Auspicious Teahouse.
As soon as Ding Youtian entered the teahouse, he heard Liu Xiazi's voice, "Bodhi Patriarch took the ruler and hit the monkey on the head three times..."
Blind Liu's storytelling was full of emotion and vivid body language, which won applause from the whole room. The waiter with a towel draped over his shoulder was mesmerized by his story. When he saw them come in, he hesitated and did not come forward immediately. Only when he saw the boss move at the counter out of the corner of his eye did he run forward.
"Sir, please take a seat upstairs!" The waiters were all smart. As soon as they saw Huo Jincheng walking in front of them, they took him directly to the private room upstairs.
"What book are you talking about?" Huo Jincheng asked out of curiosity.
"Journey to the West." The waiter led them to the elegant seats upstairs and told them the story of Journey to the West attentively.
"A long, long time ago, on Yunwu Mountain behind Dingjia Village, a large rock suddenly exploded. Guess what popped out of it?"
"Monkey, Monkey King!" Erniu pointed at Jian Ning and said proudly, "This is what my mother said. My mother told us last night."
Blind Liu changed the beginning. He changed Huaguo Mountain to Yunwu Mountain. Local people all know Yunwu Mountain, so it naturally sounds more attractive.
"That's right, a stone monkey jumped out." The waiter just thought that Jian Ning had listened to the storyteller Liu the Blind telling stories about Journey to the West. Huo Jincheng and Yang Jinyu also thought so. Huo Jincheng asked the waiter to bring a pot of good tea and ordered a table full of cakes and snacks.
After the tea and snacks were served, he saw that the four little ones did not show any greedy look, and their eyes did not linger on the food for long. He looked at Jian Ning and Ding Youtian with a higher opinion in his heart.
During the conversation, he asked what the Jian Ning family was buying in town. Ding Youtian spoke before Jian Ning could, telling him they were buying silver fox fur. He said "Oh," and Ding Youtian had already pulled out the silver fox fur from his backpack.
"This is indeed a top-quality piece." Huo Jincheng knew the value of things and did not ask them where they got it. He thought it would be perfect to make it into a waistcoat and give it to his mother.
He was willing to pay five taels of silver for the silver fox fur. Jian Ning wasn't familiar with the ancient market prices, but Ding Youtian knew it well. He knew the fur would fetch a maximum of two taels of silver in the county town. He said with a smile that the goods were sold to the right people and that the price didn't matter. Though he appeared tense, he was actually beaming with joy.
From his tone, Jane Ning knew they had made a profit, and she also understood why he agreed to come to the teahouse. She didn't intend to say anything more. Buying and selling are free, who would complain about having too much money?
"Mr. Huo is such a straightforward person." Jian Ning did not hide her joy at the moment. After all, they didn't have a penny in their hands. She happily took the silver ingot handed to her by Huo Jincheng. Seeing that its color was warm and the silver content was at least 97%, her smile became even brighter.
Seeing her so happy, the three grown men present had their own thoughts.
Ding Youtian: My wife likes money, so he will work hard to make money to please her.
Huo Jincheng: This woman is a bit greedy for money, but he overestimates her.
Yang Jinyu: It seems that I have a good chance of becoming your disciple. I should prepare some generous gifts and visit you someday.
Although Huo Jincheng had some opinions about Jian Ning, he did not show it on his face. He thought in his heart that Jian Ning was just a country woman, and he would stay here for two or three days at most before returning to Beijing. He would not have any interactions with Jian Ning in the future, so he was still very polite in his words and deeds, and kept smiling.
Huo Jincheng could have returned to Beijing immediately, but he was known for his cautious approach, so borrowing someone from the government office was a necessary evil. Ma Fuquan was so brave, he worried about arousing the suspicion of Prince Yong's men. If they discovered that Ma Fuquan was a constable, and Prince Yong reported him to the Emperor, the Crown Prince would undoubtedly be implicated.
