A peasant girl traveled through time and space, and she became prosperous

Chapter 343 Buying Water at a High Price

"Alright, that's the end of the business for now. Those who have already filled their water containers should hurry up and leave. Those who haven't filled their water containers yet should go back now. I will have someone return your money."

Wen Meijiu then informed them to stop the fight and to send the people back.

A group of soldiers rushed over and surrounded Wen Meijiu and Zhizheng at the innermost part.

The leading officer walked up to Wen Meijiu, arrogant and domineering:

"Don't move! This water source belongs to our village. Who gave you permission to take water from here without our permission?"

Fearing that his words wouldn't be enough to intimidate Wen Meijiu and her men, since Wen Meijiu had said that all of them were skilled in martial arts, the leading soldier casually drew the sword hanging at his waist.

"We dug this out, how come it's yours?"

Zhizheng was also unconvinced and stepped forward to argue with them, but Wen Meijiu pulled him back.

"Sir, let's talk this out. We can discuss making money together."

Wen Meijiu tried to stop the fight with words while constantly giving him meaningful glances.

Although Zhizheng was confused, he knew that Wen Meijiu must be hiding something from him. In his impression, Wen Meijiu was not someone who would be taken advantage of so easily.

"Who's going to discuss this with you? You really think you're something special? I'll say it again, this place is ours. If you don't leave, don't blame me for being impolite."

The leading officer did not act rashly, but simply extended his sword towards the warm wine to intimidate them.

Wen Meijiu feigned surprise, taking a slight step back and lowering her voice:

"Alright, the water source can be given to you, but we need to make things clear."

This water source is very hard to find. It was only because Guanyin Bodhisattva took pity on the refugees who had no water to drink that she guided me to this place.

"Go ahead and take it, but you have to promise me you won't sell it for too high a price, otherwise they won't be able to afford it."

"Enough talk, let's go!"

They still had to listen to her lecture, which was completely outrageous. The leading officer became aggressive and his attitude was terrible.

"If you don't believe it, then don't. Why yell at people? She was just trying to be helpful. Believe it or not."

Zhizheng wasn't afraid of these lowly soldiers. If a real fight broke out, he could easily take them down with a single punch. However, he couldn't afford to cause trouble for Young Master Wang.

He pushed away the longsword of the leading soldier with his finger, and with Zhizheng protecting Wen Meijiu, they walked towards the shore, followed by the others.

Seeing that Wen Meijiu and the others had left, the disaster victims who had come to fetch water also became dejected and turned away one after another.

"Hey, don't go anywhere! Anyone who needs water, come and buy some. One tael of silver a bucket, fair and square!"

These disaster victims paid a cheap price to fetch water; they would complain that even a hundred coins was too expensive, let alone one tael of silver, and simply wouldn't pay.

Once everyone had walked away, someone came out and offered their opinion to the leading officer:

"Should we lower the price? After all, they only sold it for fifty coins at the beginning. This price is huge, and I'm afraid they won't be able to accept it."

"Don't worry, you won't starve to death if you don't eat for three days, but do you think you'll die if you don't drink water for three days?"

The leading officer patted his chest, full of confidence; they had done this many times before.

Let alone the fact that they actually provide water here, even in the village, you might not be able to get water even if you pay, yet people still keep coming back to try.

The disaster victims swarmed like locusts, and once this wave is over, there will be another wave to fleece. What's there to be afraid of when there's water?

"Yes, you're right."

The leading officer liked to hear this, and immediately sent flatterers to the main road to recruit people. It would be difficult to attract people on the main road from this location, as it was a bit far away and not easy to be discovered.

The man received the order and went with two other people.

The villagers, who were enthusiastically selling water by the roadside, were all filled with righteous indignation when they heard that their water had been taken away.

"How could they have robbed us like that? Those bastards are going too far!"

"It really hurts to have to throw up what you just ate."

Even if someone is reluctant to spend money, no one dares to act recklessly, because this is a strict order from Wen Meijiu that no one can be cheated.

"We have to find a way to take it back. It's not theirs. If they're so capable, let them go find water themselves!"

Despite their words, when they saw the soldiers coming over to sell their wares, they quickly picked up their buckets and left. At least they had made some money; what if the soldiers had robbed them of it?

"One tael of silver for a bucket of water. Be careful, the price might go up if you're late!"

Several soldiers stood at the spot where the villagers used to sell water, without even setting up buckets of water, and started shouting loudly.

The villagers carried water and hurried towards their resting place, where they were greeted by warm wine that was walking towards them halfway there.

"Eh? Why did you all bring them back?"

"What can we do if we don't come back? Even our water source has been taken away, and now our stall has been taken away too."

Some people immediately start complaining when they think about earning less money.

The village chief was more content; as he walked towards the warm wine, he scolded the complaining person for being spineless.

"If you can't even handle this little thing, you're not up to any great task."

"At least you had some fine wine, which allowed you to earn a few hundred coins. Without the wine, you probably wouldn't have earned anything."

The village chief himself earned one or two taels of silver, and he was very happy. Even if the money had to be returned later, he was still pleased.

Once the village chief said this, everyone else knew that he was telling the truth and echoed his sentiments.

The villagers are all so understanding, and Wen Meijiu isn't a stingy person.

"Fellow villagers, instead of carrying the rest of your water back home, why don't you sell it to me for 100 coins a bucket?"

The villagers all thought they had misheard and looked at her in disbelief.

"Fine wine, are you telling the truth?"

Wen Meijiu nodded to them and said solemnly:

"Yes, it's true. I'll pay right away. I just need you to carry the water to the other side of the village."

Wen Meijiu raised her hand and pointed. The villagers looked in the direction she was pointing. Wasn't that the village entrance that the soldiers used to guard?

Does she intend to stand on the opposite side and fight against these officers and soldiers?

"Okay, I'll sell it to you."

The villagers dared not provoke the soldiers, much less challenge them, but they all wanted Wen Meijiu to stand up for them, especially since she offered a price that was half again as high as before.

“I sell too.”

"Me too."

……

Fearing they would be too late and it wouldn't be their turn, everyone, without waiting for Wen Meijiu's instructions, picked up their buckets and headed straight for the village entrance.

"Fine wine, at this price you'd be losing money buying water."

The village chief stood still. He also had five buckets of water at home, but he didn't want to cheat Wen Meijiu.

"It's alright, Grandpa. I never do business at a loss."

"No, even though this price is cheaper than theirs, I'm afraid they'll come looking for trouble."

The village chief wasn't worried about not being able to sell the Wenmei wine; he was worried about the soldiers coming and smashing up the stall.

“It’s alright, Grandpa. I won’t sell to the villagers who fled famine. Our customer base doesn’t overlap with theirs.”

Wen Meijiu patted his chest and assured the village chief, eventually even buying the village chief's five buckets of water.

Wen Meijiu counted the water; there were about thirty-six buckets, not a large number.

"Boss, is she trying to steal our business?"

A soldier who was shouting orders noticed that Wen Meijiu was acting strangely and led a group of people to the village entrance they were guarding, and couldn't help but ask this question.

The officer in charge stroked his beard, observed Wen Meijiu's group for a while, and seeing that she only had people watching the water and didn't seem to be hawking it, he waved his hand and said:

"Ignore her, let's just focus on business. If she causes trouble, we'll deal with her."