Two rooms, two beds. Mo Yan slept with Mo Xin in the smaller room, while Mo Qingze and his sons slept in the other room. Even though there were no covers on the beds, it was much better than sleeping on the ground. On the first night in their new home, they all slept exceptionally soundly.
When Mo Yan woke up, Mo Qingze had already made breakfast.
After breakfast, Mo Yan opened her small bundle and carefully counted all her silver coins, finding that she had just over four taels left. Silver was really easy to spend; just yesterday, the rent and deposit cost two taels.
She wasn't worried about the money. The most important thing now was to upgrade the Space. Once the Space leveled up, not only would its area expand several times, but the Spiritual Spring also would be born, which could nurture all things. She could even retrieve items with her mind without entering the Space, making it incredibly convenient.
Upgrading the Space wasn't easy; two conditions had to be met. The first was sufficient Spiritual Energy, and the second was that the transparent bead in the Space had to be covered in red lines. Spiritual Energy was easier to manage; just keep planting crops. The red lines were harder to get; previously, after helping the grandfather and grandson of the Li Family, two red lines appeared on the bead. In fact, to fill the bead completely, she'd need to help at least a hundred people.
However, Mo Yan knew this couldn't be rushed, and she shook off these thoughts after a while. She took all her belongings, dragged her father and siblings to the street, and went on her first crazy shopping spree in this other world.
The first priority was buying quilts. Two beds required four quilts. Mo Yan thought one or two pieces of silver would suffice easily, but she didn't expect the price of cotton to be so high due to low yield, and the cost had always been steep. A quilt made of last year's cotton cost three hundred fifty Wen, while new cotton quilts were five hundred Wen.
Mo Qingze didn't know how much money his daughter had, and when he heard the price, he instinctively said, "Yanyan, let's wait until Dad earns some money before buying."
Mo Yan was also distressed by the price, but autumn was approaching soon. When the weather cooled, they'd have to buy them eventually. So she gritted her teeth and said, "Let's buy them now. Xin Er and Zhenzhen are still young, and they'll catch cold at night without quilts."
The clerk who was helping them also kindly advised, "It's a good deal to buy now. In half a month, the weather will cool down, and the price will rise."
After hearing what his daughter and the clerk said, Mo Qingze couldn't say no anymore, but he felt increasingly guilty inside. As a father, he felt bad needing his daughter's hard-earned money even for quilts.
Mo Yan didn't notice her father's expression. After bargaining with the clerk, she bought four quilts using one tael and six hundred Wen; two were new cotton quilts, and two were made of last year's cotton - new ones as covers and old ones as bedding.
The quilts were too large to carry easily, but fortunately, for spending a tael, the clerk offered to have them delivered. Mo Yan didn't expect ancient business practices to be this considerate, so she left the address and the family went to the Cloth Shop.
The family's clothes were pitifully few, with only two sets per season for changing, and all were patched upon patches.
Mo Yan didn't mind wearing such clothes, but dressing too poorly may lead others to look down on them, especially the two younger ones. As they were in their growth phase, she didn't want different looks from others to make them feel inferior.
They bought two types of fabric: one was soft, breathable cotton, and the other was durable linen. She planned to use the cotton for innerwear and the linen for outerwear. They bought a bolt of each type, costing eight hundred Wen in total. The original owner of her body was skilled in needlework, so making clothes was not an issue. She had inherited the original owner's memories, and with practice, sewing clothes shouldn't be a problem.
Then, they visited the rice shop and hardware store, buying some rice, flour, pots and pans, and hoes, completing the rest of their necessities, before heading to the vegetable market, intending to buy some meat before heading home.
The prices in Jing City were certainly not cheap. Good pork belly at Longshi Town was twenty Wen per catty, but here it was twenty-five Wen.
Mo Yan clicked her tongue, calculated the remaining silver coins, spent fifty Wen to buy two catties of good meat for a braise, and spent five Wen Money on a few cheap bones for soup.
Thinking of the delicious bone soup and tasty braised pork, she couldn't help but drool.
Mo Qingze walked behind with a large pile of items, watching his daughter's back with some uneasiness. His daughter was spending money as if it flowed like water, yet he, as her father, didn't know where so much money came from. He trusted that his daughter wouldn't do anything wrong, but he couldn't help worrying.
Mo Yan, enjoying candy-coated haw, was unaware of her father's inner turmoil. She was enthusiastically exploring the antique streets while watching her two siblings looking around to prevent them from getting lost.
Back home, Mo Yan got busy, organizing the purchased items and then heading to the kitchen to prepare lunch.
In her previous life, her family was well-off, with the family business managed by her three older brothers, so she didn't need to worry about it. After leaving school, she either managed the Space or focused on charity, helping those in need. Her spare time was almost always spent studying recipes.
Over the years, from renowned traditional dishes to typical street snacks, she could cook almost anything. Her culinary skills, if not comparable to a five-star hotel's head chef, were such that whoever tasted her food wouldn't say it was bad.
During the difficult times on the run, she had no chance to showcase her culinary skills. Now that they were settled, not making some delicious dishes to reward herself felt unworthy.
Mo Yan cooked three dishes: braised pork, garlic green vegetables, and salt-and-pepper corn. The bone soup wasn't done yet, so it would have to wait until dinner. She had wanted to grab a chicken from the Space to make braised chicken chunks, but since her family was around all day, she couldn't just conjure a chicken out of thin air.
The chickens in the Space were the twenty chicks she had bought earlier in Longshi Town. The Space's time flowed faster than outside; only half a month had passed outside, while five months had passed inside. Just two days ago, the hens had started laying eggs, and every time she entered, she could collect quite a few eggs.
However, these chickens were causing her some trouble as well. A lot of cabbage and rice in the Space were ruined by them. There was nothing she could do; the time difference between the Space and outside was too big. She couldn't keep the chickens tied up and had to feed them every so often, so she had no choice but to free-range them.
The dishes were placed on the table, and Xin Er and Zhenzhen, who had smelled the aroma earlier, couldn't wait to gather around. However, their good upbringing stopped them from digging in first. They waited for their father to pick the dishes before they started eating with chopsticks.
"Wow, it's really delicious. Big Sis, you should try it. This braised pork is so good," Zhenzhen exclaimed after eating a piece of the meat.
Xin Er also looked at her big sister in surprise, uncharacteristically without rebuking her silly brother, because she also thought her big sister's cooking now was much better than before.
Mo Qingze said nothing, but the look in his eyes as he gazed at his daughter revealed his comfort. A woman skilled in culinary arts had a big advantage when it came to future marriage prospects.
Mo Yan, who was being praised, smiled smugly, completely unaware of her father's thoughts. If she knew, she'd surely be frustrated to death; she was only thirteen, and marriage was too far off!
If that time ever came, she would absolutely refuse to admit she was pretending to be young!