fox
The competition time passed quickly and soon it was the last day of five days.
Not long after Shopkeeper Xu came out of the village, he was filled with joy. He stood at the competition venue and called on others to come and compare their newly launched insect repellent formula.
The same rhetoric repeated year after year, some people grew tired of it and stopped going. But there were always those unfamiliar with the Xu's pharmacy's routines, and after hearing the words of the seemingly benevolent owner, they simply followed his lead and waited.
After Jiang Nian returned from his father's place, he didn't see any trace of Yu. Since there was nothing else he needed to deal with immediately, he had dinner and went to bed. When he arrived at the competition venue that morning, he was full of energy.
Guizhi, who was following behind Jiang Nian, saw Jiang Nian looking at Manager Xu who was standing in the rice field, and she also looked over there. After a while, she moved her gaze back from Manager Xu's rosy face and frowned with displeasure.
He took a few quick steps, leaned over to Jiang Nian's ear and whispered, "Manager Xu seemed so frightened by the spy's head a few days ago, but now he looks so energetic. I wonder what he went through later."
Hearing the meaning behind Guizhi's words, Jiang Nian turned his head slightly and said softly, "It's okay. It's just a small trick that can't be shown on the stage. The consequences will come to you in a while."
Shocked by her young lady's reply, Guizhi approached with a bit of curiosity: "How did you know that, young lady? Why don't you tell me?"
Knowing she would be so curious, Jiang Nian turned around with a smile, raised his hand and gently scratched Guizhi's nose, and said with a smile: "It's just my guess. How can I find out about that?"
She still remembered how her young lady and Duke Xiao had seemed very familiar with each other. Although Guizhi was afraid of Xiao Yingzhu, she also knew his almost all-knowing abilities. She continued, "How could that be? The young lady is in collusion with the powerful people in Huandu. It's really not that she heard anything from him..."
In just a few days, Guizhi somehow found out all this and inexplicably started talking about her and Xiao Yingzhu again. Jiang Nian's heart tightened, but a helpless smile appeared on his face: "How could he possibly want to know so many mysterious things? Do you think he is that kind of person?"
Sure enough, when Xiao Yingzhu's "well-known character" was mentioned, Guizhi immediately shut up and stopped talking.
If Duke Xiao would inquire about such Shinto matters, she would rather believe that Duke Xiao had changed his temperament and turned over a new leaf.
—
The first and last days of the competition always attract a wave of visitors, who mainly want to see whether the insect repellent they care about is effective and whether they should spend money on it.
Jiang Nian had an idea about the new insect repellent he had launched, and he was not in a hurry to go to the rice fields to see how many insects he had killed or how many people admired him. He just stopped outside the circle of onlookers and looked at the insect repellent on display on the stage.
The insect repellent on top seemed to have not been touched, and traces of liquid still remained on the edge of the cup. Jiang Nian blinked for a moment, frowned, and walked towards the bottle on the table.
Guizhi was standing nearby, waiting for the crowd to disperse. She turned around and saw her young lady, who was about to go somewhere else without saying a word. Even if she followed her, she would ask, "Young lady?"
Jiang Nian turned his head and looked at Guizhi for a moment: "You go to the rice field and wait for me first, I will come over later."
"Huh?" He didn't understand why Jiang Nian wanted to go to the stage, but Jiang Nian usually wouldn't make things up, so there must be something going on there.
Guizhi looked up in the direction Jiang Nian was walking, but only saw the insect repellent on the table.
Is there something wrong with the insect repellent?
She looked again, but couldn't make out anything.
The crowd in front was getting bustling, and it seemed that Shopkeeper Xu was about to start the final countdown for the competition. Guizhi immediately turned around and looked forward following the sound.
Guizhi's attention was attracted by the noise in front. Jiang Nian turned his head to look at the stage, then walked over quickly with small steps.
If her memory served her correctly, the water level of the insect repellent when she showed it to everyone should not have been this high. However, the insect repellent on the table was now a finger higher than before.
