Chapter 80: Stockpiling (Part 3)
The shopkeeper’s lips twitched. Seeing the twins’ normal expressions—not worried at all about their older brother—he didn’t know what he should say, especially about the girl’s shameless words.
"How can it be like that, Miss? This shop isn’t mine. I am just a little shopkeeper here," he immediately explained.
Ye Lingyue’s face flashed with disappointment. She sighed, and then rummaged something from her small bundle.
"Shopkeeper, I am going to sell some jewellry and accessories too. Please check them." Ye Lingyue handed over several jewellry to the shopkeepers.
There were some jade bracelets, pendants, etc. These people definitely had robbed them from somewhere seeing that they went around looking for prey.
The shopkeeper had some doubts in his face. He slowly picked up the jewelry one by one. "Did you and your brothers come from faraway, Miss?"
He also glanced at the quiet Ye Lingrui.
They both didn’t look bad, but their appearance was mostly overshadowed by the dirt on their faces.
If they sat outside somewhere, he would have thought they were beggars, not someone who actually possessed so much jewellry.
However, with so many areas suffering from famine, their county also sometimes received a surge of people fleeing from these famine-stricken areas. A lot of them occasionally also bought valuables with them.
Their county’s condition wasn’t that bad, but with the constant bad weather, they were afraid they would be next. Many of their crops had already failed this year.
Ye Lingyue nodded. "A very far away place, Shopkeeper."
The shopkeeper hummed in understanding, and he also occasionally glanced outside worriedly, afraid that Ye Lanxi would be beaten black and blue already.
He glanced around, and seeing that there was no one besides the three of them, he told the two.
"There are so many bandits lately, you all should be careful. These bandits even form a huge group. These people just now..." he shook his head. "They might be related to one of these huge groups."
Ye Lingyue raised her eyebrows. A bandit group, eh?
The shopkeeper calculated the price for the jewellry and confirmed it with Ye Lingyue before he took out some silver taels. Her eyes lit up when she saw the money.
They could finally buy some food supplies.
Alas, they still had to sell these jewellry below the market price. People now prefer buying supplies over such accessories, but since most of the shops were owned by the merchants, they could sell them elsewhere.
Not long after, Ye Lanxi also entered the shop again, raising the ring in his hand triumphantly as though it was a trophy.
"Shopkeeper." He tossed the ring to the table. "Here, check the ring."
The shopkeeper’s lips parted slightly in shock, almost dropping the jewellry in his hand. He scanned Ye Lanxi from head to toe and noticed that the blood patches on his clothes weren’t his blood.
Ye Lanxi wasn’t even injured the slightest!
Now, he understood why his siblings weren’t worried at all. Seeing the undiminished excitement in Ye Lanxi’s eyes which hadn’t faded, he stammered, "T-the previous price?"
They had negotiated the price before the bandits came. Until the ring that Ya Lanxi was holding fell and rolled to their feet.
The two sides argued back and forth after the bandits took the ring and claimed it as theirs.
Ye Lanxi nodded.
The shopkeeper hurriedly handed over some silver taels, afraid he would end up like the bandits outside if he annoyed Ye Lanxi. He could now hear the bandits groaning in pain.
After receiving the money, he took his younger siblings toward an inn. It was already dark when they came out.
"I just realized we look like beggars," Ye Lanxi muttered. "I almost got kicked out by the previous jewellry shops because I look like this."
He glanced at his younger siblings, realizing they also looked funny. He couldn’t help but laugh out loud, slapping his own knee.
Ye Lingyue was annoyed. She nudged him harshly on the waist. The nerve! Her second brother didn’t even look at his own face before he laughed at them!
"Look at your faces..." he gasped for breath. Chuckling, he continued, "Let’s find an inn."
With that, the siblings followed their second brother. They found a relatively cheap inn at the corner of the market.
"Is this market going to be operating at night, Brother?" Ye Lingrui asked the guard in front of the inn.
The guard nodded. "You can go out at night. Just be careful... there are more crimes when it’s dark."
Once the siblings entered their room, they counted their money from selling the jewellry.
Ye Lanxi had a regretful look on his face. "If only Lingyue hadn’t thrown the rags away, we could have sold them."
Her mouth twitched, and Ye Lingyue put on a disdainful face. "I am not putting such dirty things in my storage space!"
Who knows what these bandits who hadn’t showered in weeks or even months had done with their clothes!
"Who will be interested in such junks, anyway?" She retorted in annoyance.
Ye Lanxi breathed out. "Then, did you two finally get all the herbs needed?"
The two nodded. "We already purchased a lot of herbs..."
"Food supplies?"
The twins stared at each other. Ye Lingrui saw the look in his sister’s eyes and answered, "We will buy them tonight, Second Brother."
Ye Lanxi raised his brows with a knowing look on his face. "Alright, we will go out tonight. Buy some pots and other kitchen utensils for Mother too, clothes, seeds, farming tools,..."
He listed several more things, and upon seeing his younger siblings’ faces, he realized they must have not thought of these things yet. He clicked his tongue.
Because they intended to go back home tomorrow, they quickly went out again, this time intending to go on a shopping spree. Although they had brought some items from their Minister mansion, it wasn’t enough.
"Boss, it’s them!"
However, their night also didn’t go that smoothly.