"And these two bags of brown rice and rough noodle flour. Each bag weighs ten catties. I thought I might as well buy them since I was in town."

As Qin Xiaoyao spoke, she picked up the two bags and went to the rice and flour jars.

"These sacks belong to the grain store. I put down a 10-copper coin deposit for them. The next time I go to town, I'll have to bring them back and return them to the store."

"Now there's enough rice and flour at home. Mother, you can put more when you cook. Or, you can bake more pancakes. Don't dilute them anymore."

"Okay," Madam Liu answered in agreement.

Chinese yam was so precious, even more expensive than brown rice and rough noodle flour. She would not dare to put them into the rice in the future.

Rather than Chinese yam, it was better to put in more brown rice.

Qin Xiaoyao poured the brown rice and rough noodle flour into the jars, folded up the sacks, and put them away. Then she looked at Madam Liu.

"In addition, about Husband's leg..." 

The moment she brought up this topic, Madam Liu looked at Qin Xiaoyao nervously.

"Doctor Li has already agreed to come over in the afternoon to give Husband a check-up. He can only give a firm diagnosis after he has seen the patient."

"However, Doctor Li said that if his condition isn't serious, he can be healed for five or six hundred copper coins."

Madam Liu's expression drastically, and she looked very worried.

A fee of five to six hundred copper coins was really not expensive.

However, looking at the situation at home… Even if it was only five or six hundred copper coins, she couldn't afford it.

Qin Xiaoyao saw Madam Liu's expression and smiled. "Mother, don't worry too much about the medical expenses."

"If we can sell the Chinese yam, it won't be a problem for us to raise five or six hundred copper coins for the medical expenses."

Madam Liu was stunned.

Only then did she remember the Chinese yam deal and quickly nodded.

"But I'm worried that Husband's injuries may not be that minor."

Madam Liu's face immediately tensed up again.

"Doctor Li said that if it's serious, we'll need to use some expensive herbs. In that case, it's possible to spend ten to twenty silver taels. "

"Ten… or twenty taels?" Madam Liu stammered in shock.

Qin Xiaoyao sighed again.

"Yes," she replied.

"But… our family..." Where would they get so much silver?

This time, Madam Liu became as anxious as ants on a hot pan.

"Don't worry. I've already found a way to get the silver." Qin Xiaoyao continued.

As Madam Liu stared at her, Qin Xiaoyao explained. "I went to talk to my father."

"He has already agreed to lend us ten taels of silver. However, my stepmother requested for my husband to sign an IOU. Moreover, we have to return the money within half a year."

"We should definitely sign an IOU, but half a year… can we really pay back if it's only half a year?" Madam Liu mumbled, her voice full of uncertainty.

"Of course we can," Qin Xiaoyao said immediately.

"Although we don't have land, we have a mountain behind us, so it's convenient to go into the mountains."

"There are many good things in the mountains. As long as we are diligent, we don't have to worry about not being able to earn money."

Seeing that Madam Liu was still worried, Qin Xiaoyao continued, "Isn't the Chinese yam a good example?"

"As long as Uncle Zhao is willing to help, we can simply dig up all the Chinese yam from that plot I discovered. It will not be a problem to sell it for two taels of silver."

Upon hearing this, Madam Liu's expression relaxed a little.

"But it's not like there's Chinese yam everywhere in the mountains," she said again after a while.

Qin Xiaoyao chuckled. "It's not just Chinese yam. There are also mushrooms, wild fruits, and wild game, all of which can be sold for money too, right?"

"Take those pheasants and wild hares I caught yesterday. Those things are very popular in the restaurants in town. Didn't I sell those two hare pelts for ten copper coins today?"

Madam Liu was stunned.

"Wild hare pelts can be sold for money too?" She was quite surprised.

"Yup," Qin Xiaoyao replied.

"There's a grocery store in town that specializes in collecting animal skins. Not only can you sell wild hare pelts there, they also take in deerskin, fox pelts, wolf hides, tiger hides, and the like, which are even more valuable."

"When I was a young girl, I saw it before. Someone sent a piece of tiger skin to the grocery store. It wasn't very big, but it was sold for twenty taels!"