Today was quite exhausting, and Hao Cheng decided to rest and calm down first. She bought some vegetables and noodles from the villagers with the copper coins she had collected from the house, cooked a big bowl of noodles in the stove, filled her stomach, and then fell asleep under a thin blanket.

When the morning sun shone on Hao Cheng’s face through the cracks in the roof, she shielded her eyes with her hand, confirmed that she was indeed dressed, and then got up to wash with a brush dipped in salt. Following the memories from when she was a ghost, she put on a short outfit suitable for working.

Paper and pen were too expensive, so Hao Cheng didn’t intend to waste money on them. She first took out a white garment washed by her scholar mother from the cabinet, cut a square piece of cloth with scissors, and wrote a plan for the things she needed to buy on it with a fine charcoal stick.

The food was not enough, so she bought two months’ worth of provisions, including twenty catties of fine grain and twenty catties of coarse grain to cook with. She also needed to buy ash flour and glutinous rice flour for making pancakes, dumplings, and ^[1]“Tangyuan” are a traditional Chinese dessert made of glutinous rice shaped into balls that are served in a hot broth or syrup. They come in varying sizes, anything between a marble to a … Continue readingtangyuan to diversify the flavors.

There was only one stool left, so she needed to buy two more. The door lock needed to be replaced with a sturdy one for peace of mind. The house’s tiles were broken and leaked when it rained, so she bought tiles and asked Aunt Dong to repair them. The pigsty was empty, so she had to go to the village to catch two piglets to raise.

She couldn’t bear the hardship of working in the fields, but she was good at raising chickens and ducks. And when these chickens and ducks grew up, she could also eat their eggs.

After carefully tallying the accounts, Hao Cheng hid the ten silver taels in a broken corner of a tile jar, held the cloth filled with writing tightly, and went out early in the morning with the ten silver taels.

In the town, she first rented a cart for twenty wen, then bought everything on the list one by one. Leveraging her sharp tongue honed from bargaining at the market and bargaining with old ladies in her past life, she managed to lower the prices.

The vendors selling goods shook their heads repeatedly, “Young people nowadays are really good at bargaining, alright, I’ll give you another five wen off.”

“Knowing that Auntie offers good deals, I’ll definitely come back to buy from you next time.” Hao Cheng smiled and took the change back, even bargaining for a few scallions at the vegetable stall.

In her previous life, she wouldn’t have been so stingy once she had some assets, but now her funds were limited, and she hadn’t figured out a way to make money yet. Every copper coin was precious to her.

By the time the last basket of chicks and ducklings was loaded onto the cart, it was almost lunchtime. She spent two wen on two big meat buns on the street and then sat on the fully loaded cart back to Xinghua Village.

After cleaning the entire house and arranging all the new items neatly, Hao Cheng couldn’t help but shed tears of emotion. Although she had lost the material possessions she had worked hard for in her past life, she was now a homeowner with land and savings.

She still needed to find a job that she could do, or all the money she had would be spent. Anyway, she had time to think about it, not as urgent as before.

At noon, she ate a bowl of plain noodles and fried more than ten pancakes with the purchased ingredients. When the sun was not so scorching, Hao Cheng took the dagger and basket she had bought today and went out. Xinghua Village was surrounded by mountains and water, and it had rained a few days ago, so she should be able to find some fresh bracken and wood ear mushrooms.

With luck, she might even catch some mountain chickens to bring back.

As she left, the villagers greeted her one after another. Fortunately, Butcher Zhang’s daughters, Da Huo and Xiao Xiong, were also going into the mountains to chop wood and offered to accompany her for a while.

Although the twin sisters were four years younger than Hao Cheng, they were already taller than her. With sturdy builds and inexhaustible strength, it would definitely be safer for her to go with them than to venture into the mountains alone.

Hao Cheng wasn’t as thin-skinned as a scholar, so she greeted them with a smile. After walking for a while on the mountain road, Hao Cheng’s feet started to blister.

As a result, the Zhang sisters had to slow down their pace to accommodate her. Xiao Xiong expressed her dissatisfaction, “If you can’t keep up, then don’t follow us. We need to get back before dark, and walking this slowly means we’ll have to cut down fewer trees!”

Da Huo, being more steady, gave her sister a tug to signal her to stop talking. “My sister doesn’t have a filter when she speaks, and she didn’t mean it that way, Sister Hao Cheng, please don’t take it to heart. We’ll just chop wood nearby, so we can still make it back in time.”

Xiao Xiong snorted and muttered under her breath, “How can there be so little wood suitable for chopping here? Shouldn’t we have left her behind? Such a hassle.”

It was indeed bothering others, but Hao Cheng didn’t say anything to the foul-mouthed kid. She just shook her head at Da Huo to indicate that she didn’t mind and began to search for the mountain goods she wanted among the hills and wilderness.

She had put some herbs in the basket that could be used as seasoning, and luckily found several pepper plants. She also picked quite a few gray-white mushrooms and even discovered a chestnut forest.

It was September now, shortly after the autumn harvest, and it was the season when chestnuts were ripe, so Hao Cheng was naturally delighted. Seeing her so happy, Xiao Xiong poured cold water on her, “You’re really inexperienced. Chestnut trees are everywhere, and you’re so happy about it.”

She thought this weak scholar had found some treasure, but it turned out she had just discovered chestnut trees that were everywhere.

Despite Xiao Xiong’s unpleasant remarks, Hao Cheng was in a good mood and didn’t bother with her. The chestnut trees in the village belonged to the village, and they had to be bought, but the things in the mountains were free. With so many chestnuts, she could make so many delicious things: caramelized chestnuts, chestnut cakes, chestnut pancakes…

As a result, besides a pile of mushrooms and some pepper, her basket was filled with chestnuts. When she returned, she shared the pancakes she had made for lunch with the Zhang’s sisters.

Xiao Xiong’s opinion changed immediately after tasting the pancakes, “Sister Hao Cheng, how did you make these pancakes so thin and delicious?”

Although they had cooled down a bit, the pancakes were thin and crispy, with tender eggs inside, and Xiao Xiong couldn’t stop praising them after taking a bite.

Hao Cheng’s tone wasn’t very enthusiastic, but she was polite, “Just made them on a whim. If we go up the mountain together next time, I’ll bring more for you.”

With the pancakes and caramelized chestnuts, Hao Cheng successfully won over the Zhang sisters’ stomachs. Without her having to make an effort, Xiao Xiong, who loved delicious food, would definitely come to call her when they went up the mountain.

After accompanying the Zhang sisters several times, the three of them became closer, and Hao Cheng learned a lot about where wild animals roamed and where good things could be found from them. Xiao Xiong, the talkative one, even told her that her uncle’s wife, Kou Qing, seemed to have hooked up with some big shot from the capital.

Hao Cheng didn’t pay too much attention to it. “What big shot could come to our town to do business? It’s just those servants sent by noble ladies and gentlemen to buy things.”

Da Huo also chimed in, “Anyway, your uncle is not a good person, and he holds grudges especially. We’re just worried about you, so just be careful, Hao Cheng sister.”

Hao Cheng nodded to indicate that she remembered, “If you hear any news, come and tell me.”

After many trips back and forth, the blisters on her feet had become thick calluses, and she finally got used to walking the mountain roads.

Now she could guarantee her safety even when going into the mountains alone without following the Zhang sisters.

The mountains bordering Xinghua Village were a treasure trove, and after walking the mountain roads several times on her own, she actually discovered something good.