The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 708 - 707: Straight to the Heart

Chapter 708: Chapter 707: Straight to the Heart

"Don’t think that just because you came up with some dyeing techniques with a peasant girl, you can make your own decisions."

"Not to mention this Shopkeeper Wu, who always praises this peasant girl in front of his own father, to the point where his father himself is tempted, and actually wants me to take her as a concubine!"

"It almost made me the laughingstock among my brothers!"

"Me, the Ninth Young Master of the Lee Family, to take a peasant girl as a concubine? Forget the other brothers, even our own stewards have married servant girls who attended to our parents, each looking fresh and delicate. How come I am to take a peasant girl, an ’old green onion,’ as a concubine?"

"Fortunately, Shopkeeper Wu had the sense to refuse, otherwise, I would never have forgiven him."

"So the reason I followed Shopkeeper Wu to meet Wang Yongzhu this time was to see for myself what this peasant girl, who almost became my concubine, looked like."

"When Wang Yongzhu entered, I both wanted and feared to look."

"I wanted to look but feared it would be an embarrassment, and feared that if Wang Yongzhu was ugly and unattractive, it would shock me and maybe even haunt my dreams later on."

""Torn inside, I had no choice but to pretend to drink from my wine cup."

"Unexpectedly, the person who came in knew to keep her distance and sat far from me, which slightly eased my mind."

"So when Shopkeeper Wu acted humble, I gave him face by staying silent and letting him do the talking."

"I never expected that in just a few words, this peasant girl would make such a bold statement."

"Could it be a case of ignorance is innocence? How would a peasant girl know anything of the outside world?"

"Ninth Master Lee, deigning to lower his noble gaze, decided to take a look at this brazen peasant girl."

"But that one glance left him stunned."

"This is a peasant girl?"

"What a joke!"

"Ninth Young Master really wanted to ask Shopkeeper Wu, did you bring the wrong person? Does your peasant girl look like this?"

"The girl before him had hair black and shiny as raven feathers, and although her skin wasn’t as white as his, it had a healthy pinkish hue. Her eyes were clear as autumn waters, her lips red without the need for makeup, and the hands she revealed were slender and delicate."

"She wore a plain-colored thin jacket dress with a silver hairpin on her hair, which only highlighted her grace."

"Especially the way she sat there, with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, resting her cheek on her hand, it struck right at Ninth Master Lee’s heart."

"If he had known she looked like this from the start, he... he might not have refused..."

"He had seen many noble women in the Capital. In recent years, the trend in the Capital had been for ladies to be slender and willowy, to the extent that a gust of wind could blow them over."

"Their skin was fair, yet it was an unhealthy pallor, belonging to those who need assistance after just a few steps."

"They ate like birds and spoke like the whining of mosquitoes, which made Ninth Young Master Lee, who had grown up in the countryside, very irritable."

"Especially the, every time they see him, they create ’accidental encounters.’ Accidental encounters would still be alright if one could pretend not to see the other person, right?"

"Yet, for some reason, every time these noble ladies ’accidentally’ met him, before they even spoke, they would either cover their mouths or their chests as if about to faint."

"Faint my ass! Do I look that frightening?"

"Over time, Ninth Young Master Lee obtained a nickname in the Capital: ’Faint at First Sight!’"

"Damn ’Faint at First Sight’!"

"When Ninth Young Master first heard this nickname, he was so angry that he almost rushed out to settle the score with those noble women who fainted at the sight of him, but was fortunately stopped by his own father."

"Wasn’t it to avoid the limelight that I followed my father, staying away from the Capital year after year, hiding out here?"

My father said that he could only return to the Capital City when those noble ladies either got married or left.

Just thinking about it made me furious, all because of those ladies who faint at the slightest thing, I actually can’t return to my own home!

But fortunately, I followed Shopkeeper Wu here, otherwise, how would I have known that even peasant girls can be so... so adorable...

Ninth Master Lee was lost in his thoughts over here, and no one paid him any attention.

