After purchasing firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea, two sets of kitchen glass seasoning jars and oil cans, small snacks, some daily necessities and outdoor supplies, several exquisite wooden boxes, some toilet paper and pepper spray, as well as a Thai-made mosquito-repellent candle in a glass bottle, Lin Wanwan hurried back to the apartment she had rented a few days ago.
An area of twenty-five square meters, one bedroom, one living room, and one bathroom, without a kitchen, but for her, it was already an excellent place to settle down.
Lin Wanwan first packed her toiletries into a travel bag, then unwrapped all the packages, putting items like oil, salt, and seasonings into glass jars, and squeezed toothpaste into a newly bought exquisite ceramic box.
The face wash was not something she wanted to expose, so she directly took out a brand-new HACCI honey cleansing soap from the drawer and placed it in a ceramic box as well.
Finally, she packed all these little toiletries into her pure white canvas bag and wrapped the larger items in a new large tablecloth.
After preparing all of this, Lin Wanwan sat on the sofa, clicked open a shopping website, browsed ancient costumes, and placed several orders. Then she found the baby and children's online store, bought some toddler supplies, and turned to the Pinduoduo website, where she ordered some crop seeds.
After all these busy tasks were done, Lin Wanwan quickly went into the bathroom, took a shower, and while drying her hair, she washed and dried the ancient costume she had worn earlier.
An hour later, Lin Wanwan looked at her phone, placed it on the small tea table, grabbed her canvas bag, and held onto the jade bracelet on her left wrist, mentally reciting the wooden door.
A cold sensation swept across, and Lin Wanwan opened her eyes. Sure enough, in front of the tea table, a green light wooden door appeared out of thin air. This indicated that the Space-Time Gate was indeed related to the jade bracelet on her hand.
She hid the canvas bag under the bedding, glanced at the little one sleeping soundly, picked up the cloth bag filled with pepper, and put one guan of money inside, opening the room door to go downstairs.
She found Lin Mengli and asked him to arrange for someone to look after the little one. Then she got on the inn's ox cart, particularly requesting Lin Mengli to accompany her.
Lin Wanwan said spiritedly, "Mengli, take me to the largest workshop in town and select the most fair and honest store."
Lin Mengli, sitting in the driver's seat of the cart, heard this and laughed, replying, "Alright, Wanmei, sit tight!"
Wanghai Town isn't big, and the workshop is even smaller, but the Treasure House Lin Mengli chose was quite spacious. It had an outer three and inner five layout, with the top three floors being VIP reception rooms and the bottom two floors open to the public.
Before arriving at the Treasure House, Lin Wanwan also stopped by a fabric store en route to buy a must-have veil for noble women during outings in the Tang Dynasty. Traveling by ox cart all the way, she garnered a lot of attention; it was a bit too high-profile, but the veil helped a lot.
Upon arriving at the Treasure House, Lin Wanwan instructed Lin Mengli to wait for her at the "parking lot" outside while she entered the store with the cloth bag.
Although the hall inside the Treasure House was quite large, compared to modern department stores, it couldn't hold a candle. Lin Wanwan, who was accustomed to the sights of the future, was naturally unfazed by the grand counters made from precious woods filling the entire space.
Her demeanor even managed to impress the maid in green who came to greet her; she hadn't asked what Lin Wanwan wanted to buy and was already leading her upstairs.
"Please, guest, upstairs. Our imported high-quality products are all upstairs and will surely leave you satisfied."
Through the veil, Lin Wanwan replied lightly, "Oh? That's just perfect. I like celadon. Take me to see some fine celadon."
Upon hearing this, the maid in green was slightly disappointed. Although exquisite celadon is also valuable, the profit margin isn't as high as that of women's head ornaments and such. Seeing Lin Wanwan's poise, she had assumed she was here to buy clothing and accessories.
Once Lin Wanwan had been led to the third-floor VIP room and presented with the Great Tang special savory oil tea, she showed no interest in this tea mixed with oil, salt, and spices.
The maid in green clapped lightly, and six maids walked in gracefully with trays in hand, lining up in front of Lin Wanwan to display the exquisite celadon.
After the maid in green introduced each piece, she concluded, "Honored guest, these are all produced by famous kilns in Yuezhou, from the same batch as those offered to the court."
Lin Wanwan nodded casually, stepping forward to examine each piece carefully.
Before coming, she had already looked up information online in 2022, knowing that among the ceramics of the early Tang Dynasty, Yuezhou celadon was the best. And among celadon, the most famous and skilled was the secret-color porcelain fired in the late Tang, later designated for Imperial Family use during the Five Dynasties.
But now, it was the third year of Zhenguan; the skill for secret-color porcelain hadn't emerged yet. A pity, as secret-color porcelain would have been even more valuable.
According to information, the existence of Tang Dynasty celadon was quite ample, so it wasn't priced in the millions as Lin Wanwan had previously thought.
Compared to bowls and dishes, celadon items like vases and tea sets held more value, so Lin Wanwan naturally aimed at buying the most valuable in the modern era. The most expensive Yuezhou porcelain auctioned for 3.105 million yuan, but that was secret-color porcelain, not ordinary celadon.
Lin Wanwan wanted to gather enough to buy her grandparents' villa for 5.6 million, so she had to buy several items, winning by volume.
After viewing them, Lin Wanwan sat back in the main seat, saying calmly, "What are the values of these four ewers and this pair of long-neck entwined peony pattern vases?"
Hearing this, the maid in green was delighted. Was she planning to buy them all? She immediately said, "Honored guest, these four ewers, apart from this one being three guan and six hundred wen, the others are two guan and three hundred wen, and this pair of long-neck entwined peony pattern vases is six guan and eight hundred wen in total."
Lin Wanwan silently recalled the information on Tang Dynasty prices she had previously found online. She hadn't found porcelain prices but knew that high-grade silk textiles like purple finished silk, which only aristocrats could afford, cost about 2600 wen per bolt. This fabric could be used as the official attire material for officials of Third Rank and above.
By analogy, these celadon items were not cheap in the Tang Dynasty either.
However, fortunately, she was trading them for pepper! With black pepper costing twenty-six yuan per pound, she wouldn't feel any heartache no matter how she traded it!
Thinking of this, Lin Wanwan leisurely took out an exquisite wooden box from the cloth bag. She deeply understood the saying "clothes make the man, and gold embellishes the Buddha." Although the black pepper cost twenty-six yuan per pound, the wooden box cost over two hundred yuan.
The wooden box was a product of modern mechanization, with carvings lacking the soul of handcrafted work but having a good polish and unique style, truly a crystallization of wisdom spanning a thousand years.
Its presentation immediately astonished the knowledgeable maid in green from the Treasure House.
Lin Wanwan gestured for her to take a closer look, and the maid in green immediately stepped forward and opened the wooden box, revealing plump black peppercorns inside!
My goodness! How much black gold must this be!
The maid in green gasped, trembling with excitement as she held the box, moving to the window with the most abundant sunlight, examining it repeatedly.