Chapter 57

Chapter 57

In the private room of Drunk Cloud Tower, Liu Zhenhan idly played with a piece of jade he had just acquired that day.

He had been careless, not expecting this little stall to be so troublesome. If not for fear of causing a scene that would give the other brothers leverage against him, he would have sent someone to break that young man's hands long ago. If without the spices they could still find a way, then if they lost their hands, he'd like to see what they could do.

What a pity...

Now that the hard approach had failed, the soft one was the only option. He had heard that Manager Huang's husband had previously tried to hire that young man, only to be rejected. It was probably just a matter of not enough money. So he would generously offer some silver to bring the young man into his shop.

Liu Zhenhan had a plan: the wages for the young man would come from his private account, keeping the shop's public accounts clean. Of course, the money wasn't free—once the old man was gone and he took over, he would settle the score slowly.

Hearing the door, Liu Zhenhan glanced up contemptuously, but froze at the unexpected sight.

Liu Zhenhan clicked his tongue inwardly. No one had told him this spice-selling young man was so good-looking.

Xu Lan walked in to introduce the two parties, with his husband, Manager Huang, standing nearby.

Liu Zhenhan shed his earlier dismissive sharpness and smiled, inviting Zhong Yizhu to sit. Zhong Yizhu reached out to hold Pei Mu's hand, looking at Liu Zhenhan with an expression that was neither humble nor arrogant, his gaze carrying no extra emotion.

"Manager Liu, just say what you have to say. We still need to get back to our business; we don't have time to sit around here long."

Liu Zhenhan, unfazed by this neither a hard nor a soft rebuff, still wore a smile. His gaze at Zhong Yizhu carried a meaning quite different from his earlier plan, and when he noticed Zhong Yizhu holding Pei Mu's hand, it turned into a hint of amusement.

In that brief moment, he had changed his mind.

It would be a pity to break such a beauty's hands. As long as the beauty was willing to be under his control, he would happily keep supporting him as a pleasant pastime.

Shifting his thoughts, he put on an indignant expression.

"Don't blame me for being presumptuous, Boss Zhong. I only recently heard that the people from Cloud Pine Fragrance Shop warned the bosses on Spice Street not to sell to you if they wanted to continue doing business with them. Such behavior is truly despicable. Xu Lan and Manager Huang both speak highly of your incense-making skills. I can't bear to see you oppressed by such petty people. Therefore, on behalf of Liu's Fragrance Shop, I sincerely invite you to join us as an incense maker. Rest assured, the wages I can offer will be far from low."

Liu Zhenhan looked sincere, his words full of eagerness for talent: "Besides, I heard from Xu Lan that your home is far from the county, making it inconvenient to work. I can also provide a place for you and your family to stay temporarily. Is such sincerity enough to catch your interest?"

Xu Lan frowned inwardly. Although he had subtly hinted to Zhong Yizhu before coming, even he hadn't expected Liu Zhenhan to offer such generous and complete terms.

Liu Zhenhan raised a hand to show a number—for an ordinary incense maker, it was almost the top salary one could achieve. It wasn't far off from the silver Zhong Yizhu earned in a busy month from his incense business.

Zhong Yizhu remained calm: "As far as I know, no incense maker in Songyun County earns that much."

Liu Zhenhan laughed heartily: "They are them, you are you. Skill deserves higher pay. I believe your joining will surely bring greater profits to our shop."

Liu Zhenhan acted so much like a good boss who knows how to use talent that if Xu Lan hadn't known what he had done before, he might have been fooled by this act.

He looked at Zhong Yizhu with some worry, but saw him put on a troubled expression.

"Thank you for the honor, Manager Liu. But I cannot leave my husband. Working at Liu's Fragrance Shop would be good, but I simply cannot bring my husband along to work."

He said it very sincerely, with a somewhat embarrassed look, his gaze at Pei Mu tender and affectionate, like a pair of star-crossed lovers. In just a few words, he left Liu Zhenhan stunned, unsure how to respond.

Xu Lan was also momentarily dazed, unsure if Zhong Yizhu was being genuine or putting on an act.

Liu Zhenhan gritted his teeth. He had intended to seduce Zhong Yizhu and wasn't giving up. He turned to try to approach Pei Mu, thinking men all loved money and affairs. With such high pay, he believed Pei Mu would be tempted. But before he could say anything to Pei Mu, Zhong Yizhu was already taking his leave.

Seeing Liu Zhenhan unresponsive, Xu Lan quickly responded by seeing the two out.

As they left the private room and went downstairs, Xu Lan clearly heard the sound of a teacup shattering in a nearby room. He looked at Zhong Yizhu, but the young man's expression didn't change at all.

It wasn't far from Drunk Cloud Tower back to the market. Zhong Yizhu asked Xu Lan to stay, saying there was no need to see them off further, so Xu Lan stopped at the entrance.

The two walked through the bustling streets toward the market.

Zhong Yizhu held Pei Mu's hand the whole time.

He had agreed to meet Liu Zhenhan to see what kind of opponent he was up against. Not only did Liu Zhenhan shamelessly blame others for his own misdeeds, but his so-called generous terms couldn't withstand scrutiny. Zhong Yizhu had never intended to agree, especially given the faint, sickening malice...

