The room was silent, the atmosphere strange.
A young n.o.ble son and three girls stood facing each other.
They were not total strangers, but for certain reasons, they happened to know each other.
They were most probably acquaintances.
Fang Jinxiu was curious, unrestrainedly evaluating Ning Yunzhao.
Miss Jun also thought to pay her respects to him.
"Ning…" she opened her mouth to say.
Ning Yunzhao nodded at her as ways of acknowledgement, before leaving the room.
Miss Jun stopped stiffly halfway through her greeting, and Fang Jinxiu laughed.
"Still greeting him, directly pouncing on him is fine. Look, he ran away," she said.
Jinchuan tugged on her sleeve.
"Third Miss, do not run your mouth," she reminded.
"I didn"t say anything." Fang Jinxiu snorted, but did not talk about Ning Yunzhao. "What happened? What"s going on now?"
"Now, nothing that happened concerns us. Miss Lin met with an accident in the Jinyun Hall; this is between Lord Lin and the Jinyun Hall," Miss Jun said. "We can go?"
How does this not concern us?
Fang Jinxiu and Jinchuan were stunned.
Lord Lin was just about to arrest them and make off with them, but now there was nothing?"
"Lord Lin was just too hasty. After I talked to him, he calmed down," Miss Jun said.
Fang Jinxiu looked at her like she was seeing a ghost.
"What did you say to him?" she asked.
Miss Jun looked at her.
"If I told you, you wouldn"t believe it," she said. "I just let him know the reason behind what happened, and he calmed down."
Fang Jinxiu stared.
"Jun Zhenzhen, I believe you are a ghost," she insulted.
The sounds of girl shrieks came from the corridor, seeming dissatisfied and spoiled, but they were soon tamped down.
Ning Yunzhao stood at the staircase, looking at a girl hissing at the other girl. The one being stopped was displeased, and angrily walked forward.
The accompanying maid was diligently consoling the girl who was angry, unhappiness on that girls" face.
It seemed like that Miss Jun was arrogant and disrespectful and not on good terms with the Fang sisters, just as was said.
How could this be said to be not getting along well? Even if they didn"t get along well, there was no arrogance or disrespect.
But how could this person be Miss Jun?
Or how could this Miss Jun also be her?
Ning Yunzaho felt his heart in disarray.
Yes, this was the most important thing.
How could she be her?
Ning Yunzhao was a master of the verses in the Book of Songs, but right now he could not think of a single line to describe his feelings.
Just now, perhaps, he should have said something.
Ning Yunzhao watched the figures of the girls walking in the Jinyun Hall.
But now he kind of didn"t want to see her, didn"t want to think about this, and didn"t want to think about what he should do. The feelings born that night.
Reality was hard to accept.
Ning Yunzhao swatted the handrail, and turned around.
Even if he wanted to say something, he couldn"t think of anything to say.
"No wonder you knew my birthday."
Ning Yunzhao was silent.
"So everything was done deliberately?"
From where he was standing in the corridor, he could clearly see the main hall. The director did not go in, looking at Miss Jun walking through the main hall. He heard the sound of Lord Lin saying thank you inside.
This young woman was much too ferocious.
The director sighed in admiration, and out came Lord Lin"s voice from past the door.
"Third Master does not need to see me out. I will hand this over to Third Master; resolving the issues is much more pressing."
Then Lord Lin exited himself.
"I will send Lord Lin back," the director rushed to say.
Lord Lin hesitated, but did not refuse. One in front, one behind, they left for the outside. While en route, they did not say anything, until they got to the stairway, in which Lord Lin stopped.
"I want to ask something," he suddenly said, looking at the director. "How much money did she earn from pitch-pot?"
He didn"t say which "she" he meant, but director knew who he was talking about. The director smiled.
"We keep our guest information confidential, normally," he said.
Normally, but this was not a normal time. Lord Lin did not say anything and waited for the director to speak.
"Thirty thousand taels," he then added.
Lord Lin sucked in cool air.
It was actually that much. No wonder, no wonder.
He looked at the director with a complicated expression.
He knew that the girl had played pitch-pot at the Jinyun Hall and had won money, but the Jinyun Hall was no gambling parlor. A bunch of face-loving, culturally pretentious people would only bet so much, moreover the Jinyun Hall"s cut was very high.
He never thought that it was that much.
No wonder the Jinyun Hall thought of her as a G.o.ddess of wealth.
This time, the father and daughter pair were really placed on the chopping block.
Lord Lin did not speak again, but nodded at the director, and continued at a fast pace.
Watching Lord Lin"s back, the director could not cover his curiosity.
He also wanted to ask Lord Lin, what he and Miss Jun had spoken about in that room.
But this question could definitely not be answered, and he knew not to ask.
To make a father with a destroyed daughter choose to swallow the harm must definitely be a fearsome thing.
He really did not foresee that this Miss Jun would have hidden more than just pitch-pot skill.
Perhaps it was the Fang Family"s patron, or the Jun Yingwen"s left behind legacy.
The director turned around and went back up to the stairs to the room.
The feast in the room had been removed. Third Master Dou had instructed the men, and everybody left the room.
"Did Master Jin and them leave because of Miss Jun?" the director couldn"t help but ask.
"Who knows, they are inscrutable. Sometimes wind, sometimes rain." Third Master Dou did not care much. He was much more interested in Lord Lin. "What happened to him? He actually admitted it was his daughter that offended public morals? That"s like rubbing s.h.i.+t on his body."
"That is definitely to prevent something scarier than s.h.i.+t falling on him," the director joked, then paused. "It probably was the thing Miss Jun wanted to borrow our pen and paper and staff to escort."
The Jinyun Hall never had any such final proceedings. The banknote was written on the spot, all settled. The reason he had mentioned the proceedings was just to give Miss Jun more time in the Jinyun Hall."
But Miss Jun at the time had suddenly said she wanted the Jinyun Hall to send Fang Jinxiu back, and asked for a paper and pen for the final proceedings.
It was okay for her to talk about the procedures and specially asking for pen and paper meant that she wanted to write something.
"Could it be that Jun Yingwen, that small time county magistrate gave her some trump card?" Third Master Dou asked curiously.
Besides Miss Jun and Lord Lin, no one knew. Since the two had already come to an agreement, it would not be spoken of again, probably.
"That is unrelated to us anyway," dismissed Third Master Dou. "We open our doors for business; amiability will make you rich."
His brows rose and he smiled.
"It seems we were worrying in vain. Miss Jun already had countermeasures in place."
The director thought of that girl"s sincere thanks.
"Miss Jun said if it were not for us, she would not have had the chance to speak to Lord Lin," he said with a mile.
Third Master Dou laughed soundly.
"That young miss is polite. Over ten thousand taels to buy an opportunity was just so," he said. "We are even."
The director did not say anything, and thought of that girl"s sudden appearance the pitch-pot game.
Perhaps at that time, she was already buying her opportunity.