That shopkeeper Zhu’s words when he left made Shen Anxin’s face look a bit ugly.

He was trying to do business properly, but those people always looked at him this way . . . or they didn’t look at him this way and just wanted to attack him with such words and actions.

Gers could also marry a wife and have children, but they would be under much more pressure than men. 

After shopkeeper Zhu left, the other merchants left one after another, just like shopkeeper Zhu. When they left, they were infuriated by the seemingly smiling Shen Anxin’s appearance.

But Shen Anxin also knew that he could only bear it.

When everyone else left, Shen Anxin immediately looked apologetically at Jiang Zhen. “Master Jiang, I’m very sorry for the trouble I’ve caused you.”

“It’s all right.” Jiang Zhen was very calm about it.

This kind of thing was inevitable. Even in modern times, many women would be attacked like this. Some people even thought that beautiful women used their bodies to do business. However, he felt that the man who thought that way was particularly worthless. When the women did what they could not do, they attacked the women, showing their jealousy and incompetence. 

Shen Anxin felt relieved and wanted to say something, but Jiang Zhen said, “Does Master Shen want to have a look at the other goods?” 

“Yes.” Shen Anxin smiled at Jiang Zhen, and the dimple showed again. 

Shen Anxin was raised as a man since he was a child. Although he was a ger, his speech and action were quite different from those who dressed as female since childhood. His appearance, also inclined closer to men.

Among men, he would be considered as the gentle scholar type, which he estimated that many people would like, but being a ger like this was definitely not good-looking, but when he smiled, he looked a little seductive. 

Perhaps because of this, as soon as he smiled, he quickly stopped and showed a serious expression.

Jiang Zhen didn’t notice this little thought of his. There were twenty or so of those merchants with their attendants, so he was afraid they would squeeze Zhao Jinge to the side, so he let him go to the cabin to have a rest. Now that those people have left, he called Zhao Jinge out.

“Jinge,” Jiang Zhen called out, and Zhao Jinge came out from a cabin not far away.

He walked a bit fast at first, but seeing that Jiang Zhen was staring at him, he slowed down again. Jiang Zhen wouldn’t let him move too fast . . .

“Jinge, we will sell our goods to this Young Master Shen. Now, we will take him to see the goods,” Jiang Zhen said.

“Young Master Shen.” Zhao Jinge was a little stiff as he greeted noble-looking Shen Anxin.

Shen Anxin’s gaze swept over Zhao Jinge’s eyebrows and looked at Jiang Zhen in some surprise. “Master Jiang, who is this?”

“This is my wife.” Jiang Zhen introduced Zhao Jinge and said, “The other goods are on another ship. If the price you give is right, I will sell them to you.”

Jiang Zhen led the people to the ladder and let Shen Anxin climb up from the cabin first before letting Zhao Jinge climb. “Jinge, be careful.”

It’s just a ladder . . . Zhao Jinge climbed up and saw Shen Anxin looking up at him, so he smiled sheepishly at Shen Anxin. 

Shen Anxin returned Zhao Jinge’s smile. Because Zhao Jinge was ger, he didn’t take his smile back quickly this time. 

It was also true that Zhao Jinge wouldn’t look at his smile because, at that moment, Zhao Jinge’s eyes were completely on Jiang Zhen, who was following him.

Jiang Zhen climbed up from the cabin so fast that Zhao Jinge was standing a bit on the way, so he pulled Zhao Jinge and switched places with him, standing on the outside of the ship himself then pointed to a ship not far away to Shen Anxin. “Young Master Shen, there are some porcelain and wood on that ship.”

After saying that, Jiang Zhen then said to his men. “We’re going over there.”

“Yes!” someone answered the call and quickly ran.

Between those two ships was a board that could be used for people to walk across, so why not just go over there on it? Shen Anxin was a little puzzled. Then he saw Jiang Zhen’s men quickly lift a plank made of wood three feet wide and then put it between the two ships. 

