The Wife Is First

Chapter 17

Ch17 - Rumors

Only after Jing Shao has blanked out for half a day did he react to the fact that his Wang Fei was asking to borrow money from him. He couldn’t help but knit his brows, he pulled Mu Hanzhang to go to the study in the Listening Wind Pavilion. He took out a small ebony box with golden designs on it and gave it to him: “You take these first, if it’s not enough come tell me again.”  

“There was a mishap in my wet nurse’s family, and I don’t have any money on hand,” Mu Hanzhang lowered his head. “When the taxes are received from my village, I will return it to you.” As he spoke, he opened the small box, inside was about one hundred taels in both gold and silver, and also stack of silver banknotes. Each one for a thousand taels, and in total there were five. 

“Say that one more time!” Jing Shao hearing this, slowly walked up, emitting an air of anger, reached out and pinched the chin of Mu Hanzhang, forcing him to look at himself.  

Mu Hanzhang was startled, staring woodenly at the Jing Shao who had lost his temper, and realized that it was wrong to speak about returning money in front of his husband. He licked his lips and said: “My village’s harvest is not good, these five thousand taels, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to return it in ten or even twenty years.”

This was clearly an excuse to go back on his word and not return the money, yet Jing Shao’s mood strangely got better, but he still pinched his chin and turned his face a few times: “If you have something you need, then come find me. It’s my responsibility to support you anyway.” After saying that, he kissed the lips that had been pursed just a moment ago, and radiating vitality, went out to continue practicing his sword. 

Mu Hanzhang looked at the ebony box in his hands and lightly sighed. 

Taking out one hundred taels, he had Lan Ting bring an imperial guard with her and go to the farm village, and Mu Hanzhang looked at this rather generous pocket money, and his thoughts began to flow. The property that was given to him by the North Marquis’ family was not a wasteland, but they were fields that yielded poor harvests. Not even one of the shops that could be found in the capital could be found here. 

Mu Hanzhang’s birth mother was born a merchant’s daughter. Although he hadn’t been able to learn it as well as his mother, for things like recognizing where to find raw materials, deciphering accounts, and running a business, he had the ability to do all of them. The five thousand taels given by Jing Shao are enough for him to set up a restaurant in the capital. He could also just take out a portion of it to buy a small shop, so at the very least he was unlikely to go so far as to spend all the money without generating any income. 

After carefully putting away the ebony box, Mu Hanzhang decided to go out for these two days and see what kind of suitable business he could do. As a nobleman in this world, he must settle down and get on with his own pursuits. 

With this idea, Mu Hanzhang’s mood became better. Of course, there was another thing that made him happy. That is, today was the fifteenth day of the third month. According to how it was arranged last time in the flower book, today Jing Shao should be going to the Fu Ren’s bedroom. These few nights, Jing Shao was always wrapped around him, kissing and hugging him. He was also a man, he knew how easy it would be for things to go out of control if it kept going on like this, so he was very apprehensive every day, waiting until Jing Shao fell asleep to fall asleep himself in relief. 

After dinner, Jing Shao scooted over to his Wang Fei wanting to do some things to aid in digestion. Mu Hanzhang made a meaningful glance toward Duofu, who embarrassedly scrunched up his steamed bun-like face, and with light cough said: “Wang Ye, Wang Fei arranged the appointments in the flower book a few days ago, today you should be going over to Fu Ren’s courtyard.”