Imperial Treasure-Chapter 747 - 457 Duchess

Including Fu Ling and Tang Hanyan, who were of a certain age, their temperaments were too strong and fierce, not at all like the lady before them...

Old, you say?

Not old, in her thirties, yet appearing as if in her twenties, her figure slender and exquisite, her hair a lustrous black, her skin fair and delicate, seemingly breakable with a blow. When she laughed, crescent-like dimples appeared at her eyes, her smile so infectious that it endowed her not quite overwhelmingly stunning features with a captivating charm...

Or perhaps, it made one feel the urge to reflect, to wonder if there was any rudeness on their own part, any lack of elegance...

What is called charisma, is indeed causing one to introspect, to feel inferior, to be strict with oneself, to have self-respect!

This Duchess indeed had such a skill.

Sui Yi stepped forward, "Sui Yi pays respects to the Duchess."

The title of ’Duchess,’ whether in China or abroad, was very fitting indeed.

Upon seeing Sui Yi, the Duchess’s smile deepened, and she invited the guests inside with a laugh.

However, it was clear that the courtesy extended to the three with Sui Yi was more formal, whereas the closeness felt for Cao Yu and company was genuine. As soon as she saw Cao Ling, she reached out and gently patted her head, speaking tenderly, "You little girl, always wearing such tall high heels every time you go out. Aren’t you afraid of repeating that old embarrassment?"

As soon as the aunt mentioned this matter, the poised Cao Ling became somewhat flustered, "Oh my dear aunt, let’s not talk about that... It was just me being young and foolish~"

The Duchess’s laughter grew softer, her slender and delicate fingers lightly tracing Cao Ling’s eyebrows and the corners of her eyes, and she sighed, "I am getting old, look at these crow’s feet..."

Oh boy!

Cao Ling immediately flipped through her bag for a mirror, her movements nothing short of nimble.

This caused Fatty Gao to burst out laughing.

Realizing her reaction, Cao Ling’s face turned both blue and red. She glared at her aunt and huffed, "Cao Qijun, if you keep this up, don’t blame me for teasing your son later!"

Cao Qijun was the Duchess’s name, the renowned Cao Family princess and once considered the premier lady of Capital City. Her good reputation still spread within the socialite circles of the Capital City, naturally, being a famous lady is not only about beauty but also about cultivation, demeanor, and capabilities. Of course, without the top-tier power of the Cao Family as support, Cao Qijun couldn’t live up to the title of the premier lady. However, one without such an elite family background could not cultivate a Cao Qijun...

"Go ahead and tease him... Your uncle will come find you later," She said with a smile, having teased her niece, then turned her head to Sui Yi. "Miss Sui, you must be tired from the journey... My girl here hasn’t been troubling you too much, has she? She always talks a lot..."

Oh my goodness! Aunt, can you not smear me like this! After all, I’m a well-known daughter of the Cao Family in Capital City, and I’m also that what’s-it-called...

Feeling that her mysterious image in front of Sui Yi was completely shattered, Cao Ling spoke up, "Sui Yi, don’t listen to my aunt’s nonsense. I haven’t talked much on the way, have I?"

Sui Yi nodded, her face calm as she looked towards Cao Qijun, asking with some confusion, "What previous embarrassment?"

Haha, talking about delayed reactions... Cao Ling remained indifferent, while Cao Qili’s eyes rippled with mirth, wondering if this girl was truly cunning or feigning innocence...

It really seemed...

"Five years ago, Xiao Ling was wearing ten-centimeter high heels, walking from that side of the street to this side... and then the heel got stuck in the crack of the cobblestone pavement."

Cao Yu paused, then added, "Stuck for half an hour."

Er... Sui Yi asked, "Half an hour?"

Couldn’t she have just taken off her shoes or called someone for help? How did it come to being stuck for half an hour?

"Because the high heels are her life, plus, calling for help would be too embarrassing," said Cao Ling lightly.

And so, she stood there, silently stuck for half an hour.

If servants from the Duke’s Mansion hadn’t gone out in search after a wait, she would not have been found standing motionless in the middle of the road, maintaining an elegant posture like a statue, caught there.

Would it kill you to call someone?!

Now among their family members, there are still quite a few who mock Cao Ling about that incident...

To call it a dark history wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

The dark history of her "Chuunibyou" period.

Cao Ling felt like she wanted to die, but instead of getting angry, she laughed it off and glanced at her older brother with a half smile, "Brother used to be so reticent, but now how come you are so outspoken..."

Cao Yu kept a straight face, "The savior is here, it’s a must."

Because of this reminder from Cao Yu, Cao Qijun put away the smile she had been using to tease her niece a moment earlier. She turned slightly, and with the etiquette of an ancient noble family, thanked Sui Yi with a bow, even though she didn’t say a word. Sui Yi didn’t care about this and did not overly humble himself. Just as he had done previously with Cao Yu, he accepted the thanks...

