Chapter 234: Rejecting the morally blackmailing invitation from the elves...
"Okay." Rong Zhen nodded readily, not noticing the changed expressions of the employees behind him.
Mary has told everyone her guess, and now they all think that Rong Zhen took out the emergency life-saving food specially prepared by the original owner's parents.
It's obvious that such food would never be prepared in large quantities. If it were given to the townspeople outside, what would they eat? Would they be forced to watch others eat sweet black bread while they themselves suffered from diarrhea by gnawing on half-cooked potatoes from the fields?
The hired workers were extremely reluctant and spontaneously gathered behind Rong Zhen, glaring at Lillian who came to ask for food at someone else's expense.
Lillian is open-minded and doesn't care about these looks. Besides, her original intention and starting point are good.
When a person believes that she is not wrong, no matter what others do, it will not affect her.
Rongzhen's answer fulfilled Lillian's wish. She gave her an appreciative and pleased smile, "Jenny, I was right about you. You are a beautiful and kind girl..." She praised her without paying any price.
The fact that the heroine is favored and recognized by many people and has the support of so many friends is not without merit.
At least her petal-like mouth is good at sweet-talking and praising people.
If it was the little girl of the original owner, she would probably be flattered by her praise and given whatever she wanted.
But Rongzhen is not someone who would be easily fooled by sweet words. To put it bluntly, she is the kind of person who won't show up until she sees the rabbit.
He only gave her a few words of praise without giving her any real benefits, and yet he wanted her to contribute life-saving food for nothing. Did he really take her for a fool?
So after Lillian finished her praise, Rong Zhen didn't, as she had expected, open the warehouse to distribute grain to the workers in mourning. Instead, she smiled and asked, "So, Miss Lillian, how many silver coins are you going to spend to buy the grain? I'm sure the surviving residents of town will be very grateful to you. After all, you're the one who spent money to save their lives. You are truly kind and great, Miss Lillian."
Lillian, who was about to go back and tell her friends to come over and get some food, said, "...?!"
The workers who were ready to stop them: "Hahahaha——"
Everyone knows that Lillian's family is a famous miser in the town. Except for her, everyone in the family only takes in money and never spends it. How could they be willing to spend money for free to buy food for the townspeople?
If Lillian hadn't been outstanding enough and hadn't made many friends, she would have been disliked and alienated by everyone.
She usually helps her family raise slimes, fish and sell fish, but she doesn't get any wages. Her family only takes care of her food, clothing, housing and transportation, but doesn't give her any pocket money.
All her pocket money was earned by her and her friends during her free time. Every copper coin was stained with her sweat and hard work. She was reluctant to spend it easily, and she didn't have much anyway.
However, Lillian herself didn't think this was shameful. She was simply surprised that Rongzhen would ask for money to buy food at this time. She said with astonishment, "I don't have any money. Now everyone has lost everything due to the disaster brought by the dragon, and there's no silver coins to buy food. That's why I came here. I hope Jenny can be generous and donate. The surviving townspeople will always remember your contribution."
Rongzhen shook her head secretly. Remembering her sacrifice? It's hard to say.
People will probably only remember that it was Lillian who found the food for them, and those who actually contributed would be lucky enough not to be labeled as villains.
So it is impossible to ask her to pay for nothing, but the words cannot be too blunt, lest she be attacked as a villain by the survivors outside.
"But we don't have much food, and we have to feed so many people on the farm. We can only scrape out a portion from our teeth. Also, as you can see, the farm has been severely damaged. Restoring it to its original state will cost a fortune. I want to use the saved food to fund repairs. Otherwise, this farm might cease to exist, and these poor workers will be homeless and starving. Miss Lillian, can you bear it?"
"Also, you said everyone lost all their property in the disaster brought by the dragons. I don't agree with that. It's well known that dragons love gold, silver, and jewelry. The flames they breathe can burn down buildings and melt farm tools, but they won't cause any damage to those shiny gold, silver, and gems. These are enough to exchange for life-saving food in the short term."
"If all else fails, digging up the potatoes buried in the ground can temporarily satisfy our hunger and help us weather the current crisis. They might not taste very good, though, so they need to be cooked. Compared to going hungry, they're nothing, Miss Lillian, what do you think?"
Rong Zhen spoke a lot earnestly, her saliva almost dried up, and the employees behind her nodded continuously.
Even the elf messenger who had quietly arrived couldn't help but applaud: "Well said, wise lady."
Only then did everyone realize that the elf had appeared in front of them at some point.
Similar to the image of elves in some fantasy movies and TV dramas in Rong Zhen's native world, the elves in this world are also tall and slender, with delicate and beautiful faces, a pair of pointed ears, light hair, green pupils, and delicate and fair skin, worthy of their nickname of forest darlings.
