Chapter 338: Sweetened by Her Praise

Bai Wei lifted the carriage curtain and asked softly.

"May I ask, where are these Fusang People stationed?"

The few people who were chatting with Qin Zhan only then noticed Bai Wei and asked in surprise.

"Who are you..."

Qin Zhan hurriedly said, "This is our shopkeeper. She heard there are many cloth merchants in Yannan, so she transported cloth here to sell."

The other party gave an "oh" and let down their guard.

"These Fusang People live in a large Dye House in the south of the city. They are usually heavily guarded and do not let the city's commoners get close."

A Dye House?

Several thoughts flashed through Bai Wei's mind.

A Dye House needs to air out cloth, so it wouldn't occupy a small area, and it also has cellars for storing dyes, which are perfect for hiding ore.

Furthermore, the Fusang People are heavily guarded and don't let people get close, which means those ores must be hidden there as well.

At this moment, she heard the other party sigh again.

"These Fusang People don't do anything good all day; they just bully the commoners in the city and forcibly seize women."

"The bullied commoners go to the government office to file complaints, but the government office not only ignores them, but instead treats the Fusang People with good food and drink, sending fresh vegetables, fruits, chicken, and fish to these Fusang People like a flowing stream."

"Yannan is suffering from drought, and the price of food and grain in the city has skyrocketed; even eggs have risen to two taels of silver each, and there is no supply to meet the demand—they simply cannot be bought. General Wang at the city gate, his wife just gave birth to a child and wanted to buy some eggs to nourish her body, but he searched the whole city and couldn't buy even a few eggs; the lives of ordinary commoners are even harder."

"There are so many starving people in the city, and everyone is not full, yet this bunch of Fusang People don't do a damn thing and are served by the government all day long, eating and drinking their fill every day. It really makes one's teeth itch with hatred."

Hearing the complaints of the few commoners, Bai Wei also felt her teeth itch.

But the true culprit is none other than Yuan Canghai!

If it weren't for him colluding with the Fusang Ronin, letting this bunch into the city, arranging a place for them to stay, serving them with good food and drink, and turning a blind eye to the suffering of the commoners in the city, how would these Ronin dare to bully the commoners everywhere in Yannan City?

A commotion came from ahead.

Qin Zhan hurriedly said, "It's our turn to enter the city!"

Bai Wei hurriedly bid farewell to the few commoners and sat back in the carriage.

The caravan arrived at the city gate.

Beside the city gate stood more than a dozen Yuan Family Army soldiers wearing armor, holding long spears and checking one by one.

When it was the turn of Bai Wei's group, the gate-guarding soldier didn't even lift his eyelids.

"Do you have a customs clearance document?"

"This..." Xiao Moting hesitated for a moment, "We are here in Yannan City to do business; no one said that a customs clearance document was needed to enter the city."

"This is an order just issued by General Yuan." The soldier said impatiently, "Yannan City has not been peaceful lately. To prevent Beijiang spies from mixing into the city, you must have a customs clearance document to be allowed through. If you don't have the document, leave quickly."

"We are legitimate merchants; it hasn't been easy to travel all this way."

At this time, a person who looked like a commander walked over, "What are you arguing about? There are so many people queuing behind, hurry up and finish the inspection."

The soldier hurriedly saluted, "General Wang, they say they are cloth merchants, but they don't have a customs clearance document."

The commander raised his eyebrows, "No document? Then they are not allowed to enter the city. Go, go, go, don't crowd here and get in the way."

Xiao Moting hurriedly said, "Could you make an exception?"

As he spoke, he took a money bag from his bosom and stuffed it over.

The commander took a look but did not accept it.

"It's not that we won't let people through; General Yuan is checking strictly. If we let you in privately and something happens, we will also be implicated."

Xiao Moting did not expect that the other party would not accept the silver, and he was slightly stunned for a moment.

Bai Wei was sitting in the carriage and, seeing this, immediately got out of the car.

