novelMake the Last Bet
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Qin Yunuan saluted hurriedly. After general greetings, Chun Gu and Huang Dashi retreated to give them space to discuss the business affairs.
"Miss Yang, you have a very bold idea. But I wonder how confident you are about this sale?"
To the boss, Qin Yunuan claimed to have a surname "Yang". On the one hand, she was trying to hide her identity. On the other hand, all of her embroidery methods and patterns were learned from the handwriting notes of her birth mother, Yang. Qin Yunuan did nothing but sort the notes out in order. Boss Shen was testing Qin Yunuan's ability by asking this.
Qin Yunuan thought of the previous life when Qin Yunzhuang asked her to embroider various samples and pieces to the palace and please the Empress. Confidence rose inside her when she recalled that the Empress often praised her for the embroidery. She questioned back, "Boss Shen, you have seen my embroidery. What do you think?"
Qin Yunuan kicked the ball back well. Shen was stunned for a short while, and then laughed out loud unscrupulously, "What if I say, that you don't stand a chance?"
Qin Yunuan grinned at his provocative tone, "Why bother asking me to come out of the Mansion then?"
Boss Shen stopped laughing, knocking the corner of the table with his fingertips, "But the 30% profit that you demanded was too much, Miss Yang. These are after all just some samples and they could never worth this much. I can also find some good samples." He admitted that the samples were good-looking, stylish and original, for him had never seen such in the market. Therefore, he made up his mind to make a trend of her embroidery. He needed to draw everyone's attention to these fashionable embroidery products, make them limited, and then launch mass production. In this way, he would earn a lot, but first, the cost must be lowered.
Time was limited. Qin Yunuan took some risk when she came out, and she wouldn't want too much involvement with Boss Shen. So, she continued bluntly, "In fact, Boss Shen, you must have understood the opportunity since you agreed to meet me in person. Why keep circling and trying to cut the price? I want 30% of the profit, not one percent less. You know it better than anyone else whether it's worthwhile or not."
Every word of Qin Yunuan knocked into Boss Shen's heart. He played with the bamboo chopsticks at hand with interest and silently observed Qin Yunuan with a cynical attitude. When he was about to speak, the tables and chairs outside collided violently. They could also hear men yelling in this chaos.
"F**k, you dare to take my seat. Are you tired of being alive?" A tough man had hardly finished this sentence when painful snoring burst out of his throat the next second.
Boss Shen seemed to be very excited. He opened the window facing downstairs hurriedly, "It looks like a good show was about to be on."
Qin Yunuan didn't want to show herself. She tried to stop him before she remembered that she was wearing a veil. At this very moment, the window opposite to their seats suddenly opened widely. A man in his forties appeared, wearing a beard. There was another who stood behind him....
Qin Yunuan held her breath, in the seat opposite sat a person facing her. That bat-shaped mask, the cold and icy eyes, and the chilling atmosphere around him. Who else could it be, if he wasn't Leng Changxi?
As soon as the window opened, Leng Changxi focused on Qin Yunuan almost at first glance, who was wearing an apricot dress and a veil. For some reason, even in this crowd and she was in a thick veil, he was able to recognize her. It seemed to have become instinct. But who was the man next to her? Why did she stay with a young man alone before she got married?
Downstairs in the lobby, the tough man who was shouting fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Crowds of people watched in curiosity, and the people who did it–a small, thin man was squeezing through a crowd, hurried to leave.
"General Shang?" Leng Changxi refrained himself from glancing at Qin Yunuan constantly and called out to the man who was leaning at the window, enjoying the show.
"Come and see, " instead of looking back, the man at the window led Leng Changxi to him, pointing at the man who fell to the ground, "What can you see, General Leng?"
Leng Changxi narrowed his eyes. He saw the nasty trick with his sharp eyes within seconds. From the outsider's point of view, this person had a dislocated arm. But in fact, his arm was crushed. Whoever did this was ruthless and well-trained, and his moves were too quick to trace.
His eyes brightened. This was the East Qin swordsman's technique."Xue Si, " he tilted his head to instruct, "Follow the small man." Finally, there were some signs of the troubled gangs in East Qin.
Xue Si jumped down immediately from the other window facing the street. When Leng Changxi looked up again, he found that the opposite window had been closed. Clearing his wandering thoughts, he asked General Shang to take his seat and said politely, which was rare for him, " General Shang, what do you think about the things we have just discussed?"
