The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 470 - 468

Chapter 470: Chapter 468

Wang Yonggui talked circles for half the day, but still couldn’t get a clear reason out of them.

The group of men, in unison, all claimed they were from the mountains. Some, with a bad temper, would get defensive when asked a few more questions, glaring and saying, "What’s the problem? Does your family check household registries when receiving goods? Just inspect the goods, do you need to inspect the person too?"

Wang Yonggui quickly laughed it off, not daring to ask more, and simply went back to help Wang Yongfu keep an eye on things.

Since the last incident with counterfeit goods, everyone had been on edge, afraid of such a thing happening again.

The initial inspections of several goods from the mountains were good, and the prices Wang Yongfu offered were fair. Both parties were straightforward—money was exchanged, and goods were delivered without much talk.

The line behind was relatively calm and honest, with just a few people occasionally chatting about how the harvest wasn’t too bad this year.

Wang Yongfu and Wang Yonggui let go of some of their anxiety, wondering whether these mountain men were worried about being underpaid, so they came in groups to pose a stance that created apprehension?

After inspecting a few more goods, with varying quality from the mountains, there were actually two people who murmured complaints, finding the Wang Family’s prices unfair.

The Wang brothers had seen a lot of this in recent days and weren’t anxious.

The brothers had clear roles, one continued to inspect the goods while Wang Yonggui was responsible for explaining.

Today, the two didn’t even need to exchange glances to work seamlessly together.

Before Wang Yonggui could say two sentences, trouble had already started on Wang Yongfu’s end.

"What are you saying? My goods are top-notch and you’re only offering a lower-tier price? Are you blind? Or do you think you can bully us brothers from the mountains?"

"My good brother, you misunderstand..." Wang Yongfu tried to explain but was rudely interrupted.

"Misunderstand? Misunderstand my ass—" The man didn’t listen to any explanation and threw the mountain goods right at Wang Yongfu’s face.

Seeing things turn sour, Wang Yonggui quickly forced a smile, apologizing to the person in front of him, "Sorry, sorry! Please, wait a moment, I’ll go check on the situation..."

"Wait for what? Your grandfather is very busy; who has time to wait? Does anyone do business like this? You offer unfair prices without explanations? This is bullying through big business! A small mountain goods shop like yours, without us selling you goods, what would you earn? Feeding off our hard-earned money, yet you’re unhappy to speak a few words? You look down on us, don’t you?" The two men who had earlier complained about the unfair prices immediately turned hostile.

About a dozen men made moves and split into two groups to surround them.

Wang Yonggui’s eyes darted around, and he suddenly acted startled, retreating several steps until he fell on his bottom right by the doorway.

Behind the door, several children of the Wang Family—Jinguan, Jinpan, as well as Jinhua and Jinshao—were sitting. They usually sat there, listening to how the adults handled the mountain goods.

Now, sensing that something was amiss outside, they wanted to come out to see.

Wang Yonggui, propping himself up in a clumsy manner, pretended he couldn’t get up. With the counter between them, the group of men saw Wang Yonggui’s sniveling demeanor and burst into laughter.

Amidst the men’s raucous laughter, Wang Yonggui quickly instructed the children behind the door, "Bar the door shut, quickly! Go and tell your grandmother to get help from the back door, go to our clan for help. Tell them someone is looking for trouble with the Wang Family, hurry!"

By the time he picked himself up off the ground, he had heard the sound of bolts being fastened on the courtyard door and felt a sigh of relief.

Turning around, he squeezed out a fearful, anxious smile that also carried a hint of appeasement, "Gentlemen, sirs, everything is negotiable if there’s an issue..."

The leader of the men, brazen and imposing, sat down on the long table used for inspecting goods and looked at the Wang Yonggui brothers as well as Jindou and Jinhu behind them, revealing a smile full of malice, "Oh, how shall we negotiate? Our brothers have heard of the Wang Family’s reputation for fairness and have come all the way from the mountains. Today, we have indeed witnessed it. Is this the Wang Family’s sense of justice?"

"Justice, my ass! Selling our top-quality goods and you have the audacity to blatantly lie and label them as inferior? How could such a greedy, heartless act be called fair? Had we known the Wang Family would be so unprincipled, why would we bother hauling our mountain goods all the way here to sell? Isn’t every other place in town that buys mountain goods more conscientious than you?"

"Exactly, in previous years we sold mountain goods without encountering such evil spirits. This year has indeed been an eye-opener! How could someone dealing with the same mountain goods as us even have the gall to do business?"

...

The group of men was babbling on incessantly, and the people of the Wang Family immediately understood that the Wang Family’s business had become an obstacle in the eyes of others.

Wang Yongfu, although he had made some progress over the days, was still not quite shrewd enough. Upon hearing this, he couldn’t resist defending themselves, "Brothers, although I don’t know exactly how our Wang Family has blocked someone’s path to cause you brothers to come here. But our Wang Family conducts business fairly, that is known throughout the whole region..."

"Big brother..." Wang Yonggui was anxious; his elder brother just had too little experience dealing with provocateurs. Arguing with such people was like courting death.

Indeed, the moment the leader heard Wang Yongfu dare to argue back, his expression darkened immediately.

People in their line of work would find fault even where there was none. Who didn’t know to act modest and quiet like a quail upon seeing them? This country bumpkin actually wanted to argue back?

"Fair? Who cares what others say! Only when your Master Ma says it’s fair, then it is fair! And your Master Ma is telling you right now that your business is unfair! It’s a deceitful business, robbing people’s money! And you dared to deceive your Master Ma? Have you grown tired of living? Today, you’ll understand the might of your Master Ma!"

With a wave of his hand, the group of men grabbed the carrying poles with their baskets and approached menacingly.

"Such a deceitful place for buying mountain goods, daring to profit off our hard-earned money! Beat them! Beat them until they shut down!" the leader surnamed Ma said viciously.

A burly man with a face full of horizontal scars and a glint of ferocity in his eyes swung the carrying pole straight at the heads of the Wang Family members.

Wang Yongfu had fought in gang brawls in the village, but those were things of his youth, and being generally honest, aside from the fray with the Li Family earlier in the year and holding off the He Family, he truly hadn’t been in a fight for many years.

Especially the kind of fights where blunt poles struck heads without a word, he had never experienced in his life.

He was momentarily stunned.

Jindou and Jinhu, who were still young, even in village brawls, there was a sense of restraint—the fights were fist against flesh. This kind of fight that aimed to inflict lethal damage, they had never seen before.

They were frozen in place, their minds screaming to dodge, but their limbs wouldn’t respond.

Only Wang Yonggui was experienced in taking beatings. He could tell whether it was a face punch or a leg kick coming just by the movement of an arm or leg.

Seeing the man swing the pole, it was clear he was aiming to seriously injure or kill someone from the Wang Family.