The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1016 - 995: Leave It to Me

Chapter 1016: Chapter 995: Leave It to Me

Manbao and Bai Shan both uttered a surprised "Eh" in unison.

Yin Huo laughed and said, "Not to mention other families, but in our house, even my grandmother, who rarely goes out, makes it a point to visit the flower market every spring and fall. If she finds flowers she likes, she’ll buy them. The ones that are rare, she’ll also purchase. It’s actually rarer for her to keep flowers that are bought and brought as offerings by the servants."

Though Yin Huo didn’t manage household affairs and was indifferent to most things, there were certain events that occurred annually, which he, therefore, remembered.

Seeing the young master and his company speaking so cheerfully, Changshou, who was standing nearby, added, "There are also familiar florists who, if they cultivate a new variety or an exceptionally beautiful flower, will deliver them directly to our doorstep. Old Madam and the young ladies, if they see and like these flowers, often choose to keep them."

Manbao asked, "Are they expensive?"

After a pause, Changshou replied, "They are roughly the same as the market price. It depends on how much the masters like them. If they really like something, and it brings them joy, they naturally pay more."

Manbao understood then.

Yet, Yin Huo asked, "With so many flowers, if none of them bloom well the next year, won’t these families realize they’ve been deceived? Aren’t you afraid they’ll come looking for you then?"

Manbao boldly declared, "The flowers I sell are good quality. If they ruin them through their own lack of care, how can they blame me?"

Yin Huo smiled and said, "A problem with one or two pots of flowers is one thing, but suspicions are raised when there’s an issue with so many. Besides, some of these households don’t think too deeply and act purely on their preferences. If they can’t get the flowers to bloom well, they’ll assume the problem lies with the flowers you sold."

Like his own sisters, for instance.

He continued, "Your flowers must certainly not be cheap. Those who can afford them are either very rich or from the nobility. Is it really a good idea to offend so many people at once?"

After exchanging looks, Manbao and Bai Shan both chuckled. "We’ve already considered this point. When the time comes, we’ll disguise ourselves. So long as nobody discovers us, it should be fine. We’re only telling you this because you’re our friend."

Thereupon, Yin Huo laughed and said, "Instead of going through all that trouble, you might as well let me handle it."

Manbao and Bai Shan both gave a puzzled "Ah?" their faces a picture of confusion.

Yin Huo elaborated, "Even with disguises, you might leave traces. Didn’t you mention in the scripts you gave me, ’A passing goose leaves marks, a walking person leaves traces, and the trailing vine may lead one to the melon.’ Better to pass the flowers to me, and I’ll sell them on your behalf. Should anyone inquire later, I’ll just say I encountered a florist by chance on the road. No matter how I describe him, the trail will end with me."

Manbao asked, "Aren’t you afraid they’ll trouble you?"

Yin Huo laughed, "They won’t. Over a single pot of flowers? No, they won’t bother."

Who would trouble him?

Given his health and temperament, who would ever suspect he’d swindled them?

Even if he admitted it, they would probably not believe him. Moreover, the standing of the Yin Family was such that, unless they fell from grace overnight, no one would seek him out over a paltry pot of flowers.

And if the Yin Family did fall from grace, with his body so dependent on medicine, he wouldn’t survive for long anyway. So, what difference would one more trouble make?

But this whole thing was, in fact, quite amusing.

Curious, Manbao asked, "So, who do you plan to sell the flowers to?"

Yin Huo asked, "Who were you planning to sell them to?"

Manbao replied, "I was thinking of selling them to the relatives of the Prince of Yizhou."

Yin Huo: ...

He remembered they were from Jiannan and asked, "Do you have a grudge against the Prince of Yizhou?"

"We just don’t like him, find him annoying."

Yin Huo was baffled, "There must be a reason, right?"

Manbao sullied the prince’s reputation, "The Prince of Yizhou is particularly wicked. He embezzled the funds for the dam construction, resulting in the dike at Jianwei breaking."

Yin Huo replied, "I’ve heard of this matter. Wasn’t it said that the primary culprit was the former Governor Yan of Yizhou? The military commissioner of Jiannan and the Prince of Yizhou were merely deceived, unintentionally accepting his gifts, but certainly, negligence in supervision is a true accusation."

Bai Shan cut in, "That’s all fabricated. We, the people of Yizhou, all know that the main ones lining their pockets were the Prince of Yizhou and the former military commissioner."

Yin Huo’s mouth hung open. How could the stories differ so greatly between official accounts and public sentiment?

He’d only ever heard a few mentions of these matters from his father and Old Madam. Did his father know the truth?

Manbao went on, "Furthermore, he expelled disaster victims, seizing their land, causing many who returned home to end up landless and homeless; for the sake of a lavish Dragon Boat Festival, he constructed ornate floats, bankrupting Anyang County’s finances..."

Bai Shan couldn’t help but turn his head to look at Manbao, discreetly tugging at her clothes with his finger, signaling her to not exaggerate too much, lest it sound unbelievable.

Manbao then tempered her words slightly, "He surely committed numerous misdeeds. Therefore, there were attempts on his life by assassins. But caring only for himself, he pushed the people toward the assassin, and then, in the effort to capture the assassin, he arrested many innocent citizens..."

Bai Shan couldn’t help coughing to signal his disapproval. It was excessive. While the Prince of Yizhou indeed wanted to arrest innocent citizens, in the end, wasn’t it that the County Magistrate Tang would intervene promptly after the arrests, interrogate, and then conveniently release them?

Yin Huo listened, bewildered, because they were all friends and because Manbao and Bai Shan had always seemed trustworthy to him, so he believed them without any doubt.

He asked in a daze, "Is there really no one to stop this?"

Manbao sighed, "Who would do that? In Yizhou, the Prince of Yizhou is the highest authority. The emperor might outrank him, but ’the sky is high and the emperor is far away’; he can’t reach down to us in Yizhou."

Yin Huo nodded emphatically, "Under the emperor’s nose, the powerful do have to restrain themselves a bit."

Manbao and Bai Shan then looked up at him together.

Yin Huo suddenly understood what their gaze implied, his face reddened, and he stammered, "My sisters haven’t behaved well, but in truth, their actions aren’t severe compared to other noble ladies and lords in the capital."

He paused before continuing, "They would never lay hands on someone in public. The most they would do is stop people on the street, sometimes persuading or scolding, or they’d go directly to the person’s household..."

As Yin Huo spoke, his face grew redder, but he pressed on to finish, "I know it’s wrong, and father has scolded them for it too, but since they haven’t broken any major laws, no one has brought charges against them. The most serious thing they did to you last time was to use my brother-in-law’s influence to attempt to capture you."

Manbao clapped her hands, exclaiming gleefully, "I knew it! I wasn’t wrong. How could your family not send officers after us? Turns out they already did. So why didn’t they show up in the end?"

Yin Huo replied, "... Old Madam sent someone to stop them."

Manbao still felt a hint of regret.

After speaking so much, Yin Huo was slightly out of breath, his face tinged with a pale blush.

Seeing his complexion, Manbao advised, "You are short of breath. You should speak less in the future and keep your emotions more stable. By the way, are the nobles in the capital really that fierce? Even your sisters’ behavior doesn’t count as domineering?"