Chapter 136 Chapter 136 Update.
At Jiaomen Market, Guo Dalang and several other vendors were aggressively confronting each other, when they saw a half-grown child being dragged here.
The little boy wiped his sweat and said, "You misunderstood me. I received some vegetarian food from Xu Nu, but I didn't pay her. She gave it to my family for free. We didn't do any business."
Guo Dalang said, "This little boy has received many favors from her. You can't trust what he says!"
"That's right. Ji used good things to coax him, so he must be speaking on Ji's side." Aunt Li also said.
They were determined to make a big deal out of this matter today and ruin her business. How could they believe what the little boy said? Even if Mr. Cheng came in person, they would still have something to say.
Market clerk Guo ordered, "She's selling things she shouldn't be selling. She can't do that anymore. You two, come with me and smash her stall!"
After saying that, he teamed up with two younger city officials to take action. The two younger ones looked at Ji Xu. Although they were reluctant, they had no choice but to obey his orders.
The vendors were excited and rolled up their sleeves to start smashing things.
“Don’t smash it!”
Ji Xu pulled Guo the clerk aside.
Market clerk Guo had something in mind, so he stopped her and listened to her say:
"This place is under the supervision of Mr. Xue, the old clerk. Although he's on leave, if he comes back and finds out about this, won't he cause a big fight with Mr. Guo?"
These unconnected small stalls were inevitably extorted by the market clerks when collecting market taxes every month. She paid some bribes to a market clerk named Xue on a regular basis, which helped her avoid many troubles.
But today, Xue the clerk was not there, so Guo the clerk came up to pester him.
"I'm in charge of this place," said Guo, "even if he comes back, I'll handle things impartially. What can he do to me?"
He squinted his eyes at her and said something with a hidden meaning:
"Do you have anything else to say?"
This Guo, the market clerk, always scolded the street vendors as worse than pigs and dogs. He loved drinking and gambling, and when he ran out of money, he would ask the vendors to "borrow money". He said the money was a loan, but in fact, it was like throwing meat buns to a dog, and it would never come back. He had embezzled a lot of the vendors' hard-earned money.
Even Ji Xu was "borrowed" by him, but because she paid one or two taels of silver every month to please Xue the market clerk and also gave him some braised food and good wine, she was able to get the protection of Xue the market clerk and drive away Guo the market clerk.
How could Ji Xu not know that this man wanted to blackmail him? Not to mention that his family had little money now, even if he had money, he would not want to give it to him and just pretended not to understand.
Guo Shili started the conversation:
"The last time I asked you to borrow money, it was because you filed a complaint, and that old clerk Xue scolded me. You only lent me some money to buy some wine, so I didn't bother with you."
How shameless.
Ji Xu said, "We just paid our taxes, so we really don't have any money."
"Are you treating me like a three-year-old? You count the number of people here every day!"
When Guo Shili heard this, he was about to wave his hand and let them smash and destroy things. Ji Xu hurriedly said:
"In that money box is the money I earned today. Clerk Guo will borrow it to buy some good wine."
Seeing that his expression did not change, I knew that he thought it was too little, so I advised him:
"Please don't smash my stall yet. I can still make more money. I will lend you all the money I sell today. You will get at least three strings of cash."
In fact, there were four strings of cash, but she said less, thinking that at least she could get through today and find Xue, the city clerk.
But the clerk Guo opened his mouth very high and said with a few gestures:
"Twenty strings of cash."
"Twenty strings of cash?"
**
At the city tower, a plump old woman with gray hair called out:
"This is terrible, this is terrible, Guo Shili and his gang are going to destroy Ji's stall!"
This old lady Meng was selling melons and vegetables over there. She usually chatted and laughed with Ji Xu. Now she came to call for help on her behalf. She stamped her feet anxiously in front of the market building and shouted to the heights:
"Mr. Treasurer! Mr. Treasurer!"
The city steward was one level higher than the city officials and could control those people. Du Xian saw the chaos in the southwest corner from the upstairs and did not come down.
