Qin Sang laughed:
"Just because my family has a lot of rice and grain, we have to help out relatives, right? Well, I see your house is quite large too. Why don't you clear out two rooms for my family to store firewood, how about that?"
The two of them had never been a match for Qin Sang before, and they were made a laughingstock every time. This time was no exception, and the surrounding villagers immediately started jeering:
"Yeah, Shanshui Brothers, what she said is right."
"Haha, since your house has so many rooms, just clear out two of them."
The two brothers were a bit annoyed:
"What are you laughing at? Haven't you seen how poor her family is? Da Zhuang is even living in a shack. Do they still have money to buy rice and grain to trade for Caoer? Don't you know how much the price of rice has risen now? Which family would use rice to trade for Caoer?"
"Right, she's definitely tricking everyone into going up the mountain to get mugwort. When the time comes, she won't trade rice for it, and the mugwort will be useless to everyone. She'll get it all for nothing."
Qin Sang sneered: "Yes, the mugwort is useless to you, but it's useful to me? What would be my purpose in tricking everyone into going up the mountain to get mugwort?"
Tian Yuanshan got excited:
"To make those mosquito coils! Sister-in-law Tian said you can sell those for money, and you need mugwort to make them. You can just pick up the mugwort everyone doesn't want and sell it for money."
Qin Sang's gaze swept over them. At first, she thought these two just couldn't stand her family doing well, but seeing their prying looks now, she suspected they were after her mosquito coils.
Fortunately, Da Zhuang's father had built the courtyard walls very high back then out of concern that someone might climb over to reach the Original Body. Without some effort, one couldn't see the situation inside the courtyard. If it were like other houses with waist-high walls, one could see how the mosquito coils were made just by looking up.
"Then if Sister-in-law Tian and the others throw them away later, you can pick them up and make mosquito coils to sell for money yourself. Just make sure you don't let me benefit from it."
Qin Sang said crossly.
Just then, Sister-in-law Tian and the others returned carrying large bundles of mugwort. Seeing the two brothers there, Mrs. Tian Li was a bit confused:
"Why are they here?"
Qin Sang said casually:
"To be disgusting, I suppose."
Da Zhuang helped Mrs. Tian Li and the others unload the mugwort. Seeing so much, Qin Sang was also very surprised:
"Sister-in-law, why did you get so much?"
Mrs. Tian Li said loudly:
"We found a huge patch halfway up the mountain. If we waited until tomorrow, it would take another half day to get there, so we harvested it all."
Tian Sangui carried a bag of rice out from the house; it was fifty catties.
There was so much, looking like at least a hundred catties. Qin Sang didn't weigh it and said directly:
"Si Jin, weigh out three catties of rice for your Aunt."
Mrs. Tian Li immediately refused:
"It's not that much, just about a hundred catties." She was thinking of giving the extra as a gift, but she didn't expect Qin Sang to overestimate it so much.
Qin Sang had Si Jin weigh three catties. She could trade a hundred catties of rice in the Mall for this much mugwort, so giving three catties was nothing.
Watching Si Jin nimbly weigh the rice and put it into the cloth bag Mrs. Tian Li had brought, The Shan Shui Brothers and the crowd of onlookers were all stunned:
"Wait, she's actually giving it."
"Trading rice for Caoer... rice is twenty wen a catty now."
"How is this any different from giving it away for free?"
Amidst everyone's astonishment, Qin Sang traded rice for the other two sisters-in-law as well. Their weights were less, not quite a hundred catties, but Qin Sang counted them all as a hundred catties and weighed out two catties of rice for each.
After the mugwort trade, Widow Xia arrived. Behind her were her young daughter and young nephew. The two children's hands weren't empty either. The older girl was holding a small Pumpkin, and the younger boy's clothes were cradling a few potatoes:
"Daner, you dug up potatoes too? Auntie tells you, these potatoes are delicious. But if they sprout, you can't eat them; they're poisonous and can kill people. If they haven't sprouted, you can roast, boil, or steam them."
