Chapter 199: Hooking Up
“I want you, this person.” Young Lady Shang stated her conditions, startling Young Master Lu into spilling tea soup all over himself.
“……” Seeing Young Master Lu’s reaction, Young Lady Shang suddenly realized the ambiguity in her words, her pretty face instantly turning red, though she quickly recovered and glared at him fiercely, saying: “At such a young age, don’t learn those flowery tricks. What I mean is, you need to establish some kind of relationship with my Merchant Family.”
“You scared me…” Young Master Lu gave a bitter smile as he pulled out a handkerchief, wanting to wipe the tea stains off his clothes.
“Duoduo, take Young Master Lu to change clothes.” Young Lady Shang directly called for the maidservant.
“Young Master, please.” The maidservant named Duoduo then invited Young Master Lu to follow her away.
Young Master Lu couldn’t help being a bit surprised. Could it be that Young Lady Shang’s residence actually had men’s clothing? But when the maidservant led him to the staircase entrance, he realized he had misunderstood.
It turned out they were leading him downstairs. Downstairs, Longchangmao was the world’s most famous silk cloth shop. To let customers intuitively feel the fabric’s effects, they also made many ready-to-wear clothes. The moment the manager heard it was the young lady’s order, he hurriedly had someone find a well-fitting robe for Young Master Lu to change into. Young Master Lu asked how much it cost, but the other party absolutely refused to take money, saying: “Young Master is the young lady’s guest. If we dared to charge you, it would shame the Merchant Family!”
Young Master Lu then let it go. He had known it would be this result; he was just being polite. He had left in too much of a hurry that morning and hadn’t brought a single copper coin…
When Young Master Lu returned to the small pavilion upstairs, he saw that the seating area inside had no water stains, clearly already replaced with new ones.
Once he sat down, Young Lady Shang smiled and asked him: “How has Young Master considered it?”
“May I ask, why does the Merchant Family want to establish… some kind of connection with me?” Young Master Lu asked softly.
“My family has always done only one thing: business.” Young Lady Shang answered calmly and naturally: “Young Master Lu might as well see it as a business deal too. I think highly of Young Master, feel he’s worth investing in, and want to help Young Master soar to success early. When that time comes, if Young Master looks after my Merchant Family a bit, this deal will be profitable.”
“I see…” Young Master Lu thought for a moment, then said softly: “This is the so-called collusion between officials and merchants, right?”
“Young Master Lu, don’t say it that way.” Young Lady Shang frowned slightly, clearly disliking Young Master Lu’s wording. Her eyes were frank and open as she said: “Without protection and shelter from official channels, let alone growing and strengthening the Merchant Family’s business, even survival would be a problem.” She sighed lightly and said: “The world is like this. I don’t like it either, but what can be done?”
“You’ve already invested in many people, haven’t you?” Young Master Lu asked softly.
“That’s another secret.” Young Lady Shang gently wagged her finger and smiled: “But Young Master Lu can guess it too. You’re neither the first nor the last.”
“Of course.” Young Master Lu nodded.
“So, how about it?” Young Lady Shang looked at him, calm and composed, and asked: “Deal?”
“Deal.” Young Master Lu nodded, answering straightforwardly.
“Oh?” Young Lady Shang couldn’t help being a bit surprised. She had thought Young Master Lu would be very difficult to deal with and was prepared to use all her skills to persuade him, but she hadn’t expected him to agree so readily. Now it was Young Lady Shang who felt a bit uneasy: “You’re not going to ask what help we can give you? Or what we’ll ask of you in the future?”
“I still have some understanding of the Merchant Family’s strength, and I certainly won’t doubt the Merchant Family’s vision and boldness.” Young Master Lu smiled faintly: “As for your future requests, I’ll naturally comply with what I can do. What I can’t do, even a knife to my neck won’t help.”
“True…” Young Lady Shang studied Young Master Lu and laughed involuntarily: “You’re just that kind of person. No one can do anything about it.”
“Exactly.” Young Master Lu couldn’t help laughing too, suddenly feeling a sense of kindred spirits in his heart.
“Then it’s a deal.” Young Lady Shang said, extending her dazzling white little hand.
“Deal.” Young Master Lu reached out and gently shook it, then quickly pulled back, as if he had suffered a great loss.
“Uh…” Young Lady Shang looked at her hand and couldn’t help giving a bitter smile: “I just wanted to pour you tea.”
“Sorry.” Young Master Lu’s face turned red; he had misunderstood.
