Whoosh—
Seven parcels fell in succession onto the muddy ground, landing with a thud.
Qi Huan first opened the parcel closest to her, the familiar blue long box packaging. Sure enough, it contained a blue memory foam spring mattress.
"Wow! I just bought this mattress in my previous life before I passed away, but I didn't even get to sleep on it for a few nights before coming here. I didn't expect to reunite with it in this other world."
She instantly felt a surge of strength throughout her body. Grasping one corner of the mattress with both hands, she pulled it out of the box.
After gently cutting open the plastic packaging, the mattress began to slowly expand.
Once she laid it on the bed, Qi Huan realized it didn't quite match the bed's width.
However, it wasn't a big issue. Although the mattress was narrower than the bed, its one-meter width was still enough for her to roll around on.
After properly laying the sheets and blankets, Qi Huan couldn't help but want to lie on the bed and experience it right away.
A glance at the remaining unopened parcels on the ground pulled her back from that thought.
Opening the second parcel revealed a rather common set of Nordic-style dinnerware, with golden edges and a blue and white color scheme, adorned with various linear patterns. From bowls, chopsticks, and plates to soup tureens and noodle bowls, it was a complete set.
The merchant had even included an apron, skimmers, and other tools as a gift.
After taking inventory, Qi Huan temporarily stored them in her spatial pouch. She then opened the next parcel, which contained shampoo and body wash.
Her eyes lit up, thinking: Finally, I can bid farewell to wood ash!
In Mo County, only wealthy families could afford to use soap nuts and soap berries. These were not locally available and had to be transported by merchant caravans from other regions, making them rather expensive and unaffordable for ordinary people, who instead used rice water to wash their hair and bodies.
Even poorer people, who couldn't afford rice, lacked even rice water and had to use wood ash from the stove to clean themselves.
Qi Huan opened the shampoo and body wash bottles, and the rich scent of the lotions wafted out, a fragrance of bliss.
After savoring the moment, she began opening the fourth parcel, taking out the cans inside, which were labeled: Infant Formula.
The fifth parcel contained a toy handgun and several packs of accompanying bullets.
Qi Huan chuckled, playing with the toy gun, reminiscing about her childhood days at the orphanage when she and her friends often played cops and robbers.
She opened a pack of bullets and loaded them one by one into the magazine. Taking a casual aim, she pulled the trigger, and with a bang, she had actually put a small dent in the mud wall.
Not daring to misbehave further, Qi Huan quickly stored them in her spatial pouch and began opening the sixth parcel.
It was a crate of sauces, ranging from sweet soy sauce and Lao Gan Ma to hotpot bases and mala xiang guo sauce, covering all bases.
The last parcel was a huge box. Upon opening it, she found a crate of grains and vegetables.
Taking out a bag of flour, she noticed a cleaned oil bottle filled with rice, and inside it were also salted duck eggs wrapped in cling film.
Apart from these, there was also a bundle of vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, eggplants, bitter melons, chili peppers, and more, most of them being summer crops.
Finally, at the bottom of the crate, Qi Huan saw a note, which read in a scrawled handwriting: "Little one, eat well."
For some reason, her eyes became misty, as tears involuntarily welled up.
This was probably a crate of heartfelt provisions sent by parents to their child studying or working away from home. It was unknown whether it had been on the delivery van she was in when she met her demise.
The system had mentioned that all the parcels she had delivered in her previous life were recorded in its database. She had made many deliveries, but unfortunately, this was the one she didn't manage to deliver safely.
Although insurance would compensate the consumers, if this crate had indeed been on the ill-fated delivery van she was in, Qi Huan felt no amount of money could make up for the love and longing a parent has for their child.
In both her past and present lives, she had been lacking in parental affection. In her previous life, she was abandoned, and in this life, both her parents had already passed away by the time she transmigrated here, so she greatly envied this kind of familial love.
