"This jade bangle, was it carved by her?" Nie Boyi's gaze fell on the brocade box, his face darkening as if water was about to drip from it. Whoever is told by a guest that their jade carving is not as good as a little girl who has been learning jade carving for less than a year will not be in a good mood, let alone someone as proud and arrogant as Nie Boyi.

  "It's exactly." Jiang Gongzi seemed to be still not angry enough, and poured more oil on the fire. "Look at this jade bangle, that's what I call skill, and the fee is not expensive either. For a jade bangle like this, they only charged eighty taels of silver for processing fees. Your skills are not as good as others, how dare you charge two hundred taels of silver! This is not selling reputation, what else can it be? Forget it, I'll find Ye Gu Niang to carve that piece of jade material instead." After finishing speaking, he picked up the brocade box on the table and was about to leave.

  "Halt!" Nie Bao stepped forward, blocking Jiang Gongzi's path, and shouted angrily, "You came here to stir up trouble and provoke me into anger towards Yu Zhuo Fang. Who sent you and what do you want?"

  Ye Chou nodded slightly. Although Nie Boye had a fiery temper, at least he wasn't stupid, and in the midst of this jealous fire, he could still think of this. Of course, this was also related to Jiang Gongzi's poor acting skills. He seemed too eager to succeed, afraid that Nie Boye wouldn't hate Ye Chou, and his provocation was too obvious.

  Where would Duke Jiang admit? He took out another brocade box from his bosom: "How did I instigate and separate you? I came here today, just to admire your reputation, hoping that you can help me carve a piece of jade, look, I brought the jade material." After finishing, he opened the brocade box, revealing a piece of jade material inside. This was a piece of Jiangshui green ice species material, about the size of a strong man's fist. Such material is not top-notch, but it is also considered high-end material, like this large one, worth tens of thousands of silver coins.

  Jiang Gongzi saw that everyone was silent after seeing the jade, even Nie Bo closed his mouth. With a complacent tone, he said: "This piece of jade is more valuable than the material of that jade bangle. I've heard that the carvers in your Nie family's workshop are skilled. It's not something that a small workshop like Yu Zuan Fang can compare to. Moreover, Master Nie's apprentice has a great reputation, so I thought it wouldn't be an empty name. But who knew that under the fame, it would actually be difficult to live up to. In my opinion, Master Nie's craftsmanship is nothing more than this. Alright, I'll just go to Yu Zuan Fang to carve it then." After finishing speaking, he put away the jade and was about to leave.

  "You..." Nie Bo Yi saw that he wanted to leave and tried to stop him, but Sun Zhang pulled him back, shaking his head and saying in a low voice: "No matter what, he is still a guest. If we detain him in the store because of his comments on our craftsmanship, it will cause trouble and ruin the reputation of Nie's family that has been accumulated for decades. Let him go. Even if he says outside that our craftsmanship is not as good as Yu Zhuo Fang, it won't make any big waves. The reputation of Nie's family wasn't blown out by ourselves, can it be broken with just one blow? What are we afraid of?"

  He finished speaking and gave Nie Boyi a signal with his eyes. Nie Boyi also knew that Sun Zhanggui was cunning, and now he let Jiang Gongzi go, there must be some follow-up plan. He could only hold back his anger, stop in his tracks, and watch as Jiang Gongzi left.

  No matter what tricks Sun Zhang had up his sleeve, Ye Zhuo was not going to let that Jiang Gongzi off the hook. Seeing him leave, he quickly followed suit. However, just as they reached the gate, two people walked in from outside. He took a closer look and silently cursed his bad luck.

  She had come to Nie's residence, and what she feared most was running into Du Haoran. This guy seemed to have some kind of X-ray vision. No matter how she disguised herself, he could see through her disguise and recognize her. Before entering today, she had looked around the carriage for a while, confirming that Du Haoran and Nie Bowen were not in Nie's residence, before following the female guest inside. But unexpectedly, now that she was about to leave, she would run into the two of them at the door, it was really too unlucky!

  She had no choice but to stop in her tracks and dodge to the side, praying in her heart that Du Haoran would treat her like air and ignore her.

  However, her wish was ultimately in vain. Du Haoran walked a few steps, turned his head and looked at her, then frowned, his eyes staring straight at her.

