The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 711 - 710: Turn Against Someone

Chapter 711: Chapter 710: Turn Against Someone

Shopkeeper Wu, who had intended to say something more, came in with the writing brush, ink stone, and ink slab, and arranged them neatly on the table before looking towards Ninth Master Lee.

Ninth Master Lee nodded slightly, "Draft the contract first and let Miss Wang take a look."

Shopkeeper Wu’s pen flew across the paper, swiftly composing the contract. It read: On the specified date of a certain month in a certain year, the Lee Family and Wang Yongzhu established an agreement, by which Wang Yongzhu would sell the Riches Dye Workshop located in a certain place to the Lee Family for a certain amount of silver. Additionally, three thousand bolts of fabric were to be also sold for a certain amount of silver. The total sum of silver was to be fully paid by the Lee Family to Wang Yongzhu upon successful delivery of all the dyed fabric. This document shall serve as evidence!

There were two copies of the document with the amount of silver clearly doubled as proposed by Ninth Master Lee.

Both looked over the contract and, finding no issues, signed their names and affixed their seals, thus finalizing the agreement.

As Wang Yongzhu waited for the ink on the contract to dry, she folded it up and said, "About the dyeing of the fabric, I will need to borrow a few shop assistants from you."

Shopkeeper Wu readily agreed without hesitation.

"And about that shop we talked about last time—" Wang Yongzhu had not finished speaking when Ninth Master Lee slammed the table decisively, "Let’s buy it too!"

Wang Yongzhu, looking at Ninth Master Lee’s attitude of not caring about anything except having plenty of money, quietly turned her head away, "I will keep that shop for myself, to see if I can run some other business to pass the time."

With that plan in mind, there was no need for the Auspicious Dye Workshop to rent a shop; naturally, there were no objections.

Having discussed all the matters, Wang Yongzhu rose to leave, "Then it’s settled. I’ll go back and put things in order, draft a plan. You should hurry and send over some assistants who can dye the fabric, so we can get the fabric dyed and sent back."

Ninth Master Lee also stood up, earnestly trying to keep her stay, "It’s getting late, and to celebrate our cooperation, I’ve already ordered a table of feast—"

Wang Yongzhu’s expression remained unchanged as she calmly declined, "I am sorry, but I am still in the mourning period. I must take my leave now!"

She promptly left, and Ninth Master Lee, taken aback, quickly apologized, "I am really sorry, I didn’t arrange things properly! Please accept my apologies! I will make it up to Miss Wang on another occasion!"

Wang Yongzhu smiled, neither accepting nor declining. She had worn plain clothes, and after entering the private room, she drank only two sips of plain tea, not even touching a single dessert. If someone was observant, they would certainly notice.

Naturally, Ninth Master Lee would never notice such details, and she found nothing wrong with that.

However, now that Song Chongjin was preparing for the imperial examinations, reputation became especially important, particularly in regards to mourning. It was imperative that there were no blemishes whatsoever.

After nodding her head, Wang Yongzhu proceeded downstairs. Ninth Master Lee felt somewhat embarrassed and seemed to want to make amends, following behind her, "Miss Wang, what other business do you intend to do? Is there anything I can help you with? Feel free to ask, do not be polite—"

Wang Yongzhu fully understood Ninth Master Lee’s intent and gave a faint smile, displaying a standard courteous grin, "Thank you, Ninth Young Master! However, I only plan to run a small business, just to make ends meet, so there’s no need to bother you. Please, Ninth Young Master, there’s no need to see me out!"

Ninth Master Lee was taken aback, looking at Wang Yongzhu’s composed face, feeling somewhat defeated.

He hadn’t noticed Wang Yongzhu’s mourning, but when she signed the contract, she was pleasant and reasonable.

Why, after signing the contract, did a small error on his part result in her changing her attitude completely?

From a young age, everyone who met him would admire him for his good looks and like him, especially women, from those aged eighty to children as young as three—didn’t they all succumb to his face?

Although he would often claim to detest the attention, privately, Ninth Master Lee occasionally prided himself on the effortless successes he achieved with just his looks.

I never expected to be ignored and scorned twice today.

This left Ninth Master Lee feeling like he had a lump stuck in his throat, uncomfortable and unable to swallow or spit it out.

For a moment, he didn’t know whether to be angry at his own rudeness or at Wang Yongzhu’s disregard.

Before he could figure it out, Wang Yongzhu, carrying the deed, was already happily escorted downstairs by Shopkeeper Wu.

After saying goodbye to Shopkeeper Wu, Wang Yongzhu’s mood was very cheerful. She had sold the dye workshop and the batch of cloth. Ninth Master Lee truly was generous; with this deal, she had earned nearly ten thousand silver.

Sensibly speaking, her dye workshop and cloth would have done well to fetch five thousand, but even though Ninth Master Lee was such a spendthrift, he simply doubled it.

Even though Wang Yongzhu was usually quite composed, once she left the restaurant, she couldn’t help but beam with a radiant smile.

In celebration of this good day, Wang Yongzhu went on a shopping spree, buying a heap of things, not only carrying them herself but also having several shops deliver goods directly to her home.

By the time Wang Yongzhu got home and entered the yard, the sight of large and small packages dazzled Old Granny Zhang.

"Daughter, what are you doing? Why did you buy so much?"

As she said this, she moved forward to take some of the items, and just as she finished putting them inside the house, several young shop assistants came into the yard, each holding a stack of goods, neatly placing them before saying their goodbyes and leaving.

As soon as the shop assistants had left, Old Granny Zhang immediately rushed to shut the yard door, then grabbing Wang Yongzhu she asked, "Daughter, what’s the matter with you? Did something happen?"

Wang Yongzhu was taken aback, "Nothing’s wrong. I just bought some things, that’s all."

"Take a look at this yard and then inside the house, you call this a few things? Zhuzhu, your mother knows you have some silver in hand now, but you should realize that we don’t have any income and our expenses are high. If you spend money as lavishly as this, even mountains of gold and silver would not be enough for you to squander! As the saying goes: ’One will not be poor as long as they eat and dress, but without planning, one may be poor their whole life!’"

"Even if you have a lot of silver, wasting it like this will only feel good for a moment, what about the days to come? You’re married now, how can you seem to be regressing?" Old Granny Zhang said with a heartache as she poked Wang Yongzhu’s forehead.

Wang Yongzhu touched her forehead, hastily explaining, "Mother, I didn’t buy these at random. I’ve come into a fortune, so I’m buying things to celebrate."

"A fortune?" Old Granny Zhang immediately remembered the incident with Shopkeeper Wu yesterday.

"Shopkeeper Wu looked for you? Did you sell the dye workshop and fabric?"

"Yes!" Wang Yongzhu nodded firmly, then hugged Old Granny Zhang and whispered a number in her ear.

Old Granny Zhang was stunned on the spot, clutching her chest in disbelief.

Trembling, she asked, "Daughter...are you serious?"

Wang Yongzhu nodded, "Once I’ve dyed that cloth and delivered it, we will receive that much silver! If you don’t believe me, look at the deed we signed—"

Hearing that the money had not been received yet, Old Granny Zhang’s face lost its color, her hands stopped trembling, and her breathing smoothed out.

"That much silver, and that Ninth Young Master is really willing to give it? It’s not a scam, right? There’s so much silver—" Old Granny Zhang still half doubted.