Chapter 31: A Gift from Second Brother

How could Qin Xiaoyao possibly accept it? She immediately refused.

Uncle Zhao became angry.

"I told you to keep it, so keep it. Unless you think Uncle gave you too little?"

Upon hearing this, Qin Xiaoyao didn't dare to refuse anymore.

"Thank you, Uncle!" she said, touched by his gesture.

Uncle Zhao glared at Qin Xiaoyao in annoyance.

"There you go again!"

Following that, he explained to Qin Xiaoyao the procedure to sell items the next time she came to Fortune Mansion.

"I've already informed them. In the future, when you come to sell goods, as long as it's useful to the kitchen, they will accept them." 

"Even if I'm not here, they will still receive the goods and pay for them. You can rest assured."

Qin Xiaoyao nodded.

After chatting with Uncle Zhao for a while, she was escorted out personally by Uncle Zhao.

When the people in the kitchen of Fortune Mansion saw this, they understood that Qin Xiaoyao had a close relationship with their Manager Zhao, so they didn't dare to slack off.

Of course, this was a story for later.

After leaving Fortune Mansion's kitchen, Qin Xiaoyao took her shoulder pole and carried her bamboo backpack to the Hundred Herbs Hall to get medicine for Song Que.

Four prescriptions, a total of twelve applications, had cost her one tael of silver and two silver coins.

Fortunately, these twelve doses of medicine could last for six days. Otherwise, she was really afraid that she would not be able to afford it.

After putting the medicine into the bamboo backpack, Qin Xiaoyao went to the store where she bought the grains yesterday. After returning the two sacks used for the brown rice and flour, she got her deposit back.

When Qin Xiaoyao found out that the grain store also sold salt, she decided to forgo going to a shop further away and simply bought a catty of salt on the spot.

Fortunately, she had prepared in advance this time and brought a container that could hold salt, which saved her the deposit for the salt jar.

However, salt was expensive. A catty of salt cost her twenty copper coins.

Of course, this was because salt in itself was expensive. In this era, salt was a government-controlled item. The salt tax was extremely high, which raised the selling price of salt.

After paying for the salt, Qin Xiaoyao saw that they were also selling sugar next to the salt.

Thinking of the taste of the white sugar pancake, she couldn't bear the craving and asked for another catty of white sugar.

The reason she only bought one catty was that sugar was also expensive, at twelve copper coins.

Leaving the grain store after buying her stuff, Qin Xiaoyao felt that money was too easy to spend.

After taking a deep breath, Qin Xiaoyao went to the grocery store to buy lamp oil.

The price of lamp oil was not cheap either, at fifteen copper coins per catty. In the end, Qin Xiaoyao only bought two catties of lamp oil.

When she was buying the lamp oil, Qin Xiaoyao took a look at the grocery store and found that there were straw sandals for sale in the grocery store. They were also being sold for five copper coins per pair.

Therefore, after paying for the lamp oil, Qin Xiaoyao asked the shopkeeper if he accepted straw sandals.

The shop owner was surprised to see the straw sandals in the bamboo backpack that Qin Xiaoyao was carrying.

"The straw sandals are not selling very well in my store, so I don't have much need for them," the shop owner said.

"But, Miss, your straw sandals are woven exquisitely. How about this? If you want, you can sell me five pairs. As for the price..." The shop owner's eyes flashed with hesitation.

Then he said, "Three copper coins for a pair..." 

Qin Xiaoyao quickly agreed.

"Deal! Boss, you can choose." Then, she brought out a string of straw sandals.

The shop owner agreed with a smile and picked out five pairs of straw sandals.

Following that, he gave Qin Xiaoyao fifteen copper coins.

Qin Xiaoyao accepted it with a smile, thanked the shop owner, and left.

Qin Xiaoyao's steps became lighter when she finally got another fifteen copper coins in her account.

Thereafter, she went to the market on West Street.

Seeing that the vegetables were cheap, she bought some as well.

After that, she went to Qin Dazhuang's meat stall.

