One tael of silver would be enough for them to live on for many days.
"What?" the knight frowned. "Not enough?"
Zhou Wan fell silent.
The knight pondered for a moment, "That's the most I can offer. Add a hundred copper coins, and if you're willing, I'll take it now."
But Zhou Wan still shook her head in disappointment.
The knight, seeing that the deal had fallen through, left dejectedly.
At first, everyone found the stone unremarkable, but after the knight bargained with it, they became interested and crowded around to take a closer look.
Some people say, "This is a top-quality Taishan stone; look at its clarity."
Someone said, "Brother, you're making a fuss over nothing. This isn't some Mount Tai stone at all; it's a volcanic rock. From afar, it looks like an eagle spreading its wings, but up close, it's a lifelike giant dragon. It's incredibly beautiful."
Before I went home in the afternoon, the price of this stone had already been driven up to ten taels of silver.
So much so that Zhou Wan and Jiang Shichen were worried about being robbed, and kept looking back while holding onto the stone.
When she got home, Zhou Wan's eyes lit up, and she told him about her day.
Xu Yuehuai, on the other hand, smiled smugly, "It was all expected. It will be sold tomorrow."
The next day, the stone was sold for eighteen taels of silver.
Zhou Wan was overjoyed and handed over the accounts to Xu Yuehuai after returning home.
Xu Yuehuai took Zhou Wan's hand. "Let's go out and buy some things."
Upon arriving at the clothing store, Xu Yuehuai pointed to a nice silk dress, and Zhou Wan smiled and said, "Mother has good taste. This dress is of good quality and the color is also good."
But Xu Yuehuai pouted, "I was planning to buy it for you, do you like it?"
"For me?" Zhou Wan was surprised, astonished and incredulous.
"Yes, of course it's for you, and Chen'er, you can choose one too."
As Jiang Shichen approached, he remained sharp-tongued and uninhibited, as always.
"Grandma just loves to be generous with other people's money. She uses the money that my mother and I earned to buy clothes for my mother and me, and we are grateful to her to the point of tears."
"Chen'er, what nonsense are you spouting again?" Zhou Wan hurriedly scolded Jiang Shichen, while looking at Xu Yuehuai with a smirk, "I've spoiled him rotten. Mother, please forgive my rudeness."
"It's alright, he has personality and courage, he's a real man." Unexpectedly, Xu Yuehuai not only didn't scold the little guy for being so arrogant, but also praised him a couple of times.
This made Zhou Wan very uneasy.
Zhou Wan had never worn nice clothes since she married into the family. Now that her mother-in-law had spent money to buy her clothes, Zhou Wan felt very indebted and thanked her profusely on her way back.
Xu Yuehuai passed by a study, went inside and picked out the Four Books and Five Classics, which she bought for Jiang Shichen.
"What?" Jiang Shichen asked incredulously, "For me?"
"There are riches and beautiful women in books. Study hard and ask me for help if you don't understand anything. We are destined to be top scholars. Don't be like your deadbeat father who only knew how to hunt all his life."
Jiang Shichen put the gift away, his heart softening considerably.
But I still felt that this old witch was scheming, so I asked, "What are you doing by the river?"
That is the saying, "Time flows on like this river, never ceasing day or night!"
Jiang Shichen was taken aback, not expecting that Xu Yuehuai was indeed so knowledgeable.
He then asked, "What is the Roc?"
"It's a fictional bird from the Zhuangzi, soaring nine thousand miles high. You, aren't you going to be our family's great roc in the future?"
"The Liezi says...and the Tao Te Ching says..."
Jiang Shichen deliberately made things difficult, asking very tricky questions, but to his surprise, Xu Yuehuai answered every question, which earned Jiang Shichen's deep respect.
He asked one last question, “Grandma, I’m very curious! What exactly is that stone? It can sell for eighteen taels of silver, which is a huge sum of money.”
It is indeed a huge sum of money.
But the stone...
Xu Yuehuai smiled, glanced at Zhou Wan and Jiang Shichen, and said, "Come closer, I'll tell you."
The two leaned closer, and Xu Yuehua muttered, "It's just an ordinary stone. When you stopped selling it, people thought it was a rare commodity, so they hyped up an ordinary stone into a treasure. That's all."
"Oh, so this isn't a scam?"
Xu Yuehuai remained expressionless. "Yes, it is indeed a scam."
In Xu Yuehuai's worldview and sense of right and wrong, self comes first. As for the stone, it must have been bought by corrupt officials or spoiled brats, whose money is naturally ill-gotten gains.
Ordinary commoners wouldn't have eighteen taels of silver to buy a stone.
Liu Cuiming overheard these words.
After pondering for a long time, Liu Cuiming finally arrived at the riverbank.
When she tried to do the same thing at the flower and bird market, she was taught a lesson by several spoiled young men.
Liu Cuiming was truly at a loss for words. She never imagined that while the other person could make a fortune by cheating, she would end up with nothing.
On the way back, Xu Yuehuai seemed to sense something.
The three hid at the fork in the road. Then, Xu Yuehuai saw a child looking around.
That child... looks very familiar.
The moment the little guy saw Xu Yuehuai, he took off running and disappeared completely.
"You know him?" Xu Yuehuai looked at Jiang Shichen.
"Am I a jack-of-all-trades? I know everyone, but I don't know anyone." Jiang Shichen's tone was very unpleasant.
In the past, Xu Yuehuai would have definitely lost her temper.
But now, Xu Yuehuai just smiled faintly.
Back at the inn, Xu Yuehuai thought to herself that Qin Wuyu's matter was over and there probably wouldn't be any investigation for a while, so she began to consider her other plans.
In the trap in the backyard of the yamen, Xu Yuehuai saw many human bones.
Connecting Qin Wuyu's arrogant words, she understood that these bones were the remains of those poor girls who had been tricked into working.
Since that's the case, why not let the truth come out?
While she was still figuring out how to get closer to the government office, she suddenly received some good news: the government office was always hiring.
She decided to try her luck and gave Zhou Wan five taels of silver before leaving.
This was the first time Zhou Wan had received silver from Xu Yuehuai, and she was deeply moved. "Mother, is this for me?"
"Thank you for taking care of everyone for the past few days. I'll be right back."
Zhou Wan nodded. "Where are you going, sir?"
"Go investigate some clues."
“If you need a daughter-in-law, just ask,” Zhou Wan volunteered.
Xu Yuehuai laughed, "You're just a worrywart. You should take a good rest these days. I don't need you for now."
From that day on, Zhou Wan went out early and returned late, still selling needlework and still making money.
As for the clothes Xu Yuehuai gave her, she ultimately couldn't bear to wear them.
Meanwhile, Xu Yuehuai had successfully entered the yamen.
The person in charge was an elder in the family.
The elder family member made the registration and looked at Xu Yuehuai.
"Where are you from? What do you do? In the government office, you have to be able to read people's expressions; knowing this is the only way to get by."
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