Poor Lady Chapter 18: Crossdress (minor repair)
"Are you going to recruit another group of embroiderers?" Qi's mother looked at her daughter in surprise.
Qi Surong nodded: "Nowadays Xiuzhuang doesn't have many big clients, but with the increase in reputation, we alone may not be able to handle it. So I want to sell two nearby houses for the embroiderers to work on. In the future, my mother will not have to work so hard."
"But do we have any spare money to buy a nearby house?" Although the neighbors are ordinary houses and the houses are old, but it is the capital city after all, the house price will not be too low, and they may not be willing to sell.
"Mother, don't worry, since my daughter brought it up, she is naturally prepared." The day before yesterday, Subao not only successfully joined Mr. Xu's family, but also did not ask for two thousand taels of Shuxiu as Qi Surong expected. This amount of money alone is enough to buy two small houses.
"Then you can figure it out, mother will listen to you." Qi's mother is not a person with her own opinions, and now that her daughter has taken the initiative to ask for her opinion, she is relieved that she will not object.
With mother's approval, Qi Surong started to deal with the matter.
She didn't intend to recruit too many embroiderers, and she couldn't recruit them in the name of the Qi family, otherwise it might cause unnecessary trouble.
After thinking about it, the only ones who can help her now are Zhuang Qiao'e and Gu Jinyun. After all, Aunt Qiao is Zhongcheng's wife, so it's not appropriate to get involved too deeply. And Gu Jinyun is a businessman, so it's not a bad idea to put Xiuzhuang under his name. It's just that I don't know if it will implicate Gu Jinyun in the future, this is the last thing Qi Surong wants to see. But now she is really weak and unable to develop the family business on her own. As a woman, there are too many rules to follow.
Women...if not women? A flash of light suddenly flashed in Qi Surong's mind, and he took the bronze mirror over to examine his facial features carefully. At the age of fifteen or sixteen, his appearance has not yet been fully finalized, and he is delicate and immature.
Qi Surong parted her hair, and casually tied a boy's hair in a bun. Without makeup, at first glance she looked like a boy of twelve or thirteen years old, but it was still difficult to conceal the unique beauty of a woman.
She picked up the eyebrow pencil, thickened her eyebrows, made her eyes slender, and made them look smaller. She also used powder to darken her complexion, and painted a few light spots... After some treatment, she looked at the person in the mirror again. Has the appearance of a seven-point youth. If you don't look carefully, it may be difficult to recognize her at a glance. She is also a woman who has lived in a deep boudoir for a long time, it is impossible for ordinary people to know her, and other noble women will not contact men at will, so the possibility of her being exposed is greatly reduced.
The rest is the sound.
It is not difficult to change her voice. When she was with her master in her previous life, she got to know a lot of strange herbs. Among them was a plant called "Qihe". It became hoarse and low, like the voice of a teenager in a voice-changing period. To restore the original sound, just drink a bowl of specially brewed mint water.
Qi Surong looked down at her chest again, it was quite plump, and it should be possible to get away with it by wrapping it flat with cloth strips.
Fortunately, she is only sixteen years old now, and in two years' time, she might not be able to hide her feminine appearance no matter what.
However, this must be kept a secret from the family, otherwise, with her father's temper, she will be reprimanded and forced to ground her.
Qi Surong, who has experienced a lifetime, has long since lost the notion that women cannot show their faces at will. In her previous life, she did almost all kinds of dirty work to make a living, shed the elegance and reservedness of a lady from a famous family, and she was confident that she would not show her young daughter's delicate appearance, and behaved in a calm manner.
"Miss, come and see..." Ping'er walked into the room, his excited voice fell silent the moment he saw Qi Surong.
"You, who are you? Why are you in my lady's boudoir?" Ping'er pointed at Qi Surong and asked in a startled voice. Immediately afterwards, she noticed that the clothes on the other party were exactly the young lady's usual attire, so she let out a "huh" and stared at Qi Surong's face with uncertain eyes.
Qi Surong said with a smile: "You are right, it is me."
As soon as she made a sound, Ping'er heaved a sigh of relief, walked to her side, and said angrily: "Miss, why are you dressed up in such a strange way, whether you look male or female."
Qi Surong whispered: "I plan to show people like this when I go out in the future."
"Small, miss, you...you are a lady, how could you be like this, like this..." Ping'er didn't know how to describe it. In front of Qi Surong, the facial features are still exquisite, but a little less beautiful, a little more heroic, with dark skin, he looks like a slender boy of twelve or thirteen years old. With such a change of clothes, even she, a girl who has been with Miss for ten years, dare not recognize her easily.
Qi Surong smiled: "I will go out often in the future, the status of a woman is too restrictive, this is also a last resort."
"You can ask your servants to do what Miss wants to do." Ping'er did not agree with Qi Su's easy-to-concede behavior.
"What I want to do, I can't do it at will." Qi Surong said seriously, "The current situation in the capital is complicated, and it is not a good strategy to stay behind closed doors. My father is inconvenient to do things, but I don't need to worry too much."
