Chapter 17: Casual Talk



Ticket number?

Old Mrs. Fang opened her eyes from the rocking chair.

"What does she want to do?" Fang Jinxiu's voice came from inside, and someone came out with the sound of the beaded curtains being pulled. "Isn't it enough that she's bothering people all day long? Does she want to bother our business now?"

"How could that be? Zhenzhen hates business the most." Mrs. Fang said.

The self-righteous daughter of an official family hated the Fang family's business for affecting her status.

Fang Jinxiu snorted.

"So what does she want to do?" she said.

Miss Jun did not go out of her way to ask the manager of the ticket office a question; she just met him by chance.

After being bored in the yard for a whole day, she went out for a walk. She didn't see any maids along the way from her residence. She didn't know whether they had no one to serve her or they hid when they saw her.

It should be the latter.

When Miss Jun approached the second gate, she saw two or three maids running hurriedly with brooms in their hands behind the flower wall.

"Fortunately they ran fast and didn't bother the young lady." Liu'er snorted.

Miss Jun laughed.

This child doesn't look like a daughter of an official family at all. She is simply a playboy that everyone avoids.

"But, Miss, do you have anything else to ask?" Liu'er thought again, "I'll go call them out and find out what other dirty things the Fang family is hiding."

Miss Jun shook her head to stop him.

There was nothing more to ask about the Fang family. The curse and the misfortunes that befell the men one after another had already made her clearly aware of the Fang family's situation.

By this time they had reached the outer courtyard and saw a fat white man being led in by a maid. The servants and maids on the way were all respectful.

All the male members of the three generations of the Fang family have passed away. The only male member in the family is a paralytic. The brothers were all driven back to Shandong. The old lady Cao’s family is probably not close to them because of the dispute over the inheritance. Who is this man who came to the door?

Miss Jun asked casually, and Liu'er took the chicken feather as a token of authority and called the person over directly.

This manager, whose surname is Gao and who is nearly fifty years old, is not the manager of the family, but the manager of the bank.

"Miss Jun, what do you want me to do?" he asked respectfully. It was obvious that he knew the rules of Miss Jun in the Fang family. He did not call her cousin, but called her Miss Jun like everyone else in the family.

Miss Jun originally had nothing to ask, but when she heard that he was the manager of Deshengchang, she changed her mind.

"Is Deshengchang Bank located in both the north and south?" she asked.

Miss Jun actually asks about business, which is different from what everyone says. The senior manager thought about it in his heart but naturally did not show it on his face.

"Yes." He answered respectfully and carefully, "The purpose of the Piaohao is to facilitate trade, so wherever the business can be done, we...our Piaohao will be opened there."

It was the first time that the senior manager met Miss Jun and he almost broke the rules.

Although many people are eager to be with Desheng Changcheng, Miss Jun is definitely not willing. If you talk to her about us, you might get spitted in the face.

Miss Jun seemed to be lost in thought and didn't notice his little slip of the tongue.

"Is there one in Beijing as well?" she asked.

"Of course there are some in the capital as well." The senior manager said with a smile.

He didn't dare look directly at the young lady, his eyes half lowered, just in time to see the young lady's hands held in front of her body, her hands were blocked by her wide sleeves, so he couldn't see her movements. He heard the young lady's soft and gentle voice with a hint of curiosity in her ears.

"Jingcheng, is there anything fun happening recently?"

The two maids stopped and the one who came over pointed in a direction.

"Miss Jun and the senior manager are in the pavilion," she whispered.

There is a small garden separating the outer and inner courtyards. A shallow stream is drawn in, a small pavilion is built, and it is decorated with flowers, plants, birds, and fish. But now it is winter, and the flowers, plants, birds, and fish are not there, so the small pavilion is decorated as a warm room with fences installed and a ground dragon lit, for the stewards and attendants of the guests who are waiting for a reply to rest.

At this time, Miss Jun and the senior manager were sitting opposite each other and talking.

"Oh, am I seeing right? Miss Jun is smiling." A maid said with a surprised look on her face.

In the past, Miss Jun was too lazy to even take a second look at anyone from the Fang family. In her eyes, the manager of this external bank must be even lower-class.

"The manager is quite capable. He actually made Miss Jun so happy." said another maid.

The two continued to walk towards this side quickly.

The senior manager reached out and picked up the tea on the low table to moisten his throat.

"And then?" Liu Er, who was standing behind Miss Jun, asked hurriedly, "Did they really write it?"

The senior manager took a sip of tea.

"I wrote it down. Four scholars came." He laughed. "I wrote two pages of books to record the fun of the butcher sitting around the fire on a snowy night."

Liu'er giggled and then made a "pooh" sound.

"It's really disgraceful," she said.

