Chapter 136 Encounter
Thinking about it, Jiang Wei couldn't help but feel proud.
If he were not still in the palace, he would definitely laugh out loud.
"My lord, there really is no one I like."
Jiang Wei kowtowed respectfully and said: "Your Majesty, you know that if I really have a sweetheart, why would I rush back as soon as I heard the imperial edict granting marriage? I must have disappeared with my sweetheart early in the morning."
Zhao Tan laughed softly: "So, you are very satisfied with the wife I chose for you?"
Jiang Wei answered very respectfully and humbly: "The thunder and rain are all the kindness of the emperor. I have no one who pleases me. What the Holy Spirit gives me is what my heart pleases."
"Hahaha..."
Zhao Tan obviously liked hearing Jiang Wei's flattering words and laughed loudly.
"You kid, I haven't seen you for a few years, you are even more glib than when you were a kid."
Zhao Tan was about to say something else when suddenly a young eunuch came in quietly and reported: "Your Majesty, Marquis Jiang An is here and is asking for an audience outside the palace."
Zhao Tan's face turned cold for a moment, then quickly returned to his friendly and warm look: "Please come in."
He glanced at Jiang Wei with some boredom: "Originally, I wanted you and the princess to meet once and get to know each other well, so as to avoid not understanding each other after marriage, lacking a common language, and ending up becoming a resentful couple."
"But now it seems that I'm afraid it won't work."
"Master Hou and Mrs. Hou, I'm afraid they miss you very much at this time. It's better to go home quickly and reunite with their family."
Jiang Wei didn't know what kind of medicine this man was selling in his gourd.
Yesterday, someone was sent out of nowhere to invite him to the palace, where he stayed there all night. Today, he was invited here again, saying he wanted to talk in a normal way.
Now I heard his father coming and drove him away again...
Jiang Wei couldn't figure out the reason, but he didn't dare to delay his reply.
He respectfully said "yes" and was about to kneel down and retreat.
Zhao Tan suddenly asked: "I heard a few days ago that Jiang'an County held a very interesting embroidery competition. Have you heard about it?"
"I have never heard of it."
"It doesn't matter, maybe it was a coincidence that such a competition was organized and held just when you were leaving."
Zhao Tan said calmly: "I heard that there is an embroiderer named Jiang who is very good at embroidery. She won the first place with her painting "The Picture of Crickets Sending Summer".
Jiang Wei's heart skipped a beat.
I always felt that Zhao Tan had something to say.
"This Jiang'an County is indeed a treasure land of Feng Shui. Previously, a small embroidery workshop there presented a double-sided and three-different embroidery picture to the Queen Mother. The embroidery work was very exquisite, compared to the embroidery lady in the palace. , and it’s even worse.”
Zhao Tan said decisively: "I think it would be better to leave the wedding clothes and quilts for your wedding to this embroiderer."
"It is a coincidence that the embroiderer surnamed Jiang also came from the same embroidery workshop that presented Buddhist pictures to the Queen Mother. She was also named by the Queen Mother herself, with the two characters Chaohuang written in my imperial pen."
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"It's not like I've wronged you."
Jiang Wei hurriedly said: "I am honored to express my love to you."
Zhao Tan said "hmm" and waved him away.
Jiang Wei looked respectful and walked backwards out of the door.
When he turned around, he met his father's eyes. The father and son stared at each other, neither of them convinced of the other.
"You brat, I'll deal with you when you get home!"
Marquis Jiang An gave a low warning of being strong on the outside but ruthless on the inside.
Jiang Wei didn't take it seriously.
-
Jiang'an County.
Jiang Anning returned to Ruian Town and was in no hurry to return to the village.
She first asked if any strangers had passed by recently.
Ruian Town doesn't have any significant revenue, but there are still a lot of thatched houses along the streets.
The only decent place is probably the teahouse at the entrance of the town.
The store owner has a small stove set up on the stall at the entrance. The fire will be kept going until closing time, and the tea soup will be warmed on it. The smell is very good.
There is also an old lady selling grilled rice cakes and fried tofu next to her.
Jiang Anning went straight to the teahouse without hesitation.
First, I asked the boss for a pot of black tea: "Please arrange a place by the window for me!"
"Okay!"
Jiang Anning pretended to go into the house, suddenly stopped, and her eyes fell on the grandmother selling fried tofu next to her, as if she was attracted.
