How can someone travel through time and space and become a beggar?

"What is that place?"

"A newly opened garden?"

"Why are all the people coming in and out women?"

"Look at those carriages, they all belong to wealthy families."

Passersby were attracted by the lion dance and the sound of firecrackers, and gathered from afar to discuss the scene.

"Qiushuang, take this lady to Qiushuang Courtyard."

"Spring Equinox, bring guests."

"Jingzhe!"

"Xiaoman!"

After Xia Chu finished receiving all the guests, she asked and found out that the courtyard was full. "Where are Miss Li, Miss Bai and the others?"

"It's in the listening tower." Hongniang said, and turned around to go back to her work.

Xia Chu walked around the courtyards and didn't find anything wrong, so he went to the listening room.

The first floor was almost full, and Xiachu looked around happily. Dongzhi was on the stage, his eyes dancing as he read a story, and the audience listened with rapt interest.

"Ms. Wang, my young lady is on the second floor." Shi Yue received the order and took Xia Chu upstairs.

"How is it?" Li Yun asked with a smile when she saw her come in.

"All the seats are full." Xia Chu stood at the door for more than an hour, "Good sister, give me a glass of water."

Mo Qingmei poured it for her personally and said, "Thank you for your hard work. I can't help you much."

"I know it's inconvenient for you." Xia Chu said, drinking the tea in one breath, and her throat finally stopped being dry and itchy. "It's all thanks to the sisters who showed up today. So many people came."

"Good sister, let's not talk about this." Bai Wuxia waved her hand, "Come and sit for a while."

"Didn't I reserve the best yard for you? Why are you here?" Xia Chu drank two more glasses of water before feeling much better.

"Give it to others. It's the same if we play in this private room." Li Yun said.

"Yes, but you have to give us some delicious snacks, otherwise I won't forgive you." Lin Lang joked.

This is nothing, Xia Chu immediately said: "Order whatever you want, you can eat whatever you want."

"This storyteller looks much better than last time." Li Yun said while looking downstairs.

"I've been practicing every day for a while now," Xia Chu said, sitting by the window. "At first, I memorized it by myself, then I talked to others and said it in front of the mirror. Finally, I asked everyone in the garden to come and listen, and everyone gave her feedback."

"I think he's not much different from the storytellers outside." Lin Lang said.

"It's great that you think it's good." Xia Chu felt a sense of accomplishment after receiving the recognition. "I was just watching it and I noticed that everyone really liked it."

"Good luck with the opening." Bai Wuxia joked.

Xia Chu pursed her lips and smiled, "Thanks to everyone's help, whether the business is good or not depends on the next few days."

"Everything is free today, you must have lost a lot of money, right?" Li Yun asked.

"Not bad." When opening, they usually lose money to attract customers. Whether they're profitable depends on whether they have repeat customers. But Xia Chu is confident. This business she's running is a niche market. As long as she can satisfy these ladies and offer something appealing, she can earn their money. From the perspective of the customers, she's happy to find a place to get together with her sisters occasionally.

In the past, they would stay at someone's house and rarely go out to restaurants. If a woman was often seen playing outside, she would be criticized. This was especially true for unmarried girls, who valued their reputation. A bad reputation would not only lead to gossip about herself, but also to ridicule her entire family.

The richer the family, the more they value reputation. In contrast, poor families don't care so much.

Now that there is a place that only allows women to enter, she thinks there will be business.

After all, hosting frequent banquets at home is a tedious undertaking. Some people might use it as a way to show off their wealth, but others prefer not to bother. Furthermore, if you're hosting a banquet, everyone you know must send an invitation. If you don't invite, you'll inevitably give people something to talk about, and you might even end up resenting them. Even if you don't like some people, you still have to send an invitation to a banquet at home.

Xia Chu had been sitting there for a while when a maid came over and said that two groups of guests were arguing and asked her to go over and take a look.

"Go quickly. If you need anything, just call me." Li Yun let her go.

When she arrived, she found that Qiu Niang had already come, and the young ladies from the two courtyards had been coaxed back by her. "Qiu Niang, what's going on?"

"Miss Chu," Qiu Niang bowed slightly, "I've persuaded her to go back, but I took the initiative to send some flowers out."

"How did they start arguing?" Xia Chu wondered. These young ladies usually respected their status and were well-educated and well-mannered in public, so why did they start arguing?

"It's for the flowers." Qiu Niang explained the whole story, and Xia Chu was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

In order to make each yard look different, she put a lot of thought into how to arrange the flowers in the yard. To save money, the walls of the small yards were not built high, just enough to place the flower pots.

Unexpectedly, a guest from Guyu Courtyard took a fancy to the flowers on the wall of Xiaoman Courtyard and went to pick a few. The guest from Xiaoman Courtyard was not happy about it and asked, "Why are you picking flowers from my yard?"

But the guests of Guyu Courtyard think that these flowers belong to Yinge Garden, not yours. I can pick them if I want. At worst, I can just give the owner some money to buy them. The guests of Xiaoman Courtyard are just using the yard temporarily, so why can't I pick them?

"How did you deal with it?" Xia Chu asked Qiu Niang.

"I think we're not allowed to pick these flowers. If we pick them all, the yard will look bare and ugly." Qiu Niang was relieved to see that she didn't blame her. "I saw that the guests had brought people here, and I regretted it. It was just that there was no step to get down. I said that we had upset the guests and it was our negligence. I also said that we have a maid who is particularly good at hairpinning flowers. She could pick some flowers for the guests for free and wear them in their hair. Then the ladies all left."

Xia Chu nodded. All he had to do was appease the guests. The flowers weren't a big deal. As long as he didn't pick too many at once, the new buds would bloom again in a few days. "That's a good job. But I still have to remind you. Otherwise, if everyone picks the flowers, our garden will be bare in a few days."

"Okay, Qiu Niang understands." Qiu Niang said.

Everything was fine, so Xia Chu left. However, she didn't return to the listening room, but instead went to check on Jia Qingwu. She went in, greeted everyone as the host, and then left. Strangely, Dong Xiaohuan wasn't there. Dong Xiaohuan wasn't in the front yard. Although she enjoyed chatting with people, she felt a little intimidated by the sight of these wealthy ladies. So she hid in the back kitchen, hoping to see if she could help.

Xia Chu asked around before she found the person, "Mom, what are you doing here? Why don't you go to Ting Ting Tower to listen to stories?" She also knew that Dong Xiaohuan was probably uncomfortable, but Jia Qingwu couldn't leave, after all, she was the one who invited those ladies.

"I just came to see if there's anything I can do to help." Dong Xiaohuan smiled. There were already cooks and helpers here, so she couldn't help.

"I've invited so many people, there's no need for you to work so hard." Xia Chu took her arm and said, "Let's go to Tingtinglou and listen to our storyteller's story."

Dong Xiaohuan said embarrassedly: "How could I listen? I only heard it once."

Xia Chu felt distressed at this. Dong Xiaohuan was either busy running the shop or taking care of the children at home all day long. She rarely had time for herself, let alone having fun. She reached out and hugged Dong Xiaohuan, "Then please listen to it. I think the customers like it."

"Ok."