“Young master, are you looking at that girl?”
“Who would look at her? It’s not like she’s pretty!” Pei Xuan snorted and looked away when he heard Pengmo’s question.
Pengmo nodded along when he heard the young master’s words. It seemed that he had thought too much. After all, even though this young man had girls lining up throughout the whole of Beijing wanting to marry him, he was still only 14 years old* this year. It would probably be a few more years before he had any thoughts about women or marriage.
That little girl was obviously too small to catch the young master’s eye. Plus, who knew how many beautiful young girls the young master had seen in the capital? There was no way he would suddenly fall for a young girl from somewhere.
Pei Xuan had no idea what Pengmo was thinking about him because he was distracted by Mrs. Wang, who suddenly rushed out of her store after Su Tang left. When he saw that, he briefly smoothed out his clothes before stepping out.
When Mrs. Wang saw Pei Xuan suddenly appear she was shocked. But then she smiled and said, “What a coincidence that your honorable personage is here. I was actually just leaving to find your honorable personage.”
Pengmo followed out behind Pei Xuan and thought silently in his heart that it wasn’t a coincidence at all because actually they had been waiting here for a long time. However, he didn’t want to be beaten, so he didn’t say anything out loud.
Pei Xuan looked at Mrs. Wang with lukewarm eyes, “Hmph!”
Su Tang, for her part, naturally did not know that the ‘honorable personage’ was having a conversation with Mrs. Wang moments after she left. As she walked back to Sujia Village she put part of the cotton and cloth she had bought into the space to lighten her burden so she could get home as soon as possible.
When she got home she found that Su Nuo still hadn’t come back yet so, seeing that she had some time, Su Tang went inside her space to look at the farm and harvest all the produce. She sold some of the excess produce for points, and then went back out to start cooking.
After cooking, Su Sugar began working on the cotton-padded clothes for her and her borther. After all, if she really took the job to make those satin clothes she knew she would have to put all of her attention into doing that job, and she wouldn’t have much time to work on the cotton-padded clothes for her own family, so it would be better to hurry up a little bit.
Like that, Su Tang was busy until late at night, only briefly ‘going to bed’ until the little guy fell asleep and then getting back up and going into the space to work until the moon was high in the sky.
The next morning Su Tang got up early in the morning and headed into town as usual to deliver her fish balls to Madam Qian. After she finished doing that, she turned around and went over to Mrs. Wang’s fabric store. When Mrs. Wang saw Su Tang step inside the shop, her eyes lit up happily and she said, “Miss Tang, you came just in time.”
Then she pulled Su Tang aside and explained, “I was a bit worried Miss Tang wouldn’t arrive on time. Actually, the esteemed customer is already here and he’s waiting in one of the inner rooms. I have already told him about your conditions regarding that embroidery and he said that as long as the clothes were well made, money was not an issue. However, Miss Tang, please think clearly and know that if you really take this job then you have to do it properly.”
Su Tang was amused when she saw Mrs. Wang was still so worried about this point. She laughed and said, “Don’t worry Mrs. Wang. If I take a job then I will definitely do my best. Why don’t we go back and see the customer?”
It was true that she was young and she didn’t have much strength in her arms but it wasn’t like she had forgotten what she learned back in college. When it came to making clothes, Su Tang was quite confident.
When Mrs. Wang saw the little girl seemed to sure of herself, she calmed down. In a small place like Qinghe Town, it was rare for this kind of business to fall into her lap. If Su Tang could really do it then that would mean she would easily earn four taels of silver and also get to know a skilled embroiderer.
Then, if there were any more jobs like this in the future, she would be able to find Su Tang again. When Mrs. Wang thought about it that way, she felt very happy.
Mrs. Wang had told Su Tang that the young master had offered five taels of silver per set of clothes, but actually he had offered six taels. She had just told Su Tang a smaller number so that she could earn more from the transaction.
For her part, Su Tang had noticed that Mrs. Wang had probably been lying when she asked about the fee yesterday, but the other woman was the one who was introducing her to the customer in the first place. Without her Su Tang wouldn’t be able to make any money at all, so she didn’t say anything about it.
*14 and 8… I guess if we get a 10 year timeskip it will be just barely safe? Ugh this is why I don’t like it when the author make their main characters literal children heh.
I suppose the thing with stories based in ancient times is that they kind of have to be young. They did everything earlier because of necessity. Am just happy that they are close in age instead of where the girl is under 14 and the guy is literally twice her age or more. Also the ones where it is either one of the things before reincarnation or that caused a trauma where the guy is over 40.
Not to mention, most of the time, these girls are spiritually the same age or older than the guys. If they didn’t specify ages, you wouldn’t be able to tell based on the way they speak and act.
I wonder which attraction is more uncomfortable, the girl being 8 and the boy being 14 or the fact the boy is 14 while the girl is actually in her late 20s, early 30s.
To be honest, a six year age gap is quite small in the world of cnovels. Still uncomfortable, but at least it is not a 20-30 year old man chasing a 13 year old girl.