“It smells so good.”
Jiang Anning walked to Grandma's stall with small steps and poked her head curiously: "Grandma, what are you doing?"
“Fried tofu.”
Grandma’s smiling face is kind and kind, which makes people feel friendly when they look at it: “Young lady, would you like to have a try? If it’s not delicious, don’t pay!”
"Then I want one."
"What is this? It's red and green. It's very pretty." Jiang Anning pointed at the chopped red and green peppers on her grandma's stall, pretending not to know.
Grandma smiled and said to her: "This is chili pepper. I grew it at home."
"Chili... I've never heard of it before."
Jiang Anning looked at the chili pepper with a fresh look on her face, as if she had never heard of it before.
"My kid got this in exchange for someone else. I heard people said that after eating it, his mouth felt like it was burning."
Grandma smiled and told Jiang Anning about the origin of this pepper: "At first we didn't dare to eat it, but later on my daughter-in-law felt that we had bought this thing in exchange. If we really don't eat it, it will be in vain." Something I replaced before I went blind.”
"When I took a bite, it really burned my mouth. Oh, but my wife at home felt very uncomfortable. She felt like she had been stabbed with needles in her mouth. She groaned in pain."
"Seeing how uncomfortable she looked after eating, we didn't dare to eat."
"But it just so happened that my daughter-in-law was very stubborn. She felt distressed that she couldn't eat this thing after getting it back, so she tried her best to figure out how to eat it."
Grandma pointed to the bowl of crushed chili peppers: "Well, that's why I decided to focus on my fried tofu."
"I didn't expect that after mincing the chili pepper and mixing it with the fried tofu, it would be really delicious."
Jiang Anning's eyes widened in surprise: "Really? Then I want to try it too." "You can be considered an unexpected treasure."
"I don't know if there are any outsiders coming to our area recently. It would be great if I could have such good luck and get some rare seeds."
Grandma smiled and said to her: "What's this? If you are proud of it, I will go home and get some for you later!"
"That's so embarrassing."
"I have a lot of it at home. It's easy to feed myself, but I would like to keep some for my own consumption. But it's not easy to sell. Everyone has seen this new thing and they don't dare to eat it."
Grandma was particularly friendly and easy to talk to. While she was talking, she asked Jiang Anning to wait for her while she went to get some chili seeds.
The owner of the teahouse next to him was called over by his grandma to help keep an eye on the stall.
"Grandma, are you bragging to others about your pepper seeds that sting your mouth again?"
Grandma ignored him and left without looking back.
The teahouse owner shook his head helplessly, and then looked at Jiang Anning: "Don't listen to my grandma's bragging. Those chili peppers are unpalatable. They are all strangers passing by. They are looking at us and have never seen them before. They are trying to fool us. Let’s trade it for food.”
Jiang Anning raised her eyebrows slightly and asked casually: "Are there many foreigners coming here?"
The teahouse owner shook his head: "Not too many. Our place is not a traffic thoroughfare. Most people don't come here deliberately and want to collect some mountain products, fungi and other things to trade for. Most people don't come here deliberately." Run around this way.”
"Well, that's really a pity. I also thought that if I had the chance, I would try something new, whatever it is, just to have some fun."
Jiang Anning looked regretful.
The teahouse owner thought about it carefully and said uncertainly: "I have really seen a few new faces like this, but I don't know if they are businessmen passing by."
"Ah? Really?"
Jiang Anning showed an expression of joy and anticipation: "Then do you know where he is? Can you give me some directions and I'll go look for him."
"It seems to have gone to Sandaohezi." The teahouse owner said with some uncertainty, "I don't know exactly where I went."
"I came here a few days ago, but I haven't seen it back yet. I don't know if I took a detour somewhere else, or if I just haven't come out... But there are no valuable mountain products here. In the nearby woods, , I can’t even see any decent and valuable game, and I don’t know what this person is doing.”
"But when we came here, they were all carrying big bags and riding fast horses. They didn't look like ordinary people."
Jiang Anning thought thoughtfully. The direction of Sandaohezi was where their village was located. However, there were several villages in the entire Sandaohezi, not far apart.
She guessed that the person the teahouse owner was talking about was probably the silkworm farmer Jiang Wei hired.
Pretending to be looking for someone, Jiang Anning asked about the general appearance of those people and had an idea in her mind.
