During famine years, I had a divination slip in hand, and my whole family ate chicken, duck, fish, a

The driver drove the oxcart to the back door, and Ye Dali and his men unloaded the goods.

Ye Dazhuang watched silently from the side.

The innkeeper led Ye Qingqing and Li Chunyan into the accounting room, sat them down, and asked a young waiter to bring them hot tea. He slowly took a sip.

"Miss Ye is truly a hidden talent!"

Ye Qingqing sensed the hidden meaning in his words and gave a faint smile.

"What does the shopkeeper mean by this?"

The shopkeeper chuckled.

"You noticed something was off about the guy in the brocade robe, yet you sold the fish to me and then asked me what I meant?"

"That's all thanks to the shopkeeper's suggestion. If you hadn't come out, how could I have accepted it?"

Ye Qingqing smiled and tentatively said, "So you figured it out all along? I really have to thank you for pointing it out, otherwise we would have suffered a great loss!"

"What huge loss? Second Sister, what have you figured out?"

Li Chunyan was completely baffled as she watched the two of them speaking in riddles.

The shopkeeper ignored her completely, shaking his head with a disdainful look.

"Do you even need to figure that out? That group is the beggar gang. They do all sorts of deceitful and swindling things, specifically targeting people like you who come from the countryside to the city to sell mountain products."

I only came out to warn you because I thought your truckload of fish was really good and I didn't want you to suffer a big loss.

Honestly, it's only because you're clever that you're successful. If it were those foolish, clueless people, they'd just jump on the bandwagon because they saw how much money was being offered.

Ye Qingqing couldn't help but be curious.

"Oh? Is that so? Please tell me more, shopkeeper."

Since it would take a while to settle the payment, and we had to wait anyway, the shopkeeper started chatting.

"Among those beggar gangs, there's a group of quick-witted people who specifically target those selling mountain products."

Your truckload of goods should have been spotted as soon as it entered the city gate.

They somehow acquired brocade robes, dressed themselves up as wealthy people, and targeted expensive mountain goods, luring people to secluded places with high prices, where a group of people were already lying in ambush.

As soon as they arrived, they swarmed in, arresting people and seizing goods, then scattering in a chaotic frenzy.

Ye Qingqing frowned. "This is blatant robbery!"

Sure enough, the ominous sign that warned against greed for small gains proved true in this matter.

"My goodness, is this even possible?"

Li Chunyan felt a chill run down her spine. Thinking back to how she had been constantly urging Er Ya to sell the fish to the highest bidder, a cold sweat shot up her neck, and she asked, trembling...

"Then, what about the people who were robbed? Don't they report it to the authorities? Doesn't the government care?"

The shopkeeper gave a cold snort.

"Report to the authorities? Do you have the money to bribe the yamen runners? If you don't have the money, who would be willing to run errands for you!"

Besides, that's the Beggar Gang. They'll take off their clothes and become beggars; you wouldn't even be able to find them!

"Thank goodness! When that person offered such a high price, I really thought..."

Li Chunyan's heart pounded with lingering fear. She grabbed Ye Qingqing's arm and said excitedly, "Second girl, thank goodness you were quick-witted! Otherwise, we would have suffered a huge loss!"

"How did you know that person was strange? He was wearing a brocade robe, clearly dressed like a wealthy person!"

The shopkeeper, also intrigued, asked a question.

"Yes, Miss Ye, how did you figure that out? I'm not trying to scare you, but the Hua Zi Gang has robbed a lot of people from the countryside who come to sell mountain products. They use the trick of pretending to be rich, and not many people can see through their act."

Ye Qingqing smiled.

A single ominous divination slip isn't enough to make me more cautious?

She said casually, "It's nothing. I just noticed that although the person was dressed like a rich person, his mannerisms and speech didn't have the air of a rich person."

A wealthy and powerful man, whose fingernails were so dirty that he couldn't even wash them clean, went to the market to buy fish with a servant in tow.

We country folk may not be very knowledgeable, but we're not stupid! A closer look at him reveals his ignorance.

"Hahaha... Okay, he's clever!"

The shopkeeper laughed heartily, glancing at Li Chunyan in the process. "There aren't many country folk like you, only focused on those petty profits, not caring whether the things in your hands are actually worth that much money."

"Seeing someone dressed nicely, making a few noises, and offering a high price, some fools, instead of checking if he's a scammer, just jump right in!"

Shopkeeper, you can't be this humiliating!

I haven't met many rich people, so who knows if it's real or fake?

Li Chunyan's face flushed red, and she was so embarrassed that she didn't dare to lift her head.

Ye Qingqing thanked her politely.

"Thank you so much, shopkeeper, for today!"

The shopkeeper waved his hand, a hint of appreciation appearing in his eyes as he looked at Ye Qingqing.

"You're welcome. I think you're quite a remarkable girl. You don't seem like someone who's ignorant; you're much smarter than most girls from the countryside."

I enjoy dealing with smart people. If you have any good products, just bring them to my Fu Shun Lou shop; the price is negotiable.

I haven't even recovered from being called an "idiot" yet, and now I'm being called ignorant again?

Li Chunyan felt like she had thorns growing on her buttocks, and couldn't sit still any longer. Embarrassed, she stood up and said...

"Um... Second Sister, I'll go check if your brother has finished unloading the goods. I'll go lend a hand."

At this moment, the accountant lifted the curtain and came in, holding paper and pen in his hand, and said...

"Shopkeeper, the fish have all been weighed, a total of 465 catties."

The fish skin is neat and intact, the appearance is fine, and it looks fresh. I can pay now.

Four hundred and sixty-five jin!

Li Chunyan immediately forgot about the embarrassing scene from earlier and started mentally calculating her options.

42 coins per jin, 10 jin for 420 coins, 100 jin for 4200 coins, 4 ... four 100 jin is...

"A total of 19530 cash, which can be exchanged for 19 taels and 5 mace of silver plus 30 cash."

Before she could finish calculating, the accountant had already read out the accounts, his abacus beads clicking away rapidly.

"Give her the tent."

The shopkeeper waved his hand and asked Ye Qingqing, "We have ten-tael silver notes in the shop, they're easy to carry. Miss Ye, would you like cash or silver notes?"

Ye Qingqing thought for a moment, "I need silver. Please give me a full ten taels, and exchange the rest for one tael of loose silver."

I need to buy things for the family; small change is useful.

"That's easy to say."

The accountant got up and went to the inner room. He took out a key from his pocket, opened the door, went in, and brought out a box of silver. He weighed each coin on a special scale ("weighing scale") and placed them all on the table.

"Miss Ye, you've already checked the scale, please."

"Thank you, sir. Thank you, shopkeeper."

Ye Qingqing casually picked out a one-tael coin, put all the rest of the silver into her money bag, and politely said,

"I'm so grateful for the help you two have given me today. This is just a small token of my appreciation, a little something to treat you to drinks. Please don't laugh at me."

The shopkeeper raised his hand.

"So generous! Then I won't stand on ceremony."

As Li Chunyan emerged from the backyard, she grabbed Ye Qingqing's arm, so overjoyed that she almost forgot her own name.

"My goodness, ten or nineteen taels and five thousand! We're rich! We're rich!"

Second daughter, you're truly a great contributor to our family! From now on, I'll listen to whatever you say!

What are we going to do now? Go home?

It's only nineteen taels, far from enough to buy an oxcart, what's there to be excited about?

Ye Qingqing raised an eyebrow. "What else can we do? Buy winter clothes for the whole family!"