Chapter 30

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

After putting away the dossiers, Magistrate Hu and the deputy magistrate personally walked Chu Nanzhi out of the government office and watched her get into the carriage.

Chu Nanzhi got into the carriage and raised the curtain to look at them. They were smiling at her kindly. She could not help but curse inwardly.

“These two sly old foxes don’t have the ability to solve cases, but they’re good at scheming.”

She wondered where they had learned all these.

The carriage slowly drove along the streets of the county office. When they passed a clothes shop, Chu Nanzhi instructed the coachman to stop.

A few days ago, she had promised to buy new clothes for the family. But it had rained continually for a few days and she had not gone out.

Since she was passing by, she might as well take the opportunity to complete this task.

She glanced around after entering the shop. There were all kinds of clothes for men, women, the elderly and children. The styles were considered novel and fashionable for this era.

Moreover, there was a variety of goods. There were also shoes and jewelry.

However, the shopkeeper was a perceptive person. When he saw this shabbily dressed woman, he knew that she was not someone who was willing to spend money even if she was somewhat attractive.

He allowed her to walk around the shop, but he did not bother to walk over and entertain her.

“Boss, do you give discounts on the clothes in your shop?”

Chu Nanzhi asked as she felt the children’s clothes. The texture was pretty good.

Although she did not know the exact sizes of the children, this pink, girly piece would look good on Lin Ruijia.

The shopkeeper leaned lazily against the chair and yawned. “No.”

As expected, a poor person.

Chu Nanzhi was reluctant to give up. “How much is this dress?”

“Four taels of silver.”

“That’s too expensive.”

The boss glanced at her with disdain. “There are some cheaper ones over there. One tael of silver.”

He felt a little awkward as soon as the words were out of his mouth. This woman probably could not even afford one tael of silver.

“It’s still a little expensive.”

Just as he had expected, Chu Nanzhi gradually moved her hand away from her clothes.

Indeed, beautiful things were not cheap.

All the clothes and fabrics in this shop were a little luxurious. It was obvious that ordinary people could not afford them.

Just as she was about to leave hesitantly, she heard the shopkeeper say, “The cheaper clothes, jewelry, and shoes in the shop are all one tael of silver. However, if you buy more, there will be a discount.”

His tone were provocative.

Chu Nanzhi’s interest was piqued when she heard there was a discount.

The shopkeeper hurriedly explained, “No matter what the price of item is, as long as you can buy more than five items, I can give you a 20% discount. If you buy more than ten pieces, I’m willing to sell them to you at half price.”

Well, she was poor anyway, so it would not hurt to tease her.

However, Chu Nanzhi was elated when she heard this.

This was the wholesale method of her era. The more the merrier.

However, even if she bought five pieces at that price, it would still cost a lot of money.

Unless she could buy ten.

However, she felt that ten was too many.

Moreover, even if she bought the cheapest one at half price, she would still have to spend five taels of silver.

Five taels of silver was enough to support the family for nearly half a year.

The shopkeeper grew a little impatient when he saw that she hesitated for a long time without moving. “Hey, lady, if you can’t afford it, don’t interfere with my business. Why don’t you take a good look at yourself? This isn’t a place for a peasant like you.”

Who are you looking down on!

Chu Nanzhi was speechless.

At that moment, three young ladies dressed in luxurious clothes slowly walked in. They looked at the clothes and jewelry inside and commented among themselves,

“The clothes in this shop are quite nice.”

One of them glanced disdainfully at the fat boss sitting there. “But that shop owner is a man. I’m afraid he doesn’t understand our way of thinking.”

“That’s right. The shop that I went to previously had nice clothes, but the shop owner was a young man. He said that everything looked good on me. In the end, when I went to my friend’s poetry gathering, the others laughed at me and said that I looked like a bumpkin. I was furious.”

“I heard that there’s a good shop in East City. The lady in the shop knows how to style you. She even knows how to draw eyebrows and apply makeup. She also provides suggestions how to match your hairstyle to your outfit. She’s really meticulous and considerate.”

