Transmigrated into Substitute Bride ‘Fu Lang’

 

Transmigrated into Substitute Bride Fu Lang

Chapter 29 Part 2

被破坏的摊子

The Damaged Stall

 

After freezing for a moment, Chen Xing quickly reacted again, pursed his lips and told Qiu Jiu who was next to him, “Let’s tidy up and clean up the place first, and then find a way to investigate what happened when we’ve finished selling the stuff.”

 

Qiu Jiu, who was originally still angry, also quickly calmed down after hearing Chen Xing’s words and nodded towards him as an agreement to his words.

 

After saying these words, Chen Xing took the lead and walked into the shed that had been trampled beyond recognition and started to clean it up a little bit, and as he was cleaning it up, he even started to be glad that the damage was not too serious and could still be repaired, otherwise he would have to spend a large sum of money again.

 

Just as Chen Xing was sighing and packing up his things with Qiu Jiu, a group of Yamen officials came over toward their direction not far away.

 

A wary look subconsciously appeared on Chen Xing’s face when he saw this group of uninvited officials.

 

The leader who was leading the group tried to squeeze out a smile, he tried to look amiable as he looked at Chen Xing and asked, “You are the owner of this stall, right?”

 

Seeing that he did not look like he was here to pick a fight, Chen Xing nodded his head hesitantly.

 

When that leader saw that Chen Xing had answered, the smile on his face grew wider and wider. He said with a bit of ‘taking credit for someone else’s achievements’ tone, “When we were patrolling last night, we saw some people ruin your stall, so we arrested those people.”

 

Chen Xing felt it was a little unbelievable as he listened to his words, he was still upset just now as to who had ruined his stall, only to hear now that those people had been arrested.

 

That leader looked at Chen Xing’s shocked look and continued, “Now those people are in jail, do you want to go and take a look?”

 

Chen Xing felt that this leader seemed a little too eagerly attentive; he was not sure if all the official officers in this ancient time were so utterly devoted to their duties, so he cautiously asked, “Can I go and see?”

 

When he heard Chen Xing ask this, the team leader clapped his hands, extremely excited as he said, “Of course you can go!”

 

After saying that, under Chen Xing’s eyes was full of doubts, the leader seemed to realize that he was acting a little too attentive, coughed a little and his tone was slightly colder as he said, “You as a victim, are naturally allowed to go and see it.”

 

Chen Xing hesitated for a moment, but still nodded toward the official in front of him, he also wanted to know who actually had a grudge against him to even treat his stall like this.

 

Waiting until Chen Xing brought Qiu Jiu to follow along with the official to the place where the prisoners were kept, he immediately saw at first glance a man in his early forties standing at the entrance of the large cell.

 

The head of Yamen official trotted over and muttered something in that man’s ear, soon after that, Chen Xing saw the man’s gaze sweep over him and Qiu Jiu.

 

Soon, the man walked over in vigorous strides, looked at Chen Xing and said politely, “I am the Shiye (师爷: fiscal or secretarial duties in a local Yamen; private adviser] here, Xu Ya.”

 

Hearing his position, Chen Xing was surprised and at the same time a bit reserved, and said towards him in a small voice, “Xu Shiye, how are you?”

 

When Xu Shiye looked at Chen Xing’s restrained appearance as he did not know what he was thinking about, he then gave him a kind smile and said, “Gongzi is here to see the prisoners, right? Please come with me.”

 

Chen Xing nodded and followed behind him into that prison door.

 

As soon as he entered, Chen Xing felt a slight chill and he couldn’t help but shiver.

 

When he followed Shiye to a prison cell, he was even more startled after looking at the four badly mutilated people lying inside.

 

Looking at Chen Xing’s frightened appearance as he widened his eyes, Xu Shiye smiled at him soothingly and softly said, “Young Master, don’t be afraid, these injuries only look serious, but they are just surface wounds.”

 

Chen Xing pursed his lips and did not say anything.

 

That Shiye did not get angry when he did not answer, he then continued, “These four men were caught on the spot when they ruined your stall yesterday. Gongzi, what do you want to do with them?”

 

Chen Xing hesitated for a moment, looked at him with some hesitation and asked,

“Formerly, how were they dealt with?”

 

That Xu Shiye stroked his very short beard and said in a profound manner, “In the past, for those who damaged things like this, we would order them to pay for the damages and then lock them up in jail for ten days. But if Gongzi has other ideas, we can also cooperate.”

 

As soon as Chen Xing heard this latter part of his sentence, he subconsciously felt that they wanted him to bribe them. He hurriedly quickly shook his head and said directly, “Just do it according to the rules! They’ve already been beaten like this, there’s no need to pursue relentlessly.”

 

Xu Shiye obviously did not expect him to say this, and after Chen Xing finished speaking, he immediately revealed a dumbfounded appearance on his face, but he quickly returned to normal, only that he still had some doubt in his expression, “Good, since Gongzi wants to do it like this, then we will do it as what Gongzi had said.”

