78 A Product Pitch From the Fourth Miss (1/2)
To Yujia's delight, the boy agreed. They sat down at a table in the inn, and Yujia ordered the best tea they had in the house, which costed a tael, but it was a tael well spent. She poured a cup of tea for him and for her, then began with, ”So, I think it should be very clear that I haven't invited you for tea just to apologize.”
Truthfully, she still didn't feel like she should apologize. She didn't see anything wrong in her previous actions. The only point was that she felt like it would be a bad decision to not apologize when the boy was somewhat upset over this matter, and she didn't want to anger her potential investor.
”What else do you need to say?” The boy took a sip of the tea, sampling the taste and setting it down, as if he didn't appreciate the taste that much even though it was the most expensive tea in the inn.
”Well…” Yujia said, ”you mentioned that you have a wealthy merchant family background. And I just so happened to invent a new art supply that I believe will change the entire course of classic painting. If you're interested in investing in the market of art, I also happen to be in need of some funds to bring this invention to the public. What do you say? Are you interested?”
The boy's lips parted a bit in slight shock. He likely didn't expect this proposal to come up. ”You're… asking me… to invest in your invention as a merchant?”
Yujia nodded. She thought her words were fairly straightforward and simple.
”I don't think that's a good idea,” he replied immediately, shaking his head, ”First, you're a girl. What does your family think about this? How can a girl be doing business?”
Vexed, Yujia pressed her lips together. ”Is that the only reason you have? You only think that women should just spend their time preparing to be a wife and then marrying off to care for her husband and children?”
”Well, no— I'm also not even… that wealthy. I mean… I'm not the First Young Master or something, so my father doesn't really expect me to do that much business. He wants me to go… studying to work for the government… instead of inheriting the family business.” He scratched his neck.
”Is that so? What family do you come from in the first place?”
It took the boy an unnatural, almost suspicious, amount of time to give her an answer, which stood out to Yujia to be interpreted in many ways. Could it be that he didn't trust her with his identity? Or could it be that he was thinking of some lie to tell her?
Finally, he replied with slow words, ”I'm the Third Young Master of the Bo family.”
Yujia's eyes lit up. The Bo family? What a coincidence that she ran into someone from the same family as Bo Zhiyuan. Either that, or what a coincidence that he came up with a family she actually had connections to.
”Ah, really? I just so happen to have a history of business with your older brother, the Second Young Master. If you're not willing to invest in my product, I'll just go ask him about it.”
She stood up, but before she could go anywhere, the boy quickly stood up and held a hand out, panic appearing on his face. ”Wait— no— don't go to him— just… tell me about your product right now. I'm interested to see how great this is if it can change everything about art.” A shaky smile settled on his lips.