Chapter 53 – Give the Second Young Miss Some Praise
Give the Second Young Miss Some Praise
She pretended to ponder: “Five hundred year old ginseng was bought away for twenty taels by that old man. One thousand year old glossy ganoderma… forty taels?”
The shopkeeper repeatedly shook his head, “Young miss, prices aren’t calculated like this. Five hundred year and one thousand year, this isn’t a matter of simply increasing the price by one fold.” What a joke, from a glance, this young miss was not an ordinary person. He had to try and get more out of her.
“Then shopkeeper should just give a price.”
The shopkeeper thought then raised five fingers: “This number.”
“Fifty taels? Un, that’s fine.”
“Five hundred taels.”
“Five hundred taels…” She showed an embarrassed expression and looked at the glossy ganoderma, “A piece of tree bark sells for five hundred taels. Shopkeeper, isn’t this a little too shady?” When she raised her head again, her expression sank. Her eyes shone with a clever light, as she stared at the shopkeeper’s face.
“What did you say?” The shopkeeper’s heart became gloomy. He had come across a difficult quarrel. As he was preparing to take away the fake glossy ganoderma, Feng Yu Heng quickly grabbed his wrist. Squeezing tightly like a clamp, her grip made the shopkeeper break in to a cold sweat, “What is it you want to do?”
At this time, Huang Quan returned to Hundred Herb Hall with the old man who had bought the fake ginseng. Instantly, the people who had been buying medical herbs and seeing the doctor came over. Even the people on the streets felt that something was happening here. They all came over to be entertained.
Huang Quan made her way over and quietly asked her: “Young miss, do you want to disperse the crowd first?” After all, you still had to do business later. If everyone knew that Hundred Herb Hall sold fake medicine, it could potentially ruin future business.
Feng Yu Heng, however, shook her head: “No need! Hundred Herb Hall had become like this. There is no need to continue. It’s better to change a shopkeeper and change businesses.”
The shopkeeper was angered to the point of laughing: “Little girl, don’t over reach with your words! Do you know who Hundred Herb Hall belongs to? Do you know who the backer is?”
Feng Yu Heng pushed him forward. The shopkeeper could not find his footing and fell to the ground.
“You should tell me. Which great backer allowed you to pass off a tree root as ginseng and tree bark as glossy ganoderma!”
As she said this, the old man who had been brought back could not help but glance again at the ginseng in his hands, “This… this is a fake?”
Huang Quan shook her head and reluctantly said: “Old man, opening a herb hall is for the sake of earning money. If it really were a five hundred year old ginseng, could he sell it to you for twenty taels? Even asking two hundred is a low price. In your hands is just a tree root. It isn’t even worth a penny.”
“What?” The old man violently threw the fake ginseng at the shopkeeper in anger. Pointing at him, he cursed: “Black-hearted vendor! You cheated me of all my money, yet you still gave me fake ginseng! This was medicine meant to save someone’s life! How could you do such a thing!”
Instantly, everyone in the surroundings began to point their fingers.
The shopkeeper was not at all polite to the old man. He rushed over wanting to deliver a slap, but as he pulled his hand back, Huang Quan grabbed hold of him.
This person became confused. Why was it that all the little girls that came today had incredible grips?
“You have a guilty conscience, yet you still want to hit others? Who gave you the right?” With a push from Huang Quan, the shopkeeper once again fell to the ground.
When had he ever suffered such humiliation? He pointed at Feng Yu Heng and hollered: “I will tell you! This Hundred Herb was opened by the family of Lord Feng Jin Yuan, the current prime minister. I am the cousin of the Feng manor’s head wife. Let’s see who dares touch me!”
Cousin of the Feng manor’s head wife?
If he didn’t say these words, he would be better off. Mentioning Chen shi, Feng Yu Heng became even more angry “The honorable Feng manor. How could the current prime minister’s head wife had such a cousin? Pretending to be related to an official is illegal! Huang Quan! Go report to the guards! Tell them there is something pretending to be related to the prime minister and is swindling people. Have the shopkeeper personally explain himself to the governor what exactly is happening!”
Hearing mention of seeing an official, the shopkeeper became anxious and loudly cried: “Where did this rude woman come from? How could I have pretended to be related to an official. I am clearly the cousin of the prime minister’s head wife!”
Huang Quan did not care what he screamed, as she turned and left, immediately running in to a group of officials who came to Hundred Herb Hall to investigate: “Sir officials, there is someone here pretending to be related to an official. We wanted to report this.”
The officials became muddled by what they heard: “Pretending to be related to an official? Pretending to be related to which official and in what way?” As they spoke, they entered Hundred Herb Hall.
Inside the hall, the civilians automatically opened up a path to allow the officials in. The officials went directly to Feng Yu Heng and looked at her. Then they looked at the cursing shopkeeper and frowned: “Silence!”
How could the shopkeeper be willing. Both his hands were clamped, and his face was bright red with anger “What are you? A few low-level officials still dare to meddle in the affairs of the Feng family?”
The surrounding officials were stunned: “The Feng family? Which Feng family?”
Not waiting for the shopkeeper to reply, Feng Yu Heng raised a waist pass1 in her hand: “Naturally the current court’s prime minister, Feng Jin Yuan, Lord Feng’s manor.”
The officials immediately saluted Feng Yu Heng upon seeing this waist pass: “May we ask who this young miss is in the Feng manor?”
Huang Quan replied in her place: “This is the Feng family’s second young miss.”
The officials saluted: “We did not know that the Feng family’s second young miss was present. We have been rude.”
