Ten taels, or ten taels per person.
This sum made everyone gathered around the iron pot gasp, the once pleasant bubbling sound from within now seeming agitated.
"Eldest daughter-in-law, the pot is about to burn."
"Oh, dear," Qin Mu said, hearing her mother-in-law's words, and quickly stirred the porridge in the pot with a ladle.
Old Man Hou rubbed his hands and sighed, "Let alone ten taels, even one tael per person, we can't afford it. We're nearing the city gates, and the fields are still green. Alas~~"
"Brother Hou, don't worry. With so many refugees, the officials can't ignore us," Grandma Qin comforted Old Man Hou in her usual straightforward manner.
"Sister Fang, throw another coin and see."
"Alright."
Qin Junyao watched the copper coin thrown by Grandma Qin fall, and thinking of the silver ingots in her spatial dimension, she couldn't help but sigh. The soybeans she exchanged might not even be worth three taels.
Thirty-odd people from the Qin and Hou families entering the city would require three hundred taels. Even if she didn't understand the prices of this era, she knew that three hundred taels was not something ordinary commoners could afford.
What could be done to get money?
"How is it?" Old Man Hou's voice brought Qin Junyao back from her thoughts.
"Still ominous, but with a hint of good fortune within the ill omen," Grandma Qin said, looking at the direction of good fortune in the divination. She then turned her head and saw her eldest granddaughter.
Qin Junyao's hair stood on end under Grandma Qin's gaze. Did something go wrong again?
Grandma Qin narrowed her triangular eyes and asked Qin Junyao, "Yaoyao, do you think we should stay or leave?"
"Stay," Qin Junyao thought of the items in her spatial dimension and wanted to stay. Leaving might not offer another chance for bartering.
"Then we'll stay. Have a good meal, sleep well, and tomorrow we'll find Fu Zi. Eldest daughter-in-law, is the porridge ready?"
"It's ready, it's ready."
After eating, Qin Junyao lay on the dry grass, patting her full belly, and watched the sunset's vibrant colors. It was beautiful.
After admiring the sunset for a while, Qin Junyao closed her eyes and entered her spatial dimension. There were still some things to organize.
When she exchanged goods with others, she had asked Qin Da Niu and the others to keep watch. During those times, she would use her basket as a cover to secretly stash items into her spatial dimension.
For Qin Junyao, who had nothing, every needle and thread was a treasure.
Upon entering the spatial dimension, Qin Junyao let out a few "aah" sounds to vent her pent-up frustration.
She took out a piece of red cloth from a basket and placed it on the grass. This was saved for making clothes for Qin Xiaoyu.
She had promised the child, and she would deliver. This red cloth was more suitable for Qin Xiaoyu than the blue one.
A small hoe, a pair of scissors, some silver coins, a small wooden bucket, and a gourd ladle were the items Qin Junyao kept for herself. At the bottom of the basket were various seeds she had exchanged.
She rolled up her sleeves and began to farm.
Qin Junyao never imagined that her hands would one day hold a hoe to weed and till the soil.
In the past few days, she had learned a lot about planting from her father, Qin. She particularly remembered the spacing between plants.
She hadn't memorized the rest, such as creating mounds or the timing of sowing. In her spatial dimension, all she needed was to dig a hole and bury the seeds, and they would sprout.
First, she planted rice, as she loved eating rice. Then came wheat, millet, and corn.
After planting the staple grains, she planted vegetables like radishes and spinach, as well as some unknown seeds. She didn't know when she lost consciousness, lost in the act of planting.
"Jun Yao? Jun Yao, wake up," Qin Mu's voice reached Qin Junyao's ears, but her head ached more than when she was hit in the back of the head upon first arriving.
She wanted to open her eyes, to speak, but she was like someone trapped in a nightmare, unable to wake up.
"Mother, Jun Yao has a fever and won't wake up."
