Chapter 8: I’ll Choose Only One

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

After chatting for a while, a maid brought in a wooden box and a jade box.

The second prince curiously asked, “What’s inside?”

Su Wen smiled. “Just some small stuff.”

The second round began, and Su Wen delivered the jade box up.

At this time, other than Xue Meng, most of the gifts given by the others were not very expensive.

After all, they already knew what was going on. They were just casually giving gifts to try.

In Cui Yumian’s room, she looked at the items before her calmly.

“Miss, these things seem a little ordinary.” The maidservant by her side could not help but say.

At this moment, the maidservant who came to deliver the gifts said with a smile, “Young Master Su Wen offered 300,000 taels, Young Master Xue Meng offered 100,000 taels, and the rest have probably given up. Big Sister said that no matter what these two give, they must enter the top five. As for the rest, it’s up to you.”

Cui Yumian first opened the box that Xue Meng had sent over and saw a string of pearls inside. Most importantly, these pearls were round, golden, and extremely opulent. Obviously, they were rare treasures.

This necklace alone would probably cost tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Immediately afterward, Cui Yumian opened Su Wen’s jade box.

In an instant, cold air rushed out.

An ice-cold aura spread out. In the jade box lay a jade hairpin. It was unknown what material it was made of, but there were specks of starlight flowing on it. It was obvious that it was not an ordinary item.

Her maidservant couldn’t help but gasp, “It looks like Young Master Su Wen really likes Young Miss. This jade hairpin isn’t ordinary.”

Cui Yumian picked up the jade hairpin, only to discover that it was not made of ice. However, a gentle cooling feeling flowed through her skin and into her body, making her feel much more refreshed.

“I’m afraid this is probably a spirit artifact!” Cui Yumian said.

The maidservant was stunned.

It had to be known that spirit artifacts could only be made by Spirit Masters and had all sorts of strange functions.

They were all extremely precious. A random spirit weapon would cost more than several hundred thousand taels of silver.

This Su Wen was actually so generous.

Cui Yumian gently put on the hairpin and instantly felt her mind clear up a lot. The hairpin glowed with starlight, making her look even more charming.

“I’ll just choose this one!” Cui Yumian said lightly.

“Huh?”

The girl in charge of delivering the gifts cried out in alarm.

Both the maids immediately yelped in unison, “Miss, if you do that, I’m afraid Big Sister might not agree.”

Cui Yumian said in a low voice, “Today has already exceeded my expectations. You must know that going too far is as bad as not seeing it through. No matter what, I won’t choose a second one!”

The maid in charge of delivery replied, “Then wait a moment. I’ll inform Big Sister now.”

The big sister mentioned by the maidservant was the Madame of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.

She was about forty years old this year, but still attractive.

She rushed over immediately after hearing the maid’s report.

Upon seeing Cui Yumian, the elder sister said in a deep voice, “Yumian, the rules today were all set by Boss. You’re making things difficult for me.”

Cui Yumian raised her eyes to look at her and said, “Big Sister, it’s not that I don’t know anything. Although the boss has set the rules, everything is not absolute. The goal that the boss set for you is one million taels of silver! We’ve already earned enough today! Even if we make some changes, the boss won’t say anything.”

The Madame gritted her teeth: “But why are you doing this?”

Cui Yumian raised her head and looked at the Madame. Her eyes were filled with pleading as she said, “Big sister, you know our line of business. How many good years can we have? This Young Master Su threw hundreds of thousands of silver for me and even gave me a spirit artifact. It’s clear that he truly likes me. Only someone like him can redeem my body.”

“Now, I’ll choose not to host the third round. Firstly, I want him to owe me a favor. Secondly, I want him to spend less money. If he is willing to redeem my body in the future, he will have more money to fork out.”

The Madame shook her head: “I cannot make the decision on this matter! I have to report to the boss. I can only help you ask.”

Cui Yumian was deeply grateful.

In the front hall of the Peony Pavilion, everyone was getting anxious.

Almost two hours had passed since the gift was delivered. Yet, there was no sign of any next action.

Although most people did not have much hope, they still wanted to know the outcome.

“What’s happening? Why are you taking so long to pick a gift?”

“That’s right, can there be a conclusion?”

“What’s going on exactly?”

In the back hall, the Madame and Cui Yumian were quietly waiting.

Suddenly, a man in black strode into the room.

He was dressed completely in black and wore a cloak. His face could not be seen clearly.

However, the moment this person appeared, everyone stood up, bowing their heads.

“Boss already knows everything about today’s matter. Boss has ordered that Cui Yumian’s request can be accepted, but all the money that Cui Yumian has earned in the past three years must be handed over. If she wants to redeem herself, then she has to fork out an additional eight million taels of silver!”

[TL Note: This might sound weird, since it says that this is her first time exiting her chambers in three years, but what the author probably means is that she is finally offering herself up after three years, and that she was only selling her talents such as singing or dancing.]

Cui Yumian raised her head abruptly, her mouth agape in shock!

Eight million taels?

One had to know that before this, there had never been a woman from the Hundred Flowers Pavilion who needed more than a million to redeem herself!

“That’s too much…” she muttered.

The man in black said, “Based on what the Boss said, if we were to look at today’s circumstances, your value will definitely rise dramatically in the future. If you don’t redeem yourself, you will have three to five years to earn enough money. By allowing you to redeem yourself, it is already a sign that you have earned enough merit, hence he is being lenient.”

Cui Yumian did not dare to say a word. She knew that in this Hundred Flowers Pavilionwer, no one would dare to go against their boss, and no one had the ability as well.

“In addition, you are allowed to reject other guests within the next three months!”

Obviously, these three months for Cui Yumian to nurture her relationship with Su Wen.

The Madame’s jaw dropped. Since when was her boss such a reasonable person?

However, on second thought, she realized something.

After all, Su Wen was the son of Prime Minister Su Changqing.

the owner of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion was mysterious and extraordinary, no one knew who he was. The man in black in front of them was merely in charge of passing the message from their boss.

However, they were in the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty after all. Facing Prime Minister Su Changqing, the party probably had some misgivings.

This was what the Madame concluded.

Cui Yumian, on the other hand, was a little nervous.

She was afraid that all her efforts would be in vain.

Even if Su Wen liked her, would he spend eight million taels of silver to redeem herself?

However, now that things had come to this, Cui Yumian had no other choice. If Su Wen refused to redeem her body, no one would be willing to do so. She only had this choice left.

In the main hall, everyone was already getting impatient from waiting. It was just that no one dared to cause trouble in the Hundred Flowers Pavilion. It had to be known that the pavilion had stood in the capital for many years, and had encountered their share of unreasonable people. However, even the most influential officials had never taken advantage of the pavilion itself.

Finally, Cui Yumian and the Madame came up to the stage together!

Everyone was delighted to see Cui Yumian again.

The Madame walked to the front of the stage and looked at everyone with a smile. “Just now, Miss Yumian has already made her decision. She has decided to only choose Young Master Su Wen’s gift. In other words, tonight, Miss Yumian will be Young Master Su Wen’s woman.”

“Based on what!”

Xue Meng roared furiously. He stood up angrily and said, “Didn’t we agree to choose five items to enter the final round? Why only one person?”

One had to know that after being rejected by Su Wen just now, he ordered someone to collect a lot of money from his residence! He wanted to suppress Su Wen.

But now, the other party suddenly decided that they were not moving onto the third round anymore. For him to be unable to use his ‘full strength’, this was extremely uncomfortable!