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When Chen Zhirong, Su Xiuning, and Cui Qianxue each picked out their favorite gifts and returned to Zhao Junchen, Li Lai said goodbye and left very knowingly.
Zhao Junchen stood up to greet him and asked with a smile: "Let me see what gifts you have chosen?"
Upon hearing Zhao Junchen's inquiry, the three girls Chen Zhirong, Su Xiuning, and Cui Qianxue did not hide it, but held the gifts they selected in their hands for Zhao Junchen to watch.
Among them, the gift chosen by Su Xiuning was a blue silk sachet embroidered with a kingfisher. Because the sachet was filled with special perfume from "Yerongfang", the fragrance was light and pleasant, and it looked good on Su Xiuning's waist.
The gift Cui Qianxue chose was a piece of white jade. The jade was only the size of a child's fist, but it was pure white and of excellent quality. It was carved into the shape of a rabbit and looked really cute.
As for Chen Zhirong, she chose three gifts, namely a jade pendant with blue spots on the emerald background, a gold and jade hairpin, and a white gauze handkerchief embroidered with mandarin ducks.
According to the gifts selected by Su Xiuning, Chen Zhirong, and Cui Qianxue, Zhao Junchen praised a few words and praised the three women's vision. However, when he saw the jade pendant selected by Chen Zhirong, he was slightly stunned and asked: "If I'm not mistaken, this jade pendant should be worn by a man, right?"
It turns out that on this jade pendant, there are patterns of maple trees and monkeys carved on it. The "maple" and "feng" of the maple tree are homophonic, which means to seal the award, while the "monkey" and "hou" are also homophonic, which means Official position; when the two are combined, it means a successful career, promotion of official status, and nobility. This kind of jade pendant is usually worn by men who intend to pursue an official career.
Hear Zhao Junchen's inquiry. Chen Zhirong suddenly smiled, then walked up to Zhao Junchen, hung the jade pendant on Zhao Junchen's waist, and said with a smile: "This jade pendant was originally chosen by Zhirong specially for Mr. Zhao."
Speaking of which. Chen Zhirong's smile became a little more naughty, and she said: "Of course, in the end, Mr. Zhao will have to pay for it himself. Zhirong can also be regarded as 'borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha'."
Zhao Junchen couldn't refuse, so he nodded and smiled: "In that case, I would like to thank Miss Chen for her kindness."
*
aside. After hearing Chen Zhirong's explanation, both Su Xiuning and Cui Qianxue's expressions changed slightly.
Just now, they were only focusing on choosing what they liked, but they completely ignored Zhao Junchen. Now they saw Chen Zhirong's methods. Naturally, I have some regrets.
Of course, this does not mean that Su Xiuning and Cui Qianxue do not care about Zhao Junchen at all, but they have been loved by thousands of people since they were young, leading a carefree life. Subconsciously, they always think that they should be the one being taken care of. She has not yet learned to take care of others and please others; but Chen Zhirong is completely different. She is not born to be a young lady, so she has learned to watch people's behavior and adapt to others since she was a child. He is also accustomed to using various means and opportunities to please others.
So, when Zhao Junchen asked the three girls to choose gifts, Su Xiuning and Cui Qianxue just passively accepted the suggestion. But Chen Zhirong turned from passive to active and took the opportunity to choose a gift for Zhao Junchen.
However, now that Su Xiuning and Cui Qianxue regretted it, they could not change anything.
However, Chen Zhirong's methods. That's not all.
After giving the jade pendant to Zhao Junchen, Chen Zhirong's eyes changed. He turned his attention to Chu Jiayi behind Zhao Junchen.
Since Chu Jiayi appeared, she was dressed as a maid. She is low-key and reserved and doesn't speak much. However, her appearance and temperament are both one-of-a-kind, which naturally caught Chen Zhirong's attention.
According to Chen Zhirong's opinion, with Chu Jiayi's appearance and temperament, she is definitely not just an ordinary maid. Just seeing that Zhao Junchen took her with him during the southern tour, we knew that Zhao Junchen cared about Chu Jiayi very much. , so Chen Zhirong, while trying to please Zhao Junchen, also wants to take the opportunity to win Chu Jiayi's favor and get closer to Chu Jiayi. This is an investment that will always make a profit in the future.
Therefore, after Chen Zhirong looked at Chu Jiayi for a few times, he asked Zhao Junchen: "This girl must be Mr. Zhao's personal maid, right?"
Zhao Junchen nodded and explained: "Yes, her name is Chu Jiayi. She is good at pen and ink and is also good at cooking. She is usually responsible for the pen and ink in my study and late night snacks. Because I am used to using her, I The accompanying driver also took her with him during his southern tour. But in recent days, she has been staying with Miss Cui to take care of her."