Aunt Meng called out for a while before coming out and asking, "What are you making such a fuss about?"
Aunt Meng quickly told the story of what happened there.
"They are jealous of Ji Shi and are deliberately framing him! They don't even believe what the little boy says!"
Du Xian should have taken care of it, but when he thought of his aunt Jin's competitive spirit towards the neighbors, especially since the neighbors had moved to a bigger yard, she kept saying that her yard was small and that this was not good and that was not good. She was not as polite to him as before, probably because she thought he was not capable enough.
That is, his wife Ji Yuan, who gently comforted herself that the house was big enough for her to live in, and it was her mother's love and her tendency to compete with her sisters-in-law that was a lifelong habit that she could not change.
Du Xian originally had no grudge against his neighbors. In fact, at the beginning, when they rented the small house converted from the warehouse, he felt sorry for the four mother and daughters. So when Ji Xu got the empty space in the southwest corner, he did not make it difficult for her.
But now, his heart has changed.
"Please ask the mayor to take care of this."
Aunt Meng held her hands together and begged for the truth.
"They clearly saw that Aunt Tian was away and came here to cause trouble. Mayor, please take care of it."
"The city officials will take care of that matter, you nosy old woman! Hurry up and leave!"
Du Xian returned to the city building, closed the door, and left the old woman running around anxiously outside.
In the southwest corner, a group of people were waiting for the order from the city clerk Guo to smash the stall, but they saw Ji Xu pulling the people away to talk.
Guo Dalang and others were getting anxious. His nephew was a greedy person, and he was afraid that Ji Xu might have promised him some benefits and change his mind and not destroy the things.
Jin was also watching the excitement in the crowd, her heart trembling. Her daughter Ji Zhi's face was anxious and she said:
"This Guo is not a good person. When a vendor refused to lend him money, he called him a cheap merchant and a dead pig, saying he would never die a good death."
She had been in Jiaomen for a long time, so she had naturally seen him before. Because her brother-in-law was the superior of Guo Shili, Guo Shili did not dare to offend her family. He even greeted Ji Zhi with a smile when he saw him. Ji Zhi always turned his face away and ignored him.
"I'll ask my brother-in-law to take care of him."
Just as he was about to step out, Jin grabbed him and said:
"Who asked you to meddle in other people's business? She sold something she shouldn't have sold. Now that your brother-in-law is here, can you still protect her?
Go, someone is here to buy some rice and meat soup, why don't you go back and look after the stall?"
Jin drove her away. When Ji Zhi turned around, she glared at him until she lingered in front of her stall.
Jin turned back to watch the fun and muttered:
"That's because Tian is not here, otherwise this skinny and monkey-like Guo Shiliu really is no match for her."
"What are you talking about..."
"Guo Dalang, your nephew wouldn't be protecting this Ji family, would he?"
The vendors were getting impatient and were rustling around.
Only the faint sound of Ji's high-pitched voice, "Twenty strings of cash," could be heard. The conversation between the two parties seemed to have broken down. Guo, the clerk, turned away angrily, and refused to listen to Ji Xu's persuasion. He waved his hand and said:
"Smash it! Smash it all!"
"Okay! Smash it!"
The peddler responded, and Guo Dalang rushed out first, picked up a double-handled pottery plate, and was about to smash it to the ground.
There were some unsold braised foods left here, and Ji rushed over to grab them. He was pushed by Li Gu Zi and staggered, and was helped by someone.
When she saw it was Jin, her expression changed and she hurriedly gave up.
Ji Xu didn't care about anything else and rushed to grab the goods. The other vendors rushed over and the stall was about to be lost.
"stop!"
With a loud shout, the crowd made way for a man who turned out to be an elderly man dressed in ordinary clothes with a store token on his waist.
But the clerk Guo's expression changed faster than turning the pages of a book, and he greeted him:
"Mr. Mayor, why are you here?"