Ping'er's face was a bit confused, and he struggled for a long time before saying: "Then what should Ping'er do?"
Qi Surong put her finger on her lips: "Help me keep it secret."
She didn't plan to let Ping'er also pretend to be a man, which would easily expose her identity. It is not surprising that there is a young man who looks similar to Miss Qi, but it is not a coincidence that there is a book boy who looks similar to Miss Qi's personal maid beside this young man.
She is going to hire another boy, who will not be brought into the house, but will be placed in another house purchased separately, and will be responsible for taking care of the embroiderer on weekdays.
Pay attention to make plans, she began to plan secretly, taking into account all possible situations in all aspects, and must be foolproof.
She couldn't pretend to be a teenager for a long time, at most two years, she had to return to her daughter's body.
She must make good use of these two years.
The next day, Qi Surong sent someone to send a letter to Gu Jinyun, asking him to help buy two houses near Qi's house and hire about ten embroiderers.
In less than three days, two house deeds and fifteen work contracts were given to Qi Surong, along with two nurses, two cooks, and two maids.
Qi Surong thought about the expense and said less than four or five thousand taels, so he helped her without blinking an eye.
So she wrote another contract and repaid it in the form of revenue sharing, but did not mention Gu Jinyun's real name, but called it Songyue instead.
"Why not use Jinyun's name?" Gu Jinyun wrote to ask.
"Prevention before it happens." Qi Surong wrote back.
Gu Jinyun: "Defend against whom?"
Qi Surong: "Little man."
Gu Jinyun: "Do you need help?"
Qi Surong: "Not for now."
Gu Jinyun: "Yes."
With a few simple conversations, the two actually used four or five sheets of rice paper back and forth. Especially in the last one, only one word was written.
Gu Jinyun, do you dare to write a few more words? Qi Surong was a little speechless.
The house that Gu Jinyun helped her buy was adjacent to her home. She had someone secretly open the firewood room next door and make a secret door.
She entered the next house through the secret door, and then changed clothes in the room, pretending to be a teenager.
It was the first time that Qi Surong appeared in front of people as a teenager, and Qi Surong was still a little nervous. After meeting the embroidered girls, his mood gradually stabilized and he became calm and composed.
The embroiderers did not expect that their boss was actually a handsome young man. Seeing his bright eyes and white teeth, elegant demeanor, and the appearance of a nobleman, they unconsciously fell in love with him.
Qi Surong's alias is "Zhuofan", claiming to be the son of a merchant, he came out to practice alone, and was mainly responsible for managing some matters of Xiuzhuang.
Although "he" is young, his words and deeds are quite in the style of everyone, which is not surprising.
After getting acquainted with the embroidered women, Qi Surong took a nurse and left the house, went to the market, intending to buy a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy servant.
Walking on the street dressed like this, you don't need to worry about the identity of the woman and the eyes of others. You can look at people, objects and scenery generously, and walk with your head held high.
This feeling is really good.
Qi Surong smiled, and her handsome appearance became even more eye-catching, attracting the attention of many passers-by.
"Young master, what kind of slave do you want to buy?" Qi Surong, led by the tooth dealer, came to a slightly dilapidated courtyard. There was an unpleasant smell here, Qi Surong frowned unconsciously, and didn't want to stay longer.
"I want to buy a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy as a servant. He must be in good health and have no bad habits." She replied.
"Okay, the villain will take the young master to have a look. There is definitely someone that the young master wants."
"Young master, it's a mess inside, you'd better not go, the villain will help you bring out the right candidate." The nurse said.
Qi Surong thought for a while, nodded in agreement, and stayed alone in the courtyard waiting for the nurse and the dental dealer to bring him out.
While contemplating, there was a sudden noise outside the door. Qi Surong followed the prestige, and saw a few people dragged a young man in, the leader looked like a steward of a wealthy family, bossy, with a haughty expression.
"Hey, it's Manager Zhao. I don't know what kind of goods you want to pick up this time?"
"Apart from wanting to buy some good-looking boys and girls today, I also want to sell this kid to you." Manager Zhao grabbed the boy by the collar and pushed him to the ground rudely.
"This is..." Yaban pulled up the young man and saw that he looked thirteen or fourteen years old. Although there were scars on his face, it was hard to hide his outstanding handsome face. There was a cold light in his deep eyes, like a wild bird. Like a wolf, he looks a bit pervasive, "Guan Zhao, wouldn't it be a pity to sell such a handsome face?"
"No matter how handsome you are, it's useless if you don't have a pleasant temperament." Manager Zhao seemed unwilling to explain further, and said, "You can set the price as you like, and sell it as a lowly slave."
Qi Surong looked towards the young man and happened to meet his gaze.
What a pair of sharp eyes! However, at the age of thirteen or fourteen, there is such an aura that attracts people.
Although he was in a state of distress, he did not appear timid at all. How could such a young man with extraordinary temperament be reduced to a slave?