The silver coins in her palm felt warm, and Mu Wanwan was feeling a little inflated with confidence. She clutched the money and stood by the roadside where she would not get in anyone’s way, beginning to calculate what she should buy later—
The weather was gradually getting colder. The quilt might not be thick enough, and she needed to buy another two padded mattresses too. If she did not buy them and Mr. Dragon’s tail rotted again, she would have nothing to change it with. Also…
Mu Wanwan looked up at the sky, sealed tight with dark clouds, and felt a little worried. It had been raining constantly during this period, and even after she washed her clothes, they were not easy to dry. Was it really because she was keeping a dragon at home?
Because it kept raining, she needed to buy more clothes as well. The weather was getting colder and colder, so it would not be good to let Mr. Dragon keep being a naked dragon. Although the jade bed was very warm, the room itself was cold. And she still needed to cultivate spiritual plants, so the temperature could not be too low. Therefore, warming stones also had to be arranged.
And since she had worked so hard to earn a little money this time, she also wanted to buy some meat to reward herself.
The more Mu Wanwan thought about it, the more she felt that the money in her hand was still terribly easy to spend. qwq
She sighed, adjusted the basket on her back, and found a place with a large flow of people to start selling vegetables.
She had brought out so many vegetables this time; she could not possibly carry them back again. There were still many seeds at home, and this basket of vegetables could also sell for quite a few copper coins.
“How are you selling these greens?” Not long after Mu Wanwan had set up her stall, an elderly granny carrying a basket looked over and asked.
Mu Wanwan thought for a moment. “Two copper coins per jin.”
Her vegetables had all been grown with wood-type spiritual energy. Converted to modern prices, that would be about two yuan per jin. It should not be considered very expensive, right?
“They’re just ordinary greens, and you’re selling them for two copper coins per jin?” A somewhat sharp voice rang out. It belonged to a middle-aged woman with rather high cheekbones. She had rouge on her face and was dressed quite well, looking like someone not easy to provoke.
“My greens are of good quality. You can take a look. They’re much fresher than the ones others are selling,” Mu Wanwan did not argue with her and only said this objectively.
The granny was very kind. “What about these radishes? How are you selling them?”
“The radishes are also two copper coins per jin,” Mu Wanwan said evenly.
“You’re selling radishes for that much too? Are you robbing people?” The woman looked at Mu Wanwan in disbelief. “Will you sell them for one copper coin per jin?”
Mu Wanwan now understood how the butcher had felt last time when she bargained with him. Learning from that butcher, she smiled brightly and said, “Fixed price.”
“Have you gone mad from wanting money?” The woman seemed very angry, but her feet would not move away.
She had noticed Mu Wanwan’s vegetables from the moment she started setting up the stall. They were much bigger than those at the other stalls. And although she had not stepped onto the path of cultivation, because her family conditions were good and she had eaten quite a lot of good things, she could sense the existence of spiritual energy a little more than ordinary mortals.
But her nature was such that she was unwilling to spend more money and wanted to take advantage of a bargain.
While she was hesitating, the granny acted first. “I’ll take them all.”
Mu Wanwan was a little surprised by how straightforward she was. Weighing these vegetables in her mind, they were probably around five or six jin. Since she did not want to waste time, she said, “One silver coin in total. Granny, is that alright?”
“No!” Seeing that the vegetables were about to be sold, the woman hurriedly spoke up. “I want half too. Expensive is expensive, then.”
“Granny, we both saw these vegetables together. I want to buy some too.” The woman gave the granny a fake smile and spoke in a pinched voice.
Mu Wanwan felt a little uncomfortable and frowned, wanting to speak, but the granny spoke first. “Sister Hong, you must be joking. How much can an old woman like me eat? I’ll split half with you.”
Since the actual buyer had already said to split half, Mu Wanwan did not want to argue with people over such a small matter and delay her time returning home. So she accepted five copper coins from each of them and divided the vegetables equally between the granny and Sister Hong.
“If your vegetables don’t taste good, I’ll come looking for you tomorrow!” Before Sister Hong left, she even threw down a harsh warning. Mu Wanwan directly rolled her eyes at her retreating back.
She guessed that this Sister Hong’s family had some money, and judging from the granny’s attitude, perhaps she had some influence too. But with that attitude, she was clearly trying to take advantage. If not for the fact that she had to sell vegetables today to cover things up in front of Hongye, she would not have wanted to sell them at all.
Mu Wanwan held the ten copper coins in her hand and did not waste any more time. She hurriedly bought the things she might need over the next ten days.
When she passed by a pastry shop, Mu Wanwan smelled a milky, sugary fragrance. This was a scent she had only smelled in cake shops before she transmigrated. After transmigrating into the book, forget pastries—she had not even eaten sugar.
Why not buy some sugar?
Mr. Dragon probably had not eaten sugar in a long time either.
