I will miss her
The Sun residence was located in a remote part of the capital, a long way away. Lin Kuo was drowsy in the carriage and almost fell asleep leaning on Master Sun's shoulder when Master Sun slapped him awake.
Master Sun said without the slightest hint of disdain, "Don't lean on my shoulder to sleep, it's annoying."
"Oh, oh." Lin Kuo didn't dare lean on Yi Shen's shoulder to sleep, and could only lean against the car in a half-awake state. With a bump, his head hit the car. "Bang!" It sounded painful, but even so, Lin Kuo rubbed his head and didn't wake up.
However, he must have realized that leaning against that spot was uncomfortable, so he shifted his body and leaned against Master Sun's shoulder.
Master Sun closed his eyes and endured it, not pushing him away. Unexpectedly, Lin Kuo only tightened his grip, pulling his arm into his embrace. Finally, Master Sun could no longer bear it, pulling his arm away from Lin Kuo's embrace and turning to ask Yi Shen, "Is my home really that far?"
Yi Shen held the flower he had plucked from Wu Qi's hair, glanced at the sleeping Lin Kuo, and said, "It's alright."
Master Sun pointed at Lin Kuo and said in a low voice, "Then why is he sleeping like this?!"
Yi Shen said, "Lian Shi loves to sleep."
Master Sun exhaled, forcing himself to stay awake as Lin Kuo slept soundly against his shoulder. He glanced at the flowers in Yi Shen's hand and said, "His Majesty has not made any arrangements yet. Even if the flowers wither, you may not be able to see Xiao Qi."
Yi Shen said, "I will miss her."
"Stop being so sentimental. You have plenty to eat and wear at my house, and I won't even ask for your money. Where else can you find such a good deal?" Master Sun sighed, glanced at Yi Shen, and then at Lin Kuo. "Now that you two are here, I don't know if we have enough vegetables at home. If we don't, we'll have to go out and buy some. Well, let's buy some vegetables first, so you two won't go hungry."
After saying that, he lifted the carriage curtain and, seeing that they had just arrived at the market, first said, "Stop the car." Then, he slapped Lin Kuo on the back and said, "Wake up!"
Still a little dazed after being slapped, Lin Kuo sat up straight and asked, "Have we arrived?"
"No, I came down to buy groceries," Master Sun said.
The two followed Master Sun off the carriage.
The coachman stopped the carriage to the side, just in time for an oncoming carriage to pass. As soon as Lin Kuo got out of the carriage and saw the market scene, his eyes widened.
Men, women, and children all wore headscarves and sat chatting on small wooden stools. They were dressed in coarse linen clothes, which were not very clean, and there were still traces of dirt on the hems of their skirts.
It seems that dirt was rubbed onto that spot many times, and it couldn't be washed off, so I simply gave up washing it.
They spread a cloth on the ground, each person's cloth being a different size and color. From a distance, it looked like a rainbow drawn by a child who had never seen one before, upon which neatly arranged fruits and vegetables were displayed. Some meticulous people would not only shake off the dirt hidden in the vegetables but also arrange them according to size and length.
The vegetables closest to you are somewhat withered, while those closest to the road, which are the freshest vegetables just picked from the field, are the ones that shoppers can see at a glance.
It stretches as far as the eye can see.
Even without getting close, just looking at the scene, you can smell the aroma of vegetables mixed with soil.
Lin Kuo had never seen such a scene before. In his household, groceries were always bought by servants and maids. The only time he had gone to buy groceries was when Langyue Tower was first built, when he and Yi Shen accompanied Yi Wo to select and order groceries. But at that time, everyone respectfully placed the groceries on a tray for Yi Wo to inspect, and Yi Wo was somewhat displeased and waved them away.
Lin Kuo remembered that Yi Wu did not order any dishes that day.
"Master Sun!! Here to buy vegetables again? Come and see, these are vegetables I just picked from the field this morning!!" A man waved and shouted as soon as he saw Master Sun.
When the others saw Master Sun arrive, they stopped chatting and waved to him, some standing and some sitting.
Master Sun led Yi Shen and Lin Kuo forward, squatted down with a smile, and skillfully picked up a bundle of spinach tied with red string, chatting with them: "The weather has been quite nice these past few days."
A woman laughed and said, "Yes, yes, it's because the weather is so nice that my daughter insists on drinking a bowl of cold, sweet water. I don't dare let her drink it, afraid she'll have a stomachache at night. Oh, teacher, do you think she can drink a bowl of cold, sweet water on such a hot day?"
Master Sun said, "Yes, one bowl is fine, but drinking it every day is not good."
Having grown accustomed to Master Sun's scolding, Lin Kuo felt extremely uncomfortable hearing him speak like this for the first time. He involuntarily shivered and muttered to Yi Shen, "How about we let Master Sun scold me a couple of times..." As he spoke, he added, "No, I feel like the two of us standing here are just a bunch of glamorous fools."
As soon as he finished speaking, he squatted down, picked up a carrot like Master Sun, and pretended to look at it.
"Oh dear! Young master! What do you need? I'll get it for you. Stand up quickly, you're getting all dirty!"
Their clean clothes made them stand out from the crowd, especially Yi Shen, who was wearing light-colored clothing today. Moreover, judging from the fabric of their clothes, they were quite expensive.
Lin Kuo, holding the carrot, said, "It's nothing."
Master Sun said, "He's not that delicate. He can just get some dirt on himself and wash it off. Let him look at whatever he wants."
The man then said, "Master, the two young men behind you are both quite handsome. Could they be your students from a few years ago who have grown up?"
Master Sun said, “Not the students of a few years ago, but the students of today.”
