"I knew the shopkeeper was a reasonable man."
Seeing how readily the shopkeeper had come around, Hao Shuai nodded in satisfaction. Then he turned to Ning Caichen, who was still stunned by the shopkeeper's sudden change of attitude. "Brother Ning, check whether this amount is right."
"Ah—" Ning Caichen finally came to his senses. Looking at the pile of money before him, he hurriedly shook his head. "There's no need for this much. We should check the ledger to see exactly how much it is."
"Shopkeeper, did you hear him? Sorry for the trouble, but please bring out the receipts," Hao Shuai said.
Ning Caichen's reaction was exactly what Hao Shuai expected. As a gentleman, Ning Caichen naturally had no interest in taking money that didn't belong to him.
"Of course, of course!" The shopkeeper, under Hao Shuai's watchful eye, didn't dare cause any trouble. He hurriedly took out the ledger receipts and handed them to Ning Caichen.
After searching through them, Ning Caichen quickly found Jibaozhai's account. "Shopkeeper, it says seventy taels here. That's right, isn't it?"
With that, Ning Caichen picked out seventy taels from the silver on the counter and tucked it away.
"Here, you can have the rest back." Hao Shuai pushed the remaining money toward the shopkeeper. "We're all scholars, and we believe in being reasonable. We won't take what isn't ours."
The shopkeeper glanced at the clear handprint in the counter, swallowed, and said, "Yes, yes. You're both very reasonable men."
Having successfully recovered the money, Ning Caichen said happily, "Thank you so much for your help, Brother Hao. To show my gratitude, I'd like to treat you and Miss Xin to a meal."
Ning Caichen didn't know what had made the shopkeeper return the money without a fuss, but he knew it had