Fields of Gold (Web Novel)
chapter-613

Since Yu Xiaocao was unable to stop Zhu Junyang’s ridiculous behavior, she decided to ignore him and said to Shopkeeper Zhang, “How much would it cost to buy all the remaining jades?”

“Uh…” Shopkeeper Zhang secretly looked towards his master. His master had already given away a top-grade mutton fat jade worth over a thousand taels, so would he still care about this ‘little money’? Although these added up to over six figures…just thinking about it made his heart ache!

“Why are you looking at this prince? Just accept what you’re supposed to take!” Although he said this, Zhu Junyang avoided the lass’s line of sight and secretly made an implicit expression at Shopkeeper Zhang. They definitely had to collect some money; otherwise, the lass would get angry and leave without taking any of the jades. As for his betrothal gifts, it would probably be difficult to even send them out after the New Year.

Shopkeeper Zhang received his master’s signal and said with a polite smile, “Miss Yu, for the two mutton fat jades in your hands, the smaller one cost 10,000 taels and the bigger one is 15,000 taels. I’ll just take 5,000 taels for the remaining white jades and green jades. Thus, it’s a total of 30,000 taels. You’re bought over by the master himself, so I’ll offer you the best discount available at the store. You just need to pay a total of 15,000 taels!”

Yu Xiaocao didn’t continue to argue. After all, if Zhu Junyang went to shop at her stores, she would also give him the best discount. After she swiftly paid the money, she felt an aching pain as she looked at the several pieces of unimpressive looking jades.

‘People often say that gold is valuable and jade is priceless, but this is too expensive ah!’ Yu Xiaocao sighed in her heart. If she didn’t have the money-making business ‘Blossoming Beauty’, there was no way that she would spend over ten thousand taels for several worthless rocks!

“Miss Yu, rest assured, this old servant will definitely pick the best craftsman to process these jades for you. Do you have any special requests?” Shopkeeper Zhang spoke in a very humble and polite manner. His master had that he would send the betrothal gifts after the New Year, so it was certain that status of the future lady of the house belonged to this young maiden.

When Shopkeeper Zhang first saw Yu Xiaocao, he was confused by her casual and indifferent attitude. He had originally thought that when a peasant girl entered the grand and imposing ‘Wisdom Jade Pavillion’, she would feel uneasy and slightly nervous. However, this young maiden wasn’t like that at all. Furthermore, the bearing of Lady Fang and the two maidservants behind her gave him the wrong impression that his master had changed the target of his pursuit. (Author’s note: If Zhu Junyang knew what he was thinking about, he would definitely want to crack open his head to see what was inside!!)

But, afterwards, his misconception was broken by the name ‘Miss Yu’! Was there anyone who didn’t know that the Yu Family were a nouveau riche family in the capital? They came from a low origin and had a low-ranked official’s position and an awkward status, but no one in the capital dared to publicly offend the Yu Family.

One should know that in the winter, they had control of the meals on the dining tables of the noble families in the capital! Even if one didn’t care about the food, there was no guarantee that one’s wife and daughter didn’t love beauty ah.

Loving beauty was a woman’s nature. Due to the excellent quality of the products and services at ‘Blossoming Beauty’, many ladies with troubled skin had obtained satisfactory results after using their products. These results were spread by word of mouth, and now, most of the noble madams and young misses in the capital had a ‘Blossoming Beauty’ membership card.

Even if they couldn’t apply for a card due to lack of financial resources, they would use their long-time savings to buy a set of skin care products suitable for their skin. During the winter, the climate in the capital was cold and dry. If they tried to use other products after using Blossoming Beauty’s products, their skin would feel dry and uncomfortable as if they were wearing a mask.

Recently, Blossoming Beauty had launched skin care products for children, which were naturally non-irritating and could protect the child’s skin. This was good news for the children in the capital.

One must know the strong influence of bedside whispers. Even if there were officials who were dissatisfied with Yu Xiaocao being an official, they wouldn’t be able to take up the idea of going against the Yu Family due to the gentle advice from their fierce wives and precious daughters.

It was just that Shopkeeper Zhang hadn’t expected that Miss Yu had such poise and composure. She didn’t seem rustic at all and might be even more graceful than some of the noble young misses in the capital. What he admired the most was that such a small person was able to tame his master, who was such a big monster. She could get Royal Prince Yang, who was known for his ruthlessness and cruelty, to be so obedient and vowed to marry no one else but her. How skilled was that? It seemed like, in the future, he must do his best to please his mistress in order to secure his status!

Shopkeeper Zhang had actually thought about so much in this short period of time. Xiaocao, on the other hand, was still discussing with Lady Fang about what the jades should be carved into and how to carve them!

“This smaller piece of mutton fat jade can be carved into a pair of dragon and phoenix pendants. It’s quite fitting to gift a pair of dragon and phoenix pendants for Third Young Master Zhou’s upcoming marriage!” Lady Fang thought about the hairpin that Third Young Master Zhou gave last time and felt that a ten thousand taels jade pendant should be considered presentable. Yu Xiaocao nodded her head and decided to also give the bride a pink pearl bracelet. In this way, the wedding present wouldn’t seem stingy!

“This piece can be made into a pair of bangles. Cao’er, I noticed that you don’t have much jewelry, so let’s make it according to the size of your wrist!” It was difficult for women to resist jewelries, and Lady Fang was no exception. However, it was hard to find exquisite jades. As a mother, how could she try to take a fine piece of jade from her daughter?

