Ch 17: My Multiverse Supermarket

Qiao Sinang’s first trade journey did not go smoothly.

When her group reached the official road and began heading north along the Yangshan Pass ancient route toward Guiyang Jian, they encountered a band of refugees also fleeing south.

These refugees had come from Hengzhou.

The state of Chu was tearing itself apart—princes fighting princes, generals carving out their own territories. Chaos reigned.

To the north in Langzhou was the Wuping Army; to the west, the chieftain Xu Shiyu and his allies had crowned the King of Wugang; to the east in Hengzhou, the former King of Chu, Zhao E, had submitted to the neighboring Jing Kingdom.

And as for who claimed legitimacy—it was, of course, Zhao Song, the current King of Chu, who had seized the throne in a coup the previous year.

When the Jing Kingdom sent troops under Zhao E’s banner to attack Chu, the region was thrown into turmoil.

Hengzhou was not far from Guiyang Jian. If the fighting spread, it could easily reach their destination.

Qiao Sinang was deeply anxious.

But with the arrow already drawn, there was no turning back. She had to sell her goods quickly before the situation worsened.

Aside from the threat of war, she also had to deal with the hungry, covetous eyes of the refugees around them.

Remembering Zhao Changyan’s advice, when some refugees first tried to snatch her goods, Qiao Sinang struck without hesitation.

She was injured, but the attacker fared worse—his hand was slashed by her sickle, blood gushing uncontrollably.

Though he managed to stop the bleeding later, fever set in, and he grew weak.

The act not only rallied her companions but also terrified the other refugees.

The wounded man’s family accused Qiao Sinang of cruelty.

Qiao Sinang said, “I am also from Chu. I fled my homeland just like you. Everything you’ve suffered, I’ve suffered too.”

“Then why fight back?” they shouted. If she hadn’t resisted, their son wouldn’t be hurt.

They thought she should have shown sympathy—since she too had known hardship.

Qiao Sinang laughed coldly. “Why shouldn’t I fight back? You want to live, and I should just wait to die? You all can ignore your own starving neighbors, yet I, a stranger, must let you rob me?”

One of them argued, “You have so much—sharing a little won’t kill you.”

Qiao Sinang sneered. “You have two hands and two feet. If I break one or two, you won’t die either, right?”

Qiao Erlang said quietly, “Sinang, there’s no point arguing with them.”

Qiao Sinang huffed. “I pitied you at first because you reminded me of my past. I even planned to sell to you cheap. I didn’t expect you to be this greedy.”

Qiao Erlang backed her up. “Our rice is eighty coins a dou. It’ll sell easily. Better to trade with the locals of Guiyang Jian!”

The refugees from Hengzhou were skeptical.

“Eighty coins? For a whole dou of rice!?”
“Did you mean one sheng instead of a dou?”

Qiao Sinang said, “Can’t you tell the difference between a dou and a sheng? I said a dou, and I mean a full-sized dou!”

A woman suddenly pushed forward, but Qiao Sinang’s companions, fearing another robbery attempt, blocked her.

“I’ll buy a dou,” the woman said, pulling a small pouch from her clothing and taking out eight large coins.

The large coins were made of iron and lead—each worth ten copper coins in local trade.

Qiao Sinang said, “I don’t take large coins.”

Whether lead or copper, Zhou Li’s system only valued them at two or three yuan each. Taking large coins would mean losing money.

The woman froze. “But these large coins were minted by Guiyang Jian! Why won’t you take them?”

The others began to murmur.

Large coins had been worth ten copper coins for years—everyone used them that way. Why was Qiao Sinang refusing?

Qiao Sinang said, “I can take them—if one large coin only counts as one copper coin.”

Realizing their wealth had just been devalued tenfold, the refugees protested loudly.

But that didn’t matter. Qiao Sinang didn’t indulge complaints.

When the crowd tried another tactic, sending women and elderly forward to beg, she remained unmoved. The slight hesitation on her face was just an act.

