Chapter 9

Six Dragons (1)

Mu Wanwan originally thought that Ao Qin might just be lying, but when she was brought back to the bedchamber in advance by Fuliu, clutching her aching chest, she was still a little surprised to see the two boxes placed in the courtyard.

“Madam is so fortunate. This box contains elixirs, and the other box contains spiritual fruit and spiritual grains.” Fuyu Liu looked at the pale and skinny Mu Wanwan with disgust, then took out a small bag from her pocket with great reluctance and handed it to Mu Wanwan.

“Madam, please stay here and tend to the sovereign. If you find anything lacking, just take note of it. You may go to the market once every ten days,” said Fuliu. “The monthly budget is one medium-grade spirit stone and three silver coins, you will receive it in the middle of the month. As for meals and whatnot, we’ll trouble Madam to prepare them yourself from now on. I hope you will take good care of the sovereign. I’ll be taking my leave.”

The courtyard fell into silence after Fuliu left. Mu Wanwan turned over somewhat weighty little bag in her hands, opened it, and almost with some weight, opened it, and almost laughed out of exasperation——

The bag did not contain a medium-grade spirit stone with rich spiritual power, but ten low-grade spirit stones.

According to the original body’s memory, a medium-grade spirit stone can be exchanged for at least fifteen low-grade spirit stones, but there were only ten of those in this bag. If Fuliu wasn’t pocketing funds, Mu Wanwan would chop off her own head for others to kick around.

Mu Wanwan only felt a burst of frustration; her chest was on fire, and her throat was full of fishy sweetness. She reached out and covered her mouth, then spread her hands—it was splattered all over with sporadic bloodstains. 

“Huu.”

Don’t get angry, don’t get angry, anger is of no use at all.

Mu Wanwan took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. She continued to look at the contents of the bag; except for the ten low-grade spirit stones, there were only three silver coins.

This monthly budget was really small.

From the original body’s memories, the exchange rate of middle-grade spirit stones to lower-grade spirit stones was about one to eighteen, and if taken to the black market, the price could be even higher. A low-grade spirit stone could usually be exchanged for one gold coin.

One gold coin could be exchanged for ten silver coins, and one silver coin can be exchanged for ten copper coins. The purchasing power of one copper coin was about the same as that of one modern yuan. From this, the original monthly budget was about two thousand yuan. After Fuliu’s filching, there was only a little over a thousand yuan left.

This thousand-odd yuan had to support two people.

Moreover, cultivation required the use of spirit stones. Although her original body only possessed weak wood powers, before she was married, she had to absorb two or three low-grade spirit stones a month to strengthen the wood aura in her dantian.1

Mu Wanwan was very troubled. Bearing a trace of expectation, she opened the box containing the elixirs. In it, was only one rather young ginseng and ten yellow fruits that looked all shrivelled up. According to the limited memories the original body had towards these plants, this fruit was called Baizhen fruit. Judging by their appearance, they were of second grade. These fruits were used to nourish the body, and one was worth about five low-grade spirit stones.

In addition, there were several small porcelain bottles. Mu Wanwan opened and smelled them. They were filled with medicine for external wounds, and also of very average grade.

Inside the other box was a bag of spiritual grains, a packet of unknown seeds, and nothing else.

Mu Wanwan sighed sorrowfully and glanced at the darkening sky. She did not expect that Bai Shuiyao, who was determined to escape, would return and help her with the work, and moved the two boxes from the courtyard into the room.

Mister Long was still lying on the bed in the same position she had left him in that morning. However, as the door had not been opened for almost the entire day, the smell in the room had become worse. But the moment she saw him, she felt much more at ease.

Footnotes:

1 dantian: Dantian refers to the elixir-of-life field where “essence” and “spirit” are stored. Traditionally, a dantian is considered to be a centre of qi or life force energy.

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