Chapter 88: Encounter

  Strolling through the streets of Beijing, stroking the soft and fluffy fur in his arms, Xia Xun suddenly felt a chill on his hand. He lowered his head to take a look, and saw a snowflake land on the back of his palm, quickly melting into a patch of moisture.

  Winter has arrived unnoticed, Xia Xun raised his head and looked at the gloomy sky. Suddenly, he had an idea: "This fox fur... hmm, give one piece to Xiao Qi, and the other piece..."

  A faint smile spread across his face, and in his mind, a certain fake young master appeared, who only showed a few degrees of feminine tenderness when secretly gazing at him. He stopped in his tracks and said to Ximen Qing: "Brother Gao, I have three fox furs here, two of which have already been spoken for. As for the third one, let's give it to Little Dong's wife. Winter is approaching, and we're going out on a trip; you should bring your sister-in-law a decent gift too."

  Ximen Qing was taken aback at first, then shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, no, this...this is a very valuable thing, Lakshen gave it to you, how can you turn around and give it to someone else? This isn't right, this isn't right."

  Xia Fu smiled and said: "Since he gave it to me, it's mine now. I'll decide how to deal with it. You're my brother, why be polite? Take it."

  "No, no, no..." Ximen Qing repeatedly pushed back, but Xia Lian would not let up. In the end, Ximen Qing had no choice but to grit his teeth and say: "This... cough, it's really embarrassing for me to mention it, but I was the one who introduced them, and Laikai also promised me a favor... cough... Now, if I were to pretend nothing happened and accept your generous gift, that would be truly unjustifiable."

  Xia Yu was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing: "I knew it, so that's how it is. Brother Gao received some gifts, and there's even this fox fur among them?"

  Ximen Qing, having already been invited, no longer concealed anything: "Well, I do have tiger whip, bear gall, and deer antler... these are all available. As you know, I run a pharmacy, so I'm quite interested in these things..."

  Xia Fu said: "Since there is no fox fur, I still want to give this gift. Brother Gao, don't be polite, just take it."

  Ximen Qing took it with a sheepish expression, and muttered: "Actually... I think your wife would like the tiger whip more. Ah, right, when we get back I'll give you two of them, and teach you what medicinal ingredients to pair with them to bring out their effects. You can try drinking some when you get home, it's quite effective."

  Xia Liu rubbed his nose and said: "I'm still young, I don't need this thing yet?"

  "Hmm..."

  Ximen Qing stopped in his tracks, and with a serious expression, he sized up Xiaolong: "No wonder you're so arrogant. I see that your nose is straight and sturdy, your nostrils are strong and majestic, the tip of your nose is raised and fleshy, and your nasal wings are expanded and slightly red. It's clear that what's below is sturdy and majestic, and your desires are extremely strong..."

  Xia Xian initially wanted to hear him say something, but after hearing it, he glared at him with a bad tone: "Still got a nose that's upturned and fleshy, nasal wings that are expanded and slightly red. My two (nostrils) are a bit stuffy, okay? If it were you, you'd be sniffing all the time, you'd also have an upturned and fleshy nose, you'd also have expanded and slightly red nasal wings..."

  Ximen Qing was a doctor, and he knew that the folk saying about being able to tell whether someone's lower body is majestic based on the size of their nose was nonsense. He deliberately teased him, and upon hearing it, he couldn't help but burst out laughing. The two men walked shoulder to shoulder again, and amidst the faintly fluttering snowflakes, the distance between them quietly narrowed.

  "Xia Lao Di, since you've already decided to give this fur away, why don't we go find a shop and have it made into a fur-lined coat? We can also take a look at some matching accessories, bring them back, and give them as gifts. That way, your daughter's family will be delighted."

  "Is it just in Beiping?"

  Ximen Qing said: "That's right, the craftsmanship of leather goods here is better than Yanggu, and also better than Qingzhou. Moreover, making fur coats with accessories here is much cheaper than our side."

  Xia Fu smiled and said, "You're indeed a businessman, calculating everything carefully. Alright, let's go back. Didn't we just visit the leather goods store? I saw that they had many furs and leather clothes on display, and the craftsmanship was pretty good."

  "Hey," Ximen Qing pulled him over, saying mysteriously: "That store is still too small, I'll take you to the number one fur shop in Beiping, they have the most complete goods and the best craftsmanship. All the officials and nobles in Beiping buy their furs there. Come on, come on..." As he spoke, he pulled Xia Chuo out onto the street, waving at a rickshaw puller: "Over here, over here..."

  The snow is falling a bit densely, but it's not actually dense. Walking on the road, the snowflakes flutter lightly around me, as if there are only a few pieces forever. Only when I gaze into the distance and my line of sight reaches far away do I get a sense of vastness. This feeling gives people a quiet taste, even the distant noise and the hawkers' calls along the street seem to be ethereal.

  On the ground, a thin layer of white was covered, not enough to be delightful, but with this snow, I believe that soon we will see a scene where the sky and earth are all white, and everything is wrapped in silver.

  "We're here, haha, this is the headquarters of Xie's Leather Goods. The masters here make leather coats that are so stylish, you can wear them to Tianfu Prefecture and still look impressive. Of course, it's not like they need to wear fur coats there, haha..."

