After my father was sent to marry into the princess's household, I became the darling of the en

Xiao Changqi's voice rose more than eight octaves, and the old women pruning flowers in the back garden all turned their heads.

Shen Jingque blinked innocently.

"Second Young Master, if you speak any louder, the whole manor will know."

Xiao Changqi rushed over to Shen Jingque and lowered his voice.

"Where did you hear that from? Who told you?"

Of course, she couldn't say that she read it from the original book.

Xiao Changqi's unrequited love for Manager Fan can be described as the biggest tragedy in the Dayong business circle.

Every spring, when they went hunting, they would bring generous gifts. After receiving the gifts, Madam Fan would immediately distribute them to other members of the Chamber of Commerce as welfare.

Xiao Changqi spent a fortune to book the entire teahouse for her, and she brought six managers to discuss cooperation.

The most outrageous thing was that once, Xiao Changqi rode his horse for three blocks just to deliver an oil-paper umbrella, but Fan Niangzi didn't even glance at him and just took an old umbrella and left.

The original book used about half a page to describe this matter. It wasn't a lot of writing, but every word exuded a strong sense of sycophancy.

Shen Jingque laughed so hard she rolled around on the bed while reading the book, but she never expected to see the real thing in person today.

"Second Young Master, who doesn't know that you send lavish gifts to the Chamber of Commerce every year?"

"Last time when Uncle Xu was checking the goods you brought back in the front yard, I heard him say that six pieces of this batch of mermaid yarn were set aside separately, and even the patterns were chosen to be simple and plain, which doesn't seem to be for Her Highness the Princess."

Xiao Changqi frowned: "No, I personally separated those six bolts of mermaid silk and locked them in the third car. Uncle Xu didn't handle them at all."

He realized halfway through his sentence that he was confirming his own act of concealing secrets.

Shen Jingque slowly cracked open a sunflower seed.

Xiao Changqi: "..."

be cheated.

"That's not important," Shen Jingque comforted him. "Someone as outstanding as you, Second Young Master, besides Manager Fan, who else could possibly catch your eye?"

Flattery will get you everywhere.

"However, my love life has been quite difficult."

Xiao Changqi's golden fan fell to the ground with a thud. He bent down to pick it up and bumped his head again.

He was nothing like the usually jovial and easygoing richest man in Da Yong.

"How much money do you want?"

Shen Jingque: "?"

"Hush money!" Xiao Changqi lowered his voice, his eyes sweeping around the room. "Name your price, and this matter will remain a secret. Nobody is allowed to tell!"

Shen Jingque laughed heartily and decided to press her advantage.

She pulled Xiao Changqi to sit down in a pavilion, took out a bag of melon seeds from her pocket, and started gossiping.

"How long have you been chasing them?"

"...Three years."

Shen Jingque almost choked on the sunflower seed shells.

What a persistent simp!

"Excuse my bluntness, but isn't there something wrong with your approach?"

Xiao Changqi slapped his thigh: "The problem is with my approach! She won't accept anything I give her, she brings other people when I invite her to dinner, and she says she needs to do her accounts when I ask her to see the lanterns. I don't know what to do!"

He got emotional as he spoke.

"Qian Mo said I was too attentive and told me to be more reserved, but I can't be reserved when I see her."

Shen Jingque's eyes darted around as she browsed through all the relationship bloggers she found on Xiaomoushu, intending to teach Xiao Changqi some modern dating skills.

"Second Young Master, do you know what's most important in pursuing a woman like Manager Fan?"

"What?"

"It's emotional value."

Xiao Changqi blinked, looking completely bewildered.

Shen Jingque sighed and changed her approach.

"Think about it, Manager Fan is very wealthy. What good things can't he buy? If you pile mountains of gold and silver in front of him, he'll only think you're showing off your wealth, not that you're being sincere."

"Because these things are too easy for you and her to obtain, they don't show any sincerity at all."

Xiao Changqi paused in waving his fan.

"What should I do? I can't just pretend to be poor, can I?"

"Tsk, so we need to change our approach."

Shen Jingque beckoned Xiao Changqi closer with her finger.

"First, you need to make her feel valued. It's not about giving her expensive gifts, but about giving her the right things."

"What's she worried about lately? What's she been busy with? Do you know?"

Xiao Changqi paused for a moment, then shook his head.

He genuinely didn't know. Every time they met, he was too busy showing off his feathers.

Shen Jingque could tell from his expression that it was hopeless, and sighed.

"Second, play hard to get. If you're always hanging around her, of course she won't care about you. Try disappearing for a few days."

"Disappear?" Xiao Changqi's eyes widened. "I finally made it back to the capital, and you want me to disappear?"

"It's precisely because you finally came back that you're going to disappear."

Shen Jingque tapped the stone table with a melon seed shell. "Normally, every time you return to the capital, you rush to her place first, right? This time you suddenly don't go, she must feel uneasy."

Xiao Changqi pondered the words.

I remember last autumn, I was sick and stayed at home for five days and didn't go to the Chamber of Commerce. On the sixth day, Fan Niangzi's clerk came to the money shop and asked, "Why didn't your boss come?"

With just that one sentence, he lay in bed laughing all day.

"...That makes some sense."

Xiao Changqi's peach blossom eyes widened even more.

