Chapter 7: Daughter of the God of Wealth
"It's quite lively upstairs." The tall maid pressed Xie Huailing's shoulder and gently massaged it. "When I went to get the soup, I heard laughter. It was quite a commotion."
"Really?" Xie Huailing closed his eyes. The afternoon sunlight streamed in through the door, making the person who had just woken up look a little listless.
“Yes, she’s laughing so happily.” Another maid chimed in, tidying up the lunchboxes on the table. Although she never left the house, she was quite talkative. “The young lady of the ‘Living God of Wealth’ is so energetic. She must have spent the whole night in the capital last night, and she got up early this morning.”
As she got older, her body started to ache, and Xie Huailing felt uncomfortable just hearing about corpses. Such an energetic lifestyle was completely out of the question for someone like her, born in the year of the rat. She tilted her head, letting the maid's hand rub her neck: "'Living God of Wealth's' family?"
The maid smiled and explained to her, "Miss, you probably don't know, but this 'living God of Wealth' is actually a person, referring to the current patriarch of the Zhu family. In his youth, he was quite skilled in business, courageous, resourceful, and bold. The wealth he accumulated is renowned throughout the world, and it is said that it would take dozens of generations to spend it all. Within the territory of the Song Dynasty, only Master Huo and the Hua family of Jiangnan can compare."
"Then this Miss Zhu..."
"This is about the seventh daughter of the 'Living God of Wealth,' named Zhu Qiqi. She is as beautiful as a bright pearl, and people love her at first sight. The landlord and the 'Living God of Wealth' are going to do business, so this seventh young lady and her younger brother came to the capital to play."
Xie Huailing understood what he meant and didn't say anything more.
The maid was a martial artist who worked at the Golden Wind and Drizzle Pavilion, so her strength was beyond that of ordinary people. When she increased the force of her massage, Xie Huailing couldn't help but cry out. But the necessary force was also necessary. After the massage, the dizziness caused by her poor sleep schedule subsided considerably, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
The autumn hibiscus brought by the servants this morning was in full bloom, its red petals, like a woman's lipstick, standing alone in a corner of the bedroom. The autumn hibiscus, also known as the autumn in the Han palace, is a beauty of resentment and seclusion, like the three thousand beauties locked behind the palace gates, shedding a few petals as if weeping, which fall behind the white gauze, while the blue smoke from the incense burner rises with the wind, blowing lightly towards it.
Xie Huailing remained in that scene and that posture, not wanting to move for even a moment.
But the laughter lingering outside the building drew closer, a laughter as graceful as willow branches, incompatible with the autumn day, and rather unreasonable, stopping in front of her room. She opened her eyes, and the maid waiting outside pushed open the door and lifted the curtain, bowing her head beside her and whispering, "It's Miss Zhu Qi who's here, she wants to see Miss Biao."
Xie Huailing suddenly felt uncomfortable all over her body again and asked, "What do you want to see me for? I'm new here too."
The maid said, "There aren't many friends of Miss Zhu Qi's age in this building. Perhaps she wants to invite you to play together. That would be a good thing. Maybe the owner would also be happy to see you having a great time with Miss Zhu Qi."
Xie Huailing thought to himself that it might not be so, shook his head and was about to pretend to be sick to refuse the guest, but then he changed his mind and pulled the maid back: "Please come in."
The maid assumed that she was just bored and couldn't stand being alone any longer, so she welcomed the cheerful and uncomfortably laughing Miss Zhu into the room.
As soon as Miss Zhu Qi appeared, she resembled a burning peach-colored flame.
She seemed completely out of place in the atmosphere of the Golden Wind and Drizzle Pavilion. Dressed in a pomegranate-red outfit, her long, black hair was loosely tied back with a few strands of a phoenix-tail hairpin inlaid with red gold and jewels—this alone was enough to make her the wealth of an entire city. Looking at her face, the jewels shone brightly, making her dazzlingly beautiful. Her expression was a mixture of anger and joy, her face like a rose in its first bloom. Her almond-shaped eyes held two restless springs of life, a blend of cunning, willfulness, and naivety befitting her age, shining brightly and unparalleled in beauty, surpassing countless delicate flowers.
As soon as she entered, Zhu Qiqi lifted her skirt. She acted freely, and the two maids following behind her put down the gifts they were carrying and handed them to the maid before leaving. She was already close to Xie Huailing, looking her over from left to right. She felt that the girl in front of her was very pleasing to her, so she sat down generously and opened the gifts she had brought.
"My surname is Zhu, and my given name is Qiqi." Zhu Qiqi smiled brightly, the smile even touching her lips. "I came to the capital with my brother-in-law to do business. You might know my father's name. Steward Yang said that Master Su has a cousin who just returned from beyond the Great Wall, so I came to meet her. I didn't bring much with me, and since I didn't know what you liked, I just took a little bit of everything. If you see anything you like, just keep it; if not, I'll take you to buy it. By the way, what's your name?"
She spoke faster than she smiled, like a string of pearls rolling into a plate, and Xie Huailing barely managed to understand. She didn't speak, and Zhu Qiqi frowned, then lowered her hand to her palm, a faint blush crossing her face.
"I almost forgot, Steward Yang said you're just learning Mandarin. Ahem, let me speak slowly."
She moved closer, just a few fists' distance away, and slowly repeated the words she had said, adding at the end, "Can you understand me like this? What's your name?"
"My name is Xie Huailing," Xie Huailing replied slowly.
