CHAPTER 476: CHAPTER 25: BEATING A DOG WHEN IT’S DOWN

"Pah," Zhang Yiyi spat out the bite of hazelnut before she could even taste it, "What kind of hazelnut is this? It has a musty, rotten taste, it must be moldy."

Zhang Yiyi has that straightforward and honest look about her, not one to partake in deceit. Plus, she genuinely didn’t expect the good-looking hazelnuts, once bitten into, to taste so awful. She spat several times with an animated expression and coherent actions, which seemed utterly genuine.

The face of the specialty store owner had turned ashen.

"Bad?" Xiao Xian widened her eyes, pretending to be confused as she looked at the hazelnuts in her hand before popping one into her mouth. Before she could swallow it, her little face scrunched up like a sour plum.

"It really is bad. Shopkeeper, are you taking advantage of us because we’re from out of town, trying to deceive us with moldy hazelnuts? Uncle, you be the judge. The handful of hazelnuts I randomly picked are all spoiled, and he even convinced us to buy five packs." Xiao Xian handed over the remaining hazelnuts to the well-off customer.

After tasting a few bites, the customer’s face changed too; indeed, they were spoiled. From a small pack of hazelnuts, he randomly took a handful of three, and all three were bad. With such quality of hazelnuts, daring to claim they were the secret to Emperor Kangxi’s long life and reign, it’s more likely something that Emperor Tongzhi, who had a short life, would eat.

"Shopkeeper, you’re not being honest in doing business. Seeing that two kids came to buy snacks, you just hustled them," the wealthy customer complained. Everyone has been cheated like this while traveling, and it completely ruins the mood of the trip.

If they would deceive people over cheap hazelnuts, not to mention something as precious as truffles. Luckily, he hesitated and didn’t make the purchase.

"Customer, please don’t leave. The mushrooms you just bought– Ah, please don’t go," seeing he had offended the well-off customer, who not only refused to buy the "truffles" but also decided not to pay for the previously selected goods, the specialty store owner watched as the customer and his rickshaw driver left, his heart nearly leaping out of his throat in panic.

"We don’t want them either, these people are too dishonest. Let’s go to another shop," Xiao Xian and Zhang Yiyi stifled their laughter and quickly left, infuriating the specialty store owner, who cursed out loud at the door.

Once out of the specialty store, the pair turned into another shop next door, selecting some cost-effective mushrooms and grabbing a few packs of hazelnuts, ending up with three big bags full.

Seeing Xiao Xian buying more hazelnuts, Zhang Yiyi was puzzled: "You’re buying them again, didn’t we just get a bunch that were moldy?"

Xiao Xian tapped her forehead and teased Zhang Yiyi for being slow on the uptake, "With me here, do you really think we’d end up with moldy hazelnuts?"

Explaining herself, she pointed to the counter where the store owner stored the hazelnuts, "Nuts like hazelnuts, when stored well, can last a year or two with no issues. But they must be kept in low temperatures, low oxygen, dry, and away from light. This store’s owner placed the hazelnuts on the north side of the shop, where it’s cool enough to maintain their taste and freshness. The store that was deceiving people, on the other hand, had placed their hazelnuts on an east-facing counter, exposed to sunlight daily, which would cause them to start losing flavor in less than half a month." Not to mention, Xiao Xian had specifically picked out the three most severely flavor-changed hazelnuts from the bag.

"Oh, I see now, no wonder. Serves them right for deceiving people about truffles," Zhang Yiyi was delighted at having taught the swindler a lesson. She cracked open a hazelnut and happily munched on it as they walked back.

The rickshaw driver and the well-off customer had almost reached the entrance of the commercial street. The rickshaw driver was half-dead with annoyance; the easy money had flown away, and the well-off customer, who blamed him for taking them to a lousy shop, refused to enter any other specialty stores to buy anything. The trick to cheat them out of the fare was also out of the question now.

The driver recollected the voices he heard in the specialty store; they sounded extremely familiar, but unfortunately, he had been hurried by the well-off customer and hadn’t managed to get a good look at the troublemakers.

"Where’s the vehicle?" The well-off customer, having not managed to purchase any specialties, was already frustrated. After exerting effort to reach the entrance of the commercial street, his red electric rickshaw was nowhere to be found.

"The vehicle?" The rickshaw driver also panicked, his leased rickshaw had vanished, one which cost him a thousand yuan per month. There were cases of bicycle thefts, car break-ins, but to steal an electric rickshaw too?

"What bad luck, to have encountered someone like you," the well-off customer cursed a few times. Just then, a taxi arrived, and he hailed it, quickly leaving behind the rickshaw driver desperately searching for his vehicle all over the street.