Ma Twelve took the opportunity to run behind Lou Yunchun and complained, "You saw it, he treats me like this every day." He knelt down in front of Xu Jiang again and begged, "Xu Jiang, please save me, he will really beat me to death." After that, he knelt down and kowtowed to Xu Jiang.
The onlookers immediately started talking.
Shopkeeper Wang heard the commotion and came out to see what was happening. He saw that it was the commotion in front of Xu Jiang's gate and thought someone was causing trouble again, so he ran over and asked, "What's going on?"
Xu Jiang shook her head at him. Before she could say anything, the man pointed at her and said, "Well, it was you who kidnapped my horse servant."
As he spoke, he fell off his horse, stepped forward, kicked Ma Twelve aside, and said angrily: "You must give an explanation today, otherwise we will go to see the officials!"
Shopkeeper Wang was amused. "What official are you meeting? The official is standing right in front of you."
The man gave him a puzzled look.
Xu Jiang gave Shopkeeper Wang a look, and he immediately fell silent. She then shook her head at Lou Yunchun to stop him from coming over.
This was not a big deal, she could handle it. There were so many onlookers, she didn't want to drag Lou Yunchun into it to avoid causing controversy.
Xu Jiang asked the man, "I suppose you are the caravan's leader?"
The cook said gruffly, "So what?"
Xu Jiang smiled. "I think there's a misunderstanding between us. I didn't mean to kidnap your horse servant. I just happened to meet him and exchanged a few words. I didn't expect him to come to my house today, complaining that you often abused him and asking me to redeem him. I was just trying to persuade him to go back, but you came here first."
"Borrow your freedom?" Upon hearing this, the head cook angrily whipped Ma Twelve a few more times. "I was wondering why you've been so restless lately. Turns out you had this brilliant idea!"
After beating the man and venting his anger, he turned to Xu Jiang and said, "Of course I can redeem him, as long as you're willing to spend the money. I paid seven taels of silver to buy him, and I was tricked into buying him. His previous owner said he was capable and hardworking, so he paid that price, but he turned out to be a lazy, cunning and dishonest person. If you want to take this rag, I'm happy to sell it to you for two taels. But a few days ago, he sold my horse, which was worth twenty-five taels, for eight taels. If you want to buy him, just pay the reduced price for him, and he'll be yours."
The onlookers did the math and exclaimed, "Five taels plus seventeen taels equals twenty-two taels. Who can afford a slave at that price?"
Someone echoed: "That's right, even a wealthy family would only employ a maid of three or four taels, and a male servant of four or five taels, how could it be so expensive?"
"Looks like someone trying to rip you off."
"I think so."
The cook was furious. He was also cheated by that gambler, so why was he being talked about?
Then he said angrily, "Just say whether you want to buy it or not, don't hesitate."
Xu Jiang could afford the price, but it wasn't worth it. She ignored Ma Twelve's pleading eyes and said to the cook, "I haven't agreed to redeem him. Please take him away."
The gang leader snorted coldly, and without saying anything, he turned around and whipped Ma Twelve to his feet, cursing, "Why are you pretending to be dead? Didn't you hear that I won't redeem you? Get up and lead the horse for me!"
When Ma Twelve saw that his abacus had broken down, he glared at Xu Jiang angrily, and was then beaten away by the cook.
Seeing that the excitement was over, everyone dispersed. Shopkeeper Wang was about to ask for details when he suddenly smelled a burnt smell coming from the room.
"What's fuzzy?"
Xu Jiang cried out, "Oh my!"
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