Chapter 29

The Great Villain Vomited Blood

Lu Jiao asked Manager Li, “Does your shop sell peppercorn or star anise?”

Manager Li looked over curiously, “We do. Miss, what do you need those for?”

Lu Jiao smiled, “I have my reasons.”

In this era, peppercorn and star anise were used for medicine so she couldn’t just say she used them to cook. They would treat her like she was crazy if she answered honestly.

Lu Jiao walked on a bit then asked, “What about gypsum?”

In ancient times, gypsum was also used as a medicinal ingredient. She wondered if Baohe Tang had it.

She wanted some gypsum to make tofu. She had been thinking about what the Lu family can do to make a sustainable living. In the end, she decided to teach them how to make tofu. It was just that tofu recipes needed brine or gypsum. Brine didn’t exist then so only gypsum could be used. She wasn’t sure if this store had any.

Manager Li stared at Lu Jiao and found this rural woman weird. Why did she ask for strange and rare ingredients?

“Yes, miss.”

Lu Jiao’s lips stretched into a smile right away. Now in a good mood, she took out the prescription Doctor Zhou gave her before.

“Use your best ingredients. I want to buy 10 portions. Then, I want half a pound of peppercorn, star anise, and bay leaves. Also, give me as much gypsum as your store has.”

The manager didn’t know what to say given the weird mix of things, “Miss, what are you using these for?”

“To make medicine.”

Manager Li was in disbelief. There was no way the combination of those could be good. However, since Lu Jiao didn’t want to tell him, he didn’t ask.

Lu Jiao took this opportunity to ask, “Does Baohe Tang accept all sorts of herbs?”

Manager Li nodded, “Yes, we accept all herbs. Better quality ingredients that have been cleaned and sorted of course will get you more money. Raw herbs brought straight here would get you less money. Miss, you want to sell herbs?”

Lu Jiao nodded, “Yes, Manager Li, please treat me kindly in the future.”

Manager Li remembered how Lu Jiao just sold them a 50-year-old ganoderma and his expression brightened up, “Of course.”

The two of them went to the counter and Manager Li started to pick out the ingredients for Lu Jiao. As he worked, he tried to get information out of Lu Jiao to see what she would use these for. Lu Jiao, however, didn’t reveal anything.

The manager was surprised. While this woman appeared chubby and stupid, she was really sharp.

“The total is 70 taels of silver and 20 tokens. I’ll give you a discount and just take 70 taels.”

Lu Jiao blinked and already spent 70 taels. She exclaimed over the value of ancient medicine, “Thank you Manager Li.”

Lu Jiao grinned as she packed up the medicine into her basket and carefully took the 130 taels of silver the manager gave her. Originally, the manager wanted to be nice and give her a bank note instead of silver and tokens.

However, Lu Jiao declined. She has her space and wasn’t worried about too much silver and coins. The manager, however, shared a few worried glances but didn’t comment further.

While she put away the medicine, Lu Jiao snuck the silver into her space.

She then picked up her basket and got ready to leave. She had a lot of shopping to do.

Since she now had money in her pocket, she quickly turned into a shopaholic. She bought 30 pounds of white rice, 30 pounds of white flour, oil, salt, and vinegar… she wasn’t afraid of anything being expensive. Just buy! Clothes? Buy!

Sadly the clothing store didn’t sell children’s clothing so she bought some fabric to bring home. She did end up finding two outfits for Xie Yunjin.

For herself, however, she didn’t even bother to buy fabric. She was determined not to buy anything until she lost some weight. With her current weight, she didn’t look good in anything.

She bought some candy and baked goods for the little ones. Then she ran to the blacksmith to buy an ax and a pickaxe. She didn’t realize how expensive those tools would be. Despite the cost, she gritted her teeth and bought them.

After this shopping spree, she was 10 taels of silver lighter. However, Lu Jiao felt highly satisfied. To be able to buy without worry just felt so good!

It was getting late and she had gotten everything she wanted, so she went back to where the bullock cart was.

Everyone had already arrived and all of them were waiting for her.

Xie Lan saw her and started to get angry, “I wonder what kind of weird and useless things you bought. Could it be that you already wasted all my brother’s money?”

Lu Jiao was not kind when she responded, “If I relied on the five taels of silver your family gave us, your third brother would be dead. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Why do you keep on bringing up those five taels of silver? Today, I bought 10 portions of his medicine. Do you plan to reimburse me?”

Lu Jiao had hidden the rice, flour, candy, and baked goods in her space. Her basket now only contained Xie Yunjin’s medicine, oil, salt, and vinegar. Everyone in the cart saw what was in her basket.

Everyone remembered that Xie Erzhu had said five teals of silver can only get three portions of medicine. That meant these 10 portions would cost more than 10 taels of silver.

What they didn’t know was that the medicine actually cost 50 taels of silver.

Everyone sighed. Villagers here couldn’t afford to get sick. Xie Lan stayed silent then and only glared at Lu Jiao.

Lu Jiao was too lazy to acknowledge her. Beside her, Xie Xiaojuan squeezed Lu Jiao’s hand to remind her that Xie Lan was stupid. Her own brother could only count on this sister-in-law now, yet she continued to butt heads with her. Wasn’t that just so stupid?

The bullock’s cart rushed its way back. Since the town wasn’t far, they got back to the village very quickly. The moment the cart arrived, a small silhouette rushed over and shouted.

“Third grandma, my grandma told you to go home right away. Something had happened.”

Lu Jiao glanced over right away and saw that it was Datou who shouted. She asked, worried, “Datou, what happened?”

Datou huffed and puffed from running and couldn’t talk clearly, “Daniu… stole… First Born and them… got hit…”

Xie Tieniu saw Lu Jiao was worried and offered, “Let me give you a ride home.”

Lu Jiao nodded. The others in the cart didn’t object with the exception of Shen Xiu. She heard Datou talk about Daniu. Could it be that her brother’s kid, Daniu, had hit third brother Xie’s children?

Shen Xiu was flustered and her hand subconsciously squeezed into a fist.

The cart quickly arrived at the west side of the village. Lu Jiao didn’t even wait for the cart to fully stop before she jumped out. Xie Tieniu was shocked, “Slow down.”

Lu Jiao didn’t care and ran back home with her basket. She saw that a bunch of people were outside her home and there were sounds of children crying from the inside.

Lu Jiao went over and before she could get into her home, she heard children’s furious cries and cursing.

“Shen Daniu, you’re a b!tch! You came to my home to steal my things and you hit us. You shameless b!tch! You’re a waste of money and energy! You’re a b!tch without a mother who educates you. Once I grow up, I am going to skin you and rip out your tendons! I’m going to make sure your eyes remain open when you die!”

“Oh my god, my life is over. Every one of you comes here to hurt us. We might as well just bang our heads and die.”

Before these two cries fully dissipated, another cold and exasperated voice erupted, “Widow Li, are you taking advantage of my family because nobody’s home? I am not dead yet.”

Lu Jiao got to the main gate. When the villagers saw her, they parted ways for her to enter. Someone yelled, “Yunjin’s wife’s home.”

“This woman’s capable these days. I wonder if she knows how to deal with Widow Li’s family.”

Lu Jiao ignored the villagers and looked around her yard.

Xie Yunjin was on the ground by the east building’s door, with his arms supporting his body. His eyes were deadly fixated on Widow Li as if he was ready to kill her.

His face was without any color. Not only was he scary pale, but as he shouted those words, a stream of fresh blood rolled down his chin from his mouth.