At this moment, the crowd below the stage hadn't reacted yet. Zhao Shuning's sudden appearance truly took them by surprise. This young woman was so bold at such a young age. It was the first time they had seen Zhao Shuning, and they had never known about this suddenly emerged young girl before.
As Zhao Shuning stepped down from the stage, the spiritual energy shield on the stage immediately vanished. Those spiritual herb masters regained their mobility as soon as Zhao Shuning leaped off the auction stage. They looked up at the owner of the auction house with inquiring looks in their eyes, asking what to do next.
The owner of the auction house pursed his lips and then retracted his fists. He waved gently at the spiritual herb masters, signaling them not to act rashly. Although this suddenly appeared young girl was young, just based on her actions just now, he knew that this woman was someone they couldn't afford to offend.
"Carry Lord Wei onto the stage," the man in the auction house said. But as he spoke, his eyes involuntarily glanced at Zhao Shuning. Zhao Shuning met his gaze and just smiled. The man didn't dare to be presumptuous and returned a salute.
Wei Qian was extremely angry because of the injury on his hand. He roared at the people in the auction house, "Lou Yang, this is your territory. I got injured like this on your territory. You must stand up for me."
Zhao Shuning looked at the man. So his name was Lou Yang. The surname Lou was quite a nice one.
"Lord Wei, I warned you before. Since you entrusted your wife to my auction house, you should abide by the rules here. It was you who violated the rules first and tried to damage the 'commodity' about to be auctioned. Therefore, the injury you suffered has nothing to do with my auction house," Lou Yang said, his words impeccable.
Zhao Shuning thought that this man was a reasonable one. At least he knew that what he was doing was beneficial to himself.
Wei Qian wanted to say something more, but seeing Lou Yang's gloomy face, he swallowed all his words. Lou Yang had managed to make the auction so prosperous in Chaozhou in just a few years and turn it into a holy land. Not only in Chaozhou but also in the royal family of the Hailing Kingdom, he might have many connections. Going against Lou Yang, Wei Qian would only end up in a difficult situation. As a businessman, Wei Qian knew well how to measure things. Now, all he could do was to swallow his anger.
After Lou Yang finished speaking, he deliberately glanced at Zhao Shuning, as if asking if she was satisfied with his handling of the matter. Zhao Shuning didn't react much to Lou Yang. She just looked at the scholar again and said once more, "You continue?"
Thanks to Zhao Shuning's reminder, Mu Er finally came to his senses. At this time, the crowd redirected their attention to the freshwater pearls in the scholar's hand. They knew that the reason why Wei Qian had been so excited just now was because he saw the freshwater pearl jewelry in Mu Er's hand. So Wei Qian firmly believed that Wen Xiaoxiao had an affair with Mu Er. Since she said she had pawned the jewelry to support his business, why did the jewelry end up in Mu Er's hand?
Wei Qian was a well - known and influential figure in Chaozhou. Naturally, he couldn't tolerate his woman cuckolding him. That was why he couldn't control his temper and lashed out.
Mu Er swallowed hard and explained, "Actually, I met Miss Wen when she first came to Chaozhou. At that time, she couldn't write and came to my letter - writing stall to ask me to write a letter to her cousin in her hometown to report her safety. Miss Wen is kind - hearted. After I finished writing the letter for her that day, it started to rain. Since I was poor and didn't have extra money to buy an umbrella, Miss Wen asked her servant to send me back to my shabby hut first."
"After arriving at the hut, perhaps seeing how shabby my living condition was, when Miss Wen came to pick up the letter two days later, she sent someone to repair my hut. At least, I had a place to take shelter during rainy days. From then on, I remembered Miss Wen's kindness. I had been saving money to pursue a career in the imperial examinations in the capital. I thought that if I became successful in the future, I must repay Miss Wen for her kindness of providing me with shelter that day."
"Later, one day I saw Miss Wen walking by my stall looking extremely dejected. Usually, she would come to me to write letters to her family to report her safety these days, but that day, she was preoccupied. I called her twice, but she didn't hear me. I thought something might have happened to her, so I packed up my stall and followed her."
Mu Er spoke very seriously. It could be seen that these memories had been replayed in his mind many times. So when he told them now, those things seemed to have happened just yesterday.
Zhao Shuning listened attentively. The people on and off the stage were also extremely quiet, all listening to the oil peddler tell this unknown story. Even Wen Xiaoxiao had changed from being angry and restless to tender.
Mu Er continued, "I saw Miss Wen enter the pawnshop and take out all the jewelry on her body. Finally, she reluctantly took off the string of freshwater pearls on her hand. It could be seen that the freshwater pearls should be the most precious thing to Miss Wen."
"After Miss Wen pawned her things and got the silver note, she left."
At this time, Wei Qian snorted and said, "If she was going to pawn things, why didn't she take her servants with her?"
The crowd looked at Wen Xiaoxiao. Wen Xiaoxiao choked with sobs and said, "At that time, Wei Qian's business had just started to improve. The buyer suddenly needed a large amount of deer antler and ginseng. The quantity was huge, and we didn't have enough money at once. Wei Qian was quite vain. I didn't want him to feel burdened and think that he had to rely on a woman to support himself, so I went to the pawnshop alone. The pawnshop owner can testify that I really went there alone at that time, not with Young Master Mu."
After Wen Xiaoxiao finished speaking, an old man also spoke up. "It's true. When Mrs. Wei came at that time, she was really alone. She specifically told me not to spread this matter, saying that she was afraid that Lord Wei would feel bad if he heard about it."
Wei Qian was speechless. Enduring the severe pain in his hand, he changed the subject and questioned, "If that's the case, how did this string of freshwater pearls end up in your hand?"
Mu Er didn't look at Wei Qian. Maybe he felt sick just looking at Wei Qian. "Not long after Miss Wen left, a woman entered the pawnshop. She also took a fancy to the freshwater pearl bracelet at first sight. But since the price of the freshwater pearls was quite high, she went home to get the money. Seeing this, thinking of Miss Wen's kindness to me, I gave all the money I had to the pawnshop owner."
Wei Qian sneered. "You? How much money could you possibly have? Could you afford to buy that freshwater pearl bracelet? Your story is full of loopholes!"