After the spiritual plants were sorted, Xu Mu’an delivered them to the city. Xu Mu’an was good at bargaining, so Xiao Jingting had completely entrusted the grain-selling business to him.
“Uncle Li, sorry to trouble you again.” Since there was quite a lot of grain to sell, Xu Mu’an directly hired Li Sheng’s ox cart.
Li Sheng smiled and said, “What trouble is there? Little Xu, you have quite a lot of grain to sell this time!”
Xu Mu’an nodded and said, “Yes!”
“So much spiritual grain—you can sell it for a lot of silver,” Li Sheng said.
“Right!” Xu Mu’an replied. Xiao Jingting had already told Xu Mu’an about the fallow spiritual fields requiring penalty payments. After learning about this, Xu Mu’an’s heart always felt heavy, wishing he could instantly produce several thousand taels of silver. “Silver is never enough to spend,” Xu Mu’an sighed lightly.
Li Sheng looked at Xu Mu’an and said, “Little Xu! Even when you have money, you can’t spend it carelessly!”
Xu Mu’an nodded and said, “I know.”
“Are you going alone?” Li Sheng asked.
“Brother Shuyu is coming with me,” Xu Mu’an said.
“Two people is good—two people is safer,” Li Sheng said.
Xu Mu’an nodded and said, “That’s what I think too.”
Mu Shuyu helped Xu Mu’an load all the grain onto the cart. Qiu Bai watched this scene from afar, his heart full of jealousy.
“So much spiritual grain! This much spiritual grain should sell for seven or eight hundred taels of silver,” Zhao Man’er beside Qiu Bai muttered enviously.
“Xiao Jingting actually entrusted such an important matter as selling grain to Xu Mu’an.”
Zhao Man’er said somewhat puzzledly, “What’s wrong with entrusting it to Xu Mu’an? My father also leaves grain selling to my mother.”
“Of course it’s wrong! How much money can your family’s little bit of grain make? Your family grows low-grade grain, so your father knows what he’s doing. But Xiao Jingting’s is different—he grows high-grade grain with a wide price range. Xu Mu’an could pocket one or two hundred taels without anyone knowing,” Qiu Bai said sourly.
Zhao Man’er scratched his head and said, “Young Master Xu isn’t that kind of person.”
Qiu Bai snorted and said, “Who knows? You can know someone’s face but not their heart.”
After selling the grain, Xu Mu’an got 850 taels of silver and finally felt somewhat at ease.
As Xu Mu’an walked out of the grain shop, someone desperately rushed toward him, “Young Master Xu, save me!”
Seeing the person rushing at him, Xu Mu’an felt a surge of disgust and wanted to kick him hard. Looking at Wang Erhu, Xu Mu’an sneered and said, “Save you? I don’t even know you. Save what?”
“Young Master Xu, I’m your husband’s brother—you can’t just watch me die!”
Xu Mu’an scoffed and said, “Ridiculous! My husband’s brothers are all young masters of the Xiao family. You scoundrel dare to impersonate a Xiao family young master.”
Several household guards came out with sticks, “Good! You rogue finally dare show yourself.”
The guards looked warily at Xu Mu’an, seemingly worried he might stand up for the man, “You rogue, falsely claiming relatives—now someone’s finally here to deal with you.”
Xu Mu’an said to the approaching guards, “This kind of person deserves a beating—you need to beat him well.”
Remembering how Wang Erhu had come to their house wanting Xiao Jingting to sell his son, Xu Mu’an was filled with disgust for this person. If Xiao Jingting hadn’t changed his ways, Wang Erhu might have succeeded.
“Master Xiao, I’m your husband’s good friend! He values loyalty most—when he learns you stood by and watched me die, he’ll definitely resent you,” Wang Erhu said.
Xu Mu’an laughed mockingly, “What are you? My husband would resent me for a lowly bug like you who can’t even get on stage? Stop putting gold on your face.”
Wang Erhu’s face turned red from Xu Mu’an’s scolding. Xu Mu’an said to the guards, “This person has corrupt morals and lies constantly—he’s truly unworthy of being human. You carry on, I’ll leave first.”
“This young man is right—this person is no good and deserves a beating,” the lead guard called for everyone to swarm forward, raining sticks down on Wang Erhu.
Xu Mu’an stepped back a few paces, watching the scene with schadenfreude.
Wang Erhu screamed as he was beaten. Xu Mu’an was too lazy to watch anymore and turned to leave.
Seeing Xu Mu’an about to leave, Wang Erhu urgently shouted, “Master Xiao, don’t go! I know a secret—a secret about your husband!”
Xu Mu’an’s heart skipped a beat. He scoffed and said, “You? What could you possibly know?”
“Someone wants to harm your husband—he instructed me to corrupt your husband!” Wang Erhu shouted loudly.
“Stop talking nonsense! My husband has always been kind to others—how could anyone want to harm him? You scoundrel, truly spouting garbage. I can’t be bothered with you,” Xu Mu’an said, pulling Mu Shuyu away.
Mu Shuyu was pulled away by Xu Mu’an and looked at him uneasily, saying, “What he said might not be false.”
Xu Mu’an nodded and said, “What he said is probably true. Don’t worry—those guards won’t dare beat him to death. Openly beating someone to death in the city would lead to lawsuits.”
Mu Shuyu: “…”
Xu Mu’an pursed his lips and said calmly, “Once that guy is beaten into submission, we’ll secretly find him and ask for details.”
Mu Shuyu: “…”
shuyu: today i was enlightened
? ? ? Smart Xiao Muan