Chapter 141 Jigsaw Puzzle
Hearing that they could go shopping, the three women were extremely excited.
It’s not that they have any complaints, but no matter how beautiful a place is, it will get boring after staying there for a long time. Besides, shopping is one of the most important hobbies of women, no matter in ancient or modern times, in China or abroad.
Hangzhou City is an important commercial center. Although it is not yet as important as the capital city of Bianliang, with more and more foreign merchant ships coming to Song Dynasty, the cargo throughput of Quanzhou and Guangzhou has almost reached its limit. Therefore, many foreign merchant ships have begun to head here.
In addition, Hangzhou is located on the Grand Canal, so transportation is extremely convenient and the number of merchants traveling here gradually increases.
Moreover, the fleet that returned from the Spice Islands more than a month ago has not yet completely unloaded its cargo, and a large number of merchants and laborers have gathered in the city, so Hangzhou is extremely lively at this time.
The streets were crowded with people.
The three women from Lu Sen's family walked around the street, and went into rouge and powder shops, as well as cloth shops.
But I just look and don’t buy because I don’t need it.
The original purpose of rouge was to cover up facial blemishes. Later it gradually became known as makeup to make people more beautiful.
But these three women ate fruits produced by the system every day, drank honey water, and even began to practice "immortal magic". There were no blemishes on their skin, they were so beautiful that they didn't need to put on rouge at all.
As for the cloth... In order to make the three women less bored, Lu Sen planted some mulberry trees and raised some silkworms at home so that the three women would have something to do while staying in the mountains.
As for raising silkworms and weaving satin... Pang Meir and Zhao Bilian were very good at it from the beginning.
In fact, raising silkworms was almost a must-have skill for the daughters of wealthy families in the Northern Song Dynasty. They watched their elders do it when they were young, followed their elders when they were older, and by the time they were fourteen or fifteen years old, they had mastered it proficiently.
Moreover, raising silkworms and weaving satin are considered good jobs even by scholars. Ordinary small families want to raise silkworms and weave satin... hehe, not to mention whether there is enough land for them to grow mulberry trees that can produce silk, and whether there are enough people to manage the silkworm houses. The technology of boiling cocoons and drawing silk is also a matter of fact, and ordinary people have no idea how to do it.
However, Yang Jinhua didn't know much about raising silkworms and weaving satin. She had only practiced martial arts since she was a child, and she was not as experienced as Zhao Bilian and Pang Meir.
The silk produced from the systematically "improved" mulberry trees and silkworm species is of extremely high quality.
The silk spit out is colorful, with gradient colors and light colors. The silk is of excellent quality and looks transparent. When the silk is woven into satin, if you look at it from a distance, you will no longer feel that it is cloth, but a faint rainbow.
The three of them are now going out wearing such silk long skirts, and they are very eye-catching when walking on the street.
Of course, there must be ordinary clothes inside, otherwise the underwear would be easily seen by others.
Seeing these three women wearing beautiful rainbow silk, many people wanted to come over and chat with them. It wasn't any evil idea, they just wanted to ask where this rainbow silk was produced, and they also wanted a few pieces of this cloth.
There were many wealthy people in Hangzhou City, especially after the spice fleet returned, there were even more. It had reached the point where you could hit a wealthy merchant if you threw a brick there.
Once a person has more money, he will have higher pursuits.
They were used to seeing ordinary brocades, so the sudden appearance of this beautiful rainbow silk made them extremely excited no matter how they thought about it.
However, no one dared to come up rashly. They all stopped to look and then tried to find out what was going on.
Look around your friends to see if anyone knows about this rainbow silk, or knows these three beautiful women.
Yang Jinhua and the other two were aware that many people were watching them, but they didn't care. From a safety perspective, both Yang Jinhua and Zhao Bilian were good fighters. Pang Meir was still a virgin and had not practiced dual cultivation with Lu Sen, so her progress in martial arts was extremely slow. After a year, she had only managed to achieve a "physical fitness" effect.
His strength is at most similar to that of an ordinary person.
However, hidden in her clothes was a beautiful jade snail, which was a kind of contracted spiritual beast, but its appearance after transformation was not very good-looking.
There was no other way. After all, all the decent contracted spirit beasts in Lu Sen's hands had owners, so she could only choose this little thing that she thought was pleasing to the eye.
In fact, there is no difference in strength between the contracted spirit beasts, there are only different characteristics and... how good-looking they are.
Of course, there is also the argument about adaptability.
