After changing into her geisha clothes, Shen Qing immediately saw the scene inside.
A tea merchant with a greasy face was fawningly trying to sell Cheng Zhiwen the tea leaves from this spring.
"Mr. Cheng, please try this new tea." The tea merchant presented Cheng Zhiwen with a handful of light green, pointed leaves, wanting him to smell them.
Cheng Zhiwen didn't smell it, but gently pushed it away.
He was wearing a brown suit today, with his hat off and placed beside him, his neat short hair naturally swept to his forehead.
“Westerners don’t have the habit of drinking tea. They rely on something called ‘coffee’ to stay alert and socialize. I’m afraid this white tea won’t sell well in the West. Mr. Li, I really can’t help you.”
Upon hearing this, the tea merchant smiled awkwardly and gave his attendant a wink.
Shen Qing was shoved hard and landed on Cheng Zhiwen, her chest slamming heavily against his arm.
Cheng Zhiwen moved to the side, immediately creating distance between them.
Seeing that he was looking at her with a serious expression, Shen Qing quickly lowered her head so that he could not see her face.
She silently got up, stepped back, and hugged her pipa to cover her exposed chest.
"Boss Cheng, if you can help me close this deal, you can take as many girls as you want from Lechun Pavilion!" The tea merchant grinned greasyly, his gaze sweeping over Shen Qingbai's smooth chest. "The one playing the pipa, if you don't like her, that's fine, I'll keep her for myself! You can go pick another girl!"
Upon hearing this, Shen Qing hardened his fist.
What does "I'll keep it for myself" mean?
Is this tea seller crazy? He came in to play the pipa, not to sell himself.
"No need." Cheng Zhiwen stood up and put her hat on. "Mr. Li, until we meet again."
Seeing him turn and walk towards the door, Shen Qing quickly hugged her pipa tightly, intending to follow him out and find an opportunity to talk to him.
But the person who had already reached the door turned back and stopped beside her.
Shen Qing silently lowered her head and covered her face with her pipa.
"What are you doing here?" Cheng Zhiwen asked in a deep voice.
I recognized her.
Shen Qing had no choice but to look up at him and said with an awkward smile, "I have something to discuss with you."
"Hey, you playing the pipa!" Before Cheng Zhiwen could speak, the tea merchant walked over, raised his hand to cover her shoulders, which were only covered by a thin veil, and pulled her into his arms. "You can't go with Boss Cheng tonight! Boss Cheng won't help me with business, and he can't touch my girl! You have to come with me tonight!"
The man was so captivated by Shen Qing's skin that he decided to take her for himself that very night.
Feeling nauseous, Shen Qing twisted her body and moved aside.
She used her pipa for protection, and placed her other hand on her hair bun, ready to take out a hairpin knife for self-defense at any time.
"I'm not a girl from here!"
The tea merchant chuckled, "Once you're inside my house, and if I take a liking to you, I can take you away!" With that, he waved his hand, and his henchmen immediately reached out to grab Shen Qing.
Cheng Zhiwen shot her a look: "Get lost!"
The tea merchant's small eyes darted over him, already noticing his interest in Shen Qing.
The more things were like this, the more he wanted to torment Shen Qing and force Cheng Zhiwen to help him!
He strode forward, ripped off Shen Qing's thin veil, and pounced on her, shouting, "I'm going to do you right here tonight!"
Shen Qing instinctively hid behind Cheng Zhiwen.
Cheng Zhiwen didn't dodge, but instead shielded her behind him. He took two steps forward with his tall frame, forcing the tea merchant to retreat step by step.
The tea merchant, blinded by lust, threatened with bloodshot eyes, "If you introduce me to a foreign merchant, you can take her away tonight!"
Cheng Zhiwen readily agreed: "Okay, open the door."
The tea merchant was pleased and, smiling, ordered his attendant to open the door.
Shen Qingsong breathed a sigh of relief and put down the pipa.
Her blouse was ripped off, leaving her in only a strapless top. Although strapless tops are often worn in modern times, Shen Qing felt embarrassed in this situation and covered her chest with her arms.
