"The Hundred Flowers Pavilion is all about 'elegance'?" Gold-Tooth Jin laughed out of sheer anger, the fat on his cheeks quivering. That mouthful of gold teeth gleamed with a wicked light under the gloomy sky. "I am offering real silver and gold! Is that broken building of yours inlaid with diamonds or something? You think I'm too vulgar? I think you are refusing the face I'm giving you!"
Gold-Tooth Jin rolled up his sleeves, revealing two thick, hairy arms, and waved at the group of restless thugs behind him. "Charge! Tear down those broken doors! I want to see if this Xu girl has three heads and six arms to dare block Gold-Tooth Jin's way!"
Receiving the order, the thugs, emboldened by their numbers, howled and surged toward the steps. The onlookers watching the commotion retreated a good distance, terrified of getting splashed with blood.
Li Sheng didn't even bat an eyelid. Without any grand movements, he simply blocked their path horizontally with the iron-banded staff in his hand.
In the blink of an eye, two rows of men in dark blue short coats slid out silently from the half-open doors of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion. These were the Taoyuan County "militia" who had once tried to gang up on Xu Wuyou in the streets before being reeled in and reformed. Now, after rigorous training, though they weren't as burly as the Jin family's thugs, the ruthlessness in their eyes showed they had seen real blood.
"If you don't want your legs broken, go ahead and take one more step forward."
Li Sheng's voice wasn't loud, but a chilling intent unmistakably drifted through the air as he tapped his staff rhythmically against the bluestone steps.
Gold-Tooth Jin's thugs froze mid-charge, intimidated by the sudden emergence of this dense crowd of men. That uniform, disciplined murderous aura was entirely different from their own mob-like nature, which was only good for bullying petty merchants.
"What? Is Boss Jin planning to commit murder right under the Emperor's nose, in a jurisdiction governed by the county office?" Li Sheng looked down at them from his higher vantage point, pointing his staff at the chest of silver. "Take your stinking money away. My lady has spoken: the Hundred Flowers Pavilion does not entertain nouveau riche, much less unruly wild dogs. With your bulk, don't crush our threshold."
"You—!" Gold-Tooth Jin's face turned a purplish-red with rage. His chest heaved violently, and the finger pointing at Li Sheng trembled.
But he was a businessman in the end. Looking at the opponents' stance, he knew that if a real fight broke out, his fat carcass would likely be left right here. The Xu family had dared to clash head-on with the Wang and Zhao families; they certainly wouldn't mind offending one more salt merchant like him.
"Good! Very good!" Gold-Tooth Jin gnashed his teeth and spat a thick wad of phlegm fiercely onto the ground. "Just you wait! I want to see who in Jiangning City will want to enter your broken doors! I bet this Hundred Flowers Pavilion of yours will sooner or later become a ghost house!"
Gold-Tooth Jin kicked the chest of silver. "Take it away! What terrible luck!"
The group of men left just as dejectedly as they had arrived aggressively.
As Gold-Tooth Jin's back disappeared around the street corner, the crowd that had been full of mocking voices suddenly fell deathly silent.
The wind had shifted.
If earlier everyone just thought the Xu family was crazy for money and putting on a monkey show, now, seeing Gold-Tooth Jin's one thousand taels of silver turned away without so much as a splash, the flavor of the situation had completely changed.
In this day and age, who would refuse money? Unless... there really was something extraordinary inside the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, or perhaps, this wasn't about money at all.
"Good heavens, the Xu family is playing for keeps?" A wealthy man in a silk gown stroked his beard in the crowd, his brows furrowed tightly. "Even Gold-Tooth Jin was scolded as a vulgar man. If we were to rashly go up, wouldn't we be kicked out too?"
"If a hundred taels can't even get you in, what kind of person is actually allowed inside?"
A strange sentiment spread through the crowd. The initial mockery turned into confusion, and that confusion gradually fermented into a highly subtle sense of "competitiveness."
What do rich people fear the most? They fear being called rich but "tacky," and they fear being lumped into the same tier as Gold-Tooth Jin. Now, with this move of "rejecting guests," the Xu family had drawn an invisible chasm right through the wealthy circles of Jiangning City. Those who could get in were "men of elegance," honored guests; those who couldn't were just country bumpkins with a bit of stinking money.
Once this threshold was established, the originally unappealing "broken doors" instantly transformed into a dragon gate that everyone felt compelled to cross.
...
Second-floor private room of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
The black cloths hadn't been removed yet, making the lighting somewhat dim. Xu Qinghuan sat on a newly crafted yellow rosewood armchair, playing with an exquisite small box in her hands.
Xu Youde sucked his teeth in heartache, unable to snap out of the illusion of that rejected chest of silver. "Daughter, that was a thousand taels! Enough to keep our whole family eating and drinking lavishly for years! You just let Li Sheng push it away like that? Even if you just let him in for a cup of tea and charged a seating fee, it would have been good!"
"Father, just put your heart at ease." Xu Qinghuan opened the box, took out a crystal-clear piece from inside, and held it up against a sliver of faint light leaking through the gap in the black cloth.
It was a palm-sized thin sheet, completely transparent without a trace of impurity, refracting a rainbow halo under the light. The edges of the sheet were polished smooth and round, with intricate patterns and a prominent serial number hot-stamped in gold powder in the center.
Glass. Or rather, the "divine object" in the eyes of the people of this era—colored glaze.
Xu Youde's eyes were instantly captivated, and his heartache over the thousand taels of silver was immediately thrown to the back of his mind. "Right! We have this in our own Taoyuan County!"
"Although the Emperor has nationalized the cement and glass businesses, we are still the ones who created them." Xu Qinghuan lightly flicked the glass card with her fingertip, producing a crisp "ding." "This item is currently priceless and unavailable on the market; even the nobles in the capital might not be able to obtain a whole piece. If I use this to make invitations, do you think a threshold of one hundred taels is still high?"
