Chapter 6

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

A small hand on the counter shook, “I’m over here.”

The shopkeeper followed the little hand and saw a little girl holding the counter with one hand. Her large, round eyes were staring at him.

The shopkeeper was amused, “So why are you playing with a little girl here at the herb store, old man?”

“I’m not here to play. I’m here to sell herbs,” Chen Xiao Sang said anxiously.”

“So where’s the herb?” The shopkeeper asked happily.

Old Chen quickly apologised to the shopkeeper, “The little girl cooked up some wild flowers she picked up and called them herbs. Please don’t take her too seriously.”

Chen Xiao Sang was so angry that she ignored Old Chen. She lifted the small basket onto the counter with great effort, then stood on her tiptoes and looked at the shopkeeper.

At this moment, there were no customers. The shopkeeper didn’t see a reason to not play along. “Children always like to play,” he said with a smile to Old Chen.

Seeing that the shopkeeper was being nice, Old Man Chen heaved a sigh of relief. He pulled his face and smiled,”My little girl has been weak since she was young and often comes to your shop to buy herbs. Yesterday, she made a fuss about picking herbs to sell, so I let her be.”

The shopkeeper understood. The little girl was the man’s precious daughter, so he was telling to him not to say anything harsh that would hurt her feelings.

Chen Xiao Sang tugged at her father’s sleeve and said unhappily, “It’s not wildflowers, it’s honeysuckles.”

She had said it so many times, why didn’t her father just believe her?

Old Man Chen said, “It’s up to the shopkeeper to decide whether it’s medicine or not. You don’t have the final say.”

The shopkeeper grabbed the flower and looked at it in amusement. After seeing the shape of the flower, he let out a “yi” sound and looked left and right. He said in surprise, “It really is Honeysuckle!”

Chen Xiao Sang nodded her head, “I’ve only brought honeysuckles today. How much do you charge for a catty?”

Old Chen thought the shopkeeper was playing along with Chen Xiao Sang’s game, so he looked at the shopkeeper gratefully.

The shopkeeper replied with a smile, “Honeysuckle is not worth much. The quality of your processing is good. I’ll take it for one wen (bronze coin) per catty. How much do you want to sell?”

Chen Xiao Sang was a bit disappointed at how it was so cheap, but she thought that it was okay very quickly.

For starters, honeysuckles were very common. They also did not require any expensive tools to process. Besides, if she could gather a hundred catties of honeysuckles, she could make about 50 wen. Working in hard labour for a day could only get you 20 to 30 wen a day.

In other words, honeysuckles were just the right thing for her family’s’ financial needs.

She pointed at the small basket on the counter and said,”These are all for sale.”

The basket was only one-third the size of a normal basket. Even if it was filled with honeysuckles, there was not much left.

The shopkeeper looked at it for a while and said, “I’ll weigh it for you.”

“Wait!” Chen Xiao Sang held the basket and glanced at her father guiltily.

If she took out the snake egg inside, her father would probably not allow her to go out in the future.

However… Let’s earn the money first!

Chen Xiao Sang asked the shopkeeper,””How much do you charge for the eggs of the white-browed viper?”

The shopkeeper was stunned, “Twenty copper coins for an egg. Do you have it?”

Twenty copper coins for one! She had picked up eighteen of them, which was 360 wen! That’s about the same amount of money as what her four brothers would earn by working in the town for four to five days!

hen Xiao Sang was overjoyed. She took out the basket and removed the honeysuckles covering it. She grabbed the snake eggs and spread them on the counter. Then she looked at the shopkeeper expectantly.

The shopkeeper picked up the snake gall that was lined up in a straight line and looked at it carefully. He confirmed, “It really is a snake egg! I want all of these. Do you still have any?”

The white-browed viper was poisonous and fierce. Ordinary people could not find a snake egg at all, so this egg was even more precious. Not to mention the town, even the high officials and nobles in the county wanted to buy it to nourish their bodies. However, it was very popular.