"It's just a sour article." Miss Jun said with a smile, "Everyone has their own fun."

"Miss, you are right, this is the title." The senior manager complimented, with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

This Miss Jun actually guessed correctly what people in the capital call this kind of thing, and she didn't seem to be as surprised as the little girl. It seemed that she knew something about it.

Miss Jun likes to hang out with the daughters of officials in the city, probably because she heard it from them.

"Anything else that's new?" Miss Jun asked, reaching out to pick up the teacup and holding it tightly, with a bit of nonchalantness, "Like, what's new in the palace?"

In the palace?

These young ladies probably like to discuss royal affairs when they get together, but the emperor, who has only been on the throne for three years, is involved in some secret matters and cannot be discussed casually.

This Miss Jun is a bit of a fool and has caused a lot of trouble.

The senior manager looked thoughtful.

"What's new about the court affairs?" He pretended to be puzzled. "Anyway, those officials come and go all the time. We businessmen don't care about that. The officials won't deal with us."

It would be difficult to do business without dealing with officials.

Miss Jun pursed her lips and took a sip of tea, not revealing what the senior manager said.

"Then Prince Huai's Palace..." she said slowly.

Before he finished speaking, the senior manager's hand shook and the cup fell on the low table. Fortunately, the tea had been finished without spilling.

Miss Jun stopped talking, and the two maids stood outside the pavilion.

"Miss Jun, the old lady is waiting over there to settle accounts with the senior management." said a maid.

The senior manager stood up hurriedly.

"Miss Jun, please let me go and reply to the old lady first." He said with a smile.

Miss Jun nodded with a smile.

"Business is more important, go ahead," she said.

The maid and the senior manager showed a flash of surprise but walked away without saying anything else.

After walking for a while, the senior official couldn't help but look back and saw Miss Jun still sitting in the pavilion.

"Miss Jun has a good temper." He couldn't help but say.

The two maids snorted.

"You've only met him a few times," they said unhappily.

The senior manager chuckled.

"Although it is said that time reveals a person's true character, but with some people you can tell what kind of person they are after just one meeting." He said, "Let's not talk about anything else, Miss Jun is very calm."

Calm?

If he was really calm, he wouldn't have done the trick of hanging himself.

The maids sneered.

"You don't need to say nice things when you are not in front of Miss Jun." They said, "Hurry up, the old lady and the first lady are waiting for you."

Mrs. Fang was waiting for the manager to talk about business matters, but now the first thing the people in the room asked was what Miss Jun had said to him.

The senior manager repeated the conversation between the two people in detail.

"Hearing about the rare things in the capital?" Mrs. Fang said, looking at Mrs. Fang, "Are you too bored at home?"

Old Mrs. Fang frowned, and Fang Jinxiu, who was standing nearby, snorted.

"Even after all this, she still wants to show off in front of those ladies." She said, "I really admire her shamelessness."

The young ladies of officials in Yangcheng have nothing to do, and not many of them really understand poetry and painting. When they get together, they say they discuss poetry and painting, but in fact most of them talk about everything under the sun. Miss Jun has always been unwilling to lag behind others, and she is determined to be the match for Mr. Ning Shi. She wants to be the first in everything, so she must find out more topics to talk about, so as not to be left behind.

"If she really goes out again, it means she has really let it go." Mrs. Fang said, "This is a good thing. It's better than being depressed for the rest of her life."

Fang Yuxiu also nodded.

"Yes, Miss Jun is able to let go of things so easily, which is something we should admire," she said in a soft voice.

Fang Yunxiu wanted to laugh, but tried to hold it back, and poked her with her arm.

Old Mrs. Fang opened her eyes and saw that the senior manager was hesitant to speak.

"What else did she ask?" she asked.

The senior manager glanced around the room, and Mrs. Fang understood what had happened and asked the maid to take the servant girl downstairs.

"It's not surprising that young ladies like to talk about new things." The senior manager thought for a moment before speaking, "But there are some things you can talk about and some things you dare not talk about. Young people don't know their limits, and if they are caught, it will be too late to regret it."

"Mr. Gao, just say what you want to say, and don't lecture us." Fang Jinxiu said, "What did she ask that she shouldn't have asked?"

"I think the interesting things Miss Jun wants to ask about are not just interesting things in the capital, she actually wants to ask about the royal family." The senior manager said, and a bit of solemnity appeared on his usually smiling face. "Master, you also know that the royal family's affairs can't be discussed as interesting things nowadays."

The Great Zhou Dynasty has been established for a hundred years, and the emperor who has inherited the throne to this day is the first prince to replace the crown prince who has an heir. Three years ago, the ministers who were discussing royal affairs were killed outside the palace gate by the Jinyi Guards with sticks, and the blood that soaked the ground has not been washed away yet.


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