PNB Chapter 142 The Painting Master, Young Master Mo, has Miss Su fallen out of favor?
Chapter 142 The Painting Master, Young Master Mo, has Miss Su fallen out of favor?
Su Mowan put down her pen, picked up the paper, shook it, and snapped her fingers with satisfaction.
"Yinshuang, take this paper and paste it next to Minister Su's portrait."
Yinshuang accepted it respectfully.
She glanced at the paper curiously, and stopped in her tracks as soon as she saw it.
The paper read: "Master Painter Mo, personally commissioning a painting. Only beauties and handsome men are painted. Starting price is 30,000 taels, with no upper limit. First-class appearance: 100,000 taels; second-class appearance: 50,000 taels; third-class appearance: 30,000 taels. What constitutes first-class appearance? Refer to the portrait of Minister Su."
Yinshuang sighed inwardly, "Brilliant!"
In this way, even if one's appearance is not ideal, one can at least label oneself as having a second-rate appearance.
No one would willingly admit to being ugly.
After pasting the papers, Yinshuang turned to Su Mowan's side, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Consort Su, this painting master, Young Master Mo—"
"Yes, it's me."
"..."
Su Mowan leaned back in her chair, raised her chin smugly, and said, "This is the title I gave myself. When doing business, you have to have a name first! Regardless of whether it's true or not, once more people know about it, no one will bother to investigate the title anymore."
Yinshuang poured her a cup of tea.
"But didn't you originally plan to only paint handsome young noblemen?"
"That was a planning error."
Su Mowan took the teacup and waved her index finger.
"Now we need to put on a good show so that handsome men will come to my door begging to paint their portraits, and I won't need to go out and try to meet them by chance. Besides, I originally wanted to mass-produce them, but I later realized that I didn't have the means, and if I tried to sell their portraits, I would definitely get beaten up."
Although Yinshuang didn't understand mass production, she completely agreed with the part about being "beaten up by a group".
"As for why I still paint beautiful women, it's because women love beauty, so they're the easiest to make money from. However, if a woman actually comes, I can only charge one-tenth of the price."
This is similar to taking photoshoots; every woman likes to do it, regardless of whether she looks good or not.
Jiang Zhuo, who was standing a little further away, naturally heard these words as well. Although he didn't quite understand them, his opinion of Su Mowan had changed again.
Su Mowan took a couple of sips of tea and suddenly remembered a question.
So he instructed Yinshuang: "Tomorrow, have two of our maids from Huangfeng Garden come with Qinghe to the second floor to help. As for the third floor, we need to find someone else to watch over it."
No sooner had he finished speaking than three young men came upstairs.
Su Mowan instinctively wanted to greet them, but when she thought about how she was dressed in men's clothing and wearing a mask, she knew that the person would not know who she was, so she held back.
The arrival of the three young masters diverted the attention of several ministers who had been staring intently at Su Mowan.
"Young Master Tang, you're here to see the paintings too?"
"How has Lord Tang been lately?"
Tang Minzhi responded to all the pleasantries, then turned his head and noticed Su Mowan over there. His gaze paused slightly, but then he looked away.
Xue Ting chuckled from the side, displeased, "You gentlemen are quite biased. My nephew is such a grown man standing here, yet he's been completely ignored. Is it really that your daughters only have eyes for our Minzhi?"
The ministers, realizing their unspoken thoughts had been exposed, exchanged embarrassed glances and evasively replied, "Not at all! Young Master Xue is also a man of exceptional talent; we dare not presume to presume upon him!"
Chi Xuan, who was on the other side, was a typical spoiled brat who never showed any mercy when he spoke. He immediately sneered.
"What you gentlemen said is quite interesting. You don't even dare to approach Xue Ting, yet you dare to approach our Minzhi? Your courage is commendable!"
Several ministers were speechless and blushed at Chi Xuan's words. They wanted to retort, but since they had never met Chi Xuan and did not know whose son he was, they dared not say anything.
After Chi Xuan finished criticizing the ministers, he wanted to claim credit with Tang Minzhi, but when he turned his head, he found that Tang Minzhi's gaze was elsewhere, so he immediately followed his gaze.
"Minzhi, what are you looking at?"
Xue Ting also noticed Tang Minzhi's gaze, and laughed before Tang Minzhi could reply.
"Oh, where did this rich young master come from? He certainly has quite the airs."
Several ministers who were so embarrassed that they were about to flee finally found an opportunity to save face. One of them kindly explained, "This young master is acquainted with His Highness the King of Qin."
Tang Minzhi and Su Mowan's eyes met for a moment, feeling a strong sense of familiarity. Upon hearing the ministers' words, they immediately asked, "Do you gentlemen know whose son this is?"
There are very few people in the entire capital who are acquainted with His Highness Prince Qin.
This proves a truth: men also have a gossipy nature, especially older men.
Several ministers exchanged glances, then moved closer and whispered, "This young master was just downstairs having tea with His Highness the Prince of Qin."
"Yes, yes, and... well, it seems that His Highness the Prince of Qin and this young master have a very special relationship!"
The minister originally wanted to say something ambiguous, but when he thought of the Prince of Qin's cold face, he immediately dared not make any rash remarks.
Although he didn't say it explicitly, Tang Minzhi and the others understood the gist of it from his tone.
The fearless Chi Xuan immediately exploded.
"Your Highness, the King of Qin, are you not gay?"
"Shh, shh, shh! Young master, be careful what you say!"
When the ministers saw that Su Mowan's gaze was intentionally or unintentionally drifting towards them, they immediately wiped away a cold sweat, bid farewell to Tang Minzhi, and hurriedly ran downstairs.
Tang Minzhi also glanced at Chi Xuan.
How can you say such things?
Chi Xuan pouted guiltily.
Xue Ting patted Tang Minzhi's shoulder nonchalantly, then leaned closer and whispered, "I think Chi Xuan wasn't wrong. This pretty boy is definitely having an affair with the Prince of Qin. Didn't you see that maid next to him? She looks very familiar."
After Xue Ting's reminder, Tang Minzhi and Chi Xuan glanced at Yin Shuang again, and then their hearts skipped a beat.
Tang Minzhi's doubts deepened, and her eyes flickered, revealing her inner turmoil.
Chi Hsuan is much simpler.
He looked delighted and whispered, "Isn't that the maid who was with Miss Su a few days ago? So Miss Su has fallen out of favor? Even her maid has been reassigned! This is great, Minzhi, you have another chance!"
"..."
Tang Minzhi glared at him urgently.
Jiang Zhuo was not far from the group. Although Chi Xuan's voice was soft, it still reached his ears without missing a single word, causing him to frown slightly.
It seems to be another peach blossom.
He'd only been in office for half a day, and he'd already seen two peach blossoms (referring to other unwanted romantic advances). It seemed the prince's life was indeed not easy...
Jiang Zhuo silently sympathized with him.
Su Mowan, who possessed profound inner strength, naturally heard Chi Xuan's words. Fortunately, she was wearing a mask, otherwise, hearing those words face-to-face would have been incredibly embarrassing.
She was never favored, so how could she have fallen out of favor?
She naturally noticed the two glances Tang Minzhi gave her, and even met his gaze for a moment. She felt that Tang Minzhi seemed to have seen something, especially with Yinshuang standing behind her.
Su Mowan decided to go downstairs first.
However, before she could get up, Tang Minzhi walked straight towards her.