Chapter 363: Meeting an old friend by chance

After dinner, it was still early, and Li Qing'an planned to go to the western market for a walk, but Mrs. Pei didn't dissuade her. Li Qing'an and her husband's performance at the banquet was enough to satisfy her. As long as she took the first step of reconciliation, the second and third steps would be smooth in the future. There is no need to be in one step, and sometimes hasteness would not be achieved.

It was late spring, with the warm breeze and the weather was particularly warm. Chang'an people also took off their thick winter jackets and changed into single-summer clothes. Most men wore robes and flat scarves on their heads, leisurely and calm, while women were dressed up in colorful clothes. The thick winter jackets were taken off and replaced with long skirts. Most of the single shirts were cut out of silk, light and flowing, gorgeous and colorful. The translucent clothes revealed the unique plump figure of women, which was so beautiful that it was like a painting of Tang Dynasty with strong and dazzling colors.

Since the night curfew was lifted, the nights in Xishi have become obviously lively. The wide streets are full of stalls selling various things and gadgets, cheap powder, hairpins, combs, and bronze mirrors. Most of them are women's supplies. There are indeed more women on the streets, especially groups of girls, who can be seen everywhere. They are like birds returning home in the evening, chattering in front of various stalls, bargaining with the stall owners, and buying some small things they like.

Li Qingan also changed into a regular dress, with a jade belt on his waist and a black hat on his head. Unfortunately, the folding fan had not come from Japan at this time. Otherwise, holding a folding fan in his hand would look suave and look like Pan An. Li Qingan was not here to go shopping alone. He took Mingzhu and Pei Min's youngest daughter Pei Yu to stroll around the west market.

Mingzhu changed into a grenade skirt, wore a single green silk shirt, and double-ring braids. This was usually the symbol of an unmarried woman. She and Pei Yu each took a light Luo fan and followed Li Qing'an, looking around excitedly, with more than 20 guards around, looking at the situation around with nervous expressions.

Xishi is also known as Jinshi. Grain, cloth, tea, etc. All kinds of commodities in Chang'an are gathered here. This is also a barometer of the Tang Dynasty's economy. The prosperity of Xishi directly symbolizes the rise and fall of the Tang Dynasty. However, it is night, and almost all large stores selling grain and cloth are closed, and only some stores such as silk, clothing, and powder jewelry still open shops to do night market business.

Li Qing'an came to a large shop selling jewelry and treasures. He bought a lot of jewelry for Gao Wu at that time. The store only covers a large area, but the grade is not high. Most of the jewelry sold is worth one or two consecutive days. Of course, it is a little higher than the jewelry of dozens of folks and hundreds of folks on street stalls. It can be seen that the business of this shop is very prosperous, with customers full of customers, and dozens of folks are busy introducing various jewelry to customers.

"Brother, do you want to buy us jewelry?"

Mingzhu looked at the walls covered with dazzling jewelry, and her eyes were lit. Mingzhu's woman's mentality was much slower than other women. When other girls showed a strong interest in jewelry and clothing at the age of thirteen or fourteen, Mingzhu was still climbing trees and playing. She wore strange clothes a little older, and dressed very weirdly. Until she was eighteen years old, when other girls got married and became mothers, she slowly showed a girl's normal mentality, had the mind and yearning for jewelry and clothing.

Pei Yu next to her is a normal girl. Although she is only fourteen years old, she is already very skillful in selecting various jewelry and asking the client about the price. Xiumei frowned slightly from time to time. Obviously, she thought the price was too expensive, so her mother gave her only 500 cents of pocket money, and at most she could only buy a silver hairpin.

At this time, the second shopkeeper in the store saw that Li Qingan was not like an ordinary person and there were so many soldiers following him, so he hurried forward and smiled, "The customer wants to pick a few pieces at will, and he also wants to buy some good jewelry?"

"Do you have good jewelry here too?" Li Qingan asked with a smile.

"Yes! Yes! Please follow me for the guests."

The second shopkeeper asked Li Qing'an to enter the inner room, but Li Qing'an called Mingzhu. Mingzhu happened to be picking up a few silver jewelry. When she heard Li Qing'an calling her, she hurriedly pulled Pei Yu over, "Brother, what's the matter?"

"Follow me and go inside and pick it."

Li Qing'an took the two girls and walked towards the inner hall. The inner hall was slightly smaller than the front hall. There were a circle of wooden racks around it, with various small sandalwood boxes on it, with labels on it, such as various bracelets, hairpins, gems, etc. Unlike the outer hall, jewelry was hung on the wall and can be selected at will. There were more than a dozen large couches in the middle of the inner hall. There was a small table on it, and there were already two couches with people sitting on it. Two senior friends were introducing them to various precious jewelry.

