Chapter 389

Chapter 389 Yue’s Gold Pavilion Was Sued

Qu Moying was stunned for a moment. “What happened?”

“It is said that Yue’s Gold Pavilion broke a ruby that was intended to be used for custom-made items. This matter has been fermenting these days.”

Aunt Yang said.

She was quite familiar with the shopkeeper of Yue’s Gold Pavilion. The shopkeeper of Yue’s Gold Pavilion had been troubled by this matter these past few days. It could be seen that this matter was not easy to deal with.

When Qu Moying was still Ji Hanyue in her last life, she was in charge of Yue’s Gold Pavilion, and she immediately understood what Aunt Yang meant. “The ruby for customization was broken. Was the ruby provided by a guest?”

Qu Moying knew that Yue’s Gold Pavilion provided customized service, but people who had never run such shops might not know about it.

There were basically two types of customized services. One was customization according to the customer’s requirements, and the other was customization based on the materials brought by the customer.

For the former, the customer asked for customization because they saw gemstones they liked in the shop. For the latter, the customer brought their own materials, like jade, for customization.

Since the matter was so tricky, the materials were probably provided by the customer.

Aunt Yang said, “Yes. The ruby was provided by the customer. It’s said that the ruby was of the top grade, and it was evaluated at that time. But somehow it broke.”

“How did it break?” Qu Moying found this thing quite weird. Generally, the shop would keep a close watch on the materials brought by the customers, especially those top-grade materials that have been evaluated. How could it break? Such a thing had never happened. Only the shopkeeper and the shop owner had the key to the place where such items were stored.

“I don’t know. I heard that the shopkeeper was called away for something when the ruby was taken out to be processed. When he returned, the ruby was broken. The shopkeeper didn’t even know when it was broken. Anyway, when he saw the ruby, it was already broken into several pieces.”

Aunt Yang smiled bitterly.

This matter was so weird that even the shopkeeper of Yue’s Gold Pavilion couldn’t figure it out, let alone Aunt Yang.

Qu Moying asked gently, “Did they compensate the customer?”

Aunt Yang answered, “Yes, but the customer didn’t accept the offer. He said the ruby was passed down from his ancestors. He couldn’t accept the fact that it was broken like this. It was valuable and couldn’t be compensated with mere money.”

Qu Moying glanced at Aunt Yang and continued to ask, “What does he want?”

“He wants the shop as compensation!” Aunt Yang sighed. “Why didn’t he just take the money as compensation? He insisted on taking the shop. He said that only the shop could make up for his loss. This matter has been reported to the Yamen. Since there is such a tricky matter, how can Yue’s Gold Pavilion’s people focus on doing business? Even the shopkeeper and the shop owner were not in the mood to do business, not to mention the shop assistants.”

Qu Moying frowned slightly and asked, “What did its shop owner say about this?”

“I heard that Madam Duan wants to sell the shop to get enough money to compensate the customer if there is no other way. I heard that the Yamen also said that this ruby is very valuable and definitely not an ordinary ruby.”

Even though Madam Duan and Ji Yuanhai were from Earl Ling’an’s Mansion, they had no powerful background or means, so it was hard for them to run a shop on this scale.

In fact, Qu Moying had already thought about it before, but she didn’t think there was any reason for her to intervene in the matter of Earl Ling’an’s Mansion now. Since Madam Duan had become the legitimate wife of the first branch and Ji Yuanhai had been adopted by the first branch, they should keep the shop to gain a foothold in Earl Ling’an’s Mansion.

At the same time, Qu Moying hoped that Earl Ling’an’s Mansion’s remaining influence would intimidate those who had ulterior motives.

But now it seemed that the reality had proved otherwise. Even though she didn’t know what the truth of the matter was, she immediately realized that someone had schemed to take the shop. Moreover, it seemed that the scheme worked.

The reason why the people dared to scheme against Yue’s Gold Pavilion was that they thought Yue’s Gold Pavilion had no backer.

Yue’s Gold Pavilion used to belong to Ji Hanyue’s dowry. All the people in the capital knew about the matter of Ji Hanyue’s dowry. That matter also damaged Ji Youran’s good reputation.

Before and after this incident, matters regarding Crown Prince’s Mansion and Earl Ling’an’s Mansion kept happening. Madam Duan was promoted to be Ji Yongming’s legitimate wife, and Ji Yuanhai was adopted by the first branch. Therefore, the second branch of Earl Ling’an’s Mansion that had originally been eligible to claim everything actually ended up with an empty hand, except that Ji Youran became the Side Princess of Crown Prince’s Mansion.

Many people with discerning eyes knew that the second branch of Earl Ling’an’s Mansion would not support the first branch, so Madam Duan and Ji Yuanhai were indeed left helpless and alone.

That was why there was such a scheme against Yue’s Gold Pavilion!

However, Qu Moying had no reason to directly interfere now.

Qu Moying asked after pondering for a while, “Did Yue’s Gold Pavilion’s shopkeeper say that this shop was going to be sold?”

“He did say that. He said that Madam Duan was really disturbed. This matter caused a commotion outside, and she was reprimanded by Old Lady Ji. Young Master Ji is too young to handle this matter and do anything. Madam Duan asked the shopkeeper to sell the shop if there is any suitable buyer.”

