Chapter 100
Chapter 100: The Buddhist Scion Cousin Is Easy to Talk To
“Oh, you little miser.”
Xiao Man couldn’t help laughing at Lin Yu Ning’s earnest, calculating face. She tapped the stone tabletop once, brow arched.
“I’m the one stealing the books. I’m the one carrying the risk. How did it turn into a thirty–seventy split the moment it reached your mouth? I take three and you take seven? Your abacus is so loud I can hear it all the way across the capital.”
Lin Yu Ning giggled and scooted closer, a small fox trying very hard to look harmless.
“I was waiting for Sister Xiao Man to bargain, wasn’t I?”
“Business is business,” Xiao Man said, laughing. “Everything’s negotiated.”
“And if I don’t agree,” she went on, “and I just flip your little abacus over?”
“Sister, don’t reject me so fast!”
Lin Yu Ning instantly wore a pitiful face and leaned in even closer, counting on her fingers like she was reciting holy accounts.
“Think about it! One handwritten scripture from Cousin sells for five hundred taels outside!”
“We won’t be greedy. Just ten!”
“That’s five thousand taels. Five thousand!”
Her eyes lit as if the silver were already pouring into her sleeves.
“Those people buy them to ward off trouble. They feel happy. We… we can count it as a roundabout good deed!”
She tried her very best to dress the scheme in righteous robes.
Xiao Man held back her laughter and still couldn’t resist teasing. “But if your cousin finds out you’re using his scriptures to make money instead of saving souls… how do you think he’ll feel?”
“Oh, Sister!”
Lin Yu Ning pouted, utterly confident in her own logic.
“What do all those ‘souls’ have to do with us? Not every soul has money. We’ll save the little group with ‘fate’—I mean, ‘silver’—first!”
“Our abilities are limited. We can’t handle everyone!”
She mangled the word on purpose so it sounded like fate instead of money. Then she grabbed Xiao Man’s sleeve and shook it, shamelessly spoiled.
“Please, Sister. Help me. This one—we have to make money!”
Xiao Man looked at her clownish expression, and her heart softened anyway. She stood.
“Come with me.”
She led Lin Yu Ning to the study and pushed open the heavy wooden door.
“Go in. These are all his recent copies. He hasn’t put them away yet.”
Lin Yu Ning stared, stunned, as if she couldn’t believe her luck.
“Sister… you’re not coming in with me?”
Xiao Man shook her head and leaned against the doorframe, calm and unhurried.
“You can go in by yourself. See those stacks by the desk? He finished them not long ago. The ink is still fresh.”
Lin Yu Ning stepped inside carefully. Cool air and the clean bite of ink washed over her. Her eyes fell straight on the piles. Each volume was copied in neat, disciplined strokes—so measured they looked carved rather than written.
She flipped through a few pages, and her inner abacus started clacking like it had lost its mind. She changed her tune on the spot.
“Sister! Fifty-fifty!”
Then, as if even that weren’t generous enough, she blurted, “No—sixty–forty! You take six, I take four!”
“I don’t want any,” Xiao Man said, voice smooth as still water. “When your cousin comes back, I’ll tell him Third Miss came to request scriptures to guide those little beings with ‘fate.’”
Lin Yu Ning’s hands froze. She whipped around, eyes wide.
“Sister Xiao Man… you’re going to tell Cousin?”
“I… if I take a few, he won’t notice, right?”
The courage drained out of her as fast as it had come. Her heart began to thump.
“Third Miss,” Xiao Man said patiently, “what do you think? If you ask him properly, would he refuse?”
“Why do something sneaky and lower yourself?”
“But… I’m taking them to sell for money!”
Lin Yu Ning twisted her fingers, voice shrinking.
“If he gives them to you, then they’re yours,” Xiao Man said, steady and matter-of-fact. “After that, what you do with them is your own business, isn’t it?”
Lin Yu Ning’s eyes lit, like someone had struck a lantern in her mind.
“Oh!”
“Right!”
“Then I’ll wait for Cousin to come back and tell him directly! Thank you, Sister Xiao Man!”
All at once, her cold, quiet cousin didn’t seem quite so terrifying.
Lin Yu Ning left the Auspicious Cloud Residence buoyant, carrying the shining idea of asking openly. Her steps were lighter than when she came.
Why sneak around, after all?
She had barely gone when Granny Chen arrived with news hot enough to scorch. Xiao Man was in the courtyard, hanging cloth strips to dry, when the matron darted close, voice lowered, eyes bright.
“Xiao Man! I saw it! Third Miss—did she come from Young Master’s study?”
“What did she come to you for?”
“And that grin when she left—she looked like she’d swallowed honey. Did she get some huge benefit?”
Xiao Man kept smoothing the sun-warmed linen, tone casual. “Nothing. Third Miss just came to sit and chat a bit.”
“Oh, you silly girl!”
