Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Qiao Jinniang didn’t tell anyone she opened a jewelry shop except for Lu Chen.
Myriad Taste had been doing very well these days, and many noble girls came to check out what clothes and jewelry their peers would wear for the winter hunt.
On these hunting grounds, hunting was important, but for women, what clothes and jewelry they wore was important too.
As soon as the news of the winter hunt was spread, the satin shops and jewelry shops frequented by noble ladies became overcrowded.
“Huh? There is a new jewelry store here! There was no such shop yesterday!”
“Let’s go in and take a look.”
As soon as the girls entered, they were attracted by a novel golden tuinga in the shop. The golden tuinga was inlaid with red gems, and there were golden flowers at the bottom, decorated with small and shiny pearls.
A lifelike butterfly made of gold filigree was situated on this tuinga. It was as if it was smelling the fragrance of the flower, which looked very chic.
“How much is this golden tuinga?”
The shop assistant said, “Ladies, this Flower Butterfly Tuinga has been ordered by County Mistress Jia’an. If you want it, you will have to wait for half a month. The price is 10,000 taels of silver.”
“What? How much is it?!”
“10,000 taels.” The shop assistant said, “This tuinga is not something that ordinary craftsmen can make, especially the gold filigree butterfly, which is very tiring to make.”
“10,000 taels is a robbery!” a noble woman exclaimed, “Even in the best jewelry store in Chang’an, the most expensive tuinga is only 1,000 taels. What’s so special about this tuinga?”
“Yes, County Mistress Jia’an owns two restaurants and has money to burn, so she dare to waste money like this!”
“She is quite favored by His Royal Highness, so she can certainly buy a tuinga worth 10,000 taels of silver without blinking an eye!”
“Exactly. How can His Royal Highness not afford a tuinga? But he indulges Qiao Jinniang too much.”
He not only put his python robe on Qiao Jinniang, but also bought her jewelry worth 10,000 taels?
In Chang’an, the dowry of a noble lady was usually around 20,000 to 30,000 taels of silver.
This tuinga cost half a normal dowry, so no one could buy it no matter how beautiful it was…
“Do I have to wait for half a month? I want it now.”
“Miss Ren, are you crazy? Why are you wasting money like this? With 10,000 taels of silver, you can hire craftsmen and make one hundred golden gold tuingaas! ”
Miss Ren said, “I will get married next year, and this Flower Butterfly Tuinga symbolizes “having a lot of children and grandchildren”, which is very auspicious. Besides, | will be married only once in my life. I want to
wear this beautiful tuinga for my wedding.”
Several noble ladies who were going to get married at the end of the year nodded silently. They couldn’t afford this tuinga, but they could still walk around to see if there was other jewelry they liked.
However, even the cheapest auspicious cloud-shaped jewelry costs nearly 1,000 taels of silver, not to mention other jewelry.
Although the jewelry was expensive, the novel styles made their eyes glued to the jewelry.
Currently, Qiao Jinniang was inside the store, and seeing that only one person bought a piece of jewelry, she wondered if the prices were set too high?
But there were already enough jewelry shops in Chang’an. If she copied the other jewelry shops, her shop might not be able to make money.
Thus, she passed a note to the shop assistant outside.
After the shop assistant got the note, he said to the girls, “Ladies, for each style of jewelry in our shop, we’ll only sell it to three people. After selling it to three people, this style of jewelry won’t be sold again.
“If another craftsman imitates our store’s jewelry, we will sue him.
“There is only one Flower Butterfly Tuinga available now. No one will have the same tuinga with you if you order it, except for County Mistress Jia’an and Miss Ren.”
The ladies who were still hesitating if they could hire craftsmen to copy this tuinga all stopped and placed their orders.
Each style of jewelry would only be sold to three people, making it very exquisite and precious. They would gain face if they wore it.
After the ladies left, the shop assistant walked up to Qiao Jinniang and placed the recorded orders in front of Qiao Jinniang.
Qiao Jinniang took the small gold abacus decorated with pearls on the side, and she was stunned after she calculated the sum of the orders. “One hundred thousand taels of silver?”
Even if deducting the cost by one-third, it meant that she earned 60,000 taels a day…
Besides, the cost was not as high as one-third…
60,000 taels of silver was almost equivalent to a month’s tax in a wealthy town…
Qiao Jinniang said to the shop assistant, “No matter who comes to inquire about your boss, you must not tell them anything about me!”
Qiao Jinniang wanted to keep a low profile. Tasty Pavilion and Myriad Taste had already made many people jealous, not to mention such a profitable jewelry store.
The shop assistant responded repeatedly, “Boss, you can rest assured that I’ll never tell anyone my boss is you.”
Qiao Jinniang took a sip of tea and said, “Serve guests with care. By the way, tell the customers that we’ll renew and repair any jewelry they buy in our shop for a lifetime. If the beads fall off or the gold thread is broken,
we can fix it for them.”
The shop assistant saluted. “Yes, Boss.”
For two days in a row, the ledger sent from the jewelry store really made Qiao Jinniang’s heart skip a beat, and she couldn’t help but exclaim that women in Chang’an were really rich.
She carved novel jewelry styles out of radish and sent it to the jewelry store.
Yuyan trotted in and panted. “Miss, not good, an imperial censor has impeached you today.”
“Impeach me?” Qiao Jinniang asked curiously, “I’m not an official, and now I’m not the daughter of Duke Anyuan. Why did he impeach me?”
“The censor said that you were extravagant and wasteful, and that you didn’t care about family affection, and causing your poor relatives in Lin’an to live on the streets and become beggars, but you used Silver Filament
Charcoal in the lobby of Tasty Pavilion.
“And that you spent 10,000 taels of silver to buy a Flower Butterfly Tuinga, setting a bad example for the noble ladies in Chang’an! ”
Qiao Jinniang asked, “Haven’t those people left Chang’an? As for the tuinga, I bought it with my own money. What does it have to do with that censor?”
At this moment, Hongling also hurried in and said, “Miss, an eunuch came from the imperial palace and said that Her Majesty summoned you.”
Qiao Jinniang:”…”
Qiao Jinniang changed into a relatively low-key palace dress, and only wore some plain jewelry to enter the imperial palace.
After entering the imperial palace, she was led into the Queen’s palace by the eunuch.
When Qiao Jinniang entered the palace, she saluted the Queen and said, “Your Majesty.”
“Arise.” The Queen said to Qiao Jinniang, “I summoned you because I want to see what kind of tuinga would cost 10,000 taels of silver.”
Qiao Jinniang bowed her head and said, “I know I was wrong, and I must abide by diligence and thrift in the future…”
“No, I’m not like Censor Tong who only set his eyes on women’s tuinga. I’m just curious.”
Qiao Jinniang breathed a sigh of relief. “If Your Majesty wants to see it, I will bring the Flower Butterfly Tuinga over next time I come.”
The Queen smiled and said, “Okay, but Censor Tong is a censor after all. Since he has impeached you, I’ll have to “punish” you. You can donate some money.
“Also, give some money to the Qiao family and make them return to Lin’an so that it won’t affect your reputation. Otherwise, if you enter the East Palace in the future, those clan relatives will bring you trouble.”.
