Marrying the Crown Prince

With food and drink readily available, the journey wasn't boring at all, and we soon arrived at our first destination.

The Chen Kingdom has strict requirements for markets. In addition to specifying the location and ensuring that they do not obstruct traffic, it also stipulates which street is for which purpose. For example, East First Street to East Fifth Street is for food, while East Sixth Street to East Eighth Street is for jewelry, embroidery, cosmetics, and other similar products.

The advantage of this is convenience; it makes it convenient for people to travel and also for the government to manage.

The first place Du brought Zhou Zhou to was East Fifth Street, a place filled with teahouses and taverns where one could listen to storytelling and folk songs.

Madam Du led Zhou Zhou and Zhou Yue into a teahouse. The waiter saw them and lazily got up, saying, "Madam, Miss, please come in."

"I'd like a pot of good tea. Whatever you prefer, just bring it to me," said Madam Du.

"Alright, please wait a moment." The waiter said and left without asking any more questions or taking the opportunity to introduce the good teas in his shop.

Soon, the waiter brought over a pot of tea. Zhou Zhou took a small sip; it didn't have a musty smell, but it was far from being a top-quality tea.

and……

The waiter didn't scald the cups, which diminishes the aroma of the tea.

She put down her teacup and asked, "Where is your storyteller?"

"They ran away," the waiter replied impatiently, a smirk playing on his lips.

Zhou Zhou: "..."

Well, now I finally understand why this teahouse was resold.

"If there's nothing else, sir, I'll take my leave." Seeing that Zhou Zhou and the others didn't speak, the waiter said this and then turned to leave.

Mrs. Du wasn't picky about food, but she didn't like drinking tea. She just held the tea in her hand and shook it around. "You can see for yourself," she said, "the shopkeeper isn't good at business and mismanages things, so slowly fewer and fewer people are coming to patronize the shop."

"How could someone who's bad at management open such a big teahouse?" Zhou Yue wondered.

Du smiled but did not answer, instead asking, "Why don't you guess?"

"To be able to open a car in this location and on such a large scale, it must be either due to poor management or it's a wealthy family head who brought it in for their kids to play with." Zhou Zhou looked around and voiced his thoughts.

"Or perhaps, this teahouse didn't originally belong to the current owner, but to his father."

"Unfortunately, his father was old or had passed away due to illness, so he was no longer able to run the business. Therefore, the current owner took over the family business from his father."

"The result was that the owner was not good at management, and after several years, he had no choice but to resell it."

Upon hearing Zhou Zhou's words, Madam Du stopped playing with her teacup, raised her eyebrows, and smiled. "Zhouzhou, how are you so clever?"

With just a few glances, he guessed almost everything. With such keen insight, Du's heart trembled – the idea of ​​taking Zhou Zhou into business grew stronger.

If Zhou Zhou had been born into the Du family, who would she have married? She could have expanded the family business, taken a few more male concubines, and lived a life of luxury.

Thinking of this, Madam Du felt a little sore in her throat. She clenched her fist, put it to her mouth, and coughed lightly. "You guessed pretty close. Not bad."

Afterwards, Du told Zhou Zhou about the pros and cons of the shop: "The location of this shop is good, and as you can see, the utensils in the shop are still usable. If you take it over, you can save a lot of money and time on renovations."

"The disadvantages are also obvious. After all, the shop is in a good location, so the shopkeeper's asking price is not low."

Zhou Zhou's original intention was not to open a teahouse or tavern, so after hearing what Du said, he replied, "Let's go check out the second one first."

The implication is that they are not satisfied, but if they can't find anything better, they will have to make do with this one.

The second one is on East Sixth Street, on the same street as Baozhen Pavilion, except one is at one end of the street and the other is at the other end of the alley.

The location isn't great. The corner is blocked off, so people usually don't walk all the way to the other end of the alley to buy things. Besides, it's on the same street as Baozhen Pavilion, and Baozhen Pavilion has taken away all the business. It's been losing money for half a year, and the owner can't hold on any longer, so he's planning to sell it.

The jewelry and ornaments here have been mostly cleared out, leaving only a few scattered pieces.

When Zhou Zhou and his group walked in, they found that the shop's waiters had been dismissed and gone to find other jobs, leaving only the shopkeeper.

This is a female shopkeeper. Her hair is neatly tied up, and she wears only a sandalwood branch. Her simple and refreshing style shows that she is a very capable person.

"Madam, young lady, please take a look! Our shop is about to close, so everything is at a discount. We're selling at a loss, so you'll make a profit if you buy it." She warmly greeted Madam Du and the others, leading them to the counter to look at the styles.

"It's my sister's birthday, and I'd like to give her a few hairpins as a birthday gift." Seeing that she quickly got into the mood, Zhou Zhou also became interested. "Do you have any recommendations?"

Upon hearing Zhou Zhou's words, the shopkeeper quickly took out a wooden box and slowly opened it. Inside were two silver butterfly-shaped ear picks with tassels. Underneath the two hairpins was a handkerchief, on which was embroidered a cluster of flowers with several butterflies playing and fluttering.

The embroidery wasn't top-notch, but it wasn't bad either, and the combination of the handkerchief and the ear pick was quite ingenious.

"I'm not exaggerating, but these styles and craftsmanship are excellent. Our master craftsman spent almost half a month making them." The female shopkeeper enthusiastically promoted them. She could tell from the attire of the Du family that they were all wealthy and noble, so they wouldn't have to waste their expensive hairpins. "Take one as a gift, keep one for yourselves, and if the two sisters use the same style, it will be even more meaningful."

"Would you like to try it on, young lady?" she suggested cautiously.

"Very good," Zhou Zhou gently picked up the hairpin, examined it from top to bottom, and found that it was indeed without any flaws. Then she looked at Madam Du, her eyes crinkling, "Mother, I guessed the riddle correctly just now. Should Mother give me some reward?"

Seeing Zhou Zhou's cunning expression, Madam Du was both amused and exasperated. She waved her hand and said, "Wrap it up."

Seeing that they didn't even ask about the price, the female shopkeeper's eyes lit up again. "Our shop is having a clearance sale! Buy one item and get 10% off, buy three items and get 20% off, buy five or more items and get 50% off. Do you see anything else you like, miss?"

"Oh?" Zhou Zhou looked at Madam Du with a smug smile. "Mother is going to lose a lot of blood this time."

Du scoffed, "You can choose whatever you want."

"Is there an introduction?" Zhou Zhou asked.

This is a big order!

The female shopkeeper quickly brought over three chairs. "Please sit down, I'll go get them."

Before long, Zhou Zhou had chosen a peach branch hairpin wrapped in silk and a pair of butterfly earrings wrapped in silk and gold. Both of these items were exquisitely crafted. As for the others...

"That's all, wrap them up," Zhou Zhou said.