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Fulong Village's mountain path was steep and narrow, but in Li Guanqi's eyes, it was a flat road.
Li Guanqi didn't know how many times he had walked this path. In the village, almost everyone who drank alcohol relied on him to go to Changxing Town to buy it.
The descent was quick. By the time the sun was high, Li Guanqi was already close to Changxing Town.
Li Guanqi's breathing was deep and steady. A slight sweat beaded on his forehead as he looked at Changxing Town a few miles away, his lips curving slightly upward.
"Finally arrived. It was quite a bit faster this time."
As his words fell, Li Guanqi's figure shot out like an arrow from a bowstring.
Changxing Town, a large town with only over two hundred thousand people.
Both sides of the street were filled with the cries of small vendors. The town was exceptionally lively on market days.
A young girl wearing a light blue dress looked around here and there, though the dress was already faded from washing.
Meng Wanshu held rice, flour, and oil in her hands. This time, she had pleaded for a long time before her parents finally agreed to let her come down the mountain.
"Uncle, how much are these rice cakes?"
"One copper coin, little girl."
"That cheap? Give me three, no... make it four."
The little girl muttered to herself, not knowing what she was thinking, as the image of that freeloader involuntarily surfaced in her mind.
Thinking of that little blind fellow, Meng Wanshu stomped her foot indignantly.
"Hmph! If that dog nose of his smells this, he'll definitely complain I didn't buy him any."
Soon, the old man wrapped the rice cakes in kraft paper.
Meng Wanshu took them, said her thanks, and happily walked towards the edge of town.
At the same time, Li Guanqi was still four or five miles away from Changxing Town. He didn't know that Meng Wanshu had also come down the mountain this time.
Suddenly!
Meng Wanshu heard chaotic exclamations coming from the street behind her.
She saw a youth whose face was as fair as jade, wearing a luxurious white and blue brocade robe, standing rooted to the spot with a hint of disgust in his eyes.
His hands were clasped behind his back, lightly fanning himself with a folding fan, his eyes filled with arrogance.
His brow furrowed slightly, and he occasionally looked at the white-haired old man with utter revulsion.
The servants beside him surrounded the youth, protecting him. Four or five of them swarmed forward and overturned the old man's rice cake stall.
They stomped the steaming rice cakes into a mess.
The old man knelt on the ground, his eyes red-rimmed, reaching out to try and protect the rice cakes.
"Don't... don't stomp... don't stomp them!"
"Th... these are all freshly made!!"
Bang!!
The old man was kicked to the ground by the malicious servants. One of them said viciously.
"You old geezer, you don't pay up and you still want to set up a stall?"
"Don't you know this whole area has been bought by our Zhao Family?!!"
This scene immediately drew accusations from many people, but the condemnations soon faded away.
The servants glared fiercely at those who spoke, and for a moment, everyone had no choice but to shut their mouths.
Meng Wanshu, from within the crowd, happened to see that the old man lying on the ground was the very one she had just bought rice cakes from.
Anger immediately flashed across her face. She glanced at the youth but didn't say much.
She remembered what the little blind fellow had told her: when traveling, it's better to avoid trouble, and minding your own business is the wise thing to do.
Meng Wanshu knew deep down that she couldn't change anything. She sighed and turned to leave.
But this single turn was seen by Zhao Yuanlin!
He had originally been quite resentful about being sent by his father to this godforsaken place, but he hadn't expected to meet a girl with such a good temperament here.
The thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl had already blossomed into a graceful figure, her features possessing an added hint of youthful purity.
She was different from the kind of women of loose morals he usually toyed with!!
"Dog Three, I've taken a liking to that girl, follow her!"
A shifty-eyed servant looked up at the departing Meng Wanshu and immediately understood.
Looking at her clothes and what she carried, it was clear she wasn't from a wealthy family. Girls from ordinary backgrounds like this were the easiest to handle.
Dog Three, short and thin, hunched his back. His lecherous air couldn't be hidden, even with a face full of smiles.
Dog Three nodded repeatedly, grinning obsequiously: "Don't worry, Young Master, I'll take care of it right away!"
Zhao Yuanlin's lips curved upward slightly. His heart fluttered, and he was already fantasizing about what would happen next.
He lightly tapped Dog Three's head with his folding fan and chuckled softly, "Handle it nicely."
As he spoke, he pulled a large gold ingot from his sleeve and tossed it to Dog Three: "The rest is yours."
Dog Three's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly.
"Scram! What are you looking at? Disperse!!"
After Zhao Yuanlin left, Dog Three straightened up slightly, sneered, and kicked over the old man's cart.
"Let me tell you, three strings of copper coins a month."
"If you don't pay, don't set up a stall. I'll smash it every time you do!"
The disheveled and rather battered old man, ignoring the blood on his face, wiped it haphazardly and spoke with a look of difficulty in his eyes.
"Sir... Sir..."
"Didn't you say it was one string of copper coins a month before?"
"Th-th-this... how could it have gone up so much just after two days?!"
Dog Three picked up a stomped rice cake from the ground, shoved it into the old man's mouth, tilted his head, and said with a sinister look in his eyes.
"One string?"
"Heh, don't my brothers here need to eat?"
The old man humiliatingly swallowed the rice cake mixed with dirt and sand, nodding repeatedly.
"Yes, yes, yes, this old man understands..."
"Hahaha, Brother Dog is still generous."
"You have no foresight at all, Brother Dog, what did the Young Master just say?"
Dog Three smiled slightly and flaunted the gold ingot before everyone's eyes.
"Go, wasn't there a human trafficker old woman arrested in town a while ago?"
"What was she called? Aunt Mei? Go call her over for me."
"Also, someone go and find a way to delay that little girl."
The several people beside him heard the command and immediately set to work.
