Transmigrated into a fat wife, farming, raising children, and picking up husbands

Lin Xiuer was stunned, secretly admiring him. As expected of the old master appraiser, his appraisal skills looked professional.

After a while, he sheathed his sword with a "click," and his voice returned to its previous calm.

"The knife is made of good steel and the workmanship is solid. It's a pity that it has no name or mark, and the design is too simple. It's neither the work of a famous artist nor a fashionable style. I'll pawn it for eight taels."

Lin Xiuer thought to herself: Ha! Just as I thought. Luckily, she had a transmigrated soul and knew that pawnshops were notoriously greedy when it came to bargaining. Upon hearing this, she didn't show any anxiety on her face, but instead gently shook her head.

"Shopkeeper, let's not beat around the bush. The quality of this steel, its weight, the skill in its polishing—eight taels of silver wouldn't even cover half the cost of the materials. Fifty taels, I'll sell it to you."

Her tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable certainty, as if she truly knew the knife was worth the price.

The clerk snorted as if he had heard the funniest joke.

"Ha! Fifty taels? Young lady, fifty taels is enough to rent a small shop in a good location in town. No matter how good your knife is, it's still an anonymous murder weapon. Regardless of where it came from, if I take it, when can I sell it again? To whom? Twelve taels at most."

"Forty-five taels." Lin Xiuer stood her ground, staring directly at the other party. "The shopkeeper has handled countless treasures. Whether this knife is dangerous or not is another matter. It's precisely because it's nameless and unassuming that it's easy to sell. Whether it's worth the price or not, you know better than I do."

"It may not be fancy, but it's definitely extraordinary. Forty taels, that's the bottom price. If your shop doesn't accept it, I'll have to try my luck elsewhere, or... find a connoisseur to take a look privately."

Chao Feng narrowed his eyes and took a closer look at the seemingly ordinary, obese village woman in front of him.

The man was calm, and his eyes showed no anxiety or guilt like those of ordinary people when pawning things; instead, they showed a kind of certainty.

He picked up the knife again, examined the texture of the blade and its unique dark luster more closely, and then gently pressed the handle.

After a moment, he put down the knife, his tone softening: "This knife is made of somewhat special material, and the craftsmanship is solid. However, it has no inscription or decoration, and its origin is unknown. It would be a risk for our small shop to accept it. Twenty taels, pawned without question. This is the highest price we can offer."

Lin Xiuer knew that, based on her past life's experience watching her grandmother haggle at street stalls, this was probably close to the other party's bottom line. Twenty taels was far from the fifty-two taels she had imagined, but it was still a huge sum of money that could greatly alleviate her current predicament and even pay off some of her gambling debts.

She hesitated for a moment, her face showing a struggle and helplessness, before finally, as if she had hardened her heart, she said with great remorse, "Twenty-five taels. If it works out, great; if not, I won't take it."

The magistrate stared at her for a few seconds, then looked at the knife, and finally nodded.

"Deal. Pawned without return. Payment settled, no redemption allowed." He opened the drawer, took out paper and pen, quickly wrote down the pawn ticket, counted out twenty-five taels of silver, and pushed it across the counter.

Lin Xiuer carefully read the terms and conditions of the pawn ticket. Since the original owner of the body was not very literate, she guessed and, unable to find anything wrong, pressed her fingerprint on the ticket.

The heavy silver coins felt cool and solid in her hand. She carefully put them away and left the pawnshop without looking back.

Stepping out of the pawnshop, the sunlight was a bit dazzling. Lin Xiuer touched the silver ingot in her arms, and a relaxed smile finally appeared on her face.

With twenty-five taels, plus the few taels the man already had, she now had nearly thirty taels of silver. She had repaid the ten taels of her initial investment to the gambling den, and still had a considerable amount of money left over.

First, I went to the grain store and bought a small bag of brown rice and a small bag of white flour, which cost me 150 coins.

Then he went to the meat stall at the market and spent fifty coins to buy half a pound of pork belly with alternating layers of fat and lean meat, as well as a large piece of thick pork fat.

Injuries require nutrition. Seeing an egg vendor nearby, I bought five eggs for ten coins.

Passing by a seed stall, I spent over forty coins to buy several packets of radish seeds and cabbage seeds.

There was a large empty space in the backyard, which she felt was a pity to leave uncultivated, so she planned to clear it out and plant some vegetables when she got back.

Passing by the general store, she hesitated for a long time before going in and spending thirty coins to buy a sturdy, rough earthenware medicine pot, which she would need for decocting medicine later, as the old, broken pot at home was really no good. She also spent ten coins to buy a few of the cheapest candles.

The basket gradually filled up and became heavy.

Finally, she stood in front of the steamed bun shop at the edge of town, the aroma of steaming meat buns wafting into her nostrils. She swallowed hard, took out five coins, and bought two meat buns wrapped in oil paper.

He couldn't bear to eat it himself, so he carefully tucked it into his pocket.

Just as she was about to head home, Lin Xiuer remembered the two tattered quilts at home that were as stiff as boards, with the cotton inside clumped together and turned black.

Now there's an injured person in the family, and although he's a nuisance, she only has this money because of him.

It's only right to treat him well.

Thinking of this, she turned around and went to the stalls selling cloth and cotton.

The stall owner was a shrewd-looking woman in her forties, with various scraps of cloth and several neatly folded quilts piled up in front of her.

Lin Xiuer touched the thinnest-looking but reasonably well-made blue cloth quilt and asked, "Boss lady, how much is this quilt?"

The proprietress, with her sharp eyes, noticed the basket brimming with rice, noodles, meat, and oil—a sign of someone willing to spend money. She immediately put on a smile: "Young lady, you have a good eye! This is freshly fluffed cotton, thick and warm, three hundred coins a quilt!"

Newly fluffed cotton? Lin Xiuer pinched it; the cotton inside was clearly old and not fluffy enough.

She remained calm, but a troubled expression appeared on her face: "Three hundred coins... that's so expensive? Shopkeeper, look, I've bought so much stuff, and this is all the money I have left."

She patted her now-deflated purse. "My elderly parents and children are waiting for me; we just need a blanket for the night. Could you give me a discount? Three hundred coins for two blankets, how about that?"

"Oh dear, that won't do!" the proprietress exclaimed immediately. "I can't even break even on three hundred coins! Look at this cloth, this cotton..."

"Boss lady," Lin Xiuer interrupted her, pointing to an inconspicuous jumper wire on the quilt.

"Look at the stitches, and you can tell the cotton isn't new just by touching it. I'm an honest person, I won't haggle with you. It's already past noon, are you sure you won't sell all these quilts today? Will you have to go through the trouble of hauling them back? Wouldn't it be better to just exchange them for cash and take them home?"

The proprietress was embarrassed when Lin Xiuer pointed it out. She looked at the two quilts, which were indeed refurbished with old quilts, and then at Lin Xiuer's "I'll leave if I can't take it" attitude. She gritted her teeth and made a pained expression.

"Alright, alright! Oh dear, I'm really selling it to you at a loss! I've never seen such a thrifty woman as you! Three hundred and thirty coins for two beds, that's the lowest I can go!"

"Okay, thank you so much, boss lady! You're such a kind and beautiful person, boss lady." Lin Xiuer readily counted out three hundred and thirty coins and handed them over.

Although she knew the proprietress would definitely still make a profit, this price was within her expectations and was almost half the price of what she was asking for directly.

I carefully tied the two thin quilts together with strips of cloth, carried them in my hand, and realized the sun was already setting; it was time to go back.