The petty thief had a lot of grievances he couldn't express. He was about to speak, but before he could open his mouth, he was beaten up by the Chen family. Zhou slapped his mouth so hard that he couldn't speak at all.
Today, a horse-drawn carriage arrived at Anping Village. When the carriage reached the village entrance, the maid Xiaoju asked the driver to stop and asked a woman who happened to be passing by, "Auntie, do you know where Chen Ke's family lives? The one that sells dried flowers in the county town."
The woman saw the pretty young girl sitting in the carriage and wondered when that rascal from the Chen family had met such a beautiful and wealthy girl.
The woman smiled and said, "It's the Chen family who sell dried flowers! When you enter the village, take the rightmost road. When you reach the fork in the road, turn right and keep going. You'll see Chen Ke's house. But that road is too narrow for a horse-drawn carriage; you'll have to walk."
The maid Xiaoju said, "Thank you so much, Auntie!"
Miss Bai asked the driver to wait at the village entrance, and then took Xiaoju into the village. Following the road pointed out by the woman, they encountered many villagers who looked at them curiously, wondering where the pretty girl came from!
When Bai and her companions turned right at the fork in the road, passersby stopped seeing them, and they seemed to stray further and further off course.
Miss Bai said doubtfully, "We haven't gone the wrong way, have we? We haven't seen anyone on this road. Xiao Ju, let's walk a little further. If we see anyone, we'll ask Chen Ke where his house is."
Bai and her companion walked a little further and saw a group of shirtless men. They screamed and ran away.
Over here, a group of men were taking a shower shirtless. They were startled by the screams of the two girls and quickly covered themselves.
The village girls know this is their territory and would never come here. They must be outsiders who have been tricked into coming here.
Miss Bai and Xiaoju ran quite a distance before stopping, panting heavily. They never expected that the woman would dare to play tricks on them.
Xiaoju said angrily, "I'm so angry! She gave us the wrong directions. If I see her again, I'll make her pay."
"Miss, are you alright? Shall we still go to Chen Ke's house?"
Bai Lian thought for a while and said, "Forget it, I won't go today. What happened today will definitely reach Chen Ke's ears. If he knows that I went to the wrong place and was frightened, he will definitely come to comfort me."
Xiaoju said with a smile, "Miss, he definitely won't escape your grasp. Let's go back now!"
The two quickly returned to the carriage parked at the village entrance, and they left in the carriage.
As for the woman who gave Bai and her companions directions at the village entrance, she was Chen's mortal enemy. She would often argue with Zhou over trivial matters. This time, seeing such a pretty young girl looking for that scoundrel from Chen's family, she was extremely envious and jealous. So she deliberately gave Bai and her companions the wrong directions to see if the girl would still pay attention to her in the future.
However, she did manage to help Miss Bai and her group this time. If they had gone to the Chen family, who knows what might have happened!
The Chen family all believed that Bai Lian had sent someone to steal their dye and dried flower recipes, and that she had even seduced their fourth son. They thought Bai Lian's fate might be even worse than that of the petty thief.
As expected, the Chen family heard that two young girls had come looking for their fourth son that morning and had even taken the wrong turn to peek at the men in their village taking a bath.
Zhou frowned and said, "Fourth brother! You mustn't be bewitched by that Miss Bai and go to see her!"
Chen Laosi smiled and said, "Mother, don't worry! I will absolutely not be tempted by her."
Chen Kai also found it funny, wondering which villager had given them directions; it was truly a divine assist.
The next day, when Miss Bai found that no one had delivered a letter to them, she was furious and smashed things all over the floor. Bai Lian never expected that Chen Ke would be so dense and difficult to deal with!
Miss Bai said, "Xiao Ju, go and have someone keep watch at the entrance of the county town. If Chen Ke and his group come to the county town again, notify me immediately!"
Xiaoju said, "I don't know what that young master Liu is good for; he hasn't even gotten his hands on the stuff yet."
Young Master Liu was also very annoyed. He wanted to help Miss Bai by getting the Chen family's dried flower recipe and cutting off their dye supply.
Unexpectedly, both operations failed. Last time, he sent someone to buy dye from the Chen family, but the dye was stolen on the way back, and the source of the dye could not be found. This time, he sent someone to steal it again, but the person never returned.
That day, the Chen family finally finished planting all the rice seedlings in the field. Old Man Chen decided to take his family to town to relax and buy some grain. He wanted to stock up on some grain before the price went up, so he could feel at ease.
When they arrived in town, Daya and her friends looked around and touched things along the way, but didn't buy anything. Last time they had bought quite a few hair accessories and the like, so this time they just looked at them.
This time, Chen Kai and Xiao Tian went with Zhou Shi and the others to buy grain, and several children came along as well.
When the owner of the grain shop saw them coming, he immediately stepped forward and asked, "Gentlemen, what kind of grain would you like to buy?"
Mrs. Zhou said with a smile, "How much is your rice? We want to buy several hundred catties."
The grain shop owner was a little stunned when he heard such a large order. Normally, no one would buy so much rice. He immediately said happily, "The old prices remain unchanged: 15 coins for old rice and 25 coins for new rice."
Mrs. Zhou asked with a smile, "Since we're buying so much rice, could you give us a discount?"
The grain shop owner said, "The prices are all fixed. See which kind of rice you want to buy, and I can give you some for free."
Chen Kai said in a spoiled tone, "Mom, let's buy some new rice. I want to eat new rice."
Finally, Zhou said, "Boss, give me 200 jin of old rice and 50 jin of new rice."
After Zhou's heated debate, the boss delivered an extra three catties of old rice and half a catty of new rice.
Zhou asked, "Boss, is your black flour still 5 coins a pound?"
"Yes! How much black face do you want?" the boss replied.
Zhou said with a smile, "Give us another 100 jin of black flour!"
Chen Kai then pleaded with Zhou Shi to buy another 20 jin of white flour, which cost twice as much as black flour. Zhou Shi then asked the shopkeeper to give her an extra 5 jin of black flour.
In the end, it cost a total of 4,950 coins. Zhou gave the grain shop owner 5 taels of silver and gave them 50 coins in change.
After leaving the grain shop, Zhou said happily, "Let's go buy some meat buns!"
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