How I Survived in Transmigration with My Ghost Hubby

18. A Good Deal

Translator: Annsmiley

There were too many people in the outer hall, so the shopkeeper didn’t let Ji Ran show him the herbs there. Instead, he took Ji Ran to the backyard. After he saw the herbs, he was more than satisfied with them. He touched and looked at the herbs one by one, and he was smiling so happily that his beard curled up. Especially when he saw the Chinese knotweed, he held it in his hand and fondled it as if it weren’t a medicinal herb but a beautiful woman with fair skin, a beautiful waist and long legs.

However, the shopkeeper was not an honest man. When he opened his mouth, the price he offered was extremely low. Perhaps he thought that Ji Ran was young, and judging from his appearance, he could tell that Ji Ran was poor, so he thought that he couldn’t be very knowledgeable and that he got those medicinal herbs just because he got lucky. In this world, the poor could survive a whole year with just a few taels of silver, and they had never seen a lot of money, so when the shopkeeper offered to give Ji Ran 80 taels in exchange for his herbs, he thought it was a lot to Ji Ran. And he believed that Ji Ran would find the price he offered quite appealing.

“80 Taels?” Ji Ran was so angry that he snatched the Chinese knotweed back, “Shopkeeper, you’re not being sincere. Forget it. I’ve never been here.” F*ck, 80 taels for so many precious medicinal plants? What a shrewd businessman!

“Hey! Young man! Don’t go away. Businesss is all about bargaining. If you’re not satisfied with my offer, you can always put forward your counteroffer,” The shopkeeper quickly pulled Ji Ran back, afraid that he’d lose this great business opportunity.

Ji Ran smirked, “The price you’ve offered is far from what I expect. I’m afraid that we won’t reach an agreement.”

“Then, young man, name your price. How much do you think is suitable?” The shopkeeper tugged at Ji Ran’s clothes.

“800 Taels,” Ji Ran deliberately named a much higher price.

“Gosh!” The shopkeeper almost knelt on the ground. “That…That is too much…”

Ji Ran didn’t respond. He turned around and was ready to leave.

The shopkeeper got anxious and he hurriedly said, “300 taels. That is definitely a great offer for you…”

“750 Taels,” Ji Ran compromised.

“That…That’s still too much,” the shopkeeper raised his hand to wipe the sweat on his forehead. He was really afraid that Ji Ran would leave if he didn’t present a suitable offer. He didn’t dare to take any risks and he decided to be completely honest, “How about this? I’ll make one last offer. 500 taels. If you can accept it, we’ll come to an agreement.”

That was the number Ji Ran expected.

Ji Ran looked sullen and remained silent.

The shopkeeper had no choice. He clenched his teeth, “Alright, I, I’ll give you another 50 taels. And that’s all I can offer you! If, if you still are not satisfied with it, then you should go.” Although he was reluctant, he still loosened his grip on Ji Ran’s sleeve.

Ji Ran knew that that was the best deal he could ever get, so he grinned, “Okay, deal!”

Ji Ran was happy that the medicinal herbs were sold at such a good price. When the shop assistant saw him out, he secretly stuffed 50 taels in the assistant’s hands.

For the first time in his life, the shop assistant had got that much money, and his face turned red with excitement. He kept asking Ji Ran to come to him again the next time he wanted to sell medicinal herbs. Even when Ji Ran had gone far away, he was still craning his head and looking at his back. Only when Ji Ran was completely out of sight did he turn around and go back into the pharmacy.

Now that all the medicinal plants were sold, there were only some wild vegetables, fruits, and mushrooms.

Instead of setting up a stall, Ji Ran came to a restaurant. He found its back door, and went straight to the kitchen through the back door.

Usually, there were people in charge of purchasing food materials in restaurants, so when Ji Ran asked the staff, they knew right away who he was talking about. And to his surprise, the person who was responsible for purchasing was a woman. WIth her stern face and her fast walking, she was like a professional and capable office lady only that she lived in ancient times.

“We’ve got our own suppliers and the demand is huge. You’ve got only a little of our demand. That won’t do.” the woman said after knowing Ji Ran’s intention. She then looked at the basket which was only half full of wild vegetables and she shook her head and rejected, “Besides, you could always sell them at the bazaar…”

“Madam, please don’t refuse so quickly. Take a look at my wild mushrooms and vegetables. They are all very fresh. I know that I haven’t brought many fruit and vegetables with me, so you can pay me whatever you think is suitable. And next time we can cooperate when I have a large amount of them. What do you think?” Ji Ran used the modern agricultural marketing strategies here. At first, he also planned to sell them at the bazaar. However, inspired by how he sold the medicinal herbs, he came up with the idea of selling the vegetables directly to a restaurant.