Dog Three bared his yellow teeth, hunching slightly with a lecherous air, and licked his lips.
He had seen that little girl earlier. If it weren't for Zhao Yuanlin, he would have enjoyed her himself.
But... thinking about Zhao Yuanlin's character, it wasn't certain that his brothers wouldn't get a chance!
"Heh heh, truly fresh and pure..."
Soon, Meng Wanshu noticed something was wrong. It felt like no matter where she walked, someone was intentionally blocking her way.
No matter how she walked, she couldn't shake these people off.
An inexplicable feeling of panic spread in her heart...
In a dark, dilapidated alley, Dog Three looked at the benevolent-looking old woman before him and frowned.
He turned to the man beside him and frowned, asking, "Are you sure this is that Aunt Mei?"
"Damn, you really can't tell she's benevolent-looking..."
The old woman spoke slowly in a gentle voice: "Sir, this is where you don't understand."
"If this old woman wasn't like this... how would so many people fall for it?"
"Gaining sympathy is the basic skill of our trade."
Hearing this, Dog Three immediately showed a playful expression and said directly, "Then I'll leave it to you. If you get it done, the reward will be thirty taels of silver."
The old woman's eyes immediately flashed with a glint upon hearing this, and she nodded repeatedly in agreement.
She took out a set of ragged, smelly clothes from the bundle on her back and put them on.
She haphazardly grabbed at her previously neat hair a few times, rubbed her hands on the ground, not even sparing her fingernails, and made her face dirty as well.
Dog Three looked at the old woman now; her demeanor was worlds apart from before.
If she was a venerable matriarch of a prominent family before, now she was a venerable matriarch who had fallen on hard times.
Even Dog Three, who was accustomed to all sorts of characters, couldn't help but give a thumbs-up upon seeing this scene.
Li Guanqi, who had just arrived in town, excitedly ran to the wine shop.
A slightly stout middle-aged man, seeing that it was Li Guanqi, showed none of the expected disdain.
Instead, he greeted him very enthusiastically: "Haha, little blind fellow, it's been a long time since you came!"
Listening to the owner's enthusiastic greeting, Li Guanqi couldn't help but tease.
"Boss Zhao, your business seems to be thriving recently, you've gotten quite a bit fatter?"
Boss Zhao of the wine shop wasn't annoyed upon hearing this. He actually felt that Li Guanqi was his benefactor.
Ever since Li Guanqi started coming to buy wine, his wine shop's business had gotten better and better, growing larger.
Their back-and-forth exchanges had made their relationship with Li Guanqi quite familiar.
Zhao Dafu picked up a handful of melon seeds and offered them: "The usual?"
Li Guanqi thought for a moment, remembering he had also promised to fetch wine for Uncle Meng. He said straightforwardly, "Four jars of Osmanthus Wine."
Zhao Dafu nodded, smiling, and called out loudly, "Old customer, four jars of Osmanthus Wine!"
Hearing this, Li Guanqi couldn't help but say, "Tsk, still calling me 'old customer', huh? What, afraid your assistants will water it down?"
Zhao Dafu was startled by this, shivering, and quickly waved his hand.
"You mustn't say such things! How could I dare?"
"My business, Zhao Dafu's business, relies on honesty! I was just saying it for fun..."
While waiting for the wine, Li Guanqi leaned against the counter, cracking melon seeds, and chatting idly with Zhao Dafu.
Through gaps in the crowd, he happened to see the old man across the street cleaning up the mess on the ground.
Seeing the old man, Li Guanqi couldn't help but frown slightly.
He turned to look at Zhao Dafu and asked in a low voice, "Old Zhao, what happened to Uncle Xiao? How did his stall get overturned?"
Zhao Dafu sighed upon hearing this. He had seen the previous conflict clearly; after all, his wine shop was situated slightly higher up.
"Ah... don't even mention it."
"Recently, these three streets of ours were all bought by a family named Zhao."
"As a result, as soon as the Zhao Family took over, the rent more than doubled!!"
"Now, all of us shops on these few streets are considering whether or not to move."
Li Guanqi's brows were tightly furrowed. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he couldn't help but murmur, "Zhao Family?"
However, he didn't dwell on it but listened as Zhao Dafu briefly recounted everything that had happened before.
After listening, Li Guanqi couldn't help but say.
"This Zhao Family is quite tyrannical. Aren't they afraid you'll all move out and find new shops if they do this?"
Zhao Dafu clasped his hands within his sleeves and said irritably, "Who knows?"
"Anyway, I'm preparing to move. I'm not afraid of a slightly cheaper location; otherwise, who can afford this rent?!"
"Boss, the four jars of Osmanthus Wine are ready."
Li Guanqi looked at the jars, which were noticeably smaller, and couldn't help but curse, "You dog thing! Your quality didn't drop, but your quantity did??"
Zhao Dafu rubbed his hands awkwardly and returned a portion of the money Li Guanqi had handed over.
"Ah, what choice do I have?"
Li Guanqi grabbed the money, shook the wine jars in his hand, and advised, "Old Zhao, you can't do business like this."
"I'm going to see Uncle Xiao."
As his words fell, a hint of shame appeared on Zhao Dafu's face. He sighed and turned to his assistant, saying.
"Change them!"
"Ah? Change what?"
"Change the jars! Change what... you blockhead."
"Oh, oh, oh, right Boss, I estimate that little girl in the blue dress who was watching... she's in great danger..."
"Shut up! Don't talk nonsense about things you shouldn't talk about!!"
Zhao Dafu looked around warily. Although he dared to complain at length to Li Guanqi.
That didn't mean he dared to provoke the Zhao Family!!
Li Guanqi suddenly stopped in his tracks. He turned back to look at the assistant in the shop and frowned, asking, "What little girl in a blue dress?"
"What happened?"