Chapter 14: You Might as Well Cheat in Black
The moment the gate swung open, Yu Luo simultaneously checked the delivery list while paying the remaining balance. There wasn’t even time to properly count the goods—they were only given a cursory glance.
All in all, it took roughly half an hour for the deliveries to be completely unloaded into the granary. Looking at the granary, now stuffed to the brim, Yu Luo felt a deep sense of security.
It was said that in the wild lands, supplies were most scarce—often, even if one had silver, there would be nowhere to spend it.
With so many supplies now in hand, even if her family were never to return in this lifetime, the three of them could live a secluded life in the wild lands.
Though the conditions might be harsh, being together as a family was the greatest fortune.
This was, for Yu Luo, the worst-case plan she had ever made.
Yu Luo closed the granary door and quickly transferred everything inside into her system space.
Only two quilts, three pairs of thick cotton shoes, three pairs of waterproof little leather boots, two small iron pots with matching bowls and chopsticks, and some basic food remained. With these, she hurriedly ran toward the city gate.
[Ding dong, System Mission Issued: There is a batch of weapons privately forged for bandits at the blacksmith’s shop in the northern part of the city. Host, please go and collect them.
If you complete the mission, you will be rewarded 100 points. If you fail, 100 points will be deducted from your current total.]
While running, Yu Luo’s steps faltered for a moment. Clenching her teeth and summoning her resolve, she hoisted her backpack and dashed off toward the northern blacksmith’s shop!
Setting aside whether these weapons would be useful at the moment, Yu Luo was infuriated by the system’s habit of randomly deducting points; she couldn’t allow the system to get the better of her.
By the time she located the blacksmith’s shop mentioned by the system, the sky had grown completely dark. The blacksmith’s shop was about to close for the night. Yu Luo reached out and quickly intercepted the last door panel affixed to the doorframe.
“Mam, we’re closed for the night. Please come early tomorrow.”
“Wait, wait, wait—I’ll buy my items and leave. My home is too far from the city. Please, cut me some slack.”
At this moment, Yu Luo had already restored her female appearance.
Hearing that soft, pleasing voice, the young man–the blacksmith–couldn’t help but glance more than once at Yu Luo.
Although at present Yu Luo was bundled up in a thick cotton jacket, wrapped tightly so that nothing could be seen, her exposed little face remained fair and dewy.
Seeing a pretty young lady, the young man’s heart softened, and he promptly removed several of the door panels he had installed, “What would you like to purchase, miss?”
“I need an iron pot, a kitchen knife, fire tongs, as well as an iron shovel, a hoe, an axe, and any finished iron products you have.”
Upon hearing the long list of items Yu Luo recited, the young man was visibly shocked.
“These items will cost a fair amount of silver…”
Clearly, Yu Luo’s attire made the young man doubt her purchasing power. Without hesitation, Yu Luo produced 20 taels of silver and placed it in the young man’s hand.
Gripping the heavy silver ingot, the young man was momentarily surprised, then his face lit up with delight as he nodded repeatedly: “Please come inside, miss. I’ll go look for your items right away.”
“Alright, bring out all the finished goods. And if you have any daggers, I want those too.”
“Okay, okay, miss, please wait a moment…”
Glancing around the quiet blacksmith shop, Yu Luo couldn’t shake off a tinge of guilt as if she were a thief.
“Young man, in such a large blacksmith’s shop, why are you the only one here?”
“My parents went to visit relatives today and will return after dinner.”
At these words, Yu Luo’s eyes lit up; she felt as though fate was on her side! “System, quickly help me locate those weapons!”
[Backyard, left wing—approximately three minutes available.]
Upon hearing the system’s prompt, Yu Luo looked over at the young man busy near the forge. She then set down her backpack and, using the dim light of the dark night, stealthily slipped into the backyard.
Arriving at the left wing as directed by the system, Yu Luo pushed open the door without bothering to check which weapons were stored there—she simply transferred everything into her system space, then closed the door and nonchalantly returned to the main hall.
“Am I inadvertently causing harm to the blacksmith’s family?” she wondered.
[No, my system instructs you to collect wealth. These funds rightfully belong to those people.
That family has long violated the law by privately manufacturing weapons for bandits—even though they knew those people were bandits, they still forged weapons for them. Just consider it as cutting off black funds; you need not feel any moral burden.]
[Congratulations, host. You have successfully completed the mission and received 100 reward points. Your total points are now 200.]
Upon hearing this, Yu Luo felt not a trace of guilt.
Glancing at the sky outside, she noticed that the young man searching for items hadn’t emerged for quite some time, and she grew anxious.
“I’m afraid I’ll be late and the city gate will close.”
“Coming, coming—miss, I’ve found the finished goods. I’ve calculated the total to be 21 taels and 3 mace.”
“Alright, here are an extra 2 taels silver; don’t bother with further haggling—just pack them into my backpack.”
The young man’s findings turned out to be nothing more than two axes, three kitchen knives, five hoes of various sizes, one iron pot, and two sets each of fire tongs and spatulas.
Yu Luo didn’t really know the prices of these ancient goods, but after purchasing them she got a rough idea.
Ancient ironware was strictly regulated and thus quite expensive. This was why many poor rural families could not even afford an iron pot and had to cook with ceramic pots instead.
Moreover, among these items were also two particularly heavy “tiger-head” items.
In her haste to leave the city—and partly out of a guilty conscience—Yu Luo, not even bothering to calculate if the price was fair, generously handed over a little extra silver.
After packing the items into her backpack, she hurriedly ran out of the shop.
Once she was out of the young man’s sight, she found a secluded spot and transferred all the purchased ironware into her system space, then sprinted toward the city gate.
At the relay station, Lan had already returned. Seeing the items Lan had brought back, the entire main branch of the Yu family were full of complaints. “Where are the leather boots I ordered?
Lan, you were out for so long—what exactly did you do?”
Yu Yingying, rifling through the backpack Lan carried, found it filled with cotton garments, quilts, rice, flour, an iron pot, and a kitchen knife, and immediately erupted in anger, yelling at Lan.
Lan, exhausted in the bitter winter, was soaked through with sweat.
After years of living in luxury, when had she ever carried such a heavy backpack?
In order to ensure the family wouldn’t starve, she even had someone help carry an extra 100 jin of white flour.
After all that effort, instead of being praised for her work, she was berated by Yu Yingying.
Yu Yingying had just finished firing off her anger when that old hag, matriarch Chen, started picking fights again.
She completely ignored the blood that had dried around Lan’s cracked, chapped mouth, and while munching on sesame cakes, she continued her tirade in a furious tone: “These cakes aren’t osmanthus cakes at all! Lan, how can you possibly work like this? I’ve been craving a taste all these days, and you bought this worthless junk!”
