"It's not that no one has ever resisted before, wanting to go to the capital to appeal to the emperor. Unexpectedly, someone with ulterior motives secretly told the naval camp about it. Before they could even leave the city gate, they were taken away and their whole family perished in the fire overnight."
"So you'd better leave Yangcheng as soon as possible," the shopkeeper advised them, as if he couldn't see a future for Yangcheng.
"Young lady, you're so beautiful, you should wear a veil when you go out, otherwise the naval troops might see you..."
The shopkeeper didn't say what came next, but the two people present understood the implication: it was a case of forcibly taking a woman from the countryside.
"It's a pity that both General Jiang are no longer here, otherwise Yangcheng would not have fallen to such a state." The shopkeeper stood up, looking dejected, and did not forget to pick up the gold on the table.
"Shopkeeper, we're unfamiliar with this place, and we need your help with something." Jiang Hua called out to the shopkeeper who was about to leave.
"We'd like to rent a three-courtyard house here, preferably near the sea."
"Didn't I just tell you not to linger in Yangcheng?" The innkeeper looked bewildered. Why had they ended up renting a courtyard to stay in?
"This is the money for renting the courtyard. Rent it for two months. Consider the rest as your tea fee, shopkeeper." Jiang Hua then took out a gold ingot from her spatial storage and placed it in the shopkeeper's hand.
"Alright, I'll go find one for you today, somewhere far from the naval camp."
The shopkeeper naturally didn't want to miss out on any extra income. In any case, he had already told them, and if they didn't listen to his advice and something happened, he couldn't be blamed.
"Where are Qingling and Qingyue?"
After leaving the backyard, only Granny Jiang, Jiang Xun, Shuanghua, and a few others remained in the main hall waiting.
"The two young ladies said they'd like to go for a walk first," Granny Jiang replied.
...
The streets of Yangcheng were similar to those of Qingshi Town, except that there were stalls on both sides of the road selling seafood and similar items. Qingyue looked around with some boredom.
Suddenly, the two were drawn to a stall selling sea pearl ornaments.
"Uncle, how much is this?" Qingling asked, picking up a seawater pearl the size of a baby's fist.
The pearl vendor carefully observed Qingyue and Qingling from head to toe, a shrewd glint in his eyes, before replying, "Fifty taels of silver."
"Fifty taels? Are you robbing me?!" Qingyue immediately put down the seawater pearl in her hand.
"Ladies, I can tell you're not from Yangcheng, you must be from out of town. Well, you don't know this, but what you just took was a top-grade seawater pearl."
The shopkeeper stepped out of his stall and approached the two of them, picking up the seawater pearl that Qingyue had just been holding and saying:
"Look around, which other brand of seawater pearls is as big, round, and beautiful as mine?"
"We are all from the Great Sheng Kingdom, and I would never do anything to deceive my own people," the shopkeeper assured, patting his chest.
Qingyue watched him speak with such conviction, "Really?"
Just as he was about to take the seawater from the shopkeeper and pay for it—
"Sister Qingling, Sister Qingyue!"
Qingyue paused, looked in the direction of the voice, and found that it was the little girl she had seen last night, Yang Tao, and Yang Hai.
What are you doing here?
"I'm going to get medicine for my father," Yang Tao replied obediently.
"Are you buying seawater beads?" Yang Hai guessed, looking at the seawater beads in Qingyue's hand.
"That's right, these seawater pearls are beautiful, but they're too expensive, costing fifty taels of silver," Qingyue complained.
"Fifty taels!" Yang Tao exclaimed in surprise, and bluntly advised:
"Sister Qingyue, don't buy them here. Go to West Street. You can buy a cartload of sea pearls for fifty taels, and they're even prettier than these."
"Oh, you actually dared to lie to me!" Qingyue quickly threw the seawater pearl back and put away the silver she had taken out.
"You little brat, how dare you ruin my business! I'll beat you to death!" The stall owner, seeing his prize slip away, was furious and raised his hand to hit Yang Tao.
Yang Tao fearfully hid behind Yang Hai, but the stall owner was not about to let her off easily and was about to angrily pull her out.
The outstretched hand was clamped down by Qingyue. With a slight pull, the pain made his face contort like a chrysanthemum, and he cried out, "I was wrong, I was wrong, please spare my life, heroine!"
"Hmph, I won't let you off so easily next time." Qingyue snorted coldly, released the stall owner's hand, and returned to her own stall in fear, not daring to say anything more.
After they left, a ruthless glint flashed in his eyes. He then packed up his stall and ran in the opposite direction from where Qingyue had gone.
"Sister Qingyue, are you going to West Street? Can you lead the way after my brother and I get our medicine?" Yang Tao asked as they walked, her two braids swaying back and forth.
"It's alright, we'll go to the pharmacy with you to get the medicine first." Qingling remembered the conversation she overheard at Yang's father's house last night and decided to go with them.
Just around the corner was the pharmacy. Not long after Yang Hai and Yang Tao went inside to get their medicine, a commotion arose at the entrance.
"Sir, it was those two. After they left my stall, my seawater pearls disappeared."
Qingyue looked over and saw that it was the same stall owner from before, with several soldiers behind him.
Yang Hai's situation wasn't going well either. When the pharmacy clerk saw the two prescriptions in his hand, he immediately called the manager over.
After reviewing the prescription, the pharmacy manager's expression hardened, and he said to the pharmacy's employees, "Arrest those two."
Looking at Yang Hai and Yang Shu who were being held down, the pharmacy manager held up the prescription in his hand and asked sternly, "This doesn't look like a prescription written for you by doctors in Yangcheng. Where did you get this from?"
"This is a prescription I got from a doctor outside Yangcheng!" Yang Hai struggled and said, "Let go of my sister!"
"Are you kidding me? You haven't even consulted a doctor, how could you prescribe medicine! Tell me, who is the doctor who prescribed this medicine for you?" the pharmacy manager interrogated him with a gloomy look.
"Let go of my sister first, then I'll talk."
After the pharmacy worker released Yang Tao, Yang Hai gave her a wink, signaling her to run. Yang Tao understood and quickly grabbed Qing Ling, trying to take her with her.
However, Qingling gently pushed her, letting her run first, while she stopped the guy who wanted to chase Yangtao.
"I'm not going to tell you, so give up on that idea!" Yang Hai spat and turned his head away, no longer looking at the pharmacy manager.
Miss Jiang is such a good person, he can't let himself drag her down.
"Take him to the backyard and beat him until he tells you."
"Let's see who dares!" Qingling kicked away the men holding Yang Hai, shielding Yang Hai behind her.
"Sirs, look! There are two identical beauties like this!" The stall owner chuckled and said to the soldiers with a fawning expression.
"You're asking for it!" The officer glared at him. "That woman is so skilled, do you want to kill our officers?"
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