Chapter 73: Gullible Fool
Shang Wan exchanged a glance with Lu Chengjing, raised her eyebrows, and silently asked for his opinion.
Lu Chengjing was also observing Liang Liang, and he nodded lightly to Shang Wan.
Shang Wan looked at Xiao Huan and Shi Tou again; the two had no objections and would listen to older sister and brother-in-law.
With that, the four reached an agreement. Shang Wan said to He SIZhi, “You can follow along if it doesn’t affect work, but you have to take good care of the child yourself.”
He SIZhi was overjoyed and repeatedly assured her that Liang Liang was very well-behaved, wouldn’t run around or mess with things, and he would watch the child.
To express his thanks, He SIZhi recommended a brick kiln outside the western city to Shang Wan. The red bricks fired there were of good quality, the price was fair, and there was a discount for bulk purchases.
If Shang Wan and the others wanted to go check out the brick kiln, he could have his apprentice show them the way.
“No need, I know where it is.”
The brick kiln was not far from the place where Shi Tou had gone with Zhang Da last time to buy tiles; they could just ask around when they got there.
After the two sides discussed and settled on the needed materials, Shang Wan promised to buy them as soon as possible, and then have Shi Tou come pick up He SIZhi and the other three.
After leaving He family home, the group got on the ox cart and headed straight for the brick kiln. After some bargaining, they finally settled on a price, but were told the brick kiln did not deliver.
Shi Tou immediately pulled a long face. Having to move both bricks and tiles, how long would that take?
“Alright, don’t make that face.” Shang Wan patted the young man’s shoulder. “I have a way.”
Shi Tou asked curiously, “What way?”
“Kid, don’t ask so many questions.” Shang Wan abruptly changed the subject. “I think we can buy an ox cart. We’ll definitely be entering the city plenty in the future; we can’t keep borrowing from Zhang family every time, right?”
Xiao Huan said, “Sis, buying an ox cart will cost a lot of silver.”
To put it bluntly, most of their family’s current assets were earned by Shang Wan or obtained from the jade pendant; the rest was all plucked from Lin family.
The things moved back from Lu family were good, but they all bore Lu family crests. If sold for silver, officials would come knocking the next day.
Without a proper business bringing in income, it was tantamount to sitting idly while eating up their savings.
Building a new house required silver everywhere; Xiao Huan was truly worried.
Shang Wan also knew their family’s situation and thought to herself that if she’d known, she would have won more at the casino.
However, the thought only lasted a second before she dismissed it.
Getting something for nothing felt great, but the risks were high. Their current family had basically zero risk tolerance and couldn’t afford to take chances.
She said, “Let’s go take a look first. If it’s too expensive, we won’t buy and can rent one when needed.”
Soon, the brick kiln steward drafted a contract for Shang Wan to review, but Shang Wan was illiterate and handed it to Lu Chengjing.
Lu Chengjing read it carefully and pointed out two ambiguous places for the steward to revise.
The steward chuckled dryly and glanced at Lu Chengjing several times before redrafting the contract as Lu Chengjing instructed.
Lu Chengjing read it over carefully again and, confirming no issues, said, “It’s good to sign.”
Only then did Shang Wan hand the deposit to the steward, and the two sides signed the contract.
The steward said, “Three days from now, we can have a batch of red bricks ready, about four thousand pieces. Bring the contract then to pick them up.”
Shang Wan nodded. “Alright, I’ll come back in three days.”
The steward personally saw Shang Wan and the group out the door.
Shi Tou took out the prepared fodder to feed the ox. Once the ox had eaten almost enough, the few people got back on the ox cart.
“Sis, are we going straight to the carriage and horse shop now?”
Shang Wan glanced at the sky and said, “Let’s go take a look, and by the way buy some things at Western Market.”
Shi Tou agreed and drove the ox cart toward the city.
Yuan Yuan sat in her own dad’s arms, swaying with the ox cart for a moment, her eyelids gradually drooping as she hugged the milk bottle and started snoring softly.
Shang Wan gently removed the milk bottle and covered Yuan Yuan with a cape.
“Xiao Huan, how much goat milk is left?”
Xiao Huan shook the large bamboo tube. “About enough to fill one more milk bottle.”
Perhaps because she hadn’t had milk for several days, once Yuan Yuan tasted the goat milk, she drank it with gusto, chugging it like water.
Drinking a lot naturally meant peeing a lot. If Shang Wan hadn’t noticed in time, Lu Chengjing’s clothes would almost have been peed on by her.
Shang Wan said, “We’ll buy some more later.”
Xiao Huan said, “Sis, we don’t have ice at home; the goat milk won’t keep.”
Shang Wan said, “I have a way to preserve it.”
Seeing her not continue, Xiao Huan didn’t ask further; anyway, the answer would probably be the same as with Shi Tou.
……
Carriage and Horse Shop.
After sending the veterinarian out the door, the middle-aged man returned and plopped down on the grass mat. Looking at the old yellow ox lying on the ground, he sighed worriedly.
He’d spent eight taels of silver on the ox, plus a custom ox cart, totaling twelve taels. Only two months later, he hadn’t even recouped the principal, and now it couldn’t even stand—how?
Even the veterinarian was helpless. Did he have to wait for it to die and butcher it for meat? How much would that fetch?
The middle-aged man felt the loss just thinking about it, his head clouded with worry. How would he explain to his father-in-law when he returned?
“Owner, owner, good news!” The shop assistant rushed in excitedly.
“Can’t you see I’m upset?” The middle-aged man glared, looking ready to beat the assistant if it was fake news.
“Owner, it really is good news. Four customers came wanting to buy an ox cart here. They said an old ox or a beat-up cart is fine.”
The middle-aged man frowned. “I don’t have any ox carts to sell…”
He paused mid-sentence, his gaze falling on the old yellow ox, his eyes suddenly lighting up as the worry clouds over his head dispersed.
The shop assistant grinned almost to his ear roots. “Owner, isn’t this good news?”
“Not bad; I won’t beat you.” The middle-aged man’s brows relaxed. He stood, brushed the grass off his butt, and said to the assistant, “Quickly bring the customers over.”
The shop assistant glanced at the still-lying old yellow ox and hesitated. “Owner, should we figure out a way to get the ox to stand first? Otherwise, if customers see it’s a sick ox, no matter how cheap, they won’t buy.”
“What sick ox? This is clearly a prime sturdy ox, just with a leg injury. It’ll stand in a couple days.” The middle-aged man spoke righteously. “If it doesn’t stand after they take it home, that’s because the injury worsened from poor care—what’s that got to do with us?”
Shop assistant: “…”
“At most, I’ll give them a discount.” The middle-aged man inwardly schemed, determined to fleece these suckers who came knocking.
Seeing the assistant standing still, the middle-aged man kicked at him. The assistant dodged nimbly and quickly went to invite the people in.
The suckers who came to buy the ox cart were none other than Shang Wan and her group.
The shop assistant introduced, “Customer, this is our carriage and horse shop owner.”
Shang Wan looked at the middle-aged man. His features were decent enough, but there was a bandit air between his brows, and his eyes darted around—he clearly wasn’t honest.
The middle-aged man was also sizing up Shang Wan and the four, his gaze focusing on the wheelchair Lu Chengjing sat in.
In these times, poor families couldn’t afford wheelchairs.
He became even more convinced they were rich suckers and felt it would be a disservice to himself not to fleece them hard.
Climbing the ranks this month—thanks for the monthly votes and recommendation tickets, dears~ Mwah mwah~
