Seeing that Aunt Chen was almost in tears, Jiang Yuwei couldn't bear to see the old woman being bullied like this. She went over and patted Aunt Chen on the shoulder, then looked at Xiaoyu's mother and asked:
"Stop making trouble here. You took the eggs back and then brought them back. So much time has passed. Who knows if you tampered with them yourself? Even if you went home and brought out a few eggs and then came back claiming that Aunt Chen's eggs weren't enough, we wouldn't see it."
The onlookers nodded in agreement upon hearing Jiang Yuwei's words.
"Yes, if you bring these things home and then come looking for them again, even if you're in the right, you won't be able to explain yourself."
"That's right. Aunt Chen is an honest woman. Our family often buys eggs from her, and we always get more than we should."
"Yes, Aunt Chen is really unlucky to have gotten involved with Xiaoyu's mother, who is so unreasonable."
Hearing what everyone was saying, Jiang Yuwei quickly turned to Aunt Chen and asked:
"Aunt Chen, how much of these eggs are missing?"
Aunt Chen pointed anxiously at the scale and said:
"The quantity is wrong, it's eight ounces short. Just now, my scale showed four catties and eight ounces, but in this short time, it's down to four catties!"
Seeing this, Xiaoyu Niang quickly pointed at Aunt Chen and scolded her:
"You old hag, you're so gullible! What do you say now? You admit you're not up to the weight. We're neighbors, and you dared to try and cheat me with that scale! Humph, you don't think you can bully us orphans and widows!"
Ignoring Xiaoyu's cries, Jiang Yuwei turned to Aunt Chen and patiently asked:
"Aunt Chen, do you have any other names for your family?"
Upon hearing this, Aunt Chen quickly waved her hand and said:
"Alas, we poor people don't have that many scales. This scale is one I borrowed from someone when I came to sell eggs today."
Jiang Yuwei nodded and said:
"The scale has never changed since then, so I'm wondering how eggs weighed on the same scale could have different weights by eight ounces?"
As she spoke, Jiang Yuwei looked at Xiaoyu Niang with a gloomy expression and said:
"You're the only fool out there, do you think everyone else is as foolish as you? You clearly went home, took out eight ounces of eggs, and then came to Aunt Chen to ask for a refund, trying to get away with the eight ounces of eggs without spending a single penny! Ha, you're really dreaming!"
When Xiaoyu Niang realized that her plan had been exposed, she immediately became so anxious that her face turned red.
"Oh dear, this little Yu Niang is so greedy for small gains."
"Yes, it's really embarrassing."
"Is it easy for Aunt Chen to save up eggs? She even cheats old people out of their money."
Seeing that Xiaoyu Niang's reputation was indeed not good, Jiang Yuwei didn't want to waste any more time with her. She had many other things to deal with, so she looked at Aunt Chen and said with a smile:
“Aunt Chen, there’s nothing wrong with your scale. Someone is hiding something. You can keep the money for the eight ounces of eggs and return the rest of the silver to her. I’ll take all the eggs and duck eggs you have.”
Upon hearing Jiang Yuwei's words, Aunt Chen nodded hurriedly, took out the silver from her purse, and returned it to Xiaoyu Niang.
Xiaoyu Niang angrily snatched the silver, counted it, glared at Jiang Yuwei fiercely, and stomped away.
Jiang Yuwei didn't bother to pay attention to her. She simply carried the eggs and duck eggs onto the oxcart, paid the money, and hurriedly headed to the umbrella shop.
Jiang Yuwei had already planned to install rain shelters on her own oxcart and Aunt Zhou's oxcart, so that she wouldn't have to worry about not being able to travel on rainy days.
It can also be used to shield from the sun along the way; we can add a curtain under the awning later.
During the day, tie it up with a rope, and at night when you go to sleep, you can let it down. This way you can have some privacy and not have to worry about being bitten by mosquitoes and not being able to sleep at night.
This can be considered a simplified version of a horse-drawn carriage. Jiang Yuwei just likes the feeling of getting a lot done with little money.
Upon arriving at the umbrella shop, Jiang Yuwei immediately called the shopkeeper out to check on their oxcart.
"Shopkeeper, I want to make a large oiled paper umbrella on the top of this oxcart. It shouldn't be round, but rectangular, slightly larger than the cart. I've drawn up a blueprint for you. If you have any oiled paper on hand, just cut and piece it together for me. You can make several layers. I'll be using it for my journey, so it has to be sturdy."
The umbrella shop owner was quick-witted. After listening to Jiang Yuwei's description and looking at the drawings she had made, he formed a plan in his mind.
“Alright, this job isn’t difficult. The oiled paper and umbrella ribs are readily available. I’ll make it for you right away. It’ll be done in an afternoon. You can leave the oxcart here.”
Jiang Yuwei nodded and said:
“I also need to make a canopy for that oxcart in the back. Can you tell me how much silver it will cost in total?”
The shopkeeper measured the dimensions, took out his abacus, and calculated for a while before looking up at Jiang Yuwei and saying:
"These two oxcarts will cost fifty copper coins."
Jiang Yuwei found the price acceptable, so she nodded and said to the shopkeeper:
"I'll pay a deposit of ten copper coins first. Find someone to finish it for me quickly, as we need to get back to the village before dark."
The shopkeeper took the copper coin and agreed.
Jiang Yuwei then looked at Ning Huaizhi and said:
“Huaizhi, we’ve bought almost everything. You and Ning Zhao stay here and watch the oxcart. Ning Qiu and I will take Ning Wu and Tie Zhu to buy some more cloth.”
Ning Huaizhi nodded.
"Alright, go and come back soon. It's not safe in the city these days."
Jiang Yuwei nodded and left with Ning Qiu and the others.
Having bought everything, Wang Ma naturally didn't want to move around anymore, so she stayed at the umbrella shop, wanting to see how the shopkeeper planned to build the roof for the oxcart.
The longer Wang Ma spent with Jiang Yuwei, the more she realized that she was a capable woman, unlike the noble ladies of the capital. She did not rely on men at all and managed all the affairs at home and outside by herself.
Not only that, Jiang Yuwei always has many novel ideas. Even though Wang Ma had been in the capital for so many years and had never heard of them, Jiang Yuwei seemed to be able to come up with them with just a little thought.
Wang Ma couldn't help but look at Jiang Yuwei's back, secretly sighing how wonderful it would be if she were a daughter-in-law of our Prince Jing's mansion.
Jiang Yuwei had no idea what Wang Ma was thinking. Right now, she just wanted to hurry up and deliver the message to the yamen, afraid that if she was delayed, the bandits would escape again.
So Jiang Yuwei first led Ning Qiu and the others to the entrance of the yamen. Tie Zhu, seeing this, asked in confusion:
"Sister Yuwei, weren't we going to buy cloth? What are we doing at the yamen?"
Seeing Tie Zhu speaking so loudly, Jiang Yuwei quickly put her index finger to her lips to signal him to shut up. Then she took out a hidden weapon from her bosom, which she had just researched, just in case.
Jiang Yuwei inserted a piece of paper into the hidden weapon, then placed the weapon in Tiezhu's hand and whispered:
"Hurry up, throw this thing onto the pillar at the entrance of the government office, and then we'll run."
Tie Zhu took the hidden weapon handed to him by Jiang Yuwei, looked at it with confusion, and then hesitated before speaking:
"Sister Yuwei, if we do this, won't the authorities arrest us?"
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