Buy one, get one free again

"Young Master Zhao, how about this? Thirty taels of silver, and you can take both women. The one in black comes free."

After some consideration, the potbellied man smiled broadly at the young man beside him, who wore brocade robes and had triangular eyes.

"Her wound's rotted that badly, and you want to give her to me? Isn't that the same as giving me a corpse?"

Young Master Zhao rolled his eyes, turned, and walked away.

"Don't leave just yet! If you take both, I can lower the price again. Just twenty-eight taels," the potbellied man called hastily.

"Forget twenty-eight. I wouldn't take them for twenty. Who wants to spend silver on a corpse?" Young Master Zhao strode away without looking back.

"Twenty taels? In your dreams! I'd sooner let them rot on my hands than sell them to you!"

Watching Young Master Zhao disappear into the distance, the potbellied man cursed angrily, then lashed the iron cage with his whip, making it crack and clang. "You money-losing bitch! If you insist on being stubborn, I'll be stubborn right back!

"Just you wait. If nobody buys you today,

"I'll give you a proper beating even if I lose every last coin I put into you."

The frail woman turned a deaf ear to him, merely holding the woman in black tightly in her arms, her eyes filled with anguish.

"Everyone, this woman might be stubborn, but she's absolutely top-quality merchandise. Never mind how skinny she is. Take her home and feed her for ten days or a fortnight, and I guarantee she'll be fresh and lovely. She'd rank among the finest beauties in our Windrise Stronghold.

"Don't pass up this chance! Buy one, get one free, for just twenty-five taels!"

The potbellied man began pitching his wares to the onlookers again.

"What do you mean, buy one, get one free? That free woman's already rotting. She won't live another two days. Taking her home would bring bad luck, and you'd have to pay to bury her too."

"Fatty Sun, those two women have been stuck on your hands for almost three months. Forget twenty-five taels. Ten taels for the women. Say yes, and I'll take them right now."

Some people in the crowd responded, but most were merely heckling him. Nobody made a serious offer.

Fatty Sun's face turned livid with anger. Gritting his teeth, he declared, "Twenty taels, final price! Pay up, and you can take both right away!"

Not only did nobody offer to pay, but the crowd burst into laughter and began dispersing.

Fatty Sun's face twitched. He pointed his whip at the frail woman. "You worthless loss that nobody will buy! Just you wait. If nobody takes you away today, you'll see how I deal with you!"

Just then, a voice rang out. "Eighteen taels. I'll take these two slaves."

Fatty Sun hurriedly turned and saw that Chen Shi'an had arrived in front of the iron cage.

"Young master, that's far too steep a cut. Acquiring these two cost me more than eighteen taels. Surely you ought to let me make a little profit?"

Fatty Sun plastered another smile onto his face.

Chen Shi'an shook his head. "You're still thinking about profit under these circumstances? You should be thinking about minimizing your losses.

"Eighteen taels is my limit. If you won't sell, forget it."

With that, he turned away.

"Don't be so quick to leave. Bargaining is part of doing business, isn't it?"

Fatty Sun called hastily, "Nineteen taels. I really can't go any lower."

Chen Shi'an continued walking slowly without responding.

After he had gone a dozen paces, Fatty Sun gritted his teeth. "Fine! Eighteen taels!"

For transactions at the Slave Market, after payment, buyer and seller still had to visit the government office responsible for household registration to enter the slaves into the buyer's household register. Only after the slaves were delivered to the buyer's home was the transaction officially complete.

After all, once purchased, each slave incurred a City Construction Tax of two taels of silver every six months, so the Stronghold naturally maintained strict control over household registration.

Since the woman in black was unconscious, Fatty Sun arranged a carriage to take Chen Shi'an and the two women to complete the registration.

Fatty Sun accompanied them, but unable to bear the stench coming from the woman's wound, he squeezed in beside the driver rather than sitting inside.

The frail woman kept her head lowered and held the woman in black tightly, neither speaking nor looking at Chen Shi'an across from her.

The registration was completed smoothly.

Chen Shi'an also learned the women's names. The frail one was surnamed Qin, with the given name E'na, while the unconscious woman in black was called Zhao Ling.

Around noon, the carriage stopped outside the Chen Family home.

Fatty Sun removed Qin E'na's shackles, but left Zhao Ling's alone. Instead, he handed the key to Chen Shi'an and warned him:

"Don't let her unconscious state fool you. Once she wakes up, she'll be dangerous. Several of our best men were injured capturing her.

"I've delivered them and told you everything you need to know. If anything goes wrong afterward, don't come looking for me. It won't do you any good."

With that, he jumped onto the carriage and left.

Even with her unconscious, Fatty Sun remained so cautious. Clearly, Zhao Ling's fighting skills were far from ordinary.