 

Just as Xu Shiye was about to invite Chen Xing out, Chen Xing suddenly thought of something and asked with some hesitation, “Can I ask them a few questions?”

 

Xu Shiye flashed a smile at him, “Of course you can.”

 

Until Chen Xing came out of the prison, he felt that the people in this government office were too polite, and even promised him that they would send him the compensation money when they got it.

 

Chen Xing looked back at the tall government office plaque and muttered in a low voice towards Qiu Jiu who was next to him, “Do all the officials here love to love the common people as one’s own children (this phrases often used to describe or praise for a virtuous ruler)?”

 

Hearing Chen Xing ask this, Qiu Jiu turned his head to look at the confused Chen Xing, his heart was flooded with mixed feelings. He finally looked at him and stifled a sentence, “The newly appointed County Magistrate is a good official.”

 

Having heard this, Chen Xing nodded and agreed, “He is indeed a good official since he can teach all the officials under him so well.”

 

But soon, Chen Xing began to get annoyed about another thing, that was, he had just learned from those few rascals who could not even speak, why they had gone to destroy his stall, and he also knew who had instructed them to do it.

 

It was just that Chen Xing completely had never heard of that person at all, much less knew whether he had any problems with that person, and didn’t understand at all why she had done that. And most importantly, now that he knew who had done it, then later it was a question of what to do.

 

Chen Xing was torn all the way back to the stall, only to see a group of people gathered around the stall as soon as he passed, and among them were a few familiar faces; those customers who often came to his place from time to time during the week.

 

Looking at them all waiting at the entrance of the stall, Chen Xing quickened his pace to go over there.

 

When those people saw Chen Xing coming, Aunty Sheng, who lined up in the front, yelled out loud, “Little boss, why are you so late today?”

 

Hearing this familiar loud voice, Chen Xing knew that the visitor was Aunty Sheng who often came to buy food from him, and he repeatedly said, “Sorry, I was delayed by something just now.”

 

Hearing his words, Aunt Sheng opened her voice and said, “We have been waiting for you for so long, you should give us more later.”

 

Chen Xing felt that although Aunt Sheng usually liked to take advantage of small things, she was not a bad person, so after hearing her words, she replied in a good-natured manner, “Okay, I will give you guys more today.”

 

When she got Chen Xing’s promise, a big smile immediately appeared on that Aunt Sheng’s face, but soon after she looked at those destroyed tables, chairs and benches behind Chen Xing, she still couldn’t help but exclaim, “Boss, what’s going on in this shed of yours?”

 

Chen Xing handed her what Aunt Sheng asked for and said somewhat helplessly, “It was like this as soon as I arrived today, I haven’t had time to clean it up yet, so I let you see a joke.”

 

Looking at the good-natured Chen Xing, Aunt Sheng slapped her thigh and complained on his behalf, “Aiyo, someone must have seen your business doing well, so they were jealous and came to cause trouble. Don’t worry, there are so many of us, we will definitely catch who did it for you and help you get justice.”

 

Chen Xing looked at Aunt Sheng’s righteous indignation at injustice and found her a bit cute at this time, he looked at her, smiled, and said softly, “I haven’t been here for long, I don’t have your skills, so I can only trouble you.”

 

Hearing Chen Xing’s compliment, Aunt Sheng looked as if she had won a fight. She threw out her chest and said in high fighting spirit, “You don’t even look at who I am, don’t worry boss, I will find out who dares to mess up your stall.”

 

However, Aunt Sheng’s generosity only lasted for a few seconds, and she soon showed her usual shrewdness again, looking at Chen Xing and said, “Then I’ll help you find the culprit, and when I come to buy something again in the future, you’ll have to give me a little more credit!”

 

Chen Xing looked at her, who did not forget to take advantage after doing a good deed therefore he did not know whether to laugh or to cry, “Don’t worry, Aunt! I’ll definitely give you a little more the next time you come.”

 

Hearing his words, Aunt Sheng was perfectly content and left with her bowl.

 

After this stirring by Aunt Sheng, Chen Xing was not as depressed as he was originally. He then quickly adjusted himself and tried to finish selling all the ingredients for the day.

 

When the last food was sold, Chen Xing closed his stall, after that he looked at Qiu Jiu hesitantly for a moment. In the end, he still made up his mind and said, “Qiu Jiu, we won’t go back yet, so please accompany me to go to one place first.”

 

Qiu Jiu somewhat couldn’t understand why, but looking at the cautious expression on Chen Xing’s face, he still nodded and agreed, “Okay.”

 

A quarter of an hour later, Qiu Jiu looked at the small restaurant across the street where business was dismal, he then had a few guesses in his mind as to what they were doing on this round trip.

 

As expected, when Qiu Jiu turned his head to look at Chen Xing next to him, he only saw him take a deep breath, then changed his expression to a serious one and took a big step towards that restaurant.