“Well…”

Seeing that the woman still wanted to refuse, Ji Ran hurriedly said, “How about this? I’ll give the wild fruits and vegetables to you for free. And you’ll only need to pay for the mushrooms. What do you think?” Seeing that the woman looked hesitant, he quickly added, “Though they’re wild, when it comes to the taste, they’re no worse than those grown fruits and vegetables on the farm. They’re as delicious as the grown ones. The fruits are small but they are very sweet.”

Ji Ran was so persuasive that the woman found herself unable to refuse. “Sigh! Alright, but the amount is too small. I’ll take them for five pennies. Is that okay?”

‘She might as well say that she’ll take them for free…’ Ji Ran thought to himself.

“Okay!” Ji Ran responded happily, not revealing what he was truly thinking, “There are still many mushrooms in my land. Madam, if you think they taste good, next time when I come, we’ll cooperate again?”

“No problem!” Seeing that Ji Ran was straightforward, the woman smiled  as well. She asked a man to take the basket into the kitchen and poured everything out. Then she returned the empty basket to Ji Ran, she said, “Here is the money.” After Ji Ran put the empty basket on his back, the woman handed the money to Ji Ran.

Ji Ran quickly took the money and thanked the woman repeatedly.

After leaving the restaurant, Ji Ran was in a great mood. It felt so good to become rich after being poor. And it was much easier for him to start a business in ancient times than in modern times.

“You look very happy,” Lu Zhen couldn’t help but smile when he saw that Ji Ran was in a good mood.

“I’m finally not poor any more. Of course, I’m happy,” Ji Ran turned his head to look at Lu Zhen. The more he looked at him, the more he felt that he had got a great help. And most importantly, he was tall and handsome. He was a ghost, and so what? They could still live a good life together.

“Actually, had you sold them at the bazaar, you would’ve gotten more than five pennies,” Lu Zhen thought for a moment.

“It’s alright. Although I sold them cheaply, it didn’t take me that much time. Besides, I get to know a purchaser of a restaurant. If we have mushrooms in the future, we can take and sell them there directly,” Ji Ran was not so worried about selling the mushrooms at such a cheap price.

“They’re wild fruit and vegetables after all, so it’s unlikely that we’ll get a large amount of them. If we sold them for just a few more pennies but spent lots of time, it won’t be worth it. Besides, we’ve earned so much by selling the herbs. With the money, we can do so many things.” But Lu Zhen disagreed, “It won’t cost too much to buy a shop in town.”

“I know what you mean, but now is not the time,” Ji Ran had his own plans in this regard.

Lu Zhen saw that Ji Ran didn’t have the intention to open his own shop, so he didn’t continue this topic. Anyways to him, whatever Ji Ran did, as long as Ji Ran was happy, he was okay with it.

The two went to buy the kitchenware and the basket was full again of cooking utensils such as pots and bowls as well as daily necessities such as oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, rice, flour, and noodles. Although they got some oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar from the villagers yesterday, they did not get much, and the seasonings they exchanged from the villagers would be all used up within a few days.

Now that they’d bought everything that they needed, Ji Ran planned to go back. Anyway, he had packed the chicken from yesterday before he went out this morning, and he could eat it when he was hungry. However, when they passed by a clothing store, Lu Zhen stopped him.

“Go buy some clothes. Your clothes are either ill-fitting or old,” Lu Zhen pointed in the direction of the clothing store.

Now that Lu Zhen mentioned it, Ji Ran also noticed it. He looked down at his clothes which were patched and old, and he thought of the times when he was looked down on by others. He felt that it was true what they said – fine feathers made fine birds. So without hesitation, he nodded and followed Lu Zhen into the clothing store.

However, the two had just reached the entrance of the clothing store when they met a pain in the ass.

Ji Xiaohu, the son of Ji Ran’s uncle’s, was a man who idled about and who liked stealing. Not to mention how he bullied the original owner of Ji Ran’s body, even when Ji Ran transmigrated here and was sick in bed, he bullied Ji Ran all the time. Back then, Ji Ran was too sick, and he had no strength to fight back. But now…