chapter 47

In a twinkling of an eye, it was already the fifth month of the lunar year.

Looking at the roses crawling all over the branches, Yuxi whispered, “It’s been a year.” It had been a year since her rebirth. This year, she had changed a lot. She also believed that the future would change and it would become better.

Hongshan came in from the outside and said, “Miss, Concubine Rong ate some unclean things and she had pregnancy complication. Luckily, the child was saved.”

Yuxi turned around and said, “If I remember correctly, Concubine Rong should be seven months pregnant, right?” Concubine Rong was also quite impressive. During the past six months, she had reassured herself in raising her baby, but secretly she had taken away the unborn child of Concubine Lian, while her own child had not faced serious problem.

Hongshan nodded, “Speaking of which, this child is also fortunate.”

Yuxi tried to recall this event in her previous life. Regrettably, she couldn’t remember what happened at that time. Though, there was only one thing she could be sure of, Concubine Rong really didn’t have a son. She had only one child, who was Yujing. That was to say, either the child in Concubine Rong’s stomach hadn’t been born safely, or the child died young. “As a matter of fact, Second Sister has been confined for nearly half a year.” Originally, the Old Madam ordered for Yujing’s confinement to be for a year and Yuxi thought it was merely a talk. She didn’t expect it to be true. This confinement in the family Buddhist hall had happened for half a year which made her felt that Yujing probably had gone half-crazy being confined.

Hongshan thought that Second Miss’s confinement had made everyone’s life peaceful and quiet. “If Second Miss comes out, we will not be able to live this peaceful anymore.”

Yuxi smiled softly, “What is there to be afraid of? The last time I was defenceless, however, this time, there won’t be a repeat of what happened last time.“ Later on, she would not herself suffer any more loses against Yujing.

In the evening, Hongshan brought a message to Yuxi, “Miss, Mama Fang said she will come visit the next day.”

When Yuxi heard this, a smile appeared on her face. With Mama Fang entering the residence tomorrow showed that the matter was progressing smoothly.

When Mama Fang saw Yuxi the next day, her face was filled with joy, “Miss, Yao Ji’s shopkeeper is willing to buy our prescription, but he asked us to sell it to them only.”

This request was not excessive, so Yuxi naturally agreed. The two discussed for a long time before Mama Fang left the residence.

In the afternoon the same day, Yao Ji’s general shopkeeper got the prescription for the ointment. Looking at the prescription, his heart whispered, it didn’t look like a little girl’s handwriting.

As Mama Fang looked at the shopkeeper, she said, “If shopkeeper is not at ease, then forget it.”

The shopkeeper chuckled, “No, I just think this words seem to have just been written up.”

Mama Fang’s heart jumped, but she did not have stage fright this time, “As long as the prescription is fine, when it was written is not important. The shopkeeper is the one in charge, isn’t so?”

General shopkeeper of the Yao store naturally won’t put on a rival show (Chinese idiom : to get into confrontation) with Mama Fang at this time, as he, himself, didn’t understand pharmacology. He glanced at it once more and then handed it over to an elderly man with a long beard whose age estimated to be about fifty years old.

After reading the prescription, the bearded old man said to the shopkeeper, “Most of the ingredients listed in the prescription are used to make scar-removing ointment.” During this period of time, Yao Ji store had already specially assigned a person to analyse the ingredients of this ointment. Of course, only the general composition could be analysed. It was impossible to analyse how to allocate and how much materials were used for a single ointment.

General shopkeeper of the Yao store was extremely delighted. Originally, he was only thinking of giving it a try, however he didn’t expect to find a golden egg. He let the bearded old man went out first, then said to Mama Fang, “We can sign the contract now.”

Mama Fang shook her head and said, “My Master said that no contract would be signed.” If you didn’t sign a contract, it meant that you were unwilling to let go of your handle on the prescription.

