Chapter 106: The Fierce General's Method

  "Four taels of silver!!" Ye Baiji suddenly shouted, attracting the attention of nearby vendors who all came over to investigate.

  Zhen'er felt a bit embarrassed, and directly pulled Hu Zi to hide behind Ye Lufang's back. However, she didn't expect that Ye Lufang also had the same feeling, and he glanced sideways with an expression as if he was not familiar with Ye Baiqi.

  "Didn't someone say it was affordable?" After saying this, Liao San seemed to have only just realized the truth, and clicked his tongue in dismay: "Ah, you can't afford it! If you couldn't afford it, why not just say so? Why talk big like that? I wouldn't laugh at you. Here, these are cheap, only 40 or 50 cents a box, can you afford them now?"

  Ye Baiqi's mouth was mumbling, unable to speak. He continued: "Still can't afford it, then there's really no way, the cheapest ones I have here are these, if you want to buy cheaper ones, then there really aren't any." As he spoke, he carefully stared at Ye Baiqi and said: "Actually, I think you don't need to buy rouge either."

  Ye Baiji was delighted when she heard this. Which young girl doesn't like it when others praise her beauty? Praise her natural beauty?

  "It doesn't matter whether you wipe it or not, it's all so scary!"

  "Haha, haha" Zhen'er and Ye Luyuan couldn't help but burst out laughing. This Liao San is really ruthless, his mouth is too poisonous!

  But for Ye Baiji, the bold and unorthodox method might just work after all.

  Ye Baiji's eyes were bloodshot, she gritted her teeth and said: "Who says I can't afford it? I just think this thing isn't worth the price, humph, what kind of thing is this that costs one or two silver coins?" After finishing speaking, seeing Liao San was also angry, suddenly felt a lot of the pent-up anger in her heart dissipate, and with a light and cheerful tone said: "However, since Miss is happy today, I'll just consider it an act of charity. This rouge, I'll buy it."

  She spoke with confidence, but when she reached into her purse to take out the silver, her hands were still shaking and her heart was bleeding - it was her own private savings!

  At first, when Ye Baiji belittled those cosmetics, Liao San was very angry and felt that his mother wasn't worth it. He didn't want to sell the cosmetics to her. But seeing her painful expression when taking out money, he suddenly felt like he had made a profit no matter what, and happily packaged the cosmetics for her, even giving her a box of cheap cosmetics as a gift.

  Yue Baiji left Liao San's stall with a pleased smile on her face, carrying a small pouch of rouge.

  Zhen'er looked at her and was speechless. Buying something is like making an enemy, you buy this thing and then look at it with regret?

  But she also bought two boxes. Since it's so good, giving it as a gift isn't bad either.

  Zhen'er handed Hu Zi over to Ye Bai Zhi and Ye Lu Yuan, she took a box of rouge to the Rich and Noble Lane. It's been so long since I came, Xiang'er and the others should have moved already?

  "Zhen'er, you're too meticulous. I know your situation. It's already hard enough for a young girl like you to take care of your brother, why did you have to buy such expensive things for me? Isn't that being too polite? Last time I accepted your gift, my mother-in-law scolded me and said I didn't know how to behave properly. Here, next time you come, don't bring anything, or I'll really get angry." Xiang'er said with a pout, although her eyes and eyebrows were all smiling.

  Zhen'er cleverly responded. She had already seen that this was not Pan'er's true words.

  Jian'er was scolded. And then afterwards, when it was said that nothing would be sent, Xiang'er finally let out a long sigh of relief. It was as if she had just completed a big task.

  "Oh, finally finished." Xiang'er sighed: "You don't know that my godmother told me to say this. She said that from now on we will be independent and can't rely on Miss's name anymore. I have to start getting used to it now, speaking and doing things politely. You have no idea how suffocated I am every day."

