This was all expected.
Tang Zhuyun had only those eighteen taels of silver on her mind. She patiently listened as the shopkeeper poured out a basketful of pleasantries, then smiled and said, "I'm relieved to see you're feeling better. About the silver we agreed on earlier?"
"No problem, no problem." The shopkeeper took out two ten-tael silver ingots he had prepared and set them on the table.
"Twenty taels of silver, but you already gave me two, so you should give me another eighteen."
"The extra two taels are a deposit for next time," the shopkeeper said, his face wreathed in smiles. "With this ailment of mine, I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you again, miss."
He didn't expect to recover all at once. If he could be free of pain, he would thank heaven and earth.
Tang Zhuyun thought for a moment and said, "Then I won't stand on ceremony. I'll come by often from now on, but if it's still the same old ailment, I won't charge you another consultation fee."
"Then thank you, miss." The shopkeeper's face was wreathed in smiles.
Only those who had suffered illness knew how important a good doctor was.
Tang Zhuyun smiled. "Speaking of which, there's something else I'd like to trouble you with. You've been a shopkeeper here for many years. Do you know anyone in the restaurant business? To tell you the truth, I have a recipe for a cold dish that I'd like to sell, but I don't know where to start..."
"That's easy!" the shopkeeper said. "Whatever price you want for it, miss, I can simply buy it."
From his tone, she could tell he wanted to buy it for three or five taels, or perhaps a dozen or so.
That was nowhere near enough to satisfy Tang Zhuyun's appetite.
So she smiled and calmly said, "Please hear me out, shopkeeper. I brought a prepared seasoning mix with me today. I don't mean to blow my own trumpet, but when it's used to dress a cold dish according to this recipe, the flavor is second to none. I won't charge you for this packet. We can discuss the price after someone at a restaurant has tried it."
The shopkeeper was a shrewd man. He immediately understood the meaning behind her words and nodded. "All right, all right. I happen to know the shopkeeper at the Four Seas Tower. But he's very busy, so I'm afraid we'll have to arrange another time..."
Tang Zhuyun was delighted to hear there was a way in and hurriedly said, "There's no need. Just help me deliver this packet of prepared cold-dish seasoning to him. I'll come back in a few days to hear the news."
The shopkeeper agreed at once.
Tang Zhuyun adjusted his prescription before taking Linlin outside.
"We have money now! What would you like to buy?" Tang Zhuyun said proudly.
Linlin reminded her in a low voice, "Auntie, you borrowed twenty taels of silver from the family funds before..."
"But I'm buying things for the family now!" Tang Zhuyun said. "Didn't you hear? I've also found a way to sell my cold-dish recipe."
"Can you really sell it?" Remembering their previous failures, Linlin was somewhat doubtful.
Tang Zhuyun wasn't sure herself, but she said with certainty, "Of course. Tell me, what do you want to eat? What do you want to buy?"
"I... I don't want anything," Linlin said.
"Silly boy, come on. I'll buy you some meat and fish to take home and cook."
"And pork offal!" Linlin said loudly.
"Haha, no problem."
The two of them shopped as they wandered. Tang Zhuyun had originally wanted to buy clothes for her father, brother, and Linlin, but then she discovered that clothes here were insanely expensive.
Actually, it wasn't the clothes that were expensive so much as the fabric. Even fine cotton cloth cost a great deal. As for brocade, silk, and satin, she could forget about them.
Coarse cloth was cheaper, but given her father's and brother's status, they couldn't wear it out.
In the end, Tang Zhuyun steeled herself and spent two taels of silver on several pieces of fine cotton and jiao cloth. She would have Old Madam He and Xiu'er make an outfit for each of the three males in the family.
Xiu'er was excellent at embroidery, one of the maid's few virtues besides her loyalty.
When they passed the horse market, Linlin was reluctant to move on.
He knew horses were expensive, but he couldn't help looking at them.
"Auntie, I'm only looking. I won't buy one," he said softly.
Tang Zhuyun recalled how dejected he had been when he spoke of riding before, and knew what was on his mind.
To boys of this era, horses were probably like Ultraman: the coolest, flashiest thing of all.
"Then let's look for a while. It doesn't cost anything to look, anyway," Tang Zhuyun said with a smile.
