Chapter 016
Author: Feast of Masks
Raws: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=3185016
Translated by Gumihou
Emotions surged inside Zhao’er and it took her a while to regain her composure.
After calming down, she said, “Shop Manager Shen, only 2 taels these clothes? Won’t the pawnshop lose money? Surely, you’re not doing this to take care of me…”
Zhao’er trailed off, but Shen Ping understood what she was trying to say.
He chuckled, appreciating Zhao’er’s frank sincerity in not wanting to take advantage of others. “These clothes will be resold to clothing stores and embroidery workshops at the same rate. Despite the large quantity of clothes, there are actually very few good pieces mixed in. Others have long since picked out the good ones.”
Zhao’er thought for a moment and realised that this must be true. After all, the concept of what is ‘good’ must differ between people from the cities and rural areas. What a large pawnshop in a prosperous capital deemed ‘worthless’ could be considered quite precious to the people in the countryside.
She breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Shop Manager, I would like to have this bag of clothes. I shall pay you now.”
“You have the money?”
Of course, she did. Zhao’er left the house with a little more than 2 silver taels in hand. Just now, Su Lan gave her another 5 taels. Therefore, she naturally has more than enough money.
While she was thinking about this, Shen Ping chuckled again and said, “That’s right, I forgot that you must have met her before coming here. She would not want to owe me anything…” his voice trailed off to a murmur. The only person close enough to hear him was looking through the clothes and was not paying attention to him at all.
“I shall get someone to help you call a cart. A little girl like you won’t be able to move this bag by yourself.”
“Thank you, Shop Manager Shen.”
After sending Zhao’er off, Shen Ping turned and returned to the pawnshop
Although he was known as the 3rd Shop Manager, he was not really the 3rd Shop Manager for the pawnshop, but rather the 3rd Shop Manager for the entirety of the He Rong Sheng businesses. He was stationed permanently at Xia County upon his special request.
Shen Ping was one of the Shen Clan’s legitimate sons. His father was the Chief Steward of the Shen Estate and he had served as a servant boy to the 3rd Young Master, Shen Fu, when he was a child. Once he reached adulthood, he was sent out to be a Shop Manager for the Shen Clan.
“If she comes by again, do as I had instructed.”
“Yes, Shop Manager.”
Please read this at kitchennovel dot com ~
It was just past noon when an employee called Ah Cai came to deliver food to Xue Tingxiang.
Boss Chen said it was a simple meal, but the food was not bad at all. There were meat and vegetable side dishes and even a bowl of soup. By looking at this meal set alone, Xue Tingxiang knew that Boss Chen intentionally gave him extra care. After all, it was rare for anyone to take of an ordinary transcriber to the point of giving them tea and water as well as a good meal on top of a decent wage.
Understanding Boss Chen’s thoughtful intentions, Xue Tingxiang did not decline the offer. To refuse such generosity now may preserve his pride, but it would also serve to make him appear petty and pretentious.
For now, he could only resolve himself to repay this favour in the future.
After he was done with his meal, the employee came to clear away the dishes and told him that he had one hour of rest time and that he could make use of the Imperial Concubine Couch [1] in the room. He could also borrow a book from the front of the store to pass his time.
It was the second offer that intrigued him most. Xue Tingxiang did not bother to pretentiously decline the offer and, after washing his hands properly, made his way to the front.
Although the store appeared small, it had books from various genres. From rural anecdotes to books detailing information about the imperial examination. There was a wide selection of books, but there were a lot more books about imperial examination than anything else.
Since the previous dynasty, the imperial examination had used Eight-legged essays as the standardized format, with strict regulations on sentence length, word count, tone, and even the range of topics.
The Eight-legged essays were based on the Four Books and Five Classics, consisting of eight parts: introduction, development, elaboration, argumentation, opening, middle, ending, and conclusion. Although it seemed rigid and stereotyped, it was not easy to write a good Eight-legged essay. Contrary to popular belief, merely reading and studying the Four Books and Five Classics was not enough. Scholars not only have to master astronomy and geography but have a wide range of general knowledge to write a well-crafted and meaningful essay.
In the dream, Xue Tingxiang passed the Imperial Examination as the 21st highest-scoring Jin Shi and was admitted to the Hanlin Academy. From then on, he should have risen to great heights but unexpectedly, he offended someone and was sent away to become an official in an area so remote that birds would not shit there.
Xue Tingxiang pursed his lips slightly, he felt that he must be overthinking matters. After all, he was not even a Tong Sheng now, it’s best to focus his energies on the present.
Thus, after cutting off that train of thought, he took out a book from the many shelves and began quietly flipping through it.
During this time, customers came in and out of the bookstore, here to purchase brushes, ink, paper and even books. What was most annoying was that these people kept interrupting his reading.