Xu Youde reached out a trembling hand, wanting to touch it but not daring to. "How is this an invitation? This could be passed down as a family heirloom! You're just going to give it away?"
"It did take a lot of effort to produce. But you can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child." Xu Qinghuan laid the twelve glass invitations out in a row on the table, each one looking as if it had condensed the essence of the sun and moon.
"Twelve invitations. Number one goes to the prefect, number two to the Imperial Silk Manufacturing Bureau." Xu Qinghuan's slender fingers tapped on the table. "Numbers three, four, five, and six will be sent to the four great families: Wang, Xie, Zhao, and Ouyang."
Xu Youde was stunned. "Give it to them? Isn't that like throwing meat buns at dogs—gone without a return?"
"They are our mortal enemies, that's true. But they are also the weathervanes of Jiangning City." Xu Qinghuan said shrewdly. "Once these invitations are sent out, if they come, they are showing me support and acknowledging the status of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion. If they don't come..."
She paused, picking up the remaining stack of invitations. "Then these remaining six will become even more valuable."
"Li Sheng," Xu Qinghuan called out.
Li Sheng pushed the door open and entered, still carrying the chill from outside. "Miss."
Send these first six out, and make sure to do it with great fanfare. Let the whole city know that these prominent figures have this item in their hands. Xu Qinghuan handed the invitations over. As for the remaining six...
She narrowed her eyes. Send them to the largest auction house in Jiangning, the Jinling Auction House. Tell them that for the grand opening of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, only six seats remain. These crystal invitations will serve as entry tickets. They will go to the highest bidders, with no price cap.
...
That afternoon, Jiangning City completely exploded with excitement.
A rumor had spread from the Jinling Auction House: the invitations to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion were not made of paper, but of the legendary Celestial Glass, a material said to be found only within the imperial palace!
It was said to be as transparent as water and as hard as jade. When held in the hand, one could even see rainbows reflecting off it. Just for a piece of this material alone, let alone one hundred taels of silver, even three hundred taels might not be enough to buy it!
With this, the nature of the event completely changed.
They were no longer just buying an invitation; they were buying a status symbol, a rare and precious treasure!
The auction house was packed with people. Wealthy merchants who usually prided themselves on being aloof, scholars who pretended to be cultured, and even middlemen looking to curry favor with the powerful—all squeezed their way inside like madmen.
Three hundred taels! I bid three hundred taels! a plump silk merchant shouted, slamming his hand on the table so hard it shook. Nobody fight me for it! Do you think I am going just to listen to some music? I am doing it for this piece of glass!
Four hundred taels! Fatty Chen, save your breath. I am taking this item. Bringing it back as a birthday gift for my family's old matriarch will be incredibly prestigious!
Five hundred taels!
Bids rang out one after another. In just half an hour, a small, lightweight crystal invitation had been driven up to the astronomical price of five hundred and eighty taels, and the price was still rising.
Those who had originally mocked the Xu family for being crazy for money were now regretting not bringing enough silver. They were terrified that nouveau riche upstarts like Gold-Tooth Jin would snatch the invitations first, causing them to lose face.
Meanwhile, at the Zhao family residence.
Zhao Tai was sitting in his study. On the mahogany desk in front of him lay the brocade box, resting quietly.
Just a moment ago, a servant from the Xu family had swaggered up to the main gate and delivered this item, saying it was an invitation requesting the honor of the eldest young master Zhao's presence.
What a Xu Qinghuan, what a clever move to use others' strength against them. Zhao Tai's face was gloomy. He reached out, grabbed the brocade box, and postured as if to smash it onto the floor. Using this kind of cheap trick to humiliate me? Does she think our Zhao family lacks such trivial things?
His hand remained raised in mid-air, but it never came down.
Because the lid of the brocade box was open, and under the flickering candlelight, the crystal-clear glass plaque shimmered with radiant colors. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
Even the eldest young master of the Zhao family, who was accustomed to seeing rare treasures, had to admit at this moment that the craftsmanship of this item was simply divine. Such purity, such translucency—even the tribute jade bestowed by the imperial palace might not compare to it.
Zhao Tai's hand stiffened slightly.
Smash it? This thing was truly rare; it would be a pity to destroy it.
Do not smash it? Keeping it felt like keeping a slap in the face from Xu Qinghuan.
More importantly, the rumors from outside had already reached his ears. Now, the entire city of Jiangning knew that the four great families all possessed this item. If the grand opening arrived and the Wang family went, and the Xie family went, but his Zhao family was the only one absent, what would outsiders say?
Would they say the Zhao family was petty and did not even dare to support the opening of a brothel? Or would they say the Zhao family actually could not afford it and could not play the game?
In this territory of Jiangning, face was sometimes more important than substance.
Zhao Tai stared fixedly at the glass plaque, his knuckles turning white from his tight grip. After a long while, he slowly lowered his hand and placed the plaque back into the brocade box.
Men, Zhao Tai's voice was slightly hoarse.
His personal attendant pushed the door open and entered. Young Master?
Prepare a generous gift for me. Zhao Tai leaned back in his chair, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes. Since County Princess Xu has given me so much face, would it not be unappreciative of me if I did not attend?
He extended a finger and gently stroked the cold glass plaque, curling his lips into a cold sneer.
I want to see what happens after she hypes this pile of trash to the heavens. When the girls of the pavilion come out on that day, if they only know the tricks of vulgar and ordinary women, how will Xu Qinghuan manage to salvage such a humiliating scene!
(Darlings, there should be more coming tonight! I was a bit busy today, I am very sorry.
