Zhang Jiuwei casually stood up, picked up the wine pot, and dragged the chair to walk back, but Jin Xiaoji grabbed her, "You can't leave! Did you poison my young prince?"
Upon hearing this, everyone's faces immediately turned cold. Pointing at Jin Xiaoji, they said, "Your young prince is ignorant and arrogant, daring to drink Shopkeeper Zhang's wine. Isn't it only natural that he should get drunk?"
Jin Xiaoji angrily retorted, "Impossible! The young prince is a master of wine, he's never drunk anything... It must be you people who killed my prince!"
Jin Shanyao forward, grabbed Jin Xiaoji by the collar, tossed him aside, bent down, touched You Tuo's neck, and took his pulse.
He said coldly, "He's not dead... he's just drunk. Take him downstairs to rest, he'll wake up in a couple of days."
What?! They're going to sleep for two days? Does that count as one day? They'll only be staying in Qingzhou Prefecture for three days at most, and they haven't gotten anything out of them yet! How did they get drunk already?!
Jin Xiaoji stared at the unconscious You Tuo, unsure of what to do.
Su Wenqian instructed a servant to carry You Tuo to the bedroom.
After the guests had left, he stopped Jin Shanyao, who was about to depart, and praised her with a kind smile, like an elder, "Well done, the government will send an award soon."
Jin Shanyao glanced at him disdainfully, "You're only tough at home. Where did all that bravado go when you were yelling and screaming at me? Now you're being bullied like this, you're nothing..."
After saying this, he stopped Meng Anci, who was about to bow, turned around and left, leaving Su Wenqian standing there alone, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Jin Shanyao led the two children to the stable, where she saw Zhang Jiuwei holding a water bag, standing beside her own oxcart.
" Shopkeeper Jin... long time no see! Are you going back to the shop? We happen to be going the same way."
Acquaintance??? No one I know???
Zhang Jiuwei looked at Jin Shanyao's bewildered eyes and chuckled.
" Shopkeeper Jin probably doesn't remember me. When you first arrived in the prefectural city, I had my fortune told by you... At that time, I was eager to find a husband to marry into my family, and I almost got scammed."
"You've made me realize... Now my child is two years old," she said, sitting on the oxcart and patting the cart floor to signal Jin Shanyao and sit down.
After they were seated, they walked together toward the Anzhi Hall.
Jin Shanyao stared at Zhang Jiuwei, her mind racing, but she still couldn't remember.
He tentatively asked, "Did I treat your infertility??"
Zhang Jiuwei taken aback, then burst into wild laughter, rubbing her aching stomach. "Yes... Shopkeeper Jin cured my infertility!"
Jin Shanyao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Whether it was infertility or sterility, at least she guessed half right... She asked curiously, "I heard other people call you Miss Zhang, shouldn't they call you Madam Zhang?"
Zhang Jiuwei looked at her with a smile in his eyes, "Maybe my child doesn't have a father."
"Asexual reproduction??" Jin Shanyao immediately became interested. Plants reproduce asexually, but she had never encountered a case of asexual reproduction in animals.
Zhang Jiuwei at her words, coughed twice, leaned closer, and whispered, "Leave the father, keep the son..."
Jin Shanyao suddenly realized what was happening, and then asked, "You switched You Tuo's wine."
"Oh... Shopkeeper Jin found out?"
"Hmm, the taste in your water pouch is the same as the one in You Tuo's wine glass. You brought strong liquor to the banquet?"
Zhang Jiuwei opened the water pouch, took a big gulp, wiped the wine stains from his lips, and handed the pouch to Jin Shanyao, saying, "Want some? I brewed it myself."
Jin Shanyao shook her head with a strange expression.
Zhang Jiuwei carefully put away the water pouch. "I originally wanted to take this opportunity to promote my own wine, but that young prince didn't talk about business at all; every sentence he uttered was a test. Since that's the case, I might as well get him drunk!"
Jin Shanyao her head. "You did the right thing."
Zhang Jiuwei and looked at her. " Shopkeeper Jin, I find you to be a very strange person."
