Clearly, this little girl did not respect Madame Jin Guifei, and didn’t care about her, an esteemed Lady-in-waiting in the slightest before. Seeing Lady Li’s snub, her expression became incredibly unpleasant.
In the palace, she has absolute authority, below one person and above all others. In the whole palace, besides Jin Guifei, who wouldn’t care about her feelings? Even the princesses and concubines in the palace had to politely call her ’Li Shanggong’ when they saw her, because she was the one with most power next to Jin Guifei. But surprisingly, she was contemptuously disregarded by a commoner girl outside the palace today. The girl not only publically rejected her but dared to mock her coldly, which was extremely audacious!
Li Shanggong was so angry that she clenched her teeth, wishing she could beat this reckless little imp into a rotten sheep’s head in public, or simply to death, to vent her rage!
However, she is not a rash woman. Having endured to reach her position today, she naturally wouldn’t be like some uneducated women who acted unreasonably over trivial matters. She represents Madame Jin Guifei, and if she shows off her authority and punishes the little maidservant in front of the public, it would likely harm Madame Jin’s reputation among the common people.
Jin Guifei is extra conscientious about her reputation because of rumors of her origin from a brothel. Therefore, Li Shanggong wouldn’t dare to do anything that could potentially harm Jin Guifei’s prestige in any way.
Suppressing her raging anger, she said with a skin-deep smile: "Young lady, your words are harsh. How could Her Majesty get angry with you just because of a few diamonds? Well, since you are not selling the diamonds, we will go elsewhere!"
With that said and with a few female officials by her side, she descended the stairs under the gaze of everyone’s awe.
"Oh my, young lady, you are so bold, even daring to refuse Li Shanggong!"
"Yes, young lady, I advise you to invite Li Shanggong back before she leaves too far, and humbly apologize to her and give her the diamonds..."
"Girl, don’t let your youthful anger bring trouble to yourself and your family..."
Several well-off women who had witnessed the incident came over and joined in persuading Cai Wei to change her mind.
Cai Wei knew that they all meant well, but she hadn’t yet settled the score with Jin Guifei for hiring Nanny Zhao Yang to poison her. How could she willingly give her the diamonds she had saved for her younger sister? Did they really think she was easy to bully?
So, she offered a warm smile from under her gauze hat to everyone: "Thank you for your kind intentions, but I have made up my mind about this matter, and there is no need for you to worry about me."
Seeing she would not listen to advice, the several well-off women shook their head and left.
"Ah, she’s too headstrong because of her age, not even realizing what a big trouble she has gotten herself into..."
"Isn’t that true? We should mind our own business to avoid trouble..."
These sighs were clearly heard by Cai Wei. Under her gauze hat, she scoffed and shook her head, coldly laughing in her heart.
While others were afraid of Jin Guifei, she was not. Jin Guifei had not only tried to harm her but also repeatedly targetted Nangong Yi. In order to kill Nangong Yi, she was willing to sacrifice a hundred thousand soldiers of the Great Jin Nation. Cai Wei would have to deall with this venomous snake sooner or later, even if Jin Guifei didn’t come to her for trouble.
Cai Wei turned to the female cashier and laughed lightly, "Thank you for your troubles, miss. Please tell the person in charge that as long as they can craft the items I want, I don’t mind if the labor fees are a bit expensive."
The female cashier bowed, glanced nervously at the direction Li Shanggong had left, lowered her head and went to the third floor to discuss with the person in charge.