The Dragon Boat Festival is over soon, Shen's family checked Zifu's luggage again and gave Zifu five small silver tickets worth ten taels of silver each. Ziqing also hid fifty taels on her body because there were three classmates and their families going together this time. Zeng Ruixiang didn't see them off to the provincial city, only hiring a horse carriage for them. After four or five hours of bumpy ride, Ziqing had lost her initial enthusiasm, and her whole body seemed to have fallen apart. Fortunately, when it was just getting dark, several people arrived at a small town outside the provincial city to rest overnight, and by then the city gate must have been closed.

  On the second day, everyone finished packing and hastily ate some breakfast without delay. After walking for more than half a time, they finally arrived at the high city gate. Ziqing lifted the small curtain on the carriage window and looked at the two big characters "Changzhou" on the city gate. After entering the city, the streets were wider and more prosperous than those in Anzhou City, with enough space for two or three carriages to drive side by side. There were also more buildings, but the highest ones were only three stories high, and most of them were two-story buildings. There were few young girls on the street, only some little girls and older women. It seemed that the young ladies in big cities still had to be raised in seclusion. Ziqing was lost in thought when Zifeng wanted to rub her head, but found there were outsiders around, so he just knocked on her head and said, "We're here, what are you thinking about?"

  Ziying got off the carriage and saw a courtyard gate. It turned out that one of Zifu's classmates, surnamed Li, had a relatively affluent family background. His father had entrusted someone to rent a house here in advance because of its good location and proximity to the examination hall. Every year, students rushing for the exam would scramble to rent it, so the rent was naturally not cheap, with four taels of silver paid in less than two months.

  The main house only has four rooms, fortunately, two side houses were added. Among the four people, each brought their family members, Li's family had a long follower and his father, another Liu family also came with his sister, and there was a Zhou family that followed his father. Zi Fu saw that there were many people and the main house was not enough to live in, so he voluntarily asked to live in two side houses. Liu's sister, Liu Fang, who is 12 years old this year, requested to live with Zi Qing. Several people discussed the rent, Li's family had two rooms for one or two silver coins, Liu's family had one or two silver coins. Zi Fu had eight hundred Wen, Zhou's family had seven hundred Wen. Each took care of their own food.

  Zi Qing saw that everyone was busy collecting things, so she asked Zi Fu to take her out to buy some daily necessities and rice, flour, vegetables, etc. Since there is a market in the small alley, they returned after buying things. Zi Qing hurriedly cooked dinner, while Zi Fu packed their luggage. By the time they were all busy going out to buy things, Zi Qing and Zi Fu had already sat down in the house to eat.

  After settling down, Zifeng started reading books. Ziqing would often go to the nearby market with Liu Fang when she had nothing to do. She would also buy new and interesting small things, such as delicate hairpins, exquisite potted flowers, wooden or jade carvings of small toys.

  One day, while passing by a pawnshop on the street, Zi Yun saw a man holding a Western-style grandfather clock and coming out with a scowl on his face. Zi Yun guessed that the man wanted to pawn the clock but was unwilling because they couldn't agree on a price. So, Zi Yun took the initiative to strike up a conversation: "Excuse me, sir. Are you trying to pawn this clock?"

  "Ah, you recognize this clock? The little kid over there looked at me with disdain and said he didn't know what it was, and that it wasn't gold or silver. He only gave me ten taels of silver for it. If I weren't in a hurry to sell, I wouldn't have sold it to him!" the man said indignantly.

  "How much silver do you think is suitable?" Zi Qing asked.

  "Twenty taels at the very least. Something unexpected has happened in my family and I urgently need some silver, so I'm reluctantly parting with this. It's something I originally exchanged from a Westerner in Guangzhou, near the coast. Are you interested in buying it?"

  "Hmm, I wonder how many silver taels you want to sell?" Zi Qing continued to ask.

  "If you really want to buy it, I'll give you a fair price, thirty taels of silver. Let me show you, it's still brand new, not a single scratch or dent."

  Ziying took it over and examined it carefully. The pocket watch was about fifty centimeters in size, with Arabic numerals on the surface, which should be gold-plated. Ziying was very delighted, as she had always been unable to understand the current time, but now it would be much more convenient with this.

  The man sold it to Ziqing for thirty taels of silver. After teaching Ziqing how to wind the watch, seeing that she was generous with her money, he asked: "Girl, I still have some good stuff, a shiny green stone, if you want to buy it, I'll give it to you cheaply. It's also from a foreigner."

  Zi Qing guessed it was jadeite as soon as she heard it. She had seen white jade and red jade here, as well as ink jade, but she hadn't seen any jadeite yet. Zi Qing asked: "How much do you have? How much silver do you want?"

  Learning that the other party had two intact seeds, Zi Qing was secretly delighted and even more difficult for the other party to sell them to her for only ten taels of silver. Zi Qing wanted to follow him home to get them, but Liu Fang pulled her back. Zi Qing was also clever and made an appointment with the man to meet again in a short while.

  Qing hurried home, delightedly showing the clock to Zifu. Zifu asked in surprise: "Qinger, you're really bold, spending thirty taels of silver on this thing! Why not buy an hourglass instead? When your mother finds out, she'll scold you for wasting money."

  "Brother, that's different, this is for decoration and practical use. I won't be able to tell time with a sandglass, but with this, I will. And don't say anything yet, come with me to buy something else, I'm afraid I won't be able to carry it."

