When Wenqing pushed open the doors and entered the room, she saw Chu Lian sitting in front of the desk with her head slightly bent forward. She was using some black eyebrow dye to draw on some paper.
She walked over as soundlessly as she could and stood to one side. She looked at the paper, but she couldn’t tell what Chu Lian was drawing at all. There were even strange symbols marked on the paper here and there.
Before Wenqing could ask, Chu Lian spoke up first. “Quick, tell Manager Qin to find the best carpenter in Liangzhou City and bring him here! Quickly!”
Chu Lian’s tone was so firm that Wenqing couldn’t help but treat it as a very serious matter. She had absolute trust in her Third Young Madam. As absurd as Chu Lian’s actions might look to others sometimes, Wenqing would never doubt her mistress. After experiencing the power of her young madam’s ideas so many times, Wenqing had already become a loyal fan of Chu Lian’s.
“Third Young Madam, rest assured. This servant will go and look for Manager Qin right now!”
After Manager Qin had been given his orders, although he found it rather strange as well, he set to work immediately.
Manager Qin was quite capable. In just half a day, he managed to find the best carpenter in Liangzhou City and invited him to the He Estate.
Just as they entered the estate, they bumped into the leader of the He Family’s soldiers, Mo Chenggui.
Mo Chenggui was dressed in just a single layer of clothing. He was drenched in sweat from shovelling snow, even to the point that his hair seemed to be giving off steam.
The private soldiers behind him were all panting for breath as well.
When Mo Chenggui looked up, what he saw was Manager Qin leading an old man in with a bright smile on his face which looked almost ingratiating.
Mo Chenggui was a stubborn man who had no forbearance for anything. He was already biased against Chu Lian, so he never had anything nice to say to Chu Lian’s subordinate, Manager Qin.
Normally, the two of them would mind their own business, somewhat keeping the peace in the estate. However, Mo Chenggui wasn’t going to let him off so easily today.
Everyone in the estate had been put to shovelling snow. Even the two guard siblings from Chu Lian’s courtyard, Li Xing and Li Yue, hadn’t been exempt. However, look at this Manager Qin. It was fine if he didn’t help out, but he had even gone out early in the morning for some idle walk. Now he was bringing back some stranger to the estate.
Mo Chenggui shot a glance at Manager Qin from the corners of his eyes. He spoke with a mocking tone, “While everyone in the estate is working so hard, Manager Qin seems to have plenty of free time. Even the knee-high snow isn’t enough to stop your feet from wandering out.”
Manager Qin didn’t have the time to argue with Mo Chenggui. He bowed towards Mo Chenggui before quickly leading the carpenter towards Chu Lian’s courtyard.
Mo Chenggui’s wrinkled old face turned dark with anger.
“Look at what a good dog he is!”
The private soldiers next to him kept silent, afraid that they would accidentally spark the temper of their volatile old brother.
After getting ignored by Manager Qin, Mo Chenggui couldn’t hold down the frustration in his heart. He spit on the ground before saying, “Send someone to see what kind of trouble Third Young Madam is trying to cause now!”
One of the soldiers acknowledged the order and left.
When Manager Qin led the carpenter into the courtyard, Chu Lian was already seated in the parlour with some papers in hand.
Manager Qin was very reliable when it came to business. Although the carpenter he had found wasn’t literate, when Chu Lian explained her blueprints to him, he immediately understood. He was really the best in the woodworking business around here after all. The old carpenter examined the three blueprints, each with a different view of the design, for about fifteen minutes before knowing exactly what he had to do.
“Old Master, how fast can you make this?” Chu Lian asked impatiently.
The old carpenter looked at the blueprints in his hands for a moment before speaking, “Esteemed Madam, this old man has never done anything like this after living for so long. This old man will speak to you honestly. If this old man were to do it alone, it would take at least five days. If you would allow this old man to bring in this old man’s sons and grandsons to help, then it can be done in about two to three days.”