If Shopkeeper Wu didn’t regard the difference between men and women, he would have grabbed Wang Yongzhu and shaken her, demanding her to explain without dilly-dallying.

Is it just because she wants a high price? As long as it really reduces the number of counterfeit Auspicious Fabrics, not necessarily all, but by half, any amount of silver will do!

Shopkeeper Wu rubbed his hands and said, "Niece, are you serious about what you said?"

Wang Yongzhu smiled and poured herself a cup of water, "Shopkeeper Wu, how long have you known me? When have you seen me exaggerate?"

"Niece, please tell us, as long as the method is effective, I guarantee the dye workshop and the cloth store will offer a price beyond your expectations!" Shopkeeper Wu was so excited that he couldn’t even speak clearly.

"Does Shopkeeper Wu mean what he says?" Wang Yongzhu tilted her cup toward Ninth Master Lee, implying something.

Shopkeeper Wu suddenly froze, Oh dear, in his excitement, he had forgotten about the ancestor sitting next to him.

Hurriedly, he turned to look at his Ninth Young Master, fearing the Ninth Young Master would embarrass him.

Unexpectedly, when he turned around, he saw his Ninth Young Master, who normally looked down on everything through his nostrils, was not even drinking his wine, but staring at Wang Yongzhu without so much as blinking.

Shopkeeper Wu hurriedly coughed twice to remind his Ninth Young Master that it was impolite to stare at someone like that.

Ninth Master Lee was startled by Shopkeeper Wu’s cough and quickly averted his gaze, hurriedly lifting his wine cup to his mouth to drink, covering up his earlier gaffe, "Cough... make your own decision! If you can really solve the problem of counterfeits, double the amount!"

Shopkeeper Wu was overjoyed; this was the only agreeable thing he had heard from the Ninth Young Master to date.

"Niece, you see, our Ninth Young Master has also made his stance clear, if you have any good ideas, please speak up! I assure you, you will not be treated unfairly!"

With the Imperial Sword in hand, Shopkeeper Wu spoke with newfound confidence.

Wang Yongzhu was satisfied in her heart; this disdainful, annoying Ninth Young Master, with his equally displeasing voice, finally had something commendable—generosity.

Generosity is good!

After some thought, Wang Yongzhu explained the anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting measures from her previous life one by one.

For instance, a unique mark could be made on the fabrics from the Auspicious Dye Workshop, and only those with this mark would be considered genuine Auspicious fabrics.

Another way was to promote the characteristics of Auspicious Fabric as selling points, such as being colorfast and durable. Customers should be educated about this each time they buy, so anytime Auspicious Fabric is mentioned, it is known for not fading—any fading fabric couldn’t be from Auspicious.

Furthermore, they could even create a franchise opportunity, eliminating the hassle of opening branches all over the country.

They could directly collect franchise fees and invite interested cloth stores and individuals to discuss with the Auspicious Dye Workshop to become a franchisee. They could design a uniform storefront appearance and even have the shop assistants and shopkeepers wear uniform clothing, ensuring that all the store’s decorations and the colors of the fabrics presented were the same nationwide.

That way, as soon as someone sees such a store, they would know it was Auspicious Fabric...

The more Shopkeeper Wu and Ninth Master Lee listened, the brighter their eyes shone and the quicker their breathing became.

Both were men of vision, and each of these ideas was excellent.

Not to mention the last point, if they could truly attract cloth merchants or cloth stores from across the country to join, and could collect franchise fees, it would not only relieve financial pressures but would also expand their business connections. These entrenched connections would firmly root the Auspicious Dye Workshop in the fabric industry. Within a year, the Auspicious Dye Workshop could become the industry leader, with no chance for others to shake their position!

Even for the Lee Family, it would be an opportunity to reach new heights!

As Ninth Master Lee listened, his mind was in turmoil! The look in his eyes as he stared at Wang Yongzhu could no longer hide his eagerness.