PNB Chapter 97 Girl, be careful!
Chapter 97 Girl, be careful!
Zeng San Niang was easily persuaded to accept the silver notes after just a few words.
After leaving Xia Li's room, Zeng San Niang remembered to look at the silver notes in her hand.
Good heavens! A whole 500 taels!
Zeng San Niang was deeply grateful and quickly returned to her room to kneel and thank her, saying, "Thank you, Miss."
Xia Li smiled nonchalantly: "It's alright, I'm paying you 10 taels of silver a month. Big jobs will be paid separately. You can sell your dilapidated house and buy a house nearby, or you can live here directly. I've had them buy the land behind the house as well, and we'll build rooms for the workers. As for Erzhu, he can be an apprentice here, but he's still young, so for now we're just providing food and lodging. If we discover his talent later, we'll pay him according to his talent."
Zeng San Niang couldn't hold back her tears as they streamed down her face: "Thank you so much, Miss. The wages you've paid me are far too high, and you've even allowed Er Zhu to stay here and learn the trade for free... Ever since my husband fell ill, I've suffered so much contempt. Miss, you are truly the kindest person in the world, you're practically a reincarnation of the Snow Goddess..."
Seeing that she was getting more and more outrageous, Xia Li quickly stopped her: "Alright, tell me the story of our Snow Goddess."
Upon hearing this, Zeng San Niang realized that it was exactly what she was good at, so she immediately told her everything she knew without reservation. In addition, she had been kneeling on the mountain for more than a month, and even some secrets that others did not know were told to her in detail.
Xia Li had understood enough, so she stopped her:
"To be honest, I wanted to use the Snow Goddess as the theme this time. The pattern for the clothes is already in place, and the fabric has been preliminarily sewn. If you really want to repay me, try your best to make the embroidery lifelike and amaze everyone."
"This humble woman will certainly not fail Miss's trust." After a pause, Zeng San Niang said, "If that's the case, Miss, why not create some momentum beforehand? Imitating the theme of the Snow Goddess... No one has ever dared to try it before, because if you're not careful, it will become an act of lewdness towards the Snow Goddess. If that happens, the entire Duzhou City will no longer tolerate you."
After listening to Zeng San Niang's words, Xia Li thought about it carefully and had already made up his mind. "Okay, I understand."
Also, everyone in my shop usually refers to themselves as "I," so you can follow suit. After saying this, she looked at Tao Zhi and Tao Yao, who were standing there, "The three of you hurry up and finish your embroidery. As for me, I'll go practice and try my best to perfectly capture the essence of the Snow Goddess."
Tao Zhi, Tao Yao, and Zeng San Niang all replied in unison, "Yes."
While things were progressing smoothly in Xia Li's area, someone on the other side was desperate and resorting to desperate measures.
Duzhou City has a natural moat with special water quality, which can only be floated by boats built from special sacred wood from Snow God Mountain within the city. However, due to the special materials and the reverence of the people of Duzhou for the Snow God, there are still more than a dozen boats made of this sacred wood.
This resulted in the requirement to obtain the right to use the sacred wooden boat to enter or leave Duzhou City.
The champion of the costume competition is called the "dragon head," and he/she can get the right to use five ships for three years.
Business in Duzhou City is divided into "Dragon Head" and "Others". Because the Dragon Head has exclusive control over cargo transport ships, other people who want to transport goods can only do so by trading with the Dragon Head or other ship owners. However, this will undoubtedly deduct most of the profits, which leads to the Dragon Head monopolizing nine-tenths of Duzhou's economy.
Xia Li suddenly appeared out of nowhere as a dark horse, and even represented the City Lord's Mansion in the competition. Many people were actually indifferent to this. The City Lord's Mansion was just there to join in the fun every year. This year, it was just a different person joining in the fun.
Except for one person.
This person is Lin Wangxuan, the owner of Xiangyixuan.
Others refrained from taking action because their chances of winning the leadership position were slim, and it wasn't worth offending someone with status and background. However, Xiang Yixuan, as the leader for three consecutive terms, believed that Xia Li posed a devastating threat to him.
At this moment, 40-year-old Lin Wangxuan sat in a grand chair, listening to the news gathered by his servants, and muttered to himself:
"She's been promoting the Snow Goddess, spreading rumors about her reincarnation, and even visited the Snow Goddess Temple... Ha, could she be trying to imitate the Snow Goddess? Well then, you all hurry and find a girl who resembles the Snow Goddess, and get her a set of Snow Goddess clothes. I want all her efforts to be used for my own purposes. She'll never imagine that everything she's worked so hard for is just a stepping stone for me. Hahahaha..."
The shopkeeper, looking embarrassed, weakly advised, "Boss, imitating the Snow God is too risky. What if..."
"What else? Don't you know how much the people of Duzhou City worship the Snow Goddess? If she succeeds, there's no need for the third competition; all the people will definitely vote for her."
"This……"
"Enough said, my mind is made up. But to prevent future troubles, later you should send someone to bribe her subordinates to poison her." Lin Wangxuan smiled sinisterly, "Now that the Snow Goddess has already chosen someone, she doesn't need to show up anymore."
The shopkeeper felt a chill run down his spine and quickly replied, "Yes..."
As he walked out, he thought to himself, "The boss isn't planning to leave that girl any way out! She's young and kind-hearted, what a pity."
……
Three days passed in a flash, and the second round of the costume competition officially began.
Many people had already walked across the performance stage set up outside the city lord's mansion. Lin Wangxuan looked around and only felt relieved after confirming that Xia Li was not there.
He knew it! To be absolutely sure, he had someone lock the gates of Jin Yu Man Tang today. Even with the City Lord's backing, she couldn't possibly send anyone out...
Before he could finish feeling smug, Lin Wangxuan heard gasps and exclamations of admiration from those around him.
He looked in the direction of the sound and saw Xia Li wearing a snow-white dress made of celestial silkworm silk. The entire garment was soft, smooth, and slightly shimmering, covered with pearl-embellished gauze, adding to her ethereal beauty. The dress was as light as a feather, and with Xia Li's graceful steps, it made her look like a snow lotus from the Heavenly Mountains, drifting down from the distant horizon. Today, she wore makeup inspired by the Snow Goddess, with her eyebrows, eyeshadow, lips, and all her accessories predominantly white. A half-smile played on her cool face, making her resemble the serene moonlight or a celestial maiden from beyond the heavens. Her demeanor and movements were simply the resurrection of a goddess from the Snow God Temple.
Shock and panic flashed in Lin Wangxuan's eyes. How did she get here?
Didn't they have someone poison them?
Didn't someone lock the door?
How come she's alright?
Lin Wangxuan realized that in the past few days, besides poisoning her, he had also hired people to smear her reputation and to suppress her shop, giving him a significant advantage.
It's alright, it's alright, it's just a resemblance, right? Well, he's ruined this piece!
No fame, no works.
He wanted to see how she could compete!
After calming himself down, he gave a wink to the servant next to him.
The servant quickly grabbed a cup of tea, pretended to trip over it, and made a move to spill it on Xia Li, exclaiming in surprise:
"Hey, girl, be careful!"