Chapter 261
Chapter 261
Jiang Yunsui wanted to sell things and earn her own money. What harm was there in giving her a few shops?
Many of the watermelons were ready to harvest, so Jiang Yunsui’s party stayed at the estate for a day.
They spent the entire day playing.
After one meal, Jiang Yunsui heard there were fish in the river and took Ji Yan’an fishing.
But she could not sit still. Even while fishing, she fidgeted constantly.
“When is a fish finally going to bite?”
She muttered while Ji Yan’an, sitting beside her, pulled in his third fish.
Jiang Yunsui’s eyes widened.
“Why?”
Her bucket did not contain a single tiny fish!
Ji Yan’an glanced at her. With all her noise and restless movement, she had frightened every fish away.
Suddenly, her line twitched. Jiang Yunsui immediately began shouting.
“Ji Yan’an, look! Hurry and look! I caught one too!”
She was genuinely excited.
Yelling all the while, she hauled on the rod.
The fish came flying out at once. It was shorter than her palm and stared at her with lifeless fish eyes.
Jiang Yunsui fell silent.
Pfft…
Someone laughed. Little Mushroom whirled around angrily.
But everyone wore a solemn expression, as if that brief laugh had been an illusion.
Jiang Yunsui pouted, thoroughly annoyed.
What could anyone eat from such a tiny fish?
Disappointed, she removed it from the hook and prepared to throw it away.
“Meow~”
An orange, furry head emerged from the grass nearby.
A cat!
Jiang Yunsui looked at the fish in her hand and asked, “Do you want it?”
“Meow.”
The orange cat had white paws like little gloves. Hearing her question, it approached with elegant feline steps.
“Here.”
The cat took the fish from her hand, curled its tail around her wrist once, then swiftly ran off.
It was courageous enough to ask for food in front of so many people.
Jiang Yunsui abandoned fishing and decided to explore instead.
Her destination was still the watermelon field.
She planned to find the largest one and take it back to eat.
“Screech!”
Milk Tea circled overhead and cried out.
Jiang Yunsui tilted her head. “Did Milk Tea find something again?”
She made her way through the field to the place it indicated.
“Here?”
After searching the area, she soon discovered a tiny watermelon thief.
“Huh?”
It truly was tiny. The little creature had burrowed a hole into the side of a watermelon and crawled more than halfway inside. Rustling came from within, while only a prickly bottom remained exposed.
She carefully lifted the watermelon, revealing a little hedgehog still happily eating.
Its spines were entirely white.
Once discovered, it curled into a tiny prickly ball.
Jiang Yunsui gently poked it.
The spines overlapped so densely that they were not as sharp to the touch as she had imagined. The little creature looked delicate and adorable.
“Hello?”
“Open up. You ate my watermelon.”
Crouching on the ground, Jiang Yunsui tapped the spot where its head should be.
She waited patiently. After a while, the hedgehog uncurled on its own and looked at her with two glossy black eyes.
Watermelon juice stained its body, and its belly looked soft.
Jiang Yunsui poked the plump little stomach.
After playing with it for a while, she put it down.
“All right. You can have this watermelon. Hurry and go.”
After releasing the hedgehog, Jiang Yunsui left the field with the dogs and a large watermelon in her arms.
They would eat this one today!
They spent the night at the estate. The next morning, under the Steward’s direction, the servants went out to harvest watermelons.
They ultimately filled three large wagons to the brim.
“The piglets are still alive, right?”
Jiang Yunsui ran to the pen for a look.
The castrated piglets had appeared listless yesterday.
But today they looked all right.
The man feeding them said, “As you instructed, we chopped and cooked the forage we gathered, then mixed in soybean pulp. They all ate this morning.”
“Then I’ll come check on them again in a month,” Jiang Yunsui said.
They returned to Beizhen City with three wagons of watermelons and went straight to the shop Ji Yan’an had given her.
It stood in the finest part of the city, and it was spacious too.
Jiang Yunsui jumped down from the carriage and walked several circuits around the interior.
“Ji Yan’an, is this the shop you’re giving me? Are you really giving it to me?”
Ji Yan’an nodded.
Jiang Yunsui was delighted. She threw her arms around him and made a grand promise.
“Don’t worry. Once I make money, if I have money to spend, so will you.”
She sounded as if she were raising a son.
Ji Yan’an thought that would be entirely unnecessary.
Jiang Yunsui paid no attention. With her hands clasped behind her back, she strolled around and tried hard to look like an adult.
In reality, she looked hilarious.
Everyone struggled not to laugh, their shoulders trembling.
“Hurry and bring all my watermelons over.”
“Do I need to buy firecrackers? I think people set off firecrackers when a shop opens.”
Nanshu produced two strings.
“We already prepared them for you.”
Once the watermelons were arranged and the firecrackers went off, people gathered from all around.
Everyone loved a spectacle. The crackle of firecrackers announced a new shop, and even those who did not intend to buy anything came to see what it sold.
“What are they selling?”
“Watermelons? They opened an entire shop just for those?”
Most local people knew what watermelons were, but they did not taste very good. Their flesh was generally white, and even a well-grown one contained only a little edible sweetness.
Jiang Yunsui hurried to Nanmo.
“Nanmo, Nanmo, cut one open.”
Without a word, Nanmo drew a dagger and sliced a watermelon into pieces with a few swift movements.
The moment the plump red flesh appeared-tempting to the eye and carrying a fresh, sweet fragrance-gasps rose from the crowd.
“Th-this isn’t a watermelon, is it?”
“It looks delicious!”
“But the outside looks just like a watermelon.”
“What kind of melon is this?”
Someone bold immediately called out the question.
Quick-tongued Nanshu explained, “It is a watermelon, but a newly cultivated variety. All the red flesh is edible. It’s extremely sweet and full of juice. In weather like this, one bite is guaranteed to satisfy you.”
Jiang Yunsui had Nanmo cut the fruit into triangular slices about one finger wide.
“Everyone can taste some. Only one piece per person.”
The watermelons were large. Each weighed nearly twenty jin and could be divided into many samples.
“It’s free!”
The little girl’s voice was bright but did not carry far through the lively crowd.
Nanshu repeated her announcement. “These small pieces are free samples. Everyone may try one, and if you like it, buy some. We sell whole and half melons-three liang for one copper coin!”
The moment people heard the samples were free, everyone pressed forward, whether they intended to buy or not.
“Form a line! Everyone line up…”
Having people maintain order made everything easier.
Even a small slice was enough. One bite of that sweet, refreshing fruit left people craving more and scarcely able to believe it was the same watermelon they knew.