Inviting the Moon to the Farmhouse

Early in the morning, Xia Lanyue and Dai You carried rice cakes to town to earn money.

They arrived at the market a little past noon. As usual, they helped Xia Lanyue set up her stall, and Dai You went to the pharmacy.

The uncle who paid the deposit yesterday has arrived. When he saw her, he came over.

"I'm sorry, Uncle, I'm late today," Xia Lanyue said, handing her uncle two packets of rice cakes. "Here are your rice cakes, take them."

"Hey, weren't there supposed to be five packs? Why are there only two?" the uncle said.

Xia Lanyue was taken aback. "Uncle, you paid me twenty coins yesterday, right? Twenty coins is for two packs."

“No, you said yesterday it was five packs,” the uncle said.

“I’ve always bought it for ten coins a pack, and I’ve never bought five packs for twenty coins,” Xia Lanyue explained. “If you don’t believe me, you can ask anyone who has bought it before; it’s always this price,” Xia Lanyue said, pointing to the customers around her.

The uncle's cunning eyes swept over the surrounding guests. By this time, four or five guests had gathered around, all waiting for them.

"No, no, I can't be wrong, that's what you said," the uncle still denied, then urged her, "Hurry up and give me five packs, I'm leaving."

“That won’t do. You gave me twenty coins, so you can only give me two packs,” Xia Lanyue refused to accept.

"I gave you fifty coins," her uncle suddenly changed his mind, catching Xia Lanyue off guard.

She suddenly realized she had run into a scoundrel. "You're lying. You clearly gave me twenty coins."

"What evidence do you have?"

"I...this...then how can you prove that I was given fifty coins?" Xia Lanyue asked back.

When the uncle realized he couldn't get away with it, he started to act tough.

"Hey, everyone, look! This person is cheating! Don't buy anything from her!" The old man pushed aside the people around him, stood in front of the stall, hands on his hips, looking quite intimidating.

The surrounding customers had no intention of getting involved in this mess; they just wanted to buy their things and leave quickly. But the uncle's commotion made it impossible for her to do business.

"I... I swear to God, liars will never die a good death," Xia Lanyue said defiantly, but her words had no effect on the man.

The man picked up her basket, making a move to throw it on the ground, and asked, "Are you going to give it to me or not?"

Xia Lanyue didn't back down at all and roared, "You dare!"

"You think I dare?" The uncle raised the basket even higher, shouting, "If you don't give it to me, you can forget about selling it," and then he was about to smash it to the ground.

Xia Lanyue's heart sank. She thought to herself, "It's all over. This whole basket of rice cakes has been wasted." At that moment, she wished Dai You could be by her side.

Just then, a man appeared beside the uncle and snatched the basket away.

It's Jiang Di! What's he doing here?!

Xia Lanyue looked at Jiang Di in surprise, her face full of gratitude.

Jiang Di walked up to Xia Lanyue with the basket, gently placed it on the ground, and yelled at her uncle, "What are you doing? How dare you bully a young lady?"

The uncle wasn't intimidated at all, and even shouted loudly, "I paid the deposit, but she didn't give me anything. She's obviously trying to cheat me!" The uncle turned to the people around him and said, "Everyone, come and see, this person is a swindler. Don't buy anything from her."

As soon as these words were spoken, people all turned to look in this direction.

"Shut up, are you deliberately picking a fight again?" Jiang Di glared at the person and said.

"How am I being a troublemaker? I'm just here to get what's mine back," the uncle said with a cunning grin. "If you don't give me my things, I won't shut up." Then he turned to the crowd and yelled, "Everyone, look! Look how they're bullying people!"

Xia Lanyue panicked. This person was just looking for trouble; reasoning with him was useless. Continuing like this would only affect her business and ruin her reputation. At this moment, she just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible and didn't want this person to make a fuss any longer. So, she pulled Jiang Di aside and said, "How about we just forget about it? I'll admit defeat and give him five packs to take away."

"Hey, what are you saying? I originally bought five packs," the uncle continued to ramble on, looking like a petty person.

“You, take the stuff and get out of here right now, or I’ll beat you up,” Jiang Di warned him.

The uncle took out five bags of rice cakes from the basket and said smugly, "Oh, I'm not afraid of you. If you dare to hit me, I'll call the authorities."

Whether Jiang Di couldn't stand what he was saying or not, he swung his fist and rushed forward. Luckily, the old man dodged quickly, otherwise, with his strength, that punch would have really put him on the ground.

Seeing that things were not going well, the uncle didn't say much, turned around and ran into the crowd.

Seeing that her uncle wouldn't be coming back, Xia Lanyue breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at Jiang Di and said, "Thank you. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"It's alright, he ran away," Jiang Di bent down to help him set the baskets back in place, then asked, "Are you alright? Did he hit you?"

Xia Lanyue shook her head. "No, he just wanted something."

"That's alright, but I have something to do and have to go now. I can't stay with you any longer."

Xia Lanyue nodded, "I'm fine, you go ahead and do your work."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Di looked around and, not seeing the uncle again, got up and left.

After watching him leave, Xia Lanyue began tidying up her stall. But somehow, tears silently streamed down her face.

She frantically wiped away her tears, but the more she wiped, the more they flowed. Eventually, she simply sat down on the ground and cried without a care in the world.

"Don't cry, little girl," an auntie waiting to buy rice cakes comforted her. "This man is a notorious scoundrel in the neighborhood. That's just how he is. Don't even think about it."

A woman in green said, "Yes, it's good that he didn't smash your stall today. If it were any other time, he would have gone completely mad. Now that you know, don't mess with him next time."

Xia Lanyue said, her voice trembling, "I didn't provoke him, he's the one who tricked me."

"You learn from your mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes in business. In the future, be more careful," the aunt said.

"Hey, you haven't been here long, have you? You'll learn more as you go. There's a lot to learn about this small business," a woman in a blue shirt said as she walked over. "Are you still selling your stuff? I'd like two packs."

"Sell it, I'll give it to you," Xia Lanyue said, fighting back tears.

Xia Lanyue had no interest in selling rice cakes, but she couldn't resist everyone's enthusiasm. Seeing her absent-mindedness, people took the items themselves, stuffed the counted money into her hand, let her check it, and then left.

Xia Lanyue's two baskets of rice cakes sold out quickly, but she was in a bad mood and didn't even count her earnings before she was in a hurry to pack up her stall and go find Dai You as soon as possible.

"Wait a moment, young lady."

A strange man's voice came from behind.