Chapter 160 Bargaining
Wen Wan's eyes gleamed, but her expression remained calm. "Hey, my family can still make ends meet. It's not worth taking a risk for a thousand taels. Let's just forget it."
The corners of Wei Lao's mouth twitched, and he barely controlled his expression. "One thousand taels isn't enough for you to take the risk? You two really don't know your place."
Wen Wan sighed pretentiously, "Well, we don't want the 1,000 taels of silver anyway. We're going down the mountain now..."
As she spoke, she acted like she was bargaining for vegetables at the market and pulled Zhou Lingling's arm as they walked out.
As she walked, she kept an eye on Mr. Wei and Master Li.
The two of them exchanged glances stealthily, and then Old Wei quickly walked around to them again.
"Don't worry, my two friends. You've finally made it to the Mountain God Temple after overcoming so many challenges. How can you just give up like this? If you leave without giving it a try, people who don't know the inside story might think we, the Wei family, are playing rogues."
He spoke sincerely, as if he was thinking about them.
"We in the Wei family aren't that stingy. How about this? I'll add... another hundred taels. If you get the silver note, you can get 1,100 taels. How about that?"
Wen Wan pursed her lips and said, "Mr. Wei, the Wei family is the Empress Dowager's family and the richest family in Haicheng. You're only offering one hundred taels? How can you be so embarrassed to give it to me? Forget it, we don't want the banknotes anymore. We just want to go down the mountain."
She pulled Zhou Lingling and pretended to leave.
Master Li of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, who was in the distance, also changed his expression when he saw this.
He walked over, whisk in hand. "Old Wei, this young lady is right. How can the dignified Wei family be so stingy? They're not going to let the Empress Dowager down. I think we should just double the reward. If they get the silver note, I'll give them two thousand taels each."
"Two thousand taels?" Old Wei moved his fingers, looking somewhat unhappy.
Two thousand taels per person, four thousand taels for two people, which is the annual profit of a prosperous shop.
Master Li coughed twice and winked at Mr. Wei.
Only then did Old Wei grit his teeth and agree, "Okay! Two thousand taels."
Wen Wan noticed the look between the two of them, and became more certain of her guess.
She thought for a moment, pretended to be struggling with the temptation of money, and then nodded reluctantly.
"Two thousand taels, that's an offer I can't refuse. Then... let's give it a try."
As soon as she finished speaking, Zhou Lingling next to her shuddered with fear.
Zhou Lingling is just not as smart as her, but she is definitely not stupid.
Now, even he can see that there is something fishy going on.
Master Li and Old Wei were clearly acting in cajoling them into taking the silver bills from the wooden box.
His face wrinkled into a ball, and he looked at Wen Wan worriedly, as if to say with his eyes, why did you go to the box to touch the banknotes when you knew there was a problem?
Wenwan responded with a soothing look.
Perhaps her calmness infected Zhou Lingling. Although Zhou Lingling was trembling with fear, she still gritted her teeth and followed her.
Wen Wan stood in front of the wooden box, clasped her hands together, and bowed from afar in the direction of the main hall of the mountain temple.
"Oh, mountain god, please grant me strength! If I do get the silver note, next year on this day, I will come here with fruits, scented oils, and more to fulfill my vow."
After she finished speaking, she rolled up her sleeves and reached into the box.
Zhou Lingling was worried for her.
Then, she quickly pulled out a silver note and shouted exaggeratedly, "Mountain God bless you! I finally got the silver note."
Not far away, Old Wei curled his lips and his temples twitched.
The more Zhou Lingling watched, the more surprised he became. But when it was finally his turn, he felt a little timid.
Wen Wan pushed him and said, "Go ahead. Pray to the mountain god first. The mountain god is very powerful and will definitely bless you."
Mountain god?
Zhou Lingling looked towards the main hall suspiciously. Against the light, the hall was pitch black and she could only see a blurry statue.
"Worshiping the mountain god, will it really be useful?"
Why is he so unconvinced?
Wen Wan nodded affirmatively, "It's useful, don't worry."
Zhou Lingling's mouth twitched. "Okay, but I don't believe in the mountain god. I believe in you."
Wen Wan was stunned, and then she saw the young man turn around, as if he was going to die heroically, and put his hand into the cave with his eyes closed.
She was stunned for a moment, then a smile bloomed on her face, and a warm feeling rose in her heart.
The middle school boy is indeed full of enthusiasm. Give him some light, and he will dare to give you a bright starry sky.
Good boy, worth making friends with.
"Huh?"
Zhou Lingling withdrew her hand in disbelief, staring at the banknote in her hand with her eyes wide open.
"Sister Xiaowan, I, I got the banknote?"
Wen Wan raised her hand and poked his brow, smiling and said, "Yes. You got it. It seems that this mountain temple is really very powerful. As long as we worship the gods, we are lucky enough to get the silver notes."
Zhou Lingling was skeptical and always felt that something was wrong.
The people around were stunned, and they all looked secretly into the mountain god temple.
People were thinking that the mountain god here was so powerful, so they would come to worship often in the future.
Mr. Wei fulfilled his promise and gave Wen Wan and the other girl an extra 1,000 taels of silver notes each.
The other two people who received the banknotes were jealous.
How could they have imagined that they could bargain over the silver bills?
The onlookers dispersed, leaving only Envoy Qiu Hua and four young men who received the silver notes. They were invited to get on the Wei family's carriage.
There were three carriages in front and behind, and the young man chosen as the fur flower messenger sat alone in one.
The remaining four people sat in pairs, and Wen Wan and Zhou Lingling got on a carriage.
As soon as they sat down, Zhou Lingling came over and asked anxiously, "Sister Xiaowan, what's going on? Tell me quickly, I'm so curious!"
Wen Wan raised her hand and rubbed his head, then leaned close to his ear and explained in a low voice.
"It's actually not that complicated. You can find clues if you observe carefully. When I was taking a hot spring bath, I noticed the birthmarks on several girls."
"The first girl who touched the banknote had a birthmark on her body, and she got the banknote."
"The second boy who went up, I'm not sure if he had a birthmark, and he didn't get the silver note."
"The two girls who went up later didn't have birthmarks on their bodies, so they both failed."
"If we only observe the girls, we can already make a preliminary judgment. Those with birthmarks will get the silver notes, and those without birthmarks will be eliminated."
Zhou Lingling couldn't quite keep up with her train of thought. After thinking carefully for a while, she was able to barely make sense of it.
"According to this deduction, since we both have birthmarks, we can also get the banknotes. But isn't this too risky?"
Wen Wan nodded, "Yes. So, I later tested the reactions of Mr. Wei and the Master of the Imperial Observatory."
Zhou Lingling thought of something and widened her eyes. "So you bargained on purpose?"
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