The teahouse owner couldn't help but advise: "I think you should not expect too much. Even if you are really a businessman, you may not have anything good."
Jiang Anning nodded: "Thank you boss for the reminder. I just asked casually. If I'm lucky enough to come across it, I'll ask around. If I don't come across it, forget it."
When the teahouse owner heard this, he stopped trying to persuade him.
Jiang Anning sat at the table by the window and drank tea. From time to time she looked up at the scenery outside and took a bite of fried tofu.
Suddenly, she saw a familiar figure, and her eyes widened in shock.
"Uncle Genshan?"
Jiang Anning happened to know the person standing opposite Jiang Genshan. He was Zhou Ran from the same village.
How come these two people are still together?
Looking at Jiang Genshan, he seemed to be very afraid of Zhou Ran. He was half shorter and looked pleading.
Jiang Anning couldn't help but pricked up her ears to listen.
"...I really don't have any money to give you. During this period, you have asked me for more than ten taels of silver one after another. I really have no money, so I'm still licking my face. I borrowed it from my old friend, but I haven’t returned it yet.”
"There really aren't any more."
"How many days can you tolerate me? How many days can you tolerate me? I've found a job and I'll get my wages right away."
Zhou Ran smiled coldly: "Look at what you said, Uncle Genshan, of course I can tolerate you for a few days, but my brothers are still waiting to open their mouths to eat. If I tolerate you, they are afraid that I’m going to be hungry.”
"If they are hungry, I'm afraid they will come to your house, sit down and talk to my aunt."
"You also know my aunt, she likes chatting with people the most."
Zhou Ran smiled and patted Jiang Genshan's face: "That's it..."
He smiled kindly without doubting it: "Uncle Genshan, you don't want my aunt either. Do you know those things about you?"
"I heard that Miss Xing'er still misses you, saying that you are the most ferocious man she has ever seen in all these years. She would rather spend her own money to redeem herself and make a baby for you."
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"How about I give her your home address and fulfill her wish?"
Zhou Ran's tone was full of malicious threats.
"Don't ask, don't ask."
"Uncle, please, uncle, please?"
Jiang Genshan knelt down with a plop and begged bitterly: "You really can't let your aunt know about this."
Zhou Ran sneered: "Then take the money!"
"I really have no money. I..." Jiang Genshan had a bitter look on his face, but Zhou Ran was impatient to listen to people's pleas and interrupted them sharply, saying very rudely: "If you don't have money, then you can borrow it." Ah!”
Jiang Genshan wanted to say that even if he borrowed money from a dirt-legged person like him, how much money would he be able to borrow?
What's more, he has already lent a lot of money to Zhou Ran during these days.
But not only did this fail to keep Zhou Ran secretive, but it also whetted people's appetites. The number of requests for money from him became more and more frequent, and the amounts became larger and larger.
Jiang Genshan really can’t borrow it...
Zhou Ran looked unconcerned and sneered: "If you can't borrow it, wouldn't you just steal it? If it doesn't work, go to the sales club?"
Jiang Genshan looked horrified: "I, I am a big man, a man..." How can I go out and sell it?
"What's wrong with the men?" Zhou Ran sneered: "Aren't they all the same when you take off your pants?"
"I think Miss Xing'er likes you very much, and is even willing to spend her own money to redeem herself and follow you. If Uncle Genshan doesn't have money, why not follow Zhao Yuanshan's example and commit himself to marrying... However, I just want to pity my aunt and marry Zhang. The family has fallen into the same fate.”
Jiang Genshan was so frightened that he trembled all over: "No, no, we can't let your aunt know, I, I..." He gritted his teeth and said with tears: "I will find a way, I will find a way for you, you don't Tell your aunt, please.”
Jiang Genshan kowtows loudly, feeling regretful.
If he had known earlier, if he had known earlier, he would not be unable to resist temptation, unable to control himself, unable to control his little things, and one misstep would lead to eternal hatred!
He was panicking, was he really going to steal, rob, or... that?
Just thinking about it made Jiang Genshan tremble all over.
Seeing that the person was shocked, Zhou Ran smiled with satisfaction, put on a kind expression, stretched out his hand to help the person up: "Uncle Genshan, it's not that I want to make things difficult for you, it's just that you don't know how to guard a gold and silver mountain. , I’m anxious!”