Chapter 15: Preparing for Winter

By the time Gu Tang traveled through time, the weather had already turned cold, and she had been secretly preparing supplies for the winter.

For instance, this fur blanket.

When she went gathering herbs in the mountains, she would also set traps to catch rabbits, then trade the rabbits for fur.

She had exchanged twenty rabbits for this single rabbit-skin blanket; calculating it, she had taken a bit of a loss.

Rabbit meat was also quite expensive.

But there was no other way; she didn't know how to tan hides, and neither did her father. To get tanned fur, one could either go to Bei'an City to find fur merchants—who possessed skilled craftsmanship that produced soft, lustrous hides—but their prices were too high.

Alternatively, one could look for hunting families living around the mountains; almost anyone from a hunting background knew how to tan hides. However, their craftsmanship was unrefined; the resulting fur was too coarse, feeling stiff and uncomfortable against the skin. Moreover, their prices were not low either.

Gu Tang had previously asked her father to inquire, but most fur merchants in Bei'an City supplied large commercial firms, and they rarely took on such small, scattered jobs. Unless one used silver to buy the pre-tanned hides they already had in stock.

Gu Tang had no intention of touching the silver left to her by the original owner; if she were to use it, she would follow the original owner's dying wish and use it for Gu Ping'an's education.

The silver in her own hands could be used, but it wasn't "above board." If she brought it out like this, she wouldn't be able to explain its origin.

After much hesitation, Gu Tang decided to simply barter, taking whole, untanned rabbits directly in exchange, which was essentially acting as a supplier for those fur merchants. However, she didn't want silver; once a certain amount was accumulated, they would simply give her the tanned hides to offset the value.

The fur merchants were originally reluctant, feeling it was too much trouble, but they eventually agreed after her father suggested they could calculate it at a discounted rate.

In this way, she was at a loss, but it was unavoidable. Skilled craftsmen were scarce and highly sought after everywhere; if you wanted someone's work, you had to play by their rules.

With a stable source of fur, and one that had been officially sanctioned through her father, Gu Tang sold the sheepskin she had obtained from her earliest check-ins. After all, accumulating silver through hard work was the priority; if she ever reached a dead end, silver would be her most reliable safeguard.

Lifting the blanket and putting on her clothes, Gu Tang shivered uncontrollably from the cold.

The inside of these clothes was stuffed with reed fluff, which the original owner had secretly gathered and prepared long ago, as well as pieces for her father and Gu Ping'an—one set for each.

A thirteen-year-old girl who had to handle all the housework for the Gu family, find time to go into the mountains for herbs, and secretly gather reed fluff—even an iron person wouldn't have been able to endure it.

Every time Gu Tang thought about it, her teeth itched with resentment. The Gu family only bullied the original owner because she was kind-natured and didn't know how to complain, enduring and suffering everything by herself.

If it had been her instead, that old woman Feng might have been driven to death by her long ago!

After putting on her straw sandals, she fumbled for the oil lamp on the bedside stool and took out a dragon-shaped lighter from her space to light it.

Then, Gu Tang tucked the rabbit-skin blanket back into her system backpack.

Aside from her father, no one knew about the fur exchange. Whenever she was away from home, she would store the rabbit-skin blanket in her system backpack, only taking it out to use as a quilt when she slept at night.

In her system backpack, besides the rabbit-skin blanket that could wrap around her, there were twenty to thirty pieces of tanned rabbit skin, all obtained through trading rabbits. To get these skins, she had nearly depleted the rabbits in the hills near the back mountain!

As for the sheepskin and deerhide she obtained from check-ins, Gu Tang couldn't bear to use them. One could tell from the look of them that they were premium quality provided by the system; once the weather got even colder, she could take them to Bei'an City to sell, and the price would rise significantly.

Opening the door, the cold wind instantly pierced through her clothes. Gu Tang's teeth chattered, and she slammed the door shut immediately.

She had originally intended to go to the kitchen to boil water and wash up, but now she didn't feel like it. She would wait for Gu Ping'an to wake up; once he was up, she could order him to boil the water.

Returning to bed, Gu Tang took out the rabbit-skin blanket again, wrapping herself in it and sitting cross-legged to keep warm.

Once her body warmed up, she summoned the system panel. Unable to wait to wash her hands, she decided to check in right now.

【Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing today's check-in! You have obtained one 'Endless' sewing kit!】

【A thirty-day cycle has concluded. The old thirty days have passed, and a new thirty-day cycle is about to begin. Dear host, please look forward to the daily surprises brought to you by the Check-in System!】

Gu Tang:...Surprises. A very big surprise. The luck she had prayed for with incense yesterday was completely gone today!

Sighing, she clicked on her backpack to view the "Endless" sewing kit.

After looking at it, she suddenly felt it was actually quite decent.

As the name implied, the "Endless" sewing kit referred to silk threads that never seemed to run out, as if they had no source. Because it was a kit, it came complete with all known colors, various thicknesses and lengths of needles, different types of scissors, and so on.

If this fell into the hands of a tailor, it would be a priceless treasure. But in her hands, it didn't seem to have much use?

No, it did have use.

Gu Tang got out of bed, pulled out the original owner's clothes, and used the light to disassemble them. After removing the loose threads, she spread the disassembled clothes flat on the bed, took out the fine cloth she had bought in Bei'an City from her system backpack, and began measuring for cuts.

Previously, because she couldn't find scissors, the rabbit skins in her backpack had remained idle. Now that she had scissors, she could try to make a fur coat for herself.

In her past life, Gu Tang had followed trends by making ancient-style Hanfu and Qipao, so she had a bit of experience.

She first cut out a long robe similar to a Qipao, leaving loose loops for sewing, then cut and sewed the rabbit skin, finally layering it inside the robe and fastening the loops. A very simple fur coat was complete.

The plan sounded good, and she had done well cutting the robe, intentionally making it loose so it could be adjusted during sewing. However, she was stumped when it came to sewing the rabbit skin.

She thought she would sew the cut fur coat first and then sew the robe to match its size. But she had never sewn such a thing before and didn't know where to start. After trying a few stitches, she found that the seams were too bulky; not only did it look bad when worn, but more importantly, it was uncomfortable and irritating against the skin!

After trying various sewing methods, Gu Tang finally declared defeat.

By the time she had finished tossing and turning, the sky outside was bright. There were sounds of doors opening in the courtyard; the Gu family members were waking up one after another, and she could hear them talking inside the house.

"Second Sister?" Gu Ping'an's voice came from outside the door, followed by two knocks on the thin wooden panel.

Gu Tang paused slightly. Looking at the rabbit skin on the bed, she hesitated for a moment before deciding not to put it away.

"Come in, the door isn't bolted."

As soon as she spoke, the door creaked open, and Gu Ping'an pushed his way in. A gust of cold wind slipped through the gap, causing the temperature in the room to drop instantly.

"Hurry and close the door!" Gu Tang shivered, wrapping the rabbit-skin blanket tightly around herself.

Gu Ping'an hurriedly shut the door, feeling the cold himself. "It's very cloudy today, and the wind has picked up. Father says it might rain."

Muttering to himself, Gu Ping'an walked toward Gu Tang with his arms wrapped around himself, shivering, wanting to warm his hands by the light of the oil lamp.