  It's really like what Xia Yini taught, Zhen'er had already seen it, those words didn't seem to be something that Wang'er, who was so careless, would say. However, she could also see that Xia Yini really liked Wang'er, otherwise she wouldn't have been teaching her the ways of being a person and getting along with others like she was teaching her own daughter.

  "Wan'er sister, I understand. Even if you're not serving Miss Zhou anymore, we'll still be good sisters." Zhen'er said, "My family lives in Yu Shu Village, not far from the county town. If you have time, come and play with Xia Popo. My house is at the end of the village, it's a thatched cottage, easy to recognize."

  "Okay, okay," Tong'er nodded excitedly. "After I get married and move to the back alley, I'll go visit you."

  Wan'er's personality is sunny, and she says such words without any embarrassment, "I don't have many close relatives with my adoptive mother, and Ah Feng's family only has a distant uncle in our hometown. In the future, we can interact with each other like close relatives."

  "Good!" Jing'er nodded solemnly. Here, she and Hu Zi relied on each other for survival, but she didn't expect to meet the kind Ye Lao Yezi and Mao Shi Sun Shi in front of her, followed by Ye Qi Shu's family, Xiang Er, Er Niu San Niu sisters, and Village Head Ye Chunshui. Counting casually, there were many noble people who had helped her, she and Hu Zi were no longer lonely.

  After leaving Fugui Fang, Zhen'er quickly went to the Dache Store to find Ye Baiju and others. The owner of the Dache Store was a distant relative of Ye Luyuan's family, and they would always put their carriages there whenever they came to hurry.

  All the way, Zhen'er kept thinking that Yang's family was in Xinyang, and Miss Zhou would be married to Xinyang in four months. After Miss Zhou left, Pan'er would also get married and leave the house. She wanted to give Pan'er a dowry too. After all, it was Pan'er who bought wild fruit from her and entered Miss Zhou's eyes, and then there was the matter of Yang's family buying strawberries. Anyway, everything started with Pan'er, and she had always wanted to repay this kindness.

  But now she doesn't have much money left, what can be taken out of that place? And that Pan'er is still a person who has seen good things, with eyes that have seen beautiful flowers, how can he look at the weeds by the roadside?

  What a worry! She should have bought two acres less at first...

  When Deng Zhen'er arrived at the carriage store, Ye Baiji had already been waiting anxiously. As soon as she entered the door, she was pulled away by Ye Baiji.

  "Where are you going in such a hurry?" Zhen'er asked curiously.

  "Selling lotus bags!" Ye Baiji said: "Didn't you tell me to think about it some more? I think my mother's embroidery skills shouldn't be wasted, I saw that someone in the village is embroidering lotus bags and selling them at the fabric store, they're not as good as my mother's embroidery, but they can still make money. Why don't we do it too? So I came to ask, they saw that my mother's needlework was good, so they gave me an order, today is the day to hand over the lotus bags." Thinking that she could earn money through her own labor like Zhen'er, Ye Baiji was still very excited.

  When was this? Zhen'er thought to herself, she had been busy lately and hadn't even noticed. However, Sunshi carried the embroidered basket with her every day, so it wasn't unusual that she didn't notice either.

  At four o'clock in the afternoon, the cloth store was quite quiet. After asking about their intentions, the shop assistant went to find the boss.

  The fabric and style had been agreed upon earlier, so the shopkeeper looked at several good cloth bags that were to be used. Seeing that the embroidery was exceptional, he was very satisfied, counted the quantity clearly, and paid the money.

  Ye Baiji was overjoyed with the eight strings of cash and two ingots, and at the same time, she also settled a deal with the shopkeeper for one hundred embroidered pouches.

  Turning around, Ye Baiji saw several new fabrics placed there and was flipping through them with great interest.

  Zhen'er took a surreptitious glance at the store's decorations and the quality of the fabrics, then said in a low voice: "Bai Ju sister, aren't things in this store very expensive?"

