Chapter 22

“Mom, now that we have some money, can we go to the city tomorrow and bring my cousin along?”  

Yin Huaixi paused, surprised that her daughter had been thinking about this. No wonder the girl wanted to go out and sell cold tea in the afternoon—she wanted to go to the city. Feeling a bit guilty, Yin Huaixi had refused earlier to avoid taking on more obligations.  

“Yes! We’ll go together.”  

“Yay!”  

Jiang Wan was overjoyed, but then remembered something and quickly added, “Mom, let’s go to the city after we finish gathering seafood. Sea urchins sell for ten coins each. I’ll see if I can gather more tomorrow or find other things to sell.”  

Lately, the tide had been going out in the morning, and Jiang Wan didn’t want to miss the opportunity.  

“That works. I’ll go tell Xiaoman’s family we won’t need their boat, so they don’t have to wait on us,” Yin Huaixi said, heading out. Jiang Wan quickly caught up and handed her a pair of scissors.  

“Mom, can you also return Aunt Cuifang’s scissors?”  

“Got it. Now go wash up and take a good rest,” Yin Huaixi replied.  

Jiang Wan nodded and went back to take a warm bath with her cousin. After dinner, they returned with her mother to the small stone house before it got dark.  

When they first arrived, the stone house had a musty smell, but after burning some herbs a few times, the whole place now had a light herbal scent. The house was extremely simple—just a bed and nothing else—but neither of them minded. They lay on the bed, sharing some private thoughts.  

“Mom, what else do you need to buy in the city besides food?”  

“I need to get coarse salt, oil, and some cloth…” Yin Huaixi felt a bit embarrassed as she spoke. This trip to the city would probably cost every coin her daughter had earned.  

“Yesterday, I saw your aunt washing a menstrual cloth she’d made from an old piece of fabric. Your cousin’s time of the month is coming up, and mine is around the same time. There’s only one cloth at home…” She sighed as she trailed off.  

How she missed modern-day sanitary pads! She’d never complain about leaks again.  

Here, menstrual cloths were simply two thin pieces of fabric with some plant ash stuffed in between. They had to be washed and reused, which wasn’t sanitary! But she had no choice. They didn’t have modern supplies, and she couldn’t afford cotton, assuming it was even available.  

Jiang Wan understood her mother’s frustrations but didn’t know how to help. However, she could work hard to earn money to improve their living conditions so her mother and others could eventually use disposable pads.  

“Mom, what do you think of me becoming a full-time merchant?”  

They were in a strange era, where women had few rights and were expected to be subservient to men. As someone from the modern world, she couldn’t stand the thought of living such a repressed life.  

Her deadbeat father was out of the picture now, so he couldn’t interfere. As long as her mother supported her, she could go after her dreams.  

Yin Huaixi, who had raised her daughter on her own, was open to the idea of her daughter going into business.  

But… “You’re only twelve… that’s a bit young.”  

She knew her daughter had the mind of an adult, but others didn’t. People would gossip if they saw her engaging in trade.  

“I’m not too young! Here, girls start getting engaged at thirteen or fourteen!”  

This made Yin Huaixi freeze. She had nearly forgotten that girls in this era had so little agency and were expected to marry young.  

She, with her medical skills, could make a living anywhere. Having already been married, it would be fine if she never remarried. But for her daughter, who had only learned drawing and piano—skills not exactly useful here—marriage pressure would come soon. Girls here were expected to start meeting suitors at thirteen or fourteen and be married by fifteen or sixteen, often before they’d fully matured.  

There was no way she would let her daughter marry so young. She needed a plan.  

“Mom, why aren’t you saying anything?”  

“Just thinking.”  

Yin Huaixi shared her concerns, and her daughter burst out laughing.  

“Mom, you’re so cute! I’m only twelve, and you’re already thinking that far ahead.”  

Jiang Wan wasn’t worried about marriage at all.  

“If I don’t want to get married, there are plenty of ways out. Don’t worry; I’ll stay by your side no matter what. I never thought about marriage before, and I still feel the same. Even if I do meet someone I like, he’d have to marry into our family.”  

Yin Huaixi: “…”  

Her daughter’s idea was appealing, but maybe a bit too naïve. In modern times, men found it shameful to marry into a woman’s family; it would be even harder in an era like this, where women’s status was so low. Would any respectable man agree to that?  

Yin Huaixi pondered the question for half the night, unable to fall asleep.  

The next morning, she got up later than usual. By the time she reached her elder brother’s house, only he was there, putting the finishing touches on a basket.  

“Little sister, can you prepare the herbs? This basket is almost ready, perfect for carrying things to the city.”  

Yin Huaixi nodded, thinking her daughter should be home soon, so she decided not to go out.  

At that moment, Jiang Wan was indeed preparing to head back. She had taken her cousin and aunt to the place where they’d found sea urchins yesterday. The urchin cluster had shifted slightly but was still nearby, and they managed to gather quite a few.  

Just as they were about to call it a day, they noticed a hint of red in the water.

With one look, Jiang Wan immediately recognized the creature in the water. She quickly dumped all the sea urchins from her basket onto the sand and darted into the water. The fish had likely been stranded in the shallow tide pools as the water receded and was now struggling to swim back to the open sea.

Jiang Wan wasn’t about to let such a good catch slip away. She dashed over, scooped it up with her basket, and swam back to shore as fast as she could. By the time she returned, her clothes were soaked up to her chest. Her mother and cousin, shocked, quickly came over to wrap her up.

“Cousin, are you crazy?! Do you even know how to swim? All this for a fish?!”  

Jiang Wan nodded seriously. Yes, it was absolutely worth it. This wasn’t just any cheap fish.

“Don’t worry, Cousin. I know how to swim. Besides, I didn’t go too far—see, the water was only up to my chest.”

Song Wenhui frowned, glancing around, but since Jiang Wan had already done it, she decided it was best to get her home to change into dry clothes.

“Let’s go back.”

Jiang Wan shook her head, dumping the sea urchins from the bucket and asking her cousin to fill it with seawater to keep the fish alive.

“Auntie, my cousin and I will wait here. Could you please go back and bring Uncle’s basket so we can pack up the sea urchins?”

“Alright, I’ll also bring you something dry to wear.”

As Song Wenhui headed back, Yin Ning couldn’t help but ask, “Cousin, what kind of fish is this? It’s so beautiful!”

The large fish in the wooden bucket was a brilliant red, with tiny white specks scattered over its body like stars in the night sky. It was dazzling.

“This fish is called a coral trout,” Jiang Wan explained. In modern times, wild ones were incredibly expensive, and they wouldn’t be cheap here, either.

Red was a color of celebration and luck in any era, and with a fish this gorgeous, it was bound to fetch a handsome price.

Hehe~