Chapter 200 Jingxi's Enlightenment
The Dali Temple government office.
After their duties were over, several officials came out of the Dali Temple, said their goodbyes, and prepared to return home.
Qi Yunwen suddenly said, "Yaoling, don't go yet, come with me to buy some jewelry."
"I'll go with you to buy jewelry?" Gu Jingxi turned her head, looked him up and down, and said with a strange expression, "Those are things for girls. What do you, a grown man, need jewelry for?"
Qi Yunwen was speechless, gave him a strange look, and said irritably, "You're a married man, how come you don't understand anything? When a man buys jewelry, is he buying it for his wife or for himself?"
Upon hearing this, Gu Jingxi immediately realized what was happening and coughed lightly twice to ease the awkwardness.
Qi Yunwen added, "I think you have good taste. Help me choose one."
Gu Jingxi nodded in agreement: "Okay."
Jin Yu Ge (Golden Jade Pavilion)
As the largest jewelry shop in the capital, Jin Yu Ge boasts a dazzling array of jewelry that is sure to leave visitors mesmerized.
Compared to Gu Jingxi, who had been single for many years, Qi Yunwen had some knowledge of these jewelry pieces. After all, he would buy one for his wife from time to time, and he knew what styles were currently popular.
Qi Yunwen picked up a jade hairpin and asked, "Yaoling, what do you think of this hairpin?"
Gu Jingxi glanced at it and replied, "It's acceptable."
Qi Yunwen picked up another one: "What about this one?"
Gu Jingxi replied, "It's alright."
Upon hearing this, Qi Yunwen compared the two hairpins but couldn't decide which one was better, so she asked, "Which one is better?"
Gu Jingxi glanced at them and gave an objective evaluation: "They're about the same. Both are exquisitely crafted and the jade is translucent."
Qi Yunwen was speechless and couldn't help but roll her eyes at him.
Was he asking about the quality of the jade?
He clearly asked about the style, but his answer was completely irrelevant.
Gu Jingxi didn't notice his friend's eye roll. As soon as he finished speaking, his gaze was drawn to a small row of hairpins.
He moved over and took a look. They were all pure gold hairpins, each with two tassels and pearls adorning the ends. The craftsmanship was exquisite. There were twelve hairpins in total, each with its own unique characteristics. Each hairpin had a different design, including plum blossom, apricot blossom, peach blossom, peony, pomegranate, lotus, crabapple, osmanthus, chrysanthemum, hibiscus, camellia, and daffodil. The twelve designs seemed to correspond to the twelve months of the year.
Looking at the hairpins, he suddenly remembered that he had a little girl at home. These hairpins would fit his little girl perfectly. The little girl had bright and beautiful features, which suited her to wearing brightly colored jewelry. Wearing gold jewelry would not make her look vulgar. He had seen the little girl wear gold jewelry before, and she looked bright, elegant, and very beautiful.
Gu Jingxi glanced at them; all twelve were quite nice, and it was hard to tell which was better. The little girl didn't have many pieces of jewelry, and thinking that if he bought them all, she could wear them interchangeably, he said magnanimously, "Shopkeeper, I'll take all twelve of these hairpins. How much is it?"
Qi Yunwen had been paying attention to his friend's movements. Seeing this, he smiled and felt that his friend wasn't too slow-witted. After all, he had entered the jewelry shop and knew that he was going to buy jewelry for his wife. It wasn't a waste of his efforts today. If things continued like this, it probably wouldn't be long before his iron tree blossomed.
Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper's eyes lit up immediately. He had just noticed that the two men were wearing official robes and held high-ranking positions, so they must have money.
Sure enough, this gentleman spent over a thousand taels of silver in one go, and the shopkeeper's face instantly lit up with a smile. He said, "My lord, you have excellent taste. This set of hairpins was handcrafted by our master craftsmen at Jin Yu Ge. They were just put on sale. Each one is made of pure gold, and the workmanship is extremely exquisite. Look, every flower is so lifelike, and each pearl is the size of a thumb, with a lustrous color, perfectly round shape, and without any flaws."
Gu Jingxi interrupted him impatiently: "Get to the point."
The shopkeeper's smile faltered for a moment, and he replied, "These twelve hairpins are all the same price, eighty-eight taels each, totaling one thousand and fifty-six taels of silver. Since you're buying so many, I'll round it down to one thousand and fifty taels for you."
Upon hearing this, Gu Jingxi didn't even blink before saying, "Okay, I'll take them all."
After saying that, he reached into his pocket and took out a five-hundred-tael note and two one-hundred-tael notes. Finding that it wasn't enough, he took out seventy-eight taels of silver and five coins from his purse.
He only had 778 taels of silver on him, and the five coins were negligible, leaving him short 272 taels of silver.
Being short of money, Gu Jingxi remained silent for a while before calmly looking at her friend: "Mo Bai, lend me two hundred and seventy-two taels of silver first."
When Qi Yunwen saw that his friend had finally come to his senses and knew to buy jewelry for the young girl, he felt like an old father seeing his son pass the imperial examination with flying colors. Naturally, he readily agreed: "Hey, okay, I'll lend you everything. Don't mention 272 taels, I'll lend you 2720 taels."
He immediately reached into his purse.
It would have been better if he hadn't taken it out, because he found it a bit awkward. He didn't have 272 taels; he had exactly 250 taels. Not only was the money not enough to lend out, but he also didn't have any money to buy jewelry for his wife.
He remained silent for a while, then silently took out a silver note with a face value of one hundred taels and handed it to his friend. Under his friend's gaze, he took out another one hundred taels note, and finally stuffed fifty taels into his friend's hand as well.
Twenty-two taels of silver are still short.
Gu Jingxi looked at him, gesturing for him to give her some more.
Seeing that his friend was still looking at him, Qi Yunwen was not afraid of losing face, so he simply went all out, turned his purse over, and said, "That's all, that's all I have."
The shopkeeper was a little surprised to see the two officials pooling their money to buy jewelry. However, he knew that anyone who could carry so much money with them must be from a very wealthy family. They were still short 22 taels of silver, but he could refuse to accept it as a favor.
However, before the shopkeeper could speak, a girl's voice rang out: "Uncle, you're here too."
Song Xinning originally intended to buy a hairpin and go home, but when she saw her uncle, her eyes immediately lit up, as if she had seen a sucker. She ran to Qi Yunwen's side, ready to say some nice things to coax her uncle, and then get him to give her some jewelry. Later, she would drag her uncle to the rouge shop in front, under the pretense of choosing some rouge for her aunt, and then try to get some benefits for herself.
However, she never expected that her plans would fall through in front of her beloved uncle.
When her uncle saw her, a smile instantly appeared on his face. The smile was as kind as could be. She thought that her uncle was in a good mood today and would take the initiative to buy her jewelry. But to her surprise, her uncle said to her, "Ah Ning, you've come at the right time. Did you bring any money with you? Give your uncle twenty-two taels of silver first."
Song Xinning was stunned: "???"
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