Humans are relatively friendly to these elegant, reasonable, peace-loving elves, who are just a little arrogant and indifferent.
Besides, the other party had just helped them drive away the dragon, so the people present could not do anything bad to them and greeted them respectfully and friendly.
Lillian likes to make friends, especially those who have helped her and have extraordinary abilities, regardless of race.
The elf was the most powerful person she had ever met. He had just helped her save her family. Although he had not succeeded, she was very grateful and wanted to make friends with him.
Although the person who came wasn't the Elf King she most wanted to make friends with, she still showed her brightest and most dazzling smile and asked before anyone else could speak, "Madam Elf, what brings you here?"
She guessed that he was coming to see her, perhaps on the orders of the Elf King?
The elf messenger's subsequent answer proved her guess to be correct.
She was indeed delivering the notice at the order of their king, but not just to Lillian, but to all the survivors in the town.
"The king said that in order to help the surviving townspeople rebuild their lives, a trading market will be opened on the outskirts of the forest. Everyone is welcome to come and exchange for necessary supplies, including food, butter, pepper, salt, and other necessities. The prices are guaranteed to be fair."
"If you can bring us something we like, we can get some discounts and have a chance to be invited to the royal palace in the center of the forest to observe the transaction."
As for what the elves like, everyone basically knows, and a lot of their preferences overlap with those of the dragons. Those gems that have been preserved under the dragon's fire will come in handy.
And with this way of exchanging supplies, Lillian no longer had to arrogantly take food from Will Farm for free.
They don’t even have enough to eat themselves.
Under the expectant gazes of Mary and the hired workers, Rong Zhen immediately expressed his support: "Thank you for the generous assistance of the elves. I will then bring gifts and my followers to the forest to trade for supplies. Please give my regards to your king." Then he performed a common etiquette in this world.
At Mary's signal, the people behind her quickly followed suit and saluted to express their sincere gratitude.
Lillian was left standing there alone, feeling a little awkward.
Fortunately, her friends waited for her in the town for a long time and thought she was being bullied at Will Farm, so they quickly came with people and surrounded her.
This was convenient for the elf messenger, so she could tell the same notice to this group of people without having to go to town again.
As for why she came to Will Farm first to inform Rong Zhen and others, only their king knew. She was just a tool elf who followed the king's orders.
After the elf messenger left, Lillian also left happily with her friends, without any embarrassment about her previous attempt to morally blackmail Rong Zhen into contributing food.
This mentality is amazing and not everyone can possess it. No wonder she can be the heroine.
Rong Zhen exclaimed in admiration and returned to the makeshift cabin built by the hired workers to tidy up the space and find things he wanted to exchange for supplies that the elves would like, and that had to be small and not take up space.
Otherwise it would be hard to explain. Mary and the hired workers knew almost everything about the large and valuable items in the original owner's house.
After some rummaging, Rongzhen finally found a set of exquisitely crafted mini crystal candlesticks. They were very transparent, very shiny, and very retro and fancy. They should be able to attract the elves' attention and exchange them for more money and goods.
In modern civilized society, this set of crystal decorations would not be too expensive, but this is a Western fantasy world.
She is promoting products across industries, but she is not allowed to earn some hard work fees?
Of course you can.
Rongzhen found a gift box to put them in with satisfaction and stopped sorting out other things.
Scarcity makes things valuable. One treasure is enough; having too many will only cause trouble.
The next morning, Rongzhen and the workers finished their meal of black bread and dried vegetable soup, took a few people specially picked by Mary and the gift box containing the crystal candlesticks, and walked out of the farm gate that had been repaired last night.
Yes, because of Lillian and the others' unauthorized intrusion yesterday, the workers worked overtime all night to repair and erect the farm gate and fence to prevent any more rude strangers from barging in.
The original owner's family used to have a small carriage, but the horses were scared away during the dragon disaster and the carriage was burned. Now they can only walk to the town square.
The elves gather there and will take with them those who want to participate in the market transactions.
If you are lucky, you might even be able to get a chance to ride an elf's exclusive mount.
Big moose.
Rongzhen pushed away the enthusiastic big guy who came forward to wash her face with his saliva as soon as she arrived, and hid behind Mary's broad back in a slightly embarrassed manner, causing everyone to laugh.
Since the disaster, Miss Jenny has been so serious and solemn since she returned to the farm, which made them think that she was deeply affected by the death of her parents and was forced to grow up quickly in the disaster.
It turned out that she was just trying hard not to worry everyone, and she was still that shy little girl.
Rongzhen blushed and said, "Who's shy? She's obviously angry!"
That damn big moose, why did it just keep taking a fancy to her? Not only did it lick her face with saliva, it almost put her head in its mouth, and half of her hair was wet. It completely ruined the farmer's demeanor she had been putting on for the past two days. How could she still intimidate everyone?
Damn it!!
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