His Peasant Wife : Yao Ling

The shop located not far from her house, around ten minutes walk. It stood proudly on a busy main street which bustling with activities. A lot of popular shops were located there and there were also a lot of little stalls in front of their shop. The shop structure was well planned, so the street was very neat.

The small stalls didn’t disturb the big shop’s business, so there was no complaint. They did business peacefully.

When she arrived at their shop ’Fu Rong’- it meant rich and prosper, the shopkeeper quickly greeted her. He used to call her Ling-jie, but now he called her young mistress.

"Young mistress," the shopkeeper – Li Huan greeted her politely.

"Just call me Ling-jie like usual." Yao Ling felt uncomfortable with the sudden change.

Li Huan knew that Ling-jie was humble, but still, he had to know his place. "I can’t do that, Young Mistress. Did young mistress want to check the production?"

Yao Ling could only sigh, but she was helpless. In Shu kingdom, the difference between ranks existed with reasons. "At least loosen up a little, Xiao Huan. I’m still the same as before."

Li Huan smiled widely and nodded.

"Go do your work. I’ll go to check it by myself. I know where it is." Yao Ling smiled back, letting Li Huan go back to his duties.

’Fu Rong’ was one of the biggest shops on the street. The shop was divided into three parts. The front part was the display- where people could see their design and their ready stocks. If there was no ready stock that they liked, they could ask for a custom order. The design and the material would be discussed and handled by Yao Ling. She already made a name for herself on the competition that she won, so the customers wanted their orders to be personally handled by Yao Ling.

Yao Ling’s presence was also one of the reasons for helping ’Fu Rong’ more prosperous. Her aptitude in embroidery and handling the production made it easier for Yao Ying and Wang Luo Hai to handle the selling part. The competition that was held by Wang Luo Hai was actually for this too. Finding young talent in embroidery.

The back part of ’Fu Rong’ was used for the production. When she went there, she found several women –old and young- were working on embroidery. When she came in, everyone greeted her. Yao Ling didn’t let them get up and just let them continue working.

She checked their work one by one. Whether they were following the pattern on not, whether they did something wrong or not, whether they had any question or not, and whether they needed a pointer from her or not. She spent the next three hours there, guiding the embroiderers that she chose herself.

After she felt satisfied and found there was no problem anymore, she went to the second floor. The second floor was where Wang Luo Hai, Yao Ying, and Yao Ling stayed. It could be said it was their office. Yao Ling’ personal workspace was there. She needed peace when she did her embroidery and designed the pattern.

Yao Ying and Wang Luo Hai rarely stayed in ’Fu Rong’, because they also needed to handle the purchase and selling outside. That’s why she felt surprised when she found Yao Ying and Wang Luo Hai were there.

"Father, husband," she greeted them. "It’s rare to see you both stay inside. Is there something going on?"

Yao Ying smiled warmly at him, "Nothing is going on. We’ve just arrived from receiving new orders. Later, I will discuss it with you. It’s lunchtime. Why don’t we go outside and eat? You’ve worked hard."

Yao Ling laughed, feeling happy at his thoughtfulness. She felt a warmth spreading inside her heart. Yao Ying always paid attention to her in every little detail. "Husband... you embarrass me. I should be the one who pays attention to you and father." Then she looked at Wang Luo Hai and apologized, "I’m sorry, Father. I should pay more attention in the future."

Wang Luo Hai laughed. "No need to worry about us. We usually don’t stay much in the office. There’s no way you will know when we stay in the office like this. Let’s go eat together. I’m meeting my friend for lunch and I also want to introduce both of you to him."

They walked to a nearby famous restaurant, Thousand Delicacies. When the servants greeted them, Wang Luo Hai let out a name – Lin Zheng and the servant bow was deepened. Yao Ying and Yao Ling looked at each other perplexed. Was this Lin Zheng an important person?

Yes, they had contact with higher status persons before. But Wang Luo Hai said this man was his friend? This certainly made the couple curious.

The servants escorted them to the second floor. When they saw the decoration, they knew the second floor was for the important or wealthy person. They were brought into the room at the end of the floor and it was the biggest of them.

Wang Luo Hai smiled widely and greeted Lin Zheng, "General Lin, it has been a long time."

Yao Ling and Yao Ying quickly greeted Lin Zheng too. Lin Zheng was the same age as Wang Luo Hai, around forty. However, Lin Zheng was more manly and muscular. His skin was tanned, maybe because he usually trained under the sun – or even went to war. He was handsome and had an undeniable charisma that could only be possessed by a general.

However, there was a confusion in their heart. General? Merchant and military were two different worlds and rarely in contact. So, they were interested in knowing how Wang Lou Hai and Lin Zheng knew each other.