Jin Shanyao's heart leaped into her throat, her body tensing almost imperceptibly. Had she discovered she wasn't human? She tugged at her clothes. "What's wrong?"
"It's just strangely beautiful..."
Jin Shanyao's mind went blank for a moment, all those cloying scenes from storybooks flooding her mind. Without thinking, she raised her leg and kicked Zhang Jiuwei in the lower back.
Go to hell with you...
Zhang Jiuwei stumbled and fell off the carriage, watching the oxcart speed away, completely bewildered. Had she said something wrong? Did Shopkeeper Jin not like being complimented on her looks?
The Zhang Household's carriage trailed far behind. The coachman caught a glimpse of a figure falling off the carriage ahead. Recognizing the figure as his master, he couldn't help but rub his eyes.
As the carriage drew nearer, Zhang Jiuwei was indeed found sprawled on the roadside. He cried out in pain and hurriedly jumped off the carriage.
I remember the owner saying early this morning that he wanted to buy a batch of top-quality medicinal herbs to make medicinal wine. He thought Anzhi Hall's herbs were good, so he made a special detour to come here, hoping to get on good terms with that Shopkeeper Jin first.
Ideally, one could buy a batch of medicinal herbs on credit and settle the payment once the medicinal wine is sold. This way, one month's payment is made on credit, and one month's payment is made on credit, which will keep one's cash flow.
It seems the business deal fell through.
The coachman stared indignantly at the large footprint on his employer's back, "Even if a deal falls through, there should still be courtesy. How could she just kick you off like that?"
Zhang Jiuwei and said with a helpless smile, "I hadn't even opened my mouth to discuss business before I was kicked off the show."
The coachman looked at the footprints and secretly worried. If his wife at home saw him like this, she would be heartbroken.
On the oxcart.
Meng Anzhi asked doubtfully, "Auntie, why did you kick shopkeeper Zhang down?"
Jin Shanyao lightly and hummed, "She's proposing to me..."
"What???" Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci speechless with shock. "Auntie, is there some misunderstanding here?"
"A misunderstanding? She gave me the wine she'd already drunk... and even said I was pretty. Isn't that courtship?"
Meng Anzhi tentatively asked, "Is it possible that... she simply wants to get closer to you?"
"See, you noticed too... she wants to get closer to me."
Meng Anzhi quickly explained, "No, that's not what I meant."
Jin Shanyao his hand, interrupting her, "There's no need to say anything more, I don't like women," he thought for a moment and added, "Nor do I like men..."
Meng Anci chuckled. "So what do you like?"
I love the mountains.
Upon hearing this, Meng Anci's smile instantly froze. He crossed his arms, deliberately keeping a straight face, and gave a light snort, "I thought Auntie would say, 'I like both of you,' but it turns out she likes Dashan instead."
Meng Anzhi turned her head to the side, her tone tinged with grievance, "Don't like women, and don't like men either? So Auntie doesn't like people... Poor me, I'm a person, and Auntie doesn't like me."
Jin Shanyao, seeing the two sulking children on either side, quickly explained, "That's not what I meant."
She reached out to pull Meng Anzhi's arm, Meng Anzhi suppressed a laugh and turned her face away, feigning sadness. "Auntie... don't say anymore, I'm a woman."
Jin Shanyao turned to Meng Anci, wanting to take his hand. But Meng Anci's eyes darted around, and he suddenly threw himself into her arms, pouting, "Auntie, you like me, right? I'm not human..."
This sudden act of shamelessness caught Meng Anzhi completely off guard. She glared at Meng Anci, gritting her teeth, "You're really not human..."
She pulled Meng Anci out of her aunt's arms and snuggled into her own embrace. Not only that, she also stretched out one leg and braced it against Meng Anci's stomach to prevent him from retaliating.
The two children wrestled and Jin Shanyao laugh heartily. She pulled them both into her arms, one in each hand, saying, "Alright, alright... I love you both the most, okay?"
The siblings exchanged a glance, a smile flashing in their eyes...