"Picking on a child? What kind of skill is that?" the person snapped.
With that, he grabbed a stick from the ground and wielded it like a longsword. He fought the burly men single-handedly, not losing ground in the slightest!
His martial arts were good. He seemed like a trained fighter.
Seeing this, the shifty-looking man gritted his teeth. "We ran into a do-gooder. Let's go!"
They fled in disarray, and the person suddenly threw the long stick in his hand.
It struck the shifty-looking man right on the back of the head.
He cried out in pain but didn't dare come back to cause trouble. He just turned his head, glared, and threatened, "You just wait!"
With that, he ran off into the distance.
"Hmph, a bunch of cowards," the person scoffed, full of disdain.
He turned back around to find Shen Ningning looking up at him, her little face tilted, her big eyes blinking gratefully.
Once she got a clear look at his face, Shen Ningning recognized him. "You're the young man who snatched the food outside the city just now!"
The person froze.
He scratched his tangled, long hair, then suddenly spoke in a distinctly clear, feminine voice, "Actually, I'm a girl."
"Huh?" The little one's eyes went wide with surprise.
The other person tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing a delicate but grimy face. Her eyes, however, were dark and bright.
She looked to be only thirteen or fourteen.
She smiled and said, "I lower my voice on purpose. Otherwise, if people knew I was a girl, they'd bully me."
Shen Ningning quickly said, "Thank you, Sister."
"You're welcome. I ate your food just now, so it was only right to help you out a little," she said, waving her hand dismissively.
Seeing that she was about to leave, Shen Ningning asked, "Are you still hungry? Can I treat you to a good meal?"
The girl stopped in her tracks. She turned back, her eyes sparkling. "Okay!"
A short while later, the two were seated in a spacious and bright private room at a restaurant.
Shen Ningning waved her little hand at the waiter. "Bring us one of each of your signature dishes, enough to make eight courses."
After speaking, the little girl generously handed over one tael of silver as a tip.
The waiter was overjoyed. "Please wait a moment, Miss. I'll go arrange it right away!"
By the time the girl had finished washing up, the waiter had brought a table full of dishes.
"Such a feast! Well, I won't stand on ceremony then." As soon as she sat down, she grabbed a chicken leg in her left hand and a duck leg in her right and began to eat with gusto.
Shen Ningning sat opposite her, her little hands placed charmingly on her knees, her posture perfectly behaved.
"Sister, eat slowly. If it's not enough, I can order more," she said in her sweet, soft voice.
"Thanks, this should be enough. You don't have to call me Sister. My surname is Jiang, and my given name is Zhi. You can just call me by my name."
"Sister Jiang Zhi." The little one still wanted to call her that. "My name is Shen Ningning."
Jiang Zhi smiled and let her be.
Shen Ningning couldn't help but ask, "Sister, what about your family?"
"They're all dead," Jiang Zhi said calmly and naturally.
The little one froze and quietly lowered her head, feeling she shouldn't have asked.
Jiang Zhi sized her up.
"Your clothes are all dusty. Were you getting bullied too? But I see you can afford a carriage, so you must be different from a refugee like me."
Shen Ningning looked down at her torn skirt.
'It cost so much money, and it's not even durable.'
Her long eyelashes drooped, and her tone was dejected. "I came to the Capital City to find a brother. But when I went to the place he told me about, the people there thought I was causing trouble. It might not have been his home, so they threw me out."
Hearing this, Jiang Zhi let out a laugh. "People from the Capital City are just that heartless and disloyal. He was probably afraid you'd cling to him and didn't tell you the truth at all."
The light in Shen Ningning's eyes dimmed. She bit her lower lip, her round little face filled with sorrow.
Realizing she'd said the wrong thing, Jiang Zhi pushed a plate of meatballs in front of the little one.
"Don't be sad. Let me tell you, in this world, you can't just let people push you around. We've only got one life left—what's there to be afraid of?"
"If you're still angry, I'll go back there with you later. Whoever threw you out, I'll beat them up for you and let you vent your anger!"