  Zi Qing dragged Zi Fu out the door without saying a word. When they arrived, Zi Qing saw the man from earlier looking around everywhere. He was very happy to see Zi Qing. Zi Qing squatted on the ground and looked at two stones that were about the size of watermelons, with large patches of green showing through, very watery and translucent.

  Ziying couldn't help but fondle the jade, having loved it since her past life. Every time she went shopping and saw those green jade bangles in the window, she thought about how beautiful they would look on her own wrist. Unfortunately, every time she was deterred by the price tag with five or six zeros behind it. This time, she wasn't going to let it slip away. Ziying happily pulled out ten taels of silver and was about to make the purchase when Zifu grabbed her arm and asked, "Are you sure you want to spend ten taels on two pieces of stone? How am I supposed to explain this to Mother when we get home?"

  "Brother, don't worry about it. When have you ever seen me waste money? Don't worry, I'm fine with mom. You'll know later, I only make profits, not losses, and I still think it's not enough." Zi Qing couldn't explain clearly to Zi Fu.

  After finishing, Zi Qing returned to the man and handed him ten taels of silver tickets, saying: "If you have any more stones like this in your hand or if your friends have them, I am willing to buy them. If there are other new and interesting things, bring them together for me to see, whether they are from the West or our own country, as long as they are rare and unusual. If you want to find me, I will still be here, and I will come here to stroll around during this period." Zi Qing left a thought in her mind, not telling the other party where she lived, and still understood the principle of not revealing wealth.

  The man saw Zi Qing buying things very happily and was a connoisseur, so he naturally agreed.

  Zi Qing happily hugged a piece of stone and followed behind Zi Fu. Seeing a silver building, Zi Qing thought to ask and called out to Zi Fu to go in together. They asked how much silver it would take to polish the stone into a hand ring and hairpin. The shopkeeper looked at the stone in Zi Qing's hand with disdain and said it would cost ten taels of silver for labor. Zi Qing thought that she didn't have much silver on hand, so they might as well go back to Anzhou first, completely ignoring the shopkeeper's disdain.

  In the following days, after Zi Qing finished cooking, she would run outside whenever she had a chance, but unfortunately, she never met that person again. After feeling disappointed, Zi Qing calmed down and focused on taking care of Zi Fu's meals.

  The weather in Changzhou is even hotter than Anzhou, Zifou didn't have much appetite, and Ziqing could only make some light dishes. He remembered that his mother in his previous life often made poached chicken, so he tried it several times and succeeded. He also made some cold dishes such as cucumber, seaweed, and chrysanthemum greens. Zifou ate quite a bit of them, and even his classmates benefited from it.

  The classmates of Zifeng were shocked to hear that Ziqing had spent thirty taels of silver on a Western clock. They thought that Zifeng, who came from a farming family and was generally low-key in school, would not have such a luxurious item. Two people looked at Ziqing with different eyes now. Ziqing didn't take it to heart, calmly doing her own cooking, going out only to buy vegetables, and embroidering flowers at home. She responded indifferently to their advances, and Zifeng finally put his mind at ease after observing this several times.

  More than a month passed quickly, and Zifeng finished the exam. He said that it would take half a month to announce the results, so it's better to go back home and wait again. The two of them looked at the more than 50 taels of silver left in their hands and decided to go shopping to buy some gifts for their family members, after all, coming to the provincial city was not easy.

  Two people first went to the fabric store and picked out some good fabrics. Zi Qing saw that there were many discounted fabrics on sale, and upon asking, she found out they were last year's leftover stock. Zi Qing thought that since her family was in a rural area, it didn't matter whether the styles were new or old, and giving them as gifts would be fine too. Moreover, the prices were really cheap, so Zi Qing picked out many fabrics. Zi Fu asked her, "You're buying so much fabric, do you think money grows on trees? Isn't that a bit too much?"

  Zi Qing listened and smiled, saying: "This kind of cotton cloth can only be worn for a year. Nowadays, who in the family doesn't make two sets of clothes for each season? You know what? If my mother were to come, she would buy even more than me."

  They picked out over twenty pieces of fabric with various patterns, spending less than ten taels of silver. The two saw that they had too many things and could only send them back to come out again. They went to the silver building and chose some new and unusual filigree silver hairpins and silver bangles for Shen and He, spending two taels of silver. They also bought some delicate dried fruits and pastries. Ziying specially went to a sundry store to buy some soap for bathing, tooth powder for brushing teeth, etc. The two carried a large pile of things back and forth, when suddenly someone behind them shouted: "Little sister, little sister, the little sister who buys stones, wait a minute!" Ziying turned her head to look, wasn't it the man selling jade?

  That man ran over, panting and said: "Little sister, you're really hard to find. I've been looking for you for almost half a month now, coming here every day to wait for you. If I couldn't find you today, I would have left. My friend still has two stones in his hand, similar to mine, do you want them?"

  "Really? You're back too? We were also planning to head back home tomorrow. What a coincidence!" Zi Qing was delighted.

  "This heavy thing, how can I possibly carry it out every day? Wait for me, I'll be back in half an hour."

  Zheng Hao and Fu Zi agreed to meet again in half a time unit after sending their things back.

  After buying the stone, Zifeng saw that his family's things were indeed a bit too much, so he hired a horse cart alone. Ziqing felt that this trip to the provincial capital was really worthwhile, and all the way was smiling, and didn't feel the bumpy road either.