In the Lin residence, Madam Wang had just paid 1,800 taels for the white jade hairpin when the silver shop promptly delivered a second white jade hairpin—priced at 2,500 taels.
A full 4,300 taels.
Madam Wang’s heart was bleeding.
Just a few days ago, she had already been cheated out of 7,000 taels by Baozhu’s biological father. Now another 4,300 taels were gone.
Something that was clearly worth just over 200 taels had been forced up into thousands. Lin Baozhu truly was a prodigal daughter.
“Someone come. Old Fang and the others failed to protect their mistress properly. Drag them out and give them twenty strokes of the cane.”
Soon, the courtyard echoed with the screams of maids and old servants.
Mother Sun broke out in a cold sweat listening.
Miss Qianqian had truly made Miss Baozhu suffer this time.
Madam Wang must hate Miss Qianqian to the bone now—but there was nothing she could do, because Lady Zhang (Princess Jishan) had even sent Miss Qianqian a personal maid.
“Baozhu, do you admit your mistake?”
But Lin Baozhu refused.
“Mother, the Xingguo Duke’s residence sent so many valuables. They must be worth far more than 4,300 taels.”
“What nonsense are you talking about? Those treasures are priceless. You should save them as your dowry so your future in-laws will think highly of you.”
Because of this incident, Lin Baozhu was grounded.
Madam Wang desperately wanted to deal with Lin Qianqian, but it was not the right time yet.
Two days later, Lin Baozhu’s cousin, Wang Yuyan, came to visit her during her confinement.
Wang Yuyan was Wang Qing’s younger sister.
On the surface, she came to visit—but in truth, she came to mock her.
The moment she arrived, she said, “Baozhu, congratulations. You’re famous now. The entire capital is talking about you.”
“I heard you were completely humiliated at the Mingyue Silver Shop. There were many noble ladies present, so your story has spread everywhere.”
Hearing the mention of the 4,300 taels, Lin Baozhu’s anger flared up again.
After two days of confinement, she had calmed down enough to realize she had been tricked by Lin Qianqian.
Her face turned red with rage.
“I only suffered once. The future is long—we’ll see who ends up worse off.”
Wang Yuyan thought to herself: just as expected, this girl refuses to accept defeat.
She then gave Lin Baozhu an idea.
“Our grandmother’s sixty-sixth birthday is coming soon. Almost all the influential ladies in the capital will attend. At that time, we can…”
Lin Baozhu nodded. “That’s a good idea, cousin. We’ll see if she still smiles then.”
Meanwhile, Zhang Hanyan was still basking in the joy of having tricked Lin Baozhu.
“Miss Lin, I’ll take you to the teahouse to listen to storytelling.”
They took a private room on the second floor.
On the first floor, the storyteller was narrating heroic tales of the Champion Marquis fighting at the frontier, defeating a hundred enemies alone.
Zhang Hanyan leaned against the railing, completely absorbed.
Lin Qianqian, meanwhile, was discussing business with A-Da.
“Miss, the Jiang residence paperwork is complete. We’re arranging renovation now. A basic renovation will cost about 1,000 taels. For a comfortable standard, at least 3,000 taels. For luxury, 5,000 taels minimum.”
At that moment, the door was knocked open—and Si Xuan walked in.
Lin Qianqian was already used to this. Almost every time she went out, she ran into him.
He could follow if he wanted. It didn’t matter—he was like a child anyway.
She instructed A-Da, “Make it luxurious.”
She wasn’t spending her own money anyway. This time, she intended to make Lin Qingyun pay.
That scum father had committed so many immoral acts yet lived comfortably and prospered—it was unfair.
He had thrown his own daughter into a snowy mass grave. Anyone with conscience would not do such a thing.
Extracting money from him was more than justified.
She had already been monitoring Lin Qingyun.
Recently, Lin Qingyun had been repeatedly suppressed by Minister Zhang. After work, he often went to brothels and male courtesan houses to relieve stress.
Eventually, he even kept a young male courtesan outside.
Now the two were in a honeyed, passionate phase.
Perfect—this would be the opportunity to let Madam Wang and Lin Qingyun tear each other apart.
“A-Da, I’ll handle the money.”
Hearing the word “money,” Si Xuan somehow pulled out a banknote and handed it to her.
“For you.”
It was a 5,000-tael note.
Of course, Lin Qianqian refused it. She wasn’t the kind of person who would take money from a foolish man.
So she stuffed the banknote into Zhao Xiaoliu’s hands, who was standing outside the private room.
Tea and snacks were placed on the table.
Lin Qianqian peeled a pistachio and ate it—it was crunchy and fragrant. Delicious, but annoying to peel, so she stopped and focused on the storytelling.
When she reached for more later, she found the pistachios had already been peeled and placed neatly in front of her.
Si Xuan’s fingertips were slightly red, and the table was full of empty shells.
Clearly, he had peeled them all.
Being foolish like this… was actually not bad. When he wasn’t, he was cold and untouchable—someone who would never do something like peeling nuts for a woman.
“Miss Lin, thanks to you, I get to eat pistachios personally peeled by Si Xuan.”
Zhang Hanyan leaned over, eating happily.
“You don’t know—when he wasn’t foolish, he had such a cold face that no woman could get within three feet of him.”
“So handsome. No wonder he was called the number one beauty of Great Yan. I used to admire him too.”
Lin Qianqian also thought he was handsome. Looking at him, she couldn’t help but reach out and pinch his cheek.
Soft. Elastic.
Better appreciate him while he was still foolish. Once he recovered, he would go back to being untouchable.
His eyelashes were so long—longer than hers. Really unfairly good-looking.
Lin Qianqian urgently needed money from Lin Qingyun to renovate the Jiang residence.
But he would never willingly give it to her—this required strategy.
So she gave a few copper coins to a beggar and had him spread word to the Lin residence about Lin Qingyun keeping a male courtesan.
Madam Wang immediately erupted in anger and brought servants and guards straight to Sushui Alley.
Chaos ensued.
Soon the entire capital was buzzing: Lin Qingyun, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, had a fondness for men.
Such preferences were officially forbidden by imperial decree in the Great Yan Dynasty, since they went against lineage continuation.
Lin Qingyun’s face was scratched bloody by Madam Wang and then summoned and scolded viciously by Prime Minister Wang.
Recently, nothing had gone right for him. He even planned to burn incense at a temple outside the city to change his bad luck.
As he returned from the Prime Minister’s residence, he met Lin Qianqian at the gate.
It was the first proper face-to-face encounter between father and daughter.