Chapter 176: Fishing for a Gift (2) (1/2)

Chu Yuan held back the jealousy in her heart and forced herself to show a smile. “I didn’t expect Sixth Sister to have become so rich! No wonder you’ve come to Jinshi Pavilion. I took a liking to an accessory just now, it’s only a hundred or so taels of silver. That must be nothing to Sixth Sister. Perhaps Sixth Sister could buy it for your little sister?”

Chu Yuan wanted all of Chu Lian’s gold to be hers. However, she couldn’t just snatch all of it in one go; she could only resort to these small tricks to make away with it bit by bit.

When Chu Yuan finished speaking, she shot a glance at the manager. The manager knew that these ladies were fighting, so she didn’t say much. She simply brought out the accessory that Miss Yuan wanted earlier and placed it on the table in front of the ladies. She smiled as she introduced it to Chu Lian. “Madam, this young miss in yellow took a liking to this jade bangle earlier, fifty taels. This golden hairpin with emerald inlays is the one that the lady next to you chose, one hundred and fifty taels. As for the youngest miss here, she picked this pearl and gold bracelet, sixty taels.”

Not a single one of them was cheap!

When the manager secretly glanced at the humbly dressed Chu Lian, she was surprised. Dressed like that, who could have recognised her as the subject of the latest gossip in the capital, Honoured Lady Jinyi?

The manager only took a quick look and didn’t dare to stare too openly. She was trying to guess if Honoured Lady Jinyi was really that poor, or if she had purposely dressed like this for a reason.

Chu Lian reached out with her slender fingers and looked over each of the three accessories carefully. She kept nodding, seemingly satisfied. However, when she put the last item back into the brocade box, her brows drew together and she seemed a little put on the spot.

“As expected of accessories made by Jinshi Pavilion, they’re made quite finely.” As she said so, Chu Lian showed a slight trace of embarrassment on her face.

Miss Fu and the others had been closely observing Chu Lian, so when Miss Fu spotted that minute change of expression, she inwardly snorted. She had guessed it right. So what if she was House Jing’an’s Third Young Madam? Or Honoured Lady Jinyi? Judging by her shabby appearance today, she probably wasn’t passing her days very well in the Jing’an Estate. She probably wouldn’t even be able to take out a hundred taels of silver, going by her expression!

“We’re still young, so we chose simpler accessories. These three ornaments don’t even add to three hundred taels. It’s not a small sum for us, but it must be barely anything to Sixth Sister. Sixth Sister is an Honoured Lady that the Emperor personally named!” Miss Fu added on evilly.

Chu Lian rolled her eyes in her mind.

If three hundred taels isn’t much, why don’t you just rob me directly?!

Three hundred taels would be enough for a commoner’s family to live out their whole lives!