Still, Chen Shi'an did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately removed Zhao Ling's shackles.

Qin E'na stood nearby, her eyes flickering.

Hearing the commotion, Su Qingrou opened the courtyard gate, then exclaimed in surprise, "Brother-in-law, you bought two at once?"

Chen Shi'an nodded. "Sister-in-law, let's get them inside first. We can talk indoors."

Su Qingrou had already prepared an empty room. Whether intentionally or otherwise, she had specifically chosen the one right beside Chen Shi'an's.

After settling Zhao Ling onto the bed and leaving Qin E'na to watch over her, she immediately pulled Chen Shi'an into the courtyard. "Brother-in-law, didn't I tell you not to buy anyone injured or sick? Zhao Ling's wound is so severe. From the look of her, she won't last more than a few days.

"Aren't you just making trouble for yourself by bringing her home?"

Chen Shi'an smiled placatingly and lowered his voice. "It was buy one, get one free. Zhao Ling was free."

"What good is that? She probably won't survive." Su Qingrou looked toward Qin E'na and Zhao Ling's room, worry written all over her face.

"Sister-in-law, she's still alive, isn't she? I'll think of something and see whether I can save her," Chen Shi'an replied quietly.

Su Qingrou shook her head. "With such a large area festering, how could she possibly be saved?"

Chen Shi'an kept smiling. "We've already brought her home. We can't just watch her die without trying."

Su Qingrou let out a long sigh and slowly walked toward the gate.

"Sister-in-law, where are you going?" Chen Shi'an asked.

Su Qingrou frowned and complained, "If I'd known this would happen, I'd have gone to the Slave Market with you.

"But now that she's come to our Chen Family, we have to look after her. I'm going to fetch a doctor and buy another two changes of clothes."

Chen Shi'an hurried over. "Leave that to me. I'm quicker on my feet."

As he spoke, he took out four taels of silver and pressed them into Su Qingrou's hand. "The two of them only cost eighteen taels. Here are four taels back. I'll use the rest to fetch a doctor and buy clothes."

Before Su Qingrou could respond, he had already strode out of the courtyard.

After quickly picking out two sets of coarse clothing, buying a jar of liquor, and purchasing several packets of Wound Salve and some gauze, Chen Shi'an went to the market and finally stopped before a fruit stall.

The middle-aged vendor sold winter mandarins. Perhaps they had been sitting too long, for they looked noticeably shriveled.

"How much?" Chen Shi'an asked quietly.

"Five copper coins a catty. Buy more than four catties, and I'll make it four," the middle-aged vendor replied in a low voice.

Chen Shi'an shook his head. "They're this shriveled, and you still want five coins? Leave these mandarins another two days, and they'll rot."

The middle-aged vendor sighed. "Once mandarins leave the branches, they shrivel quickly. I picked these this morning. It hasn't even been half a day, and look at them.

"But I guarantee they're perfectly fresh inside once you peel them."

Chen Shi'an asked, "How many mandarin trees do you have at home?"

Puzzled, the vendor paused briefly. "Quite a few. Between the front and back of the house, there must be over forty."

Chen Shi'an smiled slightly. "My friend, three coins a catty, and I'll buy a hundred catties. But I want them freshly picked from your trees. How about it?"

The middle-aged vendor was overjoyed. "You really want a hundred catties?"

Chen Shi'an nodded. "If you agree, I can pay you now."

"Of course! No problem. If you buy even more, we can negotiate the price further." The middle-aged vendor beamed.

Chen Shi'an said, "I can't buy any more. They'll rot before we finish eating them."

After receiving three hundred copper coins, the middle-aged vendor immediately packed up his stall and happily led Chen Shi'an home.

The middle-aged vendor lived in a rather out-of-the-way part of the western city. There were indeed many mandarin trees around his house. Even if there were not over forty, there were certainly more than thirty.

The mandarin harvest was abundant that year, and the golden fruit weighed down the branches of every tree.

When they heard that Chen Shi'an wanted to buy a hundred catties of mandarins, the vendor's entire family rejoiced. Everyone pitched in, picking only large fruit with thin skins.

Soon, two hundred catties of mandarins had been picked.

Delighted, the middle-aged vendor threw in another ten catties.

The mandarins were loaded onto a handcart, and the middle-aged vendor offered to deliver them for free.

Standing beneath a mandarin tree, Chen Shi'an pointed to the rotten fruit scattered over the ground. "My friend, I want these mandarins too. How much?"

The middle-aged vendor looked surprised. "These aren't edible anymore. What do you want them for?"

Chen Shi'an smiled. "These rotten mandarins might not be edible, but they make excellent fertilizer when put into the soil.

"We grow quite a few flowers at home. I want to buy them for fertilizer."

