Living Is No Easy Matter

After leaving the potion shop, Gao De hurried all over the commercial district, purchasing consumable supplementary materials needed for brewing potions, such as Honey Water.

These supplementary materials were not expensive; altogether, they cost less than 3 silver coins. They were mainly just extremely trivial and time-consuming to gather.

The most troublesome part was that in this world's currency system, the purchasing power of the lowest denomination, the round copper coin, was roughly equivalent to four yuan and twenty jiao in Gao De's previous life.

That was far too large a denomination!

In everyday life, such imprecise, high-denomination currency brought many inconveniences.

To meet the needs of daily transactions, the people of the Sien Duchy had devised a method: directly cutting round copper coins in half for small purchases.

This practice devalued the currency and was prohibited by the Sien authorities.

But because it was so widespread, it gradually became an unspoken rule.

These round copper coins cut in half were called half-round copper coins, with actual purchasing power equivalent to two yuan.

With half-round copper coins in circulation, daily transactions became much more convenient than before, but they still were not precise enough.

At times like this, one had to rely on rounding off and subdividing accounting units before settling the total.

For example, right now.

"Rye Bread, one and a half round copper coins per pound. Wheat Bread, four copper coins per pound," the bakery clerk called out in a sonorous, rhythmic voice.

The bread in this world—especially Rye Bread—was far denser and more solid than the bread Gao De knew.

Put scientifically, its fiber content was extremely high, so it kept one full longer.

One pound, roughly 450 grams, of Rye Bread was enough for an adult for around two days, or for the apprentices at the herb garden for two and a half days.

For eight people, they would consume roughly three pounds of Rye Bread a day.

And breadmaking techniques in this era were relatively primitive. Without modern chemical preservatives, bread had a relatively short shelf life; after about a week, it would become dry, hard, and spoiled.

So buying enough for six days was most suitable—eighteen pounds of dark bread.

Gao De could not help glancing again at the Wheat Bread, which was much whiter and softer than Rye Bread, its overall color a pale gold.

He drew a deep breath of the Wheat Bread's fragrance, a mingling of wheat, caramel, and faint smokiness, before finally turning his head away with determination.

"Give me eighteen pounds of Rye Bread," he told the clerk.

There was no question that Wheat Bread tasted far better than Rye Bread.

Likewise, it was far more expensive.

That was because wheat had higher requirements for growing conditions, preferring warm, fertile soil, while its yield per unit area was less stable than rye or barley. Naturally, it cost much more than rye.

As a processed product, Wheat Bread cost more than twice as much as Rye Bread, and was mainly consumed by wealthy merchants and upper-class farmers.

Rye Bread, by comparison, was the everyday staple of the vast ordinary populace.

Honestly, Gao De could afford Wheat Bread now.

But the problem was that, with the moral values instilled by his modern education, he could not yet bring himself to treat people differently.

The herb garden's current output was the result of everyone's combined efforts. Though he was the main contributor, he would still feel embarrassed eating Wheat Bread alone while letting the other apprentices in the herb garden continue eating Rye Bread.

Only after he possessed private property of his own would he be able to cast off that moral burden.

And if everyone's staple food were changed from Rye Bread to Wheat Bread, then for staple food alone, the daily expenditure would increase by—

Gao De subconsciously began doing the math in his head.

The difference between four and one and a half, multiplied by three, was seven and a half copper coins. Over a year, multiplying that by three hundred and sixty came to two thousand seven hundred round copper coins.

Converted to silver coins, that was two hundred and twenty-five silver coins. Converted to Sien Gold Coins—this non-decimal currency system really was inhuman—

Grumbling inwardly about this absurd currency system, Gao De arrived at the answer: eleven gold coins plus five silver coins.

And that was only the additional expense for staple food.

Once the standard of the staple food went up, everything else naturally had to rise with the tide.

Just like during a famine, everyone ate cornmeal buns with pickled vegetables. Once life improved and they could afford rice, the side dishes naturally had to be upgraded too. They could not possibly keep eating pickled vegetables with it, could they?

Same principle.

Mm. The "team" was still in its startup phase, so they still had to endure hardship.

Gao De nodded solemnly to himself.

"Eighteen pounds of Rye Bread, that'll be 27 copper!" As the clerk swiftly packed a full thirty-six loaves of Rye Bread into paper bags, he quickly calculated the price.

Gao De carefully took two silver coins and the three round copper coins he had received as change while buying potion ingredients from his pocket and handed them to the clerk, taking the paper bags of bread at the same time.

Eighteen pounds of bread came to around eight kilograms. The weight was not especially outrageous.

But when he thought of carrying an eight-kilogram load for an hour's walk back to the herb garden, Gao De, visibly thin and weak from long-term malnutrition, still felt a headache coming on.

Previously, the task of buying food had always been handled by the two older apprentices at the herb garden.

With the two of them sharing the burden, this amount of weight was nothing.

"Take a carriage back." Gao De made a luxurious decision.

Since he had decided to take a carriage back anyway, he no longer needed to worry about carrying the load.

After leaving the bakery, Gao De headed for the Pea and Lamb Market, separated from the commercial district by only one street.

The Pea and Lamb Market was, in Gao De's understanding, a vegetable market.

There were many crude stalls here. Most of the stall owners were local farmers, selling crops they had grown themselves, with a handful of permanent storefronts mixed among them.

Here, Gao De first spent 1 silver coin on two pounds of the cheapest pork, then bought six days' worth of tender peas, turnips, potatoes, and cabbage.

All of these were vegetables that kept well. By deliberately rounding things off, he spent another 3 silver coins.

Carrying large and small bags of goods, Gao De stood at the street corner for a while. A sharp-eyed carriage driver spotted him, judged that Gao De was most likely a potential customer, and drove his two-wheeled carriage over, stopping in front of him.

There were two kinds of carriages in the city: one was a four-wheeled enclosed carriage, while the other was the lightweight two-wheeled carriage before him.

The two-wheeled carriage had an open design, with no roof overhead and only a low railing around the seats. This made it look lighter and run faster.

Wearing a distinctive hat and holding the reins, the driver called out warmly, "Sir, need a carriage? My horse is the strongest, and it runs the fastest too."

"How much to Seda's Herb Garden?" Gao De asked.

The herb garden had always been named after Mage Seda. After many years of operation, it had gained at least a little reputation in Hogan City. At the very least, it was not an unfamiliar destination to a driver intimately familiar with Hogan City.

"The base fare is 7 copper for two kilometers. After two kilometers, it's 3 copper per kilometer, and 6 copper per kilometer in the Outskirts."

"From here to Seda's Herb Garden, taking the main road is a little over five kilometers. The last kilometer is in the Outskirts. That'll be 19 copper." The driver briskly calculated the total.

On foot, it was actually only four kilometers from the herb garden to here. But carriages could not take certain narrow paths and had to detour, which lengthened the journey.

"Alright, let's go." Gao De took two silver coins from his pocket and handed them over.

Taking the five round copper coins in change, Gao De climbed into the carriage.

The carriage had two seats arranged facing each other, comfortably accommodating two adults.

There was storage space beneath the seats. Gao De stowed his purchases securely inside, then settled himself firmly in place. The driver flicked the reins and whip, setting the carriage in motion.

I only have 1 silver coin and 5 copper left again. Make money in the city, spend it in the city—don't even dream of taking a cent home. Gao De sighed inwardly as he enjoyed the carriage ride.

Living was no easy matter!

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