Shang Xianhua leaned forward, and his stout figure was squidgy round the edges. Sipping the top Chinese wine, Nv Er Hong, he smiled in a self-deprecating way, "Everyone said that I was useless, lazy and extravagant, and that's why I am still a fifth-grade general after so many years in the battlefield. Now that I'm old, even my martial arts can't compare to young people. General Leng, you are one of those celebrities near the emperor. You can collaborate with any general you want. Why did you choose me?"
"What they saw was nothing more than appearance, " Leng Changxi had always been very confident in his eyesight, "Others may say that General Shang had struggled in the battlefield for many years but still failed to be valued because of his incompetence. But I found that it was because General Shang had never given the Grand General Meng Hua any gifts so that he was crowded out by other generals. Others may say that General Shang bought a fine horse with thousands of money only for fun, but I know that the horseshoes used in the Shang Mansion monthly were even more than the ones in General Meng's. General Shang, you are never a lazy man, for you have been secretly practicing equestrian hard. As for the lavish banquets after return, I believe that was the shows you put on."
Shang Xianhua stroked his thorny beard and laughed mockingly, "Don't forget, General Leng. I was kicked out of the Meng Army because of drunkenness in the barracks." To be drunk in the barracks was something that must be banned.
"That's because Miss Shang had offended Imperial Concubine Yun on the Flower Fairy Festival. General Meng was angry for his sister and framed you deliberately." Leng Changxi wouldn't waste time on a mediocre person. Likewise, he would attract the person that he was interested in his cause.
"General Shang, I have made it very clearly. I cherish the talented people. General Shang, you are outstanding but had to stand behind the stage. Ask yourself, are you satisfied?" Just then, if it weren't Shang Xianhua's sharp reminder, Leng Changxi would have to spend a few more days finding out where the remaining gangs of East Qin were hiding.
Satisfied? Are you satisfied? The question lingered in Shang Xianhua's ears like magic. He groaned and then saluted with his hand, "I hope you can give me three days to consider, General Leng. After three days, I will give you a certain answer."
After Shang Xianhua left, Leng Changxi turned his eyes to the closed, opposite window with coldness in his eyes.
He saw her, and he knew that she saw him, too. There were a lot less defense and alienation in her eyes than before. But she was distant with her moderate and calm look, making him uncomfortable.
It was evening and the setting was sinking slowly into the embrace of the mountains. A twilight was burning in the sun. A carriage with blue curtains stopped steadily at the main gate of the mansion of Grand Commandant. The person sitting inside reached out one hand with no jewelry on it. She was about to lift the curtains when Xiu Gu rushed out of the mansion gate, taking hold of the reins tightly, as if fearing that the carriage would run away. Proud was all over her face.
Dou Qing'e and Qin Yunzhuang stood at the gate. It seemed that they have been waiting for this moment for a long time.
The sun shattered on Dou Qing'e's left cheek, highlighting her twisted smile. She grinned and opened her mouth, "Third Miss. You are finally back home. It's a long journey for you." She was an unmarried woman and also a government official's daughter who sneaked out of her house and went to the First Boite of the Royal City where all kinds of people flocked. With these excuses, she could catch this little girl tripping.
The person in the carriage seemed to be scared. Her hands moved inward and remained motionless and silent.
She was feeling guilty, and Dou Qing'e became even more pleased."I understood how embarrassed you are in front of so many people. Why don't come out first? Let's go into the room and discuss about it."
"Yeah, " Qin Yunzhuang also persuaded hypocritically, "You can't hide forever in that carriage."
Silence remained in the carriage. Dou Qing'e got anxious and instructed Xiu Gu, "Third Miss went out of the house without permission and refused to acknowledge her mistake. You, go and ask her to get off the carriage." Dou Qing'e gritted her teeth and stressed on the word "ask". The person sitting inside had to get out. She had learned enough from the previous two times. Now she had to catch Qin Yunuan on the spot and when she did that, Qin would be a dead cert for punishment.
Xiu Gu stepped on the car immediately after Dou Qing'e's order, preparing to pull out the person in the carriage. She didn't expect her resistance was so strong that she could hardly pull out anything. Dou Qing'e instructed with a wink and then several little servant girls joined in the battlefield, dragging the person by the arm. With everyone's effort, the person fell off the carriage. Her hair was a mess and she lowered her head. Also, her feet were injured.
Dou Qing'e's face was glowing with glory. However, Xiu Gu who stood nearest to the carriage covered her mouth suddenly and shouted, "This is not Third Miss, but Concubine Li."
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