Seeing that she remained silent and her expression was serious, Liu Rulan immediately realized that something was wrong.
She stepped forward and affectionately took Jiang Mingwei's hand, whispering, "What's wrong, Wei'er? If something's wrong, just tell Aunt Lan, and Aunt Lan will take care of it for you!"
Jiang Mingwei snapped out of her reverie. Since it was just speculation, she didn't dare to speak rashly and shook her head with a light laugh.
"It's alright, Aunt Lan. I wonder if you have any eloquent maids you could lend me for a while?"
Hua Cui pouted and said in a wronged tone, "Miss, am I not good enough?"
The pitiful, stammering voice immediately made Liu Rulan chuckle, easing the tense atmosphere somewhat.
Jiang Mingwei flicked her forehead and teased, "You, you cry after just a few words from others, that won't do. I need someone who can speak eloquently."
"What a coincidence, Dongyue is coming over." Liu Rulan smiled and waved to the shop.
A moment later, a pretty girl ran out. She looked to be only thirteen or fourteen years old, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. She was very cute.
"This girl has the best tongue in our shop! No matter how many employees try to out-argue her, she can still sell a few pieces of clothing every month. She's a smart kid!"
Upon learning of Jiang Mingwei's identity, Dongyue quickly bowed, her attitude sincere.
"Dongyue greets Miss. You are truly beautiful, a beauty that rivals the most beautiful women in the world!"
Jiang Mingwei and Liu Rulan were taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter.
"You're a little guy who knows how to give compliments. You're the one. Come with me, I have a very important task for you."
Jiang Mingwei left with Dongyue.
The three walked through the bustling city of Bianjing, and were occasionally attracted by the trinkets sold by the surrounding vendors.
Following her memory, Jiang Mingwei arrived at a jade shop.
Hua Cui looked up and frowned in confusion: "Miss, isn't this your jade shop?"
She hadn't seen the ledgers, and Jiang Mingwei hadn't told Hua Cuiming, so in her eyes, this was indeed Jiang Mingwei's property.
But Jiang Mingwei gave a cold laugh upon hearing this.
"Whose is it really? It's hard to say!"
She looked around at the vendors, found a jewelry stall, and went over to it.
The vendors were delighted to see that Jiang Mingwei's clothes, though not ostentatious, were made of the finest materials.
"What would you like, Madam? Please take a look; we have the finest jewelry here!"
Jiang Mingwei smiled, picked up a string of jade earrings, had Hua Cui pay for them, and then stuffed them into Dongyue's hand.
Dongyue was taken aback, thinking that Jiang Mingwei was going to buy her a gift.
Startled, she turned pale and quickly declined, "Miss... Dongyue can't accept your gift. Dongyue is here to help you with something!"
Jiang Mingwei couldn't help but laugh. "Silly girl, this style is too mature for you. You can have it first, and I'll explain it to you in detail. I'm going to make you stage a 'hit-and-run' incident later!"
"A staged accident?"
Dongyue tilted her head; was she knocking the porcelain pieces together?
These modern words were still too unfamiliar to the ancients, but fortunately, Jiang Mingwei quickly whispered in her ear to explain them.
Dongyue's eyes lit up immediately...
"Oh, making trouble out of nothing, fabricating something out of nothing, huh? I can do that!"
Jiang Mingwei nodded with satisfaction and led Hua Cui into the jade shop first.
The shop owner was fiddling with an abacus behind the counter when he looked up and saw Jiang Mingwei dressed elegantly and smiling broadly. He quickly came out to greet her.
"Oh, ma'am, you don't look familiar. Is this your first time visiting our shop? Is there anything you like? Would you like a finished product or a raw stone?"
While talking, he secretly glanced at the jewelry on Jiang Mingwei's body.
Although there weren't many, each item was a treasure, and he smiled even more flatteringly!
"Madam, you possess an air of elegance. Would you please come with me to the private room on the second floor? The jade from our shop is considered the finest in Bianjing. I guarantee you will find this trip truly worthwhile!"
"Wait a bit, I'll just look around on this floor for now." Suppressing her anger, Jiang Mingwei replied with a smile.
Seeing her indifferent attitude, the shopkeeper could only nod with a forced smile.
Hua Cui, on the other hand, was quite angry, her cheeks puffed out.
This was originally part of her young lady's dowry, so why does it seem like her young lady is an outsider?
And this shopkeeper, isn't he the same Shopkeeper Xu from before?
She was filled with doubt when she suddenly heard a loud and forceful rebuke.
"Where is the shopkeeper? Where is he? Come out here!"
Hana turned her head and saw that it was Fuyuki who had come in just one step after them.
Jiang Mingwei held a jade hairpin in her hand, her delicate eyebrows and eyes filled with melancholy, and she also looked up at the door.
The voice was clearly meant to cause trouble. The shopkeeper stopped smiling, turned around, and saw that it was a young girl. He immediately became arrogant.
"What are you yelling about! What are you yelling about! Do you think this is a public street? Where did this wild girl come from? Get out of here!"
As he spoke, he ordered the shop assistants to drive her away.
Dongyue, however, was not intimidated at all: "Let's see who dares to do this! Everyone, look! This store is forcing us to buy and sell, and they actually gave my wife substandard goods!"
Who in business doesn't care about their reputation?
Seeing that the crowd was about to gather and everyone was craning their necks to look into the store, if Dongyue were to be kicked out at this moment without giving her a chance to explain, wouldn't that just confirm that the store was bullying its customers?
The shopkeeper dared not be arrogant anymore and quickly lowered his tone.
"Hey little girl, don't make baseless accusations. Our shop only sells top-quality jade and gemstones. How could we possibly have inferior products?"
"Really? Then what about these earrings!" Dongyue slapped the earrings hard again.
Coincidentally, one of the earrings suddenly shattered with a crack!
Dongyue's eyes widened, and she subconsciously looked towards Jiang Mingwei.
The moment Jiang Mingwei nodded to her, she regained her composure and continued shouting.
"Take a good look. Isn't this a defective product? My wife bought it with great joy, only to find a crack inside. I never expected it to break just from a tap!"
"What is this if not a defective product? It's garbage!"
"This...this is impossible."
The shopkeeper was sweating profusely and quickly picked up the other earring to examine it.
He looked at it over and over again, then suddenly raised his eyebrows, gave a cold snort, and became aggressive once more.
"You little slut, you actually switched the goods! This is clearly not the jade from our shop. All the jade in our shop has an inscription, but yours is empty and the quality is terrible. To put it bluntly, it's just a stone. How dare you lie to me?"
The shopkeeper gritted his teeth, never expecting to be intimidated by a young girl with blond hair.
Seeing that she had been exposed, Fuyutsuki wasn't afraid and continued to confront him, saying, "Pah! You heartless merchant, stop crying wolf!"
"My master is a prefectural magistrate. If you don't give me an explanation today, he will definitely not let you off!"
Upon hearing that he was a sub-prefect, the shopkeeper burst into laughter.
"I thought he was some big shot! Turns out he's just a lowly sub-prefect, nothing more than a fart in Bianjing, a city teeming with officials!"
"you!"
Dongyue's face turned red with anger. "How dare you insult an official of the imperial court? Don't you want to die?"
"life?"
The shopkeeper chuckled lightly and raised his hand in a distant bow.
"That depends on whether you, a mere prefect, want to take my life. Do you know who's behind me?"
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