Thinking this, Mu Wanwan found a shop that sold sugar. “Boss, how much is this sugar?”
The shopkeeper was a middle-aged man with a chubby face and looked very amiable. “White sugar and maltose are both three silver coins per jin. Osmanthus sugar is five silver coins per piece.”
Mu Wanwan: “…”
It was that expensive?
Only then did she remember that sugar was considered a luxury in this world. Ordinary families generally could not afford to eat it.
“How about it? Do you want some?” the shopkeeper asked.
Mu Wanwan thought for a moment, then gritted her teeth. “Give me one silver coin’s worth of white sugar.”
“Alright.” The shopkeeper nodded and made no comment about her stingy behaviour. Mu Wanwan guessed that ordinary people probably bought sugar little by little too, so the shopkeeper was already used to it.
When she received the small bag of white sugar that did not contain much, Mu Wanwan felt as though her heart was bleeding. White sugar that had cost only a few yuan a bag in supermarkets in her previous life was more than ten times the price here. But when she thought that Mr. Dragon could taste something other than plain rice porridge and salty porridge, she still felt a little happy.
“Oh, boss, do you know where eggs are sold?” Mu Wanwan asked.
“Not far ahead. There are also people selling chicks and cattle,” the shopkeeper said, pointing in a direction. Mu Wanwan thanked him and went straight to her destination. She spent one silver coin to buy two spirit-chicken eggs to add to Mr. Dragon’s meals, while for herself, she spent five copper coins to buy five ordinary eggs.
By the time she had carefully and stingily bought everything she could think of, the sky had gradually darkened, and a light rain had begun to fall. Mu Wanwan found a secluded corner and put the items into the Spatial pouch, then moved the basket on her back to the front.
The basket was empty now, only containing some embroidery items she had bought as cover. Holding that broken but still usable umbrella, she walked outside to look for Hongye.
Hongye was waiting outside with the ox. She wore a bamboo hat on her head. When she saw Mu Wanwan, she happily waved. “Madam, did the vegetables sell well today?”
“Not bad.” Mu Wanwan generously let her look at the things in the basket. “I thought what you said made sense, so I bought some embroidery things. I’ll make them when I have free time after taking care of His Lordship.”
“Haha, that’s good.” Seeing that she really had bought embroidery cloth and other materials, Hongye did not ask further. Mu Wanwan got onto the cart, and the two of them set off back home.
She had bought quite a lot of things this time. She bought two sets of underclothes for Mr. Dragon, one set for herself, one padded mattress, and some cloth for embroidery, which cost her one low-grade spirit stone. Then she bought some meat, other kinds of vegetable seeds, some rice and flour, which cost another low-grade spirit stone.
Apart from that, the biggest expenses were the sugar and eggs.
Actually, Mu Wanwan had also wanted to buy some warming stones, because the weather was getting colder now and she was afraid the temperature in the room would not be enough.
In this world, ordinary families burned charcoal for warmth. Only some very wealthy families bought warming stones. Warming stones were not cheap. Even first-rank ones cost two silver coins each, and to maintain the temperature of a room, at least thirty or so warming stones were needed.
Considering that she still did not have much money, Mu Wanwan did not buy warming stones. She only bought a little charcoal to bring back and gritted her teeth, deciding that this time she would definitely cultivate more spiritual plants and buy them next time.
As she sat on the ox cart thinking, she wondered whether Mr. Dragon had gone hungry after she had been away for so long today. Surely no one had bullied him, right?
She felt a little uneasy and wanted to hurry back.
Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. The journey that usually took less than an hour felt especially long today. Halfway through the ox cart ride, the rain fell heavier and heavier. That broken umbrella could not block such heavy rain at all. Mu Wanwan clutched the umbrella and hid from the rain while feeling grateful that she had hidden everything in the Spatial pouch.
But the weather was terrible, the ground was muddy, and the ox walked slowly. By the time they reached the manor, Mu Wanwan was soaked through. Her hair was dripping water, and the needles, thread, and scraps of cloth she had bought for more than ten copper coins in the basket were also completely wet.
Hongye was not much better than her. Because she had to drive the ox cart, her hands were even redder from the cold, like two swollen radishes.
“Madam, I’ll send you only this far.” Hongye brought Mu Wanwan to the front of the courtyard, her voice trembling a little from the cold.
“Thank you, Hongye.” Mu Wanwan thanked her sincerely. Through the pouring rain, they had to speak very loudly to hear each other.
“Madam, if you want to go out again in ten days, I’ll take you then,” Hongye shouted. She waved at Mu Wanwan and led the ox away.
Mu Wanwan watched her leave, then held up the umbrella and walked toward the courtyard against the cold wind. Along the way, she stepped into several puddles. By the time she finally reached the courtyard gate and opened it with trembling hands, her shoes were soaked through, making her feel terribly uncomfortable.