After walking a bit, his hand was held tighter by Pei Mu, whose calloused palm wrapped around his, shutting out even the slightest winter wind. Remembering something, Zhong Yizhu pulled Pei Mu into a shop selling cosmetics and powder by the roadside.

The clerk, seeing such a handsome young man enter, immediately thought of a big spender and hurriedly approached.

When the young man asked for a jar of hand cream, the clerk smiled and asked, "Would you like it scented or unscented?" Without waiting for an answer, the clerk assumed, "Our hand creams come in many fragrances. I'm sure you'll find one to your liking, sir."

Since Zhong Yizhu didn't specify, the clerk naturally thought the hand cream was for himself. But Zhong Yizhu shook Pei Mu's hand and whispered, "I remember you like pear blossom scent. How about we get that one?"

Pei Mu had been holding his breath amidst the overwhelming fragrance of the shop. At this, his face stiffened. Realizing the young man was teasing him, he whispered something back.

The clerk had no idea what the two men were saying, only saw the young man's fair face turn visibly red. Before he could say more, the tall man behind him blocked the young man. The man handed over some silver: "Just an unscented one, please."

They left the shop in a lighter mood, but with the matter of Liu's Fragrance Shop still hanging over them, it couldn't be too light.

Pei Mu held Zhong Yizhu's hand tightly, his eyes dark as ink.

In just a few days, they had encountered two groups coveting Zhong Yizhu. Anger alone wouldn't help. He suddenly realized that to protect Zhu Ge'er, he couldn't just stay a hunter or carpenter in the village. In the city, brute force couldn't solve most problems.

Zhong Yizhu held back a frown but knew clearly that by using that excuse to shut down Liu Zhenhan, if the man gave up, fine; if not, who knew what dirty tricks he might have in store.

He couldn't help thinking about whether he should consider opening a shop earlier.

At the root of it, their foundation wasn't strong enough, making them easy to look down upon and control.

Now they had a stable customer base, a wide variety of incense products, and enough money to rent a shop. The only uncertain factor was the source of incense materials.

If they only kept the stall, the incense materials they bought from Chen Fusheng would last until after the New Year. But if they opened a shop, they would run through supplies quickly.

He sighed inwardly. They still needed to think long term.

The two returned to their stall, thanked Gong Laosi for watching over it, and continued working.

As usual, they packed up before sunset. With the days growing shorter, it was already dusk when they got back to the mountain-foot courtyard.

Dinner was light. After counting the money and keeping the accounts, Zhong Yizhu took out the hand cream and carefully applied a layer on Pei Mu's hands.

By candlelight, Zhong Yizhu's face glowed with a soft luster. Pei Mu leaned in to kiss his cheek, then, not satisfied, gently bit him.

Zhong Yizhu didn't dodge, just shrinking slightly from the ticklish feeling.

"So obedient."

Pei Mu wrapped his legs around him, pressing their foreheads together and kissing him lazily. Zhong Yizhu was so distracted it took him forever to finish applying the cream. He felt like a big, warm dog was clinging and nuzzling him, and couldn't help but smile.

"Zhu Ge'er."

Zhong Yizhu looked up with a smile into Pei Mu's eyes. "Hmm?"

"After the New Year, I want to go to Quzhou Prefecture to buy incense materials to sell. That way, we can supply our stall and have another source of income. What do you think?"

Zhong Yizhu paused, instinctively tightening his grip on Pei Mu's hand.

Pei Mu pulled him closer, asking patiently, "Don't you think it's a good idea?"

Zhong Yizhu shook his head. He had just been thinking about the shortage of spices for opening a shop, and Pei Mu's proposal perfectly solved that problem. Moreover, the spices from Quzhou Prefecture were of excellent quality—if they could establish a trade route, it would definitely be profitable.

But hearing Pei Mu say that, the first thing that came to mind was that Pei Mu would have to travel far away again.

After going through that ordeal of life and death, he and Pei Mu had hardly ever been apart. Though what he said to Liu Zhenhan earlier was somewhat exaggerated, the mere thought of Pei Mu leaving filled him with anxiety.

“It’s not that I think it’s a bad idea.” Zhong Yizhu steadied himself, looking into Pei Mu’s calm eyes. He thought—he shouldn’t, and couldn’t, trap Pei Mu in this little corner.

“I think it’s good. I believe you can do it well,” Zhong Yizhu said. “I’ll start teaching you how to identify spices tomorrow.”

Perhaps he didn’t even need to put in special effort to teach—Pei Mu was very clever, and after buying these batches of spices with him, he could already tell good from bad.

Pei Mu acknowledged with a “good,” and Zhong Yizhu lowered his eyes to continue applying hand cream to the cracks on Pei Mu’s hands. But then Pei Mu asked him, “Zhu Ge'er, do you want to come with me to Quzhou Prefecture?”

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Author's note: I struggled for a long time on how to write Little Pei's career line. I might be too down-to-earth, but I really don't want the young couple to be apart more than they're together.

I don't know why, but as I wrote, I kept feeling like the story was about to end. I didn't get to write a long, meaty chapter, so I'm giving everyone a little red envelope for this chapter.