The original plank was only about a foot wide, but sailors were used to walking on it and didn’t feel anything. Even those merchants were used to walking on it; however, Shen Anxin, who came out to do business after a long time, was a little scared, so he was a little happy at the moment to see this particularly spacious plank. 

Zhao Jinge was also happy, but he was also a little embarrassed. He was sure he could walk on the narrow board safely, but Jiang Zhen insisted on letting people make such a wide plank for him. 

“Jinge, be careful,” Jiang Zhen told him again. It left him with psychological shadow that he fell into the river from the plank. But he was not worried that he would fall into the river again but scared that Zhao Jinge would fall into the river.

Jiang Zhen lagged slightly behind Zhao Jinge and stretched out his hand behind Zhao Jinge to protect him from falling off the plank. 

Shen Anxin always felt like he was a bit of an eyesore when he followed them.

Jiang Zhen’s porcelains were good and bad. Shen Anxin has given different prices, which were very affordable. As for the wood—“To be honest with Master Jiang,  I don’t have a wood shop under my name so after buying this wood, I’m going to give it to someone else.” 

“What price do you give?” Jiang Zhen asked.

The price given by Shen Anxin was still higher than that given by the Zheng Yi’s steward.  He directly quoted the price and said, “There are a few pieces of wood in here that are quite good.”

“OK. I’ll sell them to you for this price.” Since the price was right, Jiang Zhen agreed. 

 Shen Anxin could sort of see that Jiang Zhen was afraid of trouble, and if you wanted to do business with him, you had to be straightforward.

Shen Anxin himself was not very good at bargaining, so he immediately felt much more relaxed. He gave honest prices for some of the following things, and Jiang Zhen agreed to all of them without hesitation. Both sides also agreed to hand over the money and deliver the goods two days later.

“Master Jiang, there is one thing I want to ask Master Jiang for help,” Shen Anxin said again.

“What’s the matter?” Jiang Zhen asked.

“In two days, can Master Jiang send someone to the Shen family?” Shen Anxin asked. “There’s no need for Master Jiang’s people to help move the goods, just keep an eye on it for me.”

Other merchants would at most be sour but would not think of robbing him of business, but the Wanlong Merchant Firm . . .

Although they couldn’t really do anything about him, it was not a problem to cause him some trouble. After his father died a year ago, many people were poached from the Shen family, leaving him short-handed.

“No problem.” Jiang Zhen promised to move the silver and goods. He was planning to send someone to watch over it anyway, so now it was just a matter of sending a few more people over.

 Shen Anxin wanted to smile again but held back. “Master Jiang, there’s a nice restaurant near this dock. I’m the owner. I would like to invite Master Jiang for a drink.”

Shen Anxin would not put forward such a proposal before. He had done a business before, learning from others to invite people to drink but was molested by the invited people. The man thought that if he invited them for a drink, he was in love with him!

Shen Anxin encountered more than one similar bad situation, and for a long time, he was not happy to have any contact with people outside of business.

However, Jiang Zhen was different. He still had Zhao Jinge by his side, so Shen Anxin extended the invitation.

After all this work, it was already past lunch time, so Zhao Jinge must be hungry. But the food on the ship was not good, and it would take time to go back to Zheng Yi’s mansion . . . so Jiang Zhen nodded and agreed to Shen Anxin’s invitation. 

Near the docks here, there were many merchants coming and going, so the restaurants here were even bigger than those in Hecheng County.

After Shen Anxin led the way to the restaurant, he asked, “Do the two of you have anything you would like to avoid?”

“No.” Jiang Zhen said, “I want chicken soup. Jinge likes it.”

The chickens at this time of the year were probably all free-range, and the meat was generally a bit old. But the taste of stewed chicken soup could not be better. Zhao Jinge liked to eat chicken soup very much.

Around this time, the chicken soup was not greasy and was also, naturally, pollution-free, so Jiang Zhen naturally let him drink it to his heart’s content.

 

Edited by: Faro

Proofreader: LuLu

 

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