Free Web NovelChapter 14: Chapter 14
Chapter 14
"Young miss, don’t worry too much. Even though these textbooks are expensive, once you buy them and practice copying from them, if you produce good work, I will buy it. So, you get to practice your skills and make sales too."
The crafty shopkeeper quickly offered a deal to Yueqian, sensing her reluctance to spend money. His selling tactic wasn’t bad at all, considering the textbooks he was selling were likely copies that others had made and sold to him. Certainly, the shopkeeper would not have purchased them at a high price. How much would he pay for the copying work? Probably, one would need to copy about 10 copies to earn enough to buy one of these textbooks.
"How much is everything you mentioned?" the young woman asked. She wasn’t really worried about running out of money; she was just casually thinking about something else. The shopkeeper was already growing anxious.
Yueqian did not wish to oppress anyone further, so she asked him about the price.
"The set of boxes, inkstones, ink sticks, paper, and brushes all together are not very expensive. You can check for yourself; no other shop sells cheaper than mine. As for these textbooks, they are quite pricey, but for a scholar, knowledge is more important than money.
I’ve calculated everything and it comes to 8 taels and 700 brass coins. But since you are such a good wife, I will give you a discount of 300 brass coins, making it only 8 taels and 400 brass coins. What do you think?" The shopkeeper looked at Yueqian’s face, trying to gauge her reaction.
The beautiful woman slightly furrowed her brows, just for an act, then looked at the shopkeeper who was eagerly thinking. Obviously, he wanted to make the most profit possible, but if not, he was ready to negotiate to earn a small profit.
"If you are not satisfied with the price, we can negotiate," the shopkeeper quickly said.
She certainly was a valuable customer for him, so he did not want to lose her.
"Negotiable, is it? Then, I do not ask for any discount, but instead, can that textbook be included as a giveaway?" Yueqian pointed to one of the textbooks displayed, priced at 700 brass coins or almost 1 silver tael.
The textbooks were priced around this range, each containing only about 20-30 pages. If thicker, they were more expensive.
Looking at the various textbooks, the shopkeeper had already offered her four books, including a character practicing book with only 18 pages, must be for beginner. The second one was the Forest of Earth Mushrooms Mount, a hunting ground for Mu Heng. This was the most expensive, priced at 1200 brass coins.
Another book was about chicken farming techniques, and the last one was a history of the kingdom, definitely, the last one was also quite pricey, yet it was a book commonly used in civil service exams, hence available everywhere.
What Yueqian wanted to add was a geography inspection textbook, discussing geographic prediction. Although not popular, its mystery made it still priced at 700 brass coins.
The shopkeeper looked at the textbook Yueqian was pointing to while stroking his chin thoughtfully. In truth, the book was priced high but attracted no buyers at all. That caused him to not pay much attention to it and had placed it among other books to make those other books look more appealing, never expecting someone would actually be interested in it.
"If you’re really interested, then it’s settled. Is this all you want?"
Ultimately, the old shopkeeper agreed readily. Yueqian then paid him one gold tael, receiving the change back.
Soon after, the other party managed to wrap up the purchases successfully, separated each set for her. Yueqian carried the bundle behind her, seemed so strong and agile, leaving no sign of a lady who did not know how to do anything.
As she stepped out of the shop, she noticed that Mu Heng was anxiously looking around for her. As soon as the young man saw his petite wife, his uneasy expression was gone.
The tall man almost ran towards her, worried. In his mind, he thought of her as a delicate young lady who had never been anywhere alone. The way she was gone made him afraid that she might have been kidnapped by bad people or that she had gotten lost while looking around.
Deep down, Mu Heng also harbored a fear that she might run away back to the capital city.
Although he pretended not to care about whom she wrote letters to, fearing it would be disrespectful to her, deep down, he was terrified that the letters might be calling her people to take her back home. If that were indeed the case, what could he possibly do?
"Wife, where have you been? Didn’t I tell you to wait here? Don’t go off alone next time. If you need something, tell me. I can buy it for you, or I can accompany you to run an errand," Mu Heng said sternly.
He deliberately called Yueqian ‘wife’ to remind her of her current status with him. Although she was unwilling to marry and did not want to have any relation with him, she could not escape the title of his wife.
Yueqian looked at the man in front of her who seemed so serious. It seemed like he was really angry that she had left without telling him earlier. Before, whatever she did, thought, or decided, he agreed with everything and never forced her to do anything she disliked.
However, this was the first time she had ever heard his stern tone.
