Chapter 90 - Chapter 90: Chapter 85 Knowledge of Buying Pills and Leather Armor 1 (1/2)
Chapter 90: Chapter 85 Knowledge of Buying Pills and Leather Armor 1
Translator: 549690339
When the price of gold was low, one tael of gold equaled eight taels of silver. Under normal circumstances, one tael of gold equaled ten taels of silver.
This gold bracelet is quite heavy; getting ten taels of silver for it definitely won’t be a problem.
Although she was a rich young lady, her monthly spending money was probably only about five wen silver money.
After all, Wang Furen’s family was just modestly wealthy. They had no worries about food and clothing, but their annual income was very limited. After deducting the family’s expenses, there wasn’t much silver money left for their daughter to spend.
This was also why Wang Furen only had one daughter and no sons.
Otherwise, Miss Wang’s financial situation would have been even tighter.
The idea of valuing sons over daughters was deeply ingrained. Daughters were eventually going to marry off, so the amount of silver money parents would spend on them was definitely calculated.
Ten taels of silver money was already a huge sum for Miss Wang.
If she hadn’t been pushed to the limit, she wouldn’t have pawned the gold bracelet.
Judging from its purity and style, it was likely a keepsake from her mother.
It held great sentimental value for her.
“Please help me buy three Tempering Elixirs on your return. If there’s any change left, consider it your service fee. Thank you.”
Was she secretly cultivating?
Ordinary mortals looking to raise their cultivation could only gain so much from nutritious food and tonics.
The best method was to practice Cultivation Techniques and take Elixirs to quickly strengthen their bodies in the early stages.
Qin Niu was among those who had been quite lucky.
He had bought a damaged Life-Nurturing Technique scroll and had a good talent for cultivation. By chance, he comprehended a trace of the cultivation method within it, eventually allowing his cultivation to make great strides every day.
If she saved up her pocket money, buying a Cultivation Technique common on the streets would definitely not be an issue.
However, those common Cultivation Techniques were often crude and inefficient; they resulted in slow progress in cultivation and relied heavily on the aid of advanced cultivation resources.
Such as Elixirs.
Compared to ordinary nutritious foods and tonics, Elixirs were carefully crafted by Pharmacists using various heavenly materials, earthly treasures, and tonics to create superb products for cultivation.
They were easily absorbed by the body and could help the user rapidly increase their cultivation level.
The Tempering Elixir was one of the most commonly taken by those at low cultivation levels.
It helped users undergo initial body tempering; if coupled with Cultivation Technique practice and food supplementation, it could definitely make the user’s cultivation progress by leaps and bounds.
The market price was not cheap, needing three taels of silver money for one.
Buying three at once meant she was definitely aiming to break through more than just the Onefold or Twofold level of ordinary mortals, likely Fivefold or higher.
Looking at her frail and delicate on a daily basis, I hadn’t expected her to take the path of cultivation.
No wonder she was as light as a feather.
Miss Wang was a very thoughtful girl, completely different from those who only wanted to marry a wealthy man and depend on him.
Her rush to cultivate with Tempering Elixirs was clearly to avoid being controlled by her father and to refuse going to Yichun Garden in Black Tiger City to meet with Young Master Lu for matchmaking.
Qin Niu carefully stored the gold bracelet on his person.
Then he sorted the insects into different cages.
That included the cultivated huge green Giant Hornet and the Queen Bee with a hint of special abilities, two Jin Chans, and the termites.
Also, he took the wild boar skin that he had skinned off.
There were two main tasks for this trip into the city: to apply for the Insect
Master status and to sell some insects.
It was the perfect opportunity to understand the Insect Market dynamics, so that he could target his captures more strategically in future sales.
Currently, he was just searching in the wilderness; whenever he saw insects with special abilities, he caught them.
Doing so could earn him some money, but to make a big profit relied on luck.
If he could target and capture those insects that were highly valued in the market, he could make even more money.
Some insects could only be sold for ten or twenty wen money, while others could be sold for several taels of silver money.
The latter was obviously better.
Gathering his things and locking the door, he hoisted his basket and hurried to Black Tiger City.
Xiao Niu was left at home.
Striding along the official road, he could see traces of the flood’s destruction everywhere. Many fields were ruined, with crops flattened on the ground or completely buried under mud and sand.
A human catastrophe, wounds and scars all around.
This year, the price of grain within Black Tiger City’s jurisdiction would surely rise.
The flood had destroyed this year’s summer grains.
Many households were already running out of food after the New Year’s.
They were hoping for a good summer harvest to tide them over.
Now in the wake of the flood disaster, with most crops destroyed, many families would have to borrow money to survive.
Qin Niu could sense that the purchase of slaves and maids by wealthy families was about to surge.
In times of famine, a child could be sold for just three to five taels of silver money.
The lowest could even be bought for two taels of silver money.
Fourteen or fifteen-year-old boys generally wouldn’t be sold as they could work and support themselves.
Girls, however, were very likely to be married off or sold.
With no food at home and survival at stake, selling or marrying off a daughter could bring in silver money to help the family through hard times.
This also shows that in many people’s eyes, daughters were like ‘property’ that could be liquidated at any time.
Some sections of the official road were still flooded, with a thick layer of undried mud left behind.
Qin Niu had to detour around as he moved forward.
“If only 1 had a mount!”
The image of Official Liu’s black horse flashed through his mind.
The thought was fleeting.
With a price tag of a thousand taels of silver money, it was far beyond his current reach. Even if he did have a thousand taels of silver money, he wouldn’t spend it on a horse. Instead, he would invest in cultivation resources and rebuild his house.
He was definitely going to get married someday.
Living in two rundown mud houses would scare away any girl before she even stepped through the door.
After two and a half hours of trekking, Qin Niu finally arrived at Black Tiger City.