Chapter 89: Sold
Zhai Muchen brought Han Ruochen to the back of the building. There was a small door that led inside the gigantic mansion; smelling the scent coming from the small room, Han Ruochen was certain that it was the kitchen. She wondered why the man had brought her here. Was he thinking of buying these snail caviars on his own? But even if the Zhai family was influential, she didn’t believe that they could take out such a large sum of money on their own. It was simply impossible. She wondered what the man was thinking by bringing her here.
Just as she was lost in her thoughts, she heard Zhai Muchen call someone.
"Master Fang, are you in there?"
"Young master Muchen?" An elderly man with his hair streaked with a bunch of grey stepped out of the kitchen. There was a little handprint on the side of his apron, and he looked unusually stern as he stepped out of the room that smelled of freshly baked bread. He glanced at her out of curiosity but didn’t say anything. He turned to look at Zhai Muchen and asked, "What is the matter, Young Master?"
"Master Fang, didn’t you say that your elder brother is the manager at Sangruo’s? Can you ask him if he can purchase four shells of snail caviar?" asked Zhai Muchen coldly.
Master Fang frowned. He turned to look at Han Ruochen with another questioning gaze before nodding, "I can talk to him and ask whether or not he can purchase it." After he finished speaking, he didn’t waste another second and went inside the kitchen once again.
Han Ruochen blinked her eyes at Zhai Muchen. She was simply dumbfounded by his actions. She knew that the man was trying to help her, but this was way too kind of him. How could he just help her without even asking about what kind of benefits she might bring him or what he would get in return? She recalled how Yang Jianming would often ask her to serve him in return for giving her a few hours of reprieve.
"Is this appropriate?" She asked quickly, not wanting to cause any trouble for him.
"You can wait in the tearoom; Uncle Fang will return in a while," said Zhai Muchen calmly as he turned on his feet and walked away without answering Han Ruochen’s question.
It took a while for Han Ruochen to understand that he was asking her to follow him. She chased after him with the icebox in her hands; however, just as she turned around the corner, she saw a charming woman standing in front of the tearoom with a cup in her hand. Han Ruochen never thought that she would run into another member of the Zhai family so soon. She was tongue-tied all of a sudden and didn’t know how to address the young woman in front of her.
Should she call her Miss Zhai? But what if the young woman thought that she was trying to act like those women who pretended to be younger than the person in front?
Zhai Mumu was also stunned. She knew that the woman was really pretty, but when she saw her this close, she realised that her eyesight didn’t do justice to the pretty sister; the young woman in front of her was thin and slender. Her face was oval and pointed, with full cherry lips and deer-like eyes, but there was a coldness in them which matched her brother perfectly!
Zhai Mumu bit her tongue just in time, as she was worried that she would call the woman ’pretty sister’ the next second. This was her first time seeing a woman as pretty as the one in front of her. "I am Zhai Mumu; you can just call me Mumu...sister–"
"Ruochen, my name is Han Ruochen. You can call me Ruochen or Sister Ruochen," Han Ruochen introduced herself. She didn’t know what else to say to Zhai Mumu. Though she could sense that the woman had no malice toward her, she still felt the need to keep her distance from Zhai Mumu, as the latter was not someone whom she could just casually befriend.
"Young master Zhai."
Master Fang knocked on the door of the teahouse. He had just finished talking with his brother and came looking for Zhai Muchen right away. When Han Ruochen saw that Master Fang had returned, she humbly stood to one side and didn’t sit down on the couch. She smelled of fish and sweat and didn’t want to dirty the fancy couch.
Zhai Muchen turned to look at the old man and nodded at him; only then did Master Fang walk inside the tearoom.
"What did Uncle Fang say?" Zhai Muchen asked in a low voice.
"He said that he can take the snail caviar, and the price he set is eighteen thousand yuan. If this young lady doesn’t find this price unreasonable, then I can bring her to the hotel with me?"
"Of course. I think that the price Master Fang has given me is reasonable." Han Ruochen heaved a sigh of relief. This price was indeed better than the one she had in her mind; at least compared to the villager who found this snail caviar, she was getting four thousand yuan more! This price was way more satisfactory than she had in her mind.
"Then I–"
"There is no need to trouble the young lady," said Zhai Muchen as he waved his hand. He said to Master Fang, "You can go ahead and sell the snail caviar, Master Fang. Hand the money to Miss Han once you return."
"There is no need to trouble—"
"This is not trouble. Miss Han might not be aware of this, but Yang Jianming has been bailed out. You should be careful these days."
When Han Ruochen heard that Yang Jianming had been bailed out, she was not surprised. After all, she knew that with his family background being that of a military one, his parents wouldn’t let him stay locked up any longer than that. But what satisfied her was that they must have pulled a lot of strings to get Yang Jianming out, which meant that if that man landed in the prison cell again, no one would be able to save him.
