The jewelry store welcomed customers as soon as it opened. The shop assistants and the proprietress greeted them with big smiles on their faces.

“Sir, you came to our shop so early in the morning to pick out jewelry for the women in your family?” The proprietress, who always carried a round fan in her hand no matter how cold the weather was, waved the fan twice and looked at the well-dressed young man of the Yang family through the fan. Her sharp eyes knew the price of his clothes with just a quick glance, and the smile on her face, which originally had a bit of “routine”, immediately became much more sincere.

Such people, whether they were choosing jewelry for the women sincerely or insincerely, had to save face.

As expected, after scanning the jewelry in the shop, Young Master Yang soon set his eyes on a butterfly hairpin with tassels and wings spread out. He took the hairpin down, weighed it in his hand, and said, “I’ve seen it. The gold on this hairpin is gold powder plated on top, and the inside is silver. It’s also very light, and there’s no jewels or jade embedded in it. It’s not worth much, is it?”

Looking at the seemingly refined young gentleman in front of her, who had just thoroughly “criticized” the hairpin in his hand from top to bottom, the smile on the jewelry shop owner’s face had long turned cold. Glancing at the young gentleman from the Yang family, she snorted coldly and said, “So, you’re just a penny-pinching miser after all!”

Since it was such a customer, the proprietress was too lazy to smile and continued with a snort, “My jewelry carving is free? The craftsmanship of the master is free? You can find a piece with inferior workmanship to deceive the eyes of those spoiled young ladies?”

It was obvious that this young man wanted to spend a little money to catch a big fish! She had been running a jewelry store for many years, how could he cheat her?

“Ten taels of silver, no bargaining!” The lady boss said, glancing at the young master of the Yang family with disdain, and said, “If you want to bargain, why don’t you go to the stalls outside the market and buy it? If you really want to be particular, just buy a hairpin with jewels and jade, don’t be stingy!” Having said this, without waiting for the young master of the Yang family to speak, the lady boss snorted again, “But the craftsmanship fee for the hairpin is just an extra, and the jewels and jade alone are not enough to get ten taels of silver!”

After being rebuked by the proprietress sarcastically, Young Master Yang’s face turned ugly. He glared at the proprietress in front of him who had a shrewd look on her face, and he knew in his heart that what she said was the truth.

In the end, he was reluctant to give up the hairpin he had chosen, so the Young Master Yang stamped his feet, gritted his teeth, picked out a few pieces of silver from his purse, and handed them over.

As soon as the lady boss took it, the Young Master Yang said, “I weighed it and estimated that there are eleven taels of silver in it. Give me back one tael of silver!”

The proprietress glanced at him with an unpleasant expression, snorted coldly, and went back to the counter to get a dime of silver and returned it to Young Master Yang. Young Master Yang, however, held the hairpin in his hand and said, “I have inquired before. The boxes in your shop are free. Wrap them up for me!”

Being so stingy… The proprietress rolled her eyes and took the hairpin.
After a while, Young Master Yang walked out of the jewelry shop holding an exquisite box in his hand and walked eastward.

……

Lin Fei, who had seen all of this, put down the telescope in his hand, picked up the soy milk and yam porridge beside him, and while drinking the porridge, he watched Young Master Yang walk to the market and stop.

The coolness of autumn and winter gradually rose. Autumn clothes looked good, but they could not resist the coolness. Young Master Yang, who was holding the box, sneezed several times because of the coolness. He lowered his head and blew his nose, and his mouth moved. Lin Fei raised the clairvoyance in his hand, looked at his mouth shape for a moment, and said to Zhao You: “He is cursing his mother!”

After cursing his mother for a while, the sun gradually rose and as it got higher and higher, the person that Young Master Yang was waiting for finally arrived.

Looking at the young lady and the maidservant who appeared in the crowd, Lin Fei fell silent. After a long while, he sighed and said with emotion: “No wonder he is so sure that he can defeat this father-in-law!”

……

“A-choo!” Xun Zhou, who was painting with his head down, also sneezed, but it was not cold. After all, although his “shabby” clothes had many patches, the lining was thick.

The sneeze was actually caused by the pepper sprinkled on the roasted lamb legs set up by a few Hu vendors not far away.

However, he saw a few Hu people opposite him setting up an iron rack and roasting lamb legs. They followed the local customs and held a few Darong “palm-leaf fans” in their hands. Their every move and gesture was quite “heroic”. When the special iron stove for roasting lamb legs was set up, thick smoke spread out, and as they sprinkled various spices like a slasher, the people around them naturally choked and made them sneeze and cough.

Because of the discomfort of being choked, and not everyone liked the smell of fireworks, complaints immediately arose.

The market did not restrict the types of vendors. After all, this market belonged to Chang’an City, not to any vendor. They couldn’t complain about the petty official letting the Hu people set up a stall to roast lamb legs, so they could only complain that there was something wrong with the roasted lamb legs.

“Look at that thick smoke billowing! Those Hu people are dark and burly, so uncivilized. Eating their food will definitely give you a stomachache!”

“Yes! Just look at their dirty beards and you’ll know they’re not clean. But who knows if the lamb leg is clean?”

Listening to the complaints of the Taoist priests and scholars who were setting up stalls around him, Xun Zhou felt that this market dispute was more interesting than he had originally thought! What was even more interesting was that after the skewers of mutton were roasted, the “neighbors” on both sides who had just complained ran away faster than anyone else. Soon, each of them came back with two skewers of mutton. While biting the skewers on the skewers, they praised: “It’s really delicious!”

Xun Zhou: “…”

The slap in the face was so quick that even they themselves didn’t care.

Just as he was about to ask his neighbors whether the grilled lamb skewers were worth buying, Xun Zhou caught a glimpse of a girl in autumn clothes and a red cloak walking towards him from afar with two maids.

As soon as the girl showed up, Xun Zhou was startled and said secretly “Not good!”, then he quickly shrank his body, lowered his head, and painted quickly, not daring to look up, for fear of being recognized!

God knows, with this young lady’s family background, how could she come to this crowded and chaotic market for no reason!

But thinking about this young lady’s personality again, Xun Zhou felt that it didn’t seem so surprising!

No matter what, this young lady was under the control of her parents and had nothing to do with him. The well-dressed young man next to her had even less to do with him. He just hoped that she was just passing by his stall and acting as a passerby!

Xun Zhou lowered his head, focusing on the painting without raising his head, hiding his face tightly. However, things did not go as he wished. When the young lady passed by his painting and calligraphy stall, the young man next to her suddenly stopped. He probably wanted to show off his talent in front of her, so he picked up a painting from his stall and asked Xun Zhou: “Did you paint this painting of red maples at sunset?”

(End of this chapter)

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