Yao Ji’s general shopkeeper’s eyebrows quiver with some embarrassment. He had found out all the ins and outs of Mama Fang, and he roughly guessed that the prescription should have come from Fourth Miss of the Duke Han of the State’s official residence. Although he didn’t know where she got the ancient prescription, he would accept it, as long as the prescription was true. As for the genuineness of the prescription, he had no doubt. Although the ointment was not really good-looking, he had been testing it for a month and the effect was really good. Several kinds of scar-removing ointment currently in circulation on the market were not as effective as this one. So, he said, “I can’t pay without a contract!” The most important thing was, in case there was any problem, he could go and asked the creator of the ointment.

Mama Fang outrightly said, “My master said that if you don’t believe me, you can wait until the ointment is made before paying.”

Yao Ji’s general shopkeeper was dumbfounded, as he didn’t expect the other party to be this daring. He thought for a moment and then said, “If it this way, I will pay one-third of the amount first, and then pay the rest after the ointment had been completely made.” This was already his maximum authority he could use.

Mama Fang nodded as an agreement, then she added, “My Master also said that she was willing to sell you the prescription only because she saw Yao Ji’s business reputation was the best. As long as you keep your promise, no third person will know about this prescription.“

Yao Ji’s general shopkeeper now understood why Mama Fang didn’t dare to collect the money first. Both her and her Master did not worry about them not paying at all. If the shop didn’t dare to pay, they would sell the prescription to other shop. If things were not exclusive, profits would be greatly reduced. However, if he leaked the story on Fourth Miss being the seller, it would not do any great harm to Fourth Miss, but it would damage their reputation. The shopkeeper immediately said, “Fang niangzi (polite form of address for a woman), rest assured. This matter will never be spread. The rest of the money will be sent to you as soon as the ointment is made. “

Mama Fang shook her head and said, “When the time comes, you can send a message and I’ll get it myself.” She didn’t want anyone to know that she had a business relationship with Yao Ji shop.

For this prescription, Yuxi’s first offered was fifteen thousand taels, however, the shopkeeper of the Yao shop knew that she didn’t want her residence to know, so, he deliberately lowered the price down to eighth thousand taels. After both side haggled over the price, finally they both came to an agreement of the price twelve thousand taels of silvers. This time, the shopkeeper paid four thousand taels of silver first as per agreement.

A sample of silver tickets or yín piào of Northern Song Dynasty.

Image credited to artxun via baike.baidu.com

Mama Fang carefully took the silver tickets with both hands and put them in her pocket. When she walked out of the door, her legs were still shaking, as she had never seen so much money in her life!

After sending off Mama Fang, Yao shopkeeper couldn’t help but whispered to the waiting old man by his side, “Third Uncle, you said that the Fourth Miss of the Duke Han of the State’s official residence was only five years old. Why is she so hard to handle with?“ Such a precious thing and she dared to take it out so casually. If it was him, she would not have be treated like an apple of his eyes.

The bearded old man said, “It doesn’t matter whether Fourth Miss Han is hard to deal or not. What matters is this prescription. As long as the prescription can really make money for us, nothing else matters.“ The other party asked them not to reveal the news, indicating that she didn’t want others to know about it, thus it can be seen that she tried to avoid this matter being known by people of Duke Han of the State’s official residence.

The old man didn’t think much of it. There are many things happened in a large family. A little girl suddenly got such a large sum of money and she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep a cent if this was being known. That’s why she made this kind of request.

Yao’s general shopkeeper nodded and said, “What Third Uncle said is right.”

The four thousand silver ticket made Mama Fang nervous for the next few days. After half a month, she got another eight thousand taels of silver, which made her felt so worried that she couldn’t sleep well, afraid that something would go wrong. When Moju came to deliver things, she immediately handed the box containing the money to Moju and said, “This box contains the income from last month. Take it back to Miss.”

Moju took it with both hands and said, “Mama, rest assured, I’ll go back and give it to Miss.” The box was locked. One key was in Mama Fang’s hand and the other was with Yuxi.

