BXBX NOVEL Chapter 119: Wei Family members_l
Chapter 119: Wei Family members_l
A large basket full of ripe yellow apricots, each being juicy and full, was enough to make anyone salivate at sight.
Jiang Quan placed the basket in a place with a high rate of foot traffic and began to call out: “Apricots for sale! Big and sweet yellow apricots, ten coins a pound.”
Today, he brought the family’s scale to accurately weigh the apricots, and even prepared a large pile of lotus leaves for packaging the apricots.
Soon a customer came asking, “Are the apricots sour?”
“There are no apricots that aren’t sour, but the ones from my home are mostly sweet,” Jiang Quan explained to the customer.
“Let me taste it.” An old lady reached out and took a bite of one.
Jiang Quan was unable to stop the quick-handed old lady and looked at her with some annoyance, suggesting that if she didn’t buy, she would not be allowed to leave.
Fortunately, the old lady bought two pounds after tasting one, but when it came time to pay, she shortchanged him by one coin, giving only nineteen before leaving.
By the time Jiang Quan finished counting the money, the old lady had disappeared.
Jiang Quan shook his head and continued calling out for customers.
At this time, several people from East Village arrived. Seeing their village’s fairy child selling apricots, they quickly came over to show their support, each buying two pounds of apricots, and loudly praising, “These apricots are delicious. This is the first time I’ve tasted such delicious apricots. Hey, don’t just watch, hurry up and buy. They’ll be gone if you’re late.”
Thanks to their shouting, a crowd gathered to buy apricots.
Jiang Quan grinned from ear to ear and hurriedly started weighing the apricots in lotus leaf packages for the customers.
Seeing the large crowd, others in the market approached out of curiosity.
The result was that more and more people gathered until the place was completely crowded.
“Move! Move! Everyone move!”
Someone shouted loudly, trying to disperse the crowd.
A boy of about six or seven years old was seen being squeezed into the crowd by some people.
The boy was dressed in splendid silk, with an exquisite jade brand hanging around his neck —an obvious sign of his from a wealthy family.
In such a rural place, it was rare for someone to wear jade ornaments, yet the jade brand around the boy’s neck was smooth and transparent, clearly of high value.
The boy came over to Yingbao and looked at her, “What are you doing?”
“Selling apricots.” Hearing his accent, Yingbao noticed he wasn’t a local and seemed curious, watching him carefully.
“Apricots?” The boy stretched his neck to look into the basket, “Are they tasty?”
“Tasty.” Yingbao replied.
The boy turned to his attendant and said: “I want to buy apricots.” The attendant hastily shook his head: “No, young master, these things can harm one’s spleen and stomach, you cannot eat.”
The boy got angry and kicked the attendant, “I want to buy them!”
Left without a choice, the attendant took out some copper coins and bought a pound of apricots.
The boy, mimicking the others around him, grabbed an apricot, rubbed it on his sleeve, and then took a bite.
As soon as the apricot hit his tongue, his face instantly puckered up at the sourness.
He stealthily glanced at Yingbao, noticed that she was watching him, and quickly finished the apricot in a few bites.
After finishing the apricot, he seemed to want another one. The attendant quickly tucked the bag of apricots into his chest and moved the boy away from the crowd, “Young master, let’s eat more at home. There are too many people here.”
The boy didn’t want to leave, but kept looking back at Yingbao. Finally, he pointed at her and said, “Take her too.”
The attendant grimaced and whispered, “Young master, she’s a child of a good family, we can’t take her.”
“Then buy her.” The boy insisted rudely.
“Oh my, young master, they don’t sell people.” The attendant tried to coax the boy towards a carriage, “Please get in the carriage, the eldest son is getting impatient.”
“I don’t want to get in!” The boy was angry and kicked the attendant viciously, “I want to buy more apricots!”
“Okay, okay, you get in the carriage first, and I’ll go buy them right away.”
