Chapter 285 – A Shop Assistant Called Chao Yang
Chapter 285 A Shop Assistant called Chao Yang
Qu Moying took Yu Dong and Granny Miao to Yue’s Clothing Pavilion again. Although the rectification of the shop was going well, Aunt Yang still invited Qu Moying to take a look. The goods of the South had not arrived yet. Qu Moying had written a letter to ask about the goods, but she hadn’t received any reply yet. There should be a response in the next few days.
When they arrived at Yue’s Clothing Pavilion, they saw that Yue’s Gold Pavilion was also being reorganized. The plaque with the name “Yue’s Gold Pavilion” was hung up again. The plaque was placed next to Yue’s Clothing Pavilion’s plaque, which made it easier for others to know that these two shops belonged to the same family.
Now everyone in the capital knew that these two shops indeed belonged to the same family. They were the dowry shops that the South’s Yue Family gave to their daughters. However, the ex-Crown Princess had passed away, so Yue’s Gold Pavilion was returned to Earl Ling’an’s Mansion’s first branch. The first branch’s young master was adopted by the elder Yue, so he deserved these shops.
Standing outside the two shops, Qu Moying raised her head and looked at the two plaques above her. She smiled coldly and walked into her shop.
Ji Youran hurt herself by her own doing this time, so she must be very depressed.
The Crown Prince would definitely be criticized. Even though he immediately took action to deal with it, others would report it to the emperor. Many people were secretly against the Crown Prince, so how could they let go of this opportunity?
Pei Luo’an suffered such a big loss and even was reprimanded by the emperor. He would definitely vent his anger on Ji Youran.
“Greetings, Miss.” Aunt Yang was already waiting at the door. When she saw Qu Moying come over, she hurriedly stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
“Aunt Yang, no need for formalities. How is the recruitment going?” Qu Moying asked as she walked in. More than half of the shop assistants had run away, so they had to recruit people during this period of time.
“Don’t worry, Miss. It’s almost done. The people I recruited are all honest. I haven’t recruited any of those who are related to Yu Qian, and there is no one who is cunning.” Aunt Yang said with a smile as she led Qu Moying inside.
“How is the preparation of the goods?”
“The goods are almost ready. We just need the goods from the South and some embroideresses. We don’t have to rush to find embroideresses. After all, a good embroideress can be met but not sought. But if anyone comes to apply for the position, I will recruit her immediately. But there must not be any mistake with the goods from the South.”
Aunt Yang said.
Qu Moying knew what she meant and nodded. She was not in a hurry to reopen the shop. She would like to get everything ready first.
She followed Aunt Yang to the second floor. All the goods on the second floor were more exquisite than those on the first floor. Qu Moying stood in front of the cabinet and looked at the goods one by one. When she saw something particularly outstanding, she would take it out to have a closer look. When Qu Moying was still Ji Hanyue, she had already known a lot about the trendy style in the capital.
Seeing a pair of buttons, she suddenly stopped and frowned. “Where did they come from?”
As she spoke, she reached out and took the pair of buttons from Aunt Yang’s hands. It was a very delicate pair of buttons with a pair of rubies inlaid on them. They were finely made and beautiful. People would like them at first glance.
Qu Moying shifted her eyes to the embroidered handkerchiefs under the goods. They were embroidered with beautiful patterns and laces, which could show that they were not ordinary handkerchiefs.
She picked up a piece of handkerchief and touched it. It was indeed a fine product. It was smooth and light.
“They were made of the same material.” Qu Moying said indifferently after looking at it.
Aunt Yang nodded. “Fourth Lady, these are the samples that I found back then.”
“You said that there were not many left. But is this all?” Qu Moying raised her eyes in surprise. From Aunt Yang’s previous words, she thought that there should be at least a few bolts of cloth. Otherwise, Aunt Yang could not remember it for such a long time.
“There should be more. Although I don’t remember it very clearly, I could remember that there were at least a few different bolts of cloth. However, I couldn’t find them. I clearly remembered that they were placed at the bottom. When the other cloth piled up on them, I was thinking that it would ruin the cloth at the bottom. But I didn’t expect that when I tried to find them according to my memory, they were not there. Could it be that I remembered wrongly?”
Aunt Yang touched her head and also felt very confused. It was really hard to explain, but she clearly remembered that there were some more.
“Did you find these handkerchiefs there?” Qu Moying reached out and slid over the handkerchiefs and the pair of buttons.
“No. I found these accidentally in another place. I found nothing in the place where the cloth was supposed to be.” Aunt Yang said in confusion, and then she talked to herself, “I clearly remember they were there!”
She thought she had made a mistake, but then, she thought she was right.
Even she herself could not figure it out now!