The courtyard was very quiet, no different from when she had left. Mu Wanwan quickly ran into the room and closed the door, shutting the cold wind outside. Only then did she feel a little better.
“Phew.” She sighed and wiped her face with her hand, thinking that going out this time had truly been suffering.
On the other side, Mr. Dragon had woken up as early as when she pushed open the door and came in. He knew she had gone out today to buy things, and he had been worrying all along that the rain would soak her. Now that sounds came to his ears, he impatiently extended a strand of divine consciousness. One look, and he saw that she was drenched from head to toe.
Mr. Dragon’s fingertips tightened slightly, and his heart felt very uncomfortable.
In other families, the husband earned money to support the household, yet he could only rely on Madam to support him. Mr. Dragon began feeling distressed again. He controlled his divine consciousness and covered the corner of her clothes with it, as if he could feel the icy temperature of the rain outside.
But Mr. Dragon did not overthink for long before he saw Mu Wanwan move—
When he discovered that the first thing Mu Wanwan did after entering was not to take a towel and wipe off the rainwater, but instead to walk to the bedside first and look at him several times, confirming his safety…
Mr. Dragon felt sweetness in his heart again, mixed with countless complicated emotions. He really was too bad. Clearly she had suffered, yet he felt very happy.
A corner of the quilt was lifted by Mu Wanwan’s hand, which carried a slight chill. Mr. Dragon heard her say by his ear, “Mm, good. Your tail hasn’t rotted.”
He became somewhat embarrassed, the tips of his ears turning a little red. During this period, she had raised him very well. No one had ever treated him like this before. That strand of Mr. Dragon’s divine consciousness seemed to reflect his mood as it clung to her fingertips, reluctant to leave.
He watched as, after confirming he was fine, she set down the basket, took a dry towel, and wiped her face. Then he saw her take off her shoes because she felt uncomfortable and stand barefoot on the floor.
Her feet were very pretty, her toes rounded. But because they had been soaked in water and the weather was cold, they were a little red.
Mr. Dragon felt a little dizzy. She had actually taken off her shoes in front of him. Was it because she felt he could be trusted?
Mr. Dragon’s divine consciousness jumped twice in excitement, but when it touched upon Mu Wanwan’s next movement, it suddenly froze—
She—how could she start taking off her clothes!
Mr. Dragon’s mind instantly went dizzy. He did not even have time to retract his divine consciousness before he saw half of her smooth, fair shoulder. His entire dragon self seemed to have been suddenly thrown into a pan of hot oil, crackling and sizzling as he was cooked through in an instant.
Pink spread all the way from his neck to the tips of his ears, and half his face was flushed an unnatural red. Mr. Dragon desperately withdrew his divine consciousness, his heart beating very fast—thump, thump, thump—each sound like fireworks exploding beside his ears.
Even louder than the sound of his heartbeat was the rustling sound of her changing clothes. This terrible dragon’s mind was filled entirely with the fair shoulder he had accidentally seen with his divine consciousness. Now, listening to the sounds beside his ears, he felt as though he were being struck by ten thousand bolts of lightning.
She was actually changing clothes in front of him!
Only this one thought remained in his mind. Mr. Dragon’s eyelashes trembled unnaturally, and his whole dragon body was shaking a little.
Mu Wanwan had no idea that simply changing clothes at home after being drenched by rain had caused such a huge impact on Mr. Dragon. After all, in her eyes, Mr. Dragon was only an unconscious vegetable dragon.
She was soaked all over and cold. Changing clothes at home was very normal, right? Actually, she wanted to take a bath, but she had not boiled water yet. She could not just keep wearing wet clothes while waiting; she would get sick. Besides, she had half-opened the wardrobe to block the view a little. Mr. Dragon was unconscious anyway, so he definitely could not see.
After Mu Wanwan changed her clothes, she picked up the dirty clothes from the floor and threw them into the basin. Then, unable to wait, she walked to the bedside, wanting to share the good news that she had earned a lot of money today with a dragon who would not know.
But with just one glance, she was frightened by the unnatural flush on Mr. Dragon’s cheeks. “Mr. Dragon, what’s wrong?”
Her mind instantly recalled the tragic state from some time ago when Mr. Dragon’s tail had rotted and he had vomited blood. She was afraid something had happened to Mr. Dragon again and that she would not be able to help.
Her voice was gentle and urgent. Hearing it in Mr. Dragon’s ears only made him feel even more uncomfortable. Right now, his mind was full of terrible fantasies, and he wanted nothing more than to escape.
Mu Wanwan reached out and tested Mr. Dragon’s forehead. It was a little hot, but it probably was not a fever. She did not know, however, that this action, which was merely meant to check his temperature, brought her skin into direct contact with his—and it plunged a certain dragon even deeper into fire and water.
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