When she finished breakfast, it was about three in the morning.

Four in the morning is the start of a working day, while sunset is time to get inside the blanket. She surmised the people in the city would share the same habit as those from her world.

 

<Taking into account the time of travel, I should rest for a bit then get ready to go.>

 

After one full day of eating, recovering, and practising, she had regained some strength. 

Gauging the current power of the new body, she had a few thoughts. <I am unsure how old this girl is. My guess is around eight. Could be nine if she has been malnourished for a long time. Anyway, she is shorter than I was when I was eight. If I use my eight-year-old self as the base for comparison, this body barely holds a fifth of my strength.>

 

For that reason, she had prepared only two stacks of wood. Their volume was only one third of what she used to carry during her wood-selling trips in the former life.

 

Since the door wasn’t capable of being locked from the outside, she opted to take whatever seems precious with her. It was no trouble since only a jade piece inside the wardrobe was of any value.

This jade was placed on top of an old letter. Apparently, it was a promised jade. The previous owner of this body was supposed to marry a young master in Moon City (Yuecheng). Till the mentioned age in the letter, there were many years left so she decided the issue could wait.

 

Inside the city, she chose the small streets and begun the advertisement. “Firewood! Anyone, firewood?”

 

Neat stacks of wood usually fetched a better price and were more appealing to rich households. Unfortunately, her stuffs were just branches she broke or collected yesterday.

 

It was still early in the morning. Most people should be preparing for the day in their house, so the walkway was all her.

 

By the second street, her first stack had already gone. A house opened their door. A pompous middle-age lady demanded her both stacks for ten coins which she promptly refused.

 

She told the lady she could only sell one because the second one was for another house that had asked her to deliver beforehand.

That was a lie, of course. She prepared two stacks because she didn’t know the money and the pricing of this world. She would need to sell the same amount in two different places to know good deals from bad deals.

 

The lady had no issue pestering the girl to get her to sell all her stuffs with her high-and-mighty attitude.

 

<Is she some professional haggler on the market or something?>

 

Regardless, she didn’t budge.

 

Failing to change her mind, the lady annoyedly settled with four coins for one of the stacks. She made an excuse for her price but the wood-selling girl paid no mind to remember. She was in no mood to deal with this kind of pretentious behaviors. This type of people tried their best to rectify their behaviours as if that made them more virtuous even when no one was there for them to show off.

 

She checked the coins. 

They were dirty. Two were bent. One even had a crack. 

<For a house as decorated as hers, I expected better.>

 

The second stack was brought to a different neighborhood.

 

The nice auntie there paid eleven coins. Apparently, she knew the former owner of the body. At least one or two coins from the eleven must have been given out of sympathy. 

 

More important than the coins, thanks to her, the name of her current body was revealed; Yun (cloud) An (peaceful, tranquillity). These words combined with the family name written in the letter made her full name to be Dong Yun An.

A quick moment of thinking later, she came to a conclusion. <Considering my personality and history, I think I would have to choose a more fitting name. This name is too peaceful for my taste. More importantly, Dong Yun An no longer exists.>

 

Moving to the main street, a bun cart caught her eyes.

 

Looking at her poor appearance, the cart owner mistook her for a beggar. “I am trying to sell here. Get lost.”

 

“Uncle. How much is a mantou (similar to bun but has no fillings)?”

 

Somewhat surprised by her words, he answered. “One big coin.”

 

<How much is a big coin? Anyway, I can always try.>

 

“I have fifteen coins”. Her palms opened.

 

He was visibly annoyed with the money. “You damn kid! I sell whole mantou, not half mantou.” He raised his hand, threatened. “Get lost!”

 

Yun An dashed from the scene without looking back.

 

It was typical for the sellers to be pissed if you make a hard bargain in the early of the day. They considered it bad omen since a bad start is synonymous to a bad day.

 

<It was a bit inconsiderate of me but I had to. It provided me with good information. Apparently, thirty coins make a big coin. To think that four stacks of wood amounted to a single mantou…

Loitering around the city won’t do any good. I have to prepare for the next day.>