“Hey, eel seller! Give me some chopsticks. I want to have a taste too!”
Xiang Xi was busy cooking the eels when two short men noisily pushed their way through the crowd.
One of them, a fellow with a slightly crooked nose, snatched the chopsticks from someone else and picked up a piece of eel from the clay pot she had specifically prepared for customers to sample.
But the moment he put it into his mouth, his expression changed. He clutched his stomach and suddenly started howling.
“What kind of eel is this? Did you poison it? Ow… my stomach hurts!”
Xiang Xi: “…”
Was this guy trying to extort her?
Before she could react, the other man also started shouting loudly.
“This is terrible! This shop put poison in the eels! They’re trying to poison my brother!”
With that, he picked up the pot in which the eels were cooking and slammed it onto the ground.
Bang!
The half-cooked eels and fragrant broth splattered everywhere.
Still unsatisfied, he swept the jars off the handcart one after another, smashing them all to pieces.
The people who had been surrounding the stall immediately backed far away.
Even without being particularly perceptive, everyone could tell that these two had deliberately come to cause trouble.
There weren’t many people in Sanjiang County’s market town who dared to act this arrogantly in broad daylight. Those who did were all people with money and power, not ordinary folk that anyone could afford to offend.
When Xiang Xi saw that her entire stall had been wrecked, she knew there was no way she could continue selling the eels. She couldn’t help letting out a long sigh inwardly.
All she wanted was to set up a little stall, do a little business, earn a little money, and live a simple life. She didn’t want to provoke anyone, nor did she want anyone to provoke her.
Why was such a simple, honest, and insignificant wish so damn difficult?
Why were there always people who insisted on forcing her to go crazy, insisting on sticking their heads out so she could kick them around like a ball?
You people were really making things difficult for this young lady!
“Hey!” The man who had smashed the stall pointed at Xiang Xi’s nose and shouted, “My brother ate your eel and now his stomach hurts. What are you going to do about it?”
What could she do?
Serve them cold dishes?
She entered the Shadow World and immediately knew what was going on.
The two men had actually been sent by Feiyun Pavilion nearby.
She knew it!
Why would ordinary people cause trouble for her for no reason?
Only competitors would see another person’s business doing well and immediately become jealous, treating it as an irreconcilable grudge.
Since that was the case, don’t blame this young lady for showing you what she’s capable of!
“Ersha!”
Seeing someone dare to smash their stall, even Liu Ersha couldn’t tolerate it, fool or not!
Now that his wife was calling him, he knew she must want him to beat someone up!
“Here—!”
Liu Ersha leaped three feet into the air and jumped out from behind the handcart.
The surrounding crowd immediately became nervous.
Looks like a fight was about to break out!
The two troublemakers were also extremely nervous.
They hadn’t noticed earlier, but damn, this big fool was built like a bull!
Not only was he huge and muscular, both his hands were covered in blood, and he was even holding a small knife!
Everyone, including Liu Ersha himself, thought a fight was about to begin. Liu Ersha had even started charging forward when Xiang Xi suddenly said,
“Apologize to these gentlemen!”
“Yes!”
Liu Ersha lunged forward and had already reached the two men before his brain finally caught up with what he had heard. He hurriedly slammed on the brakes.
“Wifey, what did you say?”
“I said, hurry up and apologize to these two gentlemen!”
Liu Ersha was genuinely confused.
The surrounding crowd was confused too.
The two troublemakers were even more confused.
Apologize?
Why were they supposed to apologize?
These two men had clearly come here deliberately to cause trouble out of nowhere. They had even smashed her stall!
They had broken the cooking pot and smashed all the jars!
Yet this woman wasn’t angry at all. Instead, she was apologizing?
What… what the hell was going on?
“Wifey, why?”
“I told you to apologize, so apologize. Why are you asking so many questions?” Xiang Xi said. “Hurry up!”
“Oh.”
No matter how reckless Liu Ersha was, he still wouldn’t dare disobey Xiang Xi. He glared at the two troublemakers with bloodshot eyes and said fiercely,
“Gentlemen, I’m damn sorry for what we did to you! Uh…!!!”
Smack!
Xiang Xi slapped him on the head.
“I told you to apologize, not eat them!”
Liu Ersha: “…”
Everyone: “…”
“Ah, he’s just a fool. Please don’t take it to heart, gentlemen.” Xiang Xi smiled as she approached the two men.
Her smile was warm and gentle, her eyes clear and sincere. She was practically radiating the spirit of sincere apology.
“I’m sorry, gentlemen. We caused your stomach to hurt. It was our fault.”
The two troublemakers were still completely bewildered.
