Chapter 324: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 324: A Well-Intentioned Reminder (5)
As the distance to the city gate shortened to less than twenty zhang (approximately 66 meters), Xiao Ruiyuan still couldn't find the figure he desperately wanted to see among the sea of people. His eyes darkened with disappointment, but he stubbornly scanned both sides, his gaze swiftly passing over the crowd.
"Commander, is there something wrong?" The deputy commander, half a step behind him, asked, his right hand resting on the hilt of his sword as he scanned the crowd with a wary eye.
Suppressing his disappointment, Xiao Ruiyuan was about to look away when he caught a glimpse of that familiar face. His eyes met those familiar, watery eyes, and for a moment, he was speechless as a wave of overwhelming joy swept over him.
The deputy commander, who hadn't retreated yet, was stunned to see their eternally stoic commander actually smiling… smiling!
Mo Yan stood there in a daze. As the sound of the horse’s hooves gradually faded away, her mind was still trapped in the moment of Xiao Ruiyuan's breaking smile...
By the time she came back to her senses, that man and his horse had already passed through the city gate and were no longer visible. Having lost interest in the remaining events, Mo Yan walked to another street, hailed a carriage, and headed straight to the rice shop.
Upon entering the shop, Mo Yan immediately noticed that Li Zhong's face looked quite grim.
Seeing her arrive, Li Zhong quickly said, "Yan'er, there's something I need to discuss with you. Please go sit in the back room for a while, I'll come to you after I've made some arrangements."
Mo Yan's heart sank. What Grandpa Li had to say must be significant. Recalling what Wang Pan had mentioned earlier, she suspected it was related to that customer.
Sure enough, after instructing Tie Tou and Wang Pan, Li Zhong came in and the first thing he said was: "Someone wants to buy out the rice shop."
After hearing the whole story, Mo Yan's face turned dark. "Grandpa Li, what's the background of the Xue family?"
The rice shop had been open for less than a month, and the Xue family was already eyeing it eagerly. Unable to obtain their supply channels, they now wanted to buy out her shop and have her work for them—this was simply a pipe dream!
Li Zhong, with a heavy expression, explained, "The Xue family are imperial merchants, primarily procuring grain and vegetables for the imperial household. They've been in this business for decades, earning a degree of respect even among nobility."
Mo Yan found it difficult to understand: "If the Xue family has such a significant background and could resort to coercion, why did they switch to trying to buy out our shop after just a few probing attempts?"
If it were her, she would have had someone monitor the shop's every move, and before long, they would have traced the source of the grain. Of course, if the Xue family really did that, she wouldn’t dare to transport more grain from her space to the warehouse.
Although their method of trying to buy out the shop seemed gentlemanly, she didn't believe the Xue family were genuinely noble, given their long-standing position as imperial merchants.
Li Zhong explained, "The Xue family values their reputation greatly, especially here in the capital. They can't act too overtly. But behind the scenes, their methods are no less ruthless than those of common bullies. The buyout is just a facade; if we refuse, who knows what they'll do next!"
Mo Yan quickly understood—it's a case of playing both the good cop and the bad cop. They talk about a buyout, but if she agreed, who knows how much money they'd actually give. Once they figured out the grain supply chain, they could easily kick her out.
Such things weren't unheard of in her previous life, so agreeing to the buyout was out of the question.
Seeing she understood, Li Zhong continued, "The Xue family was also implicated in the spoiled grain incident. If it weren't for their decades of ingrained influence, they wouldn't still be imperial merchants. In fact, the Xue family might not even exist anymore. Even so, they were severely weakened and ostracized by other imperial merchants. They desperately need a way to regain the trust of the nobility."
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