Wang Haisheng looked at Jiang Zhen, and the look of worship on his face intensified. Unexpectedly, Jiang Zhen was a scholar! He always thought that a scholar was out of reach, and he never expected to have one around him!

On the other side, in the town of Tangning, the county lord frowned at the cloth retrieved from the bow of the boat and the words written on it. “What is written on this?”

Most of the people on the ship were more or less injured. They looked like they had been tortured, but they did not know what had happened to them, who had tied them up, or brought them to the county town . . .

“My lord, I checked . . . It seems to say, ‘These people are water bandits, who have robbed many people and killed several merchants, so we came to send them to the officials,’ ” the teacher of Tangning said. The words were in such a mess. If he had not met yamen officers who could only write a few words, and a bunch of these were misspelled or missing some strokes, he certainly wouldn’t have recognized them now.

Come to think of it, the man who caught these water bandits and sent them to the officials was probably a man who had only learned a few words at random.

The magistrate of Tangning did not take the initiative to catch those small bandits, but he would be very satisfied and happy if someone could catch them and send them to him.

After an interrogation, it turned out that these people were indeed water bandits who had killed several outsiders before. The county magistrate of Tangning directly sentenced them to death. At that time, Jiang Zhen and Wang Haisheng were still selling various kinds of goods.

In addition to selling things, Jiang Zhen would also tell Wang Haisheng stories every day. He would spare half an hour each morning and evening to let him exercise, and teach him some combat skills.

Wang Haisheng was not young. He was ten years older than Eldest Jiang, and it was impossible for him to learn everything he wanted. Jiang Zhen mainly asked him to learn how to stab with a bamboo pole.

Wang Haisheng was a hard-working man. Although he was tired every day, as long as Jiang Zhen asked for it, he would complete his training conscientiously. He was definitely the most obedient soldier Jiang Zhen had ever trained. As a reward, Jiang Zhen bought a kilo of pork every day and cooked it with Wang Haisheng. Now, Wang Haisheng worked even harder.

Jiang Zhen and Wang Haisheng spent more than ten days traveling, and hadn’t sold all the goods on their hands, but Jiang Zhen was already planning to return to Hecheng. He was still determined to go back and marry Zhao Jinge! He didn’t want to face Wang Haisheng all day.

Jiang Zhen had now 320 silver and several boxes of copper coins. In fact, it still couldn’t be compared to the Jiang family’s wealth, then after all, the land owned by the Jiang family was very valuable, but even so, this was not a small sum of money.

Jiang Zhen and Wang Haisheng rowed their boat to Fucheng first.

After arriving in Fucheng, Jiang Zhen first went to pick up his own custom-made clothes, and then to the blacksmith shop to buy an iron pot, a kitchen knife, and some farming tools, and then continued to buy soy sauce, sugar, and some other seasonings. This time, Jiang Zhen went on a big shopping spree, spending nearly 22 silver, and buying all the things he needed at home.

Wang Haisheng looked at the new red clothes on the ship, and felt that Jiang Zhen was like a different person. Before, he bought Zhao Jinge the cheapest cloth, but now he even bought an expensive set of clothes.

Jiang Zhen did not know what Wang Haisheng was thinking. He was not a stingy person. He didn’t spend money before because he didn’t have any, but now he had money, so he could spend some. He even bought Zhao Jinge a hairpin.

In the city, some well-born gers were raised by their parents as sons, and they could write and read. They were not girly, and they wore male clothes. They usually used hairpins to pull up their hair.

Jiang Zhen picked out a hairpin that a ger would use, which was not feminine at all, and it was the most expensive item among all the things he had bought.

Wth a ship full of goods, Jiang Zhen and Wang Haisheng set out on their journey home. 

At the same time, the villagers in Hexi Village were talking about a great event. The Zhao family’s son was going to get married! Although Jiang Zhen said publicly that he was attracted to Zhao Jinge, the villagers didn’t take him seriously. They only thought that Jiang Zhen wanted to rely on the Zhao family and let them serve him.

Later, when they saw that Jiang Zhen was either eating at the Zhaos’ house or asking Zhao Liu to send him food, they were even more certain of this, and even sympathized with the Zhao family.

As a result . . . when Jiang Zhen left Hexi and no one knew where he had gone, the Zhao family unexpectedly made preparations for the marriage! At first, some people heard that the Zhao family went to the blind man to ask for a marriage date, and they all thought they wanted to take advantage of Jiang Zhen’s absence to marry Zhao Jinge out and avoid Jiang Zhen. As a result, some people went to Zhao Liu and asked about it, but they were told that Zhao Jinge wanted to marry Jiang Zhen!

No. No. They’re not going to marry Zhao Jinge to Jiang Zhen, but . . . they want Jiang Zhen to come to the Zhao family’s house.

This . . . Were the Zhao family crazy? They really dared to think about it? Did Jiang Zhen agree?

In the countryside, it was normal for poor people to become a son-in-law, but no one in Hexi Village thought that Jiang Zhen would be willing to become a son-in-law.

“Jiang Zhen is actually quite good. He is sincere to our Jinge. He . . . He has been thinking about our Jinge!” Zhao Liu never tired of talking about it with her friends.

These friends looked at Zhao Liu compassionately, but they still didn’t believe her. They only felt that Zhao Liu was deceiving herself and others. There was a ger in their village who was like this. Although his family was very poor, he told others that his family was living a good life and eating meat every day. This was . . .. probably the case with the Zhao family.

The Zhao family were making furniture and quilts. Zhao Fugui did not go to work and kept cleaning the house . . . His family didn’t have any money, if he had not been forced by Jiang Zhen, he would not spend money like this! And Zhao Jinge . . . Zhao Jinge looked like that. How could Jiang Zhen be sincere to him and be thinking about him all the time?

“Jiang Zhen is really good. He gave us money,” Zhao Liu said, and showed people the bracelet on her wrist. “He also bought me a bracelet.”

“You . . .” someone sighed, thinking that Zhao Liu actually knew how to lie again and again. At first, she said that Jiang Zhen wanted to be their son-in-law. Since he wanted to become their son-in-law, how could Jiang Zhen possibly give her money and buy her a bracelet?

Zhao Jinge and his parents were very clear. Could Jiang Zhen be so stupid at this time? Moreover, the marriage was almost settled, but no one knew where Jiang Zhen had gone. He was obviously not interested in this marriage at all. So it was mostly Zhao Liu’s nonsense. As for her bracelet . . .

“I didn’t expect you still had a bracelet hidden.” This man only thought that the bracelet was given to Zhao Liu by Zhao Fugui in their early days. Because it was very small, it was not sold when the Zhao family had the accident.

Zhao Liu’s face showed a very depressed expression, and she felt even more suffocated.

Edited by : Faro

Proofreader: Taalia

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