Chu Lian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. No one had managed to recognise what a good ingredient these were; no wonder the outsider had to sell it for so little.
Since they had gotten these chillis so cheaply, Chu Lian didn’t continue to decline the offer. To be honest, this carriage of chillis would only be able to reach their full potential in her hands.
“Then many thanks to Eldest Brother-in-Law. If I cook anything new with these chillis, I’ll send a share over to Eldest Brother-in-Law!”
“It’s a deal then. Kangshou, call up two female servants to move all these chillis to Songtao Court’s kitchen.”
After giving away the burdensome chillis, He Changqi felt refreshed. He then returned to his own courtyard with his manservant.
Of course, Madam Zou had already received the news of what had happened.
Madam Zou sat in the parlour with an unhappy expression, clearly angry.
The moment He Changqi entered the parlour, he noticed that his wife didn’t seem to be in a good mood. He walked over and took a seat by Madam Zou. “Yuanjing, what happened? Did any of those silly servants make you angry today?”
Madam Zou felt even more frustrated upon hearing him say that, but she couldn’t bear to take out her temper on her dear husband. She could only smoothe out her expression and quietly ask, “Dalang, you brought a carriage full of something back from Honglu Temple today?”
Although He Changqi looked like a rough man, contrary to his appearance, he was very sensitive to the hidden meanings behind words. Thus, he immediately realised that his wife’s thoughts had gone down the wrong path.
“Oh you! What are you thinking? Those were just some goods that some outsider kid didn’t manage to sell off. He brought them all the way here to our capital, but couldn’t manage to sell off his stock for an entire half a year. I took pity on him and spent twenty taels to buy those, just to give him some money to help him get home.”
When Madam Zou heard this, she relaxed. “What was it?”
“Just a carriage full of some ‘chillis’.”
Women were still a little more narrow-minded. Even Madam Zou, who had grown up in House Dingyuan, wasn’t an exception to the rule.
She hit He Changqi lightly. “Even so, you can’t give all of it to Third Sister-in-Law!”
“If I don’t give them to her, am I supposed to just throw them away? I don’t know what to do with them, and you don’t know what to use them for either. Even if we keep them, they’ll just spoil. It’s just twenty taels, why do you care?”
Madam Zou couldn’t stand it anymore. She turned her back to He Changqi.
“Alright, alright. Yuanjing, I’ll bring a headdress back for you tomorrow, how about that? It’s the latest style from Jinshi Pavilion. I ordered it for you a few days ago. Now that I think about it, it’s about time for it to be done.”
Once Madam Zou heard that her husband had ordered a headdress for her from Jinshi Pavilion, that paltry sum of twenty taels was completely tossed to the back of her head. She quickly started questioning He Changqi about what the accessory was made of and the style it was made in.
Jinshi Pavilion was the most famous accessory store in the whole capital. Even princesses and influential officials’ wives often ordered accessories there.
Having a headdress from Jinshi Pavilion was something worth showing off.
He Changqi’s words had finally assuaged the depression that Madam Zou had been in, thanks to Matriarch He and Countess Jing’an’s talk about giving Chu Lian more accessories.
After eating a little with his wife, He Changqi went to his study with his servant, Kangshou.
He Changqi sat before his desk and instructed, “Kangshou, take a thousand taels over to Jinshi Pavilion and get them to make a headdress for me. Tell the shopkeeper that this order is from me, and I won’t tolerate any mistakes.”
Kangshou was about to turn and leave when He Changqi called him back, “Don’t take the money from the estate’s accounts. Take it from my personal funds.”
“Yessir!” Kangshou quickly left to perform the errand.
He Changqi was a little worried over his finances now. It wasn’t like he didn’t have any personal funds, but these days, he had been secretly helping out with his mother’s medicine expenses. Even if he had a mountain of gold, it would run out eventually.
He had already detected his wife’s unhappiness, so he chose to use a headdress to soothe her ruffled feelings. How could he have possibly have ordered it in advance? He had only said so to make Madam Zou happy.
