"Eight hundred wen!"
"This woman is truly a marvel; she would surely bring prosperity to any household!"
"I bid one tael of silver!"
"Officer, look over here, please!"
"I... I bid two taels of silver!"
"Two taels! Has Master Wang gone mad?"
"That's enough to buy four dan of grain!"
Da Chu, Shiguan Town.
Shi Yi stood pressed amidst the crowd, his head throbbing. It took him a long while to realize that he had transmigrated from the modern world into this unknown dynasty. He, too, was called Shi Yi.
"Shi Yi, are you eyeing that woman, too?"
A man with a mole near his mouth interrupted his thoughts with a tone of contempt. "I saw you drooling just now, but that single jin of grain in your hand doesn't seem like much against these wealthy masters."
Shi Yi turned to look at him. The man had prominent cheekbones and "three-white" eyes—a face that looked inherently cold and begging for a beating. Memories from the original host surfaced: Liu Zhigao, a former servant from the days when the host’s family was still prominent. After the host's father died, this man had bullied him relentlessly.
The flood of memories only made Shi Yi angrier. He had transmigrated into the body of a complete pushover.
He replied coldly, "Yes, so what?"
Liu Zhigao was stunned. The Shi Yi of the past would never have dared to speak to him like that. He felt a bit unsettled, but he quickly sneered, "Do you even have that kind of money? Take my advice and stop daydreaming. You aren't the young master of our stronghold anymore. Wake up."
Shi Yi turned back to the front.
*Cough, cough, cough!*
He was instantly seized by a fit of coughing, unable to straighten up, after seeing a hulking woman ahead—a real "tiger of a woman"—who was lifting a millstone while roaring at the crowd. The wealthy masters nearby were arguing over her until their faces were purple.
Memories flooded his mind again. Da Chu had been suffering through a two-year drought, and life was arduous for everyone. Even the yamen runners were struggling, and poverty made them bold. They would sell off these prisoners along the route of exile. If their superiors asked, they would simply forge a list claiming the prisoners had starved to death due to food shortages; in these times of famine, nobody cared about such deaths.
The prisoners themselves hoped to be sold. If they weren't, they would be handed over to the Xiguan Army in Shiguan Town. Their fate would then be to serve as cannon fodder on the front lines or to be forced into back-breaking labor building city walls. With food in the military scarce, a prisoner would be lucky to survive two months of starvation and exhaustion. Thus, the prisoners were doing everything in their power to please potential buyers.
Shi Yi felt his scalp tingle looking at that two-hundred-pound frame. The worst part was that his host had actually been drooling over her, even fantasizing about her bearing him sons. He felt a shiver down his spine. He didn't have a single copper coin to his name, only a jin of rice he’d just traded for with Zhou Bapi at the town grain store.
He couldn't help but mock the original host: *What was this guy thinking? He's poor as a church mouse and still dreams of taking a wife? No wonder the people in the stronghold called him a man with the ambitions of a god but the life of a piece of tissue.*
However, as he was about to leave, his gaze drifted to a disheveled woman. He was instantly transfixed.
Though she looked haggard and covered in grime, cold, pale skin was faintly visible beneath the dirt. Her brows and eyes were like a painting, her gaze icy and detached. She was like frost and snow in the deep of winter that would never melt. Despite being a prisoner, she stood as solitary and upright as a pine tree, cold and untouchable.
In his previous world, she would have been the ultimate dream of every man. But here, the hardships of exile, her frail frame, and the layers of filth had caused everyone to ignore her. She was a brilliant pearl covered in dust.
He couldn't resist asking, "Liu Zhigao, do you think this jin of grain I have could buy that beautiful woman?"
"Which one?"
Liu Zhigao followed Shi Yi’s gaze.
*Pfft! Hahaha!*
He burst into a roar of laughter, one hand on Shi Yi’s shoulder, the other clutching his stomach, laughing so hard it was exaggerated.
Shi Yi looked serious. "Is it that funny? Isn't she beautiful? I'm being serious."
Liu Zhigao was practically rolling on the ground, tears streaming down his face. Others nearby were drawn by the commotion and joined in.
"Young man, you call that woman beautiful?"
"Listen, a jin of grain isn't much, but in these times of drought, people are starving everywhere. Keep it for yourself to cook porridge; it might keep you alive for a few days."
"Exactly, buying a woman this frail will only be a burden."
"Get lost, all of you! Stop talking nonsense!" Liu Zhigao shouted, finally catching his breath, fearing that Shi Yi might be discouraged. He chased the crowd away, though they lingered, wanting to warn Shi Yi one more time not to be a fool—she looked like a sickly, dying thing, and they shouldn't spend money on a woman who would likely need expensive medicine.
Once they were gone, Liu Zhigao urged him, "Brother Shi, take my word for it. Buy the other one! She’ll definitely give you a big, healthy son!"
Shi Yi felt a surge of excitement. "You mean this jin of grain can really trade for that beauty?"
Liu Zhigao held back a laugh until he was nearly bursting. "Exactly, Brother Shi! Go for it before someone else grabs her!" *What a simpleton,* he thought, *this guy is so stupid. I’ll be able to play him for a fool for the rest of my life.*
Shi Yi's heart hammered. A single jin of grain to bring home such an incredible woman? If the old bachelors of his past life, struggling with sky-high bride prices, knew this, they’d hit their heads against a wall in envy!
Fearing someone would beat him to it, he suppressed his excitement and walked over. "Officer, I have no copper coins, but could I trade this jin of grain for that woman?"
The area fell silent. Everyone stared at him in utter disbelief, wondering where this idiot had come from. Why buy a dying woman? Was his home overflowing with grain?
The woman looked at Shi Yi with a hint of confusion. Throughout her exile, no one had ever looked her in the eye; everyone treated her like an omen of misfortune.