Chapter 73 The Jade Hairpin Incident
Gu Huan took a deep breath, walked forward and bowed to her.
"Gu Huan greets my cousin. These two maids were sent by the Duke's Mansion to serve. They don't recognize my cousin. Please forgive their disrespect." "If my cousin is not satisfied, you can beat me. We are family, I won't blame you."
Qian Peizhu has regained his spirit and still has his sanity.
It was not easy to offend the servants of the Duke's Mansion, and the Gu family was a marquis's mansion, and she was Pei Yi's cousin, so it was not convenient to get angry before clarifying the matter.
She asked in a deep voice: "Is this a gift from Pei Yi to you?"
Pei Yi said that when he came to buy it, the hairpin had already been sold, so he chose another one of similar price and gave it to her as a birthday gift.
But now, this hairpin appeared on the head of the little fairy who was chatting and laughing with Pei Yi intimately!
She now believed what Jiang Ruoxi said to some extent.
Seeing this, Jiang Ruoxi immediately understood what was going on and exaggerated, "The token of love has been given. Is Master Pei going to break his vow and take a concubine?"
"Don't even think about it!" Qian Peizhu was provoked and furious.
Gu Huan said softly, "Cousin Pei is not someone who breaks his oath. Cousin Pei ranked 58th in the imperial examination five years ago. He has been an official for five years. He cherishes his reputation, sticks to his integrity, and is upright. Didn't my cousin marry him because of his good character?"
"Married couples know each other deeply. Could it be that my cousin's wife has doubted her own feelings just because someone else provoked her?"
Gu Huan praised her highly, and Qian Peizhu suddenly felt proud, and the anger in her heart was inexplicably eliminated.
"Then how do you explain this jade hairpin?"
Jiang Ruoxi was unwilling to give in, so she snatched the jade hairpin from Qian Peizhu's hand and thrust it at Gu Huan.
"This jade hairpin was personally chosen by the Duke."
As the clear voice of Shopkeeper Qiu came, the person had already walked among them.
Gu Huan didn't expect that Shopkeeper Qiu would come out to help smooth things over.
This was also the excuse she had just thought of, but it sounded different when said by Shopkeeper Qiu.
Shopkeeper Qiu bowed to Qian Peizhu and said, "Madam Pei, I am so sorry. When Master Pei came to pick up the jade hairpin that day, I informed him in advance and helped him choose another jade hairpin of higher value."
Qian Peizhu felt embarrassed, and quickly took the jade hairpin from Jiang Ruoxi's hand and handed it to Gu Huan.
"Cousin, it was my cousin's wife who was impulsive."
Gu Huan pushed the jade hairpin back instead: "Cousin, I won't take someone else's love away. This is something you like. Just think of it as a token of my appreciation for you when we first met."
Qian Peizhu blushed: "How can this be done?"
Unexpectedly, Jiang Ruoxi snatched the hairpin and smashed it to the ground.
Bang.
With a crisp sound, the top-quality jade hairpin broke into several pieces.
Everyone present was shocked for a moment.
Shopkeeper Qiu looked unhappy: "County Lady Jiang, what do you mean?"
Jiang Ruoxi snorted coldly: "How can a vixen like you be worthy of wearing the jade hairpin chosen by your brother-in-law!"
Qian Peizhu's face suddenly turned ugly. This was given to her by Gu Huan, and she wanted to take it back to trick Pei Yi.
Gu Huan: "Shopkeeper Qiu, how much is this jade hairpin?"
"Two thousand taels."
Gu Huan instructed Dong Hua, "Dong Hua, go back and ask Manager Zhou to arrange for someone to go to the Jiang family to ask for the money that Yu Zan paid as compensation."
Donghua opened her voice and replied, "Yes."
Gu Huan was very pleased. Although this little girl seemed to be honest, she was actually very smart and knew how to cooperate with her.
Jiang Ruoxi glared: "You dare to ask me for compensation?"
Gu Huan looked surprised: "Doesn't the county lady know that she has to pay for damaging someone else's things? Royal nobles are very particular about etiquette and upbringing. I'm sure the county lady has also learned the female virtues and female precepts, right? Or is the county lady illiterate and ignorant of etiquette?"
These words were spoken without using a single curse word, and they directly cursed the Jiang family for being uncultured.
"You..." Jiang Ruoxi was furious.
Gu Huan interrupted her: "If the county lady doesn't want to pay the money, then please ask Shopkeeper Qiu to help choose a jade hairpin of the same value for my cousin's wife, and send the bill to the Pei family. Or did the county lady Jiang personally tell the Duke about the broken jade hairpin?"
Jiang Ruoxi was not afraid of the Qian family, but she was afraid of Manager Qiu.
She is famous for only caring about money and not people.
No noble in the capital dares to owe her money. Otherwise, she will bring people to your house with drums and gongs to collect the debt.
No noble family can afford to lose this man.
She was even more afraid that Duke Yong would find out and think she was domineering and dislike her.
"How can I ask the county lady to pay for me? My sister should just consider it as a gift."
Qian Peiqin quickly tried to smooth things over: "Sister, isn't that right?"
Qian Peizhu was angry, but she didn't dare to offend her elder sister and County Master Jiang, so she had to swallow her anger.
"That's natural."
