Chapter 28 Buying Books

"Grandma, thank you for telling me this method. Thank you so much. I'll go to the grocery store to buy the seasoning packet in a bit."

The old lady smiled and waved her hand, "There's no need to thank me. Almost everyone in town knows about it; it's hardly a secret anymore."

Yunxi was startled, wondering if she would seem strange.

Yunxi didn't say much after that, focusing on eating her noodles. After finishing, she said goodbye to the owner and his wife.

She knew where the grocery store was when she went to find the supply and marketing cooperative, so now that she had eaten and drunk her fill, she headed straight for the grocery store.

The general store truly lives up to its name; it has a wide variety of items, and you can find almost anything you could want here.

Once inside the general store, the owner, with a furrowed brow, didn't even notice Yunxi entering.

The owner was discussing with the people next to him how to quickly clear out all the goods before closing the shop, and whether they could find someone to take over all the merchandise.

Yunxi's heart skipped a beat. Could something have happened?

The news has already spread that private shops can no longer be opened. Does that mean that people who open shops have committed some heinous crime?

Such strict restrictions!

Yunxi remained calm and pretended not to hear, and began buying things she felt she could use.

Besides the seasoning packets that the old lady recommended, I bought about 200 packets, which cleared out the owner's entire stock.

I saw reed mats woven into drying mats, rolled up and placed there. Thinking of the mushrooms drying at home, I thought it would be useful to buy a couple more. There are just too many mushrooms. With only one drying mat, how long will it take to dry all the mushrooms in the space?

There are also various winnowing baskets and rattan baskets woven from rattan, each one is particularly small and not nearly as big as the one you carry on your back.

It can be used to hold small items or as a vegetable basket for washing and storing vegetables.

Yunxi bought about 20 of them because they were so small and cute, and even some small wicker baskets that could be carried on the back, but the ones sold at the general store were the kind that couldn't be carried on the back.

It's woven quite tightly, and it feels like the kind of container you can put at home to store grains, like red beans, mung beans, or rice, without worrying about them leaking out.

I simply bought 20 more. Anyway, I have so much stuff in my space, it's good to have something to store it in, so it won't be so messy.

Sewing kits, shoe sole sewing tools—Yunxi bought everything she thought was useful. After all, she'd have to learn these skills herself eventually, so it wasn't a waste of money.

Pretending to put the things back first, Yunxi carried the items in the general store four or five times before finally taking all the things she had bought.

It wasn't that she didn't want to use her inferior deception technique, but rather that there was more than one person in the grocery store, and she worried that she wouldn't be able to control two people, which would be terrible if it aroused suspicion.

After putting everything back into her spatial storage, Yunxi carried an empty basket on her back and went straight to the library.

Once inside, Yunxi thought she had come to the wrong place, because there were just too many people inside.

However, the environment inside was exceptionally quiet; apart from the sound of turning pages, there were no other noises.

It seems that people at this time still love learning, and everyone is studying so hard.

Yunxi didn't bother the others and went straight to find the book she wanted.

After wandering around for a while, I quickly found books related to herbs. Some of them looked particularly old, as if they were from a very long time ago. But it was obvious that these were not for sale; people could only come to the library to read them when they wanted to.

There are also some newer printed ones, and those are the ones that will be sold.

Yunxi took a look and found that there were six volumes of the Compendium of Materia Medica, a newly compiled Chinese Materia Medica, a concise acupuncture and bone setting manual, a selection of effective prescriptions for common diseases, and a practical obstetrics and gynecology book.

Seeing so many books, Yunxi originally only wanted to buy one that could help her identify medicinal herbs. After all, she didn't want to become a doctor; she just wanted to know how to process medicinal materials so she could earn money.

But seeing so many books, she still subconsciously picked up one of each one.

After she came to her senses, she found herself holding a stack of books. She glanced at the books in her arms and, since she had already taken them, she decided not to put them back.

Although she felt she wouldn't need the practical obstetrics and gynecology book, she figured since she'd already taken it, there was no need to put it back.

Fortunately, these books are not expensive, only one or two yuan each, which is already considered quite expensive.

After all, no one would be willing to spend so much money to buy a few books that can't be eaten or drunk.

Most people still prefer to come here to read, since it's free and they can learn something here.

Yunxi didn't have the time to come to the library every day to read those books, and since she had enough savings, she simply made a grand gesture and bought them all.

After leaving the library, I put the books directly into my backpack. I glanced at my watch and saw that half of the morning had already passed; it was around ten o'clock.

She felt that she didn't need to buy anything else, and once she found a place that bought medicinal herbs, she was ready to go back.

When I passed a blacksmith shop on the way, I heard the sound of hammering inside and I subconsciously stopped in my tracks.

Thinking that he only had one pot in his kitchen, which always seemed insufficient, he simply went into the blacksmith shop.

Once inside, I discovered that there were many different sizes of iron pots, the largest of which was over a meter in diameter, and the smallest was just a small pot that could be placed on a stove.

Finally, Yunxi bought two large iron pots with a diameter of over one meter, and a small pot that could be placed on the stove.

She prepared two large iron pots to stew things for herself, so that she could store more at once.

As for the small iron pot on the stove, it's meant to be used in winter when it's too cold to go out, so I can cook something to eat indoors.

After paying, the small iron pot was stuffed into the basket on his back, while the remaining two large iron pots were packed into burlap sacks. He carried one in each hand and continued searching for the location of the herbal medicine shop.

There was only one street in the town where things were sold, and I didn't see a pharmacy anywhere on the street.

Yunxi didn't want to work so hard only to end up with nothing to show for it. After all, no matter how many medicinal herbs she dug up, it wouldn't work if there were no shops to buy them.