I'm dressed up as the timid eldest daughter, and the whole family has to listen to me!

Seeing how shameless Lin was—following her even after she'd come all this way to sell candied hawthorns—Su Banxia felt an urge to fight Lin.

Su Banxia, ​​suppressing her anger, walked to Lin's side and said:

"Third Aunt, this is no business like this. I didn't say anything to you outside, but why did you follow me into here?"

Lin raised an eyebrow and glanced at Su Banxia.

"What, is Fuping County your territory now? You can come in to sell, but no one else is allowed to? You're only being hostile towards me because my prices are lower than yours and you're afraid I'll steal your business!"

As she spoke, Lin shouted even more enthusiastically.

"Everyone, don't miss out! Come and see my candied hawthorns for only eight coins. Unlike some unscrupulous vendors who only know how to sell at high prices and cheat our fellow villagers out of their money!"

Su Banxia was furious at being yelled at like that by Madam Lin. Just as she was about to retort, she heard a familiar voice.

"Give me ten candied hawthorn skewers."

Seeing this, Lin hurriedly went to greet them.

"Oh my, young master, you have a good eye. My candied hawthorns are no ordinary ones. In this city, my candied hawthorns are the cheapest and tastiest. I'll wrap them up for you right away."

Lou Wangyue smiled slightly.

"No need for that. I won't buy your candied hawthorns; I'll buy hers."

As she spoke, Lou Wangyue pointed to Su Banxia's candied hawthorns and repeated,

"Could you please get me ten skewers of candied hawthorn? My guys ate your candied hawthorn yesterday and couldn't stop thinking about it, so I'm buying some more for them to try today."

Upon hearing this, Su Banxia quickly smiled and packed candied hawthorns for Lou Wangyue. Seeing this, Lin Shi, standing nearby, blushed with anger.

"How can you be so stingy? We both sell the same candied hawthorns, but mine is cheaper. Do you understand? Mine costs eight coins, and she sells them for ten. Why did you buy hers?"

Lou Wangyue didn't even glance at Lin Shi, but simply smiled faintly at Su Banxia.

Among the passersby who were still watching the battle between the two candied hawthorn stalls, someone recognized Lou Wangyue.

"Hey, isn't this the big boss of Wangyue Tower?"

"Ah, it really is!"

"I never expected that the owner of Wangyue Tower would like to eat candied hawthorns."

"Yes, people have eaten all sorts of good things, so it's surprising that they're willing to come here to buy candied hawthorns. It must be because these candied hawthorns are really delicious."

"Then I have to try it too."

"Speaking of which, my child used to eat this young lady's candied hawthorns all the time, and they were really delicious."

Upon hearing this, the crowd swarmed forward, surrounding Su Banxia completely.

"Girl, give me a skewer."

"I have two kids, I'll take two skewers so they won't fight all the time."

"Give me one too, I want to try it!"

"And me, I want one too!"

Most customers originally bought Lin's candied hawthorns because they were cheap, and Su Banxia was worried that there would be leftovers today. But Lou Wangyue's commotion has made Su Banxia quite busy.

Lou Wangyue withdrew from the crowd and stood a short distance away, smiling as she watched Su Banxia busy herself.

"Young master, why don't you just buy them all for Miss Banxia?"

Lou Wangyue shook her head.

“This is her business. I can help her once or twice, but I can’t help her like this all the time. Otherwise, more people won’t be able to taste the food she makes. She will be able to make this business bigger in the future, so this is just right.”

Jixiang couldn't understand what Lou Wangyue meant, so he scratched his head and stood silently at the back without saying anything more.

Lin, who was standing to the side, was pushed aside by the crowd, still shouting as she did so.

"Mine is cheaper, mine is even cheaper! Hey, don't all buy hers, try mine, they're all the same, the same!"

Everyone was busy grabbing Su Banxia's candied hawthorns and didn't care what Lin was shouting.

Seeing this, Lin stomped her feet in anger and spat on the ground.

"Pah! They're all clueless fools. They won't buy the cheap stuff, they insist on buying the expensive stuff. They're really stupid!"

As she spoke, Lin looked at Lou Wangyue, who was standing not far away, and muttered with a frown:

"Why does this person look so familiar? It's like I've seen them somewhere before?"

After thinking hard for a moment, Lin suddenly slapped her thigh.

"Oh my, isn't this the rich man who brought so many things to the second wife's house for the housewarming banquet the other day?"

