Chapter 109 - As You Like It
When she was out of Rong'an Hall, Nangong Yue's face could not help but reveal a bitter smile.
That said, it was still because she was too weak that she had to shock her grandmother with what the Empress had given her.
If she was strong enough, where was the need to borrow someone else's power!
If she was strong enough, would Su Qingping have been so bold as to dare to strike at her brother before?
If she is strong enough ...... In an instant, the memories of her previous life came flooding back like a tidal wave ......
Han Lingfu would not have dared to abolish her position as Enpress and destroy her family's entire clan!
But now, she is trapped in the inner yard of the house, but two eyes, no knowledge of the outside world, not to mention the affairs of the court.
So the most important thing at the moment was that she needed a channel that would not draw attention to itself, but would also be able to ask for information at any time. This channel also had to be firmly in her own hands. And to get people to do things for her, money was essential, otherwise there would be no profit to be made, and who would do their best.
Both to make money, but also to be able to spy on the news openly and honestly, open a restaurant, brothel would have been a good choice, but alas, she is a girl, not to mention the brothel, even if it is a restaurant, her mother will not agree with it ......
But today Jiang Yixi's unintentional remark was what made her think that maybe opening a rouge shop would be a good choice.
If this shop is done well, it will surely attract all those ladies of the rich and famous families to come!
In her previous life, Nangong Yue had been a royal consort, a crown princess, and an empress, and knew all too well the importance of those noblewomen's circles. Sometimes, their careless gossip might conceal unknown news among the upper echelons of the Royal capital (Wangdu).
Thinking of this, Nangong Yue rushed straight to the Mozhu Courtyard in high spirits.
Nangong Yue returned to her room and quickly turned it upside down, but the result made her dumbfounded ......
The silver she had on hand was simply not enough for her to set up a shop in the royal capital. As for her jewels and such, they were all recorded in the ledger, and it was impossible to sell them without reason. ......
What should I do?
Nangong Yue had never thought that one day she would worry about money. A ten-year-old girl, where could she get money from? Quickly, Nangong Yue's eyes lit up again, a ten-year-old little girl asking her own mother for money was a perfectly normal thing to do, right?
She rushed out of the room like a gust of wind.
Yi Mei and Que’er were both guarding the door to the room, and as soon as they saw Nangong Yue come out, they hurriedly saluted.
Nangong Yue immediately said, "Que’er, you help me tidy up my room. Yi Mei, you bring a box of snacks and we'll go to Shallow Cloud Courtyard." After saying this, she hurriedly left.
Yimei grabbed a snack and followed close behind.
Nangong Yue rushed into Lin Shi's house like a gust of wind, and only just reached the door of Lin Shi's house, she saw someone coming out from inside in a hurry, and almost collided with Nangong Yue.
Nangong Yue could not help but frown as she felt in her heart that the maid in her mother's room was so unruly. She raised her eyes and saw that it was Ruyi, the eldest maid next to Lin Shi.
Ruyi's two eyes were red and her pretty face was stained with tears. Nangong Yue could not help but be surprised in her heart.
When she saw Nangong Yue, she barely managed to smile and said, "Miss Third came, are you here to find the second Madam, right, please go in quickly.
Nangong Yue slightly nodded and lifted her foot to enter the house.
Inside the house, Lin Shi was sitting on the beauty couch, watching with a smile as a small white cat rolled all over the floor holding an embroidered ball. Upon seeing her daughter arrive, she hurriedly greeted her and sat down beside herself.
Nangong Yue sat down beside Lin Shi, picked up Little White and stroked its little head, while under her breath she asked, "Mother, but what happened? I see sister Ruyi's eyes are red ......"
Lin Shi hesitated for a moment, but still said, "Just now your grandmother called me, as well as your first aunt and third aunt, to Rong'an Hall, saying that the maids who are reached the marriageable age in each household should be withdrawn and matched." Lin Shi did not intend to mention this to her daughter. But since her daughter asked, Lin Shi thought that although her daughter is still young, but the household matters should be taught up slowly like what should be said or to say. "Your grandmother made a point of mentioning Ruyi, saying that it was Granny Guo from her courtyard who had begged to come to her, saying that she wanted to ask for Ruyi's hand in marriage on behalf of her son, Shuangquan."
Nangong Yue had also heard of this Shuangquan, she frowned slightly and said, "Mother didn't agree to it, right?"
"Of course not." Lin Shi shook her head, "I told your grandmother that regarding Ruyi I already have someone else to match."
Thinking of Ruyi's reddened eyes, Nangong Yue believed that things should not end here, so she asked again, "Then what did Ruyi say?"
“When I came back I told her the whole thing, and Ruyi, naturally unwilling to marry Shuangquan and she cried on the spot. I also told Ruyi my plan. The manager of my shop, Shopkeeper Cheng, is a capable person. Recently, by chance, he came to me with a request for marriage on behalf of his second son. I have also met Manager Cheng's second son, Cheng Qi, when he was young. But I also asked Nanny Liu to find out about him. He turned out to be a good match. Who would have thought that Ruyi would say that she would not marry, but would rather serve at my side for the rest of her life?”