  Ye Zhuo's heart skipped a beat as she knew Du Haoran had recognized her. At this point, avoiding him would only make her appear guilty and nervous. So she simply raised her head, nodded slightly at Du Haoran, but with a hint of pleading in her eyes.

  Her eyes were as pure as a baby's, like a pool of clear water, with no impurities visible. The pleading look in her eyes unexpectedly evoked a sense of pity, making one want to hold her close and protect her from any harm.

  Du Haoran suddenly realized his thoughts and was startled by himself, quickly shifting his gaze away, not daring to look at Ye Zhuo again.

  "What's wrong?" Nie Bowen suddenly discovered that Du Haoran, who was walking beside him, had disappeared. He turned his head to look for him and saw that he was standing in front of a young man, his face slightly red. He quickly walked over, looked at Du Haoran suspiciously, and then gazed at Ye Zhuo, wondering if he knew this person himself.

  "Oh, never mind. I blinked and thought this young master looked familiar, thinking it was an old acquaintance, but when I took a closer look, I realized I was wrong." Du Haoran quickly turned to Nie Bowen, "Let's go." After finishing speaking, he lifted his foot and walked inside.

  Du Haoran had always been truthful, so Nie Bowen naturally trusted his words. He glanced at Ye Zhuo and followed Du Haoran into the house.

  Ye Zhu took a deep breath, turned her head to look around, and saw that Jiang Gongzi had already disappeared. She hastily rushed out in pursuit. When she reached the entrance, she saw Jiang Gongzi sitting in a horse carriage, and only then did she put her mind at ease. She got into Wei Daxiang's carriage and pointed at the other carriage, saying: "Just now, someone wearing a purple long gown got on that carriage, follow him."

  Wei Daxiang saw that the car had started and hurriedly waved his whip, driving the horse-drawn carriage to follow.

  "Brother Wei, if I get off the carriage, can you follow him?" Ye Zhuo knew that Wei Da Xiang and others had gained experience in following people during this period of time. And since he had just met Jiang Gongzi, if he followed behind, he would definitely be discovered, which would make it easier to startle the snake. It's better to get off the carriage and let Wei Da Xiang follow him instead.

  "No problem." Wei Daxiang was very confident.

  "Just put me down in front of the shop ahead and you continue following him."

  "Good." At this time, Wei Daxiang was not worried that Ye Zhuo would walk back safely. He pulled the reins and stopped the carriage. After Ye Zhuo got off, he drove the carriage quickly to chase after the car in front.

  Ye Zhuo went into the shop and pretended to browse around for a while before coming out and returning to Yu Zhuo Fang.

  Nie Bao Wen and Du Hao Ran entered the main hall of Nie's compound, only to see Nie Bao Yi and Sun Zhuang Gui arguing there. Nie Bao Yi's face was red and his ears were flushed, seemingly very agitated. It wasn't until the two men approached him that he finally noticed them. He hastily turned around and paid his respects.

  Sun Zhanggui had already discovered Nie Bao and Du Haoran, and he bowed to them, saying: "Young Master, Mr. Du, you two have arrived?"

  Nie Bowen nodded to him and looked at Nie Boyi: "Fifth brother, what's going on?" Nie Boyi was his cousin, fifth in the family line. Although Nie Bowen was twelfth in the family line, as the eldest son of the family head and the nephew of the Imperial Noble Consort, he was the heir apparent to the next generation's family head. To emphasize his status, everyone called him "Da Gongzi". This was similar to how imperial princes were referred to as "Da Huangzi".

  Nie Bao saw Nie Bao Wen and was like seeing a great savior, he quickly recounted what had just happened, and excitedly said: "I was just about to have Sun Zhuang Jia send an invitation to Ye's family to invite that Miss Ye for a competition. But Sun Zhuang Jia disagreed, saying this matter shouldn't be taken too seriously, others say her jade carvings are better than ours in Nie's workshop. Let them say what they want, we just need to be like a turtle hiding its head."

  Upon hearing these emotional words, Sun Zhanggui smiled wryly and explained: "What kind of status does our Nie family workshop have? Is it worth comparing with those small workshops? Wouldn't that be giving them too much credit? If we win, it won't be a big deal, but if we lose, our Nie family workshop will really be finished!"

