Chapter 65

Ye Baizhi’s voice was already lovely, to begin with, and Da Bao’s was even more so—soft, sweet, and adorably childlike. His tender, milky voice rang out as he shouted about the tanghulu, standing out sharply amid the bustling market. It carried far, and with such an irresistibly cute tone that nearby shoppers couldn’t help but turn to look. What they saw was a simple grass rack in front of Ye Baizhi’s stall, adorned with bright red fruit skewers. They were rosy and glossy, gleaming in the sunlight.

People recognized them at once—those were red berries.

On the Beast Continent, everyone called hawthorn berries “red fruit.”

“That’s red fruit. Why call it a gourd?”

“They’ve been skewered up—looks a bit different from regular red fruit.”

“Why is it so shiny? Looks tasty somehow.”

“We came here to buy salt. We don’t have extra spirit stones, so stop looking at other things.”

The beastmen from the lower-ranked tribes focused solely on buying salt and ignored everything else. But many from wealthier backgrounds didn’t even bat an eye at the price. To them, two blue spirit stones were ridiculously cheap.

Some people were simply drawn over by the growing crowd. Others had come to the market specifically to find food, so of course, anything edible caught their attention.

“That little kid is munching on red fruit bite by bite—not even fazed by the sourness.”

“He sure looks like he’s enjoying it.”

“Let’s go have a look.”

Ye Wulan was tall, and with Da Bao in his arms at the front of the stall, it was easy for onlookers to see the child eating the candied gourd.

Da Bao played along perfectly—he didn’t eat quickly, nibbling slowly while repeatedly declaring, “Yummy! So yummy! Really sweet—not sour at all…”

At that moment, the well-dressed woman who had been at the stall earlier suddenly snapped out of her thoughts. “You really mean we can try a sample?”

“Absolutely—free tasting. If you don’t like it, no need to buy,” came the reply.

Truthfully, if she were to sell just the red candy itself—as sweet as honey—it wouldn’t come cheap. She could even sell the candy alone, without the fruit. But the red candy came in solid chunks, which weren’t ideal for sampling. The tanghulu, however, was a different story.

Since she had just started her stall, Ye Baizhi needed something affordable and delicious to attract customers. Once more people came, and the stall gained a good reputation—once everyone came to trust her—then she could start introducing other products. That way, everything else she sold would be easier to sell.

She placed neatly cut pieces of the tanghulu on a wooden tray; each one skewered with a toothpick for easy sampling. Each hawthorn was cut into four pieces to make tasting easier.

The well-dressed woman picked one up and popped it in her mouth. At the first bite, her eyes lit up. She looked down at the tanghulu, visibly shocked. So tasty?

“Sweet?”

“It really is sweet!”

“Only two blue spirit stones a skewer?”

She quickly pulled out four blue spirit stones. “I’ll take two skewers.”

Ye Baizhi smiled. “Sure!”

She was just about to take the stones when the woman hesitated, then said, “Actually, make it six!” She handed over twelve blue spirit stones in one go.

Ye Baizhi took them and gave her six skewers.

The woman carefully wrapped four in oiled paper and placed them in her basket, giving one to her daughter and keeping one for herself. As they walked off, they eagerly began eating. The little girl—about five or six years old—couldn’t wait either. With her first bite, she lit up and squealed excitedly, “Mother, it’s sooo good! So sweet!”

Her mother chuckled. “It is sweet.”

“It’s really good. Let’s head home and let Grandpa, Grandma, and your father try some too.”

Their whole family had a sweet tooth. Of course, she had come to the market specifically to buy something sweet—she craved that sugary taste. Her family did drink honey, but it was expensive and couldn’t be enjoyed freely every day. This candied gourd, on the other hand, was sweet and affordable. The woman found it a fantastic deal. She hurried home with her daughter, eager to share.

Meanwhile, other beastmen arriving at Ye Baizhi’s stall overheard the exchange and saw the joy on the mother and daughter’s faces as they ate the gourd. Suddenly, they all felt hungry and couldn’t resist wanting to try it too. Doing the math, they realized—that two blue spirit stones were cheap.

A few beastmen stepped forward and pulled out their spirit stones.

“I’ll take a skewer.”

“Me too.”

Ye Baizhi busied herself, taking spirit stones while handing out candied gourds. Seeing the pile of blue spirit stones grow in her basket, her spirits soared. The feeling of doing business and steadily collecting money was truly exhilarating.

Ye Wulan, feeling sorry for Ye Baizhi and worried she might be overwhelmed, held Da Bao in one arm while helping hand out candied gourds to customers with the other.

Some people began wondering if they could trade goods instead of using spirit stones.

A male beastman, watching others buy and praise the candied gourds, hesitated for a while. He wanted to buy two skewers to take home to his wife and child.

“Um… can we pay with items here?” he asked.

Ye Baizhi thought to herself—he could easily go to a shop to exchange goods for spirit stones. But shops usually offered low rates when bartering, undercutting the value of the items. So, if a stall accepted goods directly, many would prefer to trade rather than convert the goods to currency first. Still, her candied hawthorns were cheap, which didn’t make barter ideal.

Looking at the beastman’s cautious demeanor, she asked, “What do you want to trade?”

The man pulled a gourd from his cloth bag. “Will this work?”

“If it does, I can bring more over to trade.”

As he said this, he looked visibly nervous. He had actually tried to exchange this gourd at a shop, but they refused—calling it worthless.

Other vendors hadn’t accepted it either. He had already traded his beast pelts and wild meat for salt, but he was still hoping to buy a treat for his wife and child. He’d noticed how much the children seemed to love this snack. He didn’t understand it completely—but even if he bought one, he wouldn’t eat it himself. He just wanted to take it back home to his family.

Ye Baizhi’s eyes lit up—the gourd he offered was large and genuinely useful.

Small gourds could be made into ornaments, while larger ones could be turned into containers. They could hold wine, water, or other drinks. In the future, when she brewed soy sauce from soybeans, she could store it in gourds too. They could even be fashioned into ladles—perfect for scooping water. Since there was no bamboo in the north, they couldn’t make bamboo tubes. Wooden barrels had to be carved and sanded, which was time-consuming and tedious, but gourds were far more convenient.

“All right, I’ll give you two skewers for six gourds.”

“Great! I’ve got four right here—let me get one skewer first.”

The male beastman, clearly excited, hurriedly brought out four gourds.

Ye Baizhi accepted three and handed him a skewer.

Once someone broke the ice, others followed, bringing items to trade. But if it was something she didn’t need, she only accepted spirit stones. That said, she did accept some herbs.

One person, who had studied herbal identification with a tribal healer, brought herbs to exchange—and Ye Baizhi agreed. She could recognize medicinal plants, and these were indeed good ones.

Ye Wulan gently said, “Baizhi, we probably won’t need these herbs.”

Ye Baizhi gave him a mysterious smile. “Who says they’re for us? That’s Isatis root. I can use these herbs to make medicine for colds.”

“When the weather turns cold, more people catch colds. Cold remedies can sell well, too.”

In the Beast Continent, shamans and healers were extremely rare. Most lived within specific tribes and rarely treated people outside them. But there were many wandering beastmen living beyond the tribes—when they got sick in winter, they had to find medicine themselves, and it was hard to get anything effective. If she sold remedies for colds and chills, they’d likely sell out.

So yes, she accepted the herbs.