When Boss Chen noticed this, he said, “Little Brother Xue, you may take this book to the back.”
Xue Tingxiang looked at him in surprise, “This…”
“It’s fine, we won’t miss this one book.”
Xue Tingyan fell silent for a moment. Then, he bowed deeply in gratitude before taking the book back with him.
He was so engrossed in reading that he lost track of time. By the time he snapped back to reality, he heard Boss Chen’s voice speaking in the front of the store. More importantly, he also heard Zhao’er’s voice.
“Where did you get such a large bag from?” Boss Chen said, looking down at Zhao’er as well as the large bag next to her. The bag was even bigger than her.
Zhao’er was sweating profusely as she said, “Hello Uncle Chen, I got this at the County. The people from the carriage dropped me off at the intersection and left me there. I had planned to ask him to send me to the carriage stop area, but then, I recalled that my brother is still here…”
Boss Chen chuckled and called for his employee, “Ah Cai, come and help carry Little Brother Zhao’er’s things in.” He turned to Zhao’er and said, “Come in for a cup of tea and rest for a bit before leaving.”
“Uncle Chen, how can I be so discourteous?”
“When you bargained with me earlier, I don’t see you showing me any courtesy. You want to show courtesy now?” Boss Chen said, pretending to glare at her.
On the whole, Boss Chen was an elegant and humorous person who knew how to put people at ease.
Xue Tingxiang also came out to see if he could be of help and asked, “What is in this bag? Why is it so heavy? Where did you get it from?”
The bag was so heavy that Ah Cai could not lift it no matter how many times he tried. In the end, the three youngsters could only lift the bag up together.
“I got it from a pawnshop. Once I sell everything in this bag, sis will have enough money to send you to Qinghe Academy.”
Zhao’er was so happy she unknowingly divulged all her plans. Xue Tingxiang realised this immediately and flashed a glance at Boss Chen. Zhao’er finally caught on to her mistake as she gave Boss Chen a guilty look. “Uncle Chen, I will explain everything to you later.”
Anxiousness must have lent her strength because she suddenly heaved the large back onto her shoulders without the other two people’s help. The bag was heavy enough to weigh her down, but after a short stumbled, she immediately rushed into the shop with her burden.
Ah Cai praised, “Though she looks frail, she’s actually quite strong.”
Xue Tingxiang watched her disappear back with tightly pressed lips. Boss Chen’s eyes darkened slightly.
After another glance at Boss Chen, Xue Tingxiang stepped towards him.
Please read this at kitchennovel dot com ~
Zhao’er found a place to set down her large bag. Then, after washing her hands and face and tidying herself up a little, she trailed after Ah Cai to meet with Boss Chen.
At the sight of Boss Chen, Zhao’er ducked her head a little guiltily. However, she did not plan to keep deceiving Boss Chen. That’s because Boss Chen was a good person. Leaving aside all the benefits he had given her before, he had even allowed her little man to transcribe books at such a high wage. Not only that, he even covered her little man’s meal and allowed him to read books here.
In fact, it was not like Zhao’er had outright lied to him. She had merely concealed her gender and the work she did was just selling vegetables and making sachets.
“Uncle Chen…”
Boss Chen sighed and waved his hand, “It’s fine, no need to explain. Being a young girl must put you in a difficult position.”
Zhao’er looked up with shock, her eyes looked very round on her face.
Boss Chen chuckled and said, “Your little husband had already explained everything to me.”
“W-what did he say?” Zhao’er stammered, finding it hard to believe. Because as far as she knew, her little man had always cared about looking after his face and reputation and tended to overthink matters. He must hate for others to know that she was his child bride, not to mention, all the trouble with the Xue family…
“Things that should be said had been said.” After a short pause, Boss Chen said, “You looked very surprised. Is there any need to keep this a secret?”
Zhao’er laughed awkwardly, stuttering, “Not really, it’s just that because he’s young, there are many people in the village who disliked me for being older than him. They also made fun of him having to please a wife.”
The same lines could evoke different feelings in different people.
Boss Chen could not help the amusement bubbling up inside of him. As for Xue Tingxiang, complicated feelings vied for attention in his heart.
So that was why she had always referred to herself as ‘older sis’ or ‘sis’. Why, in his dreams, she had refused to marry him when he was of age. In the end, he went against her will and forced the marriage by invoking his dead parents’ wishes.
She must know about his contradictory feelings. Dream Xue Tingxiang had told himself many times that he did not care about outsiders’ petty words, but in the end, these words still found their way into his heart. He cared too much about what others thought, which was why, even after they were married, it was not a harmonious union.
She realised everything, but she still followed him! She went along with him!
While he was busy with his mental crisis, the topic abruptly changed.
“I hear you say that you plan to send him to Qinghe Academy?”
