CH 7

Cui Xingzhou thinks that it is more than enough to delay a boring day here.

After eating breakfast, he instructed a few words to Servant Li at the gate of the mansion, got on the carriage, and left.

As for Lingquan Town, he is still at ease. This is because, in addition to Servant Li in the house, there are countless invisible sentries outside the house. If the bandit Lu Wen were to show up, he will have no return.

On the other hand, Miantang, after receiving her task, suddenly felt that the dull days are starting to have a sense of purpose.

After breakfast, the dark clouds cleared, the sun shone on the flagstone road, and the North Street was warm and sunny.

Liu Miantang follows the customs of the locals. Bringing the soles she wanted to sew, she asked Servant Li to prepare a basket of roasted peanuts and head to the alley to chat with the local women.

The women welcomed the new neighbors. After greeting each other, they started to examine Lady Cui’s needlework skills.

After the first glance, the women were relieved. It seems that God is fair. The anima of Lady Cui is all gotten on her face. She doesn’t have any tactics in her work. The stitches are thick, and she’s not afraid to hurt the feet of her husband!

Seeing the clumsiness of the beauty of the Cui family, all the women’s envious were balanced. In addition, the peanuts baked by Servant Li were delicious, and the women’s mouths that eat the food of others are softened, so they became more friendly and easygoing to Mrs. Cui.

Miantang didn’t mention that her husband’s shop had been refunded. She just smiled and whispered to inquire about the deficiency and reality of the hottest street shops in town and find out which are those owners that have the intention to sell their shops. What was their previous offer?

While the women were chatting with each other actively, Servant Li, on the other side, kept a dark face.

The Prince wants this woman as bait, but what kind of villain can he catch just by sitting at the entrance of its mansion?

So, during the break when they went home to prepare lunch, Servant Li said to Miantang, “Madam, the first batch of goods from the owner will be put on the shelves soon. If you don’t choose a good shop in these two days, I’m afraid there’s no place to put the goods.”

Miantang smiled sweetly at her: “Don’t worry. I already have some general ideas in my heart. I will go to the town to have a look in the afternoon. It won’t delay the important affairs of my husband.”

With that, she went back to the house to look for the clothes she would wear in the afternoon.

Servant Li looked at Liu Miantang’s high spirits and sighed in her heart. To be honest, this girl is the child of a good family. If she hadn’t been robbed at the beginning, she should have been married and become a mother long ago.

She has served this woman for a year, and she knows that she is a good-natured girl. Now, seeing that she wants to help “her husband” to do business wholeheartedly, she feels like watching a tragedy.

She hopes everything goes well. Liu Miantang can help The Prince to catch the rebel as soon as possible. At that time, we’ll see if The Prince can be merciful beyond the law and spare this miserable girl.

But when Servant Li saw Liu Miantang after she changed her clothes, she was stunned. Although Liu Miantang doesn’t have any new clothes in her luggage, she doesn’t have to pick out such shabby ones to wear, does she? If she never sees it wrongly, the clothes look like the ones hanging in the yard by the mute servant for chopping firewood.

“Madam, you are…” before Servant Li finished speaking, Miantang interrupted her and said, “If you head out wearing pretty and bright clothes to choose or buy things, you will become a fat sheep to be slaughtered by the shop. Do you have coarse cloth clothes, change them up quickly.”

Servant Li had no choice, so she had to respond to her words, change into her old clothes, and head out with Liu Miantang.

In the morning, the local residents mentioned several shops with good locations, but Miantang left right after just by looking at them for a while. At last, when she came to the East Street, she suddenly took out a long towel to cover her face and told Servant Li to cover her face too, before moving on.

After a few steps, there was a narrow shop with a shop sign. She looked up and down and went in to inquire.

This shop used to sell snacks. The walls of the store were darkened by old oil. The shop was narrow, and it was located on a remote street. It wasn’t a good shop.

However, Liu Miantang seemed to be determined. She slowly untied her face scarf and asked the shopkeeper about the minimum price for purchasing the shop. In the beginning, the shopkeeper saw that she was poorly dressed and thought she was just coming to buy fried cakes. Unexpectedly, she mentioned the matter of purchasing the shop and the owner couldn’t help, but look up and down suspiciously.

However, the young lady was good-looking, which made the shopkeeper’s attitude more gentle and did not directly turn her out as a beggar.

However, the price she said was irrelevant. At first glance, he didn’t take Liu Miantang as a real buyer.

Miantang smiled calmly and said, “To tell you the truth, my family is engaged in the funeral offerings business. I don’t need the magnificence of the store. Anyway, it’s just hanging the word ‘Dian’ to attract the neighbors. Otherwise, I wouldn’t choose your old shop. If you give me a good price, I can make decisions for my husband to sign the land lease, and pay the money today.”

T/L Note: The word “Dian” is usually used for funerals to place the sacrificial offerings in front of the statue of God or the deceased’s remains, temporary memorial tablet, and graves to give one’s regard before the grave.

When the shopkeeper heard her say this, he first frowned at her due to the ominous, but then, suddenly his eyes lit up, and said, “Are you serious?”

Liu Miantang smiled: “No joke! It’s just a small business. I don’t have much money on hand. Please give me an honest price.”

While the two haggled, Servant Li listened in silence and took back what she said earlier about her being a good wife. The girl of the Liu family was far away from being a good wife. Fortunately, she did not marry the real merchant of the Cui family, Otherwise, no matter how strong the family foundation is, it will be ruined by the wife.