Someone like Zhao Bilian is the most suitable person among all people to make a contract with a spirit beast.
Without transforming, Yang Jinhua pressed Zhao Bilian and beat her.
But under the same transformation, Zhao Bilian actually won by a small margin.
Moreover, behind them, there were four men in black, with solemn faces, straight eyes, and murderous aura. It was obvious that they were servants carefully trained by wealthy families, so there was no problem with their safety.
Ordinary wealthy merchants don’t have this kind of pomp.
The three women strolled from morning to afternoon, nearly three hours, and finally felt a little tired... Actually, it was only Pang Meir who was tired.
So the three of them found an elegant restaurant and sat down.
This restaurant was also owned by the Prince of Runan's Mansion, so Zhao Bilian showed her "Zhao Family Token" without hesitation and got the best seat.
Sitting on the terrace on the third floor, drinking hot soup and looking at the street scene of Hangzhou city, the three of them felt extremely fresh.
"I finally feel the presence of people in the world." Pang Meir sighed with a dazed look in her eyes.
Although living in the mountains is very comfortable, she is not a master of spiritual practice and is still fascinated by the prosperity of the human world.
"Mei'er can't hold on any longer?" Yang Jinhua asked while drinking Tremella soup.
"It's OK. I can go out for a day and then I can go back to the mountains to live for another year." Pang Meier said with a smile, "The world's glitz is just an embellishment after all. It's enough to come out and see the changes in the world. It's more comfortable to live in the mountains the rest of the time."
Yang Jinhua smiled, she felt the same way.
Then Yang Jinhua looked at Zhao Bilian, who was eating the fried meat in her hand with great concentration.
Then Yang Jinhua felt a little sad.
I used to think that Zhao Bilian was too simple and not as smart as her and Mei'er.
But now that I think about it, it is people like Zhao Bilian who are more likely to practice.
She and Pang Meir had lived in the mountains for a long time, and they always wanted to take a look down the mountain.
But Zhao Bilian never did... She just practiced sword-wielding skills every day, and then when she had time, she would pester her husband to practice dual cultivation with her.
Just focus on these two things and don't have any other distractions.
Therefore, Zhao Bilian's current cultivation speed is advancing by leaps and bounds, and she is catching up with Yang Jinhua at a very fast speed . It is estimated that in another five or six years, without changing her form, Zhao Bilian should be able to fight Yang Jinhua on equal terms.
You know, Yang Jinhua practiced for ten more years.
The three of them ate, talked and laughed, then looked at the time. The sun was about to set, so they thought of going back to the mountain. Just as they were about to get up, three men walked straight towards them.
The three of them seemed to be well dressed, but judging from their temperament and figure, they were probably servants.
As expected, the three men walked up to Yang Jinhua, bowed, and said, "Excuse me, ladies. I am the steward of the Xiangyang Palace. I am the prince of this family. Please come to the palace and have a seat."
There were many guests nearby at this time, and when they heard this, they all looked over.
Yang Jinhua frowned: "The sun is about to set, and the King of Xiangyang actually invited a woman into his palace. Is he planning to forcibly seize her?"
"No." The butler clasped his fists and said, "The prince of our family did not mean that. He was just delivering a message for the princess. In fact, the princess wanted to invite the three of you to the palace. She wanted to make friends with the three noble ladies."
Yang Jinhua's expression became even colder. "One moment it's the Prince of Xiangyang who wants to invite people, and the next moment it's the Princess who wants to invite people. There's no set number? Besides, as a royal relative, the Prince of Xiangyang should understand that women shouldn't stay out overnight. If he invites people at this time, he may not be afraid of affecting his reputation. I'm afraid my husband will misunderstand. Get out of the way."
As soon as these words were spoken, someone nearby started laughing.
Many people were talking about it, saying that the Prince of Xiangyang had enjoyed a good reputation for most of his life, but now his reputation might be ruined in his later years.
The housekeeper frowned and said, "You three ladies are new to Hangzhou, right? This is the prince's fiefdom."
This is a threat.
Yang Jinhua glared and was about to slam the table, stand up and kick someone.
But he didn't expect that someone was faster than him.
A young knight dressed in formal attire rushed out from the side, stood directly in front of the butler, and shouted: "I heard that the King of Xiangyang is kind and generous, and would never do such a thing. Butler, you are not taking chicken feathers as a token of authority, are you?"
The housekeeper frowned even more deeply. He looked at the young man in front of him and said unhappily, "Why are you people from the martial arts world getting involved in our folk affairs?"