"Please sit down with the guest!"

The second shopkeeper asked Li Qing'an and the two girls to sit down, and then ordered someone to serve tea. Then he smiled and said, "I wonder what the guests are interested in?"

"What do you two want?" Li Qingan asked the two girls with a smile.

Mingzhu thought for a while and smiled, "I want to give my mother a pair of bracelets, but I want to buy a necklace myself. In a few days, I will go to Cui Yanyan's son's first year-old wine. I have to change to a low-cut long skirt. It's not good to have a bare neck."

"Okay! The store will pick it up first."

Li Qingan turned around and asked Pei Yu and smiled, "What about you? What do you want?"

Pei Yu was very embarrassed, and she waved her hand quickly, "I don't want anything, I just come to buy things with Sister Mingzhu."

"Who said, don't you want to buy a hairpin?" Mingzhu corrected her words.

Pei Yu whispered in a low voice: "The things here are too expensive, I can't afford them."

Li Qingan smiled and said to the second shopkeeper: "Go! Take the hairpin as well."

After a moment, the second shopkeeper brought three red sandalwood boxes with two friends and placed them on the table one by one. When he opened the lid, he suddenly became jewelry and shone with light. The two girls exclaimed together. A small red sandalwood box was divided into three layers, each layer had twelve grids, each with red silk, and a good piece of jewelry was placed, which was simply a jewelry box.

The shopkeeper and the clerk took out the lattice one by one. There were nine layers of boxes in the three boxes, which made the two girls dazzled. Although they were both wealthy women, their tutors were strict and they had never seen such jewelry things. They usually bought some cheap things at street stalls outside. They had no chance of this kind of real high-end jewelry before they got married. However, today Li Qing'an brought them here, which was when they had a great harvest.

Li Qingan smiled and said, "Even if you choose, take away all your favorites, you can do as much as you want."

The second shopkeeper next to him was stunned. He saw that Li Qing'an's average person, but even the prince dared not say it easily. Who is this person?

Seeing that he and his followers didn't seem to have a big bag of money, the second shopkeeper carefully reminded him: "Customer, the worst of these jewelry is more than 100%."

Pei Yu had just picked a green feather hairpin inlaid with sapphire. When she heard this, she was so scared that she quickly put down the things that were more than 100 guan. How dare she ask for them? But she didn't know that the beads that Li Qingan gave her during the day would be worth at least 1,000 guan.

Mingzhu was also a little hesitant. Although Li Qing'an was her brother-in-law, her mother had become more and more strict in her control over her in the past two years, and she dared not easily indulge herself.

Li Qingan waved his hand indifferently and said, "I said that if I like you, just take it. Mingzhu, pick two for your mother and Mrs. Zhang, and Xiaoyu, pick two for your mother, which is my wish."

Li Qing'an ordered again: "Get all the other boxes!"

He wanted to pick a few items for his wives and concubines. His posture scared away all the guests from both seats next to him, and also alarmed the shopkeeper in the store. The shopkeeper hurriedly came out to greet Li Qing'an.

"I'm Liu Le, the shopkeeper of our store. May I ask the customer's surname?"

Li Qingan smiled slightly and said, "My surname is Li, I specially come to buy a few pieces of jewelry."

At this time, the second shopkeeper secretly pulled the big shopkeeper aside and whispered in his ear: "I find that they don't seem to have that much money on them."

Although he said this sentence very humbly, Li Qing'an still heard it. He sneered, took out a cup of Anxi silver dollar from his arms, and slammed it on the table and said, "Can Anxi silver dollar be collected?"

When the shopkeeper heard this, he couldn't help but glared at the shopkeeper fiercely, and hurriedly stepped forward and smiled, "I offended the customer. Anxi silver dollar is the toughest money in the Tang Dynasty. A silver dollar costs 300 cents per cent, but if the customer wants ten pieces...

He didn't say the following words, but the implication was that ten pieces of jewelry cost more than a thousand stakes, and at least one thousand Anxi silver dollars, and one thousand Anxi silver dollars were needed. They had to carry a bag to fill.

Li Qing'an took out a gold medal and put it on the table, and said lightly: "Use this gold medal to Juhaixingguillet to add Anxi silver dollars. Not to mention a thousand silver dollars, even ten thousand dollars will be fine."

