After Elder Cen decided to recognize Wang Shijing and Shao Yunan as his sons, he ordered someone to arrange a courtyard for them, as well as Wang Qing and Nizi in his mansion. From now on, the Cen Mansion became another home for their family. 

The three children, Wang Qing, Wang Nizi, and Jiang Mozi were taken care of by the nanny in the house, so Shao Yunan and Wang Shijing didn’t worry about it. In the main room of the Cen Mansion, Wang Shijing personally brewed wolfberry and red date tea to serve Shopkeepers Zeng and Xu.

With Shao Yunan’s own snacks on the table, Shopkeeper Zeng asked impatiently, “Brother Shao, what are your plans? Because of what you said, Shopkeeper Zeng is in trouble.” Shopkeeper Xu was also curious and looked at Shao Yunan. Shao Yunan, who was caught off guard, didn’t answer directly and just asked, “What big moves has your big boss made recently?”

Boss Zeng and Xu froze at first, both of them very troubled. Shopkeeper Zeng shook his head and sighed. “My boss’ family situation has not been very good recently. I wonder if you have heard anything about it?”

Shao Yunan said, “The two shopkeepers can just call me Yunan. Anyway you will be regarded as our own people in the future.” Both Shopkeepers Zeng and Xu were stunned, then Shopkeeper Xu became overjoyed. “Shao, ah, Yunan! You mean!”

Shao Yunan laughed. “The reason why I pushed you to the front line, Shopkeeper Zeng, is because I received a letter from your boss.” Wang Shijing cooperatively fished out a letter from his own sleeves and handed it out, as Shopkeeper Xu eagerly took it over and read it together with Shopkeeper Zeng.

Jiang Kangchen had already sent someone a letter to tell him about Wei Hongwen, while Eunuch An also wrote to him about the events in the capital. Outsiders couldn’t understand it, but Shao Yunan had fun reading it. This Wei Hongwen really knew how to act. If he were to become an actor, he would definitely win the Best Actor award. 

Wei Hongwen easily unloaded the burden of the Marquis Hengyuan Mansion’s business and handed it over to Wei Hongzheng, while all his connections stayed in his own hands. Let’s see if Wei Hongzheng had the ability to take them! Not to mention the fact that Wei Hongzheng had not yet warmed up his seat when he was already jerked from it by his own father, who returned the power to Wei Hongru’s hands.

 After leaving the Marquis Hengyuan Mansion and putting himself on the opposite side of the Marquis Mansion, Wei Hongwen could make further progress to show his loyalty to the Empress, and only then could he truly develop his life’s ambitions. 

In the letter to Shao Yunan he explained his current situation and his plan, and also told Shao Yunan that Shopkeepers Xu and Zeng were his confidants and could be trusted. Wei Hongwen was also already ready to express his loyalty to the Empress privately and willing to open up the frontiers of commerce for the Emperor and Empress.

Wei Hongwen left the Marquis of Hengyuan Mansion and the capital. He was going to integrate the resources in his hands, while his Elder Brother Wei Hongru would secretly take care of the resources in the capital. When the new batch of tea and wine comes from Shao Yunan, Wei Hongwen would facilitate a smoother and faster sales of the tea and wine to as many places as possible, as far as possible.

After reading this letter, Shopkeepers Xu and Zeng’s hearts were completely put at ease and they were even more moved by the trust of their boss. They were previously worried whether their boss would really be abandoned by the Marquis, but now they felt that their boss did the right thing when he left the Marquis by himself. As Wei Hongwen’s own people, how could they not know the hardships Wei Hongwen had been through in the Marquis Mansion. 

After Shopkeeper Xu returned the letter, Shao Yunan said, “If it was just this letter, I wouldn’t have pushed you out so hastily, Shopkeeper Zeng. But I also received a letter from the capital, so that is why I can work with your boss without worry. I am lazy and my family’s manpower is really limited, so I have always been reluctant to worry too much about business matters. 

