Chapter 19: Shopping

Lin Nuo headed to the market to shop.

She planned to buy a few ready-made clothes for Lin Lei and herself, as she couldn’t sew and had to purchase ready-made garments.

She hurried to the fabric shop she had visited last time.

Upon entering, the shopkeeper, Li, recognized her. “Miss, back again to buy clothes? It’s been a few days, and you’ve become even more striking.”

The last time Lin Nuo came to this fabric shop in Peach Blossom County was to buy clothes for her brother and herself.

“Shopkeeper Li, you flatter me. I’ve come today to buy a few sets of ready-made clothes and undergarments.”

“Of course! Please have a look. If you need anything, just call out,” the shopkeeper said as he led her to the ready-made clothing section.

The ready-made clothes here were generally priced at 400 wen for a set of cotton clothes for adult women and 200 wen for a set for children under eight. Undergarments cost 80 wen for adults and 30 wen for children.

Lin Nuo picked out a light yellow, water blue, and pale pink set of clothes for herself. For undergarments, she chose better-quality fabric in a soft beige color, as they would be worn close to the skin.

For Lin Lei, she selected a light beige little robe, and a casual blue short-sleeved shirt. She also picked two sets of high-quality undergarments in soft beige fabric.

The total cost for these items was almost 2 taels of silver. The shopkeeper also gave her some leftover fabric, saying she could use it to make handkerchiefs.

Since she still had other items to buy, she decided to leave these at the shop for now and would pick them up after completing her shopping.

After finishing her fabric shopping and browsing for a bit, Lin Nuo started feeling a little hungry.

It had only been a little over an hour since lunch, yet she felt hungry again, probably due to her pregnancy.

Since she found out she was pregnant, she hadn’t experienced much discomfort, no nausea, and aside from feeling a bit more sleepy, everything seemed fine.

She thought to herself that the baby must be a well-behaved one.

Lin Nuo went to a street vendor to buy two meat buns. She didn’t have time to sit down at a restaurant, so she decided to grab something quick.

Next, she planned to buy rice, flour, and meat, and also pick up some snacks for Lin Lei before heading back.

She continued eating the buns while shopping.

“Boss, how much are you selling the rice and flour for? I’d like the refined rice,” Lin Nuo asked the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper sized her up and guessed she must be a big customer. Seeing her bright eyes, white teeth, and fair skin, he realized she was asking for refined rice, which was a luxury not many people could afford.

The shopkeeper warmly greeted her, “Refined rice is 30 wen per jin, aged rice is 18 wen per jin, refined flour is 30 wen per jin, and black flour is 12 wen per jin. Miss, how much do you need?”

Lin Nuo, thinking that she would be busy with house construction and wouldn’t have time to go out again, decided to buy more.

“I’ll take 30 jin of refined rice and 20 jin of refined flour. Do you have soybean oil?” she asked.

“We do, soybean oil is 40 wen per jin,” the shopkeeper replied.

“Good, I’ll take 5 jin of soybean oil.”

“Alright, I’ll pack everything for you,” the shopkeeper said, his eyes squinting into a smile. Today, he had truly encountered a big customer.

“Miss, you’ve bought so many things. How about I have the shop assistant send them to your cart?”

“No need, I still have a few more things to buy. Please pack these for me, and I’ll come back later to pick them up,” Lin Nuo replied.

After paying, she left the shop.

She then bought 2 jin of lean meat, 1 jin of fatty pork, and 2 pig’s feet to make soup.

She also bought some paper, pens, and ink for Lin Lei, along with some candied hawthorn.

With that, she had nearly finished her shopping.

Finally, she rented an ox cart for 30 wen to take her things back.

On her way back to the village, she ran into Li the Widow and a few other women sitting under the big pagoda tree at the village entrance, chatting and embroidering.

Seeing Lin Nuo and the cart full of goods, the women began whispering among themselves.

“Wow, Miss Lin is back. It looks like she bought a lot of things in town. How could someone like her, who came here with just her brother to escape the famine, afford so many things? Did she go to town to see someone?” Li the Widow said, her voice full of curiosity and gossip.

Lin Nuo found this very annoying. Why should it matter to others how she spent her money?

“Miss Lin is really quite beautiful, doesn’t look like someone from the village at all,” one of the women nearby chimed in.

Lin Nuo shot her a glance and said nothing, leaving Li the Widow feeling a little awkward.

Another woman spoke up, “What does it matter what Miss Lin does? Mind your own business and take care of your own daughter, Xiuer.” She then gave Lin Nuo a comforting look.

Lin Nuo smiled back, thinking that it was a good opportunity for her to have the news of her marriage spread, and later, her pregnancy would be seen as a natural progression.

Lin Nuo turned to Li the Widow and said, “Aunt Li, I didn’t go to see anyone. I went to sell medicine. A few days ago, I went into the mountains to collect wild herbs and was lucky enough to find a ginseng root. A couple of months ago, my husband went to war, and our village has been suffering from famine. My family escaped the famine, and now it’s just my brother and me left.”

“Life has become really difficult, and the only thing I can do now is sell the herbs to barely make ends meet.”

“You are saying this now, but after all this, I still have to face you in Taohua Village,” Lin Nuo added.

She then reached into her wide sleeve and pinched herself hard, her eyes immediately turning red. Tears began to fall in big drops, and she looked up at Li the Widow with a pitiful, wronged expression.

“Let’s go,” she said to the cart driver.

As the cart drove off, the sound of Lin Nuo’s sobs could still be heard from a distance.