The East and West Markets are large in scale and are governed by a mayor, while the small markets have a mayor, who is the highest-ranking city official. The mayor of Jiaomen City does not come here often, and Ji Xu has not been here for long and has not seen him yet.
But Guo Dalang and his colleagues who had been working there for several years had certainly met before, so they quickly put down their pottery plates and complained:
“This Ji sells vegetarian dishes, so she shouldn’t run this stall anymore.”
The little boy interrupted, "Nonsense! You're clearly jealous of her success. If you don't believe me, I'll tell you that the lotus root and dried bean curd sheets were gifts from her!"
"Who is jealous of her? You are good friends with her. How can I believe your words?" Li Gu Zi argued cunningly.
"What about me? If I say that this vegetable dish was indeed a gift from her, can you believe it?"
The mayor said that he was a guest who had just tasted the braised beef at Mr. Cheng's house and had just come here to discover the commotion.
After hearing this, they didn't dare to argue anymore. The mayor said:
"Guo Cheng, you've always bullied street vendors, and now you're even more disobedient and leading a riot. From today on, you'll be dismissed from your position as a city clerk! You're not allowed to enter or leave the store!"
City Clerk Guo was as frightened as a frost-bitten eggplant. He pleaded with him politely. His uncle Guo Dalang also changed his expression. If his nephew no longer worked here, who would protect him? He hurriedly made mistakes. The mayor ignored him and asked:
"Where is the mayor of this place?"
Du Xian, who had just woken up from his sleep and had straightened his clothes, came trotting over and respectfully stood before the mayor. The mayor glanced at him and said:
"Improper management, a three-month salary deduction!"
Du Xian didn't dare to argue and accepted the order and said yes. Upon hearing this, Jin groaned and her face looked as ugly as the sole of a shoe.
Ji Xu was picking up the mess on the ground. Guo Dalang had smashed a pottery plate containing duck feet, leaving a lot of duck feet on the ground. Ji Xu was picking up the broken pottery pieces. The mayor said:
"Young man, are you hurt?"
Ji Xu said: "I'm fine, it's just a pity to lose something."
"You guys broke her things, and you're not going to compensate her?"
Ji Xu said, "Thirty duck feet in total, plus this pottery plate with two handles, cost one hundred and fifty coins."
Aunt Li said, "It wasn't me, it was Guo Dalang who did it."
Guo Dalang said, "If you hadn't pulled her back, she would have stopped me and I wouldn't have been able to hit her."
Du Xian didn't dare to ignore it now. He glanced at the mayor and said:
"Each of us will pay half!"
Guo Dalang and Li Guzi had no choice but to bring the money.
"If you do it again, you won't be able to rent this stall anymore! Why don't you go back to doing business?"
The mayor said this, and the vendors like Guo Dalang and Li Guzi didn't dare to stay any longer. They were busy and dispersed, each going back to their own places. The place became empty. Ji Xu counted the money and it was this amount.
"Thank you, Lord Mayor. If you hadn't stopped them and testified on my behalf, I wouldn't be safe here. Xiaozhu, get some jute paper and wrap some braised food for the mayor."
The mayor looked at her stall and saw that the price of each item was listed on the signboard. The stall was also clean and tidy. In just a short while, many people came to buy braised food. The mayor nodded and said:
"I can really sell the store sign."
Later, he did not refuse and took the braised food that Ji Xu had packed back home.
Accompanied by a group of city officials including the city steward and the city clerk, they checked the sanitary conditions everywhere before getting on the carriage and leaving the market.
Although the vendors went back to their own places, they all glanced at the mayor. When they saw the jute paper he was holding, they knew it was given by Ji Xu.
Didn't they all send food to the mayor, but he refused to accept it? For a moment, they all thought that Ji Xu was a relative of the mayor, otherwise why would such a high-ranking official speak for her?
Guo Dalang had to pay the money and his nephew was dismissed from his job. He could only swallow his anger and did not dare to confront Ji Xu for the time being.
That evening, Tian and Ji Feng rushed into the Jiaomen Market, each holding a broom and a big stick.
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