That day, Su Qingyu was in the backyard watching the workers building an oven and digging a cellar.

Ever since the business of her store was affected by the opening of four new vegetable shops, Su Qingyu had been thinking about a way out.

She decided to use the fruit ripening technique to collect more fruits. As long as this technique was done well, the store’s revenue would be greatly increased. But there had to be a place to store the fruits. So she discussed with Old Man Xie about digging a cellar in the backyard.

She thought it would take a lot of persuasion, but she didn’t expect Old Man Xie to agree without hesitation. He also asked Su Qingyu to store more ice in the winter because it would be so hot this summer without ice.

After getting his consent, Su Qingyu immediately found someone to dig a cellar.

Because there were a lot of leftovers, she began to study how to make various dried vegetables, pickled vegetables, sauerkraut, pickled vegetables, dehydrated vegetables, dried fruits, and candied fruits, so she decided to build two more ovens in the backyard, add a stove in the kitchen, and put up a large iron pot.

That day she was busy in the backyard, and only Su Qingliu and Zhou Dajiang were in the front shop. After a while, Su Qingyu heard a loud noise and smashing and immediately ran to see.

Inside the store, Su Qingliu and Zhou Dajiang were confronting a few scoundrels.

The other party had swept down a row of vegetables on the vegetable rack without saying a word. The vegetables fell to the ground and were stepped on by them, leaving a mess of dirty juice and rotten leaves on the ground.

Su Qingyu looked up.

It was that group again.

Huabao didn’t treat Su Qingliu differently just because she was from the same village as her.

He held the stick and tapped the palm of his other hand: “Su Qingliu, for the sake of being from the same village, I’ll ask my eldest brother to charge you less. If you had told me earlier that this store belonged to you, I wouldn’t have let them smash that row of vegetables just now.”

“Oh? Then I should thank you?” Su Qingyu walked over and said coldly.

Huabao turned his head and stared at her for a long time before he recognized her. It turned out that she was different after marrying into the town.

“So it’s Sister Qingyu; I just went to the stone quarry in the next county to help for a few days, and you opened a shop now? As expected, you married a shop owner, and now you open a shop to do business. Wow, look at such a big store, I’m so envious.”

Several thugs laughed in an unruly manner: “So it was the flood that washed away the Dragon King Temple. Family members no longer recognize each other. If you had told us earlier that we all knew each other, we wouldn’t have been so rude just now.”

One of his subordinates said in a scoundrelly tone, “Since you are from the same village as Brother Bao, we will naturally take care of you. If you have any troubles in this town in the future, just come to us brothers. If anyone dares to cause trouble to you, we brothers will help you.”

“That’s right, it’s easier if we know each other. We won’t need so many people to come to collect the money in the future. Just prepare the silver and give it to Brother Bao when the time comes. You have such a big store, so just give us five taels a month.”

There was a man who looked like a leader. He looked around the store and then stopped.

Five taels?

Five taels just for opening your mouth?

“Are you serious?” Su Qingyu asked coldly.

“I couldn’t be more serious. You and Huabao are from the same village. You are his sister, so you are also our sister. Five taels is considered too little. Look at all the vegetable shops you have. All the stalls in the vegetable market have disappeared. We have gone around and can’t even get one or two hundred coins.”

“Under what pretext do you collect this silver? To whom do you give the money? Do you give it to the county government or the prefectural government or keep it for yourself? Are you collecting it from all the stores in the town?” Su Qingyu asked in a calm tone.

Huh? Why should they pay it to the county government? The county government doesn’t pay them, so what’s the point of paying it to the county government?

“Of course, all shops have to pay. If you pay, we can keep you safe. No one will harass you anymore, and no one will charge you any other fees.”

“Can you also help exempt the commercial taxes collected by the county government?”

The leader choked.

“The county government collects the commercial taxes, and it’s none of our business! You should give it to whoever you should give it to. I’m talking about the money to keep you safe. You don’t want someone to come and ask you for money every few days, do you? Give it to us. If someone else comes, you can say you’ve already paid it to us, and they won’t ask you to collect it again. Do you understand?”

