Hearing that Qu Qingxi clearly lacked the ability yet still wanted to raise the price, Madam Xu became even more dissatisfied, "Twenty-five thousand taels of silver."
Qu Qingxi hesitated, but after glancing at Qingdai beside her, she gritted her teeth and said, "Thirty thousand taels of silver."
After Qu Qingxi said the number, the atmosphere on the second floor obviously froze, and everyone looked over. Thirty thousand taels of silver, so much?
Even Qingdai, who was standing next to Qu Qingxi, glanced at her cautiously and secretly tugged at her sleeve, whispering, "Your Highness, isn't this a bit too much money?"
Qu Qingxi glared at Qingdai without saying a word. Seeing that Madam Xu was stunned by the price, the smile on her face finally became more obvious.
"Since Madam Xu is not adding any more..." Qu Qingxi looked at Madam Xu with some smugness, and was about to ask the shop assistant beside her to pack up the things.
Madam Xu suddenly raised the price, "Forty thousand taels of silver!"
After Madam Xu finished speaking, her eyes were fixed on Qu Qingxi. The price was already much higher than expected. After shouting the price, Madam Xu began to regret it. She thought to herself that as long as Qu Qingxi shouted another price, she would pretend to be generous and give these things to Qu Qingxi.
Let Qu Qingxi spend such a high price to buy these things back, and see if the Prince of Nanqing will scold her.
"Madam Xu is indeed very wealthy. Hmph, I have other matters to attend to, so I will not keep you company any longer." When Madam Xu directly raised the price to 40,000 taels, Qu Qingxi was stunned at first, then she snorted coldly and turned to leave.
Seeing that Qu Qingxi left without raising the price, Madam Xu smiled smugly. She thought that Qu Qingxi had real money in hand because he raised the price to 30,000 taels, but she didn't expect him to be nothing more than a fox borrowing the tiger's power.
After Qu Qingxi left, the waiter next to Madam Xu also realized what was happening, and his smile widened. "Madam Xu is indeed very generous. Madam Xu, please come with me to settle the bill."
Forty thousand taels of silver, that's too much! Sure enough, when these big shots fight, they can get a lot of good stuff. Just from the things Madam Xu sold today, her assistants can make a lot of money.
Hearing the shop assistant's excited voice, Madam Xu calmed down a bit. Then, she walked up to the glass stand and looked at the jade ornaments displayed inside, and began to regret her actions.
Although the items are indeed very nice, it is really a waste to spend 40,000 taels of silver to buy only these few pieces of jewelry. If I just show a little interest in these things, people will immediately find good items and offer them to me. Why would I need to spend my own money to buy them?
Moreover, forty thousand taels of silver is far too much; if the master knew, he would surely scold me.
Madam Xu wanted to back out, but when she turned around and saw that all the waiters on the second floor were staring at her, she couldn't back out even if she wanted to. The main thing was that she had heard her husband say that the power behind Treasure Pavilion was very mysterious, and no one had found out who was behind it yet.
We can't easily offend the people at the Treasure Pavilion, but it's really impossible for Madam Xu to actually spend that much money.
Thinking about this, Madam Xu began to regret her actions. She had been too impulsive. Why did she have to raise the price? She should have just given the money to Qu Qingxi when she mentioned 30,000 taels of silver, and seen if she could actually afford that much.
It's too late to regret it now. Madam Xu glanced at her maid Xiaodie, then her eyes darted around before she turned to the shop assistant beside her. "I don't have that much silver on me. You should pack all these things up and have someone deliver them to Master Xu's residence. Someone will settle the debt for you then."
"Yes, Madam. However, our shop has a rule that if the amount of silver exceeds ten thousand taels, one thousand taels of silver must be paid as a deposit. The items that Madam Xu wants to buy are worth forty thousand taels, so four thousand taels of silver need to be paid as a deposit in advance."
The man added that this rule was also to prevent people from deliberately inflating prices and then changing their minds.
"This..." Madam Xu frowned. Although she was somewhat unwilling, she still gestured for Xiaodie to go with them to pay. It was only four thousand taels of silver, which was still within her acceptable range.
Moreover, she didn't want to lose face in front of everyone. The people who came to the Treasure Pavilion were all ladies and young ladies from prominent families in the capital. If she didn't even contribute the money, wouldn't it be embarrassing for the Xu family and the master if word got out?
Qu Qingxi returned to the carriage and exchanged a glance with Qingdai. The two smiled knowingly at each other. Qingdai knew from the beginning that Qu Qingxi was doing this on purpose, deliberately provoking Madam Xu to make her spend a lot of money to buy these things.
Qu Qingxi glanced at the silent Zhang Xueliu without making a sound, then turned to look at Qingdai.
"After you get back, have someone spread a rumor in the streets that Madam Xu is very wealthy and has spent 50,000 taels of silver to buy some jewelry at the Treasure Pavilion. Remember, the key point is to make it clear that Madam Xu said this without hesitation, as if 50,000 taels of silver is nothing to her, and it seems that Master Xu's mansion is not short of money at all."
“Yes, Your Highness.” Qingdai’s eyes lit up and she nodded repeatedly.
Zhang Xueliu was pouring tea for Qu Qingxi when she heard this. Her hand trembled slightly, and some water from the teapot spilled onto the small table.
"What's wrong with you?" Qu Qingxi asked Zhang Xueliu, seemingly unintentionally.
"Your Highness, I didn't mean to. I was just feeling a little unwell today, so my hand was shaking a bit and I accidentally hurt myself." Zhang Xueliu lowered her head, not daring to look Qu Qingxi in the eye, afraid that Qu Qingxi and Qingdai would notice something.
She never expected that today's events were actually intentional on Qu Qingxi's part. She deliberately provoked Madam Xu at the Treasure Pavilion and even made Madam Xu spend more than 40,000 taels of silver on jewelry. This was simply unbelievable.
If this matter were to spread, and the people of the capital knew that Madam Xu could spend tens of thousands of taels of silver without batting an eye, wouldn't that be blatantly telling everyone that Xu Ding's money had a questionable origin?
The annual salary of an official appointed by the imperial court was only a few thousand taels of silver. Even the Minister of Personnel, with other rewards and other benefits, would not exceed five thousand taels of silver.
Now, Madam Xu can casually take out tens of thousands of taels of silver. It is obviously impossible to do so solely with Xu Ding's salary. Even if the Xu family owns land, estates, shops, etc., it is impossible for them to take out tens of thousands of taels of silver so easily. There is clearly something fishy going on here.
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