Chapter 81: CH 81

Mo Yan had just happened to be thirsty and drank a cup of tea when the red-clothed lady handed Lu Junming a package. It went without saying that was the dress she had had her eye on from before.

It was impolite to refuse a gift in someone else’s shop, so Mo Yan smiled, “I knew you’d be like this, and I swear I won’t go out with you anymore. In which case, how about you buy a dress for my sister too? She likes purple and she’s taller than me; I’ll have to bother this lady to pick out a suitable dress.”

Lu Junming put down the teacup in his hand, “In which case, we’ll buy two coats too, since the weather is getting colder.”

The red-clothed lady disappeared for a second before returning with another package, “Does the young lady need to inspect the package first?”

He accepted the package, “There’s no need, we trust your judgement Aunt Hong.”

Mo Yan smiled, “I almost forgot you were from here.”

Lu Junming finally introduced the red-clothed lady to Mo Yan, “This is the owner of Hongling Embroideries, Shen Hongling or Aunt Shen. She’s a close friend of my mother.”

She bowed low, but Shen Hongling helped her up, “Any friend of Lu Junming’s is also a friend of my Hongling Embroideries. You can come over if you have any needs in the future.”

Shen Hongling then asked about Ms. Zhao. After hearing that it would be harder for them to see each other in the future, she couldn’t help but sigh. Mo Yan said, “It’s not a long distance, and if we can come here, you can go there as well. We welcome you to come over anytime.”

After leaving Hongling Embroideries, Lu Junming took Mo Yan to a fabric shop called Pengxiang Textiles Factory. There were a large amount of textiles within the shop, and it was dizzying to the eyes. He called an employee over, “We want to see some of your mid-range fabrics, preferably some that sell well after the New Year.”

The employee took them to the side of the shop, “Here’s what you’re looking for.”

Mo Yan glanced at the fabrics, but they were garish and old-fashioned.

“Take some samples out for us to have a look.”

“You’re here to…”

“Yes, we’re here to import fabrics to sell.”

The store’s employees would get a bonus if they found a long-term source of revenue. The employee instantly rushed to get the samples, “Please, have a seat and take a look.”

Mo Yan sat down to look at the samples, while Lu Junming remained standing behind her, like a lackey. The employee was confused, as he seemed to be a few years older than her.

After looking for a while, she chose ten fabrics, “We want two rolls of these ten fabrics each, and we’ll buy more if they sell well. Can we have a set of samples as well?”

“I’ll have to ask the manager.”

As it would be a large source of revenue, the manager should have come out personally. However, before he could do so, Chi Jie came rushing in, and instantly saw Lu Junming, “You were in such a hurry to ditch me before, why are you at my family’s store now?”

It turns out his family runs this store, and connections are good for business. Mo Yan stepped forwards and asked, “Mr. Chi, your family has a fabric shop, do you have a textiles factory as well?”

He pointed at the door, “It’s on the name.” After that, he started questioning Lu Junming again, “Why didn’t you tell me you were buying fabrics, you could’ve asked me for help.”

“Why would I, are you able to make the decisions here?”

The manager had just come out by then, and Chi Jie asked him while puffing out his chest, “Manager Ng, am I able to make the decisions here?”

Manager Ng smiled civilly, “Second Young Master certainly can, but your father has told me that you don’t need to worry about business for now as you have just recovered from a severe illness.”

Lu Junming said, “Wait to the side, don’t interfere with business then.”

Although Chi Jie couldn’t make any business-related decisions for now, the manager still had to acquiesce to his friend’s request for a set of samples. He had bought a lot of items from their store anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Manager Ng said, “From now on, I’ll ask the postal service to send anything to you. If you need anything, just write a letter; there’s no need to travel all the way here.”

Chi Jie couldn’t help but speak up, “Lu Junming, have you gone to see your father yet? He’s very worried about you.”

Lu Junming pressed both hands on his shoulders angrily, “Chi Jie, shut up. If you bring that old man here I’ll cut off all ties with you.”

He paid for the fabric, then left. Chi Jie chased after him, “Is where you currently live a fun place to be? Take me there to have fun too!”

He didn’t care about his feelings at all, and kept on yammering while they walked until Lu Junming had enough and stopped. “Go back and don’t bother us anymore. We still have serious business to take care of.”

Mo Yan gently pulled on his sleeve, “Don’t be like that.”

Chi Jie stopped too, with a wronged expression on his face, “Don’t you know I missed you? Now you’re gone, I don’t have any friends here. I’m really lonely and want to go back home.”

Wasn’t his home here? Where did he want to go back to? Mo Yan was just thinking that when Lu Junming dragged her away. However, they only walked a few steps before stopping as Chi Jie was still standing in place, still with a wronged expression on his place.

“Go back first! I’ll write a letter to you during springtime, so we can take you to have fun, alright?”

Chi Jie nodded vigorously, with a big smile on his face.

Mo Yan pointed at her head, “He…”

“In spring, he fell off his horse and something went wrong with his head. When he woke up, he started speaking strangely and kept saying this wasn’t where his home was. His father had invited many physicians over to help him, but to no avail.”

Mo Yan thought, His personality changed after he woke up, was he also a transmigrator? [1]

She wanted to talk to Chi Jie a bit more, but Lu Junming didn’t want to dally, afraid his father would catch him and place him under house arrest.

Zhong Cheng hadn’t been idle on his end, either. Not only had he sold all of his grains, he had also told every business he came across that he had a caravan and could import and export all of their goods for them.

On the way, quite a few businesses asked about his caravan in some detail.

When it was turning dark, he rushed to the Changsheng Inn at the south of the city to meet up with the others. He was leading his carriage through a quiet alley and someone called his name, “Hey! Are you Zhong Cheng?”

He stopped his carriage and asked, “Who are you?”

The person wore a set of green clothes, and was unfamiliar to Zhong Cheng. The person didn’t answer, and walked over to ask, “I heard you have a caravan?”

He nodded, “Yes, do you have goods to transport?”

The person laughed, then yelled, “Yes! A lot of wares!”

Several people came out from the alley. Zhong Cheng wasn’t naive, and knew they meant trouble.

“I’m just in charge of transporting goods, and I don’t have any money on me.”

The person speaking to him picked him up by the collar and said, “If you don’t have any money, don’t steal others’ business. Don’t you know all the caravans in the Upper Valley will be displeased?”

Without saying anything else, his fist sailed right at Zhong Cheng, and the others surrounded him to beat him up. Zhong Cheng’s horse was so scared it started whinnying loudly.

Post-translation notes: He’ll probably be alright, I’m sure of it. As always, thank you for reading!

[1] He could be a transmigrator…or he could just have brain damage. Right now, it’s a 50-50 in my opinion.