Jiang Yuwei was getting annoyed by Tie Zhu's nagging, so she snatched the hidden weapon from his hand, aimed it at the pillar at the entrance of the yamen, and threw it up. The hidden weapon was quickly spotted by the guard at the entrance of the yamen, and then the guard pulled it out. Just then, Huang, the head constable who was returning from his patrol, saw it and picked up the note to read it.
Seeing that the note had fallen into the hands of Constable Huang, Jiang Yuwei felt relieved and led Tie Zhu and the others to the cloth shop. Now that she had given the yamen useful information, whether or not the yamen could catch the bandits was no longer her concern. Right now, Jiang Yuwei was only thinking about preparing things quickly so that they could set off as soon as possible.
Just as Jiang Yuwei reached the entrance of the fabric shop, she accidentally bumped into someone's shoulder.
"Ouch! Who's walking around like that and bumping into me? That really hurt!"
Jiang Yuwei looked up at the person and saw Jiang Yaoyao clinging to the arm of the second young master of the Xu family, rubbing her shoulder with a frown while acting coquettishly towards him.
Jiang Yaoyao turned her head and met Jiang Yuwei's probing gaze, then frowned and scolded:
"What bad luck! I can't believe I run into you even when I'm just browsing a fabric shop!"
At this moment, the second young master, who was holding Jiang Yaoyao, also noticed Jiang Yuwei. He quickly let go of Jiang Yaoyao, scratched his head sheepishly, and looked at Jiang Yuwei, saying:
"Jiang Yuwei, I heard from Manager Sun that your shop caught fire and is now closed down?"
Jiang Yuwei smiled and nodded at the second young master, saying:
"Yes, Second Young Master, I have already sold that shop and I don't plan to do this business again."
Jiang Yaoyao, who was standing to the side, was already displeased to see that the second young master knew Jiang Yuwei. Now, hearing that Jiang Yuwei's shop had caught fire and business was ruined, she smiled happily and said:
"I told you so! You're just a woman from the countryside, why did you have to try to do business? Now you've lost your shop and your business is ruined. Haha, you've given up, haven't you?"
Before Jiang Yuwei could speak, the second young master looked at Jiang Yaoyao with a shocked expression, then distanced himself from her and frowned as he spoke:
"Yaoyao, what are you saying? Their business failed, and they're feeling sad and upset right now. How can you be so sarcastic?"
Seeing this, Jiang Yaoyao quickly moved closer to the second young master, and then said in a sweet voice:
"Second Young Master, you've misunderstood me. I'm not being sarcastic. To tell you the truth, Jiang Yuwei is actually my older sister from my maternal family. I didn't think it would work out when she decided to open this shop."
As she spoke, Jiang Yaoyao leaned against the second young master.
“I always felt that it wasn’t good for a woman to show her face in public, but my sister is stubborn and never listens to my advice. Now that she’s suffered a loss, how can I not feel sorry for her? I just hope that she can learn from this experience and think more about the consequences before doing things in the future.”
The second young master's expression softened somewhat upon hearing this.
"So Yao Yao, you're so considerate of your sister. I knew you were kind-hearted from the day you risked your life to save that kitten that fell into the water. I misunderstood you just now."
Seeing this, Jiang Yaoyao quickly smiled and said:
"It's alright, Second Young Master, how could I blame you?"
Jiang Yuwei felt nauseous at the sight of the two of them so affectionately. With the sun about to set, she had no desire to waste time chatting with them, so she spoke directly to the second young master:
"Second Young Master, I have urgent business to attend to right now, so I can't talk to you any longer."
Just as Jiang Yuwei turned to leave, Jiang Yaoyao called her back:
"Now that your shop is closed, what urgent matter could you possibly have?"
Seeing that Jiang Yaoyao was relentless, Jiang Yuwei turned around, glared at her, and said threateningly:
"Jiang Yaoyao, why haven't I seen you hanging out with that person lately? You mean that one..."
