Han Chiyan saw the Old Marquis and stood up with a sullen face, offering a salute. "Old Marquis, you've arrived..."
No matter what mistakes Gu Houzi had made, the Old Marquis was ultimately innocent, so Han Chiyan couldn't show him a bad mood.
The Old Marquis placed a thick stack of storybooks on the desk, then rubbed his old waist. "Girl, if you have nothing to do, just read these storybooks. Oh, they are so entertaining."
As he spoke, the Old Marquis casually pulled out a book and stuffed it into Han Chiyan's hand. "Take this one for example. It tells the story of a foreign princess marrying into another land. At first, the princess and that young man couldn't stand each other, but they couldn't resist falling in love over time. The more they quarreled back then, the deeper their love became later! Heh heh!~"
Han Chiyan: "..."
Your plot is just inexplicable. They clearly disliked each other, so why did they have to love each other to death?
It just didn't make sense.
"Old... Old Marquis, I don't want to read these things right now. Please take them back!~" Han Chiyan murmured.
She just wanted to find Jiaojiao quickly and bring her home, so Abu wouldn't have to worry.
Seeing this, the Old Marquis rolled his eyes and suddenly thought of a good idea to cheer her up. "Girl, this is your first time in the capital, right? We have many fun things here, like those shiny silk fabrics, gleaming silver bracelets, and all the rouge, powder, nail polish, and needlework that girls love. I'll have Steward Zhou buy them for you later..."
Han Chiyan's eyes flickered slightly at this.
She turned to look at Huger Shuang'er, suddenly having a plan. "Old Marquis, since you know I like these things, why don't you let Shuang'er buy them for me? She knows what styles I like..."
As long as Huger Shuang'er could escape, she could secretly investigate Jiaojiao's whereabouts and send a message to Abu to have him send people to rescue her.
When the Old Marquis heard this, he looked somewhat troubled. "Girl, you know Yan'er doesn't allow me to let you out. If that brat gets angry, even I can't control him..."
Currently, Han Chiyan and Huger Shuang'er were Gu Mingyan's captives. Which captive would boldly go out shopping?
Perhaps they wouldn't care about someone as carefree as Han Chijiao.
Han Chiyan smiled charmingly and bowed to the Old Marquis again. "Old Marquis, Shuang'er and I are like sisters. If she knows I'm under house arrest in the Marquis's mansion, she definitely won't run away alone. If the Old Marquis is worried, you can let Steward Zhou accompany her to buy things..."
"Really not going to slip away?" The Old Marquis, with his sleeves tucked in, looked half-believing.
Han Chiyan nodded vigorously. "I'll vouch for her with my life!~"
After hearing this, the Old Marquis hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Alright. While Yan'er is out and hasn't returned, have Shuang'er go early and return early, okay? Don't make things difficult for this old man..."
"Okay!" Han Chiyan's eyes lit up with joy. She gave Huger Shuang'er a look. "Shuang'er, did you hear that? Go early and come back early, don't linger outside for too long!~"
Her words were full of hidden meaning, and the clever Huger Shuang'er understood instantly.
A quarter of an hour later, Steward Zhou drove the carriage and took Huger Shuang'er out of the mansion...
The first place they were to go was Cui Xiang Tower, because that was where Han Chiyan had seen Jiaojiao.
However, Han Chijiao and Xiao Xitian had already eaten their fill and gone home. Huger Shuang'er missed them and had no choice but to pack some food for Princess Yan'er, preparing to report back to her.
"Steward Zhou, our princess has never worn a satin dress made in the Central Plains. Could you find a good fabric shop later? I want to buy some fabric for the princess..." Huger Shuang'er said.
Steward Zhou heard this, flicked his whip, and said with a smile, "Miss Shuang'er, you clearly care for your mistress, and your taste is excellent. The young ladies in our capital all like to pick fabrics at the Chu Family Fabric Shop. Their silk fabrics are of good quality and reasonably priced. I'll take you there to have a look later..."
The Chu Family Fabric Shop was a shop under Chu Jiangtun's management. It wasn't their main business, but it was doing well.
Huger Shuang'er had no objections and readily agreed.
Meanwhile, Chu Jiangtun, who was at the Chu Family Fabric Shop, was reconciling accounts with the shop manager.
Because he had been away from home for too long, many accounts didn't match, and his subordinates were all lazy and greedy fellows, Chu Jiangtun was extremely annoyed...
He called all the shop assistants over, lined them up, and reprimanded them angrily. "Tell me, where did the thirty taels of silver missing from the accounts go? If you don't explain it today, you can all get out of here, and you won't get a single copper coin!~"
Thirty taels of silver were nothing to him, but managing a shop took a lot of effort, and the shop assistants treated him like a fool. How could Chu Jiangtun not be angry?
He considered himself to have treated his shop assistants well, giving them meat and rice during festivals. How could they fool him like this?
The manager lowered his head and said cautiously, "Young... Young Master, I, I don't know what's going on. How about we recheck the accounts?"
"Stop giving me this useless talk!~" Chu Jiangtun frowned, hands on his hips. "I'll ask you one last time, where did the money go?"
The manager was covered in sweat and trembling, his head bowed low, not daring to speak...
Did this need further explanation? The thirty taels of silver must have been divided among them, with the manager taking the lion's share and the shop assistants taking the smaller portions.
Because the young master and the two old Ma were not around, and there was no one to restrain them, these people stole from their employer and squandered the money.
"You won't say, will you? Fine!~" Chu Jiangtun narrowed his eyes, turned sideways, and pointed outside the door. "Get out, all of you, hurry up!"
The manager's monthly salary was only three taels of silver, while other shop assistants received between eight hundred wen and one tael. Even if their wages were all taken out, they couldn't fill the thirty tael deficit...
So Chu Jiangtun was already being generous by not making them pay for it.
The manager hesitated for a moment, then went back into the room to pack his belongings and left with all the shop assistants.
Old Ma stood by the side and sighed softly. "Young Master, now that you've driven away all the shop assistants, you won't be able to hire new ones in a short time..."
Alas, the young master's temper was completely different from the late Master Chu's. Every time he got angry, he acted very extremely.
"Hmph, without them, I won't open the shop anymore!~" Chu Jiangtun rolled his eyes, slapped the ledger on the counter, and sat down to sulk alone.
Just then, two people walked in from outside...