"The students these days..." The man realized what was happening, gasped, and looked at Yi Shen and Lin Kuo with a strange expression, a mixture of fear and disbelief. "Students of Ci Zi Ge?"
Although they didn't know the intricacies behind Cizi Pavilion, they knew that the students of Cizi Pavilion were all wealthy and powerful. Every single student from the pavilion was someone they couldn't afford to offend.
Yi Shen squatted down, picked up a carrot, and said, "Your drawing is bad, so you're being punished by having to face the wall in the teacher's house to reflect on your mistakes."
The little girl who had been clamoring for iced sweet water walked up to Yi Shen, tilted her head to look at him, and said sympathetically, "Brother, you're so old, yet you still get punished by Master Sun? I'm so young, and I've never been punished by Master Sun!"
Master Sun laughed and said, "You are much more capable than him!"
The little girl shook her head, and taking advantage of the fact that she was about the same height as Yi Shen who was squatting down, she patted Yi Shen's shoulder and said earnestly, "Brother is so big now. Although you are very handsome, you can't always make the teacher angry."
Her hands weren't clean; she patted Yi Shen's shoulder twice, leaving her handprint on his clothes. Yi Shen didn't seem to mind, saying, "Alright, I won't make the teacher angry anymore."
"That's good, that's good. Brother, what's your name?"
"Yi Shen".
Upon hearing this, the entire market fell silent. If the people had looked at Yi Shenshi with respect and avoidance before, they now looked at him with gratitude.
"You're Young Master Yi the Third!! Your elder brother is Young Master Yi the Second, Yi Wo?"
Yi Shen nodded.
"Your brother is such a good person! Look at the vegetables here! They're sourced directly from Langyue Tower's purchasing agents!! And your brother is very generous!! He offers very high prices!!"
Master Sun put the carrots Lin Kuo had picked back, glared at him, and then went to pick some himself, saying without even looking up, "I told you back then to rip off Ju Sheng more money, but you wouldn't listen. Now look how much gold and silver Langyue Tower earns every day!"
"What's going on here? Young Master Yi has already offered a very high price. Otherwise, we would all freeze to death in winter and die of heat in summer! How could we be sitting here chatting and laughing like this today? Besides, we're going to eat at Langyue Tower, and we'll only have to pay half the price." A woman smiled and handed scallions, ginger, and garlic to Yi Shen. "People from your aristocratic families are all good people, unlike other people of high status and power."
Those who had previously supplied vegetables to the government all starved to death. The vegetables were gone, and they hadn't received their money. Those who supplied vegetables to the government were forbidden from selling them to others. Some women with sick wives and children secretly set up stalls to sell vegetables, but were discovered by the government and beaten to death.
Back then, when Yi Wo came to them, they were absolutely unwilling, preferring to set up a stall and earn a little money rather than take the risk. Yi Wo came about five or six times, but they still refused. Then, Yi Wo came with a woman. The woman accompanying Yi Wo said softly, "We are the ones who buy more vegetables from you. We give you more money because we need more vegetables, and we hope you can help us reserve enough."
The woman was beautiful. She said that prices would rise when the harvest was bad, and that they would never stop them from setting up a vegetable stall. If Langyuelou became famous, they could use its reputation to sell vegetables. If they had any grievances, they could cry in front of the Yi and Song mansions.
Song Lingshu laughed and said, "Before the officials arrive, the two of us will be beaten to death."
They had heard a little about how strict the etiquette and rules of aristocratic families were, so they thought they would give it a try. To their surprise, they found it quite good and started supplying dishes to Langyue Tower.
"Later, many people wanted to supply dishes to Langyue Tower, so they inquired with us. Young Master Yi said that as long as the dishes were good, they would accept. But they didn't have the same preferential treatment as us, who get half-price meals at Langyue Tower."
"Yes, yes, this is much more reliable than any government agency."
In their eyes, they don't care who they supply vegetables to, they only care whether the money arrives on time and whether they can avoid being inferior to others.
When Bei Kun appeared and was defeated effortlessly, the crowd cheered and praised the aristocratic families. Back then, when the aristocratic families announced they would never touch Liu Ge and Bei Kun again, many people felt sorry for them, but they also understood their difficulties. Now, with the comparison between the two groups of vegetable farmers, the matter has been passed around in the streets, and the rumor that "aristocratic families often produce people who care about the people's plight" has also spread. In the end, the attention these aristocratic family scions are receiving from the public today is inseparable from this matter.
If you ask them, "Is it better to be a high-ranking official or a powerful family?"
Most of them would answer without hesitation: "A prominent family."
Moreover, people in the neighborhood would boldly approach and greet the children of prominent families, and would always receive a respectful bow. Even the taciturn Young Master Yi Ru and the sharp-tongued Young Master Ning Xunxu would return the greeting.
If they were to meet the children of high-ranking officials, they would not only be afraid to greet them, but would also try to avoid them. If they were to encounter someone like Wei Luanhua, they might not even know how they died.
Therefore, people in society always tend to favor aristocratic families.
Seeing that it was Yi Shen and Lin Kuo, they offered to bring some scallions, ginger, garlic, spinach, and green beans. This made Master Sun so angry that he blew his beard and glared at them, saying, "I've bought vegetables so many times, and you never give me even a couple of rotten vegetable leaves!"
The crowd cheered, "We'll give you one next time!!"
The little girl who patted Yi Shen on the shoulder picked and chose again, taking out a big, round apple from her family's stall. She said in a childish voice, "Brother, I accidentally got your clothes dirty when I patted your shoulder just now. This apple is to make amends! Is it enough?!"
Yi Shen took the apple and said, "That's enough, thank you."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
