Under Gianna's careful care, the three kids no longer looked like skinny dried beans. Their faces had become full and round.
No doubt about it, the three kids were really good-looking.
As the weather got warmer day by day, the snow started to melt.
The family was planning a trip to the county town.
The kids were wearing cotton-padded jackets. Gianna hadn't been good at sewing before, but after a woman from Qingtian Village came to help her, she slowly got better. Now her stitches weren't as crooked as before.
Dennis was especially excited.
He kept talking to Gianna, "Mom, now that it's snowing, do you think more people will be in town? Will those who ran away because of the famine come back too?"
Floyd was pushing the cart, just smiling while watching this.
Their family of five was getting closer and closer. He could feel that.
Even he felt like life was becoming more hopeful.
Gianna had been making food in new ways for them lately.
Even though they still had to eat coarse grains, the taste and variety had improved.
She snapped out of her thoughts and gently said to the kids, "There will definitely be a lot of people in town. After the snow, everyone will be busy preparing for spring farming. Our family now has thirty-two acres of land from the trade, plus our original three acres—that's thirty-five acres!"
Just thinking about it made her excited.
Thirty-five acres—if she could plant high-quality crops like she planned, they could make a lot of money.
The villagers who ran away still hadn't come back. Based on her guess, they might return one after another in about a month. But by then, they would have missed spring planting, which might lead to more problems.
They didn't reach the county town until noon.
Gianna was thinking about how to separate from Floyd. It just so happened that there were a lot of people entering the town.
So she said, "You take the kids and follow slowly into town. I'll go ahead and trade my dowry. Wait for me near the place selling seeds."
Without waiting for Floyd's reply, she ran off.
Dennis saw that Floyd was worried and said, "Dad, don't worry. Mom is really strong. If any bad people show up, she'll scare them off."
Floyd sighed. "I just feel guilty. Once I make money, I'll buy her more jewelry."
There was no money at home, so when Gianna suggested trading her dowry for silver, he had no choice but to agree.
Nori said seriously, "When I grow up and earn money, I'll buy jewelry for Mom too."
As soon as Gianna entered town, she started walking around.
She didn't have any silver with her and needed to trade something.
Luckily, in her space, she had collected valuable porcelain and paintings from the apocalypse. These things could be pawned.
She found a pawnshop and took out a painting to give to the shopkeeper.
She had no idea how much he would offer for the painting.
The shopkeeper unrolled the painting and looked at it carefully, then asked seriously, "Are you sure you want to pawn this painting, ma'am?"
He examined it closely. Even though it wasn't by any famous artist he knew, the painting's meaning was deep—an empty mountain, a quiet valley, tall mountains, and flowing water. It felt like stepping into the scene. Just by its meaning, it was a masterpiece.
Gianna asked, "Can this painting be pawned?"
The shopkeeper nodded. "If you want to pawn it temporarily, I can give you one hundred taels of silver. If you want to sell it permanently, I can offer more."
One hundred taels of silver?
Gianna thought that price was too low.
"How much for permanent sale?" she asked.
"Two hundred taels," the shopkeeper said, giving his best offer.
The price really didn't meet what Gianna had expected.
The shopkeeper saw Gianna hesitate and quickly explained, "This painting is excellent in both technique and meaning, but the artist isn't famous. You know, with paintings and calligraphy, the name matters most. I'm taking a big risk buying this. Silver is very valuable these days. What I offered is the highest price I can give."
He knew the painting was worth more.
But that's how pawnshops work—the price is always lower than the real value.
After all, they need to make a living too. They have to make a profit.
Gianna sighed inside. She knew the shopkeeper was telling the truth. Besides, this was just a county town. The price might be better in a big city.
Forget it. Solving the current problem was more important.
"Two hundred and ten taels. If you can accept that, write the pawn ticket. Dead pawn." She had to bargain. Ten taels could feed a family for a long time.
The shopkeeper was happy and started writing the ticket right away. As he wrote, he said, "If you have similar paintings in the future, bring them here. Our Treasure Pawnshop is honest with everyone. We have branches in many cities."
Gianna asked him to give all the silver in silver ingots.
She carried the cloth bag with the silver ingots and left the pawnshop.
She found a quiet alley, took out ten taels, and put the rest into her space.
Ten taels was still too much for the family right now.
So she went to the money exchange and changed it into small silver pieces. Then she happily headed to the seed store.
There was a long line outside the store. Gianna looked around but didn't see Floyd. She figured he hadn't reached the town yet.
So she went to a quiet spot and took out the seeds she had prepared in her space.
There were seeds for all kinds of vegetables and fruits, as well as rice and corn.
She had packed the seeds in cloth bags, sorted by type.
She wasn't worried Floyd would notice anything strange.
Each bag weighed about seven or eight jin. That definitely wasn't enough for thirty mu of land.
She still needed Floyd to buy some, or it would be hard to explain later.
Then she bought five big steamed buns and left the town.
Floyd was still in line with the kids. The carts and wagons were moving very slowly in this line.
When Gianna saw the kids, she handed out one steamed bun to each of them.
But the three kids didn't start eating right away.
Dennis and Xeno held the buns up to Gianna's mouth at the same time and said, "Mom, you eat first."
Nori handed his bun to Floyd.
Gianna pinched Dennis and Xeno's cheeks, her heart warm. "I feel your love. Eat up! Your dad and I have buns too!"
To the three kids, steamed buns were rare and precious.
They sat on the cart and took small bites.
Gianna placed the cloth bag on the cart and handed a bun to Floyd.
Floyd took it and asked, "What's in the bag?"
Gianna hadn't taken anything when she left.
The bag was very noticeable.
Gianna leaned closer and spoke softly, feeling a little guilty, "I saw an old man dressed really well selling all kinds of seeds. He said these were the best his family had saved up, some even brought from far away. But because of the drought, he didn't plant them. Now he wants to move to a big city and is selling his farmland. So he sold the seeds cheaply."