"Mmhmm! Sounds good, let's do that! I have to scrub your fur anyway." Li Meirong joyously agreed. Recently, she cleaned herself in the dimension after progressing her cultivation but she certainly didn't mind bathing again as she's used to cleaning herself on regular basis, a practice from her previous life.
Bai Qingyue's previously grumpy mood was long forgotten. He became giddy with anticipation for their "evening activities".
Li Meirong took a small package containing green herbs resembling common wild grass from her wide sleeves and bartered with the herbalist seller at the stall.
"I have several medium grade Spirit Grass for trade, can I exchange it for some Sticklewort, Sacred Lotus, Boswellia Carterii and Lesser Reedmace?"
The salesperson's brow arched in surprise when he heard the inexperienced-looking young beauty's question. As an inner sect disciple well versed in his subject of trade, he didn't expect a disciple from outside of his division to be able to specify their required herbs so easily. The only explanation that came to mind was that she was a part of the Healer's Peak and specialized in herbal medicine concoction.
Despite his pleasant surprise of finding a fellow person who knows a bit about herbs, he harboured doubts regarding the grade of the Spirit Grass the girl was offering to exchange.
After all, medium grade spiritual herbs are quite rare...
"Let me see a sample of the grass first." He requested in apparent disbelief.
Li Meirong rarely made exchanges with the herbal stand since she had Mo Jing who provided her with any seeds or plants she requested, then planting them in her garden made her more or less self-sufficient.
Her knowledge was not derived from learning medicine. Truthfully, it was all thanks to Chou's information network of the plants in the sect. He helped her learn about ancient medicinal practices due to his talkative personality of gossiping with the fellow Plant Spirits.
As for the Spirit Grass...there were no hard feelings in Li Meirong's heart from the seller's suspicion towards her. Herbs had three types of growth qualities, low grade, medium grade and the rarest, high grade.
For high grade herbs, a cultivator would need to supply the plants with the richest soil and spiritual water, so it was nearly impossible to cultivate high grade herbs. Medium grade herbs required constant and tender care, rich soil, attentiveness and the more communication with the plants, the better their growth became. Low grade Spirit Grass was the most abundant and the easiest to grow, although,in comparison to the common, non-spiritual herbs, it would be ten times harder for the grass to reach its mature state and become ready for harvest.
Because of all the difficulties surrounding the Herb Caretaker's division and the scarcity of disciples with the required Earth element necessary to care for the herbs, a Herb Caretaker disciple is highly sought after in the cultivation world.
For Li Meirong to be able to produce medium grade Spirit Grass was already considered an incredible feat. It was again all thanks to Chou's hard work in assisting her with the garden.
Snowball remained contentedly sprawled in Li Meirong's arms during the exchange, admiring his wife's capabilities.
The besotted fox's thoughts about his wife only intensified.
So what if his wife isn't a good fighter? He can fight well, why would she need to? So what if his wife's foundation wasn't excellent? His golden core will suffice for the two of them! So what if she is a little lazy? He will just have to work harder in order to compensate.
His silly wife has her own special skills and whatever she lacked, he will cover for it!
After examining the grade of the Spirit Grass, the herbalist gave Li Meirong her sample back and complimented her for the quality.
"Well done! I didn't expect to find an outer sect disciple of a different division to have the ability to raise Spirit Grass beyond a low grade. I am willing to exchange ten stalks of Spirit Grass for each of the herbs you requested." said the herbalist, knowing that dealing with an outer sect disciple gave him the arrogance to demand a much larger count than what was traditionally agreed upon.
Li Meirong's face fell. The seller may have been polite but he was obviously trying to rip her off! She hated bartering but she had no option other to wiggle around the prices. In the end, she only managed to reduce the amount of ten to eight stalks of Spirit Grass in exchange for every type of herbs.
It was really unfair! Li Meirong made a mental note to request Mo Jing for a fresh batch to plant in her garden next time.
Witnessing his wife's features turn crestfallen, Bai Qingyue made sure to carefully memorize the seller's facial structure.
How dare he scam his wife?! He will burn all his crops in retribution!
With her parcel finally purchased, Li Meirong and Snowball headed out of the marketplace.
Suddenly a gruff, manly voice called out just as she was about to leave the crowded street, "The Miss with the Fox Spirit, come over here. I got something for you!"
Li Meirong glanced back only to notice an elderly man waving an arm in her direction from inside the nearest pet shop.
"Come over here, I have a fine deal for you!" The shop owner said as his eyes ogled Snowball.