Chapter 23: I Hope You Won’t Be Scared To Death At My House
Soon, the shop assistant brought the shopkeeper over.
“Shopkeeper, it’s this young lady who says she has prey to sell. This young lady, this is our shopkeeper.” After the shop assistant introduced them both, he tactfully went back to his tasks.
The shopkeeper was a skinny little old man with a goatee on his chin, a pair of sharp and shrewd eyes. What surprised Lin Xin the most was the vigorous vitality on his body, not inferior at all to a young lad in his early twenties. He looked like a kung fu practitioner, and a formidable one at that.
While Lin Xin was observing him, the shopkeeper was also observing her.
An unremarkable rural young lady, dressed plainly, a bit younger than he had imagined, with delicate features. But due to years of labor, her originally stunning looks were probably only at fifty or sixty percent.
“Young lady, I heard you have prey to sell. Show me where the prey is. If it’s suitable, our restaurant will take it.” After observing, the shopkeeper twirled his goatee and said.
Lin Xin nodded. “It’s right outside. Have someone bring scales to the back alley.”
The shopkeeper called the accountant, the cook from the back kitchen, and a shop assistant with scales, and they all left the restaurant together, went around to the nearby alley, and saw the young lady with the back basket having two huge wild boars, a wild goat, and a roe deer at her feet.
“Hiss~” The shopkeeper twirled his goatee again, involuntarily looking around. After seeing no one else, he asked, “Did the young lady bring all this herself?”
Lin Xin smiled at him without answering.
The shopkeeper was perceptive and knew she didn’t want to say, so he didn’t press further. He called the cook to check the quality of the things.
“Whoa, little young lady has skills! These wild boar and roe deer are still fresh! The wild goat too.” The cook stepped forward to inspect carefully and gave Lin Xin a thumbs up.
“So can you take them?” Lin Xin asked.
“Of course! Shopkeeper, take them quickly! Tonight Master Wang’s table can add a few new dishes.” The chubby cook patted his belly and grinned.
“Alright, we’ll take them. Little young lady, our restaurant does fair business. We’ll take the wild boars at twenty cash per catty whole, wild goat and roe deer at thirty-five cash, also whole. What do you think?” The shopkeeper was straightforward.
“Deal!” Lin Xin was also straightforward.
Next came the weighing. The two wild boars totaled four hundred thirty catties, the wild goat one hundred ninety-six catties, the roe deer sixty-three catties.
“Wild boar twenty cash per catty, wild goat and roe deer thirty-five cash per catty, total is······” The accountant started working the abacus nearby.
“Wild boar eight thousand six hundred cash, wild goat six thousand eight hundred sixty cash, roe deer two thousand two hundred five cash.” Before they finished, Lin Xin blurted it out.
“Right, total seventeen taels of silver plus six hundred sixty-five cash.” The accountant got the result too. “Young lady calculates fast.”
“Hehe,” Lin Xin touched her nose. She had studied mental math, and done pretty well too!
“Young lady has such skills too! Since your prey is fresh enough, I’ll round it up for you. Here’s eighteen taels of silver. Bring more like this in the future, we’ll take them all.” After speaking, the shopkeeper took out a ten-tael silver ingot and eight one-tael small ingots and handed them to Lin Xin.
“Thanks shopkeeper, thanks cook uncle, thanks accountant uncle.” Lin Xin took the silver and thanked them one by one, then handed over the osmanthus cake in her hand. “Uncles, take these pastries home to try if they’re good. I’m off!”
Without waiting for their refusal, she shouldered the back basket and dashed out of the alley.
“This kid, quite polite!” The fat cook patted his belly and chuckled.
“Don’t underestimate this young lady. Her kung fu is probably not inferior to······.” The shopkeeper narrowed his eyes and pointed his index fingertip upward.
“No way, she’s so young!” The accountant exclaimed.
“Hehe, I misjudged at first too!” After saying that, the shopkeeper stroked his goatee and returned to the restaurant.
“Fatty, do you believe it?” The accountant asked the fat cook persistently.
“She’s just selling prey, what does it matter if we believe it or not!” The fat cook patted his belly and left too.
“Hey, you······” The accountant stomped his foot and chased after.
Lin Xin had no idea those three discussed her again after she left. She was now happily shopping.
After eating chicken for days, she felt covered in chicken feathers smell. Time for some pork to improve it. Last time she didn’t buy all the seasonings, so this time she planned to find a place to scrounge more. Novels said many seasonings were used as medicinal herbs in ancient times, so she wanted to check that medical hall again.
“Little young lady, here to sell ginseng again? Quick, show me.” As soon as she appeared in the medical hall, the old doctor smelled her and came over, looking like he wanted to rummage her back basket himself.
“You think wild ginseng is cabbage? Where’s it so easy to get again.” Lin Xin rolled her eyes and stepped back. “I’m here to buy some ginger, star anise, grass fruit, Ophiopogon japonicus, bay leaf, cinnamon bark—these season······ medicinal herbs. Do you have them?”
“What do you want these for?” The little old man thought of something, his eyes lit up. “Little young lady, could it be you can cook?”
“What do you want?” Lin Xin got creeped out by his sparkling gaze.
“Hehe,” the little old man rubbed his hands. “This old man has no other hobbies but medicinal herbs and food. As soon as you mentioned those, I knew you have skills. Just don’t know if you’ll waste my medicinal herbs.”
After saying that, he shook his head while sneakily glancing at Lin Xin’s expression with his little eyes.
Lin Xin’s expression was indescribable.
She already had a big tiger freeloading meals at home. Now another little old man?
“I······”
“Don’t say it. I’ll know after eating once with you.” The little old man quickly interrupted her. Seeing her about to retort, he added: “That child you brought last time wasn’t raised well from young, right? This old man won’t boast otherwise, but my medical skill is top-notch. Want me to check him?”
This time he hit Lin Xin’s soft spot. Lin Nan hadn’t had a drop of mother’s milk since birth; the original owner raised him on rice soup. After surviving, he lived meal-to-meal with the original owner. Though these days when he slept, Lin Xin used wood element ability to nourish his body, she wasn’t sure if Lin Nan’s body had any defects.
“Fine fine fine, I’ll cook for you, okay? Pick a time!” Lin Xin finally compromised.
“Pick what? No time like the present, today it is.” The little old man grinned delightedly. Not only did he pack plenty of the seasonings she mentioned, but also several she hadn’t thought of. After preparing, he pulled her to leave.
“Not today. Our village is down below, quite a trip back and forth. And we’re poor, just one house. If you can’t return tonight, nowhere to stay.” Lin Xin quickly stopped him.
“No problem. This old man has a horse carriage, not afraid of night roads.”
“Fine, suit yourself.” Thinking of the freeloader at home, Lin Xin said broken-jar-broken: “Hope arriving at my home doesn’t scare you to death.”
“This old man is almost sixty, what could scare me? Girl, you can’t be so stingy. Though I eat your food, I check you for free! You’re profiting, you know? Back then nobles lined up with piles of gold and silver begging me to treat them, and I wouldn’t bother.” The little old man got arrogant as he spoke.
“Fine fine, you’re amazing!” Lin Xin shut up completely.