She didn’t have much jewelry? How was that possible? One should know that the man in front of her, in order to gain her reassurance, did everything he could to send her gifts from time to time, and most of them were jewelries worn by young maidens. As long as there was something that he liked at Treasure Pavillion, it would be sent over to her. There were things like diamond earrings, diamond necklaces, diamond bracelets, and jewelry made of ruby, sapphire, and emerald. There were also a lot of jades and corals… There was barely any space left in her little treasure box.

After Xiaocao expressed that she had enough jewelry, Lady Fang looked at her and said, “Even if you’re not going to wear them, it’s good to save it as your dowry in the future!”

Royal Prince Yang had sent such valuable betrothal gifts over, so their family naturally had to enrich her dowry. It was difficult to come across high quality jade, but it shouldn’t be too late to start saving up now.

Yu Xiaocao rolled her eyes in her head, ‘Do I need these to make my dowry look more ample? Blossoming Beauty, pastry shops, pharmaceutical workshops, and the wine distillery…which of these aren’t golden hens that produced money? Isn’t just any one of these more valuable than the top-grade mutton fat jade that can’t be eaten or drunken?’

“Godmother…why don’t we both get one each—mother-daughter bangles! I reckon that the quality of this piece of jade is quite good. You can pass on your bangle to my younger sister-in-law as a family heirloom that can be passed down generation to generation. It can be considered a memento of the ancestor for the descendants. What do you think?” Yu Xiaocao urged Lady Fang as she looked at Fang Haolin, who was eating pastries and playing with the new toy that Zhu Junyang gave him.

Upon hearing himself being mentioned, Fang Haolin nodded his little head hard and said, “Okay! One for Older Sister and one for Little Linlin!”

“It’s for your wife, not you!” Yu Xiaocao helped him wipe the crumbs on his face and laughed as she tapped his little head.

With a matter-of-course expression, Fang Haolin said, “What belongs to my wife also belongs to me!”

“Wrong!” Zhu Junyang came out to show his presence again, “It should be ‘everything that belongs to you also belongs to your wife’! What are men earning money and working so hard for? Isn’t it for their wife and children? Little Linlin, you must quickly change your thinking, lest you can’t find a wife in the future. At that time, you won’t have any tears left to cry!”

When Shopkeeper Zhang heard this, he felt even more firm about his decision to curry favor with his future mistress. Even his master had said that everything he owned belonged to his wife, which meant that Wisdom Jade Pavillion and himself, a servant, were no exception. It seemed like his master would be changed soon!

Fang Haolin, the little fellow, felt troubled for a moment, and then reluctantly said, “Alright! Everything that belongs to Linlin belongs to my wife, and everything owned by my wife is also Linlin’s, okay?”

“No! What belongs to you also belongs to your wife, and everything your wife owns belongs to herself only!” Zhu Junyang firmly abided by Xiaocao’s words. He indeed had the potential of being a completely devoted husband.

Fang Haolin’s little face scrunched up even more as he looked at the delicious pastry in his hands. When he thought about how there would be a young girl fighting for food with him in the future, his mood immediately turned bad. With an expression as if he was about to cry, he looked at his mother and older sister, and pitifully said, “Getting married isn’t fun. Linlin don’t want a wife anymore!” Everyone in the room was immediately amused by his words!

In the end, Xiaocao made the final decision to make two bangles—one for her godmother and one for herself. The rest were made into jewelries or jade pendants to be given as New Year gifts to every member of the family. Even Little Linlin was given a jade amulet!

After that, the mother and daughter strolled around the shop again. Xiaocao noticed that there wasn’t a single jadeite accessory in the store. When exactly was jadeite introduced into China? In her previous life, Yu Xiaocao hadn’t graduated from middle school and didn’t know much about jades. Thus, she naturally didn’t know about this. However, it seemed like jadeite wasn’t very popular at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty!

Her eyes suddenly lit up at this thought! The business opportunity was self-evident. Perhaps, she and Zhu Junyang could be the first to endeavor in this business. With this thought, she pulled Zhu Junyang aside and whispered, “Ruizhi, I thought of a way to make money that will need your help. Are you willing to help me?”

“Of course! Only a dumbass would refuse to earn money!!” Zhu Junyang had heard this phrase from Xiaocao by chance!

“Don’t you have a team specialized in foreign trade? In the southwest of our Great Ming Empire, there’s a small, undeveloped country. There’s a lot of mountain forests in the country, but they produced a kind of jade called ‘jadeite’. There are various colors such as green, purple, red, blue, yellow, and black. Good quality jadeites are as transparent as glass, and glossy like mutton fat jade. It’s similar to nephrite and also good for people’s health!” Yu Xiaocao stopped for a moment and looked at Zhu Junyang with a gaze full of expectation.

Zhu Junyang was inwardly curious about how she, who rarely left home, knew about everything around the world. Was it that cultivated stone who told her? Perhaps that place was the hometown of the multicolored stone? The little divine stone, who was in its master’s embrace, rolled its eyes, ‘Dude, you’re thinking too much!’

“You mean…you want this prince to gather a group of merchants to do jadeite business with a small, unknown country?” Zhu Junyang asked as he looked at the young girl’s face, which brightened up as soon as she talked about making money.