“Now, we are both working for the Emperor and Empress, and the two Shopkeepers and I are considered old friends. Since Master Wei has left the Marquis Mansion, even though he still has his resources and contacts, things will not go as smoothly as before… I thought, ‘Could we do some new business together’?”

Shopkeeper Zeng’s eyes lit up. “Yunan, do you want to do this jadeite business?” Shopkeeper Zeng changed his mind without any pressure. Shao Yunan nodded and smiled. “Yes. I have this intention now, so I will also tell the truth to you two about this jadeite stone. I still have some rough stones in my hand. They were all obtained during the years when Shijing was away.” 

“Shijing just thought this kind of stone looked good, but didn’t know it could be made into such beautiful jewelry. However, with Master Wei’s ability, even if he has never seen this kind of stone, I guess there aren’t too many of these stones in the Great State of Yan. So the few jadeite stones Shijing got were probably brought into the Great State of Yan from other countries.”

The two Shopkeepers nodded in unison. Shopkeeper Zeng was in this business and he had never seen one before, so the Great State of Yan shouldn’t have these kinds of stones. The two couldn’t help but glance at Wang Shijing. Why did this man meet such strange people and strange things at the border? Why didn’t they also have such good things happen to them? But Wang Shijing was as stable as a mountain, earnestly serving as a shield for his wife.

Shopkeeper Zeng asked, “What do you mean, Yunan?” Shao Yunan said, “I intend to open a new jewelry store in partnership with you. Not the Butterfly Jewelry Pavilion, but a brand new jewelry store with the Empress participating in it.” Although their big boss had left the Marquis Mansion, it was no secret who the proprietor behind the Butterfly Jewelry Pavilion was. If they wanted to work for the Empress, they could no longer use the ‘Butterfly Jewelry Pavilion’ sign.

Shao Yunan continued, “The Empress is from the Dai family, so I want the Empress to come forward and let the generals of the Dai family at the border help us find more stones. Secondly, we will rely on some of Master Wei’s contacts to find them. We can use stones in my and Shijing’s hands to make jewelry at first, but we would need to sell that in the form of an auction where the highest price would win. It would also not be a one-off auction. We can auction one piece a month to get more time to find the original place of origin. You have not sold the set of the four seasons bean pendants that I sold to you before, right?”

Shopkeeper Zeng immediately replied, “Not yet. The owner did not intend to sell that pendant, but he already imitated hundreds of pieces with white jade, sapphire, etc. The owner originally planned to sell them around april to add to the good fortune of students who would take the imperial examination. But now that my master has left the Marquis Mansion, the plan has changed and Master wanted me to postpone it. If we open a new jewelry store, we can use the new jewelry there. I will write a letter to the owner. As for the auction you mentioned just now, Yunan, can you elaborate?”

Shao Yunan explained what an auction was and what an auction house was. Shopkeeper Xu and Shopkeeper Zeng both showed surprised expressions of ‘This is still possible!’ After Shao Yunan finished speaking, Shopkeeper Xu immediately said, “Then we can open an auction house! Yunan you have a lot of ideas, so we will have a lot of new and interesting things to auction in the future.”

Shao Yunan said. “It’s possible. But the auction house in Yongxiu County will not be up to standard, so we have to build an auction house in the capital. I will write a letter to Brother Kangchen to let him take care of it.” Shopkeeper Zeng hesitated to speak, so Shao Yunan asked, “What advice does Shopkeeper Zeng have?”

Shopkeeper Zeng paused for a moment before he said, “Yunan, to tell you the truth, after my boss left like this, Old Xu and I will not be able to do business for much longer. Although the Butterfly Jewelry Pavilion and Yizhang Xuan restaurant are not considered to be the Marquis’ properties, everyone knows that they belong to the boss, so someone will definitely come to make trouble. The arrangement made by the owner for Old Xu and I is to close the Butterfly Jewelry Pavilion and Yizhang Xuan restaurant, and wait for the master’s next arrangement.”