The Prince told her that he wanted to do porcelain business, but she was so greedy for a cheap price that she chose to buy this filthy and narrow shop. In addition, in the morning, the local women also said that the fried cake shop has conflicts with the neighboring steam cake shop. Several times during their fight, they almost killed people. They had no choice but to pawn the shop and open it in another place.

But because the store next door is famous for its arrogance, people who know the background refuse to be next to evil neighbors, which resulted in no one wanting to buy it. Thus, they haven’t sold it yet.

As a result, Liu Miantang was excited to buy this kind of shop that no one wanted… It’s a pity for her effort of roasted peanut that did not get benefited from it.

However, The Prince’s purpose is to use her to attract the rebel. If she loves to spend money, by all means, just enjoy it.

After staring at Liu Miantang, Servant Li kept silent, only to see that she had made a clean negotiation with the shop owner, found a guarantor, and bought the shop at a very low price.

The reason why the price is low is not only that Liu Miantang is good at bargaining, but also because she says she is in the business of dead people.

The cake shop owner was repeatedly defeated by his evil neighbor, and the outrage in his heart was hard to calm. Knowing the buyer’s business, he is also willing to sell it to her at a low price. By that time, a big “memorial ceremony” will be hung at the door, and then the paper offerings ox boy will be put on. He shall see who will still dare to eat breakfast at his shop against ominous?

Just thinking about it, relieve his anger, so the store owner has given a low price easily.

Besides, after Liu Miantang signed the title deed, it was already sunset. Liu Miantang was afraid that her husband would come back as suddenly as last night, so she purchased three kilograms of streaky pork in the butcher’s shop on her way home and asked Servent Li to stew it.

But until midnight, there was still no sound of knocking at the door of the mansion. Liu Miantang was disappointed, she told Servant Li to hang the marinated meat in the well. Don’t let it go bad until her husband comes back the next day.

When she had dinner, she still ate the dried radish with rice. Because she was craving badly for meat, she scooped up the meat broth into her rice to eat. As expected, the dried radish was much more delicious.

But after a few days, the meat could not be kept longer. At that time, there was still no trace of her husband Cui Jiu coming back.

On the other hand, the news that the fried cake shop was sold to a funeral business has spread like wildfire, causing the shop next door to swear at the empty shop every day.

Liu Miantang took Servant Li out again this day. But this time, she dressed neatly and went straight to the cake shop next door.

After entering the door, she looked at the shop and asked, “Owner, is your shop open for sale?”

The shopkeeper said in a vicious voice: “It’s not my shop, it’s the shop next door. It has been sold. If you don’t wanna buy anything, don’t block the door!”

Liu Miantang was not annoyed but said with slight regret: “The Feng Shui Master said that this corner of the town is prosperous to my husband. How could it be bought by others… Would you like to sell your shop?”

The evil neighbor was impatient. He wanted to chase her away immediately, but he changed his mind and said, “If you were to buy it, how much will you pay?”

Liu Miantang measured with her eyes at the same small shop and offered the owner a lower price than the fried cake shop.

When the evil neighbor heard this, he was not very satisfied and said, “Miss, are you here to joke? I can’t sell it at such a price!”

After hearing this, Liu Miantang didn’t care much. “It doesn’t matter if you refuse to sell it. When I first came here, I heard the Feng Shui Master making divination. If you give me a fair price, I’ll buy it easily. Otherwise, I’ll have to look again. At least I have to know what businesses are doing on the street. Otherwise, it will be bad luck to have a conflicting business. I’m afraid I won’t be able to sell it even if I resale with other stores…”

Hearing what she said, the evil neighbor suddenly felt a little embarrassed: “I think you are also a straightforward person. To be honest, there have been bids before. But they don’t look like they sincerely want to buy it. It’s really annoying. If you sincerely want to buy it, you can take a sit first, I’ll discuss it with my mother-in-law to see if she is willing.”

Liu Miantang’s seemingly unintentional words just now poked the pain point of this man. Now the old signs of the fried cake shop are still hanging next door. But in a few days, the paper offerings of the devils in animal forms will be displayed. His shop will be greatly affected. He’s afraid there will be no people who are willing to take over the shop. By taking advantage of this foreign lady’s ignorance, selling it to her at a decent price and finding a new shop for himself will be the best choice!

In the end, Servant Li watched Liu Miantang having a heated verbal dispute with the shop owner. Unexpectedly, she bought the steam cake shop at a price similar to that of the fried cake shop.

Now, she has finally understood the tactic formation set by Liu Miantang. She started with the idea of buying two adjacent stores and then got through with the idea of combining them.

Although she bought two stores, the price is still too cheap when adding them together. Even with the cost of reconstruction, it is lower than that of other prosperous shops.

When Liu Miantang finally got the two land deeds, she sighed with a sigh of relief, smiled, and said to Servant Li, “Fortunately, I have fulfilled the mission and finally bought the shop. I have seen that the two stores were originally a house, and the partition wall should be added later. The original owner divided them into two and sold them separately. So it should be easy to dismantle them. After renovating, my husband can start to use them… And…”

She pointed to the river behind the shop and then said: “Previously, the neighbors said that the Prince Huaiyang had built water conservancy recently, and the inland river behind our shop would lead to the newly built canal. In the future, it would be more convenient for ships to travel, and there would be no need for mules and carts to transport goods. It also saves the valuable porcelain from being broken by bumps.”

Servant Li listened in silence, but she admired this young lady. Although her needlework is terrible, she did have some business-minded. The shop choice was a smart move.

It’s a pity that her husband isn’t a real merchant… Thinking of this, Servant Li suddenly sighed a little and pitied the helpless smart girl.