Chapter 448 - Dishonored: A Good Show in the Gold Store (1/2)
The person behind the scenes was really a master, and knew that the utter mendacity was not convincing, so he simply presented a mixture of truth and falsehood and made others hard to guess the real intention. However, it was a pity that it was a good plan, but Mo Xueqiong was not a good actress. With Mo Xueqiong’s temperament, she could not do those extreme behaviors. Judging from Mo Xueqiong’s current life, she would have died several times.
Besides, based on Mo Xueqiong’s knowledge, how could it be possible for her to devise such a plot? Just now, Mo Xuetong had pondered several times. It was a major crime to abduct the imperial second consort. If something would happen before that, Feng Yuran would be involved as well. Perhaps, King Yan would revive as a victim. In this regard, the person who tried to frame Mo Xuetong was rather calculative!
Mo Xuetong didn’t stay long in Mo Manor. Before the meal, King Xuan’s Manor sent people there. Mo Xuetong said goodbye to Xu Yan first, and then to Mo Huawen in the courtyard, then took her people back to the King Xuan’s Manor.
When she came out of the gate, she found Mo Xueqiong getting on the carriage at the side door. It was an oil-wall carriage, totally different from that of King Manor. But the coachman looked quite capable, and he sat on the carriage. With a light whip, the carriage moved immediately.
“He is a martial art master!” Mo Ye saw him and said to Mo Xuetong in the carriage.
Mo Xuetong nodded, her long eyelashes closed, and leaned against the soft couch to take a nap! She was wondering what the message that Feng Yuran asked people to send meant. “Ask her to see a good show? Where to see it?”
On the most bustling streets in the capital, people were hurrying to and fro every day, and stores were arranged in rows. The wide road extended to an endless distance.
A carriage stopped at the entrance of a store, and a decently dressed maidservant got off the carriage and walked into a well decorated gold store.
When the shopkeeper sitting in the store saw a guest coming in, he smiled and signaled his shop a.s.sistant to receive the guest. The a.s.sistant found the guest was a decent maidservant and knew that she must come from a great family, so he received her with all smiles and asked, “Miss, what do you want?”
“Well, where is the jade-and-jewelry-inlaid writing brush washer engraved with the double fish pattern that my master settled on last time? Wrap it for me now. Our master is waiting outside.” The maidservant said scornfully and tartly. Her behavior told that she must be a capable senior maidservant coming from a great manor.
The shop a.s.sistant went blank for a while and suddenly realized what she meant when looking at the direction that the maidservant pointed at. Then, he recognized immediately the maidservant in front. It was true that the maidservant had come to the store two days ago, but they did make an agreement on the price, so she left at that time.
“Miss, do you mean the writing brush washer that you settled on last time? To tell you the truth, your master did have a good taste. It is really a wonderful writing brush washer. But pity that your master didn’t buy it last time, and a guest just bought it with one thousand taels of silver.” The shop a.s.sistant put on a smile to placate the maidservant.
“What, it is worth one thousand taels of silver?” Hearing the shop a.s.sistant’s reply, the maidservant said with a displeased and cold look, “Don’t put on airs in front of me. Take it out. Our master said she didn’t bargain with you anymore, and got it with 500 taels.”
“Miss, I am not cheating you. It is really worth one thousand taels. Besides, even if you want it now, we don’t have. It makes no sense to argue about it any longer. What about this one? It is another writhing brush washer made by new jade. Look at the lines in the patterns of peony. It is suitable for madams and ladies.”
The shop a.s.sistant said smilingly, with a fair face to make fortune.
But the maidservant glared at him and said, “What? Is it sold? Didn’t I tell you not to sell several days ago? And my master needed to think more about it. How dare you sell it to others?”
The words were extremely overbearing, and the shop a.s.sistant was stunned and lost in words at that moment.
Upon seeing it, the shopkeeper walked to them with a smile and said, “Miss, your words are unreasonable. Your master did not fix it in advance or promise to buy. Why can’t we sell it to others? You know the goods we have are famous in the entire capital. Many people of influential families would like to buy goods from us. If you walk out of the door, it is impossible for you to pick up such good things in other stores. That day, your master thought 800 taels was too high. And now, a guest can afford 1,000 taels for it. How can we refuse it?”
The remarks sounded polite on the surface, but with the shopkeeper’s false smile, it sounded quite ironic. The maidservant’s face darkened immediately, and she looked at the cynical smiles around her and felt a loss of face.
Xiangyun was not humiliated like that after she became Ling Rui’er’s maidservant, so she got annoyed instantly. As she stood with one hand on her hip, she pointed at the shopkeeper with the other and scolded, “What a sn.o.b! Do you know who our master is? You can go to ask in the entire capital. No one dares to offend our master, and all bow and serve obsequiously to our master. Why dare you look down upon us?”
Her shout attracted some customers in the store to stop and look at her. Her aggressive posture with one hand on the hip and the other pointing at the old shopkeeper was rather rude and unreasonable. Besides, her repet.i.tion of “our master” and the claim of how terrific the master was aroused the curiosity of some idlers.
Someone began to kick up a row. “Who is your master exactly? Ask her to get off the carriage and let us have a look.”
“Yes. I’m afraid the master is nothing, but just an unruly maidservant makes a fuss here. She is only bluffing!”
“It’s possible. I heard that there are many swashbuckling people in the capital who like talking big. Don’t a.s.sume great airs and ask for trouble here.” …
With more people gathering around, their remarks sounded rather unpleasant to ears. Xiangyun got so get exasperated that she glared at the crowd and yelled, “What do you guys know? Don’t mess with our master, otherwise, you will not know how you will die.”
“Wow, your master is so awesome. I’m so scared!” The sentence came from the crowd, and its surly tone set the whole store in an uproar.
“Who? Who said it? Do you dare to come out?” It was the first time for Xiangyun to be derided like that. Her face turned livid with anger, and she pointed at the crowd, cursing.
“What can you do if the person comes out? To chat and drink tea with your master, or…” The jeer became more ambiguous and shabbier, even molested Ling Rui’er. Then, there was one more burst of uproar in the store, and Ling Rui’er in the carriage outside also heard it. She frowned and got off the carriage angrily with another maidservant.
Ling Rui’er heard that her brother was injured by someone, so hurried to see him. When pa.s.sing the store, she remembered that there was a good writing brush washer in the store and wanted to buy it for Ling Yang. But unexpectedly, since Xiangyun had entered the store for a long time, not only did she not take the writing brush washer out, but also her screams and the people’s jeers came from inside.
The mockery of Ling Rui’er’s maidservant was like a slap in the face. She had never been dishonored like that, so she did not think whether she should expose herself in public and just entered the store with rage.
“Well, is she the master?” Someone turned around, found the angry Ling Rui’er, and teased.
“I’m afraid she is. Look at them, the master and the servant are the same. If they stand on the street, they are just a rascally pair.” Although Ling Rui’er looked imposing, a fellow, who came from the civil world, still had the gut to poke fun at her.
“Come on! Beat these people out of here!”