Thinking of this, Lin spat on the ground again.

"Well, Su Banxia, ​​you actually brought help. Fine, you know a lot of people, you've got guts. Humph, just wait and see how I deal with you when we get back!"

After saying that, Lin stamped her foot, picked up her candied hawthorn, and walked outside.

Su Banxia's candied hawthorns sold out in no time.

"Girl, these candied hawthorns you made are really beautiful, they look lovely too."

"Yes, we'll buy from you from now on."

Su Banxia smiled and said to everyone:

"Thank you all for your support. Tomorrow we'll be launching a new product: candied hawthorn, which none of you have tried before. Come check it out tomorrow!"

"Okay, I'll come back to buy it tomorrow!"

"Then I have to be the first to try it."

"Yes, if you come too late, they might be gone."

"That's right, I didn't get any today. You'll have to do more tomorrow!"

Su Banxia nodded with a smile.

"Okay, don't worry, I'll definitely make extra tomorrow, so everyone can have some!"

Seeing that Su Banxia said this, everyone left noisily.

After everyone had left, Su Banxia finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing this, Lou Wangyue quickly came over to help Su Banxia pack her things.

"Pinellia ternata is selling quite well today."

Seeing that Lou Wangyue hadn't left yet, Su Banxia quickly said with a smile:

"I really owe you a lot today. You came and helped me attract customers. I thought I wouldn't be able to sell all these candied hawthorns, but as soon as you arrived, they were all snapped up. You helped me again, and I don't know how to thank you enough."

Lou Wangyue smiled.

"No need to thank me, I was right, your candied hawthorns are indeed delicious. Just remember to come to my house in a couple of days and help me cook a few of my signature dishes so I can properly entertain my mother."

Su Banxia nodded repeatedly.

"Don't worry, I'll be there first thing in the morning. I'll have everything prepared myself, and I guarantee your mother will be satisfied."

Lou Wangyue smiled gently as she looked at Su Banxia's serious expression.

"Okay, then I'll be waiting for you to come."

Su Banxia took the things Lou Wangyue had packed for her.

"Okay, then I'll go meet up with them first. I need to get back to the village early today to study the new varieties, so that my third aunt won't cause any more trouble tomorrow."

Lou Wangyue nodded.

"Okay, you can go now. I'll watch you leave."

Su Banxia smiled at Lou Wangyue and left, but she didn't see Wei Kezhi watching the two talking at the entrance of the butcher shop not far away. She couldn't help but frown.

"So what Su Mo said was true. You really do get along very well with Lou Wangyue. If that's really the case, then I can rest assured that I can entrust you to his care..."

Wei Kezhi's eyes were red as he muttered these words. This morning, after finishing his work in the mountains, he rushed down to accompany Su Banxia to town to sell candied hawthorns.

Earlier, Wei Kezhi had left out of jealousy because of Su Banxia and Lou Wangyue's intimate behavior at the dock. He had thought that since he hadn't come down the mountain for so many days, Su Banxia should at least go up and talk to him and explain the situation.

But Wei Kezhi waited and waited on the mountain, and Su Banxia didn't come looking for him. Eventually, Wei Kezhi couldn't sit still any longer and went down the mountain to find Su Banxia, ​​thinking that if he said a few kind words to her, the matter would be over.

Unexpectedly, upon arriving at the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain, they didn't find Su Banxia. It was Su Mo who opened the door for Wei Kezhi. Su Mo remarked that Su Banxia no longer cared about Wei Kezhi; her heart and soul had been completely captivated by Lou Wangyue.

A few days ago, I went to Lou Wangyue's residence for dinner. Lou Wangyue's mother is coming in a few days, and I'm going to see her too. Su Banxia had only mentioned this to Wang Guihua casually when she came back from Lou Wangyue's residence that day.

Then Su Mo remembered it all, and when she saw Wei Kezhi, she naturally told him everything. Wei Kezhi didn't believe her at first, but Su Mo's story was so detailed and convincing...

Wei Kezhi couldn't help but feel a little uneasy, so he hurriedly headed to the city after leaving the courtyard, wanting to get some answers from Su Banxia. When he arrived, he saw Lou Wangyue helping Su Banxia pack her things, the two of them chatting and laughing.

