On the way back, the vehicle's speed slowed down.
Su Ning's gaze remained fixed outside the car window. As evening approached, the number of pedestrians returning home late increased, and the shops along the street began to hawk their wares vigorously, preparing to make their final wave of business for the day.
During the winter season, the most tempting thing on the streets was the candied hawthorn sticks.
The bright red hawthorn berries, coated in a transparent layer of sugar and stuck on the display rack, drew in little children who sucked their fingers and crowded around the peddler.
"How much for one stick, two coppers?"
"That's too expensive..."
"You and I each pay one copper, let's pool our money, okay..."
The peddler was so entangled by the children and their frugal parents that he couldn't get away. He had just managed to sell one stick when a car suddenly stopped in front of him. His first reaction was to bow and apologize profusely:
"I'm blocking your way, I'll leave right now, right now."
As he spoke, he picked up the candied hawthorn rack and backed away until he was pressed against the corner of the wall. He was terrified, fearing it wasn't enough, when suddenly the car window rolled down halfway.
Clatter—
Two shiny, heavy silver dollars fell to the ground.
They kicked up a small cloud of dust.
The peddler was dumbfounded for a moment, while the onlookers grew restless. The next second, several burly men with buzz cuts rushed over, snatched the candied hawthorn rack, and said fiercely:
"Are you frozen stupid? You don't even know to pick up money when it's right there."
"Our master wants all these candied hawthorns. Keep the change from the two silver dollars. Consider yourself lucky today, hmph."
Saying this, they glared warningly at the surrounding crowd, scaring them into averting their eyes—they were all just common folks trying to make a living. Bullying a peddler through sheer numbers was one thing, but they avoided these vicious men like the plague.
The bright red candied hawthorn rack was handed to the car window.
Su Ning took a casual glance. They looked fine from a distance, but up close, there was fine dust on the candied hawthorns. The berries were large but not very plump.
"Wrap up a few sticks."
"You guys can share the rest."
Hearing this, the subordinates were overjoyed. Those with children at home planned to take them back for their kids, and the single ones were just happy to get free candied hawthorns.
Sweet things, who doesn't love to eat them?
Su Ning rolled the car window back up.
Buying the candied hawthorns was just a whim triggered by memories. After leaving the dog-raising facility, De Shun was occasionally able to leave the palace to make purchases, and he would often pool money with a few young eunuchs to buy candied hawthorns.
One for you, one for me.
It was a rare, happy moment in her youthful memories.
"System, give me the summary of the rewards from the Guan family this time." Su Ning felt melancholic for barely three seconds before her heart steeled, knowing she couldn't immerse herself too deeply in those memories.
She had to always be herself, Su Ning.
Not a twisted memory of a dead soul.
Better get to work—working would stop her from thinking about all sorts of random things.
The Rich and Heartless System secretly breathed a sigh of relief and actively announced the rewards. There was over a million in cash, and the string of zeros only gave Su Ning a headache thinking about how to spend it.
"Fortunately, there is a lottery draw," she rejoiced, telling the system not to use the draw just yet. "Metaphysics changes fate. I'll wait until I see my dear uncle before drawing..."
System: ...
Alright, the host must be one of those hardcore superstitious gamers who, after getting a golden pull once, strictly replicates all conditions from clothing to time for every subsequent pull.
The car turned a corner.
"Miss, although the Guan family's mansion is nice, there are better mansions in Beiping. The Guan family is greedy and overestimates their own abilities. Why don't we just give up on it?"
Lin Sen hesitated for a long time before finally asking.
He truly didn't understand.
The Guan family was unappreciative, so they could just not buy it. If they spread the word that the Guan family had offended the Miss, considering there were already few people who could afford the price...
This way, he could guarantee that no one would even ask for the price of the Guan family's mansion for another three years.
That is, if the Guan family could last three years.
If it was out of respect for Eldest Young Madame Jin... then they should just buy it outright. Leaving things hanging like this, wanting to teach the Guan family a lesson while still taking the trouble to buy the mansion.
Lin Sen lowered his head and sighed resentfully—
Working is really so tiring!
"Give up?" A cold yet amused female voice came from the back seat, as if she had heard something funny.
"Those words are not in my dictionary."
"From the moment I decided to go look at the mansion, the Guan family's old residence already took the surname Su."
Su Ning happily turned the jade ring on her finger. She looked up, meeting the eyes of her capable subordinate in the front seat through the rearview mirror, and explained to him with what she considered a very good temper:
"The Guan family is just temporarily keeping it safe. What owner would give up their own belongings?"
As her words fell, the car fell silent.
Several seconds passed.
Lin Sen finally gave a brief response:
"It is my dullness. I will not make such a mistake again in the future."
—He had to always remember that his master was an incredibly domineering entity with an extremely peculiar thought process, entirely different from ordinary people!
Just as he had rebuilt his mental barrier.
"By the way, ignore any other members of the Guan family who come pleading. Wait until Eldest Young Madame Jin comes before notifying me." Path dependency; after successfully taking the route of cooperating with the villain, Su Ning didn't want to get off it.
She would only deal with Guan Xiunian. This fierce aunt would turn the Guan family upside down on her behalf, and she only needed to give a little push along the way.
She just had to sit back and collect the rewards.
"Understood."
Lin Sen appeared very calm.
In his heart—Oh, so it actually does have that kind of meaning, right? Just like what's often played out in the theater scripts: a local tyrant using power to oppress, waiting for the targeted person to walk right into the trap...
............
Su Ning had no idea about Assistant Lin's inner theater. If she knew, she would only sigh that heavy workloads really do make people perverted.
—Fortunately, she didn't have to work.
When the afterglow of dusk was about to disappear, they finally returned to the Grand Hotel in Beiping.
She actually felt as if a lifetime had passed.
Walking into the hotel, she heard that Su Zhenzhu happened to be receiving her English lessons here, so Su Ning decided to go take a look.
Speaking of English teachers.
Lin Sen had really tried his absolute best. In this era, those who knew English were already top-tier talents.
They were either brilliant scholars returning from studying abroad.
Or students from missionary universities.
A level above that would be famous scholars and professors, or compradors and businessmen dealing with foreigners.
In addition, Su Ning, as the employer, had extremely strict requirements: not only must they be able to read and write, but their spoken language must also be fluent, and their pronunciation must be standard RP, which is the aristocratic accent, also known as the Queen's English.
Lin Sen's scalp went numb at the time.
He asked if the standards could be lowered a bit...
Then, "My sister will only have the best," stated Su "Scum Boss" Ning.
After turning Beiping city upside down, he finally found a suitable candidate with the help of Henry from HSBC.
A woman, not young in age.
She had lived abroad for many years. Because her husband was in the jewelry business, she had long mingled in foreign high society. Her English was fluent, and her pronunciation was an extremely standard aristocratic accent.
She was even well-versed in the social lifestyles of the aristocracy.
Su Ning didn't expect to find someone who matched her requirements so perfectly.
In a good mood, she was very generous with the salary, and conveniently gave the capable Assistant Lin a raise as well.
It was just that she was too busy.
She hadn't even met the teacher she was planning to secretly learn from.