  "Let's just let this slap in the face happen and let others say that I, Nie Da Shi's personally taught disciple who has studied jade carving for over a decade, am not as good as a self-taught girl who has been doing it for less than a year? And then being said like that, we don't even dare to make a sound? If this gets out, others will definitely say that we acknowledge that Yu Zhu Fang's jade carvings are better than Nie Jia Fang's. The Ye family's young girl's jade carving skills are stronger than Master Nie's disciples. Letting others say this, I'm not bothered. But Uncle's reputation built up over the years through competitions and recruiting disciples will be ruined. In the future, can we still proudly say that we are the number one school of Southern Carving? If a more skilled jade carver appears, won't the Second Prince take advantage of it to give them great support?"

  Nie Bao's words left Sun Zhanggu speechless. He looked up at Nie Bao, hoping that the young master would make a decision.

  Nie Bao Wen laughed at Nie Bao Yi's words and said, "Fifth brother, things aren't as serious as you say. She's just a little girl, and with her power, wanting to threaten the position of our Nie family is like an ant trying to shake a big tree." Seeing Nie Bao Yi about to speak, he shook his hand and said, "However, what you said can't be ignored. How about this? You post a message in your personal name, saying you want to have a try with her. If she can win against you, I'll let my father accept her as a personally taught disciple."

  As soon as Nie Bao Wen's voice fell, Sun Zhanggui loudly shouted "good". To capture all the excellent jade carving talents in one net and make them his own, not only to expand his own strength but also to prevent external forces from supporting them to grow bigger and stronger, has always been the political strategy implemented by the Nie family for decades. By bringing that extremely talented little girl from the Ye family into the Nie family's camp, all the problems encountered earlier were solved.

  "However, can Miss Ye win against Young Master Wu? Isn't this condition a bit too high?"

  Nie Boyi's face turned bright red when he heard Nie Bowen's condition. Did Nie Bowen really think that the little girl from the Ye family was stronger than himself? At this time, after hearing what Manager Sun said, he felt a bit better in his heart. He turned around and stared tightly at Nie Bowen.

  Nie Bowen smiled and said, "Losing isn't necessarily a bad thing. Firstly, it proves that our Nie family's jade carving skills are unmatched; secondly, it will also humble her pride, so she doesn't think her own carving skills are already exceptional. If she enters the Nie household with such an attitude, she'll definitely not learn jade carving well. If she loses, I'll tell her to participate in the grand competition. As long as she can get into the top twenty, my father will surely accept her as a personal apprentice. This experience will only bring benefits and no harm to her."

  Du Haoran glanced at him and used a bowl cover to scoop up the tea that had just been poured, without saying a word about the matter.

  "Is that little fellow going to post the notice?" asked Sun the shopkeeper.

  "Go ahead." Nie Bowen waved his hand.

  "Wait a minute." Three women walked in from outside. The one leading them was the female guest who had come to Nie's house earlier.

  Sun Zhanggui was taken aback, secretly lamenting. Earlier, such a thing had happened, he didn't have time to attend to this female guest. Later, when arguing with Nie Boyi, and then Nie Bowen and Du Haoran arrived, he forgot about her. He also didn't know how much of their conversation the woman had overheard.

  "This guest, I don't know what you have ordered?" He had no choice but to go forward and greet the female guest.

  "My surname is Gu, and I live in the Gu family residence by the side of Lüdang Lake. Just now, I unintentionally overheard a conversation between several people. In my private opinion, it seems somewhat unfair to Miss Ye. The words spoken earlier by that Mr. Jiang, everyone probably understands, he wants to stir up trouble for Niejiabao to deal with Yuzhuobao. Now that you all clearly know his malicious intentions, yet still want to make things difficult for Miss Ye, I don't know what you gentlemen are thinking."

  "This lady, you misunderstand. We don't want to make things difficult for her, it's just that our jade carver saw that she has good skills and wanted to compete with her. For Ye Guniang, this is actually a good thing. After all, not everyone has the qualifications to be an opponent of our Nie family's jade carvers. This competition, regardless of winning or losing, at least we put her on an equal footing. After this battle, she will only become more famous."

  "Oh? So that's what you mean, this is good news for Miss Ye?" Mrs. Gu asked, raising an eyebrow. Seeing Nie Bowen nodding in agreement, she continued: "Although it's like that, Miss Ye is just a commoner girl who was challenged by your Nie family. And the location might be set within the Nie family compound, with you Nie family members as judges. That's not fair to her. How about this? Since I witnessed this myself, I'll act as a judge instead. The competition will take place at my Gu family residence, and I'll prepare the jade materials too. However, after the competition is over, those two pieces of jade carving will belong to me, and you can't ask me for processing fees. What do you think about this?"

