"Oh, it seems the miss is quite knowledgeable, that was well said." Yang Chuxia’s sudden interjection thoroughly astounded Shopkeeper Li. He never expected a country girl to know such novel things, let alone be literate.
"Miss Yang, we have known each other for a while now. You can forget about money, just take them home and plant them. These items from the Southwest didn’t cost much money, the only trouble was getting them here. All I ask is, when the crops grow, don’t forget to bring some and let us taste them."
"I’ll be sure to thank Shopkeeper Li then." Yang Chuxia didn’t feel the need to stand on ceremony with Shopkeeper Li. She was contemplating that once her crop grew, she should be able to cooperate with him and earn some money. This would be a good way to express gratitude for the seeds that were given today.
"However, Shopkeeper Li will not be able to taste this crop this year. From what I know, this is exactly the season to harvest things like sugarcane. So if you want to taste it, you will have to wait until next year."
"That’s not a problem." Shopkeeper Li, thinking back to their earlier conversation about drunken crabs, trailed off, "By the way, I wanted to ask you about something else. Last time you mentioned a solution for providing drunken crabs throughout the winter and into next spring. Have you found a solution?"
Upon hearing this, Yang Chuxia was delighted. That was because she had figured out how to make ice, and now there were several large basins of ice cubes stored in the cellar at home. Nobody, aside from Ms. Wang, Yang Dachuan, and Ye Zi’an, knew about this yet.
"Shopkeeper Li, rest assured, I have carefully considered this matter, and it’s possible to provide supplies until the new crabs are available next year."
"Oh, really?" Shopkeeper Li was more interested in this topic since these crabs sold so well, especially in the county town where they sold for several times the price compared to other towns.
"Of course, since I’m telling this to Shopkeeper Li, it means I’ve already prepared everything. All you need to do is send someone to my house to collect the goods in the winter."
"In that case, I’m very grateful to you, Miss Yang. Now I can report back to my boss." Heaven knew how often his boss would send someone this time to inquire about this matter. He was so anxious about it, but it wouldn’t be right to keep bothering his boss about it either.
After all, this matter required time and thought. Constantly pressuring others about it would only cause annoyance.
After her conversation with Shopkeeper Li, Yang Chuxia and her company left the tavern, taking with them the sweet potato seeds and sugarcane seeds. As for the fava bean seeds, there were slightly more of them. Not only were they planting them, but they were making sauces too. Shopkeeper Li said he would send somebody to deliver them to Yang Chuxia’s home. For her, this saved a great deal of trouble, and she was more than happy.
After bidding farewell to Shopkeeper Li, Yang Chuxia took another trip to North Street. Unfortunately, Constable Hong was not home. Auntie Hong explained that Constable Hong had been investigating a missing girl’s case and had not come home for several days.
With this news, her plan to inquire about Auntie Caixia’s daughter was thwarted. After a brief chat with Constable Hong’s wife, she remembered Yang Dayong and Ye Zi’an were still waiting outside, so she decided to take leave.
After leaving Constable Hong’s house, considering that they had laborers clearing the fields at her home, and that they needed to hire someone to dig a cellar, necessitating a fair amount of food, she made another trip to the grain and oil store to purchase some supplies.
Subsequently, she remembered that when she was drafting the wheelchair’s sketch at Ye Zi’an’s house a few days ago, she noticed that his ink supply items were scarce. Her younger brothers were also running low on ink, so she took a trip to the bookstore to buy a set for each of them.