Chapter 70 True Appearance
"My dear, are you ready for the banquet in five days?"
Xun Chen paused and said coldly, "It's just an excuse to meet each other. Everything will be decided by mother."
…
Hengtong Pawnshop.
The afternoon light squeezed in through the crack in the door, cutting out several slanted beams of light.
Jiang Qingning stepped in, the dark blue veil of her hat covering her chest, tightly wrapping her figure and face in darkness.
Behind her were Nanny Zhang and Zi Su on each side, and the purpose of their visit today was very obvious.
Manager Liu was also present today as a witness. He and the three men wearing veiled hats signaled each other secretly.
There was a sound of footsteps behind him. Manager Liu's face was full of flattering smiles. His eyes passed Jiang Qingning and looked eagerly at the two men who came in from the door.
"Oh, Second Master, Third Master! You two are finally here!"
Shopkeeper Liu's voice rose in pitch, like a knife dipped in honey, sweet and sharp. "Everything is prepared perfectly for you. We're just waiting for your approval and stamp of approval!"
He rubbed his hands, walked quickly around the counter and came forward, nodded and bowed to Jiang Baizhou and Jiang Songyan who came in later, and then invited them into the back room.
Jiang Baizhou was wearing a half-new brocade robe, his steps were unsteady, his eyes were cloudy, and he had the languid air of someone who was still hungover.
Jiang Songyan also looked like someone whose body had been hollowed out by alcohol and sex. His eye bags were swollen, but his face had a sickly flush of excitement.
The two men ignored Manager Liu's courtesy and swept their eyes across the dim shop with anxiety and impatience, finally landing on the slender figure in front of the counter that almost blended into the shadows.
"Where are your Dong family members?" Jiang Baizhou asked with a hoarse voice.
"Here I am!"
Shopkeeper Liu pointed at Jiang Qingning who had just walked in and said, "This is our boss Shangguan! He even brought the banknotes with him. What a nice guy!"
Jiang Baizhou's eyes swept over Jiang Qingning. The heavy veil covered all his features, leaving only a sense of alienation and indifference that kept people at a distance.
He snorted in contempt and curled his lips at Jiang Songyan: "Playing tricks, who cares who he is, as long as he has money! Hurry up, I'm still waiting for the money to make a comeback!"
His tone was irritable, and his fingers were twisting unconsciously, revealing the anxiety in his bones.
"Didn't we agree not to gamble anymore, second brother?" Jiang Songyan was stunned.
"It's different this time. I've already inquired about it yesterday. It will only succeed and not fail." Jiang Baizhou said impatiently.
"Yes, yes, what Mr. Jiang said is right!"
Shopkeeper Liu responded repeatedly and led Jiang Baizhou and Jiang Songyan to a table specially placed inside.
Several contract documents were spread out on the table.
"Master, please take a seat here."
Shopkeeper Liu turned around and bent even lower when he faced Jiang Qingning. With a look of extreme respect on his face, he carefully led her to sit in the main seat.
Jiang Qingning sat down silently, the veil of her drooping hat remained motionless, isolating the inside and the outside.
She stretched out her hand wearing a thin silk glove and took out a small and exquisite ivory seal from the brocade box held by Zi Su with steady movements.
The seal glowed with a warm and delicate luster under the light, and the seal button was carved with auspicious beasts, with ancient and smooth lines.
Her fingertips brushed across the cold seal without the slightest hesitation.
“Pah.”
The ivory seal landed steadily on the cinnabar ink reserved for the contract document, making a slight but clear sound.
Then, there was another soft sound, and the seal was clearly stamped on the last page of the contract. The bright red ink was particularly glaring on the yellowed paper, like a spot of solidified blood.
"It's done!"
The joy in Shopkeeper Liu's voice was almost overflowing. "Congratulations, boss! From now on, the three silk shops west of the city, the three hundred acres of prime paddy fields outside the city, and the two shops on East Street are all your property!"
As he spoke, he nimbly picked up the signed contract with the ink still fresh in it, blew on the wet ink, then held it in both hands and bowed to hand it to Jiang Qingning with an extremely humble attitude.
At the same time, Manager Liu was sighing in his heart. Such a profitable silk shop also had paddy fields, shops, etc., but it was just that the second and third branches of the Jiang family had no one who knew how to run it.
Otherwise, if such a good shop was lost, he was not afraid that the ancestor of the Jiang family would climb out of the coffin and rush over to punish these unfilial descendants. Fortunately, the shop finally fell into the hands of the owner.
Three silk shops, two stores, three hundred acres of high-quality paddy fields, and a total of twenty thousand taels of silver notes. How could these two people owe so much gambling debt?
Jiang Qingning didn't answer it immediately.
"Boss?"
Shopkeeper Liu held the contract in his hand, his waist bent for a long time. A layer of fine beads of sweat oozed out of his forehead, and the smile on his face became a little stiff.
The shop suddenly became quiet, with only Jiang Baizhou's heavy breathing and the tapping sound of Jiang Songyan's fingers unconsciously tapping on the table.
The sound struck people's hearts, bringing with it a suffocating irritation.
The heavy veil was finally slowly lifted by a white hand.
The veil slid down the brim of the hat, first revealing a jade-white, graceful jaw, followed by tightly pursed, rosy lips.
When the veil was completely removed to Jiang Qingning's shoulders, and her beautiful face was completely exposed under the dim light of the pawnshop, time seemed to be paused.
The air froze. It was an extremely young face, with brows like distant mountains, covered with a layer of unmeltable frost.
Her skin was cold and pale, like fine porcelain without a trace of blood. Only her eyes were shockingly black, and at this moment, they were scanning the two suddenly pale faces opposite her without any warmth.
"Bang!"
A small copper gadget that Jiang Songyan was playing with accidentally fell on the table, and a sharp crisp sound broke the silence.
He leaned back suddenly as if he had seen a ghost, and his back hit the back of the chair heavily. The chair legs rubbed against the rough blue brick floor, making a "creaking" sound.
His swollen eyes were wide open, the whites of his eyes were bloodshot, his mouth was wide open, and he made a "ho ho" sound in his throat, but he couldn't utter a word.
The blood color on Jiang Baizhou's face instantly faded away, and he became as pale as gold paper.
He stared at the face intently, his cloudy eyes almost bulging out of his sockets, and his fingers gripped the table tightly like convulsions, as if their bones had been pulled out.
He slumped in the chair, only his chest rising and falling violently.
"Jiang... Jiang Qingning?" Jiang Baizhou asked in disbelief and horror.
"Second Uncle seems to really not want to see me. Does he think I should be driven out of the capital and left to languish in the wilderness?"
Jiang Qingning calmly took over the unfinished words of his. His voice was not loud, but it clearly penetrated the dead air. Every word was like an ice-hardened needle piercing the eardrums of the two people opposite him.
She stretched out her hand and calmly took the thin contract document that carried the Jiang family's ancestral property from Manager Liu's frozen hand.
Jiang Qingning lowered his eyes slightly, his gaze falling on the ink words on the paper, which represented the ancestral property that had been sold.
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