Traveling through the ancient times

The next day, everyone slept until noon. We were really tired yesterday, and everyone had backaches when they woke up today.

Instead of asking the cook to cook, they got off the boat and went to a nearby breakfast shop to have breakfast. They then spent some money to ask the shop assistant to run errands and deliver some food to the people on the boat.

Chushunihua and her friends planned to go for a stroll in the town today, resupply the boat, and then set off back to Qunan.

Just as Jiang Ruixue said, this town is very small, with only two streets, and it doesn’t take long to walk around it.

There is nothing special about this town. The people here make a living by farming. It becomes more lively here when the fruits are ripe every year.

In order to reduce the loss of fruits caused by bumps, vendors who purchase fruits usually choose to transport the fruits back by water, and this wharf is the closest to Huai'an.

Several large households in the town have jointly opened a shipping company. Not all merchants who come to Huai'an to purchase fruits every year bring their own boats. Instead, they choose to rent a boat from the shipping company in the town based on the purchase situation of that year.

Sometimes the year is bad and the fruit harvest is poor. They harvest little and it is not cost-effective to bring their own boat, so they will join forces with several bosses to rent a boat.

One trip by boat is better than growing crops for a year. Many families in the town have bought their own cargo ships, waiting for this once-a-year opportunity to make money. This has become the main source of income for the residents of the town.

When they finished their shopping and were about to return to the ship, they were stopped by a group of people at the dock. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are the leaders of the shipping guild in town. We want to stop you and ask you when you plan to leave?"

The people from the Chamber of Commerce were quite friendly, so Chushulhua and the others didn't think much about it and told them directly, "We are leaving today. What can I do for you?"

"Oh, it's like this. Your ship is docked at the pier and occupies our ladder. Our Chamber of Commerce will charge a fee."

When Chu Shihua and others heard what the Chamber of Commerce said, they didn't think there was anything wrong. After all, they were indeed occupying someone else's territory, and daily maintenance required manpower and resources, so it was normal to charge some usage fees.

So at the beginning of the year, Hua asked politely, "How much silver do we need to pay?"

"You all need to pay a total of five hundred taels!" said the Chamber of Commerce man, raising his finger and making the number five.

"Five hundred taels?" Jiang Ruixue wasn't going to accept that. They had inquired and found out that even if they rented a boat from the shipping company in this town to go back to Qunan, the price for a small boat ranged from fifty to one hundred taels, and the largest boat only cost one hundred and twenty taels of silver. They just wanted to use the pier to dock, but they were charged five hundred taels. Was they being taken advantage of?

Chushuhua also thought that five hundred taels was a bit too expensive. "Excuse me, sir, what is the standard for charging this fee here?"

"Our fee is fifty taels of silver per day. You have been docking for ten days in total, so you need to pay five hundred taels."

Lu Mingcheng was also amused by these people's shamelessness. "Did you make a mistake? We have also inquired about this town. It only costs fifty taels of silver to rent a boat to carry goods. We docked for one day, and you want to charge us fifty taels?"

Moreover, a few days ago, a boss next door brought his own boat to load goods. He went over and chatted with that person, and the man told him that his boat only needed to pay five taels of silver for a day's docking, but these people wanted to charge them fifty taels. Isn't this obviously a rip-off?

"My lord, you don't know that you occupy this position, which prevents other cargo ships from docking. Don't you have to pay for each trip of cargo?" As the saying goes, a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake. The people in the Chamber of Commerce are all local snakes in this town. He predicted that Nian Chuhua and others would not dare to go against them.

Lu Mingcheng was not going to tolerate him. "Oh? But from what I've observed over the past few days, there have been no cargo ships that have been unable to dock. Instead, there have often been vacancies in the ladders, but no ships have been able to dock there. How can it be said that because we have taken up this position, other ships cannot dock there?"

The people from the Chamber of Commerce were choked by Lu Mingcheng's words. "Anyway, this is the rule. Everyone, pay the money and leave quickly, otherwise you will have to pay an extra day's fee if you delay for another day."

"A few days ago, I heard another boss say that his ship only needs to pay five taels of silver for a day's docking. Why do you charge us fifty taels a day? What's the rule?"

The faces of the people from the Chamber of Commerce changed. They didn't expect that they could find out this. "The other ships are ordinary cargo ships and only need to pay five taels of silver. Your ship is different from others, so you have to pay fifty taels."

"Oh? Our boat is different, but we don't take up any extra space from you. Why should we pay more?"

The people from the Chamber of Commerce were also getting impatient. They had inquired around and found out that these people were all young men and women, who must have been sent by some big family to gain experience. They had no social experience, and since they were very generous, they wanted to extort money from them. They didn't expect them to be so difficult to deal with.

"Because this is our territory, we have the final say. Pay up quickly and stop talking nonsense. If you say any more, we will arrest you and put you in jail." After the man finished speaking, the servants and guards with sticks behind them surrounded Nian Chuhua and others.

Hua Ling and others took out their weapons and protected their masters in the middle.

Lu Mingcheng was not afraid of them. "You charge a lot of money, and I haven't even gone to the county government to sue you yet. Do you still want to arrest us and put us in jail?"

After hearing what Lu Mingcheng said, the people from the Chamber of Commerce sneered as if they had heard a joke, and said arrogantly, "Haha... If you have the guts, go ahead and sue me. Here, even the county magistrate has to listen to me!"

The other man was full of impatience, "Since I've told you guys nicely and you don't listen, then I'll teach you a lesson. Let the grandfathers teach you the rules of being outside. Beat you up."

The servants holding sticks received the order and rushed forward immediately.

These servants only have mediocre skills. They are okay in dealing with ordinary people, but they are totally not good enough in front of Hua Ling and others.

In a few moves, the group of people were knocked to the ground. Tian Xing put her sword on the neck of the man who ordered the attack. "You want us to suffer? Now let me teach you what suffering means."

Seeing the knife on his neck, the man lost his arrogance and trembled with fear. "Lady, spare my life! I have no eyes to recognize a great man!"

Tianxing didn't listen to his nonsense. The sword tip touched the skin and blood immediately flowed out.

"Ah, blood..." The man was so scared when he saw the bright red blood on his hand that he fainted on the spot.

Tian Xingye didn't mean to hurt his life, he just scratched his skin, and the man fainted. Tian Xing kicked the man in malice and turned back to behind Nian Chuhua.

The heads of the other chambers of commerce were also frightened when they saw the man bleeding. They didn’t expect that these seemingly weak and vulnerable people were so powerful. This time they hit a wall...

Several people knelt down and begged for mercy. "Please spare my life, gentlemen and ladies. I was blinded by greed and offended you. Please be magnanimous and forgive me this time."

"I forgive you this time, but will you just go and blackmail other people next time?" Jiang Ruixue kicked the man, which scared her to death. She was most afraid of pain. If a fight broke out, wouldn't she get hurt again?

The guards on the ship heard the commotion and rushed over. Lu Mingcheng waved his hand and said, "Send them all to the county government office."

The guards obeyed the order and escorted all the people from the Chamber of Commerce to the county government office. Even the one who fainted due to being frightened by Tianxing was dragged away by two guards.