As long as this little master didn’t insist on buying the girl, he would even buy a donkey if asked.
The attendant lifted the boy into the carriage and quickly went back to the crowd to buy another pound of apricots. He glanced again at the girl, marvelling to himself.
No wonder the young master wanted to buy her, this lassie is truly beautiful to behold.
In the carriage, the upright sitting young man looked surprised and chided coldly: “Wei Zhan, why were you running around just now?”
Wei Zhan didn’t fear his half-bred elder cousin in the slightest, he stoutly replied: “I was curious about the crowd.”
Wei Wenbo argued angrily: “Curious? You jumped right off the carriage out of curiosity? If I had known you would be this disobedient, I wouldn’t have brought you out.”
Wei Zhan scoffed, grunted lightly, and took command as soon as the attendant returned: “Give me the apricots!”
The attendant, discreetly glancing at the elder young master, took out a package of yellow apricots wrapped in lotus leaves. He softly warned: “Eating too many apricots is bad for the body. Young master should eat less…”
Wei Zhan snatched the package of lotus leaves, glared at the attendant, and bit into an apricot.
Wei Wenbo was left with a sour taste, but he couldn’t help picking one up, “Isn’t it sour?”
“It’s not sour, it’s delicious.” Wei Zhan replied, expressionless.
The steward of the party asked: “Young master, shall we continue with Chen Changping?”
“No, let’s first find an inn to stay in,” answered Wei Wenbo.
“But the inns here are in such poor condition, maybe we should stick with Chen Changping,” suggested the steward, cautiously. ‘After all, their family is considered wealthy around here, their accommodations should be clean.’
“Alright, but clarify to Chen Changping that we are just here to travel.
Everything else can be discussed later.”
“Yes.”
The steward headed toward the mule cart, telling the haggard looking old man
Chen, “Our young master has agreed to come to your place, you lead the way.”
“Good, good.” Old man Chen was ecstatic and immediately took the reins of the cart.
Inside the mule cart, Chen Changping was already exhausted, leaning on the cart without moving.
He and his father had been through the wringer all the way, not to mention that the Wei Family’s young master was particularly difficult to handle. He could torment people to death with his whims and fancies.
He was almost home, and the young master stirred up trouble again, insisting on strolling through the market.
Chen Changping felt mentally drained. He wanted to rush home, lay on his bed, and sleep for days on end. All other matters could be discussed afterwards.
At the market, Jiang Quan quickly sold all the apricots in his basket.
Someone asked, “Will you be here at the next market?”
Jiang Quan laughed and nodded, “I will.”
There were still quite a few apricots on the tree, but most were half green and half yellow. In a few days, they should be ripe for picking.
Jiang Quan carried his younger cousin in the empty basket, and strolled around with his younger sisters, Dani and Erni.
He also wanted to buy a puppy, but unfortunately, he didn’t come across one on his stroll.
In the end, they spent about twenty coins. Each of the four siblings had a bowl of boiled vegetable dumplings, after which they returned home.
When they passed by Xichen Village, they saw several carriages and a few tall horses parked in front of Old Chen’s house.
Many villagers were watching from a distance, whispering amongst themselves.
Yingbao, with a stern face, urged her second cousin who wanted to see the excitement, to hurry home.
The emblem embroidered on the carriage was the crest of the Mansion Wei Family.
It seemed that Chen Changping had indeed called for help from the Mansion Wei Family.
It was unknown how they planned to clear the Han family’s name.
She had to go to the county town as soon as possible and alert Wu Daozi.
If the Wei Family intended to defend the Han family, they would certainly have sufficient evidence.
Or perhaps they didn’t even need evidence, they could just use their influence to pressure the county magistrate for a retrial.
Would a man like Wu Daozi easily compromise? Definitely not.
If Wu Daozi refused to retry the case, he would effectively offend the Wei Family.
He was only a humble seventh-grade county magistrate, who was in office for less than a year and hadn’t had any political achievements. He could easily be dismissed..