"I understand, I apologize," the young woman said sincerely, her words solid as if making a promise to him. This made Mu Heng’s thick eyebrows slowly relax.
It seemed that Mu Heng had just realized his behavior. The tall man’s expression softened significantly. He hesitated for a moment before explaining why he felt that way.
Deep inside, Mu Heng feared that his wife might feel uncomfortable with him being overly controlling.
"I speak this way because I’m worried about you. It’s your first time here. If you get lost, you will be troubled. If you encounter bad people, with your beautiful face, they might think to harm you," Mu Heng explained. freewebnøvel.coɱ
"I understand," Yueqian didn’t argue and simply nodded, appearing like an obedient wife.
Mu Heng felt his heart might skip a beat in an indescribable way. He found his petite wife even more endearing when she acted like such a sweet wife.
"Then... shall we head back now?" he asked after struggling to keep himself from smiling foolishly.
Otherwise, anyone who saw him might say he was utterly smitten with his wife.
Mu Heng used to be a man without a wife, but it didn’t mean he never tease others about such matters. Sometimes, he would playfully talk with others. If someone was rushing home, he would ask, ‘do you already want to go back and cuddle with your wife?’, ‘are you a man who smitten with his wife?’.
This time, it seemed he was the one who fell head over heels in love with his own wife.
"Alright, I don’t need anything else," Yueqian replied politely.
Never thought that within just one day, she and he would speak the same language, even begin to look like a real married couple.
This was quite different from her life in the capital. Back then, while chasing after that Young General, she always called him ‘Brother, Brother’, yet felt far more distant than now. Yueqian remembered waking up to find him watching her, his gaze warmer and more sincere than the Young General’s ever was when looking at the ‘heroine’ of the story.
This made Yueqian reconsider whether the hero of that story really had feelings for the heroine, or if it was all just a pawn to him.
The couple headed back to wait at the cart parking area. Having finished their errands early, they had time to relax and watch people walking in and out of the city, pleasant to watch. Although they did not have a conversation for them to talk to eachother, this natural caretaking added significantly to their growing affection.
“The cart’s here, let’s head to it,” Mu Heng gestured naturally to Yueqian, after the first time went smoothly, his nervousness gone.
"A’Heng, you’re here? Can you help your aunt lift some rice?" Before Yueqian could reach his hand, a familiar sharp voice interrupted.
It was Aunt Liao, calling for Mu Heng like this. She and her niece were carrying many items, knowing there would be no more carts that enter the city due to the likely impassable snow-covered roads ahead. Thus, they bought a lot this time.
Speaking of horses and carts, Yueqian had discussed with Mu Heng about buying a cart using her money, and he agreed. In the future, after she leased her lands to the villagers, for every harvesting, she would have to travel to each village, which no cart would take her to those, the only way would be to walk with her own feet.
Although Mu Heng wouldn’t mind the hardship, he didn’t want his wife to endure hardship with him. Since she had the financial capability, he supported her decision to buy it. Besides, it can also be used for other travel purposes.
However, this wasn’t the best time. Soon, the snow would make living conditions even more difficult; even raising animals should be postponed. This time both humans and animals suffered. Buying a horse now would mean taking on another burden.
Moreover, newly relocated horses would be unfamiliar to the place, and buying one to face the winter could indirectly harm it. Thus, planning to purchase a horse should ideally be postponed until after the winter season.
Because of that, this day they did not own a cart, and instead, they had to wait for a village cart.
Yueqian watched Aunt Liao, who had a lot of belongings. Both she and her niece were carrying a lot of stuff. As they were both women, their physical strength for lifting items was quite limited, so managing to bring them this far was already an achievement.
Mu Heng looked at his wife as if to tell her, he, being a man, naturally wanted to show kindness. Moreover, it was not difficult for him since he could carry all the items he and his wife bought. Despite the weight, his strength was not a lie.
The young man half-walked, half-ran to help the two. He took over a heavy basket of rice from Aunt Liao, weighing tens of kilograms, and then helped carry heavy meat from Aunt Liao’s niece. Both women then had no more things to carry.
The small frame of the niece collapsed, sitting exhausted under the sun, and Aunt Liao was no different. She gulped down water from a flask, extremely thirsty.
Mu Heng placed the belongings of the two nearby, keeping a distance from their large pile of goods. Fortunately, Mu Heng had prepared well; he had already made a wooden piece to carry things on his back, which was why it did not seem too difficult when he walked. Lighter items like clothes were carried by Yueqian, even though Mu Heng had initially said he could carry everything himself.