  "Of course," Ye Baiji nodded, "This is the number one or two fabric store in Jiyang County, and it also has an embroidery workshop. I was asking about their store size at first. I think they should be connoisseurs, that's why they were looking for the owner to discuss the embroidered purse."

  Embroidery workshop? Zhen'er's heart skipped a beat, but she didn't mean to say that. She let out a soft sigh and said, "The things here are so expensive, let's not buy anything here." You can't control yourself when you see something you like, those few boxes of rouge cost four taels of silver, if you were to take a liking to a bolt of fabric... the remaining private money and the wages you just received would probably be gone too.

  Zhen'er said this when Ye Baiji had just set her eyes on a cloud brocade and was reluctant to let go of it. The salesperson next to her was also clever and quickly chimed in with praise, "Young lady has great taste, this is one of the cloud brocades that our store just transported in. Look at its color, look at the weaving craftsmanship - all are among the best. Such cloud brocade, there aren't more than ten pieces in the entire county of Jingyang."

  Ye Baiji's eyes lit up even more and she was even less willing to let go of his hand.

  Zhen'er suppressed the urge to stroke her eyebrows, and could only hope that Ye Luyuan would come to their rescue. Unfortunately, Ye Luyuan was currently at the Da Che Dian with Hu Zi, looking at the new goods that had just arrived from the docks, without any intention of coming to find them.

  Ye Baiji looked through the several bolts of newly arrived fabric again and again, having a strong impulse to buy them all in one go.

  Zhen'er hastily pulled her over, "Bai Ju sister, have you gone mad? If you buy a piece of cloth, you won't have any silver left to give to Bai Wei sister as a gift. Besides, this silver was earned by Second Aunt's tireless needlework, can you bear to exchange it for just a piece of cloth?"

  Ye Bai thought of her mother's figure every night, lighting the kerosene lamp and sewing with narrowed eyes. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked at the few pieces of cloth, and resolutely said to herself: "Then I won't buy it."

  Zhen Er felt a sense of relief in her heart, fortunately, she pulled the reins and turned back just in time.

  "But," Yebai added two words, making Zhen'er's heart skip a beat again, "my mother said that there isn't much fabric left at home, so I still need to buy some fabric back."

  She knew that the fabrics from Baodi were all good, this was still her old habit. Zhen'er thought that since she didn't need very good fabric for embroidering a purse, those leftover pieces would do, so she took her to the same store where she had bought quilts before.

  Before leaving, she pulled Xiao Huozi and asked him a few questions.

  "What's this 'Golden Jade Double-sided Embroidery'?" the young shop assistant muttered to himself, "Never heard of it before. I'll go ask our boss."

  The young apprentice ran in to ask, and came out a while later to reply, "Our master has indeed heard of this golden jade double-sided embroidery, but our embroidery workshop doesn't have anyone who knows how to do it either. It's said that the technique has already been lost."

  Zhen Er's face fell in disappointment. It was true, Miss Zhou had asked about the embroidered shoes everywhere, and with her power and influence, she still couldn't find them; how could Zhen Er possibly stumble upon them?

  Went to the small shop before, the fellow in the store was still half-closed and half-opened eyes, seeing someone came and raised his eyes to look at you for a moment then continued to pretend to be asleep. Zhen'er had been there twice and got used to it, but Ye Baiji hadn't seen such a laid-back shop assistant before and found it a bit strange.

  Although the goods in this store are not as expensive as those sold by Ye Bai Zhi at the fabric store, they are more affordable. She bought three pieces of cloth and spent less than half the amount she would have spent on one piece of cloth at that other store, making her exclaim that she will come back to buy again next time.

  Zhen'er had two garments made by Sun Shi with the fabric she bought last time, and there is still one piece left. She didn't buy it because she wasn't in a hurry.

  However, she thought that the silk flower was still quite novel, so she bought ten of them in one breath, planning to give them as Dragon Boat Festival gifts. Come again next time~~~(.).