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Chapter 9
The tea house had finally returned to tranquility.
At some point, a cool breeze had subtly mingled with the hot weather, and subsequently, a layer of dark clouds like cyan gauze shrouded the round moon.
Consequently, the light on the ground became dim and hazy.
A slender figure slowly walked out, almost merging with the night.
However, the sense of pressure and aura around him, in contrast, created an extremely discordant feeling with the desolate ancient road.
The man’s cold pale skin under the moonlight nearly revealed the blood vessels beneath, while his perfectly delicate eyebrows and eyes, along with his crimson lips, were enchantingly exquisite enough to bewitch one’s heart.
He raised his eyes and looked toward the half-worn fence on one side of the tea house.
Had the door disappeared here?
Ding-ling-ling—
The cast iron wind chimes swayed in the cool night breeze.
Shen You, who was about to finish work and go upstairs to take a bath, looked at the person entering the door, and her eyes brightened immediately.
A big customer had arrived! Therefore, the treatment had to be different, and regardless of the time, she had to receive him well.
Seeing the mosquitoes buzzing around, she grabbed an electric swatter, quickly dispatched them with a few zaps, and then made a welcoming gesture, motioning Li Heng to sit at the half-table where there were no stacked boxes.
Li Heng was astonished as he looked at the strange thing in Shen You’s hand.
Was this a magical device used by immortals to control lightning? And yet, it was merely used to kill mosquitoes?
“What do you need this time?”
The clear voice brought Li Heng back to his senses. Meanwhile, he recalled that during his previous two visits to the store, this young lady had not invited him to sit down, but this time was different.
The corners of his lips couldn’t help but curve into a smile, then asked, “Could you sell me some more of that medicine from last time?”
“Certainly.”
There were still a few boxes in the medicine cabinet, so Shen You took them all out, along with a box of fever patches she had bought half a year ago.
“I’ve already told you about the dosage of these medicines last time. As for this.”
Shen You held up the fever patch in her hand, “It’s suitable for fever caused by wind-cold. You just need to stick it on the forehead, and it can last for two hours. Children can use it too.”
“Friendly price, fifty taels of silver.”
Shen You had, in fact, intended to ask for fifty taels, which was why she had taken out more medicine, so that her business wouldn’t seem too exploitative.
Fifty taels = 75,000 yuan. These few boxes of medicine had cost just over 100 yuan when she bought them, with a box of ibuprofen alone costing more than 20 yuan.
Primarily, she wasn’t planning to exchange them anyway.
She just thought that she didn’t have a fifty-tael silver ingot yet and wanted one for her collection.
Li Heng paid straightforwardly, because he also felt it was a friendly price, and moreover, he was pleased by the words “friendly price”.
For life-saving medicine, being able to buy this amount for fifty taels was very cheap.
It was incomparably better than those so-called immortal masters and the elixirs that were presented to the palace.
Li Heng thought for a moment, “How long will it take to produce the next batch of these medicines?”
Ten minutes, which was the time it would take to go to the nearest pharmacy and back, Shen You thought to herself.
But of course, she wouldn’t say that aloud.
“It’s uncertain. I can obtain small amounts of medicine, but not large quantities.”
“I understand.” Immortal medicines weren’t easy to refine, so it’s already good to get these.
Li Heng changed the subject, “I need to leave Yunzhou for a while. Yesterday, I originally wanted to come buy some medicine, but I couldn’t find the shop door in the alley. Has the opening time of the shop changed?”
“I didn’t open the shop yesterday because I had something to attend to.”
Shen You glanced at the miscellaneous items piled on the ground due to the attic renovation.
“The shop is being renovated during this period. Unless there are special circumstances, it will only open at the hour of You (5-7 PM).”
Hearing this, Li Heng immediately responded, “If the young lady needs it, there are many skilled craftsmen in Great Qi who can serve you.”
“That won’t be necessary; they can’t enter.” Shen You shook her head.