Even as she lay in her comfortable bed, Qi Huan pondered why she couldn't encounter such a warm and caring set of parents.
In her previous life, she had heard the orphanage director mention that the police had found her relatives.
Her biological father was a married man who had deceived her mother and didn't want to take responsibility. Her mother had abandoned her and then committed suicide. Her father, facing strong opposition from his wife, was also unwilling to raise her and was eventually prosecuted for abandonment.
The love and hate between her parents in her previous life made her somewhat fearful of love, which was why she had remained single for over twenty years.
Now, in this ancient era where having multiple wives and concubines was the norm, Qi Huan felt even more averse to romance.
Lost in her thoughts, she soon fell into a deep sleep.
When she woke up again, daylight had already filled the sky.
After finishing her breakfast, Qi Huan suddenly remembered that the previous day was when she was supposed to deliver the spicy pickled cabbage to Shopkeeper Chen. However, after returning from the Lu Mansion, she had been so preoccupied with unpacking the parcels that she had completely forgotten!
She hurriedly took out the jar of pickled cabbage that she had prepared earlier from her spatial pouch and rushed towards the Ruyi Restaurant.
Upon arriving at the restaurant's kitchen, Shopkeeper Chen noticed her and gave her a stern look before starting to discuss compensation. "Little Qi, we had an agreement that you must deliver the goods on time. Otherwise, there's double compensation. One jar of pickled cabbage was supposed to cost you one hundred wen, but according to our deal, you now owe me two hundred wen."
In truth, a mere two hundred wen was a trivial sum for Shopkeeper Chen. However, he had always been a stickler for every last penny.
"My apologies, I indeed forgot the time. I have no objection to paying the two hundred wen compensation."
Upholding the spirit of the contract, Qi Huan took out two hundred wen and handed it over.
However, Shopkeeper Chen further took advantage of the situation, grinning maliciously after receiving the money. "Good girl, Qi. But that's just for breaching the contract. My losses haven't been accounted for yet. Yesterday, in preparation for making dishes with the pickled cabbage, I had my staff chop up a lot of ingredients early in the morning. But since we didn't have the pickled cabbage, we couldn't make those dishes, and all those ingredients went to waste. You'll have to compensate me for those wasted ingredients too, won't you?"
Regarding compensation beyond the agreed-upon terms, Qi Huan had no intention of being taken advantage of.
She coldly replied, "That's not within the scope of our agreement, so I must decline. Besides, you can still use those ingredients to make other dishes, can't you?"
Rejected, Shopkeeper Chen became displeased and threatened, "If you don't follow my rules, I'm afraid I won't be able to accept your pickled cabbage anymore."
"That suits me just fine."
Qi Huan's stance was equally firm. She had long realized that Shopkeeper Chen was not suitable for long-term business dealings. Now that she had the hundred taels of reward silver from Madam Lu, she planned to start her own small business.
Carrying the jar of pickled cabbage, she headed towards the back door.
Seeing her truly turn and leave, Shopkeeper Chen felt humiliated and became furious.
Recalling the profits the pickled cabbage had brought him, Shopkeeper Chen had to swallow his pride. Putting on a forced smile, he hurried after her.
"Little Qi, this uncle was just joking with you. Don't take it seriously. Come back, we'll stick to our original agreement for this jar of pickled cabbage."
However, Qi Huan had already made up her mind. She firmly refused, "No, Uncle Chen. I don't plan to make pickled cabbage anymore. Let's part ways here."
Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Chen became enraged by the humiliation. Noticing a young beggar picking up leftover food scraps by the wall, he vented his anger by kicking the child. "You blind, stinking brat, who gave you the gall to cause trouble here? Get lost, now!"
The young beggar, despite being struck, remained hunched over, using reddened fingers to scoop the leftover food into a bowl.
Infuriated by being ignored, Shopkeeper Chen's anger burned even hotter as he stepped on the child's fingers, grinding them forcefully under his foot.
