Chapter 48: Chapter 48 Shopping (1)_1 Chapter 48: Chapter 48 Shopping (1)_1 Coming out of Fuman Building once more, Lin Yuan had added seven taels of silver to her purse and instantly felt that her life was complete.
This time she wanted to shop properly, to buy whatever she fancied.
Knowing that she was going to buy groceries, Shopkeeper Liu specially arranged for Liuzi to accompany her.
In fact, Lin Yuan understood that Shopkeeper Liu was worried she might incur the resentment of those from Shande Hall.
However, Shopkeeper Liu’s intention was actually to prevent her from bullying other shops in the blink of an eye.
Even though they were still counting on Lin Yuan to provide more recipes in the future, he didn’t have the leisure to clean up after her either.
With Liuzi as her guide, Lin Yuan wouldn’t get lost in Zhuma Town.
She first went to the grain shop since her family had run out of food to cook with.
She had to buy some grains, and she had also promised to visit Sister-in-law Guizhi after returning from the town today to discuss making cold skins, which called for wheat flour, so she had to buy extra of it.
The grains here weren’t expensive, wheat flour was twenty wen per jin, and rice was fifteen wen per jin.
Lin Yuan bought twenty jin of wheat flour and ten jin of rice.
She noticed the shop was selling soybeans, which she initially thought would be costly.
However, upon asking, they were only ten wen, so she briskly ordered another ten jin of soybeans.
Liuzi had first thought that Lin Yuan was a clever person, but seeing how much soybeans she was buying, he grimaced and hesitated to say anything for fear of making her angry.
Lin Yuan saw right through him and patted him while saying with a smile, “If you’ve got something to say, just say it, and if you’ve got to fart, then just fart!”
This time, not only did Liuzi’s face turn green, but even the Shopkeeper of the grain store was embarrassed.
This young girl looked gentle and pretty, but her language was so crude—farting and all.
It was very unseemly.
Liuzi held back for a long time before finally letting the ‘fart’ out, “Miss Lin, does your family raise pigs?”
Lin Yuan shook her head; she really wanted to raise pigs, though.
“Then why do you buy so many soybeans?
They’re for feeding pigs, not for people to eat.” Liuzi had noticed early on that Lin Yuan didn’t seem to understand the market, but he was too embarrassed to say it outright, so he started by asking if she had pigs to feed.
Upon hearing this, Lin Yuan finally understood.
No wonder the soybeans were so cheap, and the shop didn’t have much of them—they were meant for feeding pigs.
No wonder Liuzi was so surprised.
In rural areas, who would buy grains to feed pigs?
Didn’t they just feed pigs whatever leftovers they had?
So these soybeans were essentially just for show!
However, Lin Yuan had inadvertently stumbled upon a new path to wealth.
Since soybeans had not yet been exploited, she had to make good use of them quickly.
Grinding beans, making tofu, dried tofu, tofu pudding, sprouting beans…
Yes, she could also make chili strips, which were her favorite snack.
If she succeeded, little Lin Shuang and Lin Wei would surely love it.
Thinking this, Lin Yuan quickly urged Liuzi to take her to buy a small stone mill.
She didn’t have one at home; although the village did, she preferred not to use the communal mill.
If others saw her, wouldn’t they steal her moneymaking idea?
The small stone mill was truly a great item; not only could it grind soybeans, but she could also grind rice.
Later on, she could make rice cakes, and oh, how she missed the taste of spicy stir-fried rice cakes.
The place selling stone mills wasn’t too far away, but Lin Yuan had bought so much wheat flour and rice that her small bamboo basket couldn’t hold it anymore.
Luckily, with Liuzi, the crafty one, there, and the grain shop’s staff recognizing him, Liuzi issued a series of orders, and the Shopkeeper of the grain store quickly had his boy deliver the wheat flour, rice, and soybeans to Fuman Building.
Lin Yuan wasn’t worried that Fuman Building would scam her for that bit of grain, so she let them deliver it with peace of mind.
Everything seemed to be available in this variety store, managed by an elderly couple who appeared very kind.
Their son was also helping out in the store, a young man of nearly twenty, not particularly handsome but clearly a solid and sensible person.
He wasn’t pedantic and had an air of shrewdness when it came to doing business.