The current emperor is a sage ruler. Since ascending the throne, he has rested and recuperated with the people, and the national strength is thriving. Otherwise, Old Ding's family would not have been able to build a new house. If the emperor knew that the prince had allowed his men to disturb the local officials in order to prepare a birthday gift for him, he would definitely punish the prince. Therefore, he decided to stay a few more days to observe before leaving.
Opposite the teahouse is the yamen. It is not accurate to call it a yamen. There is no yamen in the small town, but local people are accustomed to calling it a yamen. In fact, it is an office place. The person in charge is the town lord, who has a clerk under him, and there is also a captain of the police and a few constables.
Ding Youtian achieved his goal. He sat for a while, drank two sips of tea, and then made an excuse that he had to go find Lao Liu and did not want to disturb them from reminiscing about the past. He stood up and said goodbye.
Huo Jincheng did not try to persuade them to stay, but Yang Jinyu wanted to improve her friendship with Jian Ning and tried her best to keep them for a while. Finally, seeing that she could not keep them any longer, she sent the whole family out of the teahouse.
"The man surnamed Huo has a somewhat cold look in his eyes. Madam, you may have noticed that." Ding Youtian said to Jian Ning after coming out of the teahouse.
"Why do you care whether he is cold or not? He can be cold as he pleases. Just pay attention to him." Jane Ning had silver in her pocket. This was the first money she earned after she came here. Her mind was full of thoughts about what necessities the family needed to buy, so she didn't want to waste energy thinking about other things.
Ding Youtian smiled at his wife's words and said nothing more, but subconsciously glanced across at the other side. Huo Jincheng was able to mobilize the resting Constable Ma to work for him, so the town lord must have approved of him, which showed that he was quite influential. But then he thought again, they were just ordinary people, and there was no forced buying or selling. Besides, the five taels of silver was his own price. Even if he reported it to the town lord, he couldn't punish them, no matter whether they were hot or cold.
The family went shopping happily. When they passed by a grocery store, Jane Ning bought two kilograms of white sugar and a piece of malt sugar for each of the four little ones. It was the first time for the four little ones to eat malt sugar since they were big. They were very happy. Jane Ning noticed that except for Erniu, the other three little ones only ate half a piece and secretly put the remaining half in their pocket.
After a walk around the town, Jane Ning had a rough idea in mind. There were only two wineries in the town. Since Grandma Wu loved wine, Jane Ning could tell the quality of the wine by its color.
High-quality wine is colorless and transparent, with no sediment and suspended matter. The two wineries in the town sell low-quality wine. It seems that the wine business is not going well.
Since he was planning to do it, Jian Ning felt it necessary to find Lao Liu to learn about the sales channels. However, when he arrived at the restaurant, he found out that Lao Liu had taken leave and returned to Dingjia Village.
But they ran into Lao Liu on the way back. Lao Liu had asked for leave to go home because he heard that Jian Ning was struck by lightning and his family was separated.
Seeing them, Lao Liu walked up to greet them, then looked at Jian Ning carefully, confirming that her memory had recovered and only had marks on her face. Everything else was fine. He was obviously relieved.
"Fourth brother, Fourth sister-in-law, there's something you need to be careful of. Mother wants to ask Wu Xiangu to catch a demon because Fifth sister-in-law says Fourth sister-in-law is a monster! Mother says Fourth sister-in-law is probably possessed by the tree spirit or mountain monster in the back mountain. Be careful that Mother will bring Wu Xiangu to cause trouble."
Before meeting Jian Ning, Lao Liu was still a little nervous, after all, what Lu said was very convincing. However, after seeing Jian Ning, he felt relieved. What kind of monster would carry a baby in a backpack, holding another in his hand, and smiling gently?
"Come on, I'm not afraid." Jane Ning said as if nothing had happened, but she was actually a little nervous in her heart. She was just a dead soul in another world. If that fairy lady was really capable, she really didn't know how to deal with it.
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