Chapter 24: Four Coins Can Overturn Two British Women

  Strolling through the twilight-shrouded streets of Wenchuan, gazing at the throngs of people rushing to and fro, Xiao Xian unwittingly took a deep breath, slightly tilting her head towards Yuan Dai. She smiled and said: "At this moment, it's just the two of us, truly carefree and relaxed!"

  Yan Dai heard the sound and immediately returned a smile: "I have a worried heart!" The two looked at each other, and without realizing it, they both burst out laughing.

  Across the street, a man in his fifties, wearing a coarse linen cotton-padded jacket, was hurrying along with a bundle of straw carrying ice sugar gourds. It was getting late and the old man seemed to have no intention of shouting out his wares, but was single-mindedly heading home. As he had been selling all day, there were only a few stalks of sugar gourds left on the straw bundle, yet at first glance, they still looked bright red, crystal clear and translucent, making one's mouth water uncontrollably.

  Xiao Chengxian suddenly caught sight of him and hastily stretched out her hand to stop him, laughing: "Wait! Wait!"

  The old man heard this call and hurriedly stopped in his tracks, his face wrinkled like a chrysanthemum: "Are the two gentlemen going to try some of my candied hawthorn?"

  Xiao Cheng smiled and nodded, saying: "Give us two more!"

  The old man happily pulled down two sugar calabazas from the grass stem and handed them over with a smile: "Please accept, two cents each!"

  Xiao Chengyan was about to reach out and take the sugar gourd, but unexpectedly heard this sentence. After a moment's pause, she turned her head back to Yuan Dai with some embarrassment: "Sister... do you have any money on you?"

  After clearing her throat, Yuan Dai lightly shook her head. When they first went out, there were Xiao Chengye and Ling Yuqing by their side, so it was not necessary for them to worry about paying the bill. Later, because she saw that small door, she had an impulsive idea and left a note. Sneaking out quietly, in this situation, no one would have thought to bring silver coins. But unexpectedly, this time four pieces of copper cash almost cost the lives of two young ladies.

  Noticing the expressions of the two, the old man was also taken aback. After a while, he smiled and said: "Going out and forgetting to bring money is also possible! Looking at your appearance, you two gentlemen are not intentionally teasing me either! In that case, let's do this. You two gentlemen can eat these two strings of sugar gourds first, and when Hou Ming'er sees that I have money, he will give it to us in no time!" As he spoke, he forcibly stuffed the two sugar gourds into Xiao Chengyan's hands.

  With no money on him, Xiao Xian had already decided not to buy the two strings of sugar gourds. However, after hearing the old man's words, he felt compelled to accept them and could only force a bitter smile as he took them. Just as he was about to ask the old man where he lived so that he could repay him another day, Yuan Dai had already smiled and untied the jade pendant from her waist, handing it to the old man. She said with a laugh: "Old sir, you are indeed generous! We can't just take your things for free! This piece of jade is made from top-quality white sheep fat jade, I'll give it to your daughter as a dowry for her future marriage, what do you think?"

  The old man was even more surprised than when Yu Dai gave him the jade pendant, his eyes wide with wonder as he stared at Yu Dai: "This young master is truly divine! I don't recall ever mentioning my family's affairs to you before, sir?"

  Yuandai smiled mysteriously and said, "This young master used to learn some divination techniques when he was a child. When the time comes, just count your fingers and you will naturally know!" Xiaocheng saw her speaking like this, almost laughing out loud. The old man heard it with both respect and fear, and became even more reluctant to accept the jade pendant. Later, seeing Yuandai repeatedly wanting to give it, he reluctantly accepted it and left with a thousand thanks.

  Seeing him go far away, Xiao Chengyan couldn't help but ask in doubt: "Sister, have you really learned divination?"

  With a faint smile, she pulled out a sugar gourd from her hand and carefully licked it. Yuandai then said leisurely: "So-called physiognomy is just observing one's words, looking at their appearance, and then carefully examining the person; as long as you get something from these three aspects, it's enough to scare people!"

  Xiao Chengxian thought for a moment, but still had no idea: "But I don't know what my sister got from those three things just now?" She asked with a smile.

  Yan Dai raised an eyebrow: "I wonder if sister has noticed that old man's waist with a blue cloth towel?"

  Shaking his head without thinking, Xiao Chengyan readily admitted: "This is indeed something I've never paid attention to!"

  Yuan Dai said, "To be honest with you, sister, the reason I'm so sure he has an unmarried daughter at home is because of the corner of the blue cloth handkerchief tied around his waist. It's embroidered with a few chrysanthemums, and they're done very delicately. That's why I suspected that there must be an unmarried girl in his household!"

  Xiao Chengxian was told by her, although she felt that there was some reason in her words, but she still didn't want to let go of Yuan Dai, so she asked again: "It's just a few embroidered chrysanthemums, how can you be sure it wasn't embroidered by his old wife or given by someone else?"

  Yuandai explained: "This old man looks to be over fifty years old, his clothes are clean but have many patches, obviously he is from a very ordinary family! Such an old man, it's unlikely that anyone outside would give him a handkerchief, it must have been embroidered by the women in his household. As for his wife, my sister comes from a noble family and often walks in the palace, she has seen countless embroidery ladies in the palace, I don't know if she has ever seen an embroidery lady over fifty years old?"

