Chapter 136 - 137: Gift
"But he’s long gone. What do we do?" The shop assistant scratched his head in a panic.
"Do you know which family he’s from?"
"He looked unfamiliar. I don’t think he’s one of our regular customers." The shop assistant racked his brain, but it was no use.
"You... honestly," the Shopkeeper said, so angry he pointed at the assistant’s head. "That set was pre-ordered by the daughter of the Prefect! If we can’t deliver it, our shop is going to be in deep trouble."
The shop assistant was scared now too. "Then let’s have the master craftsman make a new set right away."
"Easier said than done. Just finding identical jadeite stones for it will be nearly impossible.
Don’t do anything else for now. Go out and find him. Do whatever it takes to get that customer to return the jewelry." The Shopkeeper took a deep breath. ’If this kid weren’t my relative, I’d throw him out to take the blame myself.’
* * *
Completely unaware of all this, Ancient Wen Heng hummed a tune as he returned to the inn. The moment he stepped inside, he saw Deng Yuanhang and Zhou Ping already waiting in the main hall.
"Look at you, beaming like that. Did you get something good?" Deng Yuanhang eyed the wooden box in his arms.
Ancient Wen Heng said openly, "It’s rare for me to get out, so I picked out a set of jewelry for my wife. Is there anything else you two need to buy?"
Deng Yuanhang shook his head and turned to Zhou Ping. "How about you?"
Zhou Ping clutched his stomach. "At least let me get some breakfast. Otherwise, I’ll starve on the road back."
Ancient Wen Heng said, "We can eat on the way. Last time we went back, the wontons at that food stall along the road were excellent."
Deng Yuanhang recalled it too. "Wenheng is right. That old man really has a knack for making wontons. Besides, it’s not too far from here. It’d be a perfect way to satisfy a craving."
Zhou Ping hadn’t returned to Fu County with them last time, but hearing them talk about it, he seemed to have a vague memory. After all, there were only a few stalls along that main road, and they had probably missed it in their hurry.
Since they had a plan, the group didn’t dither. They had the inn’s waiter call for a carriage and set off at a rapid pace.
As for the jewelry shop’s assistant, he spent the entire day wandering the city but couldn’t find the customer from that morning.
In the end, the Shopkeeper had to resort to begging everyone he could think of for help. He managed to have a similar set custom-made to fulfill the order, finally putting the matter to rest for the time being.
* * *
"You really won the gamble?" Jin Qianqian asked, looking at the box and the silver notes on the table. "Senior, is there anything you can’t do?"
Ancient Wen Heng replied, "It was honestly just luck. I only have a rudimentary understanding of those stones. The fact that I won means this batch of raw stones was good, not like the fakes so common in modern times."
He pushed the box toward her. "See if you like it."
Jin Qianqian had almost forgotten what it felt like to receive a gift. Her heart was now beating erratically. "What’s inside?"
Ancient Wen Heng motioned for her to open it. "I don’t know if it’s to your taste. When I get the chance, I’ll design a set for you myself."
’After all, just buying something with silver can’t fully show my sincerity. But time was limited, so this will have to do for now.’
Jin Qianqian carefully opened the box. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the antique-style jewelry set inside.
She gingerly picked up the step-shaker hairpin inside. As her fingers trembled, the green jadeite on its tassels seemed to come alive, dancing in the air.
"Do you like it?"
Jin Qianqian placed the step-shaker hairpin in his hand. "I want to try it on."
Ancient Wen Heng carefully pinned it in her hair. The dangling jadeite tassels made Jin Qianqian’s face look even fairer.
"Is it pretty?" Jin Qianqian wrapped her arms around his waist, her tone full of sweet charm.
His eyes filled with her image. "It’s beautiful. My girl is beautiful even without any ornaments."
Jin Qianqian gently touched the step-shaker hairpin on her head. "It’s just... this is too valuable. It’s not suitable for wearing out and about."
As she spoke, she started to take the hairpin off, worried she might accidentally damage it through a moment of carelessness.
Ancient Wen Heng stopped her hand. "I bought it for you to wear. If it breaks, we’ll just buy a new one in the future.
If you just buy it to tuck away at the bottom of a chest, it loses its meaning."
Jin Qianqian shot him a look. "Me, standing there doing business while wearing jewelry more expensive than a storefront? It just doesn’t match.
I’ll put it away for now. I’ll take it out to show off when there’s an important occasion."
Ancient Wen Heng couldn’t win against her and knew she had a point. He felt a pang of regret. ’I should have bought some more practical, everyday jewelry as well.’
Jin Qianqian reached out, picked up the silver notes from the table, and leafed through them. "Wow, four hundred taels. This is a truly massive profit."
Ancient Wen Heng seized the opportunity to lean in and steal a kiss. "I couldn’t help it. I had to be low-key. I actually spotted a few other excellent stones, but I was afraid of attracting too much attention, so I settled for this one haul."
He then told her about the merchants and Prefecture City officials lurking in the shadows.
Jin Qianqian said, "You were right to do that. After all, you just made a name for yourself in the Prefecture City. Someone might have already recognized you.
But what should we do with this silver? Can we even use it?"
Ancient Wen Heng asked, "What do you have in mind?"
Jin Qianqian said, "Why don’t we buy a small estate? It doesn’t have to be very big. We can fence it off and grow some of the things we want to plant."
Ancient Wen Heng knew Jin Qianqian had all sorts of seeds. He thought for a moment and nodded. "We can start with some of the rarer vegetable seeds. The others can wait."
Jin Qianqian said, "That’ll be a lot of work for you. I wonder if there are any small estates for sale nearby."
When it came to socializing, Jin Qianqian had to admit that Ancient Wen Heng had already built up a network of contacts in this county town in a very short time.
She, on the other hand, spent her days at the shop and mostly knew older women and aunties. They were a great source of gossip, but they couldn’t handle a major transaction like this.
"Madam Proprietor, someone’s at the shop asking for you." The two were in the middle of a lovey-dovey moment when Sister-in-law Xiang’s voice startled them, making them realize they were still in the shop’s backyard.
Nowadays, whenever Ancient Wen Heng wasn’t home, Jin Qianqian would move into the shop to keep Sister-in-law Xiang company.
Sister-in-law Xiang used to go home every day, but now she also had a small guest room there so she could stay with Qianqian.
"Who could be looking for me at this hour?" Jin Qianqian straightened her clothes and stuffed the silver notes she had just taken out back into Ancient Wen Heng’s robe. "You hold onto these."
"Don’t I have to hand it all over?" Ancient Wen Heng asked with a smile, then put on a playful expression. "Just give me a little pocket money, that’ll be enough."
Jin Qianqian had reached the doorway when she turned back to ask, "Are you sure?"
Ancient Wen Heng shook his head honestly. "On second thought, never mind. You know how much money I have on me, and it’s not like I have anywhere to spend it."
Jin Qianqian huffed, then walked out with her head held high.
Ancient Wen Heng worried she might trip if she didn’t watch where she was going, so he quickly stuffed the silver notes into his robe and followed her out.
"Sister-in-law Xiang, who’s looking for me?" Jin Qianqian’s voice arrived before she did as she lifted the curtain separating the rooms.