Winter Glow
Jingwan doesn't go out to sell jade carvings every day. Whenever she has some spare money, she buys jade materials to continue studying carving techniques.
Whenever he had accumulated two or three pieces of jade jewelry, he would run out of jade material and then secretly go out to do some business.
She always knew what she wanted to do.
That night, when she set up her stall, there weren't many tourists because of the cold weather. So she sat down and carefully sketched on the jade. She moved around and didn't even feel cold.
Just as she was concentrating, a hand waved in front of her. Jingwan snapped out of her reverie, looked up, and saw a young man holding a lychee-shaped jade carving, asking her how much it cost.
The young man is young, and judging from his clothes and appearance, he must not be from an ordinary family. If his uncle is the host, he will definitely raise the price several times over.
However, Jingwan couldn't learn his cunning and honestly asked for two taels of silver.
Jade is expensive, and the craftsmanship adds value to it. In ordinary shops, a small jade ornament costs ten taels of silver. Unfortunately, her jade material is ordinary and the workmanship is not exquisite, so she cannot command a high price.
The young man was a discerning gentleman; he even thought two taels of silver was too expensive and asked Jingwan to sell it to him for one tael of silver.
The two argued back and forth, neither willing to give in. During the bargaining, the young man looked into Jingwan's eyes, which were as beautiful as grapes from the Western Regions, and finally relented: "Alright, then two taels of silver it is!"
He handed over the silver. The petite girl propped herself up with one hand on the ground and reached out with the other to take the silver. As she lowered her head, the black cloth wrapped around her slipped off her black hair and piled up around her white neck.
The silver had been taken, but the empty hand remained. The owner of the hand stared at the young master in astonishment, as if he had fallen into a fairy's trap.
Fortunately, he had been disciplined by his family rules since childhood and dared not look at it too much. He hurriedly looked away and turned his head to the side. He squeezed the lychee jade ornament back and forth, and the warm sweat on his palm soaked it, which also soaked his heart.
Jingwan didn't notice anything amiss. She simply put the silver into her purse before wrapping the cloth around her head. When she looked up, she saw that the young man was somewhat silent, and the excited expression he had shown while bargaining with her earlier had vanished in an instant.
She bit her lip and looked at him, thinking he was annoyed because he had paid too high a price for the little thing, but they were clearly willing to buy and sell, so why did he regret it?
She touched her purse, thinking that if this person wanted to go back on his word, she would return the money. He was just a customer, and she didn't want to cause trouble.
Unexpectedly, the customer took the remaining two jade ornaments in his hands and asked her how much they cost, saying he would buy them both.
Jingwan was still clutching her purse when she heard this. She looked up in surprise and asked, "You're buying all of these?"
The young man nodded: "I've bought them all."
Seeing that he wasn't joking, Jingwan carefully considered the matter and asked him for six taels of silver.
This time, the young man did not argue with her about the price again, and handed a silver ingot to Jingwan.
Jingwan didn't dare to accept it immediately. There were clearly ten taels of silver in it. She was a little embarrassed: "I didn't bring enough loose silver with me. I'm afraid I won't be able to exchange it for cash."
The young man simply placed the silver in front of Jingwan and asked, "Are you always setting up your stall here? When will you come next time?"
Jingwan nodded, then hesitated and said, "Carving jade takes time. It will be more than a month before I come here again."
The young customer seemed somewhat disappointed and pressed her to tell him which shop she worked at during the day.
Seeing that he was asking more and more questions, Jingwan became wary and stopped answering, not even sparing the man's eyes.
Sensing her coldness, the young man inwardly regretted his words, cursing himself for talking too much. He immediately explained that he thought her jade ornaments were nice and wanted to buy a few more.
Just moments ago, this person was belittling her jade material and craftsmanship during the bargaining, but now they suddenly think her jade ornaments are quite nice.
She became even more silent, quickly rolled up the cloth, and prepared to pack her things and leave, without even touching the silver ingot.
Seeing that she was about to leave, the young man became even more anxious. He stood up and apologized to Jingwan, saying that he had been rash and shouldn't have asked the young lady so many questions.
Unfortunately, he didn't realize that blocking the girl's path and preventing her from leaving was a reckless act.
Jingwan was timid. The more he pestered her, the more frightened she became. She clutched the cloth bag tightly, feeling that she would call for help if he dared to do anything improper.
"Get out of my way, I'm not selling anymore."
Seeing that she was even more wary than before, the young man lowered his shoulders in frustration, preparing to let her leave. But unexpectedly, a force came from his arms. He looked down and saw two large hands holding him by the side. Before he could react, his feet were off the ground, and he flew out and crashed heavily to the ground.
When he came to his senses, he saw a burly man, nine feet tall, standing in front of him, angrily shouting, "Didn't you hear this young lady say to get out of the way? Get lost!"
The commotion was so great that the servants following behind quickly helped their young master to his feet, while the rest surrounded the burly man, but dared not approach.
Whenever this burly man took a step forward, they were all frightened and shrank back.
The young man felt utterly humiliated. After glancing at Jingwan, who looked terrified, he was even more embarrassed to say anything more and left in a disheveled state with his servants.