“This pair of buttons and the cloth that made the handkerchiefs are indeed tributes to the royal family.” Qu Moying picked up the pair of buttons again, and a trace of coldness flashed through her eyes. The tributes appeared in an ordinary shop, which meant that there must be something wrong. Now, some of the cloth was missing, and it seemed that someone was hiding them.
Was someone covering up the traces? Or was it really an accident?
Qu Moying believed that there was something fishy about this and somebody was behind this. Aunt Yang seemed to be a shrewd person. Previously, Qu Moying had asked her something about the shop, and she could basically recall the detail even if it had been a long time. It could be seen that she was meticulous.
There was no reason for her to suddenly forget or remember wrongly.
It was even stranger.
Who was behind this? Was Yu so capable? If it wasn’t Yu, was there anyone behind Yu?
Moreover, the one behind this quit quickly. After selling the tributes for a few years, he stopped and perfectly cleared the traces.
At that time, Ji Hanyue was the future Crown Princess. In order to show her favor to Ji Hanyue and her satisfaction toward the marriage, the empress would send some tributes to Earl Ling’an’s Mansion to Ji Hanyue as soon as new tributes were brought into the capital. Therefore, Ji Hanyue could recognize tributes easily.
She even knew which year the tributes were from because the tributes of that year were very special, different from those of previous years.
“Aunt Yang, is there any outstanding staff in recent years? Such a person should be favored by Yu Qian, and he could even make decisions for Yu Qian. When Yu Qian was not around, he could deal with the emergency in the shop. Yu Qian also trusted him, but he must have left now.”
Qu Moying asked with an indifferent smile.
Aunt Yang thought seriously and asked, “Fourth Lady, are you asking about a year ago or a month ago?”
“Both!” Qu Moying looked at the tributes and narrowed her eyes.
Aunt Yang thought for a while and said, “Fourth Lady, there was indeed such a person. I heard that he had something to do with Yu Qian. He seemed to be Yu Qian’s distant relative. I don’t know if he has any relationship with the Second Madam. Yu Qian trusted him very much, and I once saw Yu Qian discussing something with him. They seemed to have a close relationship, and Yu Qian didn’t seem to be his leader at all.”
“What is this person’s name? Where did he go?” Qu Moying’s heart skipped a beat.
“His name is Chao Yang. He is a young man about twenty years old. He smiled first when he looked at people. At that time, he had a good relationship with people in the shop. Everyone knew that he was close to Yu Qian, so when they made a mistake, they would ask him to intercede with Yu Qian for them. He always agreed to help them, and he could cool down Yu Qian every time.”
Aunt Yang thought about it and said carefully, “He left the shop later. He said that his other relative had come to the capital and invited him to work as a manager. Although he had some power here, he was not a manager. In fact, when he left, many of the employees in the shop were reluctant to part with him. Two of them even followed him and left. At that time, Yu Qian did not say anything and even politely sent him a gift.”
Qu Moying bit her lips slightly, and a hint of seriousness flashed in her eyes. “Is he still in the capital?”
Aunt Yang shook her head and said, “I don’t know about this. He said that he wanted to leave the capital at that time. I didn’t see him again after that.”
Qu Moying picked up a handkerchief and looked at it again. “Is this handkerchief made here?”
“No, it’s already in this form when I got it, and so is this pair of buttons. When I got them, I felt strange because I didn’t remember this batch of materials had been made into handkerchiefs and buttons. Moreover, these rubies could not be inlaid with ordinary skills. We do have good embroideresses, but they could not make it so perfectly.”
Aunt Yang shook her head with certainty. When she first saw the handkerchiefs and the pair of buttons, she didn’t remember anything. Only after she felt their materials later did she remember they should also be tributes.
“Aunt Yang, can I bring these back?” Qu Moying asked with a gentle gaze.
“Of course, I originally wanted to show them to you.” Aunt Yang nodded and handed them to Yu Dong. Yu Dong took them and was about to carefully put them in his pocket.
Qu Moying pointed at a small delicate bamboo gauze box and asked with a glimmer of excitement flashing in her eyes. “Wait, what is this?”
“I don’t know. It’s just a small gauze box, which is used to put these two things. When I found it, I thought it was special, so I brought it here. After taking out the handkerchief and the pair of buttons, I put the box aside. If you didn’t mention it, I would have forgotten it.”
Aunt Yang took the bamboo gauze box that Qu Moying pointed at from the corner of the counter and handed it to Qu Moying.
Qu Moying’s face became serious. She reached out and took the bamboo box. The bamboo frame was very exquisite, and it was covered with light gauze, which could vaguely show the objects inside. It was a small box, and there were not many things placed inside. However, it was enough to put a few handkerchiefs and a pair of ruby buttons.
She could be certain that this bamboo gauze box was an item from the palace, and only the concubines of the palace could have it…
