Why My Domineering Prince Regretted Filing for Divorce?-Chapter 684 - 538: Civil Unrest

Cutting chives, what does that mean?

The people were puzzled upon hearing this seemingly irrelevant remark, and the middle-aged man immediately said, "Think about it, chives in the field are cut in one batch, and when they grow again, they’re cut another batch. Isn’t it the same with the way they sell medicine?"

"..."

"But, the cut chives can grow on their own, can our money, the common people’s money, grow on its own?"

"..."

"Which penny and which cent weren’t earned through our hard work, blood, and sweat!"

"..."

"Now, a bowl of medicine costs us a piece of silver, this is more ruthless than cutting chives! Once you make enough money, what will we have left?"

Suddenly, the people were enlightened, even Shang Ruyi was somewhat amazed—this analogy was not only vivid but also instantly made people think of themselves as worthless as weeds!

Truly, what clever thinking!

She instinctively took a serious look at the middle-aged man, but found that although he was not tall, he was sturdy and agile, his clothes were not luxurious, but clean and presentable, looking neither like a scholar nor like a farmer from outside the city.

Nor did he appear to be someone capable of such clever thoughts.

Moreover, while he was shouting loudly, his eyes occasionally glanced at the crowd, with a hint of slyness in his gaze, clearly intending to stir up people’s emotions.

Sure enough, upon hearing his words, the crowd immediately began to pity themselves, and many started to agree—

"He’s right, you’re treating us as if we’re chives to be cut!"

"It’s really like that!"

"We are not your chives!"

For a moment, the dissatisfaction among the crowd was immediately aroused, constantly squeezing forward, some even trying to take advantage of the chaos to snatch the soup medicine on the table, fortunately, Pei Xingyuan had brought enough servants who quickly blocked in front of the long table, and the guards from Changle Square were afraid of trouble, so they blocked the front as well.

Seeing the situation turning bad, Shang Ruyi frowned and instinctively wanted to step forward.

But just as she took a step, she saw Pei Xingyuan, standing at the front, gently shaking his head at her, although his lower face was covered, his eyes were still bent with a smile.

Seeing this, Shang Ruyi suddenly remembered Shen Wuzheng’s admonition to them earlier—

Each doing their job, don’t be soft-hearted.

She immediately stopped in her tracks.

At this moment, Pei Xingyuan raised both his hands and waved forcefully, and when the crowd saw him like this, they instinctively quieted down. Then, he cut through the air with his long arm, placed it on his waist, and put on an imposing stance, saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, do you think I shouldn’t sell medicine?"

The middle-aged man had not yet opened his mouth when some people in the back shouted, "Of course!"

Pei Xingyuan chuckled and said, "Then let me ask you, when you folks get sick and come into the city, what is it for? Isn’t it to visit the clinics and get treated for illness? Do you not pay for medicine?"

"..."

"Why can you obediently pay for the medicine at clinics, but when it comes to my medicine, you expect me to give it for free? Is there such a reason in this world?"

"..."

"You don’t want to be treated as chives, and I, Mr. Pei, don’t want that either!"

The people at the back were stunned at his words.

Although when major pandemics occurred, the court would have measures for dispensing medicine and rice, Pei Xingyuan’s visit this time was indeed not a command from the court, but his own action. To have him give out medicine seemed somewhat unreasonable.

The middle-aged man saw this situation and immediately said, "Buying medicine isn’t impossible, but Mr. Pei, have you seen medicine that costs a piece of silver per bowl?"

When he said this, the people around also reacted and chimed in, "That’s right, it’s too expensive!"

"Even if we go to a clinic to buy medicine, they wouldn’t sell it for a piece of silver!"

"You’re just cutting chives!"

"Exactly, which clinic sells medicine at such high prices!"

...

For a moment, the crowd’s emotions were stirred once again.

Yet Pei Xingyuan remained as steady as a mountain, even crossing his arms over his chest, looking confident and unfazed, smiling as he said, "Then let me ask you this, when you come into the city to get treated, did you get the medicine at the clinics?"

Upon hearing this, the crowd was stunned and immediately fell silent.

That’s right, although they’ve been in the city for quite some time, some people even ran through all the clinics and pharmacies within Daxing City, and the prescriptions from the doctors were clearly just a few ordinary herbs, yet they wore out their shoes trying to buy them without success.

So, when Pei Xingyuan came to sell medicine, they were delighted beyond measure, and money matters seemed to fade away, until this middle-aged man stirred up trouble, they began to feel unjustly treated.