Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty

Chapter 34: Chapter 33 Pricing Chapter 34: Chapter 33 Pricing Jin Yanzi continued, “When I build the Golden House, I love to eat the leaves of the agarwood tree. My saliva mixed with the leaves becomes a green bird’s nest. Building one Golden House would take about ten to twenty years, and during such a long time only one or two bird’s nests can be made. The Golden House is quite cold, so it must be lined with bird’s nests to keep it warm. Therefore, the green bird’s nest is my bedding and should not be freely given away. If I have to take some out, I just tear off a strip from the nest, rather than remove the whole thing.”

A bird’s nest completed in ten to twenty years is indeed a rare treasure. No wonder it’s green; there are tree leaves inside. Moreover, the tree is an agarwood tree, also known as yan-chenxiang… these things can be studied slowly later.

Chen Afu asked again, “Can a strip of bird’s nest cure diseases?”

Jin Yanzi replied, “Don’t even mention a strip, even half of one could save a person’s life.”

Oh, my God, this is a real bonanza. Chen Afu rushed to respond with a sweet smile, “That’s great, Jin Bao’er, go and tear off a strip.”

Jin Yanzi then appeared in the left palm of Chen Afu, and was nowhere to be seen in the blink of an eye. Chen Afu also murmured “enter”, and followed into the spatial realm.

She was riding on the tree again.

Jin Yanzi explained, “Mummy has to call ‘come in’ to come in so you can stand on the ground. If you only say ‘enter’, then you’ll only come in riding on the tree.”

That’s too complicated. Chen Afu slid down the tree, “Alright, I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”

Jin Yanzi flew into a Golden House and pecked out a thin strip of Fragrant Bird’s Nest.

Chen Afu looked at it with some dissatisfaction, saying, “Jin Bao, you’re too stingy. This Fragrant Bird’s Nest is barely thicker than a hair strand, will this little amount be of any use?”

Jin Yanzi explained, “The green bird’s nest is very nourishing, and those with weak bodies might not be able to take too much of it. This strip being boiled in Grandpa’s medicine, and then once a month another strip cooked in his medicine, after six times, his disease should have healed.” Warning her, “The green bird’s nest is extremely precious, Mummy must not take it lightly.”

Chen Afu agreed and took over the green bird’s nest. She smelled it; it had a faint elegant and long-lasting fragrance, similar to the scent in this space. It was good that it was placed in medicine. If it had been used to make a tea, it would have been difficult to explain its fragrance.

Before leaving the space, Chen Afu picked up those two bags of crushed gold and gems and asked, “Jin Jin, these things aren’t from the tree, can Mummy take them out to sell?”

Jin Yanzi glanced at them and said, “These things are the leftover materials from my house building, you can sell them if you wish to, Mummy.”

Chen Afu was overjoyed. After thinking it over, she left the small bundle where it was, saying, “We need to find an excuse before selling, otherwise picking up gold after a fall would arouse suspicion.”

Jin Yanzi commented, “Mummy, are you still not well? Even such a simple thing you can’t think of. Can’t you ask Dabao to fall and pick up the gold?”

The child had a way with words, even compliments were mingled with sarcasm.

However, the hand that feeds you must not be bitten. Despite feeling cornered, Chen Afu could do nothing but laugh and said, “Fine, I’ll find a chance to make Dabao take a fall.” She picked up the packet of leaves and asked, “Can I also take these leaves that I picked up from the ground out? They smell better than Chanel from my previous life.”

Jin Yanzi looked at her as if she were an idiot and said, “Are you using them as perfume? Mommy Fu, you’re going to drive me crazy. No, I need to go find Qi Qi and Hui Hui to vent this out.” With that, she disappeared in a flash.

Did she imply that the leaves had other uses? How would she know if the child wouldn’t say, the child’s patience was indeed poor, she would have to try cheering her up before asking again later.

