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

Li Chunyan grinned and counted on her fingers.

"My great-aunt, after leaving the cloth shop, we bought cotton cloth, white cotton cloth, and cotton, which cost fifteen and a half taels of cloth."

He bought another twenty catties of fine cotton for six hundred cash, and had two thick pots, four braziers, and scissors made at the blacksmith's shop for five taels of silver.

Along the way, we ate flatbread, wontons, roasted chestnuts, and mutton soup with sweet cakes, spending a few hundred coins here and there; at the butcher shop, we carried twenty catties of hind leg, fifteen catties of pork belly, ten catties of lamb chops, and ten catties of fat, for eight hundred and twenty coins.

Grocery store, salt, garlic, chili peppers, hemp rope, water bucket, candles, needles and thread, two ounces; shoe store, charcoal... all these things add up, and the money is spent like water.

If we buy another carriage, our nine hundred taels of silver will probably be gone!

Ye Qingqing grinned and took out a few loose silver coins from her purse, weighing them in her palm with a crisp sound.

"Sister-in-law, you've got the math figured out. But we still have those 918 taels of silver notes in our pocket, plus 18 taels of loose silver, so how much has actually gone out?"

Horse-drawn carriages are a long-term industry, like planting trees. You spend money now, but you'll benefit from it for decades to come. Come on, the carriage shop is at the east end of town, let's take a look.

The group shuffled eastward.

The town was bustling with people, and shops lined both sides of the street, one after another. The shouts of pancake vendors, the clanging of blacksmiths, and the solicitations of cloth merchants were all unfamiliar faces.

Ye Qingqing liked the peace and quiet of this town where she didn't know anyone, saving her the trouble of asking around.

After passing "Wang Family Embrace", Ye Qingqing did not stop and went straight to the courtyard with the plaque "Prosperous Carriage and Horse Shop" hanging on it.

The gate to the courtyard was open, and inside there were three or four horses tied up and five or six large carts parked.

A lean man in a short jacket was brushing the mane of a chestnut horse with a palm brush. Seeing the group of people carrying large and small bags rushing in, he greeted them with a smile, "Are you looking to hire a carriage or buy a horse?"

Ye Qingqing placed the basket on the threshold, patted the dust off her trousers, and said, "No hiring, we'll buy. Do you have a sturdy horse-drawn cart? We need one for our village, it has to be able to withstand the winter snow and mud."

The shopkeeper guessed it was the owner of the carriage and horse trading company, and hurriedly nodded and bowed.

"Yes, yes, yes! Look at this one, young lady. It has an elm wood body, a wide plank bed, iron hoops around the bottom, and all the rivets are brand new. They were just put on yesterday, and it's been coated with tung oil twice to protect it from rain and snow."

And paired with this chestnut horse, four years old, gentle in temperament, with steady gait, it can pull a thousand pounds without panting. A complete set, impressive when going out, and practical when coming home.

Ye Qingqing walked over and reached out to touch the horse's neck. The horse snorted and rubbed its face against her palm.

She bent down and tapped the cart floor again, making a loud thud. "Shopkeeper, is this cart really newly made? Don't try to fool me with old materials."

"What are you saying, young lady!"

The shopkeeper patted his chest and said, "It was just finished yesterday. Would I dare to lie with my reputation? Look at the wood grain, it's freshly cut. If you're not sure, I'll pry open the horse's mouth for you to see its teeth. It's a four-year-old horse, just finished growing its permanent teeth, and is in its prime."

Ye Qingqing turned to Ye Dali and called out, "Big brother, try pulling him, is he strong? Is he fierce?"

Ye Dali stepped forward and took the reins. He stroked the horse's nose with his rough hand, and the horse rubbed against his palm. He pulled on the reins and took a few steps, the wheels spinning smoothly. He turned back and said in a simple voice,

"Second Girl, this horse is docile, and the carriage is nimble. It's fine."

Ye Qingqing then asked the shopkeeper, "How much is the flat price, horse and carriage?"

The shopkeeper held up one finger. "That's a total of one hundred and twenty-eight taels of silver. I'm fair to everyone, young and old. This price is reasonable for the town. You can ask around."

The soybean cakes fed to the horses and the iron parts on the cart were all real, hard-earned capital.

Li Chunyan gasped, tugging at Ye Qingqing's sleeve. "One hundred and twenty-eight taels! That's enough to buy two strong oxen and still have some left over! Second Girl, that's way too expensive!"