  No matter the dynasty or era, the handkerchiefs embroidered by women always had special meanings and could not be casually given to other men. This was true for both talented ladies from noble families and delicate beauties from humble homes. Xiao Chengyan naturally knew this.

  As for the embroiderer, Xiao Chengxiu thought carefully for a moment and shook her head: "It seems that I have never seen it before!"

  Yan Dai smiled and said, "Sister is not good at needlework, I'm afraid you don't know that being an embroiderer requires not only a clever mind and skilled hands but also a pair of good eyes. As people age, their eyes will deteriorate, and even if they haven't given up on embroidery, threading the needle has become a difficult task!"

  Although he knew that what she said was reasonable, after listening to so much, Xiao Xian couldn't help but tease her and say: "Just a handkerchief and a few daisies, you can talk about so many things, sister's talent, if not going to be a detective, it would really be a waste!"

  At first, she was taken aback, but then burst out laughing. Yuandai said: "According to Sister's words, the imperial court should summon all those fortune tellers on the streets to the government office to become detectives, otherwise it would be a waste!"

  Xiao Chengxian burst out laughing. She took a bite of the sugar gourd in her hand, and with some reluctance, she glanced at the street where she was standing, saying: "It's not easy to sneak out quietly, but I forgot to bring silver coins, are we going back now?"

  The mischievous Chao winked at her, and Yuan Dai said: "Just look at what we're wearing now, isn't it all silver?" She said, not explaining further, and pulled Xiao Xian along, searching for something up and down the street.

  They walked forward for less than fifty steps when Duan Yu suddenly pointed ahead and exclaimed, "Look!" Xiao Zheng followed his gaze and saw a shop in front of them with a large black sign hanging above the entrance. The four words on the sign read: Wang's Pawnshop.

  "What a pawnshop?" Xiang Chengyan's eyes widened in surprise, and she couldn't believe it. Yuan Dai didn't mind, stretched out her hand, pulled down the jade pendant hanging from Xiang Chengyan's waist, and winked at her. Xiang Chengyan understood, and couldn't help but laugh again. With a swagger, holding sugar gourds, the two stepped into Wangji Pawnshop.

  She walked up to the counter and with a flick of her wrist, she tossed the jade pendant onto it, saying in a low voice: "Here!"

  The shopkeeper looked up and saw that the two men were wearing brocade clothes, and their demeanor was like that of young masters from a wealthy family. Although the sugar gourd in their hands was quite eye-catching, it did not hinder the shopkeeper's joyful feelings. He smiled and said, "Please wait for a moment, gentlemen!" As he spoke, he picked up the jade pendant and examined it carefully for a moment, then took out a magnifying glass from his side and looked at it again in detail.

  After a long while, he raised his head and smiled, asking: "I wonder if you two gentlemen are dead or alive?"

  Xiao Chengxian was now completely bewildered, having no idea what was going on. She only knew about the pawnshop because she had occasionally heard Du Fu mention that someone in their clan had opened a pawnshop, but terms like "dead pledge" and "living pledge" were clearly beyond her simple understanding.

  With a hint of doubt, she could only turn her head to glance at Faraday. On the other side, Faraday had already raised an eyebrow and coldly snorted: "Do I look like someone who is short on money? Of course not!" It was just two simple sentences, but they were enough to show off his spoiled nature.

  Suddenly hearing this, let alone the shopkeeper, even Xiao Chengyan almost burst out laughing.

  With the idea of making a fortune by being friendly, the shopkeeper swallowed his pride and forced a smile, saying: "If it's a living pawn, then this jade pendant can only be worth five taels!"

  Xiao Chengyan heard the price of five taels and didn't bat an eyelid. She glanced at Yuan Cai, who didn't understand the market value but knew that her jade pendant was worth more than five taels of silver. Just as she was about to speak up, Yuan Cai beat her to it: "Alright! It's a deal!"

  The shopkeeper deliberately lowered the price, expecting them to think five taels was too little and that he could cheat them into taking the jade pendant. But unexpectedly, Yu Dai agreed so readily. The shopkeeper was taken aback, shook his head with a wry smile, and asked when they would come to redeem it. He then handed the jade pendant to his assistant, who wrote out a pawn ticket.

  After receiving the ticket and silver, the two of them left the pawnshop. Just as they were about to exit, Xiao Chengyan finally couldn't help but say: "My jade pendant..."

  With a slight nod and a smile, Yanzhen explained: "We just use this jade pendant to temporarily exchange for some silver coins, but in one or two days, we will naturally come to redeem it. Silver is originally very heavy, if you carry too much, you can't help but walk around with the silver on your back, isn't that tiring!"

  As soon as she thought of the two of them carrying large bundles of silver and walking around, Xiao Chengyan couldn't help but burst out laughing. The two of them were laughing happily, and they didn't notice that someone was hastily approaching from ahead. The person who came seemed to have something on their mind, hugging a blue cloth bundle, lowering their head, and rushing over with quick steps.

  It was too late to speak, and the moment was swift. Just as they were about to collide, Yuandai suddenly came to her senses, almost subconsciously, and hastily dodged to the side, barely avoiding a collision. As she dodged, she inadvertently revealed Xiao Chengyan standing behind her.

  Under the sudden attack, Xiao Xian was knocked off balance by that person and staggered. She couldn't stand steadily and fell to the ground with a "thud". Her elbow also heavily hit the ground, and the sugar gourd in her hand flew out, rolling on the ground several times, covered with mud and dust.