Chapter 166 Encountering Miss Liu While Shopping
Liu Ye felt a little guilty towards Young Master Zhao. Maybe she should go visit him in prison? But then she thought better of it. She heard that it was Steward Zhao who exposed Prefect Zhao's embezzlement. It really was...
"Isn't this Miss Liu? What a coincidence!"
Liu Ye turned around and saw a young lady with a maid, smiling at her. She felt that the lady looked familiar, as if she had seen her at Old Madam Zhao's birthday banquet, but she did not know who she was: "Yes, what a coincidence."
Miss Liu, the daughter of Magistrate Liu, guessed that Liu Ye did not know who she was, so she introduced herself with a smile: "My father is Magistrate Liu. Miss Liu, you can just call me Miss Liu."
Upon hearing this, Liu Ye realized that she was the daughter of Magistrate Liu, and immediately greeted her politely with a smile, "Hello, Miss Liu, are you out shopping?"
Miss Liu pointed to the jewelry store next to her: "Isn't it the New Year? I want to buy myself some new jewelry. Miss Liu, why don't you go and have a look? This jewelry store is newly opened and has many new styles. Miss Liu is pretty, but you dress too plainly. It's just a coincidence that we met today. I'll help you choose."
Seeing how enthusiastic Miss Liu was, Liu Ye felt embarrassed to refuse. She could go in and buy a few pieces of jewelry, since she didn't really have any: "Okay, Miss Liu, please."
Miss Liu smiled and nodded, then led the way into the jewelry store. Liu Ye followed closely behind. As soon as the shopkeeper saw Miss Liu, he hurriedly and warmly greeted her, bowing and scraping as he came out from behind the counter: "Oh, Miss Liu, you've arrived! No wonder the magpies were chirping at my door this morning. It turns out we have a distinguished guest! Hahaha, as the old saying goes, timing is everything. We just received a new batch of goods today. Miss Liu, you can choose first, and then others can choose what's left."
Liu Ye pouted. What nonsense was he talking about? It was only because she didn't care about his words that she dared to argue with him.
Miss Liu was pleased with the shopkeeper's flattery, and she said with a smile, "Then bring them all out for us to see. Miss Liu, you should take a look too."
The shopkeeper brought out two trays of jewelry from behind. There were gold pieces, jade pieces, gold-inlaid gemstone pieces, gold-inlaid jade pieces, and pearl jewelry—a dazzling array of styles. Liu Ye thought they were all quite beautiful. She picked up a ruby hairpin. The hairpin had a golden flower at the top, with a ruby set in the center. The ruby was quite large, about the size of a thumb, and it sparkled brightly. "Shopkeeper, how much is this hairpin?"
The shopkeeper chuckled and said, "Young lady, you have excellent taste. This gemstone hairpin you're holding is our shop's prized possession, priced at two thousand five hundred taels. But since you've come with Miss Liu, I'll give you a discount: two thousand four hundred taels."
Liu Ye didn't think it was expensive, after all, the gemstone was so big and the gold hairpin was quite heavy, and most importantly, she wasn't short of money: "The price is acceptable, I'll take it, please wrap it up for me."
The shopkeeper was stunned for a moment, then his face lit up with joy: "Alright, alright, miss, please wait a moment, I'll wrap it up for you right away."
Liu Ye took out a stack of silver notes from her satchel, counted out 2,400 taels and put them on the counter. She had exchanged these at the bank a couple of days ago. She had exchanged a total of 100,000 taels of silver notes. It was more convenient to spend silver notes when buying expensive things.
Miss Liu looked at Liu Ye in shock. Wasn't Miss Liu the hunter's fiancée? How could she be so rich? Two thousand four hundred taels of silver, just like that. You know, even though she was the daughter of Magistrate Liu, she couldn't afford such an expensive hairpin. Her private savings were only a little over 1,000 taels.
This time when she went to the gold shop, her mother only gave her one hundred taels. When Miss Liu saw the shopkeeper hand the brocade box to Liu Ye, she felt a little uncomfortable.
Liu Ye put the jewelry box into her handbag and continued to select jewelry from the tray. She took a liking to a jade ring, which was icy with green flecks inside. The green was a deep emerald green, very beautiful. She wasn't interested in anything else. She didn't really like wearing necklaces; she always felt like they were a tight headband around her neck.
Miss Liu also browsed through the tray, and finally she chose two necklaces and two gemstone hairpins, one set with an emerald and the other with a sapphire. The styles were also very beautiful. She held the jewelry in front of Liu Ye and said, "Miss Liu, can you tell me if they are pretty and suitable for me to wear?"
Liu Ye looked at them carefully and said, "They all look good and suit Miss Liu very well."
Miss Liu said with a troubled look, "I also think it looks pretty good, but I left in a hurry today and didn't bring that much money with me. It seems I can only come back another day to buy it. Shopkeeper, please don't sell it to anyone else yet. I'll come back to buy it tomorrow."
The shopkeeper nodded with an awkward smile: "Okay, I'll save it for Miss Liu."
Miss Liu glanced at Liu Ye out of the corner of her eye, waiting for her to say that she had bought it for her, but she waited for a long time without Liu Ye saying anything. She was just fiddling with her ring. Frustrated, Miss Liu had no choice but to pretend to be concerned and say, "Oh, I really like it so much. I want to sleep with it tonight. Honestly, I forgot to bring my money. Ling'er, you didn't even remind me. Otherwise, I could have bought it now. How am I supposed to sleep tonight?"
Liu Ye decided to keep wearing the ring and ask, "Shopkeeper, how much is this ring?"
The shopkeeper quickly smiled and said, "The original price was 50 taels, but you can give me 20 taels. You are welcome to visit our shop anytime."
Liu Ye gave the shopkeeper a 50-tael silver ingot, and the shopkeeper gave her 30 taels of change. When Miss Liu saw that Liu Ye was only paying for her own, she became as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. She looked at the shopkeeper and asked, "Shopkeeper, how much are these pieces of jewelry for me?"
The shopkeeper smiled and said, "These five pieces of jewelry in your hand originally cost six thousand five hundred taels, but who is Miss Liu? I certainly can't make money off you. After deducting the labor cost, I'll charge you six thousand taels."
Miss Liu was surprised to hear that it was indeed very expensive. She looked at Liu Ye with an embarrassed expression and said, "Miss Liu, I was in a hurry to leave today and forgot to bring my money. Why don't you pay for it for me first? I'll have my maid pay you back tomorrow. Is that alright?"
Liu Ye had a bad feeling. She had seen through her intention to take advantage of her. She said with an embarrassed look, "I'm so sorry, Miss Liu. I only brought this much silver note and I've already spent it all. Why don't you have your maid go home and get some? I'll wait for her here with you."
Miss Liu didn't want to hear her say that. She gave her maid a wink, and the maid immediately stepped forward and said, "Miss, you've forgotten, Madam went to your maternal grandmother's house, and Master is working at the yamen and isn't home either. I won't be able to get the money if I go home."
Miss Liu pretended to be anxious and kept stamping her feet: "Oh dear, how could I forget about that? What should I do!"
The maid Ling'er looked at Liu Ye and said, "Miss Liu, your family also lives in town, right? Why don't I accompany you home to get the money? Don't worry, my young lady is the daughter of the county magistrate, how could she possibly shortchange you on money?"
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