Chen Afu stepped out of the space and into the kitchen, where Mrs. Wang was brewing medicine. Seizing the chance when she was not paying attention, he slipped the green swallow nest into the medicine pot. Despite the strong medicinal smell, a vaguely discernible fragrance wafted through the air, refreshing anyone who smelled it.

Chen Afu then visited the backyard and persuaded Jin Yanzi to take Qi Qi and Hui Hui back to the forest to play. Once the new house was built, they would be invited to stay permanently. Their loud noises could penetrate into the room even from the backyard. These sounds would unsettle normal people, let alone a patient like Chen Ming.

Qi Qi and Hui Hui did not want to leave, circling around Chen Afu and calling “mother,” their voices unbearably adorable just like Chen Dabao. After Jin Yanzi had whispered something to them, they finally flew away reluctantly.

The green swallow nest did work wonders. Chen Ming was feeling better after half an hour, displaying noticeably more energy than before and coughing much less. The whole family was overjoyed.

After two days, Jin Yanzi came back with three beautiful kingfishers. She said, “These are the most beautiful birds in the forest. They do not make much noise, nor do they chirp often.”

The little birds were indeed stunning. The feathers of the three birds varied in color, each dazzling and glossy, while their beaks were pointed. Chen Afu knew that kingfisher accessories were fashionable in this era, and it would be a shame if these beautiful birds were caught.

As soon as dawn broke, Chen Afu promptly asked Jin Yanzi to return them to the forest.

Over the next dozen days, Jin Yanzi brought back birds once more, stating that they had the best voices. True enough, their chirping was melodious and pleasing, lingering in the air for several days. However, they preferred to sing at night and almost made Chen Ming fall ill again from the incessant noise. They were promptly chased away.

Meanwhile, Jin Yanzi had also brought back gold jewelry to the space thrice. Despite the large quantity of gold, she maintained it was still insufficient to build a house and would need to continue stealing.

It wasn’t until later that Chen Afu realized the forest Jin Yanzi talked about was deep in Honglin Mountain. The mountain was part of the Swallow Hill range, where human presence was scarce. However, given Jin Yanzi’s power, Chen Afu was not worried about her safety.

In a blink of an eye, it was already the 18th of June. With concerted efforts, the family had made 52 sewing baskets and eight sewing pouches.

Chen Afu proposed that the small, medium and large sewing baskets be priced at 70, 80 and 90 wen, respectively. Chen Ming and Mrs. Wang accepted the proposal as they deemed it fair and reasonable. Any family with a bit of spare money could afford it.

He also suggested that the sewing pouches be priced at ten taels of silver each. When it came to setting the actual price, he dared not give them the price tag of a top-tier luxury item.

Based on his estimate from past grain transactions, he valued ten taels of silver at around 6000 USD. In his previous life, he knew many middle-class individuals who had spent more than 6000 USD on a bag, as he himself had purchased two such bags.

In this era, most of the people lived in surplus. Aside from occasional wars along the border, the common people enjoyed peaceful lives. Wealthy families were known to spend thousands of taels of silver on a pot of rare orchids or top-tier embroidery pieces. Thus, it was anticipated that customers would be willing to buy a top-tier sewing pouch with a revolutionary disk button design for ten taels of silver.

Chen Ming was still a bit shocked, “It’s just a sewing pouch, it’s so expensive. Will people buy it?”

Chen Afu said, “Exquisite embroidery pieces can be sold for dozens, even thousands of taels. This sewing pouch is delicate, aesthetically pleasing and practical. The disk button is exceptionally elegant. Ten taels for it is not expensive. By this pricing, we are not just selling a sewing pouch, we’re selling the design of the disk button. If they are dextrous enough to understand the know-how of the disk button, they can use it to make their clothing more attractive in the future.”

Mrs. Wang was also somewhat hesitant, suggesting, “We are peddlers, not an embroidery house. Maybe we could sell it at this price at an embroidery house, but for us…why don’t we sell this pouch to the embroidery house?”

…………

Thank you to Ruxin for the scented sachet, and to Qianyi Yirenyan, Hera@Qianlin for the wallets. I appreciate it!