Chapter 5 Salesman
More than ten days passed.

Jiang Li quickly adapted to the hard life in the mountains. Although she had endless work to do every day, she never had enough to eat, her sleeping place was damp, and she was often bullied, Jiang Li quickly adapted.

Perhaps because she had been too quiet and obedient during these days, Master Jing'an from the nunnery came to see her for the first time.

Nun Jing'an was a young woman in her twenties. It was said that she was once the wife of a wealthy family. After her husband died, she became a nun in the mountains.

A few days ago, Jiang Li insisted on returning to Yanjing because of the marriage of the Ningyuan Marquis's son, and almost had a fight with Master Jing'an.

Nun Jing'an came over, glanced at Jiang Li, said some polite words of concern, and left without giving her anything.

Tong'er put her hands on her hips and spat at Master Jing'an's departing figure, saying, "Bah, stingy old woman!"

Jiang Li laughed a little and said, "She is much younger than the old woman."

In fact, Master Jing'an was only about twenty years old. Although she was wearing a gray black robe, it could not hide her slim and graceful figure. Her appearance was even more beautiful. It was just that her attitude towards the master and servant was a little condescending and her expression was a little cold, making them look like servants instead.

"What's the point of being young?" Tong'er curled her lips. "I'm already a nun here. Can't I just live a life of seclusion? Can I eat meat and wear flowery clothes?"

"I don't know whether she eats meat or not, but she definitely eats better than you and me. Whether she wears flowery clothes or not, her black clothes are definitely thicker than yours and mine." Jiang Li said.

"Damn it!" Tong'er said angrily.

"Not only that," Jiang Li continued to explain to her, "Although she didn't wear any jewelry, she used the powder from Xingchunfang in Yanjing City, the silver box perfume from Hongxiulou, and the osmanthus hair oil from Xiangxiuzhai."

Tong'er opened her mouth and said after a while: "This is... too fancy! No," she reacted again, staring at Jiang Li with sparkling eyes, "How did the girl know?"

Jiang Li pointed to her nose: "I smelled it."

"I know that it was Miss who smelled it. I want to ask, how did Miss know that it was the powder from Xingchunfang, the silver box perfumed ointment from Hongxiulou, and the osmanthus hair oil from Xiangxiuzhai?"

Jiang Li thought, of course she knew. When she first married Shen Yurong and came to Yanjing, the Shen family despised her because she was a girl from a small county in Tongxiang. Several sisters-in-law and Shen Yurong's mother looked down on her. She was afraid of embarrassing Shen Yurong, so she worked hard to learn the popular clothes and jewelry of Yanjing ladies and corrected her accent bit by bit.

She has always been a quick learner. Xue Huaiyuan once said that if she were not a girl, she might be able to work with Xue Zhao to bring honor to the Xue family.

Miss Jiang Er, who had not left the mountain for seven years, would not know about these cosmetics, perfumes, and osmanthus hair oils, but she could distinguish them accurately.

Jiang Li said: "Of course I can smell it."

Tong'er thought about it and came up with a logical reason. She said, "The girl must know these things. She used them every day when she was in the Jiang family. There is no reason why she is not familiar with them." As she spoke, she became sad. "Speaking of which, the girl has been away from the Jiang family for such a long time..."

"Tong'er, do you want to go back to Yanjing?" Jiang Li interrupted her.

Tong'er's eyes widened, and he immediately shook his head, saying firmly: "No! Tong'er just wants to follow the girl, wherever the girl goes, Tong'er will go!"

Jiang Li smiled and said, "It's okay, we'll be back soon."

Before Tong'er could say anything, she suddenly heard a loud shout from outside. It was a man's laughing voice, which seemed to be some kind of tune. Tong'er pricked up her ears to listen, then suddenly jumped up, laughing and jumping, saying, "Girl, it's the peddler Zhang! The peddler Zhang is here to deliver things this year!" Jiang Li then looked out the window and said with a smile, "Then find out all the copper coins and let's go buy some cakes."

"All?" Tong'er turned around in surprise.

"all."

After Tong'er had looted all the copper coins from the house, he wrapped them up in a blue cloth bag and held it in his arms before he and Jiang Li walked out of the temple together.

The mountain here is too high, and the Helin Temple next to it is very popular. The people who come here are either rich or noble, and they usually disdain to buy things from peddlers. Therefore, most peddlers are unwilling to do business in this mountain. Zhang the peddler lives at the foot of Qingcheng Mountain, so he doesn't come up on weekdays. Every year from May to June, the peach blossoms on Qingcheng Mountain are in full bloom. Not only the rich and noble, but also ordinary people are willing to come to Qingcheng Mountain to enjoy the flowers. There are many people, so the peddler chooses this day to come to the mountain to sell rouge, powder and other small things.

Tong'er and the peddler were familiar with each other, and they agreed to come here to buy things on the tenth day of May every year. The nunnery was not as lively as the Helin Temple, and for Jiang Li and Tong'er, buying some snacks from the peddler at this time every year was the only luxury.

Sure enough, there was a middle-aged man at the temple gate wearing a conical hat, a short brown linen shirt and linen pants, a white silk belt around his waist, and black cloth shoes, dressed like a peddler.

Jiang Li looked a little dazed.

Before she married Shen Yurong and came to Yanjing, when she was still a little girl, Xue Huaiyuan was transferred to the remote and poor Tongxiang. At that time, Tongxiang had nothing and the number of shops in the entire county could be counted on one hand.

Xue Zhao and her family lived in such an environment at a very young age. Their only pleasure was the peddlers who came from door to door every month. From them, they could buy novel clay figurines, beautiful silk ribbons, sweet malt sugar, and rough brushes for practicing calligraphy.

Although life was hard, they lived happily. Later, Tongxiang became better and better under Xue Huaiyuan's governance. Later, Xue Zhao also began to prepare for the military examination. Later, she married in Yanjing. Later... there was no later.

Jiang Li lowered her eyes.

The peddler Zhang was also familiar with the two of them. He told Tong'er that she had grown taller again. Tong'er was very happy to hear that. He turned around and asked Jiang Li: "Miss, do you want those cakes?"

Jiang Li then looked at Zhang the peddler. She smiled at him, which made Zhang the peddler stunned and feel inexplicably uncomfortable.

Jiang Li took the cloth bag from Tong'er's hand and untied it. Inside was neatly stacked strings of copper coins. These copper coins were collected by Jiang Li and Tong'er from making slippers in the past six months, plus the money they saved in the past few years without the knowledge of Master Jing'an, a total of forty strings.

"Uncle Zhang," Jiang Li said with a smile, "Exchange all these copper coins for fruit cakes. Any kind will do."

Tong'er's eyes widened: "Girl!"

Although she had taken all her belongings, Tong'er didn't really think that Jiang Li would spend all the copper coins. The people in the nunnery often deducted their firewood and rice, and sometimes they could exchange some food and quilts with the children in the mountains for money. Buying snacks and cakes would not last long, and they would all go bad after a short time. How could she do this?

"What?" Jiang Li was still smiling, she said: "The daughter of the Prime Minister's family, you can't even spend a few copper coins to buy cakes and pastries? What kind of daughter is she?"

Tong'er couldn't say anything.

　Big Pear: Even if you don’t have money, you can still be willful [smile]

　　
　
(End of this chapter)