“I think you did it on purpose, you little imp.” Young Lady Shang gave him a look, poured Young Master Lu a cup of Cloud Mist Tea, then withdrew her hands, sat upright, and said: “Some time ago, indeed, someone at our Merchant Family’s six Ju Quan Xin money houses in the Capital City separately exchanged large amounts of gold. Adding up to about three hundred thousand taels, nearly emptying each money house’s gold reserves, so this matter caught my attention.”
“Three hundred thousand taels of gold is three million strings of copper coins.” Young Master Lu murmured softly: “Where did the other five hundred thousand strings go?”
“Did you think we’d exchange it for him for free?” Young Lady Shang chuckled, her eyes curving slyly with smug delight as she spoke.
“Taking a commission of five hundred thousand strings…” Young Master Lu couldn’t help swallowing. He finally knew how the Merchant Family became the richest under heaven. “Black, really too black…”
“It’s not like we’re forcing a sale. How can you say that?” Young Lady Shang gave Young Master Lu another look, but when she made this expression, it was like coquetry—far from annoying, it inexplicably made one happy.
“He was in a hurry to exchange, and within Luodu, only you could handle it, so he had no choice but to accept the slaughter.” Young Master Lu said seriously: “It’s no different from forced buying and selling.”
“What?” Young Lady Shang looked at Young Master Lu vigilantly upon hearing this: “You want me to refund the money? Don’t you know the reason that money and goods are settled, no refunds?” She pursed her lips and smiled: “Are you afraid it’ll be hard to explain when you go back? That’s simple—just tell your family there’s money for buying intelligence in here, and it’ll be fine.”
“Uh…” Young Master Lu did have such concerns. If the clan found out the Merchant Family had taken such a large sum from them, they would definitely jump to demand it back. Then he’d be caught in the middle and unable to act. “Alright, it seems once the money is in the young lady’s hands, it’s impossible to get it back.”
“Of course.” Seeing Young Master Lu no longer dwelling on the commission, Young Lady Shang nodded happily and stopped hiding it: “But after I investigated, I found that the one who exchanged that gold was not Lu Jian or anyone from your Lu Clan.”
“What?!” Young Master Lu was stunned: “Then who was it?”
“Someone from the Xie Family.” Young Lady Shang said softly: “To be precise, Xie Min, the daughter of the Xie Clan Leader.”
“Her?” Young Master Lu’s mind flashed with that elegant yet arrogant woman, and he was greatly shocked: “How could it be her?”
“Why couldn’t it be her?” Young Lady Shang chuckled lightly, her face full of gossip: “Here’s another secret for free: Lu Jian spends most of the year living in Qing Feng Garden outside the city. Qing Feng Garden and Xie Min’s Cuihe Garden are less than a mile apart—for a grandmaster, it’s just a step away.”
“…” Young Master Lu immediately had black lines on his forehead and stammered: “Miss Shang means… those two… have something going on?”
“Have something going on? Sounds so crude…” Young Lady Shang’s little face was full of disdain as she pursed her lips, then burst out laughing: “More than just something—they’ve been swearing eternal love for years. It’s long been common knowledge in private circles.”
“How does my Seventh Uncle know nothing about it?” Young Master Lu couldn’t help being greatly puzzled.
“Your Lu Clan values men over women the most; probably the Steward of Observation only cares about male matters.” Young Lady Shang laughed: “Of course, I’m not idle enough to verify rumors. I’m just telling you, all the gold was taken away by Xie Min’s people, then transported to one place.”
“Cuihe Garden?” Young Master Lu said hurriedly, afraid she’d hold back again.
“Correct.” Young Lady Shang wrinkled her delicate nose and smiled: “One hundred fifty thousand taels of gold, loaded into more than a dozen carts. No need for me to say more about the rest, right?”
“No need.” Young Master Lu nodded, stood up, and cupped his hands: “Thank you, Miss Shang…”
Young Lady Shang was just about to say, ‘No need to be polite, you exchanged this with yourself,’ when she heard Young Master Lu add two more words: “for the tea.”
“You’re welcome.” Young Lady Shang gave him a look, then smiled radiantly: “Young Master Lu can come drink tea anytime; Luojia will always keep you company.”
“Thank you.” Young Master Lu said politely, but in his heart he respectfully declined. The tea was wonderful, but Young Lady Shang was too black!
If he drank again, wouldn’t he have to sell even Elder Sister to her?
