Although Su Mingyu had always known that Gu Ruobai had an ulterior motive for approaching her, she never expected this man to be so insidious as to set a trap for her! She had been sold, yet she was still happily counting the money for him.
"You're really something! No wonder you're the God of War," Su Mingyu said with a forced smile. "Now that I think about it, when you came to give me silver that day, you must have already checked Su Zhengyi's study. But you found nothing, right?"
Seeing the strange look in Su Mingyu's eyes, Gu Ruobai's Adam's apple twitched. It was as if something was choking him, making it a bit hard for him to breathe.
Noticing that Gu Ruobai didn't say a word, Su Mingyu glared at him fiercely.
"So that's why you later deliberately used the pretext of reminding me to take advantage of my competitive nature to help you find this key," Su Mingyu sneered, her voice hoarse. "It's my fault for being so naive. I thought that since we had common interests, we were allies on the same front."
As she spoke, Su Mingyu took off the blood - jade bracelet on her hand and placed it on the table. She stared straight at it, and there was a tinge of desolation in her tone.
"Since it's just mutual exploitation, such a thing is indeed overstepping the mark. Now I'll return it to His Highness the King of Ruixian. I wish our future cooperation will be pleasant."
Gu Ruobai wanted to explain, but just as he was about to speak, Su Mingyu interrupted him.
She made a gesture of invitation, her face expressionless. "Since Your Highness has got what you wanted, please leave. I'm tired."
Gu Ruobai lowered his eyes and looked at Su Mingyu. "Are you angry?"
Su Mingyu sneered. "What do I have to be angry about? The competition for the crown prince is all about using one's own skills. Mingyu understands this well."
Although she understood the principle, his actions really annoyed Su Mingyu. "There's nothing left for us to talk about," she said, then turned around and walked to the window, with her back to Gu Ruobai, not wanting to say more.
Looking at her slender figure, Gu Ruobai felt a twinge of reluctance. He wanted to explain, but didn't know how to start. He could only sigh and say, "Believe it or not, I didn't mean to hurt you."
"I believe you."
She really did. Because this man simply disdained to hurt a little girl like her. All he wanted was to use her. Even the last time when he said he wanted to marry her, he was not only testing her but also provoking her. It was really a good strategy with two benefits. If she weren't the protagonist of this show, she would have applauded Gu Ruobai.
Facing such a calm and aloof Su Mingyu, Gu Ruobai lowered his eyes. Finally, he said nothing and asked Mu Yi to take him out of Su Mingyu's boudoir.
Looking at the closed door, Su Mingyu let out a long sigh.
It seemed that she had been too arrogant. She was so conceited just because she was from another time. Now that she had been tricked, she felt a kind of indescribable nausea.
Zhizhu came in and saw Su Mingyu looking so haggard. She quickly came up and poured a glass of water for her. "Miss... Did you quarrel with His Highness the King of Ruixian?"
As she spoke, Zhizhu pouted. "Actually, His Highness the King of Ruixian is really nice. When you were punished by the family law, he was the first one to come and see you, and he even brought you such good medicine."
"Moreover, His Highness the King of Ruixian is the most handsome among all the princes. Although he has a disability in his leg, he is still a good match..."
Feeling the air pressure around getting lower and lower, Zhizhu's voice became smaller and smaller, and finally she didn't dare to say more.
Su Mingyu sighed silently. Zhizhu was a good girl in every way, but she was just too innocent.
"Nothing happened between me and His Highness the King of Ruixian, let alone a quarrel. I'm tired and want to rest. You can go."
Seeing that Su Mingyu really didn't want to talk, Zhizhu quickly backed out.
She gently closed the door, then stomped her foot gently and said regretfully, "My mouth!"
The young lady was already in a bad mood because of the quarrel with His Highness the King of Ruixian, and she still talked too much. Wasn't she just rubbing salt into the young lady's wound?
Maybe the last incident had caused quite a stir.
So for several days in a row, Su Mingyu was quite idle. But she was not the kind of person who could stay idle. So she simply climbed over the wall to check on her shop.
After not coming for a while, Su Mingyu found that her shop had become quite popular. Many of the styles were even in short supply.
Looking at the bustling store, Su Mingyu was quite satisfied.
She entered the second - floor accounting room from the back door of the Sinan Pavilion store. After looking through the ledger, she asked someone to call the shopkeeper.
"Miss Su, you're here."
The shopkeeper was a charming middle - aged woman. Su Mingyu had met her when she went to the brothel to find girls to promote her business. Because half of her face was disfigured, she had a hard time in the brothel. So Su Mingyu simply bought her.
Facts had proved that helping others in times of need was extremely effective. Xia Mian was very dedicated to the shop and also very loyal to Su Mingyu.
Su Mingyu nodded. "How about the recruitment notice I asked you to post?"
As the business of the shop was getting better and better, it was a bit too exhausting for Su Mingyu to draw all the designs alone. So she wanted to recruit some potential people to help her share the workload.
Xia Mian looked a bit embarrassed. "Many people came, but after I looked at their works, none of them were outstanding."
It was really a bit difficult to ask people in this era to draw designs that were ahead of their time.
Su Mingyu frowned slightly. "In that case, raise the treatment. Money is not a problem. Other requirements can also be put forward."
Xia Mian nodded and said hesitantly, "Miss Su... I have something to tell you about the fabric."
"Go ahead," Su Mingyu said. Looking at Xia Mian's expression, she could probably guess what she was going to say.
That unscrupulous merchant, Wang Manwen, must have seen that her business was booming and wanted to make money from it.
Sure enough, it was just as Su Mingyu had expected. Xia Mian pursed her lips. "Our clothes are also on sale in other shops... And the prices are almost the same as ours. There are just some minor differences in details, but they are still very similar imitations."
The Sinan Pavilion had its own weaving workshop, and Su Mingyu had personally taken care of the pattern - making and design. Now that there were pirated products, it was obvious that the problem was with the raw materials.
Actually, Su Mingyu had expected this. But Wang Manwen had monopolized the fabric business in the whole capital, and the transportation conditions didn't allow her to buy goods from other places. So it wasn't easy to break away from Wang Manwen.
Su Mingyu rubbed her forehead and thought for a while. "I see. Don't worry about this for now. Focus on the recruitment first."
Xia Mian responded. "I have something to do downstairs, so I'll go first."
"Thank you for your hard work."
Xia Mian smiled. "It's not hard. It's much better than when I was in the brothel."
After leaving the Sinan Pavilion, Su Mingyu subconsciously walked towards the Prince Ruixian's Mansion. But when she was halfway there, she suddenly stopped. She looked at the plaque in the distance and let out a soft sigh.
Habit was really a terrible thing.
She couldn't rely on Gu Ruobai anymore. She needed her own strength.