Cheng Yao smiled. “He was the first customer, so he got that deal. If any of you would like to buy some, it’s still three jin with one jin free.”
“Even so, it’s still a little expensive.”
“Things that cost more usually have their reasons. No one’s a fool these days, right?”
Cheng Yao smiled warmly, making everyone feel at ease. Since the scholar had taken the lead, several elderly men stepped forward.
“Give me one jin. I want to try it.”
“I’ll take five jin.”
“It really is sweet, and it’s a better bargain than sugar cakes. I’ll take three jin for the children to enjoy.”
More and more people began buying. Fatty could barely keep up, so Zhan Qingrou, Zhan Liqing, and the other women helped him, while the others maintained order. Everyone worked together, each with their own task.
Before long, the line was orderly. The new customers conscientiously joined the queue, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
However, just as the bamboo baskets were nearly empty, three burly men shoved their way through the crowd.
“Who said you could set up a stall here?” The Scarface kicked over an empty basket. “This area is under the control of the Azure Dragon Gang. Pay five hundred cash for protection!”
The women trembled in fear.
Just as they were about to step forward and negotiate, the scholar from earlier—who had not yet left—stepped out.
“The Azure Dragon Gang? What a coincidence. The county magistrate is my cousin. Would you like me to ask him when West Market became your territory?”
The Scarface’s expression changed. He pointed his knife at the scholar and was just about to curse when one of his lackeys whispered something in his ear.
His expression shifted several times. In the end, he shot the scholar a vicious glare before leading his men away.
They had come quickly, and they left just as quickly.
Zhan Haochen cupped his fists toward the scholar. “Thank you for helping us out of that predicament.”
Cheng Yao also said, “May I ask the name of our benefactor?”
“My name is Shen Xi.” The scholar paused, then waved his hand. “It was nothing. No need to mention it.”
“Benefactor Shen Xi, please accept our bow.”
Zhan Jianping took the lead, and everyone bowed to Shen Xi in thanks.
“Please, there’s no need.” Shen Xi hurriedly dodged, his face turning red.
Seeing how honest and shy he was, Cheng Yao did not let everyone continue thanking him. She simply gave him two baskets of grapes as payment.
Unexpectedly, he refused those as well.
“You are a straightforward woman, and these grapes are excellent. I have already asked my attendant to inform my close friend and have him come purchase some.”
“Oh?” Cheng Yao truly had not expected that he had been lingering because he was waiting for someone—and that he was actually trying to help her business. She was genuinely touched.
Her face immediately lit up with delight. “Oh my, thank you so much. As a token of my gratitude, I’ll give the customer you introduced a twenty-percent discount.”
Fatty listened enviously and curled his lip, grumbling inwardly, What a cheapskate. She’s only offering twenty percent off! If it were us, we’d give at least forty or fifty percent.
But Shen Xi’s reply shocked him even more.
“No need. Miss, whatever price you charge the villagers, charge him the same. Treating everyone equally is only fair. Besides”—Shen Xi leaned toward Cheng Yao and lowered his voice—“my close friend isn’t short of money.”
Fatty: “…”
Well, that settled it. The man had fallen for the girl and was putting romance before friendship.
Cheng Yao’s eyelid twitched as well. She secretly thought, The irresistible charm of this older sister really has nowhere to go!
She felt a little smug inside, but outwardly she moved away from him without showing a trace of it.
“In that case, thank you in advance, Young Master Shen.”
Cheng Yao expressed her gratitude.
What she had not expected was that Shen Xi’s close friend was the young master of “Zhiyouzhai,” the largest dried-fruit and candied-fruit shop in the city.
His name was Xiao Chengbang. He had a delicate, baby-faced appearance and looked no older than fourteen or fifteen, but deep in his eyes lay a keen shrewdness.
After tasting the grapes, he immediately said, “Miss, would you be willing to enter into a long-term partnership with us? We’ll take as much as you can provide. We can discuss the price.”
