Zi Shou met a furious Long Ji on the road. No matter how he questioned her, he could not find out why, so he simply tried to divert her anger with other, happier things.
They had not seen each other for nearly a year, and he had missed her terribly.
As they approached Chaoge, Zi Shou decided to gather some news at the market. Not a single civil or military official in Chaoge went without a dagger, which really made it hard to rest easy.
After sending Consort Yang back to camp with the troops, Zi Shou had Long Ji cast a minor spell to change their appearances. As for whether regulations permitted Consort Yang, a mere consort, to command General Li Lie and Great Shang's regular army, that naturally lay outside his considerations.
"Newspapers for sale!"
"Newspapers for sale!"
Zi Shou looked over and saw a hale and hearty old woman loudly hawking her wares.
Wasn't this old woman supposed to be selling heartless vegetables?
Taking Long Ji by the hand, Zi Shou stepped forward and asked, "Ma'am, why aren't you selling vegetables today?"
The old woman paused, then took out a bundle of heartless vegetables and said, "Three copper coins a bundle. Buy three bundles and get a newspaper free."
This old woman was shrewd, a crafty merchant who even knew how to bundle her sales. He just had no idea where these newspapers had come from.
Zi Shou chuckled twice, finding it rather odd. The price of vegetables had actually fallen. Was she taking a loss to drum up business?
When Zi Shou failed to respond for some time, the old woman secretly rolled her eyes. It was precisely because there were so many people like him, asking prices without buying, that she had stopped calling out