Moreover, there were still many things she needed to buy today.

As soon as she stepped out, she went straight to the ready-made clothing store and bought ten sets of clothes—two sets for each of the five people in her family.

It wasn’t just Jian Xiu who said this; they were wearing dull clothes covered in patches, and there were no replacements.

They wore the same set every day, and if they really needed to change, they had to wash the clothes after taking a bath and then sleep naked that night.

So, Jian Xiu bought two sets at once.

“Can’t you make it a little cheaper for me, buying ten sets like this?” Jian Xiu asked with a smile, looking at the shop assistant.

She swore she had never bargained like this before, talking until her throat was dry over a few coins.

“Madam, I’ve already reduced five wen for you, I can’t lower it any more.”

“Since I’m buying so many, could you reduce it by three wen?”

“Ah, alright, alright, I can only reduce it by two more wen. Any more and the shopkeeper will get upset.”

“Fine, then pack it all up!” Jian Xiu said, smiling.

Next, she went to the rice shop, where she bought fifty pounds of rice, fifteen pounds of flour, and fifteen pounds of soybeans.

What surprised her was that the fifteen pounds of soybeans only cost thirty-five wen.

It worked out to less than three copper coins per pound.

After buying all this, she had spent almost a tael of silver.

Then, Jian Xiu bought some kitchenware.

She even bought an iron pot when she passed the blacksmith shop.

Looking at the total, Jian Xiu nearly scared herself.

The iron pot alone had cost almost two taels of silver.

But thinking about it, iron was particularly expensive here, so she calmed down.

Still, she had wanted an iron pot from the very first day she moved to the village, but she didn’t have a single copper coin back then, so she had to endure.

After all the purchases, including the clothes earlier, she had spent almost five taels of silver.

Thinking about it, silver really doesn’t last long.

Lastly, she went to buy salt.

She didn’t know how expensive salt was here until she bought it.

She had been prepared for the salt to be expensive, but she didn’t realize it was this outrageous.

The ordinary rice she bought was only fifteen wen per pound, but the salt was five wen more expensive than rice.

It was twenty wen per pound.

That was fine, but this salt also contained a lot of sand and stones. For cleaner salt, the price was forty wen, and the completely pure salt was sixty wen per pound.

Given Jian Xiu’s current situation, she could only afford the twenty wen salt, and she bought three pounds.

There was no choice; she planned to make soy sauce, and besides soybeans, salt was essential.

She would have to filter the salt when she got home.

Speaking of filtering, the people here probably didn’t know such a thing.

From the high-quality salt they sold, it seemed like they manually sorted it out slowly.

Then, Jian Xiu went to the weapon shop and bought a bow and arrow and a dagger.

When she asked, she realized that weapons were very expensive here.

“Shopkeeper, can’t you make it a bit cheaper?” Jian Xiu asked, looking at the dagger in her hand.

“Madam, really, I can’t reduce the price anymore. You’ve got good taste; you picked this inconspicuous dagger, and seeing you as a fateful person, I’ve given you a discount,” the shopkeeper replied.

Hearing this, Jian Xiu gritted her teeth and ultimately bought it.

In the end, she spent over two taels of silver to buy the dagger she really liked.

Add the bow and arrow to that, and two taels of silver were gone just like that.

But she believed she would quickly earn the silver back.

The most important thing was the dagger—it was something Jian Xiu truly liked, and she even felt it was worth the price.

The dagger didn’t seem special at first glance, but on closer inspection, one could tell that the material of the dagger was well-forged.

In the apocalypse, it was also the dagger she used most often.

She immediately liked this one, and after she refined it a little, it would be perfect.

When Jian Xiu found Zhang Zhiyong, he was already waiting for her.

Thankfully, he hadn’t left, or carrying all these things back on her own would have been quite difficult.

“Sister-in-law, why did you buy so many things?” Zhang Zhiyong asked curiously.

In fact, he was more curious about how she had silver to buy so much.

Their plantain hadn’t sold yet, so he didn’t understand where the silver had come from.

It should be noted that these things she bought roughly cost more than a few taels of silver.

“I needed them. Let’s go!” she replied.

“Okay, sister-in-law, please sit tight.” With that, he urged the ox cart to head back.

On the way, Jian Xiu was inevitably asked many questions.

“Jian Xiu, be honest, when your husband Zixuan worked as a bodyguard, did you two secretly hide a lot of private money that you didn’t report to the government?” one of the women in the cart asked with a grin.

“Aunt, which eye of yours saw us hiding private money? I, Jian Xiu, swear to heaven, if we really did hide any, my whole family would be struck by lightning and never have a good death. Is that clear enough?” Jian Xiu replied.

It wasn’t that Jian Xiu was being harsh on herself, but if she didn’t stop these gossiping women in time, the whole Zhangjia village would soon be talking about how she and her husband had hidden private money.

She didn’t care, but the impact on their children, especially Liu Tou and Qi Tou, would be bad.

Once they pursued the imperial examination, any rumor could affect their future.

So even if it was just a rumor, it would be bad for their careers.

“Oh, Jian Xiu, you’re taking things too seriously. I was just joking,” the older woman huffed, annoyed.

“Aunt, it’s better not to say such things. I don’t mind, but others might think you have ulterior motives. It’s not good,” Jian Xiu warned.

“I don’t have any ulterior motives, Jian Xiu, you can’t say that!” the woman protested.

“Look at you, I was just making an example, and you’re reacting this way. If I said I would chop you with a big knife, would that be any better?” Jian Xiu quipped.

The woman fell silent.

Seeing the woman quiet down, Jian Xiu closed her eyes and leaned back to rest.

Of course, she couldn’t sleep.

Not only was the ox cart bumping around, but her mind was also filled with thoughts.

She couldn’t sleep.

Tonight, when she got back, she needed to bring in the bamboo shoots.

Tomorrow, she planned to head into the mountains to see if she could find some valuable goods.

If she earned another batch of silver, she could send Liu Tou and Qi Tou to school.

The remaining silver would also be enough to build a satisfactory brick house for the family.

Most importantly, she wanted to go deep into the mountains to see if she could accumulate more points.