Am I dazzled, or has this insect repellent really been tampered with?
Jiang Nian lowered his eyes and looked for a moment, then slowly walked to the cup against the water level and looked down.
The liquid in the cup looks the same as before, but if you look closely you can still see traces of it being slightly moved.
How do the people on Meng Jian's side replace the insect repellent here?
Just pour the liquid aside and take it back for research. Did you mix tap water in there?
Jiang Nian looked around for a moment. Although she had replaced the core of the insect repellent, if she let the person run away without chasing him, it would mean that she was not acting well enough and would make the other party suspicious.
While everyone was still gathered in the rice field waiting for Manager Xu to start the countdown, she turned around and called over a secret guard lurking in the dark and exchanged a few words with him.
When Jiang Nian learned that someone else had indeed come up to this stage during this period, he immediately made a decision.
"If you can find him, go find him. If you can't find him... tell Xiao Yingzhu first."
Hearing his master's name suddenly, the secret guard was shocked and immediately nodded in agreement. He ran towards the Qishan Mansion in a flash. After a while, the light-colored figure disappeared in the distance of the competition venue.
Jiang Nian withdrew her gaze from where the secret guard had left, and happened to meet Guizhi's eyes as she was about to walk towards her.
As if he saw the doubt in Guizhi's eyes, he remembered that he had not told them about the "stealth" method of designing the insect repellent before. If he told them rashly now, he might scare her. Even though he suppressed the urge to confess directly, he just smiled and said:
"Aren't you going to go to the rice paddy to see whose insect repellent is better?"
Guizhi subconsciously looked back when she heard the sound, and saw the dense crowd surrounding Liangdu Pharmacy, and shook her head slightly.
"No, there are too many people and we can't squeeze in."
Jiang Nian moved the insect repellent on the table back a little, blocking Guizhi's view with a card angle: "If you want to see, why not just tell me that you are my assistant?"
It was rare for his young lady to joke with him. Guizhi's attention was distracted a little. He looked back and smiled a little embarrassedly, "Miss, don't joke with me like this - is there something going on here?"
Jiang Nian shook his head and changed the subject: "No, I've been busy these days checking on the relocation of the pharmacy. I haven't been here for a long time, so I came to see if there was any problem with the insect repellent."
Remembering what her young lady had told her, Guizhi nodded in agreement and said, "Don't worry, young lady. Guizhi and the servants have been watching over this place the whole time. No one has been here before."
Although he had some idea about the changes in the insect repellent, when he saw Guizhi's confident look, Jiang Nian still sighed softly and said with a smile: "Yes, yes, Guizhi is my best assistant."
She didn't understand where her young lady had learned these strange words, but Jiang Nian occasionally mentioned them more often when assigning tasks, and she gradually understood the meaning of these strange words without Jiang Nian explaining them.
Being able to tell that Jiang Nian's words were a compliment to her, she smiled confidently, "Of course! No one can escape my sharp eyes."
"Okay, then I'll leave everything else to you."
Jiang Nian was still thinking about the replacement of the insect repellent, but he couldn't show it on his face, so as not to let Guizhi notice anything, so he just smiled and sighed in response.
Guizhi, who was worried about the location for her young lady's school and wanted to make a name for herself in front of Jiang Nian, naturally didn't notice the hint of sadness in Jiang Nian's eyes, and her attention was successfully diverted by Jiang Nian.
—
The crowd in front listened to the inspiring words given by Shopkeeper Xu before the results of the competition were announced, while they whispered to each other and pointed at the rice fields in front of them.
"It's obvious this time. Although Xu's Pharmacy said they have launched a new insect repellent powder, based on the comparison of the results in these two rows of rice fields, it's clear that the insect repellent from Liangdu Pharmacy is better."
The people around him agreed with this and nodded, saying, "The most important thing is that the medicines in Liangdu are larger in quantity and not as expensive as those in Xu's Pharmacy."