“This doesn’t sound like a name from outside the Great Wall. Well, your mother is from the Central Plains.” Zhu Qiqi was a bit too naive, filling in the gap herself without Xie Huailing having to explain. There was a slight rudeness in her words, but it was understandable for her.
Two large boxes of jewelry were laid out, adorned with calligraphy, paintings, and property deeds, demonstrating that Zhu Qiqi had truly brought everything she could. She pushed the gifts towards Xie Huailing, letting him choose. Since she dared to give gifts to Xie Huailing, she dared not be polite; aside from the jewelry Su Mengzhen had given her, she had no other savings, so whether she took more or less, it was all the same.
While picking through the selections, Zhu Qiqi asked Xie Huailing, "You speak Mandarin so well. I've never been outside the Great Wall. What's it like there?"
Xie Huailing found a string of pearls. Su Mengzhen hadn't told her about this, but it didn't stump her. Without much thought, she blurted out, "I don't go out much at home. The people outside the Great Wall look different from the people in my family. They don't like me much, and I don't like them much either."
"Is it really different? My brother-in-law told me that people from beyond the Great Wall are different from people from the Central Plains in every way. It turns out it's true." Being a woman of the martial world, Zhu Qiqi still had a fervent passion for the outside world, evident in her words and actions. Lost in thought, she repeatedly asked, "How exactly are they different?"
Xie Huailing expressed a stereotype about white people: "They are all frighteningly white, with prominent bone structure, and most of them have body odor. That's about it."
Zhu Qiqi couldn't imagine it, and sighed with her chin in her hand, "I've never seen one before, but I don't think it would look very fancy."
She seemed to be thinking of someone, smiled sweetly, bit her lip lightly, and then covered her face.
Xie Huailing had no interest in gossip, so she let Zhu Qiqi finish her shyness, picked out the pearls, closed the box, and asked a maid to bring up the jewelry box as a gift. She didn't care about Su Mengzhen's money and it was perfectly natural for her to use Zhu Qiqi's money to give back to Su Mengzhen.
Zhu Qiqi lacked nothing and directly refused. She continued chatting with Xie Huailing, her straightforward nature easily manipulated by Xie Huailing's few words, and she didn't even realize it. Xie Huailing asked, "What about the capital? What's fun to do in the capital?"
“There are plenty.” Zhu Qiqi said with a hint of pride, her eyes sparkling. “I’ve been to the casinos too. Those people, with their self-proclaimed heroes, can’t beat me at gambling or fighting. I’ve also been to the best clothing shops, and I need to have several boxes of clothes made to take back. There are other places I haven’t been to yet, and I haven’t even seen the betting odds at the Golden Wind and Fine Rain Pavilion. But luckily, I have time. If you’re free, I’ll take you there another day!”
Xie Huailing was adept at seizing the opportunity: "That's not bad, but how much longer can you stay in the capital?"
"At least ten days to half a month," Zhu Qiqi said.
That means the "living god of wealth" and Su Mengzhen still have business to discuss.
Xie Huailing fell into deep thought. Seeing that she was silent again, Zhu Qiqi took her hand, held her fingertips, and said, "Why are you so quiet again? Do you want to go out and have some fun? I'll pay for everything. We can go anywhere except the Six and a Half Hall area."
"Can't we go to the 6.5-minute class?" Xie Huailing asked a stupid question.
This question was like a brick, drawing out Zhu Qiqi's jade. She nodded almost as if it were the most natural thing in the world: "Of course you can't go. Hasn't Master Su told you yet? That Chief Lei and he are like oil and water. But if you really want to go to my house, there is a way—but you can't let my brother-in-law know that I went through a lot of trouble to ask him to bring me here. I haven't even seen Shen Lang yet...!"
She lowered her voice when she said the second half of the sentence, as if her brother-in-law were some kind of ghost, and then suddenly stopped talking when she got to the last name. This girl was a sieve.
Xie Huailing didn't dwell on the relationship between Zhu Qiqi and Shen Lang, although the information that Zhu Qiqi liked Shen Lang had already entered her mind due to her rapid thought process. She threw it aside, focusing on the first half. The Golden Wind and Fine Rain Pavilion and the Six and a Half Hall were irreconcilable enemies. The "Living God of Wealth" wanted to do big business with the Golden Wind and Fine Rain Pavilion but didn't completely avoid the Six and a Half Hall; this business deal was probably unstable, and Su Mengzhen would have a lot of headaches. Thinking of this, her mind raced, and within moments, a plan had formed in her mind.
Zhu Qiqi recovered and continued, her enthusiasm undiminished: "So, do you want to come with me?"
“I also want to go out with you, Qiqi. You are still the first friend I have met, but my cousin may not agree.” Xie Huailing sighed softly, dismissed the maids around her, lowered her beautiful eyes, and made people feel moved. “My cousin is strict. He keeps me in this room and wants me to learn well before I can go out. I don’t know when it will end.”
She simply and unremarkably spread rumors about Su Mengzhen, yet achieved remarkable results.
Stunningly beautiful, Zhu Qiqi was indignant. She slammed her hand on the table and stood up abruptly. Fearless, she said, "I said, how come this Su Louzhu is even more reasonable than my brother-in-law? I'll talk to her on your behalf. I'll find a way to get you out of here. I, Zhu Qiqi, am determined to be your friend."
After saying that, she stormed off in a huff, and no one could stop her. She left without taking either of the two boxes of jewelry with her.
Xie Huailing sighed, "They're so easy to fool."
She gazed at the still-swaying curtain and suddenly felt a urge to see Su Mengzhen's expression later. She knew this was a rather dishonest move.
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