Zhao’er nodded. Seeing Boss Chen’s strange expression, she couldn’t help but ask, “Is that school not good?”
“It follows the path of least resistance and opportunism. Not sustainable.”
Although Zhao’er did not quite understand Boss Chen’s cryptic words, she knew it was not complimentary.
“If you wish to find a good school for him, I do have a recommendation, but…” Boss Chen suddenly sighed and said, “Never mind, you won’t understand even if I told you. Let’s talk about it later.”
Zhao’er nodded in confusion.
Realising that it was getting late, the two youngest decided that it was time to return to Yuqing Village.
However, because the huge bag of clothes was too large and eye-catching, Boss Chen allowed Zhao’er to temporarily store the bag in his shop. After all, there were a few empty rooms at the back where they could just randomly place the bag.
It was already late when they reached the horse and carriage stopping area. Therefore, there were only ox carts available. In the end, they had no choice but to catch a ride on a bumpy cart home.
Halfway to the village, they saw a mule cart driving towards them from the opposite direction.
The cart driver was a man with dark skin and looked very tall even when seated. As they drew closer, his features could be seen clearly. He had thick eyebrows, sharp eyes, and a very heroic appearance. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, revealing muscular arms that showed off his strength.
Xue Tingxiang recognised the approaching person at a glance and his pupils immediately contracted.
He cast a quick look at Zhao’er and found that she was looking down for some reason and felt relieved.
However, his feelings of relief were short-lived as the person’s eyes lit up with recognition and he called out, “Zhao’er!”
Zhao’er looked up immediately and smiled, “Brother Jiang Wu, where are you going?”
Jiang Wu tightened the reins and stopped the cart.
“I was heading to town. Are you two on your way back? Get off the cart, I’ll send you back.”
Zhao’er hesitated, “Aren’t you on your way to town? We’re already on this cart. You should just go about your business.”
“It’s not like I have anything important to do. I was just going to stop by Old Li’s place. My father planned to visit him tomorrow, but I thought I’d visit him and do a little shopping on the way back. Anyway, it doesn’t matter whether I go or not. Come now, get down from the cart. My cart’s faster than that slow and bumpy thing,” Jiang Wu said as he smiled at Zhao’er, completely unaware of the ox cart owner’s dark expression.
After that, Zhao’er hopped off the cart without even asking the driver to stop. She walked two steps before realising she had forgotten someone.
She hurriedly asked the ox cart driver to stop before saying to Xue Tingxiang, “Come down now, let’s go home on Brother Jiang Wu’s cart.” She was practically beaming with happiness as she said this.
Xue Tingyan had an unpleasant expression on his face. He glanced over at Zhao’er’s cheerful face once more time before slowly getting out of the cart.
The two of them got onto the mule cart and Jiang Wu turned the cart around and drove the mule towards Yuqing Village.
“If I knew you were on the way to town today, I’d have asked you to help me get my things back. Let me tell you, Brother Jiang Wu, I found a great money-making business. I can’t do it alone so why don’t we partner up and split the profits?”
This would not be the first time Jiang Wu did business with Zhao’er. In fact, back when Zhao’er first started collecting vegetables to sell in town, Jiang Wu helped her out a lot.
Zhao’er used to collect vegetables from nearby villages to sell, but because she was alone, it was inconvenient for her to keep moving back and forth. The Jiang family was well off enough to have their own cart. The Jiang family was a clan of hunters and it was thanks to this unique skill that the Jiang family lived a fairly comfortable life.
The men of the Jiang Family did no farming in general. Instead, they rented out their 20 mu of land and relied on hunting to make money. However, hunting was not an everyday activity. Therefore, on days when Jiang Wu was not out hunting, he would have plenty of free time. Time with which he helped Zhao’er collect vegetables on his cart, ostensibly for half the profit. However, when the time came to split the money, Jiang Wu would always refuse to take any.
“Let me tell you now, if you refuse to take any money, I won’t do this business with you.”
[Gumihou: Oho, a love rival?]
[1] The actual term was really 贵妃榻 or ‘Imperial Concubine Couch’. I think it was meant for Imperial Concubines to lie on top of it to show off their ‘assets’ to visiting emperors… The name was a bit shocking
https://min.news/en/culture/4f56b5e48482320aff22bee4fff08b3a.html
The imperial concubine’s couch in the Ming and Qing Dynasties showed fine polishing techniques, which were reflected in the carvings on the fences, handrails, and couch legs. The dragon pattern openwork was the most popular, probably originated from the worship of the dragon totem by the Chinese nation.
[2] Adjusted the wording
Kitchennovel.com has a Membership System!!
Please click on the table below to check it out~
Naturally, you can also choose to support us through Patreon or tip us via Kofi~!
Don’t forget to leave a comment at novelupdates too!