Now, Wei Kezhi realized there was no need to make a fool of herself. She figured Su Banxia didn't care about her at all. Even though she hadn't been able to come with her to sell candied hawthorns today, Su Banxia was doing just fine on her own.

However, to be fair, Su Banxia and I have only ever been friends; neither of us has crossed that line. Now that Su Banxia has chosen him because she values ​​Lou Wangyue's family business, I don't want to say anything more.

After all, Wei Kezhi considered those gold and silver items to be easily obtainable and didn't value them much. He had previously been able to tolerate Su Banxia's love of money, but...

But now, the thought of Su Banxia abandoning him for gold and silver to befriend Lou Wangyue makes Wei Kezhi feel disgusted. He doesn't want such impure feelings.

Thinking this, Wei Kezhi sighed helplessly. Perhaps he really couldn't be of any help to Su Banxia right now.

On the contrary, Lou Wangyue repeatedly helped Su Banxia by running errands, even assisting her in selling candied hawthorns, while Lou Wangyue could only hold Su Banxia back.

Thinking of this, Wei Kezhi couldn't help but smile self-deprecatingly.

"Perhaps this is why you chose Lou Wangyue. You hope he will treat you well. As long as he continues to treat you well, then you have made the right choice..."

"Master, time is running out. We must leave Fuping County. The situation in the capital is dire..."

Wei Kezhi waved his hand at the man in black.

"There are too many people here, let's go talk in that alley."

Having said that, he glanced left and right, then led the man in black into the alley.

"My lord, we just received another secret report from the capital. It says that the current situation in the capital is not optimistic. Those princes are using all sorts of underhanded methods to compete for the position of crown prince."

As he spoke, the man in black cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Wei Kezhi.

"But now the crown prince is useless. Because a woman he loved died, he drinks and causes trouble all day long. Now he's even worse. He's too lazy to go to court, which gives the other princes an opportunity to take advantage of him."

Wei Kezhi looked towards the capital, his eyes deep and unfathomable, and said softly:

"What did the teacher say?"

"Grand Tutor Li said that among the princes, only Your Majesty is capable of shouldering this great responsibility. If the throne falls into the hands of those纨绔 (spoiled brats), it may not last more than a month. Right now, Your Majesty's health is not good, and the Xiongnu on the border are also watching our capital closely, waiting to break through the border in the chaos so that they can seize our territory."

Wei Kezhi had originally planned to spend some time with Su Banxia before revealing his true feelings and his identity as a prince to her, so that he could take her back to the capital in a natural way. It seems that this wish will not be fulfilled.

If things were to become turbulent in the capital right now, and he were to forcibly bring Su Banxia back, his imperial brothers might use Su Banxia as a weakness to easily manipulate him.

Now that even the Crown Prince's beloved woman couldn't be protected, Wei Kezhi didn't have the courage to take Su Banxia on this risk.

However, it seems that Su Banxia has never cared about him at all; at this moment, she probably only has Lou Wangyue in her eyes.

That makes sense. After all, Lou Wangyue can help Su Banxia in every way, while Su Banxia is just a good-for-nothing in front of Lou Wangyue. In Su Banxia's eyes, Su Banxia is just a wild boy without parents.

Thinking this, Wei Kezhi couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"Banxia, ​​if I can come back alive this time, and you are still not married by then, I will give you another chance to choose."

After saying this, Wei Kezhi stared silently in the direction Su Banxia had left for a long time before turning to the two men in black and giving them instructions:

"Set off immediately and return to Beijing!"

The two men in black breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that their master had finally made up his mind to return to the capital, and hurried to prepare dry rations and horses.

After returning to the small courtyard on Dwarf Mountain, Su Banxia went to the backyard to prepare for researching candied hawthorn berries and tomato candied hawthorn berries. Wang Guihua, seeing her return, quickly greeted her with a smile:

"Why didn't Xiao Wei come back with you? I heard him come to our courtyard looking for you today. I was making soup in the back and didn't have time to entertain him. Su Mo opened the door for him. Later, he seemed to stay for a while and then went to the city to find you."

Upon hearing this, Su Banxia felt a sudden pang of pain in her heart. She didn't know why she suddenly felt this way, but seeing Wang Guihua smile...

“I didn’t see him go to the city. Maybe he couldn’t find me and went back to the mountain. I’ll go to the mountain to look for him after I finish what I’m doing in a few days. It’s fine.”

Wang Guihua nodded.

"Alright, it's your own business, you can handle it yourself."