Chapter 25.7

When the attendant saw the fabric she was interested in, he had a look of surprise and didn’t go to fetch it immediately. He just looked her up and down and said, “Madam, this is Tianyun brocade, and it is not cheap. Just a bolt ream like this costs a hundred taels of gold. You… are you sure you want this?”

Tao Ti responded plainly, “Mhm. Just that one.”

The attendant frowned and wanted to say something more. Fu Xirui, who was standing by the side, took out a stack of banknotes and said brusquely, “Hurry and fetch it for our Madam!”

The attendant was dazed at the sight of the banknotes. Only then did he realise that he had almost offended a big shot. He said hurriedly, “Yes, yes, I’ll go fetch it now. Please wait a moment, Madam.”

This time, the soles of his feet seemed to have been oiled. Quickly and steadily, he came back holding the Tianyun brocade carefully in his arms, bending over with an ingratiating smile on his face. His service attitude had undergone a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree change.

“Madam, did anything else catch your fancy? I’ll bring them over and pack them up for you too.”

“No need.”

“A new batch of goods has recently arrived. Madam, you can—”

“I said, no need.”

The tone of that sentence was nonchalant, but there was a hint of an imposing aura that didn’t allow for any rebuttal.

Startled, the attendant quietly raised his eyes to look at the lady in front of him. As she was wearing a veiled hat the entire time, he couldn’t see what she looked like, but the aura with which she spoke just now really made his heart tremble.

This time, the attendant did not dare to say any more. He hurriedly led Tao Ti to the counter to settle the bill.

Unexpectedly, they had just gone downstairs and hadn’t even reached the counter when they heard a clear female voice ring out, “Hey, over there. Yes, yes, you—bring that brocade you’re carrying over here to let me have a look.”

The attendant was startled, and Tao Ti frowned slightly.

“Hey, are you deaf? Why are you spacing out? Hurry up and bring it here!” said the female angrily.

“Well, um… I’m sorry, lady. This Tianyun brocade has already been taken by this Madam…” explained the attendant with his back bent over.

“She only chose it but hasn’t paid yet. Anyway, even if she has paid, if I want it, it will be mine!”

Her words were truly arrogant.

Tao Ti couldn’t help but turn her head and looked towards the right.

It was a female who had her hair up in a young noble lady’s hairdo. She was accessorised in gold and silver and wearing a peach-pink cotton dress with gold embroidery. Tall and slim, she had an oval-shaped face and features that could be considered pretty—it was just that the look of arrogance in her eyes was too brazen, which brought down her looks by a few notches.

At the first sight of this female, Tao Ti instinctively thought of Pei Lingbi.

With her insolence and arrogance, this female was just like Pei Lingbi version 2.0.

“Cuixi, go, bring me that brocade—”

“Understood.” The maid named Cuixi stepped forward aggressively and made to grab at the Tianyun brocade that the attendant was carrying.

But before she could reach out, Linglong squeezed her wrist expressionlessly. “This is our Madam’s.”

Cuixi was furious, “You—!!!”

Linglong flung her hand away fiercely, and smoothly took the Tianyun brocade with her other hand with a fluid motion, then silently retreated behind Tao Ti.

Tao Ti, “…!”

To think Linglong was actually so amazing! Her series of actions just now was so cool!

Tao Ti applauded Linglong, but the woman in the pink dress was not happy. She strode forward with her eyebrows knitted together as she stared at Tao Ti, and said, “Do you know who I am? How dare you let your cheap maid hurt my people?!”

Actually, when she met such wildly arrogant people, Tao Ti would usually ignore them because trying to reason with them was just tiring and pointless.

But just because she didn’t like to deal with them didn’t mean she could tolerate others pointing at her nose and insulting her people!

Tao Ti slowly walked up to the female in the pink dress and said in a calm tone, “Who is the cheap maid scolding?”

The pink-clad female said, “The cheap maid is scolding…” Halfway through, she suddenly realised that something was wrong; her face instantly turned red, and she glared angrily, “You, you bitch, how dare you trick me?! Do you know who I am?”

Tao Ti retorted coldly, “You’re the light, you’re the power, you’re the one and only legend—happy now? What a joke. There are tens upon thousands of people in the Great Yuan Dynasty—who has the time to remember who you are?”

The female in pink was clearly infuriated; her finger was trembling with rage.

Just then, Cuixi, who had been flung away by Linglong, came forward and said loudly, “Our lady is the Sixth Young Miss of the Left Grand Councillor’s house!”

The Sixth Young Miss of the Left Grand Councillor’s house?

Tao Tii pursed her lips, trying hard to recall this person.

Fu Xirui came forward and whispered, “Madam, the Left Grand Councillor is the Empress’s elder brother. This should be the Empress’s niece, the Sixth Young Miss, Zhou Muyan.”

Hah? Tao Ti was really surprised now——

No wonder at the first sight of this person, it was as if she saw another Pei Lingbi. It turned out that the two were cousins.

Blood relations really can’t be denied, huh.

But so what if this person was Empress Zhou’s niece? She was the crown princess—even Pei Lingbi couldn’t win against her, let alone this Zhou Muyan.

“Oh, so it’s the daughter of the Left Grand Councillor, the Empress’s own niece, huh?” said Tao Ti with a faint smile.

“Humph.” When Zhou Muyan noticed that Tao Ti’s tone had softened, she only assumed that Tao Ti was afraid of her, and couldn’t help raising her chin and giving a harumph. “If you had over the brocade obediently, I won’t give you trouble.”

“Wow, Sixth Maiden Zhou is really… shameless.”

“Huh…??” Stunned, Zhou Muyan looked incredulously at the woman in front of her. “You—what did you say? Say it again if you dare!”

“One time is not enough—shameless, shameless, shameless—here, I’ll say it thrice for you. “

“…”

Zhou Muyan was so angry that her cheeks went from red to white.

All the shop attendants and customers sucked in a breath; Heavens, did this lady in the veiled hat eat the heart of a bear and the guts of a leopard? How did she dare provoke the Empress’s own niece?

Even the shop attendant who had fetched the brocade broke out in a sweat on Tao Ti’s behalf. He approached Tao Ti carefully and persuaded, “Madam, it’s just a bolt of brocade, give it to her. A person of her status cannot be offended.”

Tao Ti did not respond to him, and only said calmly to Zhou Muyan, “Didn’t the Left Grand Councillor ever teach you the principle of first come, first served? Or do you think you can do whatever you want beneath the emperor’s feet just because you have the Left Grand Councillor and the Empress behind you?”

When Zhou Muyan heard her words, she felt that this woman before her was setting a trap for her again, saying in a roundabout way that she was uneducated.

Seeing that the number of onlookers was increasing, and that they were all gesticulating at her and buzzing amongst themselves as if they were criticising her, Zhou Muyan became even more irate and furious. She had never suffered such grievance and humiliation in her life!

If she didn’t teach this insolent woman a good lesson today, how was she going to face others in the future?

At this thought, Zhou Muyan’s eyes turned cold; she suddenly took a big step forward and raised her hand to hit Tao Ti.

Want to read more chapters and support us? Please consider becoming a patron to read up to 16 chapters in advance!