The bald man wiped the snow from his head and glared fiercely, shouting, "Who? Who dares to hit me?!"
"It's me." Ye Wenxue walked over from the wooden door, holding a bamboo umbrella in one hand and patting off the snow with the other.
The bald man's fierce expression froze.
Not daring to offend the bald man, Zhixing quickly went to greet him and handed Ye Wenxue a bamboo basket: "Boss Ye, it's been a long time since you've come. Where's Brother Dazhuang? I have some questions I'd like to discuss with him."
Zhixing returned to the bamboo house one day after the three-day freebie event. By then, Ye Wenxue had already taken Dazhuang back to the valley, only instructing Xu Lin to remind them to review the characters they had learned before.
He searched around the bamboo house for two days but couldn't find Dazhuang. So he reviewed the dozens of characters he had learned, learned how to make charcoal from Grandpa Xu, and listened to Xu Lin tell some short stories from the book.
It wasn't until three days after he returned that news came from down the mountain, and Zhixing went down the mountain again to persuade several surrounding villages to buy charcoal.
Ye Wenxue handed him the bamboo basket and asked him to give it to Lan Qing: "The rabbits we keep at home eat too much, so I brought two with me. Lan Qing can keep them or eat them if she wants."
Zhixing glanced at the bald man with a stern face, shrank back, and turned to go to the kitchen.
Ye Wenxue sat down by the charcoal fire under the eaves, then put his bamboo umbrella aside. One of the bandits, who was lazily warming himself by the fire, asked curiously, "Boss Ye, did you change your umbrella?"
How could he remember that the umbrella Ye Wenxue used was more exquisite than this one?
What's drawn on it isn't a few chubby babies, but a few peach blossoms?
Ye Wenxue was just waiting for someone to ask. She glanced smugly at the group of people warming themselves by the fire and said, "Dazhuang made this for me by hand. The craftsmanship is a bit rough, but the sentiment behind it is irreplaceable."
Grandpa Xu slowly raised his head to look at his blind son.
Xu Lin, sensing something was wrong: "..."
Ye Wenxue, feeling quite pleased with herself, noticed the bald man still standing there with his eyes wide open. She raised an eyebrow and said, "Sit down. Tell me, what happened?"
She didn't actually hear the whole story; she only saw the bald man suddenly stand up and yell at Xu Lin (who was sitting next to him). She thought that the bald man was taking advantage of his strength and burly build to bully the weak and blind scholar because she hadn't come for several days.
They really need to be taught a lesson!
Baldy got angry. Even though he was a coward, he still had a temper. He lost face after being hit on the head in front of several people, and for a moment he didn't want to talk to Ye Wenxue.
Ye Wenxue looked at him quietly.
After a few breaths, the bald man wisely sat down and called on Zhixing, who had come out with half a bamboo basket of sweet potatoes, to talk.
Zhi Xing's attention was no longer on that. Ignoring the stiff-faced bald man, he sat down and asked Ye Wenxue, "Boss Ye, how do you eat this thing?"
"Bury it in ashes and wait for it to ripen."
She fully activated her wood-type ability and, with the added effort of watering the sweet potatoes with spiritual spring water every day, managed to harvest another batch of sweet potatoes in just over ten days.
Considering we're business partners, I brought a dozen or so for them to try.
Zhixing said "Oh," did as instructed, and then began to recount his argument with the bald man.
Ye Wenxue's first reaction: "...Wow, you've almost monopolized the charcoal market in the surrounding towns."
It's not a case of malicious low-price monopoly.
It's no easy feat to achieve this level of skill.
Zhixing had never been praised so directly before, and he couldn't help but smile, feeling very pleased with himself.
Bald man: "......"
After thinking for a moment, Ye Wenxue spoke up amidst the anxious gazes of the others: "I understand Baldy's concerns. He's become more timid after making money, and he's afraid of losing it all if he's not careful."
She stared at the bald man: "But you're satisfied with just this little bit of silver? Do you want to stay in the bandit stronghold forever and never come down the mountain? Or don't you want to take your mother to the town to see the county seat and enjoy herself?"
"When we weren't making much money at the beginning, you were willing to cooperate with me to sell charcoal, even though you were worried. Why did you become indecisive after we started making money?"
The bald man hesitated, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, and muttered softly, "Back then, I was blinded by money, and I was also afraid you'd be angry."
After spending some time together, Baldy figured out Ye Wenxue's personality: as long as she didn't cause trouble, she wouldn't kill anyone indiscriminately.
So I'm not so afraid of her anymore, and I've become much bolder.
Ye Wenxue said expressionlessly, "Is it still my fault?"
Noticing the cold, stern gaze, the bald man broke out in a cold sweat and quickly apologized, "No, no, it's my fault!"
He added, "Boss Ye, you should understand, it's not that I don't trust Zhixing, but rather..."
Zhixing focused intently on turning over the sweet potatoes with a bamboo stick, occasionally glancing up at them, without saying much.
Ye Wenxue pondered for a moment: "The charcoal sale is a three-way collaboration, and since we all have people from all three parties, let's make a vote. Those who believe in Zhixing's abilities and support him going to the county town, raise your hands; those who don't support him, don't move your hands."
"Now, let's begin."
There were seven people around the campfire, including Zhixing, Ye Wenxue, two from the Xu family, and four from the bandit stronghold.
There are six raised hands.
The only bald guy who didn't raise his hand looked left and right, then asked, "???"
He didn't dare ask Ye Wenxue or the old man Xu Lin, who was under her protection. He turned around and slapped the two lazy bandit underlings who were slacking off: "Why are you two raising your hands?"
One of the bandits, looking aggrieved, said, "Boss Nian, we all support Zhixing!"
The bald man rolled his eyes in anger.
The second bandit whispered, "To be honest, if it weren't for Zhixing, we wouldn't have been able to earn so much silver selling charcoal."
After all, manpower is limited, so not much charcoal can be burned.
Nearly half the population of the small town at the foot of the mountain had fled the famine, so they didn't need much charcoal.
It was because Zhixing acted first and reported later that he took charge of the collection and distribution of charcoal to other towns, which is how he earned so much silver.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