Nangong Yue stared at her without saying anything. She could understand that Shuangquan was not a good thing and that Ruyi did not want to marry. But the second son of the Shopkeeper Cheng, Cheng Qi, has a good character and is quite capable. He has now become the second in command of Shopkeeper Cheng's shop. Mrs Lin would also like to give him a shop of his own to run in the future.
How come Ruyi doesn't want such a good marriage?
"Mom, don't worry, you can ask Liu Mama to find Ruyi's mother in a while. Maybe Ruyi is just embarrassed." Nangong Yue advised softly.
Lin Shi nodded and said, "You have a point."
Little White was stroked enough and arrogantly twisted its head and bit Nangong Yue's sleeve, signalling that it was going down.
Nangong Yue lightly patted its back and let it off the ground, as soon as Little White got off the ground, it ran to pounce on the embroidered ball again. The adorable look saw Lin Shi also couldn't help but smile.
Nangong Yue took the box of dim sum from Yi Mei at this time, and handed it over to Lin, saying with a smile, "Mother, I've brought you and brother a box of He Yue Zhai's dim sum, so you can taste it later to see if you like it."
"Good, good, mother first taste a piece to see if it's good." Saying that, she opened the box of dim sum, and there were quite a few types of dim sum in the box, including green bean cake, walnut pastry, sesame dough, osmanthus cake, and rose pastry.
Lin Shi twisted a piece of osmanthus cake and ate it, praising it, "He Yue Zhai's dim sum really lives up to its name."
Nangong Yue smiled and bent her eyes, "It's good that mother likes it." She holds Lin Shi's arm, "Mother, I want to borrow some silver from you."
"What do you need silver for?" Lin Shi asked feeling strange. Although she would sometimes jokingly say that Nangong Yue was almost at the age of matching with others. But in reality, in her eyes, her daughter was still a small child, and silver or anything else should not be something that her daughter needed to think about.
"When I was chatting with Sister Xi today, I heard that there are quite a few girls in the royal capital right now who have opened their own shops to make money, so I want to open one as well." Nangong Yue's face was red and her heart was not jumping as she spoke nonsense.
"A shop?" Lin Shi pondered for a moment, but didn't directly object, "Then have you thought about what kind of shop you want to open? Don't just do it on impulse."
Nangong Yue hurriedly said, "Mother, I've already thought about it, I can open a shop that sells things like rouge powder and skin care ointments." Her eyes sparkled, "Sister Xi said that the acne cream I made was very effective, and she also wanted to give it to her friends ...... so I thought that if I could get it to sell in the shop, it would be very popular."
Lin Shi nodded. She also got a share of those skin care products made by Nangong Yue. After she personally tried them out, she felt that the stuff was indeed good!
Lin Shi made a decision in her heart. She got up and took out an exquisitely carved rosewood box from the rosewood wardrobe in the room. She put it on the table and took out a small brass key to open the box. Inside were all large-denomination banknotes and house and land deeds.
"Mother?" Nangong Yue looked at Lin Shi in surprise, she didn't think that Lin Shi would actually have so much private money in her hands!
"Your mother, I have a very generous dowry." Lin Shi said with a proud face, then took out a few silver cheques and a land deed and handed it to Nangong Yue, "Yue Jie Er, you have reached the age where you should learn how to manage the house, or else when you arrive at your in-laws' home in the future, you won't be able to understand anything. Now this shop is just right for you to practise, take it." Lin Shi said boldly.
Nangong Yue originally only wanted to borrow some silver.But she didn't expect that even the shop would be settled together. She looked at the location of the land deed, although it wasn't the best location for the traffic, it was still a pretty good location in the royal capital.
Nangong Yue was overjoyed, striking the iron while it was hot, she hugged Lin Shi's arm and swayed, "Mother, how can a shop be opened by a daughter alone, why don't you lend me a few more stewards and fellows, so as to save the daughter from having to rack her brain to think of ways to hire people."
"You're a ghost." Originally, Lin Shi was also eager to wait for her daughter to open the shop. But, she found herself in a dilemma when she realised that no one was available. To her surprise, her daughter's mind was quick as she came up with the idea to ask for help here.
After playing coquettishly with her mother for a while, Nangong Yue returned to her Mozhu Courtyard. As soon as she returned to the room, she began to write furiously and wrote down several beauty recipes that she had thought up in her previous life.
Following that, she immediately sent someone out to purchase several medicinal materials. After that, she started to make rouge, gouache and skin care products non-stop. She also specially selected a moisturising and whitening cream and sent someone to deliver it to Jiang Yixi at the En Gongguo Mansion.
Jiang Yixi returned a gift a few days later - she sent Nangong Yue a beautifully beaded flower and said that after she used Nangong Yue's acne cream, not only did all the acne marks on her face disappear, but even her skin became whiter and more tender than ever before, and a few of her acquaintances were envious of her, and said that they also wanted this kind of acne cream. This bead flower is to thank Nangong Yue and ask her not to refuse.
After Nangong Yue finished reading the letter, she picked up the bead flower sent by Jiang Yixi, it was a pearl and red gemstone wearing a red plum and gold silk skeleton bead flower, the style was exquisite, the workmanship was exquisite, and the material chosen was absolutely extraordinary.
Turning this bead flower over and over again, Nangong Yue smiled, Jiang Yixi actually even gave down the bead flower from the palace to himself, it seems that the acne cream that she made is indeed very effective.
