This gentleman was brought from Lingnan by Yue Rujing, he actually is the shopkeeper Yue Rujing brought to work.
"Noted," Yue Rujing didn’t know why Gu Youyou made such arrangements, but he wouldn’t ask, as based on his past experiences, if he did, he would definitely be ridiculed by Gu Youyou.
If he didn’t understand, he would ask his senior brother another day, his senior brother would definitely understand.
After all the requested changes and additions were made, Lin Qianqing had been idling behind for a while and was becoming impatient.
"Cousin, is there anything I can help with?"
She had liked to follow her grandmother since she was young and had a temperament that wasn’t quite like that of ordinary daughters from official families.
Although she hadn’t neglected her music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, she herself wasn’t content with just knowing those things. She had always envied Shenxing for being a man, able to do something significant like their father, freely coming and going as he pleased, whereas as a woman, she wasn’t allowed by society to do so.
In the past, seeing her elder cousin being open-minded, she still had a glimmer of hope for her future life, but now, she might very likely be sent into the palace, and Youyou’s cousin’s sigh that entering the palace gates is as deep as the sea made her even more upset.
If she didn’t live freely while she still had her freedom, she would just end up as a bird in a cage for the rest of her life.
Gu Youyou looked over at Lin Qianqing. There was less innocence and more melancholy in the young girl’s eyes, but she didn’t say the words of refusal.
She smiled and said, "There’s nothing you can help with now, but after the opening, you can help me sort out the prescriptions. I’ll talk to my grandmother."
"Really?" Lin Qianqing’s face was filled with joy; she heard what must be the most wonderful sound in the world.
Grandmother always had a soft spot for her cousin, so if she went to talk, it would definitely work out, and she could leave the house every day, no longer being a bird waiting to be sold in a cage.
Gu Youyou said, "Of course it’s true. If you don’t come, I would have to find someone else. It seems that your lessons are well done, probably better than most people, and it won’t cost me any silver."
Yue Rujing listened with a face full of disdain; this money-grubbing woman, even swindling her own family. For Lin Qianqing, the news was almost enough to make her jump for joy.
Being able to get out was good enough, she’d even pay for the privilege.
"Make way, be careful there."
A few craftsmen were carrying in a signboard.
This was the Jisheng Hall signboard made of pear wood, Yue Rujing’s generous contribution.
Gu Youyou was about to lift the red cloth covering the signboard to check the craftsmanship but inadvertently caught sight of a person standing beside the osmanthus cake stall across the street, staring at Gu Youyou at the door of Jisheng Hall. Dressed in simple clothing, even these plain clothes couldn’t conceal his translucent, glass-like elegance.
"Why has he also come?" Gu Youyou muttered under her breath.
On the other side, Yue Rujing and Lin Qianqing were admiring the newly arrived signboard and hadn’t noticed anything unusual with Gu Youyou.
Gu Youyou looked at him for a moment, then turned and whispered a few instructions to Lin Qianqing, "You wait here for me, I’ll go across the street to buy some food; I didn’t eat enough this morning."
Lin Qianqing, who was praising the calligraphy on the signboard, agreed vaguely.
"Who wrote these characters? They’re even better than my dad’s. So powerful and vigorous, it couldn’t be Princely Heir Yue who wrote them, could it?"
Yue Rujing’s face turned red with embarrassment, wishing he could claim the calligraphy as his own, but unfortunately, it was not.
"Not him?" Seeing his unusual expression, Lin Qianqing asked again.
"No," Yue Rujing said impatiently: "Your cousin wrote them."
"Ah? My cousin?" Lin Qianqing was visibly surprised, believing that Gu Youyou was only a few years older than her; although she herself wrote well, it was far from comparable to Gu Youyou.