"How much are these red plums?" Lian Qiao asked.
Jiang Ruan shook her head, "Just do as I said, these flowers are useful."
"How pitiful," Lian Qiao sighed.
Lian Qiao held the porcelain bottle of red plums in her hand and finally could not help but ask, "What does Miss want these plums for? Although they look good, there is no need to buy so many. Moreover, the flowers will wither after a few days, it would be better to eat a few spring cakes."
"You must be trying to swindle the little girl's money!"
She said softly, "Old sir need not be angry, there is right and wrong in the world, even if it is not clear at the moment, the truth will eventually come to light. Why harm yourself for a mouthful of turbid air? Wouldn't the loss outweigh the gain?"
The bazaar on West Street was the busiest place on West Street. Relatively speaking, it was also the place where crooks mixed with honest folk. There were all sorts of people. Because of this, it was not strange for anything to happen here, and the most common thing was to be robbed by thieves.
Someone could not stand it and said, "Old man, why do you have to speak so harshly to a little girl? Don't tell me you have lived so long just to bully the young? Shameless! "
Bai Zhi was shocked, and seeing Jiang Ruan's actions, she hurriedly said, "Miss, don't, we better not get involved in this."
A few children sat in front of the cosmetics shop and played with the buttons they had just picked up. Occasionally, they would raise their dirty faces to look curiously at Jiang Ruan and the other two, and then turn their heads back to play with their things excitedly.
This was one of them. As soon as the three of them reached the entrance of the market, they saw that there were three layers of people surrounding the market. They did not know what they were talking about. Seeing Jiang Ruan stop, Lian Qiao thought for a while and whispered a few words to Bai Zhi. The two of them squeezed through the crowd and made a small path for Jiang Ruan.
"So expensive," Lian Qiao was shocked, "I don't want it."
Then, what could she do?
A strange look flashed in Jiang Ruan's eyes.
Jiang Ruan did not say anything. The few of them walked and walked until they reached the bazaar on West Street.
"Hey hey hey," seeing this, the peddler hurriedly said, "Forget it, just give me three copper coins, no less. The children at home are still waiting to eat a hot meal."
"These flowers are not for viewing," Jiang Ruan said as she walked forward, "they are for you."
Jiang Ruan paused for a moment before she gently pushed aside Bai Zhi, who was shielding her with half of her body.
The little girl was surrounded by a group of people. Her face was extremely pale, and she was holding a silver ingot tightly in her hand. Her eyes were wide open, and she looked extremely helpless and weak. Then, she looked at the furious old man. He was wearing a brown linen cotton-padded robe, and his beard was trembling in anger. His voice was extremely loud, and it was as if he was shouting at the little girl, "You little girl, you know how to steal chickens and dogs at such a young age. You have no manners at all!"
"Gift?" Lian Qiao looked at her curiously. "To whom?"
What was important was not the truth, but the attitude of the people around him. Even if his young lady came forward to mediate, she would be treated as an ignorant outsider and be attacked together with him. Forget about the old man, he would just lose some face, but his young lady was the young lady of a noble family. Even if she was currently imprisoned in the manor, her status could not be changed.
Everything in the world must have a principle of reinforcing and restraining each other. If there is Yin, there must be Yang. If there is bitterness, there must be sweetness. If there is a golden house, there will naturally be a golden house. The East Street was bustling and lively, while the West Street was dilapidated and deserted.
Jiang Ruan lightly shook her head. "Baizhi, get out of the way."
As if completely unaffected by the atmosphere of the New Year, the common people on the West Street wore thin coats and hurried to other places. They did not seem to be in the mood for the New Year. Most of the people's faces were cold and numb. Compared to the pressing issues of food and clothing, the New Year seemed to be less important. Only a few houses on the street had simple red Spring Festival couplets and old lanterns hanging on their doors, which gave them a vague feeling of the New Year.
However, there was a small peddler selling plum blossoms. On the stall were a few chipped porcelain vases with a few red plum blossoms that were about to wither. When he saw Jiang Ruan and the others, his eyes brightened and he hurriedly shouted, "Beautiful red plum blossoms! Young Lady, please take one. It will look good in the room, and it will also smell good!"
Lian Qiao patted the shoulder of the person beside her and whispered a few words to him. Then, she turned to Jiang Ruan and said, "So this old master said that the young lady stole his silver. The young lady said that she did not steal it, and was so anxious that she started crying."
Lian Qiao said, "This old master is really unlucky today. How pitiful."
When the three of them entered the crowd, they could clearly see the situation inside. They saw two people confronting each other in the middle. One was an old man with white hair and a beard. At this moment, his face was flushed and his veins were bulging. He was unable to restrain his anger. On the other side, there was a seven or eight year old girl with her head lowered and eyes brimming with tears.
"Besides, how can you prove that she stole your silver?" That person was unforgiving, "Only a seven or eight year old girl can steal your silver. Are you too careless, or is this girl very resourceful? Tsk, maybe you deliberately wanted to cheat the young lady of her silver! "
"Don't you think before you lie?"
Lian Qiao wanted to continue pressuring, but Jiang Ruan had already opened her mouth and said, "I want the rest."
Jiang Ruan glanced at her, "Do you also think that he wanted to cheat people of their silver?"
Bai Zhi was stunned. Jiang Ruan had already taken a few steps forward and was exposed to the crowd.
Bai Zhi nodded slightly.
As soon as she said this, the surrounding people immediately echoed, "Yes, yes, such a young lady, how could she have the ability to steal?"
"You …" The old man was so angry that he couldn't speak.
"Of course not," Lian Qiao said, "You can deceive others, but you can't deceive me. In the past, when I was in the countryside, I have seen many of these crafty girls. They are obviously deceiving people. Baizhi, am I right?"
The surrounding people started to discuss, and without prior agreement, they all blamed the old man, as if he was the main culprit. The old man was so angry that his beard trembled, and his face was so red that it seemed as if blood could drip from it. However, he couldn't say a word, and could only gasp for breath with trembling lips.
Bai Zhi didn't say anything else. She poured out a large amount of copper from her close-fitting cloth bag and gave it to the peddler. The peddler also didn't expect to suddenly have such a business deal. Usually, the West Street was filled with poor people, and they wouldn't fork out money to buy flowers and grass. Today, it was an unexpected harvest. He simply put the porcelain bottle of red plums in Lian Qiao's hand, "It's the New Year, and Miss also wants to have a good luck. Take this porcelain bottle as a gift." After saying this, he packed up his stall and left.
The peddler spread out his palm, "It's not expensive, just five copper coins."
In reality, it was just as Lian Qiao had said, the little girl's deceit skills weren't that brilliant, and it wasn't that no one in the crowd could see through her tricks. It was just that the West Street, as a place where the poor gathered, was inherently very xenophobic, and instinctively repelled outsiders. To the people here, this old man was nothing more than a stranger, and strangers should be suppressed. So today, the little girl was bound to win. The old man was also bound to be branded with the crime of cheating people of their silver.
Bai Zhi was stunned, and somewhat disagreed, "Miss, money is tight now …"
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