This was nothing like what they had planned!
Why wasn’t she resisting at all?
Even just a little resistance would have given them an excuse to lose their tempers and make the situation as serious as possible!
But since they had come to cause trouble, there was no reason to stop halfway.
Today, they absolutely had to ruin this eel business completely!
The crooked-nosed man snorted.
“You think an apology is enough? You two have to—”
“You have to pay compensation, of course!” Xiang Xi said. “You’ve been suffering from stomach pain for so long, so I should at least compensate you two hundred copper coins!”
Before the crooked-nosed man could say anything, Xiang Xi continued.
“No, no, no. Distinguished gentlemen like you deserve at least three hundred… No, five hundred copper coins!”
As she spoke, she grabbed several handfuls of copper coins from her money pouch, carefully counted out five hundred, strung them together with a thin hemp cord, and held them out to the crooked-nosed man.
“Sir, here are five hundred copper coins! If you take even one coin less, don’t even think about leaving here!”
The two men looked at each other.
This was getting a little awkward.
They had clearly come here to cause trouble, yet this woman was genuinely treating them like honored gentlemen. They didn’t even have a chance to lose their tempers.
“As for your eels—”
“Take them all home! I’m not selling a single one!” Xiang Xi said. “These damn things dared to make you gentlemen sick. I’ll take them home and chop every last one up to feed the dogs!”
The crooked-nosed man didn’t know how to continue.
Still, they had apparently accomplished what the restaurant manager had instructed them to do.
And now they could even get five hundred copper coins for free.
Who would refuse free money?
The two exchanged a glance, accepted the copper coins, and left.
“Take care, sir!”
“Come again, sir!”
Seeing Xiang Xi’s stall smashed to pieces, yet instead of getting angry, she had even smiled and compensated the men—while voluntarily increasing the amount—the people nearby couldn’t help shaking their heads.
“That girl seems like such a nice person. She’s pretty, and she even speaks so sweetly. What a pity she’s a fool too.”
“To be bullied like that and still swallow her anger, even offering compensation with both hands… What a pity!”
Hearing the crowd’s discussion, Xiang Xi sneered inwardly.
What a bunch of ignorant people.
They couldn’t even tell the difference between a fool and a madwoman.
And besides, what the hell did they know?
Those two men were nothing more than minor lackeys. Even if she beat them up badly, what would she gain?
Would her stall magically repair itself?
Would all her eels suddenly sell themselves?
If she attracted the attention of the constables, she might even have to go to the county office and explain everything from beginning to end.
So why bother with two insignificant lackeys?
Wouldn’t it be better to go straight to Feiyun Pavilion?
“Ersha, pack up the stall.”
“Yes!”
“Wait! Wait!”
A middle-aged man wearing a grayish-white long robe, his hair neatly combed, hurried over.
“Miss, could you cook a few pounds for me?”
The corner of Xiang Xi’s mouth twitched.
This man’s eyes must be terrible.
Her stall had just been smashed, her seasonings were scattered all over the ground, and he still wanted her to cook some damn eel for him?
“I can’t.”
“Please, miss,” the middle-aged man said. “I can pay double… No, triple the price!”
Xiang Xi immediately sensed that something was off.
She had raised the price for those two men deliberately because she had another plan in mind.
But why was this middle-aged man voluntarily offering to pay more?
She took a look through the Shadow World and immediately understood.
This man actually owned a restaurant too, and it was located directly across from Feiyun Pavilion!
Judging by his expression, he probably thought her eels were delicious and wanted to buy some to take back, taste them, and then recreate the recipe himself.
He had some brains.
Just not enough.
Some things weren’t something you could reproduce just by tasting them.
Besides, the person who made them was standing right in front of him.
Couldn’t he simply spend some money to buy the recipe?
“What is your surname?” Xiang Xi asked.
“There’s no need to be so polite. My surname is He.”
“Manager He,” Xiang Xi said, “if you’re willing to watch my cart for a while, I can sell the recipe for making these eels to your restaurant, Youran Residence.”
Manager He was slightly stunned.
When he came over, he had deliberately changed into an old set of clothes. Yet she had seen through his identity at a glance and even figured out what he was after!
Who had just called her a fool?
But for the eel recipe, what was the harm in watching a cart for a while?
“Of course I can watch the cart,” Manager He said. “May I ask your surname as well? And where are you going that you need me to watch your cart?”
Xiang Xi smiled.
“My surname is Xiang. My name is Xiang Xi.”
Her courtesy name was Madwoman.
As for where she was going, even Liu Ersha knew the answer.
Of course she was going to that so-called Feiyun Pavilion to go crazy!