Chapter 10
The assistant quickly stepped forward and announced, “Zhao Gongzi is donating this garment, which was hand-stitched by the great master Nius-Baruchi-Rafamuk!”
Right, that was the exact person who swindled five hundred silver dollars out of Zhao Gongzi.
Actually, I had wanted to give Jin Xian’er a surprise; I intended to buy the teacups back during the auction. I had always believed that if I weren’t bogged down by Zhao Gongzi, I could rely on my romantic charm to pursue and win over the vast majority of the young talent and elites in this city.
I recently discovered that Jin Xian’er is actually quite wonderful. The romance between me and Jin Xian’er is highly unconventional: he detests me, yet I have fallen in love with him. It is just like a playāI even feel a bit like Rhett Butler.
However, there was a tiny hitch in the plan. I also had to buy back that garment of Zhao Gongzi’s, otherwise he would stew his own dog.
Furthermore, the teacups handmade by Jin Xian’er fetched a starting price that was very difficult for me to afford. He really is incredibly famous.
In the end, that set of teacups was auctioned off to a young lady for three hundred and twenty dollars. She had only one condition: to share afternoon tea with Jin Xian’er using those very cups.
I finally understood why Jin Xian’er used to mock me for not knowing how to make money.
I have lunch with Zhao Gongzi every single day, and I even have to help him pay back his debts every month.
After another while, it was finally the turn for Zhao Gongzi’s garment. The bidding started at five silver dollars.
Zhao Gongzi swore loudly, “Iā”
Quick of eye and deft of hand, I shoved an orange into his mouth. “Eat.”
He swallowed the orange, burning with righteous indignation. “That broken cup started at a hundred!”
Following that, the auction hall fell into a blanket of silence.
The kind of silence where Ham was about to be stewed.
I had no choice but to raise my paddle. “Six dollars.”
Zhao Gongzi: “Fucā”
Having already peeled and arranged a whole plate of oranges in advance, I immediately stuffed another slice straight into his mouth.
No one competed against me for the garment. Everyone looked at me with expressions that said, ‘Spending six silver dollars on a piece of junk like thatāas expected, he doesn’t feel any heartache since he’s spending Zhao Gongzi’s money.’
My heart did ache. It ached terribly.
This garment, which couldn’t be worn out of the house under any circumstances, had now cost us a grand total of five hundred and six silver dollars.
Zhao Gongzi is incomparably loathsome.
Today I encountered a difficult problem, a problem far more difficult than Zhao Gongzi.
Fifth Brother is back.
Fifth Brother is an untamed wanderer. The last time he appeared was during the Mid-Autumn Festival two years ago. In order to find an excuse not to return to the main mansion for dinner, Zhao Gongzi had almost shot himself in the foot.
In reality, there wasn’t much bad blood between Zhao Gongzi and Fifth Brother. The root of the problem lay with me.
Fifth Brother and I had once attempted an unsuccessful elopementāat least, that was how it looked in Zhao Gongzi’s eyes.
Back then, after seeing the note Fifth Brother left for me, I arrived at the train station as agreed, only for Fifth Brother to ask me a question: “How did you know I was here? Does Dad know too?”
I: “? You’re the one who asked me to come.”
Fifth Brother: “No, I asked… anyway, it wasn’t you I asked to come.”
This was intensely awkward. For a moment, I didn’t even know how to breathe.
Fifth Brother didn’t seem to know how to breathe either, and he almost ended up genuinely unable to breathe.
That was the first time I failed to pry open Zhao Gongzi’s hands when he was trying to choke someone to death.
In the end, Fifth Brother had to pry them open himself.
Fifth Brother looked at Zhao Gongzi with a heartbreaking gaze. “Xiao Long, I…”
Please really don’t tell me that Fifth Brother had wanted to elope with Zhao Gongzi, or I might want to choke myself to death.
Fortunately, Fifth Brother didn’t say that. He only said, “You don’t know what your mother truly wants.”
čµµå ¬å punched him again. “It’s certainly not you anyway!”
I stood there rooted to the spot, utterly at a loss, wanting to choke myself to death even more.
Alright, the core of the issue lay between me and the Thirteenth Concubineāor perhaps mostly with the Thirteenth Concubine. But once I found out the truth, meeting Fifth Brother again became highly awkward.
Reversing his usual behavior, Zhao Gongzi didn’t utter a word from the early morning. He got out of bed coldly, washed up coldly, and read the newspaper coldly.
Out of the kindness of my heart, I reminded him, “You’re holding the newspaper upside down.”
He gave me a cold glance. “Where are you going?”
I said, “Nowhere.”
He said coldly, “Who are you dressing up so beautifully for?”
I said, “I’m wearing your clothes.”
These were the ugliest clothes I could find in the wardrobe, specifically chosen to prevent him from throwing an unreasonable tantrum. In the end, he was still going to throw an unreasonable tantrum. It was an oversight on my part; the prerequisite of an unreasonable tantrum is being unreasonable. Even if I wore a burlap sack, he would still find a way to make a scene.
He said coldly, “Change into pajamas.”
I asked him, “Would you feel more at ease if I didn’t wear anything at all?”
He asked coldly, “Who are you going to show yourself to if you don’t wear anything?”
Even someone with a good temper like me couldn’t stand him anymore! Even someone with a good temper like me was going to blow a fuse!
I was going to ignore him. I went back to my room to read.
After I had been reading for a good while, Zhao Gongzi pushed the door open and entered, asking coldly, “What book are you reading?”
I showed him the cover. He said coldly, “Romeo and Juliet. Very good. Who is Juliet?”
Your mother! Your mother is Juliet!
I replied just as coldly, “If you don’t crack a smile for me right this instant, I am immediately putting on my own clothes and leaving the house.”
Zhao Gongzi’s face twitched. He stared at me in silence for a very long time, then turned around, locked the door from the inside, and threw the key out of the window.
I have to hand it to him.
Zhao Gongzi pressed his hand down on the telephone. “You’re not allowed to call!”
I said, “I’m calling Hao Da so he can pick up the key, otherwise we won’t be able to get out.”
Zhao Gongzi: “Let him pick it up tomorrow.”
I said, “If we wait any longer, it will be picked up by a passerby.”
After a moment of hesitation, Zhao Gongzi snatched the receiver and said to his long-suffering assistant, Hao Da, “Go outside my place and pick up the key. Once you’ve got it, take it back with you. Don’t come over to open the door until I tell you to.”