"Hehe, I am a disciple of Tianji Sect." The young man clasped his fists and laughed, "It also has some relationship with the Xiangyang Palace. How about I go and ask if this is what the Xiangyang King meant?"
The butler glared, hesitated for a moment, and then walked away.
After the butler went downstairs, the young man turned around, bowed, put on his most handsome smile, and said, "I'm sorry to scare the three of you. Please... eh?"
At this time, Yang Jinhua and the other two had already stood up and walked downstairs. Seeing that they ignored him, the young man smiled awkwardly and straightened up, feeling a little disappointed.
Because Yang Jinhua and Zhao Bilian both had married women's hairstyles, the young man's target was actually Pang Meir, the prettiest girl who dressed like an unmarried girl.
It has to be said that Pang Meir is the most beautiful among the three. She is noble and has the bookish air of a talented lady. She is extremely attractive. No wonder the young man is attracted to her.
"Brother, you've finally hit a wall." An older man from the Jianghu came over and patted the young man on the shoulder: "The other party is either rich or noble, and they don't look down on us rough guys. "
The young man sighed and said, "It's rare to meet a woman who strikes a chord with you at first sight. I don't know if we are destined to be together."
"If it doesn't work, we can quietly follow them and see which girl it is. Then we can ask the master to come and propose marriage later."
"Following a woman is not what we, a noble and upright family, do." The young man shook his head, sat back at his table, and sighed deeply.
Speaking of the butler, he went downstairs with two servants and came to an alley at the back.
There was a young man waiting anxiously inside. When he saw the housekeeper coming, he hurriedly came up and asked, "Why are there only three of you? Didn't I ask you to invite the three women back to the mansion?"
Hakka clasped his fists and said, "Those three women are very noble, eloquent, and not shy when they heard about our palace. I guess they are from the northern capital."
"I don't care where they come from. Once they come to Hangzhou, my territory, they have to be managed by us." The young man was so angry that he slapped the butler's cheek with the fan in his hand: "What's the point of asking you to do something if you can't even do it well?"
A red mark suddenly appeared on the butler's cheek, but he did not move. He just lowered his head and said, "I am ashamed of the Third Young Master's entrustment."
"Don't just wait here, go and find out where those three women are today." The young man snorted, "The clothes they wear are not simple. If I can get the source of goods and the technology, my father will definitely look up to me, and it's possible that I will even surpass my eldest brother. There are many people watching them now. If we don't act first, we might miss them."
The butler nodded and was about to go back to his work. Then he turned around and saw two men in black walking towards him from the alley.
"Who are you?" The butler felt something was wrong and shouted loudly.
Then the two men in black ignored him and walked up to him quickly, with strange smiles on their faces.
Yang Jinhua and the other two returned to the mountain before dark, said hello to Lu Sen, and went to soak in the hot spring.
Lu Sen sat at the entrance of the cave, enjoying the cool breeze.
Soon, a man in black came to report to him: "My dear, this is what happened. The young man is indeed the third son of the Xiangyang Wang family, but he is not here to rape her. Instead, he wants to know where the rainbow silks on the three ladies came from."
Lu Sen nodded to show that he understood.
This was indeed one of his purposes.
"Tell Mr. Huang that the second step of the plan can begin."
The man in black nodded and turned away.
Yang Jinhua and her two companions only went shopping for one day, but the effect they brought was sensational.
Many families of wealthy merchants and officials were discussing who the three women that day were from and where the rainbow silk they wore came from.
Moreover, the matter is getting more and more serious, and there are more and more rumors, and it seems that some forces are fanning the flames.
Then on the fourth day, another strange thing happened. The third son of King Xiangyang, who had been missing for three days, was found lying outside the city, holding a beautiful red silk in his hands.
This incident suddenly became a strange story, and many people began to visit the Xiangyang Palace.
Within two or three days, there was a constant stream of guests.
A few days later, news suddenly broke out that a wealthy merchant from the capital was going to auction one hundred rolls of rainbow silk in the city.
This matter immediately became a hot topic.
Many merchants held on to the silver bills in their hands tightly, and if they didn't have enough, they started looking for others to make up the difference. Everyone knew that this auction was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Merchants all know that a new, beautiful colored silk will definitely become a hit in the market.
All the noble ladies would go crazy for this rainbow silk and would fight with each other to get a piece of it.
They don't want a lot, just one... Whether it's for sale or as a gift to dignitaries, it's a very profitable business.