Seeing them leave, the burly man turned around and bowed to Jingwan, saying, "Miss, you've been frightened." He then strode away before Jingwan could even express her gratitude.
That night, she was terrified, wondering if she had offended some powerful official again, or if someone would come to the Gao family in a couple of days and give her a beating.
After a month of living in fear and anxiety, seeing that the Gao family was as still and undisturbed as still water, she finally felt relieved and settled down at home to carefully carve jade.
That day, while I was busy with my work, my cold-faced mother-in-law came again.
I remember when I was first assigned to Jingwan Courtyard, this Madam Shen never gave me a kind look. Later, for some reason, she was called back by the old lady. Why is she here again today?
Then look behind Mother Shen, there is a tall girl. The girl is really tall. Mother Shen stands in front of her, but she looks like a little bird, only reaching the girl's chest.
Not only is he tall, but he's also incredibly strong; few ordinary men can match his physique.
Let alone women, you probably wouldn't find many girls in Pingdu who can give you such a sense of security.
Jingwan stared blankly at the person who had come, and only after listening to Mama Shen's brief explanation did she realize that they were sending a maid to her courtyard.
"Here, this is your new mistress. From now on, you will follow her!"
The head maid bowed and said, "Greetings, Miss."
After seeing the person off, Mrs. Shen left without staying a moment longer.
After she left, Jingwan carefully examined the girl in front of her. She couldn't bring herself to act like a mistress, so she led the girl into a room, pointed to an empty bed filled with miscellaneous items, and told her to sleep there that night.
Seeing the messy room, Jingwan scratched her head and said apologetically, "I'll ask the two of them to tidy up. You'll sleep in this room from now on."
There were two beds next to the empty bed, but people were sleeping on them. It was already dawn, but Qingyu and Moyu were still lazing in bed!
The young woman didn't say anything, but glanced indifferently at the person sleeping on the bed.
That glance was just a light sweep, but it made Jingwan a little scared. She felt as if she were standing in front of a strict teacher, looking at his unlearned disciple!
That's strange, this girl has the air of an elder!
Jingwan then asked, "I still don't know your name?"
She thought to herself, "If you don't have a name, I have a whole bunch of good names with the character 'jade' in them for you to choose from."
The girl looked at her again, and even though she was bowing her head respectfully, she was still a head taller than Jingwan: "Just call me Dongxia, Miss."
Looking at the two lazy people on the bed, Dongxia said, "This place is messy, Miss, please rest first. I will come to pay my respects to you after I have finished cleaning up."
Although she appears clumsy, her words are polite and measured, inevitably inspiring admiration in listeners.
Jingwan shook her head and quickly said, "There's no need for greetings. You should rest well after you've finished getting ready."
Dongxia wanted to say something more, but stopped herself and respectfully saw Jingwan off.
After everyone left, Dongxia stood in front of the two girls who were fast asleep. With a cold laugh, she yanked their blankets high and threw them on the ground. Qingyu and Moyu woke up with a start, staring wide-eyed at their new partner who was as strong as a calf...
Jingwan didn't take the extra maid in the courtyard to heart, and went back to her room to continue carving jade.
She was unusually focused today. When the kitchen staff brought her food, she simply asked them to set it out, intending to eat after she finished her work.
After finishing her work, Jingwan stretched and came out, only to see Qingmo and Eryu standing in the room looking miserable, with the newcomer Dongxia beside her, who always stood up straight and had no change in expression.
Qingyu glanced at Dongxia, then brought over the food that had been kept warm and said, "Please, Miss."
Startled by the commotion, Jingwan picked up her chopsticks but dared not touch the food: "Why are you all staring at me? Go eat your food!"
In the past, they always ate separately. When the food was delivered, the two sisters would eat in their own room first. They would never stand in front of her like today, so respectfully serving her the food and saying "Please, Miss" to her.
Mo Yu looked dejected and said, "We'll eat after we've served you, Miss. Please go first!"
Jingwan then put down her chopsticks and looked at the three people in front of her.
She knew that the Gao family had strict rules, and she also knew that the maids in her own courtyard were lazy and disrespectful to their masters.
But where does she have the ability to order people around, and how is she more noble than these maids? And why does she need to put on those ridiculous acts in front of these young maids?
The two of them were lazy and unruly, but not bad people. They were simple-minded and would occasionally talk to her to relieve her boredom.
We're all locked up in our own yards, why torture each other?
It's strange, how could it have changed so much in just a few hours?
Jingwan glanced at the newcomer Dongxia and smiled, "Just like before, you can eat however you want. If you have to wait for me all the time, I'm afraid I'll have to worry about you, which will inevitably delay my work."
The two women glanced cautiously at Dongxia standing beside them, but didn't dare to reply.
Dongxia said, "Then thank you very much, Miss. But it's cold outside, and the food will get cold easily, so please allow us to keep the food warm."
Jingwan nodded: "Thank you."
Dongxia couldn't help but look up at Jingwan again, realizing that such a noble young lady still existed in the royal capital.
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