Seeing that she had been browsing for a long time, the vendor asked, "Young lady, do you want to buy it?"
She turned her head, realized she had been daydreaming, and awkwardly laughed, "Yes, just these two. How much?" She pointed to two red boxes.
"Five taels of silver," the peddler said, holding up his finger.
She said "Oh," took out the purse from her waist, took out two silver notes, and found that they were large denominations. She then took out a five-tael ingot and handed it to the vendor.
"Oh!" she exclaimed softly. The gold ingot slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground, rolling a few times. A passerby bumped into her, saying "Sorry, sorry" and politely picked up the gold ingot and returned it to her.
She took it and handed it back to the vendor. The passerby who bumped into her stared wide-eyed. "It's you, young lady..."
Nan looked over and saw it was him. She nodded and said, "Thank you."
"Do you remember me? I'm the manager of Huikeju."
She nodded again, indicating that she remembered.
"Young lady, are you... are you available?" the shopkeeper asked ingratiatingly.
Nan Yi: "What's wrong? Is something the matter?"
"My master wants to see the young lady," the shopkeeper said in a low voice. Just now, his master had scolded him for not keeping anyone away. Unexpectedly, he had caught the young lady and could make amends for his mistake.
Nan Yi rolled up the silver note and put it away. She took the rouge from the vendor and looked at the shopkeeper. She had already seen them and had no desire to see them again.
The shopkeeper's eyes widened, and he glanced at the silver note out of the corner of his eye. He wondered where this girl, a mere maid, got her silver note. The amount was quite large. Could she be doing errands for her master?
She turned to leave, but the shopkeeper wouldn't let her go. Because she was in such a hurry, the shopkeeper didn't care and grabbed her sleeve, refusing to let go no matter what.
She tried to push him away, but accidentally touched her injured hand. Ouch, that really hurt! She quickly pulled her hand back to check it, and found that the wound on her palm had reopened and was bleeding.
The shopkeeper was still holding her sleeve, but when he got closer he saw the wound on her palm, so he quickly let go and apologized sheepishly.
Nan Yi was furious. Her anger flared up, and perhaps out of spite, she raised her voice and said, "What do you want? Openly pulling at a girl in the street, have you no shame...?"
The passersby stopped and pointed at the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper's lips twitched, his face turning a deep purplish-red. With a pained expression, he forced a smile and said, "No, miss... my master wants..."
"What's wrong with your master? You want to be like him, constantly pulling girls around and hugging beauties? Let me tell you, master, be careful of kidney deficiency, hmph..."
Showing off your love too much will lead to a quick breakup.
The shopkeeper stood there, his face turning bright red. He dared not imitate his master, and he had never even held a beauty before. What was going on here?
As more onlookers gathered, Nan Yi realized what nonsense he had been spouting and took the opportunity to slip away, leaving the shopkeeper helpless.
Standing at the window on the second floor of Huike, Madam Guo watched the commotion below and turned to ask the Ninth Prince, "Your Highness, look, that person downstairs looks like the manager of this building?"
The Ninth Prince leaned closer, "Which one?"
“The man in the dark blue clothes,” Little Guo pointed at the man with her slender finger.
When the Ninth Prince saw the shopkeeper who arrived late, he said indifferently, "It's him."
Guo was slightly angry. She had seen the whole scene on the street. This man was a scoundrel, grabbing a girl's hand in the street. How could a restaurant employ such a person as its manager? It was outrageous.
"He was just harassing a girl downstairs. Don't use him, sir. He's a good-for-nothing."
The Ninth Prince was stunned, his face clearly showing disbelief.
"Who's flirting with the girl?" the Tenth Prince asked with a smile, and the others at the table also looked over.
“What nonsense! Manager Wang isn’t that kind of person,” the Ninth Prince rebuked in a low voice. He knew this man well; he was honest, kind, shrewd, and capable. Moreover, his granddaughter worked in his household, so he wouldn’t do anything out of line.
Ms. Guo lowered her head and muttered, "I saw it all. He was forcibly pulling a girl off the street..."
Under the Ninth Prince's displeased gaze, Lady Guo swallowed her words. She feared her master; she was useless, having been married for two years without conceiving, and she was not his favorite. If she displeased him, it would only benefit those vixens...
Just as everyone was about to ask for clarification, they heard the door open. "Come in," the Eighth Prince called out. Little Jinzi led the man in, who was none other than the shopkeeper from downstairs.
Just as Manager Wang was about to report, he saw the wives in the room, hesitated, and ran over to the Ninth Prince to whisper something in his ear.
The Ninth Prince remained silent after hearing this, then gestured to his Eighth Brother, indicating that they had something to discuss.
Seeing their expressions, the Eighth Prince's wife was displeased. She had wanted to stay with her master for a while longer, but seeing the situation, she knew it was impossible. So she forced a smile and said, "Since we have something to do, let's go back first." She got up and greeted the Ninth and Tenth Prince's wives.
The Eighth Prince pulled his wife back down to sit. "No rush. It's rare for you to come out for a while. Let's talk next door, and then we can go back to the manor together."
The Eighth Prince's wife was overjoyed upon hearing this and said, "Then you can go about your business, my lord. Don't worry about us. We'll find our own fun."
Eighth Master nodded, led his men to the next room, and sat down, saying, "Speak."
The Ninth Prince glanced at the shopkeeper and said, "Tell the Eighth Prince about it."
The shopkeeper wiped away his cold sweat and explained the matter of the girl in green in detail, swallowing the girl's curses.
Seeing his expression, the Eighth Prince knew he had more to say. "Is there anything else? You may speak, and I will forgive you."
The shopkeeper trembled, his face flushed, and he was inwardly groaning, but he dared not say a word.
"Speak up, I won't blame you," the Ninth Prince urged.
The shopkeeper could only stammer, "Does this servant want to flirt with girls and embrace beauties like his masters? And I'm telling you, be careful... be careful of kidney deficiency..."
He finished speaking in a low voice, then knelt down on the ground with a thud, his face contorted with grief. "This servant did not harass her. I just happened to meet her on the way back and wanted to bring her back to see my master."
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