Chapter 1033 - 1035: Toy Store Opening_1
It wasn’t that Jiang Zhiyi and Jiang Yihong hadn’t seen the world, but they seldom had the chance to eat such delicate dimsum, and even less often had the opportunity to dine out to entertain guests.
In a way, they were pitiable. Elder Jiang Ge prided himself on maintaining a reputation for integrity and austerity, and his younger relatives all had to endure hardships, as if the entire family living in hardship could prove that he was a truly upright and honest official.
The wife of Doctor Jiang was also not very adept at managing household affairs, and Elder Jiang Ge was quite averse to the idea of his family members engaging in business, feeling that it tainted them with the smell of copper. Therefore, the Jiang Family’s expenses were solely reliant on the salaries of Elder Jiang Ge and Jiang Xuexiang, meaning the younger generation seldom had the opportunity to dine at high-end restaurants like this, let alone casually eating out.
Jiang Yihong was very young and had hardly attended any gatherings with the other young masters of the Capital, while Jiang Zhiyi, being already eighteen, had some interaction with the daughters of the Capital’s wealthy families. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at the fresh fruit "Snow Enchantress" and asked, "This ’Snow Enchantress’ is Yingkelai’s signature dimsum, right?"
Bai Ruozhu heard her tone, which seemed to suggest that she had neither eaten nor seen it before, and carefully observed their clothes and accessories. Then, considering the obstinacy of Elder Jiang Ge, she suddenly understood.
She said with a smile, "This was made by our kitchen maid at home, and there’s plenty of it. If you like it, you can take some back with you later."
Jiang Yihong said happily, "Oh, thank you so much, sister-in-law!"
Jiang Zhiyi’s face turned a slight shade of red, she being older and somewhat embarrassed, but since her brother had already accepted, she felt she could not refuse.
Because of this little interlude, neither felt at ease starting a conversation, until finally Jiang Zhiyi changed the subject, saying, "Sister-in-law, I see that big brother holds you in high regard. If you were willing to persuade him, maybe he could lower his head and apologize to Grandpa, and then be able to return home."
The smile disappeared from Bai Ruozhu’s face as she said, "You’re Achun’s brother and sister, and I regard you as relatives too. I won’t beat around the bush. Achun will not apologize to Elder Jiang Ge. He hasn’t done anything wrong, so why should he apologize? Moreover, my father-in-law was definitely wronged back then. If Achun were to apologize to Elder Jiang Ge, wouldn’t it be the same as admitting his father was at fault?"
Jiang Zhiyi and Jiang Yihong were taken aback. They didn’t concern themselves with elder matters but they knew Jiang Yichun really hadn’t done anything wrong. He had left with his father simply because he was a filial child.
"But we are still the younger generation, and humbling ourselves to make the old man happy is also good. Grandpa is getting older and tends to be stubborn. It would be nice if big brother could give in to him a bit," Jiang Zhiyi said, with a concerned expression. "Moreover, Grandpa’s health is deteriorating, and I’m afraid he can’t take much more stress."
Bai Ruozhu was aware of the confrontation between Jiang Yichun and Elder Jiang Ge in the Main Hall. After thinking it over, she said, "I can’t promise anything else, but I can try to convince Achun not to openly clash with Elder Jiang Ge and to accommodate the old man as much as possible."
Jiang Yihong, who had completely lost his composure while devouring the crystal shrimp dumplings, had forgotten the instructions his father gave before leaving. "Speaking of which, it’s not really big brother’s fault. Grandpa has repeatedly challenged him publicly, even trying to prevent the Emperor from promoting him. I really don’t know what Grandpa is thinking."
"Ahong!" Jiang Zhiyi called out, signaling that Jiang Yihong’s words were too disrespectful towards an elder.
Jiang Yihong pursed his lips and fell silent.
Seeing that Bai Ruozhu had put it that way, Jiang Zhiyi did not want to press the issue any further and instead expressed her desire to see her little nephew.
Bai Ruozhu instructed the maid to inform Nanny Zhang to bring Little Dengdeng over. Both visitors brought gifts for Dengdeng—Jiang Zhiyi brought a little tiger cloth doll she had made herself, and Jiang Yihong gave a small writing brush that seemed specially designed for children. The gifts weren’t expensive but represented their thoughtfulness.
Dengdeng couldn’t say thank you yet, so Bai Ruozhu thanked them on his behalf. Both found Dengdeng adorable and played with him for a while before taking their leave. When they left, Bai Ruozhu really had someone bring a large food container filled with several layers of dimsum, leaving the Jiang siblings both grateful and embarrassed.
By the time Jiang Yichun returned from court, Bai Ruozhu related to him the visit from the Jiang siblings.
"Ruozhu, thank you for taking care of my brother and sister," Jiang Yichun said, as a different kind of affection appeared in his eyes. He had never before considered having interactions with his cousins from the Jiang Family. What Ruozhu did was very good, and it eased his heart considerably.
The only one he blamed was Elder Jiang Ge, not those siblings.
"Well, I have promised them to persuade you not to have a public conflict with Elder Jiang Ge, so please bear with it in the future, lest I break my promise," Bai Ruozhu said, raising one eyebrow.
Jiang Yichun chuckled softly and reached out to tease her nose, "You must have agreed conveniently because you were afraid I would be denounced by others, right?"
"There’s no point in getting angry with him; just ignore him," she smiled. He really understood her well; had the requests from the Jiang siblings been to Jiang Yichun’s disadvantage, why would she have agreed to them?
He pulled her fingertips to his lips and kissed them lightly, "Alright, I promise you that."
In the following days, the Bai Family’s Toy Shop in the Capital had its grand opening, and Bai Ruozhu specifically planned a series of events for the occasion, enlisting the help of the entire family.
First off, she set up a play area for children inside the shop where they could play with toys for free, asking only that they wear slippers before entering the comfortably carpeted area.
Moreover, on the day of the opening, there was an Educational Toys Competition open to all ages. Each competition had prizes, with the first place receiving ten taels of silver, and the second and third place receiving six and three taels of silver respectively.
So once the announcement went out, the shop was crowded with people on its opening day. Many thought, what’s the big deal with children’s toys? Perhaps they could win a prize themselves.
There were also mini-competitions for children, where participation ensured a small toy, and the winner received an even more novel toy.
Thus, during the grand opening, the adults’ competition saw white-haired elders participating, while the children’s competition featured young toddlers just learning to walk. The age range was indeed quite vast.
On the morning of the grand opening, the lion dance troupes were lively in front of the shop, and at the auspicious time, Zhang Liliang led the team to set off firecrackers. Then they hung a large signboard written by Bai Zepei with five big characters: Bai Family’s Toy House.
On both sides of the door, there were couplets also written by Bai Zepei. Bai Ruozhu had Zhang Liliang and others tell the customers that the young masters and misses of their household improved their intellect by playing with these toys, which was why the second young master managed to achieve top exam scores twice in a row.
Although Bai Zepei had resigned himself to his fate, having it said in public like this made his face feel hot. Thankfully, he had spent half the previous day playing with that Rubik’s Cube, which counted as having played with it, after all.
However, that Rubik’s Cube was really not easy; he had studied it for a long time before finally getting the colors right.
And today, the final round of the Educational Toys Competition involved solving the Rubik’s Cube. He was curious to see if anyone would succeed on the spot.