Cao Qijun was also quick to pick up on things. From the moment she entered until now, in just two or three minutes, she sensed Sui Yi’s general temperament. Coupled with the information she already had about Sui Yi from the Cao Family, her admiration and importance placed on him grew even more, making her talk more amiably...

After a few exchanges, Sui Yi and Cao Qijun both discovered that the other was the kind of person who loved peace, cherished reading, and shared many viewpoints and attitudes on matters, so the conversation naturally evolved into a dialogue between the two of them...

This surprised the younger generation of the Cao family greatly.

After all, their aunt had such a fine reputation and could hold the heart of the Duke of Junshi for many years without change. Naturally, she was extremely excellent, excellent to the point that she could with reason look down on many people...

Although she was modest in demeanor, many people, including those in the Cao Family, didn’t quite "get" her. To use their father’s words, thankfully his sister was born a girl with no interest in the Cao family empire; otherwise, the position of Family Head might not necessarily be his...

Yet such a person enjoyed a very cheerful conversation with Sui Yi.

They discussed everything from the classics to modern literature, from archaeology to the art of collecting, and from that to future economic directions...

Fatty Gao couldn’t join such a conversation, but as they were speaking Mandarin, and it seemed that these servants and butlers were conversant in Chinese, communicating was not a problem at all. Cao Qijun, a super-socialite whom he would never have had a chance to meet, was not as cold and distant as he imagined. Instead...she was remarkably down-to-earth. For instance, as soon as she heard Sui Yi mention some ancient tomb affairs, she actively inquired. But, as for these Jianghu matters, where could Fatty Gao be more experienced? With his fluent talk, Fatty Gao spoke of a few of his own adventurous experiences, captivating the Duchess, and the brother and sister of the Cao family were curious too.

After all, they had never been exposed to such rustic culture in their everyday lives... 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

As they talked, the butler had the second round of tea and desserts served.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy the desserts... My husband Losar meant to receive you with me, but unfortunately he was just called away by someone from the Ron Family,"

The Duke and Duchess were very fond of the Cao siblings, otherwise, they wouldn’t have agreed to White Blade’s demand because of Cao Yu. Frankly speaking, if Sui Yi and the Imperial Guards hadn’t interfered and disrupted the conspiracy, both the Duke’s Mansion and the Cao Family would have had to pay a hefty price, and it might even have affected the relationship between the two families. As the heads of the two families, they were both relieved privately. How could the Duchess not be grateful as the bond between them? But she wouldn’t express it too overtly, just a few light remarks were enough.

But her mentioning it made Cao Yu frown, "The Ron Family? The issue on their side hasn’t been resolved?"

"No," Cao Qijun shook her head, evidently troubled by it as well.

However, in the presence of guests, they didn’t beat around the bush and brought up the troublesome matters of the Ron Family themselves...

Speaking of the Ron Family, they were an old aristocracy in the United Kingdom, not as powerful and prosperous as the Junshi Titan family, but they still maintained no small measure of glory. Nowadays their business also covered many areas, and in terms of scale, they were comparable to the status of the Yueh Family in China.

But this family had recently encountered an issue that had left them all with headaches.

Although the Ron Family had a variety of business interests, a good six to seven parts of it dealt in the luxury goods trade, which included French perfumes, British designer clothing, and such. However, the biggest segment was high-end craft products—all officially sanctioned trade items, encompassing a wide range, from jewelry, jade, diamonds, and so on, to gold accessories and even modern painting transactions...

This was a quite complex and extensive trading industry, on a very large scale, and the business covered European countries. Everything had been going well until, half a month ago, Foss International Trading Company suddenly filed a lawsuit against the Ron Family.

The charge was that one thousand pieces of high-end craftwork, which the Ron family had traded to them, were supposed to be made from materials like Black Feather Agate. But what was delivered were the poorest quality Black Agate materials, a bait and switch that reduced the material value by three hundred million pounds and directly caused a business loss of five hundred million pounds for them, as well as tarnishing the family’s industrial reputation...

In China, such a crime would already be infamously known, not to mention in the developed nations that place a high value on business integrity. This incident brought chaos to the Ron Family, akin to a bolt from the blue. At the time, many of the Ron Family’s decision-makers personally visited the Foss family to verify the authenticity of this batch of goods...

Indeed, there, they found the badge of the Ron family, but... the materials had changed!

They couldn’t deny it, but the Ron family wasn’t made of mud; they provided numerous official certification documents, all issued after official inspections, verified by the Foss family at the time of the deal when they had successfully made the transaction—money in one hand, goods in the other. How then did the items change by the time they reached you!

Each family had its own valid points. In any case, two originally friendly and powerful families were stubbornly in disagreement over this batch of goods, making a spectacle from the courtroom to society, from the financial news circles to the entertainment industry... Their socialites and heirs found occasions to battle it out in public...

Simply put, it was a messy, bloody battle that tarnished both families’ reputations...(to be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com), or cast your monthly vote. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)