  Ximen Qing got off the carriage first, followed by Xia Chuo. As soon as one foot stepped down to the ground, he raised his head and saw a tall building

  Rushing into his eyes, Xia Liu's body suddenly stiffened.

  The White Pagoda, that's the White Pagoda Temple in Beijing. He... he "used to" come here before, had visited this place and even took a photo under this pagoda. What is presented before his eyes now is exactly the same white pagoda.

  Xia Xun stood there in a daze, her eyes gazing through the hazy snowflakes at the white pagoda with a greedy and nostalgic gaze. Suddenly, a children's song she had heard when she was very young echoed in her ears: "White stone tower, white stone tower, white stone tower high, high white stone tower, build a tall white stone tower..."

  For a moment, his mind seemed to be absorbed by the white tower, and he was taken back to the world where he had lived for twenty years, with tears blurring his eyes.

  Ximen Qing paid the carriage fare, turned his head and saw Xia Cheno gazing steadily at the White Pagoda in the distance, standing stupidly with tears in his eyes. He couldn't help but ask: "Younger brother, what's wrong?"

  Xia Fu woke up with a start and shook his head, saying: "Nothing, I just suddenly saw the White Tower, and my emotions were stirred. It's quite embarrassing to have been seen by Gao brother, let's go."

  He took another deep look at the white tower, turned around and walked towards the magnificent storefront by the road. Ximen Qing looked at the white tower with a puzzled expression, thinking to himself: "I don't get it, this Yang Wenxuan is indeed a sentimental scholar, it's just a tower, I looked left and right, up and down, no matter how I look at it, it's just a tower, not some stunning beauty, what's there to be sad about, tsk, tsk, tsk..."

  Ximen Qing shook his head and left, but didn't notice a line of vehicles slowly approaching on the street. Those cars were all built with great beauty and decorated extremely magnificently, each one pulled by two strong mules, with men and women servants surrounding them in front and back, accompanying the carriages left and right. Looking at this grandeur, it's probably not just the style of a royal or noble family.

  In front of a beautifully decorated sedan chair, there was a young maid in a green blouse with three braids on her head, looking extremely sweet. She walked elegantly and behaved demurely, originally keeping her eyes downcast without glancing sideways, following the rules. Suddenly, she caught sight of Ximen Qing and couldn't help but reveal a look of surprise. Her feet hurried to quicken their pace, using the body of a sturdy servant walking on the outside to block herself from view. Only after passing out of Ximen Qing's line of sight did she let out a sigh of relief, once again restoring her elegant demeanor befitting a young lady from a noble family.

  Ximen Qing didn't see her, but if he had just caught a clear glimpse of this little girl's appearance, with his skill at taking in the beauty of a woman at a single glance and remembering it for thirty years, he would certainly have been surprised to discover that Burnt-Cake Sister was also in Beijing, and had transformed from a down-on-her-luck, helpless little yellow-haired servant girl into a smartly dressed, elegant, and refined young maid.

  "How's this? The storefront is quite large, isn't it?"

  Ximen Qing was delighted, as if this were his own shop: "Look, a three-story storefront. This is the first floor, and just this first floor is already three times larger than that branch store we visited earlier. Look around, everywhere you see all sorts of fur coats. The higher you go, the more valuable and rare the furs are, and the better the workmanship. The best furs are worth over a thousand taels of gold. And sometimes they're even priceless."

  Xia Xun nodded repeatedly, as soon as he entered the store, he immediately saw that this place was different from others. Those precious fur coats, well-dressed and well-mannered partners, all showed the taste and status of this place. No one was loud and noisy, only whispers of introduction, every guest was gentle and elegant, even if it was pretended.

  Those who can come and go from this place are all people who can spend thousands of dollars, with money and status equally important. Who dares to shout loudly in this place, speak improperly, and make others laugh at him? Even if you're not a gentleman, you have to pretend to be one. Even Ximen Qing, who usually speaks nonsense when he sees a beauty, can only give a polite glance when he sees a gentle and elegant lady or noblewoman walking by, and then courteously steps aside.

  The salesmen in the store won't follow you around, eager to introduce themselves. They just stand in the corner and watch you until a customer stops in front of a certain fur coat, looks at it for a moment, then they will appear very cautiously in your line of sight, bowing their heads, waiting for your inquiry.

  At this time, two more carriages came to the front of the store, two plain but not unassuming horse-drawn carriages, with over a dozen sturdy men in green shirts and shorts standing at the front and back. Although the scene they set up was not as grand as the previous convoy that had just passed by, the subtle atmosphere it created made people involuntarily want to move aside to make way.

  The curtain of the carriage in front was lifted, and a beautiful woman got off with light steps. Immediately after, a little girl in green clothes jumped down from the carriage shaft, and the beautiful woman hurriedly stretched out her hand to support her, scolding her for a few words. The little girl raised her face and smiled at her, making a mischievous face, and turned out to be a lovely little beauty with delicate features, who was already impressive in her demeanor and bearing, although she was only around ten years old.

  Immediately afterwards, a person also slowly walked down from the car behind. This was a monk, wearing a black Buddhist robe, with a shiny bald head, walking with an air of detachment. However, he had high cheekbones and pointed ears, a sharp nose and thin lips, and a pair of triangular eyes that shone brightly, matched with his gaunt and rugged skeleton, like a lean tiger, lacking a few degrees of auspiciousness.