There were naturally some who were impressed, but also some who were dissatisfied. Some loyal customers of Xu's Pharmacy even shouted "Hey, hey" a few times and said to the two people in front, "I saw you guys saying that Xu's Pharmacy's insect repellent powder is good and Liangdu Pharmacy's insect repellent is not good. You've changed your mind so quickly. Are you just fence-sitters?"
"What are you talking about? We're trying to distinguish right from wrong. We're making progress with the times, so of course we buy from whichever side is better."
"Yeah, we buy insect repellent just to make our rice grow better. Unlike you, you still sympathize with the shopkeeper who can't make money—"
"I've noticed that even after all these years of new products coming out of Xu's Pharmacy, none of them are as good as the Huangqi Ruisheng from Liangdu. It's bound to be phased out. What's the big deal?"
The person standing aside and maintaining neutrality listened quietly to the people next to him, occasionally interjecting a few words, but seemed to be more fence-sitter than the people currently arguing. Sometimes he sided with Liang Du, and sometimes with Xu. Soon someone saw that he was wavering, and the next second he kicked the person out of the crowd.
"Get out of here, fence-sitter!!!"
......
Shopkeeper Xu finished all his words of thanks with a smile on his face, then he lowered his eyes to glance at the rice fields of Liangdu Pharmacy and frowned with some displeasure.
He originally thought that if it was only slightly different from his family, he would just randomly give it their name, but he didn't expect there would be such a huge gap. How could he give it their name?
He never thought that the competition he organized would one day become someone else's wedding dress. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became and a little unhappy.
In the previous few years' competitions, Liangdu Pharmacy had not invented any useful insect repellent formula. However, after the little girl Jiang Nian took over the pharmacy this year, their insect repellent suddenly became better. I don't know where that little girl found these strange formulas, they are even better than theirs!
It's so abominable.
Shopkeeper Xu stood where he was. The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. How could his own girl be more capable than a cunning and treacherous old fox who had been in business for half his life?
The previous owner of Liangdu Pharmacy was not able to make such a powerful insect repellent?
With the blessing and yellow talisman he had obtained from the village, Manager Xu was no longer afraid of any gods or ghosts. Seeing that others were still observing and counting the rice in the rice fields in front of them, he put down the somewhat sour smile on his face.
Now that the little girl has taken over, it’s like a koi fish leaping over the dragon gate, all good things are happening to their family!
It was the Censor who wanted to cooperate with Jiang Nian, and it attracted a wave of refugees to buy their products, and they even used this competition as a free publicity stage for their family.
And the head of Sun Dun...
Thinking of this, Shopkeeper Xu subconsciously rubbed the yellow talisman in his pocket for a moment before he felt relieved.
This little girl was no ordinary girl. He had to find someone to find out her background. Perhaps her previous affection for Mr. Li was all fake! To deceive their sight, she was actually secretly practicing some unique remedy.
No, this won’t do. If the customers we get from Lord Zhu are divided up by Jiang Nian, then we’re doomed!
Shopkeeper Xu wanted to take out a handkerchief from his clothes to wipe his sweat, but he found that he had never thought of carrying this thing. Feeling a little embarrassed, he looked up and saw the crowd on the other side of the rice field.
The two looked at each other in silence. Shopkeeper Xu gave an awkward laugh and pointed at the brightly shining sky: "Nothing, nothing, it's just too hot, I want to wipe the sweat off my face."
Everyone ignored Manager Xu's words and pushed each other forward until everyone could just catch a glimpse of the rice fields. Then they turned to him and muttered, "Forget it, forget it. Tell us the rankings quickly!"
There was no need to drag it out any longer. The winner of this competition was clear at a glance. Shopkeeper Xu wiped the sweat from his forehead, closed his eyes, and made up his mind:
"The top-ranked pharmacy this time is - Liangdu Pharmacy!"
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