Chapter 27
Chapter 27
After Qiao Mai got up, she quickly served her daughter. This time, she did not put her on the bed.
A few days ago, she bought a large mat outside and laid it on the ground. She also put a mattress on it. From now on, she and the child would sleep on the ground.
She put the bed away and placed it somewhere not in the way.
The child was getting bigger and bigger. She was afraid that Ling’er would fall off if she were not careful.
After doing all this, she coaxed Ling’er to sleep on the big mat on the ground.
This time, she didn’t log out directly. Instead, she went to the edge of the space to check. After one night, the strawberry seedlings had almost sprouted.
The seedling rate was over 90%. Thinking that she would be able to sell strawberries in a few days and have another project to earn money, Qiao Mai smiled foolishly.
The premise was that no one was selling this product here. She could not always set up a stall. She had to find time to go to the prefecture to understand more.
It was a little embarrassing to say that she still did not know which dynasty this was. She was like a frog at the bottom of a well. She only saw this area. Even when others talked, they did not mention the dynasty.
Qiao Mai came out of the space and looked at the weather outside. Although the sky was still cloudy, it was not as heavy as before. It probably wouldn’t rain today.
She casually had breakfast and went to the embroidery shop. She did not plan to open a stall today.
Without the sun, there would be fewer people eating melons and buying ice cubes. She had to do her own work in the cool.
“Sister Lu, I’m going to the prefecture to shop around. If I’m late, I won’t be back today. I’m telling you so that you won’t worry.”
“Do you need me to go with you?”
“No need. I can go by myself. Do you need anything?”
“You have to put your heart on the embroidery. Otherwise, what will I hand over to others?”
“Got it. I won’t miss you. I’m leaving!”
“Protect yourself.”
“I know.”
After saying that, Qiao Mai walked onto the official road and soon got on a carriage heading south to the prefecture.
Although it was expensive, the carriage was fast. She could make a round trip on the same day if everything goes smoothly.
Sitting in the carriage, Qiao Mai didn’t say a word and quietly listened to the conversations of the others in the carriage.
On this journey to the south, they would pass by a town, a county, and two more towns before arriving at the prefecture.
The small town to the north of Tianshui Town was called Tianhe Town, to the south was Tiannan Town, and the county town was County Yi. The names of the two towns were not mentioned as she would not be going there. The prefecture was called Wei City.
The names were auspicious and easy to read, so she remembered them in her heart.
The carriage traveled for four hours. When they reached the city, Qiao Mai was about to throw up.
The wooden wheels spun bumpily. It was fine if the road was smooth, but if they encountered a bumpy road, her body would fall apart.
Qiao Mai jumped down from the carriage and gave the coachman fifty coins.
“Brother, may I ask which dynasty we are in now?”
The coachman glanced at her and chuckled.
“One look and I can tell that you are a woman who stays home all year round and doesn’t go out. You don’t know anything. Let me tell you, this is the Great Ming Dynasty. The current emperor’s surname is Liu. He is only in his early thirties this year. The country’s surname was Kang. He hoped the country would be prosperous and the people would be peaceful. Do you know now?”
“Oh, I got it. Thank you, brother.”
“Are you going back to Tianshui Town?”
“I don’t think I can go back today. The earliest would be tomorrow.”
” I always wait for customers outside the northern city gate at noon every day. If you need a ride, come here to find me.”
Qiao Mai bowed and paid the entrance fee of a copper coin before following the crowd into the city.
She walked slowly by the roadside and looked around from time to time. She would go over to glance at what the stalls were selling.
It was the best time when the vendors sold their goods. There were many people on the road, and the sound of peddling continued.
As expected of a prefecture. They sold more than a small town.
Since she was here, should she buy something?
Hence, Qiao Mai bought chives, green peppers, red peppers, and so on. She even bought a bamboo basket to carry on her back to cover herself.
There were many types of shops in the prefecture. Along the way, she even saw a seed shop.
