Chapter 77 Ten-Colored Cloth:
"Young Master Lu, what brings you here? Is there something urgent?" Rong Xie asked.
Since the auctioned assets were sold, Rong Xie has rarely seen Lu Yinglin. At first, Lu Yinglin would still hang around and try to have a meal or go shopping with Rong Xie, but later, probably due to busy business, Lu Yinglin did not appear for a long time, and their interactions faded.
“Junior Brother Rong, I’ve accomplished something truly great this time. You have to treat me to a meal to thank me,” Lu Yinglin said with a smile.
"What important matter?" Rong Xie asked expectantly. "Could it be that your brother has emerged from seclusion?"
“Oh… not yet, I haven’t gone to the Xuantian Sect yet,” Lu Yinglin said. “It’s about that thing we’ve been thinking about: the Guangdian Bailan (a type of orchid), we’ve found a buyer!”
Before Rong Xie could speak, Lu Yinglin felt a chilling gaze sweep over him, and he couldn't help but shiver. He looked to the side and saw the strange old servant again.
"Who is this...?" Lu Yinglin looked at the old handyman with suspicion.
"It was Uncle Wang from the Prime Minister's residence who helped me a lot today," Rong Xie said with a smile.
"Oh?" Lu Yinglin raised an eyebrow.
Rong Xie told Lu Yinglin about making clothes, and also said that he would take the old man to visit the house to get acquainted with the family.
"Making clothes is such a small matter. Just tell me, and I'll find someone from the Shengjing Clothing Workshop to make them for you," Lu Yinglin said casually. "I'll also take you sightseeing in Shengjing, making sure the route is different from everyone else's. And about the Guangdian Bailan incident—"
"Cough cough cough cough!" The old servant suddenly coughed violently, as if he had choked on something. Rong Xie quickly supported him and patted his back to help him catch his breath.
Lu Yinglin quickly stepped aside. He had just changed into his snow-wave brocade robe today, which was very expensive to embroider, and he couldn't let this old man get it dirty.
"Uncle Wang, how are you feeling?" Rong Xie asked worriedly while patting the old servant's back to help him catch his breath. "Why did you suddenly cough so badly?"
The old handyman didn't bother to reply; he just kept coughing violently, as if he was about to cough up his lungs.
Seeing this, Lu Yinglin made an excuse to slip away first. He arranged to meet Rong Xie for dinner at a restaurant in the North Gate Market, then hurriedly put away his folding fan and left.
As soon as Lu Yinglin left, the old servant suddenly recovered without any medicine, calmly raised his head, and his face was not even red.
Rong Xie was somewhat surprised, but also relieved. He was genuinely worried that the old servant had fainted from lack of breath.
"Uncle Wang, you scared me to death! Why are you coughing so badly?" Rong Xie asked with concern.
"This old servant doesn't know either. I've always been in good health. Maybe the smell on that person was too strong," the old servant muttered.
"Scent?" Rong Xie asked, puzzled. "You mean incense?"
"Probably." The old servant cleared his throat. "Young master, could you please give this old servant a glass of water to soothe his throat when we get home? His throat is very sore."
“Of course, my home is just ahead. Uncle Wang, please follow me.”
The two turned into a quiet alley and came to a small bamboo door. Rong Xie unlocked the door, removed the talisman on the door, and invited the old servant inside.
The two walked around the curtain wall and entered a small courtyard surrounded by trees. In the middle was a small pond, and beside the pond was a simple bamboo shed with a reclining chair, a small tea table, a book covered on the tea table, and a night lamp.
After passing the pond and climbing the steps, you enter a hanging flower gate. On both sides are white walls, and at the foot of the walls are planted flowers and trees, including plum blossoms, crabapple blossoms, and peonies. The plants are small and exquisite, and the branches are carefully pruned. Against the white walls, they look like miniature paintings of flowers and birds.
After walking along the white wall for a while, there was a door on each side leading to different rooms. Rong Xie led the old servant to the flower hall on the left, invited him to sit down at the tea table, took out a newly bought teacup, and poured him a cup of hot tea.
The old servant started looking around as soon as he came in. Only when Rong Xie faced him did he slightly withdraw his wandering gaze and put on his honest and simple appearance again. At this moment, Rong Xie turned around again, pulled up the bamboo curtain on the window, and pushed the window open. Outside was the pond they had just passed. From this angle, it had a unique and serene charm.
The old handyman was somewhat lost in thought.
Rong Xie turned around and saw the old servant sitting there in a daze, not having drunk a drop of tea, so he asked, "Is the tea too hot?"
"Oh, perfect." The old servant picked up his teacup and gulped it down in one go.
"Don't drink too fast, be careful not to choke..." Rong Xie had just given a word of advice when the old servant slammed the empty cup down on the tea table.
The old servant stood up: "Young master, this old servant will take his leave now."
Rong Xie remembered that the old servant said he had something to do later, so he didn't keep him any longer. He saw him out, came back to tidy up the tea table, and used a sound transmission talisman to contact Wang Mu.
Shen Bingsi left Zhuli Lane and headed towards Lanyuan Villa.
The scene he had just witnessed kept replaying in his mind: bamboo doors, flower-covered corridors, a tea room overlooking a small pond, and a neatly organized tea cabinet with a row of teacups of different sizes and styles on it. There was also a bamboo curtain with simple patterns and windows polished to look like transparent glass. Rong Xie's new residence was no less impressive than Huanxue Manor, and even had a unique charm, which Shen Bingsi called "popularity."
Huanxue Villa once had such popularity, but Shen Bingsi never paid attention to it. When he sat down at the tea table in the flower hall, he would see the bonsai branches swaying in the wind under the windows, and there would be one or two tea toys on his side, such as walnuts, clay frogs or other things. He found it interesting and enjoyed it all, but he never thought that these things did not grow there naturally.