Seeing that Su Qingyu didn’t react at all, he frowned and said, “Why are you wasting so much time? Didn’t I make it clear enough?”

After saying that, he glanced at the minion next to him.

Several minions nearby nodded repeatedly: “We understand; she is just too stupid and didn’t understand what Big Brother said.”

Huabao got the hint and turned to Su Qingyu and said, “We are from the same village, and I don’t want to make things too awkward. Just pay the money happily, and there won’t be so many troubles in the future. Besides, brothers also have to make a living.”

Do I have to take care of your life? Who were you to me!

“If every shop pays, I will naturally not not pay. If you just pick the weakest ones, then I don’t have any. My shop can’t even make five taels a month.” Su Qingyu said lightly.

One of the lackeys didn’t believe it: “How can you make less than five taels with such a big shop? Who would believe it?”

“Believe it or not. How much can you make from selling vegetables? Besides, four shops have opened in this town to compete with me for business. You should have seen it.”

Huabao and the leader looked at each other, then put their heads together and whispered a few words.

Huabao turned around and said, “Then you have to pay three taels of rice every month. In the future, when the brothers have no vegetables or meat to eat at home, they can come to you and get some.”

Su Qingliu and Zhou Dajiang were so angry that they laughed when they heard this. They paid the money but still wanted to take it for free? Robbers! They glared at the group of people angrily.

“Linlang Pavilion, Jixiang Shop, Jiqing Rice Shop, have you also collected money?” Su Qingyu glanced at him and said.

Hey, this young lady is interesting. She even compares her status and position with those shops. She doesn’t even consider her background.

“We don’t dare to take those families’ money. They have connections above them and don’t need our protection, so we don’t dare to take any. If you have connections above you, we won’t take any. But, aren’t you the new daughter-in-law of Lu’s grocery store on South Street? Your father-in-law gives us several taels of wine money every month, but you don’t want to do anything.”

“My father-in-law is my father-in-law, and I am me. I’ve said before that I don’t make that much profit per month. Also, if you are collecting for the county government, I will lend you the money, but if not, I’m sorry I can’t do anything about it.”

“You! You are a girl who refuses to accept a toast but loves to be punished. It seems that I didn’t smash enough of your row of vegetable racks just now.”

When Huabao saw that he was about to attack, he quickly stretched out his hand to stop him: “Brother, don’t get angry first; I will persuade her again. We are from the same village, please give me some face.”

After saying that, he was about to reach out to pull Su Qingyu, wanting to take her to a secluded place to talk to her in a friendly manner, but unexpectedly, Su Qingyu turned away from him.

Huabao was also annoyed, angry that she didn’t know how to appreciate his kindness.

He said loudly, “For the sake of our village, I will help you negotiate with my elder brother. If you can’t pay three taels for such a big shop, you still have to pay one or two taels. Otherwise, we will not be responsible if something goes wrong.”

“What’s going to happen?”

“Who knows? Drunkards banging on doors at night, dead rats thrown over the walls, and so on. If you pay the protection fee in time, we will protect you and you can sleep peacefully at night.”

When Su Qingyu heard it, she understood.

This was buying peace with money. If you didn’t spend money, they would naturally have hundreds of ways to deal with you.

Since ancient times, villains have been difficult to deal with. She didn’t want to provoke them, but she didn’t want to encourage their momentum. She always felt aggrieved after paying money. Who knew if they would feel that it was easy to squeeze the persimmon and come to her every few days to ask for money?

After thinking for a while, she said, “Brothers, if you are short of snacks and drinks, I can give you 100 or 200 coins every month to buy some for you, but no more than that.”

She didn’t have a thigh to hold onto right now and didn’t want to cause trouble.

“You little girl, you can’t make sense? All our brothers’ words are in vain! Brothers, smash it and teach this little girl a lesson. Brothers, we are not just talkers!”

Seeing that a group of hooligans were about to sweep the vegetable rack with sticks…

(End of this chapter)