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The shopkeeper weighed the tea leaves on a scale and moved the weight: "Two taels of money, a total of one hundred and sixty wen."

The coins were counted out and pushed neatly onto the counter.

Shen Luxi counted them one by one and put them into a cloth bag.

Including the money spent on herbs and mushrooms, today's trip to town brought in a total of 290 cash.

It is enough to feed a family of four whole grains for a month.

Shen Luxi tied the bag tightly and stuffed it close to her belly.The copper plate felt cool against her skin, but she didn't feel any discomfort at all.

After leaving the tea shop, she was not in a hurry to go home and walked around the market again.

This time it's not about looking at shops, but about food prices.

The grain shop is at the east end of the main street. It has a large facade and a wooden sign hanging at the door with today's rice price written on it.

Shen Luxi stood at the door of the grain shop for a while. The current grain price is still normal. When the drought comes next year, the price will increase at least five times. By then, even those with money will not be able to buy grain.

She walked into the grain store and bought a bushel of brown rice, which cost eighteen cents, and another half a bushel of grains, which cost six cents.

The shopkeeper packed the bag and handed it over: "Little girl, do you want anything else?"

"Shopkeeper, do you accept sweet potato seeds in your shop?"

The shopkeeper was stunned: "Sweet potato? What is that?"

"A root crop with high yield and drought tolerance. It is grown in the south."

The shopkeeper shook his head: "I've never heard of it. We don't collect it here. If you want to find rare seeds, go to Lao Chen's seed shop at the end of the street and ask. He has seeds from all over the world."

Shen Luxi thanked the shopkeeper and walked towards the end of the street carrying the grain and diabolo basket.

Lao Chen's Seed Shop is a small shop the size of a palm. A bunch of dried chili peppers and several handfuls of dried garlic are hung at the door. The inside is filled with large and small cloth bags and clay pots. The air is filled with a mixed smell of seeds.

There were no other customers in the shop. A gray-haired old man was sitting behind the counter, with a yellowed account book spread out in front of him and holding something in writing.

Shen Luxi walked in: "Old shopkeeper, do you have any sweet potato seeds here?"

The old man raised his head, squinted his eyes and looked at the person who came, and put his pen on the inkstone: "Sweet potatoes? You girl know the goods. This thing is rare. No one in Qingchuan County has grown it, and I don't have any ready-made ones here."

"Do you know where I can get it?"

The old man thought for a moment: "There are indeed some in the south. I have an old man who is in the seed business in Fucheng. There might be some at his place. If you really want it, I can send you a letter to ask, but you have to wait for a while."

"How much does it cost?"

"Seed money is not included, as is the cost of running errands..." The old man raised two fingers, "Twenty cents."

Shen Luxi did not counter-offer: "Okay. Please ask the old shopkeeper how much a pound of sweet potato seeds cost, how much stock there is, and if there are corn seeds and potato seeds, I will also ask."

The old man's eyes became more curious: "Little girl, what do you want these for? No one has ever grown these things on our land here. Do you know how to grow them?"

"I know something." Shen Luxi counted out twenty coins from the bag and put it on the counter, "Excuse me."

The old man collected the money, tore a piece of paper from the account book, and took a note to write down what Shen Luxi wanted.

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