Now he knows.
He knew why he always felt empty in Huanxue Manor. Even though Shen Yan and the others were managing the manor according to Rong Xie's instructions, coldly following the rules was different from genuine care.
It turns out that after the breakup, the one who couldn't go on was not Rong Xie, but himself.
A feeling of irritation rose in my heart.
A commotion ahead interrupted Shen Bingsi's train of thought. She looked up and realized that she had reached the northwest gate of Lanyuan Villa.
Shen Bingsi guessed who was making a fuss. The reason he didn't stay with Rong Xie for long was because of this—he had a nominal position as a handyman at Lan Yuan Villa, but he hadn't informed the owner yet, so the clothing store owner was bound to get a cold shoulder.
Of course, Shen Bingsi didn't care whether the shop owner got a bad reception or not; he didn't want to delay Rong Xie's business.
Shen Bingsi quickened her pace and headed towards the southwest corner gate. As she walked, her figure transformed into a golden light and disappeared within the high walls of the Blue Plains Villa.
After a short while, the commotion at the northwest corner gate subsided. The manager of Lanyuan Villa came out, exchanged a few words with the shop owner, and instructed someone to accept the three bolts of cloth.
"I initially thought that old guy was a fraud, but I didn't expect him to have such influence," the shopkeeper muttered to his two employees on the way back. "Even the manager of Lanyuan Villa came out in person. He must be a veteran. You two, from now on, when you see that young master, you must treat him well, understand?"
The two men thought to themselves, "It's you, the shop owner, who's not treating people well."
As they were talking, the three of them arrived at the entrance of the alley and saw a familiar figure standing there.
Upon seeing him, the shopkeeper immediately put on a smile and went up to him: "Oh, sir, what a coincidence that we've run into each other here again! We just delivered the fabric. When would you like to come to our shop again?"
The old handyman turned around, his expression cold and his aura intimidating. The shopkeeper shuddered and shut his mouth.
"I'll give you a piece of advice: no matter where you get the recipe from, you must keep at least ten kinds of plain-colored fabrics in the shop from now on, and remember the colors for me."
The shop owner was taken aback, realizing that a customer had arrived, and hurriedly nodded: "Yes, yes, whatever you need."
The old handyman glanced at him, looking down on him: "White, ultramarine, kudzu, light blue, moon white, lotus root color, beige, off-white, light green, black, ten colors in total, remember them."
"Yes, yes." The shop owner agreed while muttering to himself, what's the difference between this water color and light blue? How do you distinguish between beige and off-white? He knows what many colors look like, but he just can't dye them.
"Prepare everything for me within a month. I'll come back to check next time. If it's not there, or the color difference is too big, your family can forget about doing business on that street anymore, understand?"
After saying that, the old handyman didn't say anything more and turned to walk into the alley.
The shop owner was puzzled. He knew the old handyman had a lot of influence, but at most he could just stop doing business with his family. Could he possibly drive him out of the North Gate Market? Their Hua Hong Clothing Shop was the only one in the North Gate Market. To be the only one, it was impossible without someone protecting them from above.
"What the hell? That old man just walked this way, how could he disappear in the blink of an eye?"
"Oh dear, in broad daylight, under the clear sky, I have offended the great immortal!"
Suddenly, the two shop assistants started shouting and bowed repeatedly towards the alley where the old handyman had left. The shop owner was flustered by their shouting and dared not linger. He told the shop assistants to go back and prepare the ten kinds of plain-colored fabrics.
Later that evening, Rong Xie arrived at the agreed-upon restaurant.
Before he even entered the restaurant, he saw the old handyman waiting by the door.
"Uncle Wang, what a coincidence! Have you finished your business? Would you like to have a simple meal together?" Rong Xie asked.
The old servant shook his head: "This old servant still can't stand the smell on that young man, so I won't bother you any longer. I've come to tell you, young master, that there are quite a few clothes to be made, and they probably won't be finished until this time next month. I'll deliver them to your door then... Young master, you're not going on a long trip, are you?"
"No, I'll be staying home this winter."
"That's good, that's good... It's cold outside, and there's not much to see in Shengjing. Young master, please add more charcoal and extra blankets at home," the old servant said.
Rong Xie felt a warmth in his heart and thanked the old servant. He wanted to ask the old servant when he would be free so he could invite him to dinner again, but Lu Yinglin came down from the second floor, fanning himself with a folding fan, and greeted Rong Xie warmly.
The old servant glanced at Lu Yinglin and hurriedly bid farewell to Rong Xie. For some reason, Rong Xie noticed that the old servant seemed somewhat disheveled as he left. A strange thought arose in Rong Xie's mind: Could it be that this old servant was actually afraid of Lu Yinglin?
But that doesn't make sense, since the two of them have no connection whatsoever...
"Junior Brother Rong?" Lu Yinglin approached with a smile. "What are you looking at?"
"It's nothing, just now..." Rong Xie shook his head, thinking that the old servant and Lu Yinglin seemed to be at odds. "It's nothing, let's go upstairs. What did you mean by 'buyer of Guangdian Bailan'?"
"Someone's willing to pay a high price for the photoelectric white orchid!" Lu Yinglin perked up immediately when talking about his business. "Thirty-five thousand spirit stones, a full five thousand more than the original purchase price! One price, how about it!"
Rong Xie frowned: "But..." He only said he wanted to pawn it, not sell it.
Lu Yinglin took Rong Xie's arm and led him upstairs: "Come on, let's go upstairs and talk!"
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There will be another update at 12 o'clock [sunglasses]
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