Pretending to relent, she said, “I told you, I don’t take large coins. But if you pay in copper, I’ll give you a discount—seventy coins a dou.”

Outside, seventy large coins couldn’t even buy one dou, but seventy copper coins could buy one here.

The refugees hesitated. They didn’t have much copper left, so they bargained further.

Finally, they settled on fifty-five copper coins per dou.

Qiao Sinang sold nearly half her rice that way.

It looked like a huge profit, but not nearly as much as it seemed.

She’d realized the divine lady’s “jin” was only about 13.4 liang—roughly 0.84 of a standard jin.

She had bought 200 five-kilogram sacks of rice at 2.8 yuan per jin, totaling 5,600 yuan for 1,680 jin of rice.

That meant 3.33 yuan per jin—or 33.3 yuan per dou (ten jin).

Since the exchange rate for copper coins had dropped to 2.5 yuan each, fifty-five copper coins equaled 137.5 yuan.

After accounting for purchase cost, labor, and time, she only earned a few yuan per jin—and that still had to be split among Dou Niang, Yin Jiao, and others.

Aside from rice, soy sauce became another hot seller.

Qiao Sinang traded some rice for wild vegetables, then cooked them, poured soy sauce on top, and ate right in front of the refugees.

They, lacking salt for weeks, salivated at the sight.

A single bottle of soy sauce cost thirty coins, yet they gritted their teeth and bought it.

Buckets and iron pots were also in high demand.

“What’s this bucket made of? It’s so light and thin!”
“This pot’s made of iron? Why’s it shaped like a turtle shell?”
“Are you selling these strange little carts too?”

Qiao Sinang’s business was booming. Gradually, she let her guard down.

Until danger came.

That morning, she told her people, “Once we finish breakfast, we’ll move on.”

The refugees had bought all they could. Staying longer would bring no more profit—better to head for Guiyang Jian.

But as they neared the border, a sudden clatter of hooves echoed ahead.

A sense of dread rose in Qiao Sinang’s chest. She shouted for everyone to drop the goods and run into the forest.

After so many months of chaos, they had all grown sensitive to the sound of horses and obeyed instantly.

Only two men, unwilling to abandon the goods, tried to carry some as they fled—and slowed themselves down.

Moments later, a band of marauders arrived where they’d dropped the cargo.

Some wore battered armor, riding scrawny horses. Others—twenty or more strong—charged in on foot, carrying axes and blades.

Seeing the scattered goods, they didn’t even pause for breath before diving in to snatch what they could.

Their leader surveyed the area, noted the footprints heading into the woods, and ordered, “Search the forest!”

Soon, the two men who’d lingered behind were caught.

Qiao Erlang and the others were discovered one by one.

“There was a woman with them,” the bandit leader said. “Where is she?”

“Haven’t found her yet,” one of his men replied.

A captured Chu refugee—already beaten—quickly betrayed Qiao Erlang. “That woman’s Qiao Sinang—his sister.”

The bandit leader dragged Qiao Erlang forward and looked him up and down. “Where’s your sister hiding?”

“I—I don’t know,” Qiao Erlang stammered, legs trembling.

“Beat him!”

“I really don’t know!” he cried.

The whip cracked across his back, the pain nearly making him faint.

Then someone shouted, “General, we’re just commoners! We left home only to survive—we’ve done nothing wrong!”

The bandit leader said, “Maybe not. But where did all this come from, then?”

The prisoners went silent. Now they understood—these bandits wanted their goods.

Qiao Erlang realized it too.

These bandits had been led here by the refugees from Hengzhou.

The ones who’d sought out Qiao Sinang were clearly acting in revenge—the man she’d wounded must have told the bandits about her.

To the bandit leader’s surprise, even the refugees who’d quickly betrayed Qiao Erlang refused to say where the goods had come from.

That only piqued his curiosity further.

“Fine,” he said coldly. “Then beat them until they talk.”

☢️☢️☢️