"Has the wound on the back of her head festered?" Grandma Qin's voice also reached Qin Junyao clearly.
"No, it's already scabbed over."
"Give her water, let her drink more. Last night, we told her to eat less, but she insisted on eating more..."
As the nagging voices faded, Qin Junyao's consciousness sank deeper, entering her spatial dimension. The space seemed like a miraculous medicine, instantly curing her headache.
Qin Junyao, with her wide almond eyes and open mouth, was not surprised that her headache was gone, but by the change in her spatial dimension.
It had grown larger.
She remembered planting cilantro, which she disliked the most, on the outermost edge, closest to the mist. Now, the mist had receded by more than double.
Qin Junyao's spatial dimension was a circle centered around the spring in the middle. Doubling the diameter meant quadrupling the area, expanding from over a hundred square meters to over four hundred square meters.
The surprises didn't end there. The well in the center had become much larger and deeper. In the distance, Qin Junyao could vaguely see what looked like a house within the surrounding mist.
What did this mean?
It meant that this spatial dimension would continue to expand.
Qin Junyao, leaning by the well and gazing at the bottomless water, her eyes sparkled.
In ancient times, hard currency was grain. With such a spatial dimension, as long as she worked hard, she would have endless grain, and even medicinal herbs.
By accelerating plant growth with the spatial dimension, could she grow hundred-year-old, thousand-year-old ginseng? Then she would have inexhaustible wealth, wouldn't she?
Qin Junyao, giggling at the well in her spatial dimension, terrified those outside. The person had a fever and was groaning uncomfortably, yet here she was, grinning.
The happier she smiled, the more Qin Mu cried. Qin Xiaoyu, with her lips pursed, thought to herself that as long as her sister woke up, she would call her sister forever and never call her Qin Junyao again.
"Sister-in-law, don't cry. Brother and the others will surely find a doctor," Aunt Qin Er said, her eyes glistening with tears as she comforted her sister-in-law.
These two sisters-in-law, under Grandma Qin, got along better than blood sisters, doting on each other's children as their own.
"Grandma, is it ready yet?" Qin Er Niu impatiently asked Grandma Qin, who was fiddling with a water bowl and chopsticks.
"Be quiet," Grandma Qin reprimanded him, rubbed her hands, and for the third time, tried to stand chopsticks upright in the water bowl.
*Crack.*
The chopsticks fell, hitting the rim of the bowl with a clear sound.
Something was wrong. Yaoyao was supposed to be possessed, so why wouldn't the chopsticks stand up?
Grandma Qin squatted on the ground, looking at the water bowl, and smacked her lips. The scissors and knife were placed under her granddaughter's head, and the peach wood sword had been stuffed into her hand. Why was Yaoyao still giggling foolishly?
If it wasn't possession, could it be hysteria?
Outside the city, the Qin family was worried about Qin Junyao's unusual behavior, while inside the city, Fu Zi was on a hunger strike because of Qin Junyao.
"I say, little ancestor, this is chicken soup your mother personally brewed for you. You won't drink it?" Suo Zi held a porcelain pot and dangled it in front of Fu Zi's nose.
The aroma of the chicken soup made Fu Zi's little nose twitch, and saliva pooled in his mouth. Some even dripped from the corners of his lips when he swallowed.
*Pfft!*
Seeing Fu Zi's greedy eyes follow the porcelain pot back and forth, Suo Zi couldn't help but chuckle.
"Hmph! I won't drink it," Fu Zi thought. Although he really wanted to drink the chicken soup his mother made, he wanted even more for Qin Jie Jie and the others to enter the city.
People in the inn were spreading rumors that those outside the city would bring the plague and were petitioning the yamen to expel the people from outside the city. Some went as far as to say they should be killed and their bodies burned.
"Fu Zi, Brother Suo Zi tells you those people are not kind enough to save you. It's not just me saying this; your mother, your sister, and your cousin, haven't they all said those people have ulterior motives?"