After paying for a month’s worth of tuition for Little Shitou and an additional three taels to buy the donkey cart, Xiaocao had about four taels left in her purse. She decided to take advantage of being in town to buy whatever else her family needed.

The father and daughter pair deposited the donkey cart at the entrance of the ox and horse market and paid the attendant five copper coins. Xiaocao had especially given the old man her water pouch and repeatedly instructed him to give the donkey a bowl of the special water every hour. 

The two of them then went to the town’s largest food market. At the market, the selection of vegetables and produce was as pathetic as before. The vast majority of vegetables on sale were cabbages, radishes, and sweet potatoes. It was obvious that all of them had clearly been stored in people’s cellars for a long time. There also weren’t a lot of people selling meat or chickens. 

Xiaocao first went to the general store to buy some spices, soy sauce, and vinegar. This time, she had a decent amount of money on hand, so she could weigh each seasoning separately. She bought two ounces of each spice she needed, which would last her for about ten days.

In addition, she also brought along seven to eight bamboo tubes of differing sizes which had all been made by her father. As soon as she entered the stall, she gave the shopkeeper the new containers to replace the ones she had borrowed from him last time. She then...