“……”
Cui Yunchu quickly withdrew her hand, getting the strange feeling that if she touched it, she might end up owing herself to it.
But the folding screen was truly exquisite; she could hardly tear her eyes away.
“With so many things left for your mistress, can your courtyard even hold them all?”
“I have a separate storeroom in my courtyard,” Shen Xiabai said.
Cui Yunchu immediately fell silent.
Standing in a storeroom piled high with gold and jade, she was nearly blinded by the splendor. She forced a faint smile and said, “Lord Shen really does trust me, daring to bring someone like me to a place like this.”
Everyone who knew her even a little was well aware of her character. Aside from Yunfeng, anyone willing to take her to a storeroom was truly a kind soul.
Shen Xiabai smiled faintly. “There are guards from the Penal Department stationed in the mansion. No one except the head of the Shen family can approach. Letting you take a look is harmless enough. If you really like it, the day is still young; you can touch it a while longer.”
His tone was extremely generous.
Cui Yunchu thought, “…”
How could she have so little self-respect?
Though she was poor, she still had her pride. “Can I pry off two of the pearls on the screen?”
“.” The playful look in Shen Xiabai’s eyes froze.
Cui Yunchu raised three fingers. “Don’t worry, I swear, I’ll only take two. Not one more.”
The storeroom was very quiet, so much so that even the faint breeze made one feel a chill.
Yu Feng stared dumbfounded at Cui Yunchu, gaining yet another profound understanding of his future mistress.
Shen Xiabai stepped closer, his face almost impossibly handsome. Cui Yunchu looked at him with eager anticipation.
He raised a hand and suddenly pinched the back of her neck, seemingly grinding his teeth. “No.”
Forced to tilt her head up, Cui Yunchu pouted. “If I can’t, I can’t. No need to use force.”
She was just being polite by asking, not actually trying to snatch it.
“Let me go.” Cui Yunchu twisted her neck, but her gaze drifted back to the screen.
It was clear she really did like it.
Shen Xiabai raised an eyebrow, slowly releasing his grip. “You really like it?”
Of course she did—those were Eastern Sea pearls, no exaggeration to say they were worth a fortune.
Cui Yunchu nodded vigorously.
“It’s yours,” Shen Xiabai said with a casual, generous air, as if money meant nothing to him.
Cui Yunchu’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Really?”
She grinned so widely it nearly reached the back of her head, practically flinging herself onto the screen, hugging it and bouncing around.
In her joy, she suddenly turned back to Shen Xiabai and said, “You’re giving this to me willingly—I’m not giving it back.”
Shen Xiabai looked like a bodhisattva sitting serenely in a temple, even more compassionate and kind. “Of course.”
Cui Yunchu’s eyes curved into crescents. “No wonder everyone likes hanging around the powerful and wealthy—they’re so generous.”
She had already started counting how many pearls were on the screen.
Yu Feng lowered his voice and reminded him, “Master, isn’t this a bit inappropriate? That screen… seems to be the old madam’s cherished dowry.”
Wasn’t it just borrowed for show? How could he just give it away?
“Is that so?” Shen Xiabai said, as if only just realizing. “Well, it’s already given. I’ll explain to Mother later.”
Yu Feng’s lips twitched.
“Is that so”? How could he not remember something so obvious? He had seen it since he was a child.
Shen Xiabai hid a smile at the corner of his mouth as he watched Cui Yunchu clutching the screen and refusing to let go, a trace of calculating thought deep in his eyes.
“By the way, what about the rewards the Crown Prince gave me?” Cui Yunchu turned back to ask.
She had been here for a while and had nearly forgotten the main business.
Shen Xiabai led her to a corner of the storeroom and pointed to a pile on the floor.
Cui Yunchu looked but was confused. “Where?”
Shen Xiabai raised an eyebrow. “On the floor. Can’t you see?” With that, he even stepped forward and kicked the pile.
Cui Yunchu’s eyes fell on a heap of scrap metal, and it took her a long moment to process.
The truth was, the Shen family’s gold and treasures were so overwhelming that the things in that corner looked even more like worthless junk.
She looked away, glanced at Shen Xiabai, then back at the pile of scrap metal. She pressed her lips together, her disgust plain on her face.
Imitating Shen Xiabai, she stepped forward and kicked the pile as well.
A teapot, a lampshade—all sorts of things. Most absurd of all, there was even a teapot lid without a matching teacup.
Cui Yunchu bent down, picked up the lid, tilted her head to examine it, and then asked Shen Xiabai, “It’s a perfect fit for something, but where’s the cup?”
“…” Shen Xiabai glanced at Yu Feng.
Yu Feng hurriedly said, “The teacup… maybe the Crown Prince’s household broke it while using it, so only the lid is left.”
After saying that, he stole a glance at Shen Xiabai.
His master had said to prepare some cheap little trinkets, so he had ordered the steward to handle it—who knew it would be so unreliable.
“…”
“If there’s no cup, what good is the lid?” Besides, it was covered in dust. Cui Yunchu frowned. Comparing it to the Shen family’s treasures, she felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment.
This wasn’t a reward; it was more like the Crown Prince’s mansion had dumped their trash on her.
Cui Yunchu crouched down and sifted through that corner, digging out a teapot with a broken spout, a lampshade with no base, a chipped glazed bowl…
“I may be poor, but I don’t take just anything,” she muttered. “Right now, the Crown Prince’s garbage might have been cleared out quite thoroughly.”
Yu Feng couldn’t help but laugh.
Cui Yunchu turned her head and shot him a look. “You like it? I’ll sell it to you cheap.”
“My salary could never afford that,” Yu Feng said, waving his hands repeatedly.
“Then why are you laughing? What’s so funny? Is it really that amusing?” Cui Yunchu glared at him, and Yu Feng quickly shut his mouth, thinking that his master was truly a sharp one.
Refusing to give up, Cui Yunchu rummaged through the pile of junk again. Finally, she pulled out a scroll that was also falling apart. She opened it—it was a landscape painting signed with Shen Xiabai’s name.
As the scroll unrolled, Cui Yunchu turned to look at Shen Xiabai.
“…”
Yu Feng leaped forward and snatched the scroll back, stammering his explanation, “Well, that—this is my master’s calligraphy. It must have been put in the wrong place by some careless person.”
Cui Yunchu looked at the pile of junk, then at Shen Xiabai, then back at Yu Feng and the scroll in his arms, her expression suspicious.
“Are you sure this is the Crown Prince’s reward to me?” Cui Yunchu was very doubtful.
Shen Xiabai coughed lightly behind his hand and said, “The political situation at court is unstable. The Crown Prince and Prince An are contending, and it requires a lot of money. The Crown Prince’s mansion finances are tight, which is normal.”
“…” Cui Yunchu caught a piece of news from this:
The Crown Prince was broke.
Yu Feng chimed in, “That’s right, Master. The Crown Prince’s household hasn’t exactly been well-off lately.”
Shen Xiabai nodded. “Very poor.”
“…”
What Cui Yunchu was thinking was: if that were the case, her cousin must be having a hard time.
A Crown Prince of a nation—how could he have no money?
No, wait—she had been to the Crown Prince’s storeroom before. Though it didn’t match the Shen mansion, it was absolutely not poor.
Shen Xiabai stood with his hands behind his back, his words sounding high-sounding and dignified. “But this also shows that the Crown Prince is especially stingy. In the future, you should steer clear of him and stop thinking about him.”
Upon hearing this, Cui Yunchu said nothing, simply gazing at Shen Xiabai.
Yu Feng’s lips twitched.
Was it really appropriate for his master to slander the Crown Prince like this?