Since there wasn't any big fair today, there weren't many people at Qin Dazhuang's meat stall.

When Qin Dazhuang saw his daughter, he waved at her from afar.

He waited until his daughter came closer before asking, "Why did you come so late?"

"I went to Fortune Mansion to deliver some Chinese yam, and then I went to the Hundred Herbs Hall to buy medicine for my husband. I also bought some things that the house was lacking. I only came here after I finished my business," Qin Xiaoyao said as she handed the bamboo backpack to Qin Dazhuang, asking her father to put it aside for her.

Qin Dazhuang saw the most eye-catching item, the package of medicine, in his daughter's bamboo backpack, and a wave of heartache flashed across his eyes.

"Oh, so much medicine. You must have spent a lot of money, right?" He asked tentatively.

"It's still alright! It might look like a lot of medicine, but it's enough for six days. Also, the dosage will slowly decrease, and the medical expenses will also slowly decrease." Qin Xiaoyao replied, but she didn't say how much she had spent.

She knew what was going through her father's mind when she saw his worried expression.

Qin Xiaoyao then changed the topic.

"Yesterday, your son-in-law didn't sign the IOU. Did Aunt make things difficult for you?"

Qin Dazhuang was stunned.

"Why would she? Your aunt, she's..." 

"Sigh! She's not the kind of person who's unreasonable. If she knows that I've loaned five taels less, she'll probably be happy," he replied.

It would be strange if she didn't kick up a fuss. However, since the loan was reduced by five taels, she didn't cause too much trouble.

However, how could he say these words to his daughter?

Qin Xiaoyao looked at her father with a smile.

Her expression said, "Just keep on pretending."

It was only when she saw her father's embarrassed expression that she looked away.

"Since you say she didn't kick up a fuss, so be it."

Before her father could explain, Qin Xiaoyao took out the straw sandals.

"There were originally twelve pairs of straw sandals, but I sold five of them at the grocery store over there. Now, there are only seven pairs left."

"I'll leave these sandals with you. Please help me sell them and see how it goes."

When Qin Dazhuang heard this, he couldn't be bothered to argue with his daughter about what had happened earlier.

"Deal! Three copper coins for a pair, right? I'll give you twenty-one copper coins first." As he spoke, he prepared to take out his money.

Qin Xiaoyao quickly stepped forward and stopped him.

"Pay me only after you have sold them! At that point, I won't hesitate to ask you!"

Feeling helpless, Qin Dazhuang knew he couldn't change his daughter's mind, so he nodded.

"Alright," he said.

Qin Xiaoyao then looked at the meat on Qin Dazhuang's stall.

Just as she was about to open her mouth and ask her father for some fatter meat, Qin Dazhuang had already taken out a large lump of lard from the basket at the side.

"Your second brother asked me to give this to you. I almost thought that you weren't coming over today, so I thought I may have to make a trip to send this to you."

The lard was too heavy. Immediately after Qin Dazhuang took it out, he wanted to dump it into Qin Xiaoyao's bamboo backpack at once.

Qin Xiaoyao recovered from her shock and was about to stop him.

However, before she could speak, Qin Dazhuang said again, "There are about 20 catties here. Your second brother put it aside especially for you."

"Yesterday, you accepted the money from your big brother, so there's no reason not to accept your second brother's gift."

Qin Xiaoyao's body stiffened when she heard this.

This was lard, which could produce much more oil than pork fat.

Although the price was one or two copper coins less than pork fat, it was the most popular product on the meat stall. If one wanted to buy it, he had to come early.

Twenty catties of lard. If one catty were fourteen copper coins, it would be close to three silver coins.

Second Brother's gift was too valuable.

Qin Dazhuang helped his daughter wrap up the lard. When he saw that his daughter's bamboo backpack was finally full, he felt much more at ease.

Then, he turned around and went to the meat stall to get pig liver.

To his surprise, when Qin Dazhuang turned around, Qin Xiaoyao refused to let him put anything into her bamboo backpack anymore.