Gasp! She's a Time Traveler Using Modern Tech to Improve Ancient Life-Chapter 344 - 341: Cotton Cloth for Gemstones

The Countess’s maid presented the welcoming gift. Hua Nong stepped forward to receive it; inside were several tropical fruits.

Lin Wanwan set up the tea set and prepared a full tea ceremony process for her guest. Whether she liked drinking tea or not, the art of burning incense and brewing tea was a refined affair, also a hallmark of the Great Tang nobility, making it the perfect way to entertain guests.

The fluid and graceful tea-making process dazzled the Countess and sparked her longing.

The Tang Dynasty’s three treasures, silk, porcelain, and tea, were especially popular in maritime trade.

The Countess might not particularly like tea, but she was willing to indulge in such refinement. Tea, loved by all the nobility in the Great Tang, was naturally delicious, and she surely had to like it.

"Dear Miss, the Village Lady of Le’an, this tea is truly delightful," the Countess said in her long sentence, with a thick curry accent, distinctly Third Country in taste.

The Lion Country was a term used in the early Tang Dynasty’s "Liang Book," which Xuanzang translated into Sinhala a few years later, roughly the future island of Sri Lanka.

During the Great Tang Dynasty, the Lion Country was not yet a colony of the Sun Never Sets Empire and was not a member of the British Commonwealth, so their official language at the time was primarily Tamil.

This language belongs to the Dravidian language family’s southern branch and was one of the official languages of India, known as the Third Country during the Tang Dynasty. Hence, in Lin Wanwan’s ears, it naturally had a curry flavor.

As someone who had mastered the Space-Time Bracelet and traveled through time for a year, Lin Wanwan had done considerable homework on the history of the Great Tang Dynasty and the world history of that period.

So upon seeing the Countess who had come from afar for trade, the first thought that popped into her mind was to exchange cotton for their gems!

Why not exchange with glass? Ah! It was because she didn’t bring any this time. Whether it was the warehouse in Mao County or the glass products in modern shops, they were too far to be of immediate help to her now.

Even though Lin Wanwan was already quite wealthy, no one ever thinks they have too much money, and the rich gem resources of the Lion Country were too tempting!

If it weren’t for the slow travel of the Tang Dynasty and the strict modern customs checks, she would have long flown there to time-travel and collect gems.

Now she didn’t need to make the trip herself, as a local noble had come knocking on her door, and Lin Wanwan’s mind immediately started calculating with delight.

Heaven’s gifts unused will bring misfortune!

What could be more joyful than making a huge profit with little investment!

Thinking of this, Lin Wanwan’s smile sweetened even more; in her eyes, the guest had now become a glittering gem person!

Alexander Gems, sapphires, cat’s eyes, moonstones, whatever there was, she wanted them all, accepted completely!

If it weren’t for the fact that the Lion Country itself was a tropical country producing pepper, they wouldn’t treasure pepper as much as the Tang people.

Arab merchants traveled long distances via the Silk Road to sell pepper to the Great Tang, sourced from places like India and the Lion Country, otherwise Lin Wanwan would rather trade pepper with the Countess for gems.

While she felt a bit guilty exploiting the Tang people, with these foreigners, she had no qualms about taking advantage, the more the better, with no psychological burden.

So for lunch, Lin Wanwan had the Countess stay at her residence to eat. Doing business while dining was a habit of modern Huaxia people, and Lin Wanwan was no exception.

After the meal and a brief rest, Lin Wanwan leisurely followed the Countess into their fleet to view goods and conduct trade.

Foreign nobles weren’t as reserved as Huaxia people, making business a subtle affair to avoid seeming mercenary. But that’s just deceiving oneself; once business starts, calculations can’t be avoided.

As soon as Lin Wanwan boarded, the Countess directly introduced her to the Count and his business assistants, and they all got straight to the point, straightforward with negotiations.

Throughout the world’s values at this time, the view of merchants was consistent—they were regarded as low, humble, and materialistic, with the noble highborn avoiding them if possible.

The exclusivity of power made the ruling class naturally possessive over capital, never allowing merchants to grow too large.

The famous "profit from a single source" by Guan Zhong was the theoretical summary of power’s control over capital.

In the world’s high society, even having a merchant household as a relative was a huge embarrassment, let alone engaging in business personally.

For families with unmarried young people, this was especially evident, as such merchant relatives would greatly lower their status and directly affect their value in the marriage market.

This fact is clearly recorded and commented on in historical materials and famous works worldwide.

So this Count from the Lion Country polished his count emblem till it shone and wore it proudly on his chest, clearly because it was his only source of respect.

A foreign noble personally engaging in trade was 100% from a fallen household, possibly retaining only a noble title and nothing else.

Otherwise, even the most shameless would not personally step into business, usually hiring help or delegating to servants.

As evidenced by the Tang nobility, those who monopolized most of the Tang’s industries and shops were not merchants but aristocratic families.

But first and foremost, they were aristocratic families, so no matter how much land and shops they inherited, they wouldn’t be classified as merchants since they had people managing them.

Meanwhile, genuine merchants had no presence in the court and no political voice, leaving them to only become low-class households.

In simple terms, it’s a double standard, practiced worldwide.

Just as Lin Wanwan now had the identity of a Village Lady, buying shops, slaves, and engaging in trade would not classify her as a merchant.

An official title was the best protection, a ticket to their inner circle.

This time in Hai City, Yun Shang had prepared a chest of cotton fabric and some copper coins for Lin Wanwan to use as currency.

This pure cotton fabric was something Lin Wanwan had bought in Qiong State last year, originally meant as gifts for women in the clan, but was opposed by the Lin Clan Leader, so it had been left unused and had no place to be utilized.

This trip was hurried, and since she was taking a small boat, carrying too many things was inconvenient. Therefore, Yun Shang directly had people fetch high-value, compact cotton fabric from the warehouse, which turned out to be quite useful now.

They were unwilling to exchange gems for copper coins; Lin Wanwan was unwilling to exchange silk and gold for gems.

Using this modern-day cheap cotton cloth with high value in the Tang Dynasty for barter was satisfactory to both sides.

Lin Wanwan brought a total of five bolts of off-white pure cotton cloth from Mao County, and after some haggling, exchanged it for a small box of various gems from the other party.