Li Heng thought to himself, indeed, an immortal’s shop would hardly need ordinary craftsmen.
“Then during this period, can the shop still engage in trade?”
“Absolutely!”
Speaking of this, Shen You became quite animated.
“Part of the disaster relief silver has arrived, but there’s not enough grain to buy within Yunzhou’s borders. Could the young lady help find some?”
Although high-yield seeds could completely solve the problem, it would nevertheless take time to grow the grain.
“I can, but I need items in exchange.”
In ancient times, one tael of silver could normally buy several hundred jin of grain. However collecting too much gold and silver could only be exchanged in the shop system.
Factoring in transmission and exchange handling fees, even selling at two or three times the price would still be quite unprofitable.
She would only make a profit with precious antiques.
“No problem.” Li Heng agreed immediately.
The grain that was supposed to arrive today had encountered some problems en route and would be delayed. No grain could be bought in the Yunzhou area, which was a trap set for him by someone else.
Being able to solve the predicament with some artifacts was simpler than finding ways to negotiate. Furthermore, he could take the opportunity to bring the Yunzhou forces under his control, which was quite worthwhile for him.
“Send someone to transport the grain at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM) two days from now. The items for the transaction can be brought together at that time.” Shen You said.
“Alright.” Li Heng responded in a deep voice.
**
Watching the big customer walk out of the shop, Shen You also finished work, closed the shop, packed up several express deliveries, and unpacked the car interior decorations to put them away.
The next morning, the waterproofing work on the terrace had been completed, but the next work crew had not yet arrived.
Shen You also had time to drive to the wholesale market, using the address Huo Zhiming had given her.
It was said that he had a relative who contracted the cafeteria of a certain school, and rice and flour were purchased from this place.
When Shen You arrived at the location, the first thing she said was, “I want the cheapest.”
She explained that her relative was planning to host a banquet for several days where the whole village would come to eat, and she wanted to be a middleman to make a profit.
The boss was very accommodating. After hearing her speak fluently, he wrote a bit more in the price column on the list.
“Is this acceptable to you?”
Shen You made a gesture indicating it was fine, agreed on delivery for tomorrow evening, and then left the market.
Although the quantity purchased was not considered much, it would be enough to support the porridge shop for a longer period and could solve the urgent need of the big customer, which was sufficient.
Seeing that it was still early, Shen You used her phone to book a visit to the museum for that day.
She wanted to see the actual Ru kiln celadon objects.
As for the porcelain in her storage compartment, she didn’t plan to take it out for others to see; she didn’t trust anyone.
After arriving, she easily found a parking spot. It was indeed better to visit the museum on a weekday, as on weekends, there would be no place to park.
Although autumn had begun, the weather during this period was still unbearably hot. After getting out of the car, she felt the ground scorching her feet. The moment she entered the museum, the cool air from the central air conditioning hit her face.
Shen You looked at the beautiful building and the exquisite cultural relics displayed behind the glass, and sighed lightly.
The museum was where she had most wanted to work before, but these days, the competition was too fierce! The Cultural Relics Protection and Restoration specialty would recruit only two people, yet all the applicants were Ph.D. holders.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have ended up at that exploitative company, doing work unrelated to her specialty.
That old boss said her major was useless and would pressure her to work overtime every day.
Found it, the Ru kiln porcelain.
Shen You stood in front of the display case, carefully reading the introduction below.
Looking at the details through glass was certainly not ideal, but this was the only way to view them.
The more she looked, the more similar it seemed.
She also found on her phone that a Ru kiln porcelain incense burner had been looted years ago and was now in a museum in another country.
Thinking of what she had in her possession, although not identical, she began to sweat profusely.
That set of tea utensils and the incense burner definitely couldn’t be traded, unless abroad.
Even if there were channels, she would absolutely never do such a thing!
She still had this bottom line.
Otherwise, should she just donate it?
In her hands, it could only stay hidden in the storage compartment, unseen by daylight. It would be better placed in a museum for everyone to see.