“My shop is quite off the beaten path, mainly serving old customers, so business is just so-so, barely scraping by,” Lady Li said with a smile. Looking at Su Qingyue’s clothes, she exclaimed, “Wife of the Xiao Family, your dress…”
“The cloth is coarse cloth I bought from your shop, with purple embroidery just like the styles in your store. I’m embarrassed to say, my third brother embroidered this pattern for me.”
“No problem, you see this style all over the street, many people have made it.” As Lady Li studied her clothes, she remarked, “I didn’t expect the dress made of inferior coarse cloth, with purple embroidery, to look so good. Your third brother truly has an excellent taste. In my shop, the pattern is in big red, which is too common. It seems that I need to ask the tailor to change the red thread to purple.”
“Hee-hee.” Su Qingyue chuckled, “You can do as you please.”
“Eh?” Lady Li scrutinized carefully, “Wife of the Xiao Family, it seems that the pus sores on your face have dried up and scabbed over.”
“Yes, they have.”
“Looking at your face, once the scab falls off, it might be pretty.” Lady Li exclaimed in amazement, “Even your skin has turned snow white, last time I saw you, your skin was still sallow…”
“Back then, I was tanned.” As she spoke, her gaze swept around the shop.
Knowing that Su Qingyue is in search for the wheelchair, Lady Li said, “Ah, speaking of which, the wheelchair you asked me to buy last time has been delivered. My shop is not big, it’s stored at the side room in the backyard, wait a moment.”
As she was speaking, she went to the innermost curtain of the shop and called to the backyard, “Rong, bring out the wheelchair from the room!”
“Alright!” A male voice responded from the backyard.
A moment later, the waiter named Rong carried out a wheelchair with a large bundle of cloth draped over it, “Shopkeeper lady…”
“Carry on with your work.” Lady Li waved her hand.
Then Rong went back to work.
Lady Li untied the ropes binding the cloth, unfolded the cloth, revealing a wheelchair with a dark red paint finish and carved handles, “Good thing you came for the wheelchair today. My shop only stocks up supplies from Liuan Town every once in a while. As I have to watch the shop, I often send Rong to run errands. This wheelchair, I had Rong help buy it when he went to stock up. I used the five taels and two hundred cents you gave me, where exactly five taels were used for the wheelchair, and the two hundred cents were given to Rong as a hardship fee. Our town doesn’t sell wheelchairs, we need to go to Liuan Town 300 miles away, so even the handling, given the bulk of the wheelchair, the hardship fee is unavoidable.”
“Thank you very much.” Su Qingyue examined it, and touched the texture of the wheelchair, “Although it’s not top-tier, the quality of the paint is good, and the carvings on the handles are also exquisite. The material of the wood, while not high-quality redwood, is still medium-quality redwood. For this tier of wheelchair, five taels is reasonable.”
“Well…” Lady Li looked at her in amazement. “I didn’t realize that you, wife of the Xiao Family, have an eye for quality. Rong also mentioned that the wheelchair shop owner guaranteed it is made of redwood, but as laymen, we cannot tell the difference. You, on the other hand, detected that at a glance. The shop owner in Liuan Town mentioned the cheapest wheelchair costs three taels of silver, medium ones cost five taels, the same as you found out.”
Su Qingyue pushed the wheelchair a bit; it was smooth and effortless. After verifying the goods, she covered the wheelchair again with the big cloth and tied it so that it would not get scratched on the way.
She took out twenty cents and handed it to Lady Li, “I have already given Rong the two hundred cents as a procurement fee, here are twenty cents for you…”
“Absolutely not!” Lady Li promptly shook her head saying,