During famine years, I had a divination slip in hand, and my whole family ate chicken, duck, fish, a

We hired an oxcart, and after a fast journey of more than an hour, we finally arrived in town.

Not only did I get a bellyful of cold air, but the wooden cart also made my buttocks ache.

This is why Ye Qingqing didn't buy a cow that could pull a cart, plow fields, and might even have a cow's treasure, but instead spent more than twice the amount of silver to buy a horse-drawn carriage!

Just like in period dramas, a carriage with a compartment, thick mattresses, and cushions, and a small hand warmer in your lap—that's the feeling of a luxury car!

In her time and space, for the convenience of occasional travel, she bought a Mercedes-Benz G-Class, which looked incredibly cool to drive...

However, she didn't really like going down the mountain. It was always her fellow apprentices who used it to haul rice, flour, oil, fruits, vegetables, and even cement and sand up the mountain. They practically turned a powerful G-Wagon into a small Dongfeng truck.

Seeing that it was still early, Ye Qingqing headed straight for Miss Zhen's fur shop.

"Aunt Zhen, do you buy badger pelts here?"

Ye Qingqing took out the badger pelt, which still smelled slightly of blood, and placed it on the counter. "My father said that if you want to take it, he'll give you whatever price you want."

She said this on behalf of her father.

"Yes, we buy. We're a leather goods shop; we buy all kinds of leather except human skin."

Miss Zhen put down her teacup, lazily got up and came over to look. She casually touched it, "Fresh? Just the skin alone isn't worth much. Where's the badger oil?"

Ye Qingqing smiled and said, "It's not done yet. My dad said it will take one or two hours to cook. He'll call me to bring it over when it's done."

"Three hides cost at most one tael. If it's oil, it's much more expensive. One tael of badger oil costs one hundred copper coins."

Miss Zhen glanced at her and chuckled, "Wearing new clothes? You look even prettier, Second Sister!"

"No, this dress suits me perfectly."

Ye Qingqing smiled confidently, and then took out another piece of skinned badger meat and placed it on the counter as well.

"Aunt Zhen, my father said that badger meat is one of the four delicacies in the world. We hunted three in total. My family kept one for a treat, and sold the other one. This one is specially given to you to try."

Please don't look down on it; besides mountain produce, we villagers don't have much else to offer."

Miss Zhen's willow-leaf eyebrows twitched imperceptibly, and she didn't hold back at all.

"Alright, thank you for your kindness, Second Sister. There's been a drought these past two years, and fewer and fewer people are selling badgers. I haven't had one in a while."

Badger meat can be quite valuable; a single badger can fetch three to five coins.

But this girl didn't want money and clearly wanted to have a relationship with her, so she went along with it.

This second girl is a sensible person, and also shrewd and capable.

You know, any information she gives Er Yatou from this place will be worth far more than a few coins.

Miss Zhen waved her hand, signaling the shop assistant to take the things away. Qingqing raised her hand and said...

"Sit down for a while, have a bowl of hot tea to warm yourself up before you go."

"No, Aunt Zhen, I'm still preparing to sell wild ginseng."

Ye Qingqing took a cloth bag out of her basket, opened it and placed it on the tea table, saying with a smile, "It's perfect, Aunt Zhen, please take a look. My father says he doesn't know anything about this."

Miss Zhen raised her eyebrows without realizing it. "Old wild ginseng, it doesn't seem like forest ginseng. Was it dug up from a mountain peak?"

"Yes, I went up to the North Peak of Qiushan Mountain."

"Look at this bowl with its reed head and reed flowers, it's at least twenty or thirty years old."

A hint of surprise flashed in Miss Zhen's eyes, and she hesitated before saying,

"If you're going to sell, sell it for 300, otherwise you'll lose a lot of money."

However, those ginseng dealers in pharmacies are shrewd. Relying on their expertise, they talk a big game about traveling to the mountains and always find fault with you. At most, they'll give you two hundred and forty or five hundred.