“Then let’s go over there and take a look.”

With that, they turned to leave.

The shopkeeper did not know what to do.

His esteemed guests refused to stay, but he could not be bothered to entertain his poor guests.

More than half of the day had passed, and although there was a constant stream of customers, he had not sold a single item.

Chu Nanzhi suddenly had an idea. She called out to the elegantly dressed ladies, “Wait a moment, ladies. I know a little about styling. I wonder if I can help you?”

They immediately turned around when they heard her voice. When they saw that it was a shabbily-dressed woman, they immediately lost interest and their gaze even grew suspicious.

“Look at your clothes. You’re probably not from a rich family. How can you understand the tastes of the women in our circle?”

Chu Nanzhi pursed her lips and smiled.

Actually, her clothes were dignified and elegant. Although they were not as gorgeous as the clothes of the rich young ladies, they were pretty good by village standards.

Since her words were not convincing, she pointed to lady on the left, who had a fair complexion and a lovely figure, and said:

“This young lady has fair skin and a good figure. But you shouldn’t wear such dark and bulky fabrics. Instead, you should wear more close-fitting material. Pastels or pinks will be good. As for your hairstyle, I think you can tie your bun a little higher. The Lingxu bun would suit you very well. It will highlight your figure and make you look charming and beautiful.”

First, she praised her, then pointed out the problem, and then gave a suggestion. The girl giggled when she heard that and beamed. She was immediately interested and walked over to Chu Nanzhi, saying kindly,

“Sister, are you willing to choose a few suitable outfits for me?”

Seeing that, the others also surrounded her and clamored for her help.

Chu Nanzhi calmly said with a warm smile, “No problem, no problem. I’m willing to serve you, but you have to give me half the money you save.”

“It’s just money. As long as you please us, the money we save will be yours.”

These was indeed the daughters of wealthy families. For a moment, Chu Nanzhi was nearly green with envy.

Transmigration and reincarnation were profound branches of knowledge.

But how did she end up in such an impoverished state?

She could not figure it out.

Although she was jealous, she would not miss this opportunity to earn money. She immediately started explaining to the girls in detail.

From clothes, shoes, colors, styles to how to draw eyebrows, what kind of jewelry to wear, the type of hairstyle to use, and even what kind of hairpin to put in the hair bun, she explained everything vividly and in a lively manner.

The rich ladies were very satisfied.

Following her suggestion, the three of them each bought four to five sets of clothes and a lot of jewelry. All they neglected to do was to add each other on WeChat or Qiuqiu.

They almost wanted to bring her back to their residences as a distinguished guest.

After the three of them left, Chu Nanzhi counted the money in her hand. Although she had been very busy, she had helped the shopkeeper earn nearly a hundred taels of silver.

After giving the shopkeeper his share, the remaining half was hers.

However, the shopkeeper was a little unhappy and looked gloomy. He had not expected this woman to be so capable.

Most of the items that those rich young ladies had bought were the most expensive items in the shop, like golden hair pins that cost dozens of taels of silver, and clothes and earrings that cost more than three or four taels of silver. She had gotten half of everything.

The shopkeeper’s heart was bleeding.

Fortunately, he had made some profit.

Chu Nanzhi’s explanation had also attracted many rich ladies, who gathered round to watching. They waited for the girls to leave, then two beautiful women came to pester her, waiting for her to give them some pointers.

Chu Nanzhi looked at the forty-odd taels of silver in her hand and thought that it was enough to buy a few sets of clothes. She did not want to earn more money from the shop, but she could not dissuade the persistent women, so she had no choice but to patiently start working as a salesperson again.

Although the two beautiful women were not as generous as the first group of young ladies, they were still willing to accept her suggestion splitting the discount. In the end, she earned another five taels of silver from them.

This went on and on. After four hours, Chu Nanzhi had earned sixty taels of silver.

Seeing that two rich, handsome young men were about to approach again, the shopkeeper immediately panicked and shouted at the people who were rushing into the shop:

“We’re closed today. We’re closed today. I’m not receiving anymore customers anymore.”