If he took twenty copper coins, even if he sold it at double the price, there would still be many people who would fight for it.

“I’ve picked up all of them here. If there’s more in the future, I’ll sell it to the shopkeeper.”Chen Xiao Sang smiled widely and waited for the shopkeeper to give her money.

Three hundred and sixty wen, it was not a small sum.

The shopkeeper also felt relieved. After all, it was not easy to collect eighteen pills.

He immediately picked up the eggs and weighed the honeysuckle.

The basket was only a little over one kilogram. The shopkeeper took out three pennies and sixty-one copper coins and put them in the basket, handing them to Chen Xiao Sang.

Looking at the copper coins, Chen Xiao Sang smiled so widely that her eyes began to squint. It was the first time she had received money from this era.

Chen Xiao Sang bowed to the shopkeeper with the empty basket and said happily,”Thank you, shopkeeper.”

Old Chen was shocked. He just wanted the shopkeeper to not say harsh words to hurt his daughter. He thought that he was just playing along with her make-believe, but why did he give so many copper coins?

He quickly snatched the basket from Chen Xiao Sang’s hand and handed the copper coins back to the counter. He said firmly, “The shopkeeper is kind and this old man is grateful. I can’t let the shopkeeper spend more money.”

With that, he pulled Chen Xiao Sang into his arms and prepared to leave.

Chen Xiao Sang panicked and tugged at her father’s collar, “That’s the money I earned!”

“I’ve never heard of wildflowers being sold for money.”

He didn’t know where she found these wild eggs, but she dared to sell snake eggs in the medicine shop.

Later, he would talk to his wife and teach his daughter about common decency. He could spoil her all he wanted, but he wasn’t going to let her daughter become a cheat.

The shopkeeper hurriedly ran out of the counter and pulled Old Chen to explain, “Uncle! This is a misunderstanding. The medicine your daughter brought is called honeysuckle. It can clear away heat and poison. The doctors in our town often prescribe this medicine. And that snake egg, it was a very good tonic to the body.”

Chen Xiao Sang seized the opportunity and said to her father, “Look, the shopkeeper said it was medicine. I earned the money.”

Old Chen hesitated. He looked at the little girl and then at the shopkeeper, “Are you serious?”

The shopkeeper sighed, “Well, I might be stupid sometimes, but I don’t give money away for nothing.”

Then, he put the copper coins into the basket and handed it to Chen Xiao Sang. Chen Xiao Sang quickly grabbed the basket and reached out her small fist to the back of Old Chen’s thin neck.

Hmph, Father would rather believe outsiders than his own daughter. She had worked so hard to earn money, but her father still insisted on giving it to someone else.

Seeing that the shopkeeper was not bluffing him, Old Chen turned to look at Chen Xiao Sang, who was staring at him stubbornly. It took him a long time to confirm that his daughter was really here to sell medicine.

“She really sold it for money?”

“I’m not messing around,” the shopkeeper said seriously, “The honeysuckles I received are very well processed. Its medicinal effects should be preserved well.”

“How do you know how to make herbs?” Old Chen stared at Chen Xiao Sang.”

Chen Xiao Sang opened her big innocent eyes and said the excuse she had thought of earlier, “A few days ago, an old man came to our house to ask for water. He taught me how to recognize honeysuckles. He even told me how to process them.”

Old Chen hugged Chen Xiao Sang tightly, his beard trembling as he said, “Next time you’re alone at home, you can’t let anyone in. What if you meet a bad person?”

Chen Xiao Sang, who was still angry with him, felt warm in her heart. She grinned and said,”I understand. Yes, Father.”

“What’s with the snake egg?” Old Chen asked immediately. Where did you get the snake eggs?”

She was afraid that he would ask this. If her father knew that she had encountered a snake yesterday, she was afraid that her father would never let her go out again.