Chapter 14: Being Treated as a Thief
"Do you know where the old woman went?" Dani approached Liang Jinyu mysteriously and asked with her head raised.
Liang Jinyu was shaking the freshly washed clothes, her fingers were red from the cold, and she continued, "I don't know, what did she do?"
"I guess she went to her mother's house!" Chen Dani said proudly, "If you don't believe me, go to the kitchen and see. She took away all the meat from yesterday. I also saw her take a bag of rock sugar. That thing is very expensive. She would not give it to anyone else except the Wang family."
Liang Jinyu finished drying her last piece of clothing, thought for a moment and said, "Dani, can you do me a favor?"
...
It is better to do it today than to wait for another day. Liang Jinyu decided to sneak into the city while no one was at home.
Yanghe Village is not far from Shaozhou City. After crossing the Toad Ridge and walking down a distance, you can see the city gate.
Wang's parents' home was in Sanliu Village, and it would take more than two hours to go there and back. Plus she had to stay there for a while, so she would definitely not be able to come back by noon.
In other words, Liang Jinyu just had to come back before dark.
It was still early and there was no one on the way out of the village.
Liang Jinyu tidied her hair, clutched the package tightly, and breathed a sigh of relief.
When they arrived at Toad Ridge, Liang Jinyu was about to sit down and rest for a while, but he heard voices coming from behind.
Although she was now dressed as a man and her face was covered with soot, in order to avoid any trouble, she quickly found a bush to hide in.
"......It's not possible in the city. The prices are so low that it's better to keep them for ourselves than to sell them to them." The speaker was a middle-aged man.
The young man behind him was carrying a load on his shoulder, panting as he walked: "That's true, but we can't just eat food. We have no oil or salt left at home. What can we use to buy food? And my mother has been out of medicine for a long time. Even if it's only a few cents per pound, I have to sell this food today."
Liang Jinyu parted the grass and recognized the young man. It was Yao Tianci, who had spoken up for her last time and was slandered.
"In my opinion, you shouldn't have come back in the first place. The capital is so good. There are many opportunities to make a fortune under the emperor. Why can't you let it go?" The middle-aged man shook his head.
Yao Tianci sighed and said, "There's nothing we can do. Something happened to the master. If we hadn't run fast, we would have been implicated as well."
"Isn't it said to be a wealthy family? How could something go wrong?" the man asked curiously.
Yao Tianci didn't want to say more and changed the subject.
Watching the two people walking further and further away, Liang Jinyu brushed off the dirt on his body and came out of the grass.
Liang Jinyu was a little surprised to find out that Yao Tianci had also been to the capital.
But what surprised her even more was the current grain prices. When she heard Chen Lai-fu say it before, she thought it was a bit exaggerated, but she didn't expect it to be true.
Liang Jinyu clenched her fists and quickened her pace down the mountain.
The sun was at its zenith and people were coming in and out of the city gate.
The soldiers guarding the city were tired after standing for most of the day, so they simply glanced at the passers-by without checking their passes.
Liang Jinyu lowered her head and followed a kind-looking woman out of the city.
"What's wrong with you, young man? What are you trying to do by following me all the time?" the woman turned around and asked, unable to bear it anymore.
Liang Jinyu apologized: "I'm sorry, sister. I just wanted to ask you how to get to Xie's pawnshop."
"So you want to ask for directions. Why didn't you tell me earlier? You scared me." The woman patted her chest with lingering fear and pointed Liang Jinyu in a direction.
Xie's pawnshop is located next to the main road in the city. It is a two-story building with a large area.
Just as Dingfang said, the entire pawnshop was cleaned, and even the stone slabs at the entrance were rinsed with clean water, making it spotless.
Liang Jinyu hugged the package tightly, lowered her head and followed the person in front of her into the shop.
"A torn cotton quilt costs three cents; a chipped inkstone costs seven cents..."
Inside the tall counter in front, the shopkeeper was checking the items that the customers were pawning while shouting out prices.
Liang Jinyu stood on tiptoe and took a closer look before she could see clearly that the shopkeeper had a goatee and was estimated to be in his forties or fifties. He was wearing a half-worn cotton jacket. She thought that he should not be the young boss of the Xie family.
Liang Jinyu touched the hairpin in the bag. If Mr. Xie was not there, would this hairpin still be worth so much money?
Feeling nervous, Liang Jinyu waited for about a cup of tea before it was her turn.
"What?" the shopkeeper asked without even looking up.
Liang Jinyu said seriously: "I can't give you the things I pawned. I need to find your boss."
The shopkeeper raised his head and looked Liang Jinyu up and down, and said sarcastically, "You can't just go see our boss whenever you want. This is a pawnshop. If you don't want to pawn anything, please leave. Don't waste my time."
"I am a pawnshop owner, but I can only give this thing to you, the boss!" Liang Jinyu explained hurriedly.
The shopkeeper lost his patience and shouted to the clerk beside him: "This guy is here to cause trouble, get him out."
"No! I treat it as such! I really treat it as such!" Liang Jinyu became anxious and handed the hairpin over.
It wasn't easy for her to come out here, she can't just go back like this.
The shopkeeper rolled his eyes at Liang Jinyu, then slowly picked up the hairpin, took a look at it and said, "A plain hairpin, two taels of silver."
"Two taels?" Liang Jinyu simply couldn't believe it. This was too different from her expectations.
"If it's a death sentence, I can give you another fifty cents." The shopkeeper looked merciful and threw the hairpin on the table.
Two ounces of silver can last for a while if used sparingly.
Liang Jinyu shook his head, and quickly threw the absurd thoughts out of his mind.
The hairpin was her last "lifeline", and she couldn't just pawn it casually, especially since Wang had pawned it for fifty taels in her previous life.
"I don't want to be the boss anymore." Liang Jinyu wanted to take the hairpin back, but the shopkeeper snatched it away first.
"Young man, is this hairpin really yours?" The shopkeeper narrowed his eyes and asked doubtfully.
Liang Jinyu was a little annoyed: "Of course it's mine. How could I take it if it's not mine?"
"But this is a woman's hairpin. You didn't steal it from somewhere, did you?"
As soon as the shopkeeper said this, everyone in the shop looked at Liang Jinyu at the same time, with suspicion and contempt in their eyes.
Liang Jinyu laughed angrily: "This hairpin was left to my elder sister by my father. Now that our family has fallen on hard times, we have no choice but to pawn it. As the saying goes, even if the deal fails, the friendship remains. Even if the deal fails, there is no need for you to slander me with empty words, right?"
The shopkeeper's face darkened and he stood up and stared at Liang Jinyu from above.
"I have been in this business for over 30 years, and I have seen all kinds of people. You said this hairpin belonged to your elder sister, so I want to ask you, why did you disguise yourself as a man and act so sneaky?"
A buzzing sound.
Liang Jinyu felt her mind go blank and she was speechless for a moment.
"You don't look like someone who can afford a silver hairpin, come on, send her to the government! I, Old Song, hate sneaky people the most in my life. You dare to come to our shop to sell your property? I think you are tired of living!"
After receiving the order, the two guys immediately approached Liang Jinyu.
Liang Jinyu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What was going on?
"Keep your voice down! The boss is resting upstairs. Don't wake him up." One of the guys whispered to the other.
Liang Jinyu glanced at the hairpin in the shopkeeper's hand. She couldn't just leave like this, and she couldn't be sent to the government.
"Well, since I can't convince you, I'll find someone who can!" Liang Jinyu finished speaking and picked up the abacus at hand and threw it over.