The Traveling Merchant Lady: Sugar, Salt, Tea, Cloth, and Sundries

When Jiang Wan opened her eyes again, it was the third day after her "husband" had been seized by conscription. A sick father-in-law, a blind mother-in-law, a timid sister-in-law, plus a crushing debt of thirty taels of silver. The creditor came to the door demanding repayment, threatening to take the shop—and her life—in half a month. In this desperate situation, she shouldered a basket and became a traveling peddler among the villages... A dead end? Not necessarily. Since she was here, she might as well overturn this whole rotten mess! Buy brown sugar and red dates, trade for eggs and dried mushrooms; Use cheap leaf lard to render crispy, fragrant cracklings... Nothing that could b...