Shen Ningning didn't say anything. After a long silence, she suddenly reached out her small hand, grabbed the remaining chicken leg, and started eating.
Now it was Jiang Zhi's turn to be stunned.
She watched as the little one's chubby hands got greasy, eating as if to vent her frustration.
She ate and drank tea, and after downing a final bowl of soup, her chubby little face was covered in sauce.
Shen Ningning took a hot, damp cloth from the restaurant and wiped her mouth clean.
She hopped off her chair and said with surprising force in her soft voice, "Sister Jiang Zhi, you're right! I won't be pushed around by anyone! You eat first. I have to take care of something. I'll be right back!"
"Hey?!" Jiang Zhi could only watch as she ran out.
Shen Ningning made a beeline for Huichun Hall.
When Manager Fang of the medicine shop saw her, his face lit up with a smile again. "Little Miss is back! Have you decided what you'll be selling me next?"
But Shen Ningning squeezed out a few tears. "Grandpa Shopkeeper, I might not be able to sell you any more medicinal herbs in the future."
She began to sob.
Manager Fang instantly grew nervous. "What is it? What happened?"
As he got closer, he noticed Shen Ningning's skirt was torn and her arm was scraped.
The little one's eyes were filled with grievance, welling up with tears. "Just now, a very mean-looking man cornered me in an alley and threatened me! He told me not to sell medicinal herbs to you anymore!"
"He even tried to force me to sign a complaint to report you to the government for forcing a sale."
Shen Ningning sniffled. "Luckily, someone passed by and saved me. Grandpa Shopkeeper, I'm scared. I'm never coming back again."
Manager Fang was shocked. He quickly asked, "What did the man look like?"
"He was tall and thin, with a pointy face," Shen Ningning said, pulling the corners of her eyes to demonstrate. "And he had squinty eyes."
After a moment of thought, Manager Fang erupted in anger. "It's the shopkeeper of Renxin House! We've always been at each other's throats! I can't believe he'd dare to threaten you and try to harm me!"
Shen Ningning said in her soft voice, "Your feud has nothing to do with me. Anyway, I've earned enough silver. I won't be coming anymore. Goodbye, Grandpa Shopkeeper."
With that, she turned to leave.
Manager Fang quickly grabbed her, pleading in a gentle voice, "Little Miss, don't let one rotten apple spoil our dealings."
"Don't worry, I will handle this matter properly and make sure you have no more trouble!" After saying this, Manager Fang called out to his assistant, "Go get 300 taels of ready silver!"
"Little Miss, this money is from reselling the Longevity Root just now. I didn't expect the buyer to offer such a high price. Since you're here, it's only right that this money should be shared with you."
He spoke with sincerity as he retied a heavy pouch of silver to Shen Ningning's back.
Manager Fang said, "As long as we cooperate well, Little Miss's life will surely get better and better. Leave those with ill intentions to me!"
His own brother was the Chief of the Imperial Hospital. How could he let Renxin House threaten him right under his nose?!
Shen Ningning felt the heavy weight of the silver on her back.
She was very smart and understood after just a moment of thought.
'This Grandpa Shopkeeper must be afraid that I'll be scared off by that man and start cooperating with his rival instead, no longer selling medicinal herbs to Huichun Hall.'
'The fact that he's giving me 300 taels must mean he underreported the prices of the Purple Ganoderma and the Longevity Root before.'
'He's afraid of being exposed, so he's making up for it all at once now.'
Shen Ningning calmly accepted the silver.
'It was what she deserved.'
Outwardly, however, the little girl said with feigned difficulty, "Okay then... I'll wait and see how Grandpa Shopkeeper plans to deal with that man."
Only then did she depart.
Shen Ningning had thought it through very clearly.
The reason their rival had threatened her directly, instead of confronting Manager Fang, was because they were bullying her for being a child, thinking she would be easy to manipulate.
But she wasn't going to be bullied anymore!
So she had directly shifted the conflict onto Manager Fang.
'As for their feud, let them fight it out themselves!'