Chapter 78: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 78: Who's Being Calculated?
"Master, here's what happened, take a look..."
Inside Huixianju, Shopkeeper Xing recounted the events of Mo Yan refusing to trade the secret method in the morning and Mo Yongshou taking the initiative to come to him, anxiously looking at the ancestor who had been tormenting him these past few days.
"Hmm, quite interesting!" Yan Junyu, with a jade bone fan resting against his smooth and pretty chin, a sly gleam flickering in his narrow eyes like a cunning fox. "But a thousand taels won't suffice. Tomorrow, take ten thousand taels with you, and according to today's approach, make him leave a voucher."
"Ten thousand taels?" Shopkeeper Xing was greatly surprised, not understanding why the ancestor wanted to do this. "Master, this Mo Yongshou clearly wants to deceive us. He's using this to frame his niece. That secret doesn't even exist. Spending ten thousand taels of silver would be a waste. It's not worth it!"
In his opinion, no matter how good that vegetable secret was, it was only used for growing vegetables. Compared to the master's other industries, it was like chicken ribs. Instead of spending so much effort and money on obtaining a secret, it would be better to open another Huixianju!
Yan Junyu didn't explain. He elegantly turned around, smiling at Shopkeeper Xing, a fleeting sharpness flashing in his eyes.
Shopkeeper Xing shuddered. He was all too familiar with this gaze. This was definitely a cunning scheme. He quickly lowered his head, not daring to question any further.
Yujun Yu's smile grew even more pronounced, clearly pleased with his understanding. "Follow my instructions. If you succeed, you won't need to go back to Mang Prefecture for the New Year. If you fail... your eighty-year-old mother won't be staying in the capital either!"
Shopkeeper Xing silently shed a few bitter tears for himself. His face of bitterness looked just like a big girl being forced into prostitution by an old procuress.
Feeling good after bullying his subordinate, Yan Junyu ordered several dishes in a row for Shopkeeper Xing to instruct the kitchen to prepare.
Shopkeeper Xing quietly noted that out of the six dishes, four of them were vegetarian. He couldn't help but wonder if this ancestor, who enjoyed meat so much, actually detested vegetarian dishes. Could it be that the vegetables from the Mo family suited his taste, prompting him to want them?
Yan Junyu was unaware of his subordinate's wild thoughts. He leisurely opened his jade bone fan, fanning a cool breeze, his jet-black hair dancing in the wind, giving off an even more lazy vibe.
If Mo Yan were here, she would definitely disdainfully comment: Pretentious!
Shopkeeper Xing twitched at the corners of his eyes, staring at the fan face. Clearly, this was a young master with a noble demeanor and an aristocratic aura, yet his preferences were not worthy of praise.
On the fan surface were painted two vibrant peonies, with several equally colorful butterflies fluttering around. If it were a woman holding the fan, it would be acceptable, but for a young man, this scene was so beautiful it was hard to look at directly!
---
At the second hour of the day, all the vegetables were sold out. Mo Yan and Lin Meng were packing up to take the carriage back.
Mo Yongshou and Mo Yonglu, the two brothers, didn't rush to get on the carriage like before. "Yan, Meng, we have something to attend to, so we won't be going back with you."
Hearing Mo Yongshou's words, Mo Yan found it strange. These two were always eager to ride back to Liuyang Village with Lin Meng every day, just to save a few coins for the fare.
Meeting Mo Yan's puzzled gaze, Mo Yonglu couldn't help but step back a few steps nervously.
Mo Yongshou felt a tightness in his heart, afraid of being exposed, so he quickly pulled Mo Yonglu along without looking back.
"Young Miss, I feel like something's off with those two!" Xiong Shi watched the two men leave in a hurry, furrowing his brow.
"It was the same yesterday. They left without packing up, and just now, they looked guilty. Could they have caused trouble?" Zhou Shi chimed in with her speculation.
Mo Yan thought about the actions of the two brothers today and soon remembered that Mo Yongshou had been absent-minded in his work recently. She thought it was because of yesterday's incident, but now it seemed not so simple.
But she couldn't determine what it was now, and the two had disappeared without a trace, so she said, "Let's not worry about them for now. Let's keep an eye on them these next few days."
"Okay!"
They nodded and silently decided to keep a closer eye on the two brothers. The four of them temporarily put this matter aside and happily headed back.
---
In the teahouse, Mo Yongshou stared blankly at the stack of silver notes handed to him, trembling hands accepting them. When he saw the hundred-tael note on top, it felt as if his head had been hit by a mountain of silver, making him dizzy.
He counted carefully three times and found there were a total of one hundred notes!
Mo Yongshou couldn't believe it. He felt as if he were in a dream, his mind filled with just three words: I'm rich!
"Little brother, did you count it properly? How much silver is there exactly?" Mo Yonglu couldn't read or see silver notes, but he knew there would be a lot of money this time and couldn't help but bump Mo Yongshou.
Mo Yongshou came to his senses, but instead of answering his question, he looked at the shopkeeper across the tea table, puzzled. "I wonder why Shopkeeper Xing gave so much?"
Why the hell are you asking me? Who do I ask?
Shopkeeper Xing roared inwardly, enduring the pain as best as he could, trying not to look at the thick stack of silver notes. "If I could successfully obtain the secret method, naturally it would be worth this much!"
The implicit meaning was that if he couldn't get it, you'd still give me the money!
Unfortunately, Mo Yongshou was completely blinded by the ten thousand taels of silver and didn't think too much about it. He accepted Shopkeeper Xing's explanation, tucked the ten thousand taels of silver notes into his arms, and felt a lump in his chest. He pressed it a few times before feeling more natural.
Seeing this, Shopkeeper Xing didn't say anything. He simply took out a document from his sleeve and said ironically, "I've already given you the money, but I haven't received the secret method yet. So you need to sign this document. Otherwise, I won't feel at ease!"
Mo Yongshou was a bit unhappy, but he also knew he had to sign it. So he took the document, glanced at it, and saw that it promised to sell the vegetable secret to Huixianju and receive ten thousand taels of silver.
This matter was conspired between him and Shopkeeper Xing. He believed that Shopkeeper Xing wouldn't betray him, so he wrote his name and pressed a bright red handprint!
With the matter successfully concluded, Mo Yongshou, carrying ten thousand taels of silver notes, walked out of the teahouse with Mo Yonglu in high spirits.
Shopkeeper Xing looked at the document in his hand and smiled sarcastically: I wonder who the mastermind behind this scheme is!
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