Suddenly, a soft, warm fabric covered her body.
It's Cheng Zhiwen's suit.
Cheng Zhiwen put his arm around her and led her out of the private room.
As soon as the door to the private room closed, she met Cheng Zhiwen's unfathomable eyes.
Recalling their initial confrontation, she swallowed awkwardly, "I came to see you because..."
Before she could finish speaking, Cheng Zhiwen strode forward, ignoring her completely.
She quickly followed him downstairs, left through the back door, and arrived at the entrance of a nearby inn.
Cheng Zhiwen finally stopped and turned around.
Under the cold moonlight of winter, he stared at her for a while before speaking softly, "I live here. Are you coming up with me?"
Shen Qing felt that a quiet space would be better for discussing business, so she quickly nodded: "Yes, I'll go up with you."
As she spoke, she lifted her foot to follow him inside, only to see him standing there motionless.
Upon closer inspection, she realized he was indeed very tall, a head taller than her. His features, now tinged with anger, appeared even more refined and aloof.
He suddenly leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Are you really going up? Hmm?"
Shen Qing nodded.
He curled one corner of his lips into a smile, and lowered his voice even further: "Once you go up there, I'll decide what to do, and you can't refuse."
Shen Qing then understood what he meant.
She cursed him inwardly for being shameless, but smiled apologetically and said, "Then we can talk over here."
Under the cool moonlight, her eyes were like crescent moons, and the tip of her nose and lips were red from the cold, pink and slightly upturned.
Cheng Zhiwen composed herself, straightened up, and turned her back: "What do you want to talk about?"
Shen Qing didn't notice anything unusual about him and went straight to the point: "I have more than a thousand bolts of silk, in all sorts of colors and patterns. I want to sell them to Europe like Wang's Silk Company. Can you recommend foreign merchants to me? I can give you a 10% cut."
"cannot."
"Why?"
“European textile technology is far more advanced than ours. Our local silk has lost its appeal in the Western market. The thousand bolts that Wang’s family sold before were all sold at a bargain price.”
Shen Qing didn't care about anything else. He was willing to sell it cheaply as long as he could get the money to pay off his debts.
She asked, "How much did you get for a thousand horses sold for such a low price? I heard it was several hundred thousand taels."
Cheng Zhiwen turned around, her face full of mockery: "Hundreds of thousands of taels? Are you dreaming?"
Shen Qing's mind went blank for a moment, a bad feeling creeping in: "Then, do you have 100,000 taels?"
"Thirty percent."
Thirty percent? Thirty thousand taels?
Shen Qing's vision went black.
Thirty thousand taels is still seventy thousand taels short of the debt...
Even if she sells all her inventory to Europe, she has nowhere to get the remaining 70,000 taels.
If she can't repay the 100,000 taels by next September, she'll probably be dragged to court again, either beaten to death or beheaded.
It's so hard, how can I possibly survive...?
Shen Qing lowered his head and turned around. No matter how difficult it was, he had to go back to Lechun Pavilion to find Chunju and go back to the Gao family together.
She had only taken a few steps when a gust of wind swept over her, and she shivered. She wrapped her clothes tighter around herself and realized that she was still wearing Cheng Zhiwen's suit.
She turned back to Cheng Zhiwen.
Cheng Zhiwen looked down at her.
She no longer cared about guessing what he was looking at, and took off her suit jacket and handed it to him: "Thank you for getting me out of that situation tonight."
Without clothing to cover my shoulder blades, the skin exposed above the bra gave me goosebumps.
She hugged herself tightly.
He draped the suit jacket over her again: "It's cold, wear it."
She had no intention of seeing him again and insisted on taking off her suit and returning it to him: "No need, I'll go back to Lechun Pavilion to change into my own clothes."
I had just turned around and taken two steps forward when my upper arm was suddenly grabbed.
The man's palm was dry and warm, the heat penetrating her skin; the interplay of heat and cold made her shiver.
Behind him, Cheng Zhiwen said in a low voice, "I'll have someone bring your clothes over. Come up with me."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com