Granny Chen slapped her thigh, sparks of frustration flaring. “Use your head! Those three cousin misses—none of them are simple.”
“Especially Third Miss. Youngest, craftiest. She doesn’t show up for nothing. You think she came just to chat?”
“Don’t let her sell you out while you smile and count her money for her!”
Xiao Man understood. The matron was anxious because she cared. Warmth rose in Xiao Man’s chest, and she still smiled.
“Matron, you’re overthinking it. Third Miss is just… childlike. What could she do?”
“Childlike?”
Granny Chen curled her lip. “I’ve heard what’s happening outside. People are reselling Eldest Young Master’s portraits and his handwritten scriptures. The prices are high enough to scare you to death.”
“So tell me—Third Miss comes to see you, lurks near the study… could it be she’s gotten greedy and wants to pull something out of you?”
Xiao Man’s hands paused for the briefest beat.
Granny Chen’s news traveled fast. Too fast.
Seeing Xiao Man’s expression shift, Granny Chen pressed harder. “Xiao Man, listen to Matron. Stay away from this.”
“Young Master treats you differently, yes—but there are eyes everywhere in this manor. We keep our heads down. We don’t stir trouble. And especially don’t get mixed up in the masters’ money games. That water is deep.”
Xiao Man hung the last strip, turned, and spoke with quiet sincerity. “Thank you for the reminder, Matron. I’ll remember it. Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.”
Only then did Granny Chen ease a little, muttering a few more warnings before she left.
Xiao Man watched her go and let out a small sigh.
There were no secrets in this place.
If even Granny Chen had heard the rumor, then it wasn’t smoke without fire. She thought of Lin Yu Ning’s bright, greedy excitement—and then of Lin Qing Xuan’s cool, restrained nature.
If he learned his scriptures were being used for profit, even bundled with suggestive portraits…
What would he feel?
Xiao Man shook the thought away. These were masters’ matters. She was a maid. As Granny Chen had said, it was best to behave, to endure, and to wait for the day she could leave the manor.
But the wind did not stop just because the tree wished for stillness.
That afternoon, Lin Qing Xuan returned.
He stepped into the Auspicious Cloud Residence and had barely even changed out of his travel clothes when Xiao Man found a chance—remembering her promise—and spoke as if it were casual as he passed beneath the corridor.
“Young Master, Third Miss came by today.”
Lin Qing Xuan didn’t stop. He only gave a faint, indifferent “Mm.”
Xiao Man continued. “Third Miss said she wanted to request a few handwritten scriptures, to… form a bond and guide people.”
She chose the phrase carefully.
Lin Qing Xuan’s steps paused—so slight it could have been imagined. He turned his head and looked at her.
His gaze was still cool, still light. Yet it lingered a heartbeat longer than usual.
“In the study,” he said. “She may choose for herself.”
He asked nothing more. He walked on.
Xiao Man bowed her head. “Yes.”
Relief loosened in her chest. At least the matter now had a proper face.
As for what Lin Yu Ning would do with the scriptures afterward, how she would “guide” anyone—Xiao Man couldn’t control it, and she wouldn’t try.
What she did not know was that Lin Qing Xuan entered his inner room, dismissed the others, and left only the black cat, Tuan Tuan, perched on the desk.
Tuan Tuan licked his paw, green eyes slanting with its usual mischief.
“Form a bond and guide people? Hah. More like form ‘yuan’ and save herself.”
“I can smell that little miser’s copper-stink from two miles away.”
“You gave it without even asking?”
Lin Qing Xuan didn’t rise to the teasing. He moved to the window, gaze falling into the deep courtyard. He was quiet a moment before he spoke.
“I have heard what is happening in the market.”
Tuan Tuan perked up at once. “Oh? You know? Then why did you still—”
“If the scriptures truly lead people toward good, then it is a good bond,” Lin Qing Xuan said, calm as ever. “If they are used for greed, then that is their karma.”
“As for Yu Ning… if she learns something from it, that is not a bad thing.”
Tuan Tuan snorted. “Learn? She’ll learn how to count silver faster. Go on. Keep indulging her.”
Lin Qing Xuan said nothing. His eyes darkened, just slightly.
How could he not understand human greed?
Sometimes, blocking only made the pressure worse. Sometimes, it was better to let it flow—so it could reveal itself.
But what weighed on him more was something else.
When Xiao Man had delivered the message, her expression had been careful—trying to step away from him, yet unable to avoid being his messenger.
She was always pushing him away, one cautious inch at a time.
Meanwhile, Lin Yu Ning did exactly what she had promised herself. She carried off several freshly copied scriptures with giddy delight, grateful to Xiao Man beyond measure. In her mind, Sister Xiao Man became the cleverest, most reliable person in the manor.
She began eagerly plotting her “bond-making” scheme.
She had no idea that beneath this simple deal, undercurrents were already gathering—fake scriptures, inflated prices, eyes turning sharp with interest.
A storm, born from her being a little miser, was quietly brewing.