The shopkeeper's eyes suddenly widened. He suddenly knew who the guest was. He was so scared that he knelt down and begged: "The Caomin didn't know that the general of the Jiedushi arrived. He offended him in his words. Please forgive him!"

The second shopkeeper was even more frightened and knelt down. Li Qingan waved his hand and said, "Get up! I'm not angry with you, don't be shocked and deceitful."

The two shopkeepers stood up after wiping their sweat. At this time, a woman's voice came from the inner room, "I heard that a big customer is here, why don't you call me?"

"General, this is the owner of our store!" The shopkeeper quickly introduced.

Li Qing'an heard the sound of this very familiar one. He picked up the teacup and smiled and waited for the female boss to arrive. He saw a yellow skirt flashing and walked into an extremely gorgeous young woman. She was Li Qing'an's old rival, Yang Huahua, the Lady of Guoguo.

"Where will we meet in life? Third sister, are you safe?"

"So it's you!"

A trace of surprise ejaculated in Yang Huahua's eyes. She didn't expect that it would be Li Qing'an. After many years, she knew that she could not get Li Qing'an, and that relationship gradually faded. Thinking of Li Qing'an, she felt more regret and loss.

She also heard that Li Qing'an had entered Beijing today, but she didn't expect to meet her here. This surprised and delighted her. She walked up and smiled and said, "Qilang, how did you know that this store belongs to me?"

Li Qingan smiled and said, "I just brought two little girls to go shopping and wanted to buy something for them, but I don't know that you opened this store. My third sister is rich!"

"Hey! Why are you making money? I just want to sell all the jewelry I gave to others and exchange for some pocket money to support my family."

Yang Huahua sat down beside Li Qing'an and smiled and said, "You guy, if I'm not here tonight, wouldn't you come to see me?"

Mingzhu didn't like Yang Huahua. When she heard that she was still acting coquettish to Li Qingan in her tone, she couldn't help but roll her eyes and coughed dryly, "Brother-in-law, it's getting late, so it's time for us to go back!"

"Brother-in-law?"

Yang Huahua glanced at the pearl with a wonderful eyes. Seeing that she was very beautiful, her skin was white, delicate and rosy, and her whole body was filled with a vibrant and youthful atmosphere. Yang Huahua couldn't help but feel a little bitter in her heart. Compared to them, she was already old.

"You are Mingzhu! It's true that you are as beautiful as your sister."

After all, Mingzhu is young and far less mature than Yang Huahua. After being flattered by her casually, she felt that she seemed to be a little too mean to others and felt a little disgusted.

Li Qingan was as clear as a mirror. He smiled and picked out a string of colorful gem necklaces from the jewelry box, placed them on Mingzhu's chest and compared them. He tilted his head and smiled, "This necklace is very suitable for you, I bought it for you."

He handed the necklace to the shopkeeper, "Pack it up!"

"Wait a moment!"

Yang Huahua stopped him. She took the necklace and frowned and said, "I remembered that this necklace was given to me by the fourth sister. How could I take it out and sell it? Look at me so confused."

She put away the necklace and apologized to Li Qing'an and said, "I'm sorry! Qilang, I came here today just to pick it up. Some jewelry is memorable and cannot be sold. Why not come again tomorrow!"

Li Qingan smiled faintly and said, "Then I will pay ten times the price to buy your colorful necklace. Do you sell it?"

"Ten times?" Yang Huahua's eyes rolled and she smiled, "Qilang, do you know that my necklace is sold for 1,000 guan! Ten times is 10,000 guan. Are you willing to bear it?"

"I can't bear to let go of anything. If my third sister wants it, I can even give you a silver mine, so that my third sister will no longer have to cast iron and silver coins."

Yang Huahua smiled and trembled all over, "You guy, don't have any other skills, but you are very good at sarcasm!"

She took out the colorful gem necklace and stuffed it to Mingzhu and smiled: "Forget it, I have always been stingy in money. Today I will just be generous and I will give you this necklace to avoid annoying your brother-in-law, the governor."

"No! No!" Mingzhu quickly refused, "This is what the Imperial Concubine gave you, how could I ask for it?"

"I was talking about it. If it were really given to me by the imperial concubine, I wouldn't have put it here. This necklace was actually rewarded by the emperor. It may have some special significance to others, but to me, it is just a relatively valuable necklace, and I will give it to you."

She took out the sapphire-inlaid green hairpin and handed it to Pei Yu and said, "Little sister, this green hairpin is also given to you, it is considered a meeting gift."

The two girls were quite embarrassed, but Li Qingan smiled and said, "You just accept it! Just think it was bought for you."
Chapter completed!