The officers were initially uninterested in Old Lady Zhu's group, but upon hearing that there was a beautiful woman among them, the two exchanged a glance and grinned wickedly.
Through the conversation among the group, Xixi learned that this was a shady shop, and that the shop owner was in league with the government.
After selling the camels, they would have government officials rob them on the way back.
This way, they could achieve a permanent solution, and if they encountered a wealthy family, they could even rob even more gold and silver jewelry.
Thinking of this, Xixi flew out from behind the screen, glanced around, and found that there was no place to store silver.
Curious, she wandered around the room a few times and found that apart from some account books, there wasn't even a box to store silver.
[That's strange, where does this shady shop keep the money from murdering its customers?]
Could it all have been embezzled by the officials in Minghai City? Since they're working together, the shopkeeper should also be making a profit, right?
This is clearly the accounting office, so why isn't there a single ingot of silver in sight?
The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed. She wandered around the room, until even the officials behind the screen had left.
However, she still couldn't find the place where the shady shop hid the silver.
Just as she was about to give up, the innkeeper, beaming, entered the room carrying a large bag of silver.
"You can go out now!"
The waiter had expected the shopkeeper to give him some benefits, but to his surprise, the shopkeeper let him leave after he entered the room.
Left with no other choice, he could only give an awkward smile, nod and bow as he left.
After the waiter left, the shopkeeper locked the door behind him.
Then, he went to the vase on the low table behind the counter and turned it around.
As the vase spun in the shopkeeper's hands, the wall behind him slowly opened.
Xi Xi watched in surprise as the wall slowly opened, and quickly followed the shopkeeper into the secret room behind the wall.
In the secret room, she saw countless gold and silver jewels, many of which were not items belonging to the frontier.
Among them were swords engraved with other people's names. Judging from these items, they must have belonged to the customers who were murdered by the innkeeper and his associates after purchasing camels.
The shopkeeper poured the silver in his hand into the box, then glanced contentedly at the shadows around him before turning and leaving.
After the shopkeeper left, she happily rubbed her hands together and reached out to take all the gold and silver jewelry in the secret room into her pocket.
Then, after moving all the gold and silver jewelry away, she turned around and went to the street to wave her little hand.
With a wave of her small hand, countless gold and silver jewels fell from the sky like rain.
[Xixi is scattering gold; this is all money obtained by the shady establishment from murdering its customers.]
Today, Xixi will act on behalf of Heaven and give back to the people everything he cares about most.
Faced with the sudden windfall, everyone cheered excitedly, and some even knelt down to worship the heavens.
After dealing with the money in her hands, she turned around and went back into her spatial dimension.
At this moment, Old Lady Zhu, led by the shopkeeper, was reselecting camels from the shed.
The camels the shopkeeper brought to select were too thin and weak to carry the load.
Old Mrs. Zhu looked at the shopkeeper with a stern face and sharp eyes. "Shopkeeper, these camels are too thin and weak. I'm afraid they can't carry us."
"Oh, old lady! You get what you pay for. If you insist on cutting costs, you can only choose camels of this quality."
The shopkeeper wasn't afraid of angering Old Lady Zhu and the others at all. He frowned impatiently and gave a perfunctory answer.
Zhu Chenfeng was angered by the shopkeeper's attitude and wanted to go forward to argue, but was stopped by Old Lady Zhu again.
Old Mrs. Zhu originally intended to have her son teach the shopkeeper a lesson after the guests left.
Since she had intermittently heard her granddaughter's hints earlier, she dared not make any rash moves.
If, as the granddaughter said, the shopkeeper is cooperating with the government, then if a dispute arises here...
Aside from the government, I'm afraid they won't be able to leave Minghai City today.
Thinking of this, she pulled her son back and looked at the shopkeeper with a smile.
"Shopkeeper, we won't give you a refund. Just pick out two strong camels for me. We don't need the green-eared cart; a regular handcart will do."
The shopkeeper thought he had misheard and looked at the old lady Zhu in surprise. "Madam, have you thought this through? No refunds once you leave the shop!"
"Shopkeeper, we're in a hurry, please hurry."
Grandma Zhu nodded calmly to the shopkeeper, then turned to look around the courtyard. "Shopkeeper, may I have the honor of using the facilities?"
"Just walk to the back of that courtyard and you'll get there."
The shopkeeper thought his scheme had succeeded and pointed triumphantly to the spot behind Old Lady Zhu.
Grandma Zhu smiled calmly, turned and walked towards the backyard. As she was leaving, Madam Sun stepped forward and pulled her back.
"Mother, let me go with you!"
"No need, I'm going to use the restroom. You and your eldest son's wife should make sure to book this shopkeeper and don't let him do anything underhanded."
Old Mrs. Zhu did not want Mrs. Sun to come with her. She had a purpose in leaving this time, so naturally she could not let others accompany her.
After listening to her mother-in-law's words, Sun nodded and turned to stand beside Liu.
No sooner had Grandma Zhu left than a commotion arose on the street outside the shop.
Chen Xiang looked out of the shop with curiosity and said, "Why is it so lively outside?"
Following Chen Xiang's gaze, the shopkeeper scoffed disdainfully, "I'm afraid there will be more vagrants causing trouble, won't there?"
“These troublemakers often cause trouble, ignore them, sir, I’ll take you to choose a camel.”
Chen Xiang glanced back at Zhu Chenfeng with some doubt, and Zhu Chenfeng instantly understood, smiling broadly as he stepped forward and pulled the shopkeeper to the shed.
After the two left, Chen Xiang led Zhu Wen and An Qing out of the shop.
When the group arrived outside the shop, they were astonished by the scene before them: gold and silver jewelry scattered all over the ground.
The refugees and ordinary people scrambled to pick up the treasures on the ground, while the innkeeper's waiter was desperately pulling at passersby.
"Don't pick them up, these are all our shopkeepers, don't pick them up."
Chen Xiang stared in surprise at the sword the waiter was holding in his arms, and discovered that the sword was made of the same material as the one his friend was wearing.
There was only one of these precious swords in the Yuan Kingdom. My friend cherished it and never parted with it. How could it have ended up in the hands of a shopkeeper?
To find out what was going on, he quickly stepped forward to the waiter and loudly questioned him.
"How did you obtain the sword in your possession?"
When the waiter heard the voice and turned around, he saw it was Chen Xiang. His eyes immediately became evasive, and he stammered an explanation.
"It's because a customer didn't have the money to buy a camel, so he pawned it at the shop."
After saying that, he grabbed the sword and ran toward the shop, shouting loudly.
"Shopkeeper, something terrible has happened!"
The waiter's reply did not convince Chen Xiang, who suspiciously glanced at the various pieces of jewelry scattered on the ground.
Zhu Wen also noticed something was wrong with the camel shop and anxiously stepped forward to remind Chen Xiang, "Boss, if these things belong to the shopkeeper, there's something very wrong with this shop."
"Many of the items scattered on the street don't seem to be ordinary people's collections. Who would collect women's undergarments and handkerchiefs?"
Anqing also felt that there was something wrong with the shopkeeper. "That's right, and that sword clearly looks just like my second brother's sword."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com