Although her family was now wealthy, she was used to being frugal, and the thought of spending over a hundred taels of silver to buy a beast still made her heart ache.

Ye Qingqing raised an eyebrow and began to haggle with the shopkeeper.

"Sister-in-law is worried about the money. Shopkeeper, twenty-five taels, pay immediately if it's done."

"We've set up this whole operation today, and from now on, we'll still need to come here to get saddles, reins, horseshoes, and donkey harnesses. We'll be patronizing your business for the long term."

The shopkeeper looked troubled, scratched his head, and said...

"Girl, this price is too low, I'll starve... Twenty-six taels, that's the lowest I can go."

Look how straight the horse's legs are, its hooves are intact, not a single limp. The carriage boards are an inch and a half thick, and it doesn't bend even when carrying heavy loads.

Ye Qingqing took out a silver note from her bosom, exactly twenty-five taels, and slammed it on the counter. "One hundred and twenty-five taels, that'll be enough to treat you to a bowl of hot tea."

Consider this a good start; from now on, the Ye family in Kaoshantun will be your regular customer.

The shopkeeper glanced at the overflowing goods in the baskets—cloth, cotton, iron pots, meat, charcoal, and rice sacks—and his eyes lit up with envy. He slapped his thigh...

"Alright! For good luck, twenty-six taels it is, young lady, you're so generous!"

Ye Qingqing then nodded.

Once the transaction was clear, the shopkeeper happily called for his assistant to bring the horses and the cart, and also brought out new ropes, hemp cloth, and saddles.

Ye Qingqing directed the loading of the contents of the baskets onto the carriage.

First, move those two large pickling jars, line the bottom with thick straw rope, and firmly place them in the center of the carriage. Pat the jars and say, "These are for pickling sauerkraut, so don't bump them."

Then move the iron pot and brazier, wrap them with old cloth to prevent them from breaking, and place the pot upside down in the seam of the brazier.

Twenty pounds of fluffed cotton were stuffed into a corner, and Cui Cui even sat on it to test its softness and firmness.

The rolls of cloth were placed on top to prevent them from getting dirty, and Cui Cui clung tightly to the pink printed roll.

The meat was hung on the side of the cart with an iron hook, unconcerned about dripping oil; Ye Dali even took a sniff.

"These lamb chops look delicious." Two hundred jin of charcoal bags, rice, flour, and cooking oil bags were tightly packed and stacked, with a bag of roasted chestnuts on top of the rice bag. Ten jin of lard and five jin of sesame oil jars were stuffed with straw, and two jars of fermented bean paste and one jar of stinky tofu were also secured with rope.

Ye Qingqing, seeing that it was about time, sat down in the carriage and swung her legs to feel the ride.

Ye Dali was busy working with the shopkeeper and the shop assistants, while Li Chunyan chattered on and on.

"Don't break the skewer rod!"

Soon the carriage was full, piled up like a small hill.

"Brother, you're in the middle of the journey, let's go home!"

Ye Qingqing raised an eyebrow.

Ye Dali sat in front of the carriage, flicked the whip, and the chestnut horse strode forward.

The wheels rolled over the town's bluestone slabs. Many of the shopkeepers and clerks on the street didn't recognize these people, assuming they were wealthy relatives buying New Year's goods, and no one said much.

As they left the town, the dirt road began to bump. Cuicui sat on a pile of cloth, swinging her legs. "Second sister, we have our own carriage now! Before, we had to hitch a ride on Uncle Zhang's oxcart to go to town, and we had to give him two eggs as payment."

Li Chunyan touched the railing of the new cart, still feeling a pang of heartache at the thought of spending twenty-six taels of silver, yet also a strange sense of joy.

"This way, I can go back to my parents' home with more confidence, without having to ask anyone to give me a ride. Second daughter, I admire your thoughtfulness in planning to buy a car so early."

Ye Qingqing took out the nine hundred-tael silver notes from her bosom, touched the corners, and thought to herself,

This is just the beginning; when the old and young people in Kaoshantun see this, they'll probably be astonished.

She glanced at the bare trees by the roadside, imagining the new mattresses and quilts on the kang (heated brick bed) after the snowfall. It was freezing outside, but the aroma of stewed mutton filled the air inside—how wonderful!