They were selling seeds. Qiao Mai almost screamed and ran into the shop.
Looking at the shelves, she recognized some of the seeds revealed in the open bags. There were vegetable seeds, grain seeds, and medicinal herb seeds. They looked quite complete.
Qiao Mai stood at the counter and looked at the seeds with a grin. Her eyes were overwhelmed. She felt that this seed shop was opened for her.
Now, she no longer needed tweezers to pick up strawberry seeds. With so many seeds, she could plant them for a few years.
“Little miss, are you buying seeds?”
The worker’s words woke Qiao Mai up.
“Yes, you have a full range of seeds here.”
“It’s cool. There are seeds from the north and south. What seeds do you want?”
“I want all of them.”
The shop assistant was speechless. “Our shop has expensive seeds, cheap seeds, and even those sold by grains. How do you want to buy them?”
“Give me a small bag of the cheap seeds and a hundred of the expensive seeds.”
The assistant swallowed and confirmed again. “Everything?”
“Yes, I want everything!”
The shop assistant sized her up.” Buying all the seeds in this shop would cost at least a dozen taels of silver.”
Qiao Mai rolled her eyes. “I’m not a lunatic, and I don’t have any grudges against your shop. I am here to buy seeds. What’s the point of me coming here to lie to you?”
Upon hearing this, the shop assistant was sure that Qiao Mai was indeed here to buy seeds.
Hence, he warmly greeted her, “Hehe, please wait a moment, little lady. I’ll weigh it for you.”
The shop assistant quickly placed a stack of paper on the counter and took out the seed bags in a certain order. The seeds inside were weighed and placed on the paper. The price was written on the paper and then wrapped up, just like how a medicine shop grabbed medicine.
Qiao Mai found a chair and sat down. She then sent the things in her basket into her space.
Before she knew it, the shop assistant had already wrapped the seeds while she was napping on the chair.
The shopkeeper took out an abacus and started calculating. Then, he glanced deeply at Qiao Mai, who was dressed plainly.
“Young lady, there are more than three hundred packets of seeds here. Two hundred packets of fifty coins, a total of ten taels. One hundred packets of one hundred coins, ten taels; twenty packets of two hundred coins, four taels; ten packets of five hundred coins, five taels; a total of twenty-nine taels.”
Qiao Mai took a cloth bag from her basket and counted three ingots and ten taels of silver. She placed them on the table.
The shopkeeper silently refunded her a tael of silver. He attentively put the seeds into her basket and counted them.
Qiao Mai covered the basket with a piece of cloth and carried it on her back. She was about to turn around and leave.
The shopkeeper called out to her, “Little lady, forgive me for being presumptuous, but why did you buy so many seeds?”
“My family is preparing to buy land. I want to try planting each seed to see which is suitable for the soil on my family’s land.”
“I see.”
The shopkeeper thought, “She’s really generous to try out more than 20 taels of silver’s worth of seeds. Looking at her clothes, she doesn’t seem to be from a rich family.”
Coming out of the seed shop, Qiao Mai was in a good mood. It was almost past noon, but she had not eaten yet. She casually took an apple from her space and started munching it to quench her thirst and satisfy her hunger.
It was rare for her to come to the prefecture, so she couldn’t waste any time. She had to take a good look around the ancient prefecture.
Who would have thought that she would almost get into trouble?
Just as she focused on shopping, someone followed behind her. At first, she thought it was a pedestrian, but after walking for a long time, she felt that someone was indeed following her.
She turned around and glared at the person, who was only three to four meters away.
“Why are you following me?”
The person looked like he was ten years old. He was a little boy, dressed quite well, and looked delicate.
When he saw Qiao Mai only had an apple in her hand, tears immediately welled up in his eyes, and he looked sad.
“Auntie, I want to eat apples.”
A ten-year-old boy should have been sensible in ancient times. He would not have left with someone just because he saw fruit.
Qiao Mai judged that there was something wrong with his brain!