The look in Shen Jingque's eyes gradually changed from initial suspicion to surprise.

He had been trying to please her for three years in a daze, but today this little girl pointed out his problem in just a few words.

Seeing that he had finally understood, Shen Jingque stood up and patted Xiao Changqi on the shoulder.

"Second Young Master, in these matters, you should focus more on what the other person wants, rather than what you want to give them."

"The right medicine is the best medicine."

Xiao Changqi stood up abruptly, his face flushed, and solemnly cupped his hands in greeting to Shen Jingque.

"Sister, no, strategist!"

"You are simply the most insightful person I, Xiao Changqi, have ever met in my life!"

"Been taught a lesson."

Shen Jingque almost slipped off the rock when he called her "strategist".

"Keep it low-key."

"Come, come, let me teach you how to do it in practice..."

The two chatted animatedly while cracking roasted melon seeds, completely unaware that dusk had fallen.

A tall, slender figure appeared on the path at the end of the flowerbed.

Shen Yan was carrying a small lantern, clearly looking for his daughter to come home for dinner.

He saw the scene from afar.

The girl's daughter and the richest man in Dayong sat side by side on a Taihu rock, eating sunflower seeds. The ground in front of them was covered with a layer of sunflower seed shells, and they looked like they had been chatting for a long time.

Shen Yan slowed his pace, feeling very uneasy.

The second young master called him a pretty boy in public. Although Xiao Mingyue stopped him by flicking his forehead, he remembered the look of disgust in his eyes very clearly.

He steeled himself and stepped forward, speaking softly.

"Sparrow, it's time to go back for dinner."

Shen Jingque jumped off the Taihu rock and patted the sunflower seed shells off her skirt.

"Dad, you're here."

Xiao Changqi also stood up from the rock.

Shen Yan was mentally prepared to be ridiculed, but he saw Xiao Changqi tuck his golden fan into his waistband and stride up to Shen Yan.

He instinctively took half a step back.

Then, Xiao Changqi clasped his hands together in front of him and performed a proper junior's salute.

"Godfather!"

Shen Yan almost dropped the lantern in his hand.

He stood there with his mouth agape, unsure whether to support someone or cover his ears with his hands.

"This, this, Second Young Master, what are you doing...?"

Xiao Changqi straightened up, his expression completely different from that morning, a bright and sincere smile on his face.

He pulled out a stack of silver notes from his pocket, didn't even count them, and stuffed them directly into Shen Jingque's hand.

"This is a small gift for my sister as we first meet. It's nothing more than a token of my appreciation."

Shen Jingque looked down and saw at least twenty or thirty Qi Yun Qian Zhuang silver notes with a face value of one thousand taels each.

Wow! It's the God of Wealth!

Shen Jingque smiled broadly and said loudly, "Thank you, Second Young Master!"

"Call me Second Brother," Xiao Changqi corrected her, his peach blossom eyes brimming with laughter.

Shen Jingque blinked, stuffed the silver note into her sleeve, and said in a sweet, almost sugary tone, "Second Brother!"

Xiao Changqi nodded in satisfaction, then turned to look at Shen Yan, who was still frozen in shock, his tone becoming more sincere.

"Godfather, I was rash yesterday and said some unpleasant things. Please forgive me, you are a magnanimous person."

He scratched the back of his head and added a sentence.

"After thinking about it carefully, I realized that my godmother has had a tough time all these years. It's her good fortune to have met someone she's willing to speak to herself."

"Just treat her well."

Shen Yan's eyes suddenly felt a little sore.

He opened his mouth, but something seemed to be stuck in his throat, and it took him a while to squeeze out a somewhat hoarse sentence.

"I will."

Xiao Changqi patted him on the shoulder, and Shen Yan was swayed forward by the pat.

"Oh, right." Xiao Changqi suddenly remembered something and looked at Shen Jingque, "I heard from my godmother that you're going to Qishan Academy to study at the girls' school in a while?"

"Yes, I'm really worried about it," Shen Jingque sighed.

God knows how much she didn't want to go to this school. Not only did she have to study and take exams, but she also had to socialize with a bunch of teenagers.

Seeing her worried expression, Xiao Changqi assumed she was troubled by preparations for her studies.

With a snap, the golden fan unfolded, and the gilded landscape painting on its surface shimmered in the twilight.

"Leave your studies to your second brother! Tomorrow I'll take you to Wenjin Pavilion, the best bookstore in the capital. You can choose any writing materials you like, and it'll all be on me."

He paused, then winked at Shen Jingque.

"By the way, tell me more about that...emotional value."

Oh, so this is the key point.

Shen Yan stood between the two people, his expression shifting between gratitude and bewilderment.

When did his daughter become so familiar with this second young master?

Just as he was about to ask, Shen Jingque had already linked arms with him and started walking back, humming an unknown tune.

"Dad, you smell so good. I smell osmanthus."

"The osmanthus-flavored lotus root starch dumplings that Lü'e made for you, perhaps you picked up the scent from them."

"Then hurry up, it won't taste good if it gets cold."

The father and daughter disappeared behind the moon gate.

Xiao Changqi stood there, feeling exceptionally good.

He took out a golden fan and fanned himself twice, then suddenly muttered to himself.

"Emotional value, emotional value."

He muttered those four words as he walked back, his steps light as if he were walking on clouds.