"Wait."

She lightly lifted her skirt and walked in front of General Wang.

"General Wang, we are entering the city to sell cloth. If we can't enter the city, we can only turn back. This round trip would be a huge loss."

General Wang snorted coldly, "This is General Yuan's order. If you are dissatisfied, go find General Yuan."

Bai Wei smiled, leaned closer to him, and spoke softly.

"General Wang, I heard your wife just gave birth to a child, right?"

General Wang was stunned, and then shouted, "Why are you asking about this?"

Bai Wei smiled and said, "After giving birth, the wife's body is weak and she should be nourished to recover her vitality faster. When I was buying goods outside, I happened to receive a crate of eggs, so I will give them to your wife to nourish her body."

Upon hearing there were eggs, General Wang's expression softened, and he looked Bai Wei up and down.

"Yannan is suffering from such a drought that the chickens are almost all dead, let alone eggs. We can't even buy eggs in the city; do you really have them?"

Bai Wei did not answer and turned to instruct Qin Zhan.

"Go to the carriage and move that crate of eggs down."

While speaking, her mind stirred, and she used her consciousness to move a crate of eggs from the Warehouse.

This crate of eggs was collected when she was stocking up on supplies for the Warehouse. Due to her negligence when collecting them, this crate of eggs was no longer very fresh, and they were not free-range eggs either, so Bai Wei had not taken them out for Xiao Moting and the others to eat, intending to boil them for Dahuang after returning.

But she didn't expect that the shortage of supplies in Yannan City would be so severe that eggs had become a hot commodity.

She would just take this crate of not-so-fresh eggs and give them to General Wang as a toll.

Qin Zhan hurriedly lifted the carriage curtain and, sure enough, found a crate of eggs in the carriage, so he hurriedly moved it down.

"Shopkeeper, the eggs are here."

A whole crate of eggs, there were at least a hundred of them, and they were big and round.

When General Wang saw this, his eyes widened immediately.

"There are actually this many eggs?"

"And they are this big?"

Bai Wei smiled and instructed Qin Zhan, "Why haven't you moved the eggs behind General Wang yet?"

Hearing this, Qin Zhan hurriedly moved the eggs over.

Bai Wei looked up and said to General Wang, "General Wang, we don't have anything impressive to offer, so please accept this basket of collected eggs as a gift for your esteemed wife."

After speaking, she signaled for Qin Zhan to lift the curtains of the carriages behind them, revealing the fabric packed inside.

"General Wang, we really are fabric merchants; look, we have so much fabric, all prepared to be sold."

General Wang looked up and scanned them, then waved his hand to let the soldiers go over and inspect.

Several soldiers surrounded the carriages, inspecting them from top to bottom.

A moment later, the soldiers returned to report.

"Reporting to General Wang, the carriages are indeed loaded with fabric; there are no weapons of any kind."

General Wang hesitated for a moment, then looked up and said to Bai Wei.

"Seeing that you have come from afar, it is not easy to enter the city to sell fabric, so I will make an exception this one time; do not let it happen again."

"Many thanks, General Wang."

Bai Wei smiled and turned to instruct Qin Zhan to drive the carriages into the city gate.

This whole sequence was smooth and fluid, extremely seamless.

Xiao Moting stood to the side, also somewhat stunned.

"Bai, that's it?"

Bai Wei winked at him, "When giving gifts, one must cater to the recipient's preferences! Even if he won't take silver, there is surely something he wants, and as it happens, I have what he wants; isn't that the best of both worlds?"

She had gotten rid of the stale eggs and managed to enter the city; everyone was happy.

Xiao Moting also smiled slightly, "When it comes to worldly wisdom, Bai is still better."

Having been complimented, Bai Wei returned the praise, "When it comes to marching and fighting, or doing business to make money, our Chief Steward Xiao is the truly formidable one."

Xiao Moting felt a sweetness in his heart from her praise, and a hidden smile rose to his lips.