Chapter 370: Who Doesn’t Have A Troublesome Relative
Bai Ruozhu was quite indifferent, but Fusa was getting nervous for her. She had no idea why Bai Ruozhu was quoting such a high price, nor did she guess that Bai Ruozhu was doing it deliberately. She simply thought that the chrysanthemum pattern was truly hard to crochet.
Bai Ruozhu didn’t really care. If Liu Xianxian didn’t want to agree, it was just fine for her not to crochet, and if she agreed, Bai Ruozhu would be quite satisfied with exploiting her hard.
"Miss. Liu, you misunderstood, crochet work is about striving for excellence. I truly didn’t inflate the price. A good double-sided embroidery can be worth a lot of gold." Bai Ruozhu spoke modestly, behaving very politely.
Liu Xianxian stared at Bai Ruozhu, a look of scorn on her face. "You think your craftsmanship compares to the double-sided embroidery worth thousands? Aren’t you flattering yourself a bit too much?"
Bai Ruozhu smiled lightly and said, "If Miss. Liu isn’t interested, let’s just leave it at that. We can keep our integrity intact even if the business doesn’t work out. If you need something else, feel free to instruct me."
The look on Lady Li’s face was a bit uncomfortable. Liu Xianxian’s attitude was far from being classy, and Bai Ruozhu was not just a common villager. Even if it was just because Lady Xie treated Bai Ruozhu so well, Lady Li wouldn’t dare to mistreat her.
"Xianxian, if you like it, your cousin sister-in-law will get you this shawl. You don’t have to worry about the money." Lady Li said thoughtfully.
In fact, Lady Li was just trying to allow both parties to save face, but Liu Xianxian took it as an affront to her pride. She frowned and said, "You misunderstand, cousin sister-in-law, I can afford it. It’s just that I can’t stand her swindling."
Fusa grew worried at her words. "We are not swindling anyone, Miss. Please don’t misunderstand."
Bai Ruozhu gently tugged at her sleeve to stop her from being anxious. Both Lady Ding and Lady Li were unhappy, wasn’t there a rightful voice to speak up?
Lady Li was initially well-intentioned, but Liu Xianxian’s words "I can afford it" felt like a slap in the face. And Lady Ding, being Lady Li’s sister, would hardly take this lying down. Plus, claiming that someone they had transacted multiple times was a swindler, was basically saying that Lady Ding and Lady Li were gullible and easily deceived, right?
"Well, it’s up to Miss. Liu, the two of us are fine just crocheting it." Lady Ding spoke directly, even her forms of address changed from "Xianxian" to "Miss. Liu".
"Yes, as long as we like it, it’s worth spending a bit more money." Lady Li smiled at Lady Ding, grateful to her sister for standing up for her.
Liu Xianxian’s face was almost green. She felt she was being targeted by Lady Li, and even perceived their invitation as a conspiracy intended to humiliate her.
"So you side with outsiders, cousin sister-in-law? I have nothing more to say. I’ll take my leave." Liu Xianxian got up, without even saying goodbye to Lady Ding, and left with her chin up.
Bai Ruozhu watched her leaving, chuckling secretly in her heart. There’s no way such an unsophisticated woman could outsmart Lady Li unless she had a master who could provide her with rare poisons, right?
However, Bai Ruozhu became curious. Who was Liu Xianxian’s master?
Lady Li smiled apologetically at Lady Ding and said, "Don’t take it to heart, sister. She is probably too spoiled at home." Then she turned to Bai Ruozhu and politely added, "Lady Bai, please don’t take it to heart either. I apologize on her behalf."
"Why would I, Lady Li? Doesn’t everyone have troublesome relatives?" Bai Ruozhu smiled back. At this moment, her impression of Lady Li improved a bit. Even though Lady Li had initially looked down on her, she could understand. After all, they were a family of officer’s wives and she was just an ordinary villaager. But now, Lady Li was even willing to apologize to her voluntarily, indicating that she was a gracious person.
At the mention of "troublesome relatives", both Lady Ding and Lady Li paused, then showed thoughtfulness. Soon, they both started laughing. Indeed, doesn’t everybody have those annoying relatives?
Just with that sentence, the impression of Bai Ruozhu in the eyes of both Lady Ding and Lady Li improved by a few notches. They suddenly felt at ease with her, as if they were housewives speaking private whispers. Their relationship seemingly grew closer.
"There’s no issue with the price you just mentioned. I’ll choose some beads later and have them delivered to you," Lady Ding said with a smile, looking even more congenial than before.
Lady Li also smiled and pondered, "What should we decorate it with?"
Bai Ruozhu gave Fusa a look, and Fusa moved forward with some thread, choosing a few purple and dark red beads for the two ladies to select. They also let the ladies place the gemstones together for comparison. Almost two hours passed before the two made their final selections.
’It seems women always have difficulty making choices,’ Bai Ruozhu thought to herself quietly.
This time, Lady Ding directly handed over fifteen taels of silver as a deposit. Lady Li wanted to snatch the silver, but Lady Ding stopped her and smiled, "We’re sisters, there’s no need for such formality. If we act too strictly, others might laugh."
Bai Ruozhu thought to herself, ’I won’t mock you. In fact, I would be delighted if both of you gave me money.’
Having received the silver, Bai Ruozhu and Fusa bid their farewells and prepared to leave. Lady Li had her maid give each of them a small silk purse, saying it was for them to have tea.
As they left the Ding Residence, Fusa let out a huge sigh of relief patting her chest, "It scared me to death just now, I was afraid Miss Liu would pick a quarrel, and then Lady Ding and Lady Li would think we cheated them, then what would we do?"
Bai Ruozhu laughed and linked arms with her, saying, "Doing business is a willing buyer, willing seller deal. How can anyone say we cheated? We’re selling a craft, a unique craft that others don’t possess. Of course, it’s worth the price. Both Lady Ding and Lady Li have discerning eyes; they naturally understand the reasoning. Just as some people can sell a painting for one tael of silver, while others can sell the same for a hundred taels, you can’t say that the one selling for a hundred taels is a scammer, right?"
Fusa nodded, "You’re right. I’m just too timid; who knew Miss Liu could be so bad-tempered."
Bai Ruozhu shrugged, "That’s why you can’t judge people by their appearances. At first, I thought she was a beautiful and gentle woman when she stayed silent."
"Yeah, who would’ve thought?" Fusa agreed.
There are more vicious things, Bai Ruozhu thought disdainfully. If Liu Xianxian was a good person, even if she liked Li Shunsheng very much, she would never try to harm Lady Li.
As the two were talking, they looked into the silk purse given by Lady Li. Fusa couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed and muttered, "Why are there only a few copper coins? It’s much less than what Lady Ding gave."
Bai Ruozhu gave her a helpless glare and said, "The Ding’s are a business family, it’s normal for them to be more affluent. But Lady Li’s husband is a county magistrate, and a clean official at that. How can they compare to a business family?"
Fusa giggled embarrassingly, "You’re right; I really got money on my mind."
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I’m sorry everyone, I’m late with the update again today~ I, Mouka, have to take care of my child, cook, and do house chores during the day, so for the past month, I’ve been sleeping with my child in the evening, then wake up around midnight to type for about two hours before going back to sleep, often only getting about five hours of sleep a day. Since March, I’ve been trying to write more. Maybe because I’m too tired, I haven’t been able to wake up automatically for two nights in a row (don’t ask me why I don’t set the alarm, because if I wake up the child, then getting up becomes pointless). I know updating late is not good for subscriptions, so I will try to adjust as soon as possible. I hope you all can understand. Please don’t abandon me~