What to do if you have too many golden fingers? Walk sideways!

Chapter 19: Outsmarting the Profligate Merchant

Gu Xi stretched and sat up from the bed in the inn.

Open the window, look at the bright sunshine outside, listen to the chirping of birds outside, and stretch your muscles.

The wonderful time-travel life begins again.

After the family finished breakfast, Gu Xi decided to go out for a walk. Although she had not been here for long, her experience was really rich. Unfortunately, she had not yet had a good look around this ancient street market.

When Gu Ping and Gu Yuan heard this, they also clamored to go.

Qi was born into a wealthy family. She was bound by rules in the past and seldom left the house. Now she is a fugitive and has thrown all the rules and etiquette aside. She has only one wish, which is that her three children can live happily.

A group of five people took a horse-drawn carriage to Zhengyang Street, the most prosperous street in the county. Since they were all disguised, they were not afraid of being recognized.

It was indeed very lively here, with all kinds of hawking sounds. Gu Xi looked around excitedly and bought anything he liked.

Gu Ping and Gu Yuan were even happier. Before they came, Gu Xi gave each of them some change and copper coins and let them spend as much as they wanted.

Qi was a little reserved at first, but after being disturbed by the three children, she relaxed and started eating candied haws directly on the street, something she had never dared to think of before.

During this time, they saw an official holding a portrait and pasting it on the bulletin wall. The portrait was of the five of them. The painting was pretty good, but the five of them had changed their appearances, and they didn't recognize them when they stood in front of them.

So the five of them went shopping again, chatting and laughing.

When I walked to the entrance of an alley, suddenly, I heard a noise coming from the front.

Gu Xi squeezed over curiously to see what was going on, only to discover that a clerk in the grain store was arguing with a customer.

It turned out that the customer thought the clerk in the grain store had shortchanged the customer, while the clerk in the grain store insisted that he had not cheated.

The customer said, "I have used this rice bag for several years. Whenever I buy half a bushel of rice from other stores, it is always filled to 90%. Today you only filled it to 70%, which is definitely not enough for half a bushel."

The clerk in the grain store said, "I have used this bucket for a long time. Do you see this line? This is the line for half a bucket of rice. When it is filled, it is half a bucket."

When everyone looked at it, they saw that although the bowl was the unified one used by the government, there was a circle of lines drawn inside it.

Because the bowl is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, it is not easy to compare, so everyone is discussing whose words are reliable.

Gu Xi rolled his eyes, walked forward, and said to the waiter:

"Give me a bushel of rice."

The waiter saw that Gu Xi was a middle-aged man wearing silk clothes and looked very rich. He thought she wanted to buy rice, so he did not dare to neglect her and quickly gave her a bucket of rice.

Gu Xi said to the customer again:

"Brother, can I borrow your rice bag?"

The customer hesitated for a moment, but still handed the bag of rice to Gu Xi. Gu Xi poured the rice in the bag back into the wooden barrel used to store rice in the grain store, and then asked the customer to open the empty bag, and she poured the bucket of rice into the bag.

Until the rice bag was full and about to overflow, Gu Xi shook the rice in the bucket evenly, and the remaining rice was just above the half-bucket line.

"Okay, brother, you can take the top half bucket of rice. I will give you the bottom half bucket of rice." Gu Xi returned the bucket to the waiter.

The customer smiled happily and immediately paid for half a bushel of rice. This half bushel of rice was much more than before, even 10% or 20% more than what he had bought elsewhere before.

The clerk in the grain store turned green in the face.

Everyone then understood what Gu Xi was doing and accused the clerk in the grain store of being dishonest. Some even shouted that they had bought things here many times before and had been cheated, and asked the clerk to pay them back.

Upon seeing this, the clerk immediately closed the shop door and turned to report to the manager.

Gu Xi smiled smugly, turned around and left the crowd.

Not far away, Wu Dajiang, who had been following, gave a thumbs up.

"Great! You can actually come up with such a way to deal with profiteers."

Although Chu Zhao said "a trifle", the corners of his mouth rose slightly, and he became more and more interested in this woman.

There was also an old man in the crowd, twisting his beard and saying to his followers:

"This guy is quite quick-witted, very interesting."

At this moment, Gu Xi felt a familiar golden light flash before his eyes, and two lines of words floated out:

Expose the unscrupulous businessmen's tricks and complete the hidden tasks.

Reward: A chance to meet the Governor.

Huh? I completed the hidden mission by accident.

As for the reward, it's not bad either. After all, whether she can complete the task of overthrowing Zhen Wude depends on the help of the governor.

But how could she get to know the Governor?

She looked around to see if there was anyone who looked like the governor.

This scared Chu Zhao and Wu Dajiang, and they were almost discovered. They quickly turned around and pretended to buy something from the vendor behind them.

Not seeing anyone who looked like the governor, Gu Xi returned to his family and saw Gu Ping and Gu Yuan excitedly describing the story of Gu Xi's clever fight with the grain store clerk to Qi and Nanny Yun who had not squeezed in to watch the fun.

At last, Gu Yuan added:

"Mom! My eldest sister is so awesome. I want to learn from her in the future." His eyes were shining with admiration.

Gu Xi was just about to touch her brother's head when she heard someone shouting, "It's him! Catch him!" Then she saw several officers running towards her.

Gu Xi was shocked. Could it be that his identity was exposed?

If she were alone, she would definitely use her lightness skills to run away at this time, but her relatives were around her and she couldn't abandon them.

The officers and soldiers quickly surrounded them. Gu Xi saw the clerk in the grain store pointing at Gu Xi and saying something to the leading yamen runner, and then the yamen runner came over.

It seems that the grain store colluded with the officials and wanted to take revenge on her.

"You, I'm talking to you! Just surrender and follow us!" said the leading bailiff.

"May I ask, sir, what crime have I committed?" Gu Xi asked.

"Someone has reported that you are involved in the theft at the Sun family. If you refuse to go back to the yamen with us, then we will take action."

As soon as the leading bailiff finished speaking, all the surrounding officials drew their swords.

Qi was so frightened that her face turned pale, but she still stood up resolutely and stood in front of Gu Xi.

"My husband is a law-abiding man, not a thief. Please don't arrest him randomly."

Because Gu Xi was now dressed as a middle-aged man, Qi spoke according to the roles they played.

Gu Ping, Gu Yuan and Nanny Yun also stepped forward, stood in front of Gu Xi, and glared at the bailiff.

"Hey, you dare to stop the police from investigating the case? You must be accomplices of the thieves. Catch them together!"

In fact, the bailiff didn't recognize them at all. He just took the money from the manager of the grain store. In addition, since the grain store had a relationship with the county magistrate, he would definitely catch Gu Xi and the others and beat them up today.

Let’s see if they dare to meddle in other people’s business.