Qian Peizhu apologized to Gu Huan, "It's all my fault for not understanding the whole story. Just accept this jade hairpin as your cousin's wife. Don't be angry, cousin."
Gu Huan didn't want to get involved, since the money used to buy the lily of the valley wasn't hers or Mu Junyan's.
She bowed to Qian Peizhu and said, "Please come to the Duke of Yong's Mansion when you are free. I will treat you to tea."
Qian Peizhu was overjoyed: "Definitely."
If she could meet Gu Wanru and have a closer relationship with her, maybe she could help her husband.
Jiang Ruoxi was furious.
The future mistress of the Duke of Yong's Mansion was here, but two outsiders ignored her and made an appointment to have tea at the Mansion?
Qian Peiqin saw that she was about to explode, so she quickly took her hand and said, "Manager Qiu, please help Ruoxi choose a fine jade Guanyin as a birthday gift for the old lady of the Duke."
Shopkeeper Qiu did not want to start a dispute in the store, so he nodded and said, "Please rest assured, Madam Jiang Er and County Lady Jiang, I will definitely choose a stunning jade Guanyin to make the County Lady proud."
Jiang Ruoxi glared at Gu Huan fiercely.
Qian Peiqin glared at Qian Peizhu and said, "Why don't you leave now? You are embarrassing yourself."
Qian Peizhu felt ashamed after being scolded. He nodded apologetically to Gu Huan and quickly followed her.
After watching them leave, Gu Huan apologized to Shopkeeper Qiu, "I'm sorry for asking you to do this for me..."
"It's okay. These are the things I took out, and I don't want to cause any criticism." Shopkeeper Qiu said calmly.
"What do you want to pick today, young lady?"
Gu Huan originally wanted to pick a jade ornament for the old lady, but Jiang Ruoxi chose the Jade Guanyin...
An idea suddenly occurred to him: "Do you have any fine jade pieces that can be made into flower petals?"
"For the old lady?"
Gu Huan didn't expect that Shopkeeper Qiu had guessed it. She blushed and felt a little embarrassed.
"Yes. I don't have much money, so I can't afford anything too expensive. I want to embroider a headband and inlay it with beautiful jade petals, so that it won't be too shabby."
"It's okay. You can choose from the scraps and I'll have someone polish it into the petals you want. It's free."
Gu Huan was surprised: "How can that be possible?"
"It's just scraps. It depends on whether you have good taste in choosing them."
Shopkeeper Qiu personally led her into the backyard and opened a room. Three walls inside were lined with shelves, on which were placed rattan baskets.
"You can choose whatever you want."
Gu Huan was stunned. There are so many...how to choose?
Shopkeeper Qiu seemed to be testing her on purpose and motioned her to come over.
Gu Huan had no choice but to walk over and casually flipped through a frame. It was full of various jade scraps, but all of them were of excellent quality.
After choosing for a long time, nothing caught her eye, so she could only pick out the ones that looked okay and put them aside for now.
Shopkeeper Qiu took a look and thought his vision was okay.
"Take your time to choose."
Shopkeeper Qiu went out, but stopped Donghua and Dongqing at the door: "Gifts for people must be chosen personally to show sincerity."
Donghua and Dongqing had no choice but to wait at the door, but after an hour, Miss Huan still didn't come out.
The two men became anxious and looked inside, only to see Miss Huan lifting up her skirt without caring about her image and sitting cross-legged on the ground, surrounded by various stones.
Her face and body were covered in dust.
Suddenly, Gu Huan raised her hand and shouted excitedly, "I got the choice."
She happily got up, found Shopkeeper Qiu, and opened her palm. A pile of garnet-red stones as big as fingernails stood out against her fair palm.
Shopkeeper Qiu smiled and said, "This is top-grade pigeon red."
Gu Huan exclaimed, and asked quietly, "Is it expensive?"
Shopkeeper Qiu pointed to the store's treasure placed in the middle of the hall: the phoenix crown.
"The rubies inlaid on it are from the same stone, but they are too broken and have never been used."
Gu Hua smacked her lips.
She thought such broken stones were useless.
"That……"
She certainly can't afford it.
"If I don't charge you money, what do you want to do?"
Gu Huan was ecstatic: "If possible, I would like to make eighteen pomegranate petals. Is it difficult?"
"Okay, I'll have someone deliver it to you at the Duke's Mansion tomorrow." Shopkeeper Qiu was very straightforward and took the gem from her hand.
Gu Huan walked out of Linlang Tower in a daze and got on the carriage with a puzzled look on her face.
"Tell me, why is Shopkeeper Qiu so nice to me? The gems are small, but they are worth a lot. Pomegranate petals are also difficult to carve, but she agreed to do it right away."
Dong Qing smiled and said, "Because our old lady has a share in Linlang Tower."
"Ah!" Gu Huan was stunned.
Dong Qing whispered, "What outsiders don't know, young master doesn't know either. When Shopkeeper Qiu took over the business, her uncles and aunts forced her to eat up the entire family, and it was the old lady who stepped forward to protect her. Shopkeeper Qiu gave 30% of his share to express his gratitude to the old lady."
Donghua added: "Dongqing originally followed Sister Zhou."
Gu Huan opened her mouth, but was speechless for a long time.
Is she giving the old lady her things?
Oh, she wanted to give a gift, but she had no money, which really worried her to death.
Gu Huan's desire to make money became stronger.
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