In the private room, only Lu Jinchen and Gu Liyue were left. Gu Liyue kept her head down and continued to drink tea. She sipped the small cup of tea in countless tiny sips, finishing it bit by bit, but still hadn't heard him speak.
Gu Liyue had to brace herself. Then she saw Lu Jinchen staring at her intently. Her face flushed instantly. She put down the teacup and stammered, "Why... Why are you looking at me?"
Lu Jinchen smiled faintly. "My wife is so beautiful. I just want to look at you more."
Gu Liyue's face turned even redder. She gave him a pouty look and pointed at the teacup. "I... I want to drink tea."
Lu Jinchen reached out to pour her a cup of tea. But when he handed it to her, he didn't let go. Instead, he rubbed his fingers against hers and whispered, "Liyue..."
Gu Liyue bit her lips, and her fingers trembled slightly. Remembering how he had acted recklessly before, she felt a bit scared. She quickly said, "Well... Tangyuan and the others will be back soon."
The smile on Lu Jinchen's face deepened, but he still let go. "Liyue, I've been quite busy recently and haven't had time to see you."
Gu Liyue let out a soft "um".
Lu Jinchen continued, "I saw some sugar figurines on my last outing. Since I know you have a sweet tooth, I sent them to you."
"Um."
Lu Jinchen asked, "Were they delicious?"
Gu Liyue blushed. She was too embarrassed to say that she hadn't eaten them. It took her a long time to reply, "Um."
Lu Jinchen asked, "What did you come to see me for today?"
Gu Liyue paused and turned her face away. "Who came to see you? I was looking for Feng Chen."
Lu Jinchen laughed. "That's not allowed. My wife can't go looking for other men."
Gu Liyue bit her lips. She summoned up her courage to look at him, then quickly lowered her head out of shyness. "Well... What have you been busy with recently?"
Lu Jinchen simply replied, "Just some private matters. Liyue, wait for me. Once I'm done, I can arrange our wedding."
Gu Liyue's face turned even redder. Marriages were usually arranged by the elders. She whispered, "Why are you telling me this?"
Lu Jinchen laughed. "I'm in charge of my family. All I need to do is ask the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. Although you're not in charge of your family, your family respects your opinion. So, of course, I have to tell you."
Reluctantly, Lu Jinchen clearly still had things to do. It was already quite difficult for him to spare an hour and a half. After his servant had urged him three or four times, he had no choice but to get up and bid farewell to Gu Liyue.
"Liyue, if you have anything, just send someone to find me. I'm currently staying in the Prince's Mansion, but there are my people in my mansion in the east of the city."
Gu Liyue propped her chin and daydreamed. It took her a long time to remember that she had come today to ask about his relationship with Shu Mingzhu.
But it seemed unnecessary. He was really busy. Why should she suspect him because of something that might not even be true?
Once she had sorted out her feelings, Gu Liyue focused all her attention on studying the embroidery techniques on the jade shoes. The craftsman invited by Mrs. Jiang was really amazing. According to Gu Liyue's instructions, he carefully removed the gemstones from the jade shoes without damaging a single thread. Then, following the edge, he cut open the entire shoe upper, revealing a complete embroidery pattern.
Gu Liyue was overjoyed. She stared at the embroidery pattern for several days before starting to imitate it on a handkerchief. She had quite a talent for embroidery. After arriving at the Feng family, Mrs. Feng had shown her various embroidery techniques. Later, when she went to the Jiang family, she had also studied them carefully. After only a dozen days of practice, she actually managed to figure out this embroidery technique.
Tangyuan was overjoyed and clapped her hands. "Miss, you're so amazing! You managed to figure out such a difficult embroidery technique. Should we go and tell Young Master Feng?"
Gu Liyue thought for a while and nodded. "I originally planned to finish a complete embroidery before showing it to him. But his taste is really good. Maybe showing it to him first will help me find some flaws that I can't see. You can send a visiting card to the Feng family first."
Feng Chen replied quickly and made an appointment to meet Gu Liyue. Holding the disassembled embroidery pattern, he couldn't help but exclaim, "I originally thought that Lady Shen from Sichuan was just being overly arrogant. Now I realize that she really does have some skills."
Gu Liyue nodded. "Her embroidery skills are excellent, and her foundation is very solid. On my own, I can only roughly learn her embroidery technique. With my current level, I would never be able to make something as beautiful as this."
Feng Chen hesitated for a moment and said, "I have two good embroiderers. But just based on this embroidery pattern, they may not be able to reproduce it. If Miss Gu can create a demonstration of the embroidery technique, I think what they make won't be any worse than Lady Shen's."
Gu Liyue agreed and then asked, "But why doesn't Young Master Feng talk to Lady Shen more? If he can persuade her, not only will there be no need for all this trouble, but in the future, the Feng family won't be criticized either."
Although they could make something similar, stealing someone else's skills was not very honorable. People might think that the Feng family was being too calculating.
Feng Chen spread his hands helplessly. "If Lady Shen were easy to talk to, would I be in such a difficult situation? Her work is excellent, but the demand far exceeds the supply, and the price keeps rising. That's just unreasonable. To be honest, the Feng family has really treated her well. Sigh..."
"Is she really that hard to get along with?"
Feng Chen said, "She has her own difficulties. She has to support her whole family with her own hands. For an ordinary family, they could just live a more frugal life, and we could just think of it as doing a good deed as long as she works hard. But her situation is too complicated. Her husband is a gambler, her son has tuberculosis, and her daughter was born with an eye disease..."
Gu Liyue felt sorry for her. "Can't these be cured?"
Feng Chen gave a bitter smile. "Miss Gu, maybe you've never seen a real gambler. If you had, you would know how terrifying they can be. The Shen family can still hold on for now, but how long can they keep it up? My father taught me since I was a child that gambling is something you must never touch. Not only should you not touch it yourself, but you should also never associate with anyone who is fond of gambling."
"Although I shouldn't bring up my elder brother again, this matter is related to him. When we were young, the father of my elder brother's friend was ruined by gambling. That friend was originally a very good person, and his family was quite wealthy. But his father would do anything for gambling. In the end, he even sold his wife and daughter to that kind of place just to pay off his gambling debts."
Gu Liyue's eyelids twitched. "What happened later?"
Feng Chen sighed. "Feng Sui was my elder brother. He was a kind - hearted person and couldn't bear to see his friend so down and out. He secretly helped his friend several times without telling our parents. Unexpectedly, when that friend's father saw this, he colluded with some villains and kidnapped Feng Sui, using him to blackmail my father and forcing him to spend a large amount of money to redeem Feng Sui. It took half of my father's fortune to settle this matter. It almost dragged the Feng family into the mire. Fortunately, my father was decisive. Since I witnessed this with my own eyes, I know how harmful gambling can be. I don't have the ability to save gamblers, and I will never get involved in it at all."