When Yuxi saw the money box, she still looked like usual and said, “Put it down. I’ll look at it first, and then you put it into account in the evening.” Everything she acquired must be accounted for, and the person in charge of the money box was Moju.

Moju was loyal and honest, so Yuxi still felt at ease with her. Of course, the money and accounts were separated into two things. Even if Moju really started thinking carefully about everything, Yuxi still would not be worried.

Although Mama Fang didn’t come to the residence, she also entrusted Hongshan’s brother with the message. Of course, they all used the code words that had been said in advance. So, Yuxi knew there was something else inside the money box.

After Moju went out, Yuxi took out the key and opened the box. She saw a pile of broken silvers pressing on several sheets of silver tickets inside.

Yuxi was thrilled to see these silver tickets. When she married in her previous life, her dowry was more than twenty thousands, which was the reason why she married Jiang Hongjin. However, Yuxi soon calmed down. These twelve thousand silver tickets and two silver pieces were huge sums, but they could only buy a few decorations in Yuchen’s house, which meant that there was nothing for her to be too excited about.

With such a large sum of money, Yuxi felt she had to buy some properties quickly. Having a property meant that she had a fixed income every year. This way, she would not need to worry about money later on. Even if she didn’t receive any money from her mama’s baozi (steamed stuffed bun) shop, she would still make money through her properties. She also didn’t have much ambition either. As long as she had plenty of money, she believed she would have a comfortable life in the future. After facing so many things, she knew very well that it was much more convenient to have money and used them to handle things in the residence. With Hongshan’s vast relationship with others in one hand, added up with her ability to scout out some news, would surely cost her a lot of money.

Yuxi was not in a hurry either. It would not take only a day or two to complete the purchase of properties. It would have to be done slowly, not hurriedly.

When Yuxi received a large sum of money, she still acted the same as usual. Even her personal maid, Moju and Hongshan didn’t see any difference in her.

In a blink of an eye, it was vacation time again. In every month, there would be two days off, and both days were the last two days of each month. This was Teacher Song’s habit, which could not be shaken even with thunder (Chinese idiom : the arrangements are unalterable).

One day, Yuchen offered an invitation, “Fourth Sister, my uncle will have his birthday in a couple of days. Please come with me!” She was very much loved by the Old Madam of Marquis Pingqing’s residence. That was why, she had to learn from Teacher Song. Otherwise, Old Madam Jiang would often take her back to the Jiang family.

Yuxi politely refused, “Third Sister, I have to review my lessons these two days, so I won’t go.” Some young misses of Marquis Pingqing’s residence had a high outlook and they liked to turn up their nose at her, just because she was the daughter of the second wife. In her previous life, she was not looked down upon by them, so she was not prepared to start making friends with some people in Marquis Pingqing’s residence.

Yuxi intended to take advantage of this two-day holiday to study the double-sided embroidery. The talent for learning things was really very important. She felt extremely difficult when learning qin, but with this double-sided embroidery, even if no one taught her, she now already gotten the knack. Once you got the knack, it was much easier to master.

Yuchen was disappointed, but she did not insist.

Looking at Yuxi’s back, Shishu said unevenly, “Miss plans everything for Fourth Miss, but she is not sympathetic at all. Miss, you’d better stay away from her in the future!” She felt that Yuxi did not know what was good or bad and was not worth the trouble of her Miss.

Yuchen looked at Shishu and said flatly, “You are getting old too. I will ask my grandmother to let you out.”

This words were like a thunderbolt from the clear sky (Chinese metaphor : a sudden accident). It did not only frightened Shishu, but also Shiqin. “Miss,” said Shiqin, “Although this is a little overstepping, it is also for Miss’s sake.”

Yuchen said coldly, “For my sake, you can provoke my sister relationship with my Fourth Sister? The last time I didn’t pursue it was because she had served me for many years. This time, I am determined not to spare anyone any more.”

Shishu collapsed to the ground.