Aunt Yang sighed again. She had a good relationship with the shopkeeper of Yue’s Gold Pavilion. They served the same master in the past, but now they were serving different masters.

After a moment of silence, Qu Moying said slowly, “Go and call the shopkeeper of Yue’s Gold Pavilion over!”

“Lady, are you going to interfere?” Aunt Yang’s eyes widened, and she hurriedly persuaded Qu Moying, “Lady, it’s not appropriate to do so. Yue’s Gold Pavilion belongs to the Ji Family now. You can’t directly interfere.”

She thought the thing would get worse if Qu Moying intervened without knowing the situation.

Qu Moying was an unmarried lady. Although she was the niece of Madam Yue, she had no say on such a thing.

Qu Moying shook her head, indicating Aunt Yang not to panic, “No worries, I just want to ask him about the selling price!”

“Lady, are you going to buy this shop?” Aunt Yang suddenly widened her eyes. Yue’s Gold Pavilion was not Yue’s Clothing Pavilion. It would cost a lot to buy Yue’s Gold Pavilion. Could Qu Moying afford it?

“I haven’t made up my mind yet!” Qu Moying smiled slightly. She really didn’t have so much money. Although her mother brought a lot of dowry items when she married into Qu Mansion, there were not many left for her, especially cash.

Qu Moying’s cash was not enough to buy even a small shop, let alone a big shop on the same scale as Yue’s Gold Pavilion. Although there was money in Yue’s Clothing Pavilion and other shops, the money was the working capital of the shops. If she used the money, these shops might be unable to run normally and have to be closed.

Seeing that Qu Moying was calm, Aunt Yang retreated with doubt and asked someone to invite Yue’s Gold Pavilion’s Shopkeeper Zhang over.

“Greetings, lady!” Shopkeeper Zhang was a thin middle-aged man. He bowed respectfully to Qu Moying after entering the door. Just now, Aunt Yang had already told him that Qu Moying wanted to see him.

He was not surprised to see Qu Moying now.

In fact, at the very beginning, he and Aunt Yang were both servants of the Yue Family of the South. Qu Moying was the daughter of the master he served before. Compared with Madam Duan and Ji Yuanhai, Qu Moying was the real owner of the shop owner in name.

Of course, only old servants like him thought so. Others did not agree with them. After all, the shop did not belong to Qu Moying in the first place.

Qu Moying asked Shopkeeper Zhang to save the formalities, and she came straight to the question, “What kind of person sent the ruby? Can you get hold of that person now?”

Shopkeeper Zhang immediately understood what Qu Moying meant. He praised her in his heart and told her everything in detail, “He didn’t seem to be from the capital but somewhere else. He didn’t sound like someone from the capital either. He went to the Yamen before. We couldn’t find his residence, so we couldn’t settle the matter with him in private.”

“If he isn’t someone from the capital, it means that he has no background in the capital. Didn’t you negotiate with him when he came to the shop that day?” Qu Moying asked in surprise. If the person was not from the capital, he had no background. So even if he made a scene, no forces would be supporting him. But since he had no background, how could he, an outsider, dare to make a big fuss?

“When he came to the shop that day, we wanted to negotiate with him and ask him what he wanted. But when he asked for this shop, madam got angry and said that it was impossible. The man then left. In the afternoon, Yamen’s people came to inform us that we were sued.”

Shopkeeper Zhang said angrily. This matter happened too suddenly. Generally speaking, if something happened, they could sit down and talk it out. If they couldn’t reach an agreement the first time, they could discuss it the second time and even the third time. They would be able to find a solution in the end. How could this person directly go to the Yamen and sue them?

Qu Moying was silent for a moment, and her eyes under the eye veil became unfathomable. “What did Madam Duan say?”

“Madam Duan was really annoyed. When the Yamen’s people came to inform us about this, Old Lady Ji heard about it. She blamed Madam Duan and even grounded her. Madam Duan can’t even come out to manage this thing, and Young Master Ji is still too young…” Manager Zhang couldn’t continue. Although Ji Yuanhai was intelligent and sensible, he had never experienced such a big incident, so he didn’t know how to deal with it.

Moreover, Ji Yuanhai had almost no chance to go out recently because Old Lady Ji was going to check his studies.

Therefore, the first branch of Earl Ling’an’s Mansion was facing both internal and external problems. Hearing about Old Lady Ji’s doing, Qu Moying couldn’t help but sneer. OId Lady Ji was really easy to fool, and it seemed that the second branch played a part in this matter.

“Are Xiao and Ji Youran still unwilling to give up on the shop? Or are they jealous of Madam Duan and Ji Yuanhai that they added fuel to the fire?”

Knowing the cause and effect of the matter, Qu Moying had already made a decision in her heart. “Send a message to Madam Duan for me. Ask her if she can sell the shop to me. However, I don’t have enough money now. I’m afraid it will take a while before she can receive the money. But I can write an IOU note. Ask her if this is feasible.”

This shop used to be Qu Moying and her mother’s painstaking efforts. She would not watch it fall into the hands of Xiao and Ji Youran or be taken away by others.

She knew that taking over this shop now meant she had to deal with this troublesome matter…