The middle-aged vendor hesitated briefly. "We were planning to leave them to rot on the ground. If you want them, you can have them."

Chen Shi'an shook his head. "That won't do. Gathering them takes time too.

"How about one coin for thirty catties? Gather as many as you can for me."

The middle-aged vendor's entire family pitched in and soon gathered six hundred catties of rotten mandarins. Had the handcart not been full, they could have gathered another three hundred.

When the mandarins arrived at home, Su Qingrou was startled again. "Brother-in-law, why did you buy so many mandarins?"

Chen Shi'an chuckled. "Buying in bulk is cheaper! A hundred catties cost only three coins a catty, and those six hundred catties of rotten mandarins were practically free."

"Buy one, get one free again?"

Su Qingrou sighed deeply. "Brother-in-law, you need to change the way you shop. What use are six hundred catties of rotten mandarins? They'll just take up space."

Chen Shi'an pointed toward the vegetable patch in a corner of the courtyard. "Sister-in-law, the soil there isn't fertile enough. Bury these rotten mandarins, and I guarantee anything we plant will yield a bumper harvest."

Su Qingrou shook her head helplessly. "Do as you like. Weren't you going to fetch a doctor? Where is he?"

Chen Shi'an sighed. "I described her condition to the doctor. He said she couldn't be saved and told me not to waste my silver, so I brought back some Wound Salve instead."

Su Qingrou took the Wound Salve, gauze, clothes, and liquor. "I'll boil some water so they can wash and change into clean clothes first.

"These rotten mandarins stink terribly. Hurry up and deal with them."

Chen Shi'an moved the six hundred catties of rotten mandarins to the vegetable patch in a corner of the courtyard and patiently picked out every one that had developed green mold.

Naturally, he had bought all these rotten mandarins not to fertilize the vegetable patch, but for the green mold.

As green mold fungus grew, it secreted penicillin, though only in small amounts.

At the same time, green mold grown outside a sterile environment contained many harmful bacteria.

But given Zhao Ling's current condition, without antibiotics, the medical knowledge of this world offered absolutely no chance of saving her.

Extracting penicillin from rotten mandarins was a last resort: treating a dead horse as though it were still alive.

Moreover, Zhao Ling was a skilled martial artist and should have a strong constitution. Perhaps he really could bring her back from death's door.

After working for most of the day, he obtained a fist-sized clump of green mold. That should certainly be enough.

As for whether it could save Zhao Ling's life, that would depend on her fate.

The sun began sinking in the west.

Qin E'na and Zhao Ling had been washed clean of their grime and dressed in new clothes.

Their appearances underwent an earth-shattering transformation, as though ugly ducklings had become swans.

Qin E'na in particular possessed a natural beauty that even her coarse clothing could not conceal.

A jade-like face, a slender waist, lips red without rouge, and brows dark without paint.

Her only shortcomings were her excessive thinness and the deep sorrow filling her eyes.

As for Zhao Ling, although her features were slightly less beautiful than Qin E'na's, she had a tall, slender figure and elegant brows that swept toward her temples. A vibrant, heroic spirit shone between her brows, lending her a charm all her own.

Seeing the two women cleaned up, Su Qingrou had to admit that Chen Shi'an had an excellent eye, though she still harbored some complaints.

Whether Qin E'na or Zhao Ling, both surpassed Fang Ruyu by a fair margin in looks alone.

Chen Shi'an was equally surprised. His main reason for buying Qin E'na and Zhao Ling had been the compassion stirred in him by Qin E'na's refusal to abandon Zhao Ling.

Of course, there was another reason: the price had been cheap enough.

If he could save Zhao Ling, he would make a killing.

What he had not expected was that the disheveled, filthy Qin E'na and Zhao Ling would prove so beautiful after washing and grooming.

Beauty pleased the eye, and any normal man enjoyed looking at beautiful women.

A pleasant surprise!

Next, naturally, he had to treat Zhao Ling's injury.

Chen Shi'an quietly mixed the green mold into the Wound Salve and instructed Su Qingrou to wash the pus and blood from the wound with liquor before applying it.

Originally, he had intended to treat Zhao Ling himself, but the wound's location was somewhat awkward, and Qin E'na guarded against him as though he were a thief. He could only have Su Qingrou do it instead.

Yet Su Qingrou had barely been inside before she hurried back out, her pretty face deathly pale. She covered her mouth and nose, on the verge of vomiting.

"Sister-in-law, what's wrong?" Chen Shi'an asked hastily.

It took Su Qingrou quite a while to recover. "I can't do it. The wound's too deep, too severe. I can see her internal organs. Looking at it makes me dizzy and sick. You'll have to do it yourself."

"What about Qin E'na?" Chen Shi'an asked.

Su Qingrou shook her head. "She's even worse. Her hands shake more than mine."