Shao Yunan nodded understandingly, he also thought of this point. After a moment he said, “Then how about this, Master Wei has a lot of things to do right now and he probably can’t take care of your side for a while. Since you are our own people, you shouldn’t wait for his arrangement. Shopkeeper Xu, you have experience in opening restaurants and you can bring the original team from Yizhang Xuan to re-open the restaurant. I will write the recipes. Shopkeeper Zeng will still operate a jewelry store and those jade carving masters from Butterfly Jewelry Pavilion must be kept. 

But I also suggest that Shopkeeper Zeng go to the capital. If you want to open an auction house you should do it in the capital. It will be more convenient. I showed this set of jewelry today, just to make a name for our jewelry store in the future. I will tell Brother Kangchen about it first and then he will present it to the Empress. My suggestion is, whether it is a restaurant or jewelry stores, including stores for other commodities in the future, we will operate in the form of chain stores.”

“Chain stores?” Shao Yunan then explained what a chain store was, which made the two shopkeepers feel that their blood was boiling. It sounded like they would have a lot to do!

Shao Yunan asked, “What do the two Shopkeepers think?”

“It’s totally feasible!”

Shao Yunan said, “I will write a letter to Master Wei about our partnership store and the two two Shopkeepers directly participating in it. You can also take a part of the shares. I will discuss with master Wei about how to distribute it.”

“We will leave it to you Yunan.” Both of them believed that following Shao Yunan would definitely be a big deal. Shopkeeper Zeng then said, “I’ll write to my boss when I get back.”  Shopkeeper Xu reminded him, “Yunan, there was originally a big Shopkeeper above old Zeng and me. His name was Wei Xiu, and he lived in Chinan Prefecture. But that person is not from the proprietor’s family. If this person comes to you in the future, you should be careful.”

“Okay. In the future, I will ask you directly about matters related to your boss.”

“Alright.”

Having initially decided on the idea of ​​opening a restaurant and jewelry store, Shopkeeper Xu and Shopkeeper Zeng left in a hurry. When Shopkeeper Zeng was leaving, he was stopped by many maids and servants, asking him about the jade jewelry. But now Shopkeeper Zeng has confidence and only said that he has no rough stones in his hand for the time being, and that he would notify everyone when he has rough stones.

After the two shopkeepers left, Wang Shijing put his arms around Shao Yunan. “Wife has worked hard.” Shao Yun said with a smile, “I don’t work hard. I just say what I want to do and let others do it for me.” Then he stopped smiling and said, “Wei Hongwen coming to us gave me a wake up call. Our current status is still not high enough, even with the two great backers of the Emperor and Empress, in the eyes of those powerful people, we are still just some unimportant people. We can’t control it if we act too low-key. If we want our family to be safe, we must have enough self-protection ability. The power and prestige of the Emperor and Empress are not enough. Since we want to hug their thighs, we must first help them grasp a strong enough power first.”

“Therefore, whether we want to open a shop or other businesses, we must recruit the Empress to buy shares. The Empress doesn’t need to contribute money to buy shares. I also want to help Big Brother and Senior Brother Yang Yan. He is the magistrate of Cainan Province and is considered a local snake. Sometimes even a strong dragon can’t beat a local snake.”

Wang Shijing… “I will listen to my wife, but what if the Emperor and Empress will ‘cook dumplings with the meat of rabbits and dead dogs’… in the history books, a lot of such things happened.” Wang Shijing, who was now reading the ‘Five Thousand Years of China’ could also think of many things now.

Shao Yunan said, “Then we have to arrange our retreat.” Shao Yunan hooked his fingers and Wang Shijing immediately bowed his head as Shao Yunan whispered into his ear and when he finished Wang Shijing’s eyes shone.

“How about it? Want to go? “

 “Go! I will go wherever my wife goes!”

“You are so obedient.” Reward—a kiss!

Edited by: Jaisland

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