Quick Transmigration: Why did you provoke him? He's love-struck!

Chapter 302 Towards the Golden Palace (6)

Upon hearing that someone had fallen into the river, many people gathered at the riverbank to watch the spectacle.

A middle-aged man dressed in fine clothes stood on the riverbank, anxiously pleading with the surrounding tourists as he watched the child struggling in the water: "Is there anyone who can swim? Please help this child, I accidentally pushed him in..."

Upon hearing this, the onlookers shook their heads. Whether they could swim or not was one thing, but the river was too dirty. Going down to retrieve someone would only make them dirty themselves.

Yan Zhen pushed through the crowd and walked over.

Upon seeing this, she exaggeratedly shouted "Abao!" and quickly picked up a bamboo pole from the roadside and put it into the river.

Once Abao grabbed the bamboo pole, he was pulled out of the river.

When Abao got ashore, he looked like he had rolled around in the mud; only his eyes were clean, and his whole body reeked of a strong stench.

Tourists quickly retreated.

Yan Zhen gave A Bao a wink.

Ah Bao understood. Just a moment ago he was fine, but his legs went weak and he fell to the ground with a "thud," his eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness.

Upon hearing this fainting spell, people around immediately shouted, "What's wrong with the child?"

"died?"

Once these words were uttered, subsequent tourists spread the misinformation.

"Someone has drowned in the river!"

"I heard that he was pushed down and drowned; he was a child."

"Poor thing, he must have angered the water god, otherwise how could he have drowned on the day of the temple fair?"

As the rumor spread, more and more people crowded onto the riverbank to watch the spectacle.

Upon seeing this, the man in brocade robes who had previously sought help from the tourists suddenly changed his expression.

He hurried over to Abao's side, intending to pick him up and take him to the clinic, but seeing that he was covered in dirt and didn't know where to start, he turned to the servant and ordered, "Quickly go and fetch a doctor!"

The servant responded and was about to run away.

Seeing that enough tourists had been attracted, Yan Zhen stopped the servant, saying, "Wait, no need."

The middle-aged man said anxiously, "But he's already passed out."

“It’s nothing, he’s been afraid of water since he was little, he just fainted from fright.” Yan Zhen said, grabbing A Bao and slapping him twice.

Ah Bao slowly opened his eyes and groggily woke up.

"She's awake! She's awake!" The middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief.

Yan Zhen picked up A Bao and turned to ask the crowd watching the commotion on the riverbank, "Gentlemen, does anyone have clean water to wash the mud off my little brother?"

Food vendors on the shore offered their help, bringing over two buckets of clean water.

In front of the tourists, Yan Zhen stripped A Bao naked and poured a bucket of water over his head.

They washed away most of the mud from his body, revealing a layer of dark grime and sweat that had accumulated over several days since he last showered.

Yan Zhen took out a bar of soap from his pocket and began to bathe A Bao in full view of everyone.

Despite being naked in front of so many people, Abao wasn't ashamed. After lathering the soap, he scooped up a handful of foam and blew it like bubbles.

Then everyone witnessed a miraculous scene: the child, who was as dirty as a mud monkey, was rubbed with a square object by his older brother until he was covered in foam. After rinsing off the foam, he immediately became clean, and even the stench of being soaked in sewage disappeared.

"Wow, what is this? It's so clean."

"It's even more effective than bath powder."

The onlookers were buzzing with discussion, while the middle-aged man next to them, who had witnessed the whole thing, slowly grew more enigmatic.

After Yan Zhen finished bathing A Bao, he took off his own coat and draped it over A Bao's bottom, then patted his bottom and said, "Go home and change your clothes."

Ah Bao turned and left.

Yan Zhen picked up the bucket and was about to follow when the middle-aged man called out to him, "Brother, please wait."

Yan Zhen turned her head to look at him.

The man was around forty years old, with a goatee, wearing a satin robe with a straight collar, and a sachet hanging from the jade belt at his waist.

Judging from his clothes and the shrewdness about him, he wasn't from a poor family; he seemed more like a businessman.

"Is something wrong?" Yan Zhen asked before he could answer. "My brother is naughty. It's not your fault that he fell into the water. He's been rescued, so it's good that he's alright."

After she finished speaking, she ignored the middle-aged man and picked up the bucket to return it to the food stall.

But as soon as she entered the crowd, several onlookers immediately came up to her and asked, "Young man, what did you use to bathe your brother just now?"

Is it bath powder?

"No." Yan Zhen took out a bar of soap from his pocket and showed it to them. "It's this. It's called soap."

The soap, wet, was slippery. Someone reached out and touched it, then rubbed their fingers with the soap that had gotten on their hands, quickly creating lather.

"You can make foam with such a small amount?"

"It smells quite nice."

Seeing that they were interested, Yan Zhen seized the opportunity and said, "I've set up a soap stall over there. If you're interested, you can come with me to take a look."

Soon, more than ten tourists followed Yan Zhen to the soap stall.

Yan Zhen began to demonstrate the cleaning effect of the soap—she filled a basin with water, randomly selected a bystander, smeared lard all over his hands, and then washed them with soap.

The oil-removing effect surprised everyone.

"It's washed very clean."

Can this thing be used to wash clothes?

“Yes, you can also wash your hair and face,” Yan Zhen said, her gaze sweeping across the crowd before quickly locking onto a beggar with a cane not far away.

Before long, Yan Zhen got the beggar's greasy and smelly shirt, which was covered in years of dirt.

As she washed her shirt with soap, more and more people gathered around to see what was going on.

Yan Zhen scrubbed the shirt twice with soap and changed the water three times, managing to wash the filthy gray-black shirt until its original indigo blue was revealed.

The crowd of onlookers erupted in uproar.

"Is it so useful?"

"It works much better than bath powder."

"Hey buddy, how much is this soap?"

“One dollar for eight hundred coins,” Yan Zhen said.

As soon as she opened her mouth, the enthusiastic crowd immediately fell silent.

"Eight hundred coins? That's too expensive."

"Yeah, it's just a bathing kit, why would anyone buy it for 800 coins?"

"It's better to buy bath beans."

Amidst the skepticism, a voice rang out from the crowd: "Brother, I want five yuan."

Everyone turned around, and the man in brocade robes from before walked through the crowd to the stall, smiling as he took out four taels of silver: "Wrap it up for me."

Yan Zhen responded and quickly took out a piece of oil paper to wrap the soap.

As she packed the soap, the man stroked his goatee and said casually, "This is a good thing. You can wash your hands, hair, face, and body, and even wash clothes. It's also very durable. Unlike bath beans, which you have to use one at a time, this bar of soap will last my whole family three to five months."

After hearing what he said, Quan, who was already itching to act, weighed his options and spoke up.

"Then I want one."

"I want one too."

Once someone takes the lead, others will follow suit, and in less than fifteen minutes, all thirty bars of soap were sold out.

Some people who were slow to act didn't manage to buy anything and asked Yan Zhen when he would set up his stall again.

After some negotiation, Yan Zhen received six pre-orders for home delivery.

As the crowd dispersed, Yan Zhen packed up his stall and headed home.

As soon as she stepped out of the busiest part of the temple fair, she keenly sensed that someone was following her.