Everyone was overjoyed.
Zhan Yunpeng was about to interject that they were merely passing through and could not enter into a long-term partnership, but Cheng Yao stopped him with a look. With a faint smile, she said, “Young Master Xiao certainly is straightforward. However, these grapes only grow in a few specific places on the mountain. They don’t bear much fruit in most years. There are more this year, but at most we’ll be able to harvest them for two days. I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you.”
“Then they truly are rare and precious,” Xiao Chengbang said with a smile. “How about this? Supply me with fresh fruit for however many days you can harvest it. And if you have dried fruit, I’ll buy that as well and turn it into candied fruit.”
He wanted dried fruit too?
There was plenty of that growing on the trees!
Everyone’s eyes lit up as they stared eagerly at Cheng Yao, afraid that she might refuse.
Cheng Yao smiled. “All right. We’ll go back and harvest some right away. We’ll deliver the first batch to you tomorrow.”
When they heard her say that, everyone nearly cheered aloud.
After the deal was finalized, Cheng Yao kept forty jin of grapes, gave thirty jin to Shen Xi, and ten jin to Fatty.
Both men felt they had not helped her enough to deserve them and refused to accept the grapes.
Cheng Yao insisted.
Some debts of gratitude could be repaid on the spot, and it was best not to let them linger overnight.
That was gratitude—and also a way of keeping positive energy flowing.
In the end, the two men were unable to refuse and had no choice but to accept the grapes.
They also remembered her name: Cheng Yao.
Xiao Chengbang had his workers weigh all the remaining grapes. There were three hundred and twenty jin in total. He did not haggle, nor would he allow Cheng Yao to give him any grapes for free. He simply paid six taels and four hundred cash.
Seeing how decisive he was, Cheng Yao asked with concern, “The autumn wind is rather harsh. Fresh fruit will begin to wrinkle and shrivel within a day, which will affect its appearance. May I ask whether Young Master Xiao has a way to keep it fresh?”
Xiao Chengbang smiled smugly, brimming with confidence. “Naturally. Besides, this little amount of fruit will be gone after I send it around to the wealthy families in the city. If necessary, I can simply have a servant call out at the shop entrance. It will all be snatched up within an hour.”
Cheng Yao: “…”
She had been too narrow-minded.
In the end, poverty had limited her imagination.
Xiao Chengbang took a bunch of grapes and ate them as he sighed, “They’re truly sweet. Who would have thought that such excellent grapes could grow in the wilderness? I hear that the grape wine brought from the Western Regions is brewed from grapes. If only I knew how to make wine—then I’d have all these grapes hauled away for brewing.”
Cheng Yao’s eyes flickered.
She knew how to make wine, but she could not casually teach the method to anyone.
Perhaps once she completed this journey into exile, she would come back and work with Xiao Chengbang.
With money in her pocket, Cheng Yao hurriedly took everyone to stock up on grain.
The capital was about to descend into chaos. When that happened, many unscrupulous merchants would drive up prices and make a fortune from the national disaster.
Food prices in particular would definitely multiply several times over.
So, without worrying about anything else, they had to stock up on enough food to save their lives first. No matter how chaotic the world became, they would at least be able to keep calm as long as they had food to eat.
Li Liming asked, “Madam Cheng, you still owe us constables money. Shouldn’t you pay us back before buying grain?”
Cheng Yao looked sincere. “I haven’t forgotten, Constable. It’s just that we need food in order to survive. Only after we’ve eaten our fill can we earn more money, right? We’ll repay what we owe Constable Wang.”
Li Liming was rendered speechless and could not say anything more.
She truly did have the ability to lead everyone in making money.
Not to mention anything else, they had earned at least twenty or thirty taels over the past few days simply by delivering grapes to people. If they continued on their journey, perhaps they really could pay off everything they owed Constable Wang.
It was only after Cheng Yao reached the grain shop that she learned grain prices had already risen to a frightening level.