The horse trader was in his thirties and knew how to do business. He didn't look down on Tang Zhuyun and Linlin because of their ordinary clothes, and enthusiastically introduced the horses to them. Seeing how much Linlin liked horses, he even took out a piece of malt candy and told him to put it on his palm to feed a horse.
"Just like that. Yes, when you have a horse of your own, that's how you'll have to tame him."
Linlin was so happy that his little face turned red. "Auntie, it licked my palm!"
Tang Zhuyun smiled at the sight, then turned to chat with the horse trader and ask him the prices of the horses.
The horse trader told her that he had no old horses here; they were all good ones.
Even his worst horse cost over a hundred taels of silver. As for the good ones, some cost a thousand taels.
Tang Zhuyun converted the prices in her head. They were roughly like the prices of modern cars. The "cars" here had a certain reputation, and their prices ranged from a little over a hundred thousand to a million. They were truly expensive.
She couldn't afford one. She really couldn't afford one now.
Tang Zhuyun pointed at the horse Linlin liked and asked, "How much is this one?"
"To give you an honest price, it's three hundred taels of silver."
"I'll come buy it when I have the money," Tang Zhuyun said with a smile.
She just didn't know when she would have the money. That was more than half a year's salary for her father and brother. Unless she came into a windfall, she really couldn't afford it.
"Looking as shabby as you do, can you afford it?"
What?
Hearing that voice, Tang Zhuyun turned around and, sure enough, saw Ruan Anruo's white-lotus face.
Ruan Anruo looked a little haggard, and her gaze was venomous.
"I didn't expect your confinement to be lifted so soon. What, your mother felt safe letting you out? Could it be that your dear cousin has been castrated and entered the palace?" Tang Zhuyun said with the hint of a smile.
Ruan Anruo twisted her handkerchief in anger, her face so fierce that she looked ready to swallow Tang Zhuyun whole.
"How much is that horse?" she asked, pointing to the horse Linlin was feeding.
"Three hundred taels of silver. I've already bought it," Tang Zhuyun said.
Ruan Anruo said, "You have three hundred taels of silver?"
"What the hell is it to you?" Tang Zhuyun said. "Anyway, I've bought the horse."
Ruan Anruo was somewhat doubtful, but given the abilities of the Tang father and son, if they really wanted to take bribes, getting hundreds or even thousands and tens of thousands of taels of silver would be no difficult matter.
Could it be that the two of them had been provoked and had now begun amassing wealth?
But no matter what, Ruan Anruo couldn't show weakness in front of Tang Zhuyun.
She might have lacked other things, but she had plenty of silver! Her mother came from a merchant family with a fortune of ten thousand strings of cash. Wasn't silver the very reason her father, a marquis's son, had married a merchant's daughter?
"Three hundred and fifty taels. Sell it to me!" Ruan Anruo said coldly, casting Tang Zhuyun a smug, disdainful glance, determined to have it.
Tang Zhuyun said, "Boss, you can't do that. We had a deal. Come, come here, let me tell you: a person has to keep his word!"
As she spoke, she pulled the horse trader aside and whispered a few words to him.
The horse trader looked troubled. "Miss, it goes to the highest bidder. You can't expect me to lose fifty taels of silver for nothing, can you?"
Tang Zhuyun looked annoyed. "Then I'll offer three hundred and fifty-one taels!"
Ruan Anruo looked at her disdainfully. "Four hundred taels!"
"Four hundred and one!"
"Five hundred!"
"You!" Tang Zhuyun looked furious. "Ruan Anruo, you're doing this on purpose!"
"So what if I am?" Ruan Anruo fully revealed her true face. "You got me scolded by my father and mother. Serves you right!"
"Five hundred and one taels!" Tang Zhuyun shouted through gritted teeth. From her expression, she was clearly stretching herself to the limit.
Linlin stood to one side, looking at her in some confusion, but said nothing.
Ruan Anruo said, "Six hundred taels!"
"You win!" Tang Zhuyun said angrily. "You can have the lousy horse! Linlin, let's go!"
Linlin cast a reluctant glance at the horse, then followed her away without a word.
After they had walked away, Linlin suddenly said, "Auntie, one day I'll definitely buy you a horse, a very, very expensive one. Then no one will dare look down on you."
Tang Zhuyun, whose face had been twisted with anger just moments ago, was now beaming. She lowered her head and pinched his adorable cheek. "Then how about Auntie buys you a good horse right now?"
Linlin froze, his large eyes full of confusion.