The Return of the Noble Abandoned Consort

Chapter 7: The First Lesson

After Qiáo Wēi got money, she began a daily routine of counting it since she now knew how to do so. From one to ten taels, she noticed that this dynasty's currency had a strict set of standards. Broken taels were pulled and did not generally circulate in the market. Previously, from reading novels, female characters would just randomly pull out twenty silver ingots. Forget twenty ingots, even if it was only ten of them, she wanted to see that kind of thing in person.

In modern times, a single tael was equal to 50 grams but in this dynasty, it was only 37 grams. Five grams, along with ten taels of silver was about 375 grams altogether which was roughly a single catty. It was actually a bit heavy; the weight of twenty taels could be compared to that of a brick's. Qiáo Wēi could not imagine a young woman taking a brick out from the pockets of her inner robes.

The current dynasty not setting a higher level of ingot currency was rather sensible. Of course, this was only true for commercial use, official government currency was different. According to Xú Dà Zhuàng, a single ingot could equal up to fifty taels.

An ingot worth fifty taels...

Just thinking about it made Qiáo Wēi suck in a breath in case she started drooling on accident.

After counting the money, Qiáo Wēi opened up her account "book" in satisfaction. Ancient ink was expensive so there was not any in the house of her body's original owner. Qiáo Wēi could only use flat chips of wood as paper and cut up charcoal for a pen. These wood chips were densely packed with a list of things she needed to purchase: food, winter clothes, comforters, a bed, a knife, bow and arrows, make-up, menstruation bands... It was best to buy some rammed earth and fix up the house. As she was trying to fall asleep last night, she could not help but stare at the cracks in the wall. Her heart twisted with worry as she imagined a sudden onslaught of wind and rain immediately making her walls collapse.

Thinking of wind and rain, the roof should also be renovated. The roof has been leaking because of the recent snow these past couple of days.

Recalculating everything again, it seemed her funds were tight.

Qiáo Wēi sucked in an annoyed breath. Save money, save money, save money! She was going crazy. She would have to see what from her list could afford to wait and hold off on them first.

Qiáo Wēi picked up her charcoal pen and hovered over her list, circling around a few times before clenching her teeth as she crossed make-up off.

Once she confirmed her final shopping list, Qiáo Wēi stuffed her money into her pockets of her inner robes to head into town. Just as she was about to step out, however, Èr Gǒu Zi rushed in. "Jǐng Yún's Mother!" he cried out. "Hurry and come out, Jǐng Yún is fighting with people!"

Èr Gǒu Zi was ten years old this year and was one of the few people that hung out with her son. In the past, if someone bullied her son, Èr Gǒu Zi would be the one to step in. For him to personally come up the mountain to find her... It seemed that Èr Gǒu Zi could not handle whoever was picking a fight with her son. And if he was unable to, then how could her four-year-old son handle it?

Qiáo Wēi quickly went down the mountain. Upon entering the village, she immediately saw the empty field in front of Èr Gǒu Zi's house where a woman wearing purple floral robes was chasing Qiáo Jǐng Yún around with a stick trying to land a hit. Qiáo Wēi immediately felt her anger rising, like fire burning inside of her.

A fight? This was a fucking fight? How can such a large person chase around a four-year-old child?! Does she have any shame?! Any at all?!

The rage inside Qiáo Wēi continued to burn and she rushed forward. She already recognized who the woman was; it was the same Aunt Liú that had accused her son of stealing chicken before. Thinking back to Aunt Luō's intervention, it was no wonder Aunt Liú had left afterwards. Qiáo Wēi thought that Aunt Liú was more tactful and would no longer find trouble with her family. Who would have guessed she was such a "capable" person.