  Nie Bowen and Du Haoran exchanged a glance, seeing that Du Haoran did not express any disapproval. Nie Boyi and Sun Zhanggui also seemed to have no objections, so he said: "Alright, let's do it this way then. But I don't know when Mrs. Gu will be available?"

  "I'll go to Ye's place myself and tell her in person. If she agrees, let's set the time for three days later. Three days later at 9 am sharp, I'll be waiting for you all at the main hall of the Gu's residence. At that time, Master Nie only needs to bring his own carving tools." She bowed slightly, "Farewell." After finishing speaking, she slowly left with two maidservants.

  Nie Bowen saw her walking away, then turned his head and looked at Sun Zhanggui: "Who is this Mrs. Gu?"

  Sun the shopkeeper shook his head: "I don't know. However, some time ago, the Xu family's lakeside mansion by Luhu Lake in the city was rented out to someone with the surname Gu. It seems that this person is an outsider merchant who came to Nanshan Town for business. I'll send someone to investigate and we should have news by tomorrow at the latest."

  Nie Bowen nodded and changed the subject: "First bring out these few days' account books, send them to our residence, I want to take a look."

  "Yes." Sun Zhanggui hastily responded with a "yes", turned around and went to fetch the account book.

  Ye Zhuo returned to Yu Zhuo Fang, pulled Ye Yuqi into the small hut in the backyard, and told him what had just happened. Ye Yuqi listened to this and got angry, his chest heaving: "Who hates our Ye family so much? Seeing that we finally have a few days of peaceful life, such a thing happens again." He also asked, "Zhuo, could it be the Xie family?"

  Ye Chou shook his head: "I don't know about this, I've had Tang and the others keep an eye on the Xie family, but there hasn't been any movement recently. However, it's possible that the Xie family is involved, or maybe another family is. After all, people in the same line of work often deceive each other, and other workshop owners might be jealous of our Yu Chou Workshop's thriving business, so they might try to cause us trouble."

  "What shall we do?"

  "I think, with Sun's cleverness, he shouldn't fall for that person's trick and suppress our Yu Zhuang workshop. However, that Nie master is a proud and impatient man, I reckon he'll come to us and want to compete."

  "This is not good at all. If we lose, our reputation will be affected and people will say that we are not as good as the Nie family's workshop. And if we win, the Nie family's reputation will be ruined and they will not forgive us. Moreover, Nie Gongzi and Du Gongzi have helped us many times before, so it would be ungrateful of us to ruin their reputation. Sigh... I think it's best if we don't compete at all. If we must compete, then we should just admit defeat."

  "When they come to discuss this matter, you can say these words again. I think they should be able to see the big picture and not be petty." Since things had reached this point, Ye Zhuo had no other choice but to try to comfort Ye Yuqi with his words.

  Just then, a soft and beautiful voice came from outside: "Is this the Jade Workshop? Is Miss Ye here?"

  "How did she come?" Ye Zhuo heard it was the female guest's voice and wondered.

  "Who is it?" Ye Yuqi asked.

  Ye Zhuo told the story of the female guest, thought for a moment and said: "I don't think she's a deceitful person. Grandfather, you go out and talk to her first, I'll wash my face and change into another set of clothes, and then have Qiu Yue bring her in later." When she went to Nie's house, because she was afraid that Qiu Yue wouldn't disguise herself as a man well enough and would be discovered, she left her at Yu Zhuo House.

  "Good." Yeh Yu-chi hastily left. Yeh Chou then, with the help of Autumn Moon, changed her clothes and disguise, and had her go out to bring that female guest in.

  (It's another 5,000-word chapter. Thanks to Huàn Qǐ Mā for the blessing charm and joycf for the pink tickets!)

  Recommend a good friend to find the lost love new book "Xi Liang Yuan", warm and loving Xiaotian Wen, is currently in the new book rush list, interested relatives can click to see ~

  This is an introduction:

  Being able to read people's words and expressions to get what I want? That's my strong point!

  Pretend to be stupid and eat a tiger? That's my specialty!

  What if I became a humble and unloved daughter? Borrowing the east wind, I still managed to get a good marriage with wealth and glory, living a life of luxury and leisure!

  Book number: 2578804

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