"You even found a Pumpkin. I found one today too. Last time I found a huge one, and it's delicious in Pumpkin porridge—very sweet."
Widow Xia smiled. She hadn't expected to be so lucky today. She had originally just gone to dig for medicinal herbs, but she ended up finding the same things she saw in Qin Sang's basket. On her way down the mountain, she found a Pumpkin. She had thought they were herbs, but Qin Sang said they were vegetables. Even if they were just vegetables, it was still very good.
Widow Xia was holding a large basket. She tremblingly handed the medicinal herbs in the basket to Qin Sang to see.
"Sister Qin, is this isatis root? This Plantain was dug up outside the vegetable garden."
Qin Sang checked them over:
"That's right. You dug up so much; this is about two catties. There's also quite a lot of Plantain. Not bad."
Qin Sang pretended to weigh them and said:
"Si Jin, weigh out two catties of rice for Widow Xia. Eldest Girl, go into the house and get two red apples."
Widow Xia hurriedly waved her hands. After putting the Pumpkin and potatoes from her daughter and nephew's hands into the basket, she pulled the children to leave:
"No, no need. This is to pay you back. I don't want rice."
Qin Sang quickly stopped her:
"Sister, I only gave you one plant. Even if you're paying me back, you only need to return one plant. If you don't want the rice, then take the herbs back. Keep them to boil water for yourself to drink; they clear heat and detoxify. This fruit isn't for you, it's for the children. I picked them on the mountain, they're free."
Seeing Qin Sang's persistence, Widow Xia's eyes turned red and watery as she accepted. Each of the two thin children was given an apple. Their small hands held the large red apples, their faces filled with both happiness and helplessness.
"Daner, Caoer, quickly thank your Aunt."
The two children immediately bowed in thanks. Qin Sang smiled and patted their heads:
"If you dig up more medicinal herbs in the future, you can keep trading them with Auntie."
"Mhm."
Seeing that the herbs Widow Xia dug up really traded for rice, the other villagers who had come over all crowded in front of Qin Sang, seemingly afraid that if her family's rice ran out, she wouldn't trade with them anymore.
"Line up, line up, one by one."
Qin Sang had the Eldest daughter-in-law maintain order, then she checked the herbs and weighed them herself. Da Zhuang and San Gui carried the mugwort into the house, while Eldest Girl and Wen Mo sorted the medicinal herbs, and Si Jin weighed the grain.
Actually, not many families had gone to dig for herbs today. These families might have still doubted whether Qin Sang's trading rice for herbs was real, so each of them hadn't dug up much. It was finished quickly, with only ten catties of rice traded out in total.
Not a single person traded for copper coins because, with those onlookers there, everyone knew that the price of grain in town had risen—twenty wen for a catty of rice.
If they took the rice back, they might find a way to trade it at a grain shop and get back half a catty more of Millet.
The onlookers could no longer stay calm:
"Widow Tian wasn't lying; you really can trade with her for grain. No way, I'm going up the mountain to dig for medicinal herbs tomorrow too."
"We're all fellow villagers. Such a good thing was actually kept secret, and no one told me. It's too much."
"Tomorrow I'll go gather mugwort and let my wife and children go dig for medicinal herbs."
"Then you're not going to harvest your fields?"
"I'll just let my old man and mother harvest slowly. The rice has grown like that, how many grains can be harvested? Widow Tian has pure white rice here. I saw it—there wasn't a single grain of sand in it."
The onlookers left one by one, and the gate to Qin Sang's courtyard was closed. Only The Shan Shui Brothers remained, standing on their tiptoes outside the wall to look.
"Her family can trade rice worth twenty wen a catty for Caoer, so those mosquito coils must sell for a high price."
"What exactly are these mosquito coils? If we could make them too, wouldn't we be able to make a lot of money?"