Upon hearing Jiang Yuwei's words, Jiang Yaoyao immediately interrupted her with a tense expression.
"Alright, I don't have time to chat with you. Go do what you need to do."
After saying that, Jiang Yaoyao turned around and took the second young master's arm, saying softly:
"Second Young Master, I'm a little hungry. Shall we go eat?"
Seeing this, the second young master could only nod and say:
"Alright, let's go to Zuixianlou again today."
After saying this, the second young master bowed to Jiang Yuwei and left with Jiang Yaoyao.
Seeing that the annoying fellow had finally left, Jiang Yuwei turned around and went into the shop. She bought cloth curtains according to the dimensions of the two oxcarts, and then asked the cloth shopkeeper to cut them into eight pieces of cloth of the same size, so that they could be hung around the oxcarts.
Ning Qiu, along with Ning Wu and Tie Zhu, bought several sets of clothes for each member of the family to wear on the road.
After finishing their shopping, the group hurried to the umbrella shop. When they arrived, the shopkeeper had already finished making the canopies for both oxcarts. Ning Qiu was delighted to see this and said:
"Sister Yuwei, you are really amazing! You came up with this idea. With this shed, we will suffer less when we travel in the future."
Jiang Yuwei smiled and nodded, then took out forty copper coins from her purse and handed them to the shopkeeper.
Seeing this, Ning Qiu quickly took out a copper coin from her purse and stuffed it into Jiang Yuwei's hand. Jiang Yuwei waved her hand and said:
“This canopy is a gift from me. We have a long road ahead of us, so let’s help each other out. Don’t worry about such small amounts of money. Right now, the paper shop has gone out of business, and your family has no income. We’ll need money for a lot of things on the road, so you should be careful with your spending. Once we get to the capital, we’ll make a comeback and do business again.”
After hearing Jiang Yuwei's words, Ning Qiu stopped refusing and silently kept in mind all the kindness Jiang Yuwei had shown to her family.
Once everyone had bought everything, they boarded the oxcart and headed towards Ningjia Village. By the time the oxcart arrived at Ningjia Village, it was already dark.
Jiang Yuwei was in a hurry to get home to make sausages and dried meat, so she didn't invite Ning Qiu and the others to stay for dinner. Back in the courtyard, Jiang Yuwei called to Liu Shi and Ning Daya to unload everything from the cart, and then said to them:
"We'll be leaving in a few days. Have you packed everything? We only have one oxcart, so we can't take much. Each of you just need to pack one bundle to carry close to your body. I'll take the food with me, so you don't need to worry about it."
Ning Daya and Liu Shi nodded hurriedly upon hearing this:
"We've already packed up and are ready to leave at any time."
Jiang Yuwei nodded and prepared to clean the sausage casings when Liu grabbed her arm and whispered:
"Yuwei, there's something I'd like to discuss with you."
He then pulled Jiang Yuwei to the corner and whispered:
“I think that Gou Dan and I can’t help you much right now, but you’re taking us away from Ningjia Village. We can never repay this kindness. I’ve been thinking about it all day, and I…”
Seeing that Liu seemed hesitant to speak, Jiang Yuwei spoke up:
"Just say what you have to say. There's no need to hide our relationship."
Seeing this, Liu gritted her teeth and said:
"If Gou Dan and I go to the capital, we can only rely on you. Without your help, we would never dare to even think about going to the capital. Now that Da Ya has signed a contract of servitude with you, I, Gou Dan and I also want to sign a contract of servitude with you. That way we can feel better. Otherwise, I really have no face to accept your kindness for nothing."
Jiang Yuwei frowned upon hearing this and said:
"Liu, you don't need to think too much. I'm helping you willingly, and you've done a lot of work for me. We can't do without your help at home and outside."
Liu shook her head, crying, and said:
"Yuwei, stop talking. I remember all the kindness you've shown us. I have no other way to repay you, so I can only sign this contract of servitude with you. If you don't agree, then I can't go to the capital with you. I absolutely cannot let you suffer like this."
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