Here's what I'll do: I'll point you to a shop. When you get there, just mention my name. If the shopkeeper gives you 300, you can take it back; I'll accept it.

Ye Qingqing's eyes lit up. "Thank you, Aunt Zhen!"

300 taels was already her expected amount!

After buying the carriage, there would still be over a hundred taels left. Even if we bought a cat, it would be enough for the whole family to live a life of luxury all winter.

A badger cub's meat is only worth a few coins, but with a little guidance, it sold for forty or fifty taels more than Dad had expected!

"My goodness...we're rich! We're rich!"

Stepping out of the shop selling rare leather goods from the northern frontier, Li Chunyan felt dizzy and disoriented, and said as if in a dream,

"Three hundred taels... This thing can sell for three hundred taels! I was so happy when Dad said it could sell for over two hundred that I couldn't sleep all night. Three hundred taels? I wouldn't even dare to dream of it!"

Ye Cuicui's voice trembled with excitement as she grabbed Ye Qingqing's sleeve and said...

"Second sister, I want to go ginseng digging next time! Can you take me with you? I want to dig too!"

Ye Qingqing, "..."

Don't even mention you, I'd like to dig up another one!

One divination yields three different results each day. Once this ginseng is harvested, who knows when the next one will come?

"Second daughter, are we really going to buy a carriage to go back this time?"

Ye Dali turned around, hesitated for a long time before finally stammering, "Our family never even dared to dream of buying a cow before, and you suddenly bought a horse. It feels like a dream..."

Ye Qingqing said with a smile, "Big brother, do you want it?"

"I... well, I wouldn't even dare to think about it."

Ye Dali chuckled憨厚ly, "Who wouldn't want that! In our village, only the village head's family has two cows and a donkey, which saves a lot of labor when it comes to plowing the fields."

But he didn't dare to even think about buying a horse. He'd heard that horses needed to be fed soybeans and black beans, which consumed a lot of fodder.

Ye Qingqing raised an eyebrow.

"If you can afford to buy it, you can afford to raise it. Don't worry, brother, I'll leave the horse to you from now on."

It's a good opportunity to feed all the mixed grain flour at home to the horses, so my sister-in-law won't have to think about making some mixed grain pancakes to fool us every day.

From now on, our family must completely cut ties with whole grains!

As soon as he finished speaking, the whole family's eyes lit up.

Following the directions given by Miss Zhen, Ye Qingqing found the pharmacy called "Huimintang," lifted the curtain, and went straight inside.

"Hey buddy, I was introduced by Miss Zhen. She told me to look for your manager, Manager Zhou."

A sprightly old man emerged from the back room, giving Ye Qingqing a meaningful look.

"Saibei Zhen? What's your relationship with her?"

"She's my aunt."

Ye Qingqing said without any pretense, "Sir, I dug up a wild ginseng on the North Peak of Qiushan. My aunt said that other pharmacies don't recognize its value, so she pointed it out to me and told me to come to you. Could you take a look?"

"Hmm, let's take a look."

Manager Zhou raised his chin and led Ye Qingqing to the back room.

A short while later, Ye Qingqing came out, not carrying a money bag. She glanced at Li Chunyan and Ye Cuicui with a detached expression and said, "Let's go."

"Where are you going, Second Sister?"

Li Chunyan panicked immediately, fearing the shopkeeper wouldn't offer such a high price of 300 taels. She lowered her voice and asked, "You didn't go to Miss Zhen's, did you? Didn't you sell it?"

Ye Cuicui also looked nervous.

Ye Qingqing tilted her head. "They're sold! Otherwise, why would I be out here?"

Li Chunyan stared in disbelief. "Where...where's the silver? I didn't see you holding it!"

"300 taels, sister-in-law! There are several heavy silver ingots. Am I crazy to bring them out like this?"

Aren't you afraid of being targeted by thieves the moment you step out the door?

Ye Qingqing's face darkened. She patted her ample chest, grinned, and said, "Wouldn't it be more convenient to carry silver notes?"