Feng Yu Heng shook her head and pointed to the shopkeeper, saying: “I don’t know why this shopkeeper must say he is my mother’s cousin.” As she spoke, she handed the fake glossy ganoderma to the officials: “Just now, he gave me this tree bark and tried to pass it off as glossy ganoderma. He even borrowed my mother’s cousin’s name to manage this Hundred Herb Hall. I truly did not dare believe that my family would have this sort of relative. Only then did I allow my servant to report to an official. I welcome sir officials take this person back for interrogation. Also,” She raised the deed in her hand, “This Hundred Herb Hall has been under concubine mother’s name for many years, but mother has been managing it in her absence. Having such a shopkeeper appear is truly disappointing. I will now announce that from this day forward, this person will be expelled and never again used.”
“That’s right!” The old gentleman who had bought fake ginseng also advanced a step and said: “I will be a witness. At the same time, I wish to sue this man for selling me fake ginseng and taking my money.”
The shopkeeper knew long before Feng Yu Heng took out her waist pass that things would not go well. Further hearing her say that she was the Feng family’s second young miss, he feared that he would not be able to avoid punishment.
A few days ago, he received news from Chen shi mentioning the return of the second young miss from the northwest. It was not a good thing, as the family suffered from turmoil that made chickens fly. She worried that she would not be able to attend to matters on this end for a while and allowed him to handle the business.
But he didn’t think that this second young miss would actually come looking inside the Hundred Herb Hall, and actually…
He stared at the deed in Feng Yu Heng’s hand, his heart felt empty.
The deed was even in her hands. Could it be that his cousin had already lost?
It shouldn’t be possible. Even if his cousin lost, his niece definitely would not lose. But why…
While thinking about these things, he stood there stunned. The officials did not care for such things. Feng Yu Heng had both identification and property ownership papers; moreover, she had said that this person was pretending to be her relative. This was not something to be taken lightly.
“Shopkeeper, come with us!” The officials took the lead and calmed down. Facing the following person, two people immediately came over and grabbed the shopkeeper.
“Let me go! You can not grab me! I really am Feng family’s relative!”
The official laughed, “Right now, the one reporting you is the Feng family’s second young miss. Even if you really are a relative, then you are merely a cousin. Before the second young miss, you are nothing! Take him away!”
With a wave of his hand, the other officials took the shopkeeper away. Only when the shopkeeper’s shouts and screams sound further away did Feng Yu Heng nod toward the official: “Many thanks to this elder brother official for bringing justice. If that person were permitted to continue his nonsense, then I worry that my Feng family would fall under public criticism.”
“What sort of thing are you saying, second young miss.” The official was very polite, “Being of service to the second young miss was my pleasure. If the second young miss has no other reports, then this one will leave first.”
Feng Yu Heng nodded and shot a glance at Qing Yu. Qing Yu walked over and secretly gave that person a silver dollar.
The official was extremely happy and would absolutely make that certain the shopkeeper would be taken in. Only then did he quickly depart.
The remaining civilians, who had come to watch the show, put down the medical herbs in their hands. They blankly looked at Feng Yu Heng.
New of the shopkeeper from Hundred Herb Hall selling fake medicine was a scandal. Who still dared to buy medicine here! But they had personally seen the owner of this shop getting rid of the shopkeeper. That was truly exciting.
For a while, those that were lucky enough to have witnessed this scene all praised Feng Yu Heng in their hearts.
This included the two people who were drinking tea in the tea shop across the street.
“Master, that girl is even more arrogant that she was in the northwest.” The one speaking was Bai Ze. His impression of her remained in the mountains of the northwest. The second time he met her, it was outside the city walls when the great army returned. But regardless of which time, Feng Yu Heng always appeared to have endured numerous hardships. She was like a sensitive but prickly little leopard. Just saying a few words to her could end in being unable to respond.
Today, this girl rose another level. She wore better clothes and had tidied up her appearance. But her personality was still that sharp.
But…
“Un, master, she really is very suited to you.”
At his side sat a man. Wearing a full-length brocade robe, his wide belt neatly fastened, a jade piece held his hair, his back tall and straight, his entire body seemed to exude an aura of dominance but also had a hint of evil.
The man wore a golden mask on his face that covered everything from his forehead and to below his nose. Only a small hole was opened up between his eyebrows, where a faint hint of purple could be seen.
It wasn’t anyone else. It was the current Majesty’s most beloved ninth prince. The newly appointed Highness Prince Yu, Xuan Tian Ming.
At this moment, Xuan Tian Ming was looking downward. He stared at the Hundred Herb Hall across the street. That little girl’s every movement was caught by his eye and stored in his heart. The corner of his lips curled up subconsciously… She was becoming more and more interesting.
“It seems that this king’s choice of princess was pretty good.”
Bai Ze nodded, “Master, isn’t the type to flatter the future princess! It could be said that the Feng family’s second young miss really is a wonderful woman. Feng family throwing her deep in to the mountains, not only didn’t starve her to death, instead she became even more brilliant. Not long after she returned to the manor, she’s made it so the Feng family’s head wife can not leave her room. Just thinking of her handiwork when she healed your knees and that spray thingy, tsk tsk, she really is amazing.”
That night, after Feng Yu Heng left, Bai Ze protected Xuan Tian Ming and left the mountain. Unsurprisingly, they met with an ambush. Bai Ze was injured and Xuan Tian Ming used the spray bottle to suppress his pain. From that moment onward, Bai Ze looked forward to that bottle of miraculous medical water.
“Look, now our princess has expanded her territory and begun tidying up her external businesses.”
1: It’s something like identification for the powerful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paiza