Chen Zhirong didn't know that Chu Jiayi was actually a spy planted by Prince Zhu Heyu around Zhao Junchen, and he didn't know that Zhao Junchen actually didn't trust Chu Jiayi at all. He just heard that Chu Jiayi was responsible for Zhao Junchen's study work on weekdays. , the more I felt that Chu Jiayi and Zhao Junchen were close, and the more determined I was to please Chu Jiayi.
So, Chen Zhirong handed the gold and jade hairpin to Chu Jiayi and said, "This Miss Chu is really beautiful. I liked it as soon as I saw it. When I saw this hairpin just now, I felt like this in my heart." The hairpin is very suitable for Miss Chu, so I took it off and gave it to Miss Chu as a ‘borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha’, hoping that Miss Chu would accept it.”
After a pause, Chen Zhirong saw that Chu Jiayi was hesitant, and then smiled and said: "Since Miss Chu, you are a close person to Mr. Zhao, then you and I will have many opportunities to interact with each other in the future. This hairpin is mine." It’s a meeting ceremony.”
Chu Jiayi was slightly stunned, a little at a loss, and turned her gaze to Zhao Junchen.
Zhao Junchen nodded and said: "Since Miss Chen gives you a gift, just accept it."
After getting Zhao Junchen's permission, Chu Jiayi nodded, took the hairpin from Chen Zhirong, and thanked her softly.
This hairpin was made of gold and jade and was worth a lot of money, costing at least dozens of taels of silver. However, Chu Jiayi only had a calm face and did not show any sign of joy. She seemed to be used to seeing such valuables, but Chen Zhirong felt secretly in her heart. Surprised, I feel even more that Chu Jiayi is not simple.
After giving the jade pendant to Zhao Junchen and the hairpin to Chu Jiayi, Chen Zhirong only left a white fragrant handkerchief embroidered with mandarin ducks. Although this fragrant handkerchief was exquisite, it was only worth a few coins. It was considered " It was the cheapest thing in Yuerongfang, but Chen Zhirong put it in her arms with great care.
*
On the other side, seeing what Chen Zhirong did, Zhao Junchen sighed secretly in his heart.
Obviously, for some unknown reason, Chen Zhirong was convinced that Zhao Junchen would eventually marry her as his wife, so he had already begun to make arrangements for his future entry into the Zhao Mansion.
This is true whether it was catering to Cui Qianxue before or pleasing Chu Jiayi now!
The purpose of Chen Zhirong's doing this was naturally to target another powerful woman in the Zhao family - Fang Ru!
It was precisely because of this that Zhao Junchen sighed secretly in his heart.
Different from Chen Zhirong's all-rounder, although Fang Ru is smart and strong, she lacks some tact. Normally, she doesn't care about anyone except Zhao Junchen. Although the Zhao family has always been in good order under her management, Fang Ru's methods are too strong and offend her. There were also a lot of people there. Although everyone in the Zhao family was in awe of Fang Ru, their fear was far greater than their respect!
It is conceivable that if Zhao Junchen marries Chen Zhirong, then with Chen Zhirong's smooth methods, he will soon gain the favor of everyone in the Zhao family, and Fang Ru will inevitably be suppressed by Chen Zhirong because "the unjust person has few helpers" , even with Zhao Junchen's full support, I'm afraid it will be difficult to compete with Chen Zhirong.
"Fang Ru is loyal to me and helps me manage the property of Yuerongfang and the intelligence network of Tongji Temple. It can be said that the results are remarkable, so I will never let her down. And Chen Zhirong has become so fast Showing his thoughts towards Fang Ru will only make me feel disgusted and wary... Don't Chen Zhirong, with his intelligence, know this truth?"
Zhao Junchen was confused and thought to himself.
*
However, although he was doubtful, Zhao Junchen did not show it. He just ordered Xu Qingyan to pay the money, then led the three women to leave "Yuerongfang", and under the guidance of a "Yuerongfang" clerk, they took the He drove the carriage towards "Zhiweixuan".
Because of the matters at "Yue Rongfang", a lot of time was wasted. It was already past midnight and everyone was a little hungry, so there was not much delay.
However, before going to "Zhiweixuan", Xu Qingyan left the team because of Zhao Junchen's instructions, and took Zhao Junchen's name card to visit Mr. Wu's home.
Because of the relationship between Su Xiuning and Cui Qianxue, Zhao Junchen still had to get back the two pieces of crystal soap Mr. Wu bought.
However, Zhao Junchen’s purpose is not just that!
Taking advantage of this opportunity to conflict with Mr. Wu and some information obtained from Li Lai, Zhao Junchen felt that he might be able to obtain greater benefits!
…
…(To be continued)
