Chapter 19: The Price Went Up Again!

The broker and Lu Chuan signed a contract for the purchase.

Buying and selling people was illegal—
But not when it came to those of lowborn status (the “jianji”).

And in fact, jianji weren’t cheap.
The only cheap ones were those who were physically weak and incapable of labor.
Anyone with even a bit of skill or strength, even as a jianji, could be sold at a sky-high price.
Ordinary households simply couldn’t afford them.
And even if they could, most weren’t willing to waste money on something like this.

Once the contract was signed,
Lu Chuan brought Chen Miaomiao into Cui Ji Grain Shop.

The shopkeeper stepped out and was momentarily stunned when he saw Lu Chuan.
“You again?”

“I’m looking for Cui Baiwei,”
Lu Chuan glanced around to make sure nothing seemed off, then said,
“I was sent by Steward Xu from the Xu household.”

“Oh?”
The shopkeeper hesitated briefly,
A conflicted look appeared on his face.
After a pause, he said to Lu Chuan,
“Let’s talk inside.”

Then he shouted toward the back:
“Second boy! Come out and watch the store!”

“Coming!”
A teenager of about fifteen or sixteen emerged from the back.

Meanwhile, the shopkeeper led Lu Chuan and Chen Miaomiao into a private room in the back.

“How much do you want?”
The shopkeeper asked in a low voice.

“Four hundred jin,”
Lu Chuan smiled and held up four fingers.

“Hmm…”
The shopkeeper paused and frowned.
“That’s not much, but the price might be higher than you expected.”

“Forty-five qian per jin.”
“For 400 jin, that’s about 18,000 qian, or 18 taels of silver.”
He spoke very seriously.

“Oh?”
Lu Chuan frowned slightly.

“But Steward Xu told me it was forty qian.”

“Forty qian was the price three days ago,”
The shopkeeper replied with a bitter smile.
“Blame me—I forgot to update Steward Xu.”

“…”
Lu Chuan stared at Cui Baiwei,
But he quickly realized the man wasn’t lying.

The price must have really gone up in the past three days.
He cursed silently—grain prices changed daily now.

“Why did the price go up?”

Cui Baiwei sighed,
“Since you were sent by Steward Xu, you’re not an outsider, so I’ll tell you.”

“Three days ago, the Bingzhou army started mass-purchasing old grain across the region.”

“As a result, there’s not much left in the market.
Most sellers now mix it with new grain before selling—
Some even sell it directly as new grain!”

“I consider myself relatively honest in business,”
“Forty-five qian is absolutely fair and square.”

“Alright,”
Lu Chuan nodded after a brief pause.
“But I didn’t bring enough money today.”

“I’ll take 200 jin for now,
And I’ll leave a deposit for the remaining 200 jin.
I’ll come back for it in three days.
Does that work for you?”

Cui Baiwei nodded.
“That works. In that case, just give me 10 taels of silver today.”

After doing the math, he replied confidently.

Lu Chuan gave a bitter smile.
Truth be told, he felt rather unwilling.
But this was just the way the world worked now—

Heaven doesn’t want you dead, but the world won’t let you live.

Suddenly, Lu Chuan understood why the original body’s owner had resigned himself to death.
Even if he had survived until the time to submit the grain tribute, he probably wouldn’t have made it anyway.

After paying,
Lu Chuan carried the 200 jin of grain and began walking back toward the village.

Chen Miaomiao followed behind him,
A strange glint flickering in her eyes.

Along the way, she kept glancing around.

Lu Chuan felt even worse.

His current body wasn’t strong enough to carry such a heavy load—200 jin (about 100kg)—and he still had a long way to go.

And with Chen Miaomiao around, he couldn’t just toss the grain into his portable storage space.

“Alright already.”

“Quit pulling that face. You look like you’re constipated.”

Lu Chuan shot an annoyed look at Chen Miaomiao, threw the load down, sat beside it, and gasped for breath.

“That’s it? You’re already done?”

Chen Miaomiao sneered at him.

Lu Chuan ignored her. He’d figured out what kind of woman Chen Miaomiao was—the type who wouldn’t move when pulled and would retreat when pushed.

He hadn’t even offended her.

On the contrary, he’d saved her.

Yet not only was she completely ungrateful, she actually held a deep grudge against him.

If he’d known this earlier, he might’ve bought a loom for Xiaobai at home instead!

“Right!”

Lu Chuan squinted at Chen Miaomiao. “I must’ve been out of my mind. I bought you, so obviously the hard labor is your job.”

As he spoke, he ordered coldly, “Pick it up and follow me!”

“…”

Chen Miaomiao’s eyes widened. She looked like she couldn’t believe what she just heard.

She pointed at herself. “Me?”

“Yes, that’s right. You.”

Lu Chuan tilted his head. “I didn’t buy you to make you some pampered young lady, now did I?”

Chen Miaomiao’s mouth twitched hard.

She had never met such a shameless man before.

In that moment, her favorability toward Lu Chuan dropped even further.

“You tied me up. How am I supposed to help you?”

Chen Miaomiao frowned, holding out her hands.

Lu Chuan didn’t hesitate. He wasn’t worried about her running away.

First, because aside from heading into the city, the only other options were Shuangshui Village or the desolate mountains.

And in this kind of weather, trying to survive in the wilderness was nearly impossible.

Chen Miaomiao shot him a glare, then walked over to the load and shakily lifted it onto her shoulders.

Oh?

Not bad.

Lu Chuan’s eyes lit up.

He hadn’t expected this frail-looking girl to be able to lift 200 jin of grain.

That was no small feat.

Even though she was swaying, Chen Miaomiao still gritted her teeth and persisted.

Lu Chuan was more than happy to see this.

Tsk, tsk. Nothing’s more pleasing than watching a pretty woman suffer.

Lu Chuan thought smugly.

At the same time, he began to suspect something about Widow Wang and Chen Qingqing’s identities.

According to his memory, Widow Wang and Chen Qingqing had come to Shuangshui Village ten years ago, claiming they were refugees.

Strangely though, despite being refugees, they had a travel pass.

It was only because Sun Zhi checked the pass and found no issues that he allowed them to stay.

Eventually, everyone just forgot about it.

Lu Chuan used to think there was nothing suspicious about their identities either.

But after seeing Chen Miaomiao, he started to realize something didn’t add up.

What? They lost their daughter while fleeing and just… never mentioned it?

Even if they had, would Widow Wang really have stayed silent all these years?

Either Chen Qingqing and Chen Miaomiao just happened to look alike, have similar names, be the same age, and share the same beauty score—a string of impossible coincidences—or…

There’s some hidden secret between the two of them.