Chapter 39: Money, who doesn’t like?
Translator: Antonia
“Nine-Star-Sending-Bliss!”
Wandering around the sculpture twice, Xin Yiming couldn’t stop praising, “Great! Great! This one is even better than I imagined!”
Then, he turned around and gave a look to Gao Lang, who immediately offered the money.
“Here is five hundred taels of silver…”
Su Qi knocked on the table with the fan, shouting, “What? Five hundred? This extraordinary master piece worth only five hundred? Then, I’ll take it! I offer you six hundred! This is Nine-Star-Sending-Bliss…”
By his shouting, his composure totally disappeared. The puffing and eye-glaring made him look like a complete fop who disregarded courtesy.
“Lord Su. This sculpture is a gift to old madam Jian. If you like it, you can let…” Gao Lang got anxious. He had never seen his young lord should like something so much.
As far as he himself was concerned, he had accompanied his young lord to have visited many places. By his horizon and knowledge, he also had never seen such an outstanding master piece.
“How dare you! Do I need to be taught be a servant like you?”
This scolding was arrogant, totally deviating from Su Qi’s regular way of speaking, making Mo Qianxue stunned.
Alu stood still by his side, trying hard to pretend nothing had happened, but still couldn’t help the twitching in the corner of his lip. His lord was deliberately destroying his image again today.
“Gao Lang, you retreat! Lord Su, sorry, I didn’t discipline him well. Please forgive me! But I’ve long ordered this Nine-Star-Sending-Bliss with the master, and Mrs. Ning is our agent. What about next time I prepare a gift for you as an apology?”
“Do you have a contract with her? Did you pay already? What gift? I don’t care. I just love this Nine-Star-Sending-Bliss. Just give it to me.” Su Qi stepped forward and slightly pushed Xin Yiming aside, gesturing an eight exaggeratedly, “Mrs. Ning, I give you eight hundred; sell it to me.”
Mo Qianxue was confused and amused, having no idea what this seventh young lord wanted.
“Young lord, thank you for your kindness. Though I didn’t obtain education, I know honesty and good faith. We didn’t set a contract, but fulfilling verbal agreement is equally important.” Mo Qianxue explained modestly.
“You fool. I give you eight hundred. Eight hundred! You should refuse money, you…I’m so pissed off…”
Su Qi yelled while embarrassing Xin Yiming, “Lord Xin, legal son of the governor, you should be so mean to offer such a low price for such a master piece, you’re really…really…”
The words weren’t spoken out directly, but they were self-evident. They would be nothing other than you were so mean, you didn’t act on your identity, you had no taste and so on.
Xin Yiming wasn’t angry and just laughed, “This works is really extraordinary. Mrs. Ning is a person who keeps her words, so of course I shouldn’t be mean. Gao Lang, fetch more bills. Eight hundred. Mrs. Ning, can I ask if the master have more works? I want to buy the others too.”
Mo Qianxue looked calm, but to herself, she was extremely happy. In a second, she earned three hundred more without making any effort. It turned out that Su Qi was helping her! What a man! He wasn’t like a noble young lord at all.
Taking the silver bills, Mo Qianxue bowed to them, “Since you’re so general, I’m supposed to accept your kindness on behalf of the master. But the master has been busy recently and has no time to make more. Please forgive us.” More? Didn’t she want to keep her hands intact?
Gently stroking the scars on the hands behind her back, she was reminded of the numerous blisters on Ning Shaoqing’s hands and made up her mind that if she would make more sculptures in the future, she would definitely keep them at home to bring pleasure to Ning Shaoqing.
Currently, she was in urgent need of money, so she must accept this young lord Su’s kindness. After all, they were business partners, she got loads of opportunity to pay him back in the future.
Just. She didn’t expect that this young lord Xin was the legal son of governor.
The governor, the highest official of Tianxiang city, who could shake the earth of the whole city by one mere stamp. Yet, lord Xin presented such a modest and polite poise in front of Su Qi. Then who was Su Qi after all?
Mo Qianxue was curious, but she shook the thought off her mind. It had nothing to do with her, a married woman who just built business connections with Baiyunju. His family background and who his ancestors were was irrelevant to her.
Since the money was paid and the deal settled, Su Qi began to chat with Xin Yiming again, “Tomorrow will be old madam Jian’s birthday. With such a unique exquisite gift, I believe old madam Jian will definitely agree on the marriage between you and the first young lady…”
He really disliked the way Xin Yiming’s calculative eyes swept over Mo Qianxue from head to toe intentionally or unintentionally, so he at once disclosed the fact that the one lord Xin admired was the first young lady of Jian family and his several attempts of proposal had all failed.
Xin Yiming wasn’t irritated as he predicted but laughed, “Lord Su, don’t make fun of me. Everybody knows that you have loads of suitors in the capital…”
The two didn’t avoid sensitive topics, being modest, making fun of each other and having different thoughts.
Receiving the money and delivered the sculpture, Mo Qianxue found their conversation complicated and that it was time to leave.
She said, “If everything is good, I should leave first. Have a nice day.”
Su Qi waved his hand, and with a ‘bye’, he stopped Xin Yiming whose questions were already on the tip of his tongue.
*
At Baiyunju. A while after Mo Qianxue left, Su Qi also said goodbye to Xin Yiming. Upon getting back to the study room, he called Azhao in.
“What kind of person the school teacher Mr. Ning is? If he could become one of the advisors of and then be recommended by our Su family to become an official, I bet the life for Mrs. Ning wouldn’t be this hard.”
“I’m afraid Mr. Ning won’t come.”
“Why do you think so?”
“According to my observation, Mr. Ning has a kind of compellingly outstanding temperament. I’m afraid he is someone.”
“Oh?”
Su Qi suddenly thought of the letter that Ning Shaoqing had asked Azhao to bring to him a few days ago.
The writing was strong and powerful in unrestrained relaxed font and unique style. Such calligraphy couldn’t come from a weak ordinary teacher.
Following the ideas on the letter, within half a month, Baiyunju quickly outperformed Yingkexuan, which a month ago was equally good with the former. The ideas couldn’t be fabricated by a village scholar either.
There was arrogance and pride between lines. The letter and the ideas didn’t mean to please him, but to pay him back for Su’s sending of a famous doctor for him.
“That makes sense. But if he really is someone, then why he let his wife go in public and work so hard…”
“…”