Marrying the Crown Prince

A few days later, Madam Du came to Lingcui Pavilion to find Zhou Zhou and found him completely engrossed in his books, with several stacks of books piled up in his bedroom.

Madam Du was startled. "Did you empty out someone else's bookstore?"

The fatigue of the past few days made Zhou Zhou's eyes a little sore. When she saw someone coming, she quickly rubbed her eyes before she could focus on the figure. "Mother?"

Seeing that Zhou Zhou had become obsessed with reading, Madam Du felt very sorry for her. She pulled her out of the thousands of books and poured her a cup of flower tea.

This flower tea was brewed by Ju Fang. It is made with cassia seeds and chrysanthemums and has the effect of clearing the liver and improving eyesight. As for the taste, although honey was added, it still tastes slightly bitter.

Zhou Zhou took a big gulp, let out a long sigh, and finally felt better.

"Why did Mother come over?" Zhou Zhou asked, then quickly realized, "Did she take over the shop?"

Mrs. Du smiled and nodded, "Yes and no."

These words left Zhou Zhou confused, and he looked at Madam Du with suspicion.

Du called out to the door, "Come in."

The person who had been waiting at the door walked in instantly, bowed deeply, and said, "Qingrong greets Eighth Miss."

Zhou Zhou looked closely and saw it was the female owner of the jewelry store. She immediately smiled and asked, "Mother, how did you manage to bring her here?"

Of course, besides being curious about this, Zhou Zhou also gained a deeper understanding of Du's insight—she realized that she liked this female manager.

"Naturally, we should appeal to their emotions and reason with them," Du replied smugly.

When Du first invited Qingrong, she hesitated a bit, after all, she was surprised to hear that her future employer was a girl who was not yet fifteen years old.

However, when she heard about Mr. Du's plans for the store, she was somewhat moved, but her rationality was still struggling—she had to stay calm; this was the kind of empty promises that rich people were good at, and it couldn't be allowed.

Finally, Madam Du pointed with her delicate hand, "Five taels of silver per month."

"Deal!" Qingrong agreed without hesitation.

Anyone who refuses money is a coward.

How could someone as gentle, beautiful, kind, and intelligent as her possibly be a bastard?

Now that the shop has been acquired and a manager has been found, the first thing to do is to start the overall renovation of the shop.

She asked Madam Du, "Would Mother like to come out with me?"

Mrs. Du naturally nodded. It wasn't that she was worried about Zhou Zhou going out alone, but rather that she wanted to see what novel ideas Zhou Zhou had for the shop.

They brought Qingrong to the shop, but it was now empty, with only about a hundred hair accessories left, all neatly arranged in boxes.

“This was a gift from my former employer,” Mrs. Du explained.

She was ruthless in bargaining, but the other party was no pushover either. They asked for three thousand taels of silver, but the final price was two thousand taels of silver, and they even gave her all the remaining utensils and hair ornaments in the shop as a gift.

Since we're going to turn this into a high-end venue, many things here will have to be dismantled and rebuilt, Zhou Zhou said, while Qing Rong followed behind with paper and pen, taking notes one by one.

After finishing speaking, Zhou Zhou felt it wasn't enough, so he took out a pen and ink and drew one picture after another on the paper, covering every little detail.

Mrs. Du looked on, somewhat bewildered. "When did you learn this?"

"These past few days," Zhou Zhou said, so busy she couldn't even lift her head.

Qingrong watched from the side and offered a few suggestions. After all, she knew this place very well, and the shortcomings she pointed out were things that Zhou Zhou hadn't thought of.

"It's fortunate that I kept you here." Zhou Zhou sighed sincerely, seeing the look of satisfaction in Qing Rong's eyes.

"It is my good fortune to be of service to you, Miss." A bright smile bloomed on Qingrong's face.

The current situation is that everything is ready except for the craftsmen.

“Mother, I’m troubling you again.” Zhou Zhou looked at Madam Du, her eyes bright and clear.

"It's not like we'll make a difference if we do it once more," Madam Du said confidently, patting her chest.

Du had a villa in the suburbs of Beijing. The estate manager usually helped Du manage the estate. Her husband, Zhang Da, was a carpenter. Whenever Du needed something like a dressing table, she would call Zhang Da to come and get it.

So in just two days, the Du family had gathered ten workers, with Zhang Da naturally serving as the foreman.

Mr. Du told her an industry secret: "These craftsmen have two ways of charging."

"One method is to charge based on the location; the size of the area determines the fee," Zhang explained. "The advantage of this method is speed, but the disadvantage is that they focus too much on speed and the workmanship cannot reach the highest level of perfection."

"Secondly, it is calculated by the day, with a worker earning 12 coins for a day's work."

"The advantage of this is that workers will do their work carefully, but the disadvantage is that they will dawdle and take their time."

They deliberately dragged out the time, hoping to earn more money.

After listening to Du's words, Zhou Zhou seemed to be deep in thought.

When she met with Qingrong and Zhang Da, she didn't mention the wages yet, but instead told Zhang Da what effect she wanted.

Zhang Da, being an experienced craftsman, pointed out a flaw after Zhou Zhou finished speaking: "A partition should be built here; the transition would be much more natural that way."

"Okay, whatever you say." Zhou Zhou nodded, then asked, "If we follow my instructions, how long will it take you to complete all of this?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Da thought to himself: Judging from this, they're going to take it over and charge by location.

"I reckon twenty days should be enough," Zhang Da said after considering the options, offering a compromise timeframe.

“I’ll give you a month, with a daily wage of fourteen coins,” Zhou Zhou said. “But after a month, I want a brand new shop.”

She has plenty of money and is willing to pay, but she's worried that it will be both time-consuming and expensive, making her a sucker.

Hearing the other party's generosity, Zhang Da patted his chest and assured them, "Miss, rest assured, I swear by my ancestors, I will use all my skills to renovate your shop beautifully."

Seeing that the other party had brought up their ancestral master, Zhou Zhou felt completely relieved. After all, craftsmen are most averse to betraying their master and ancestors.

As Zhou Zhou was leaving the shop, he said to Qing Rong, "You will assist Master Zhang. In a month, I want to see a completely new shop."

"I guarantee the mission will be completed," Qingrong said calmly.

During this month, Zhou Zhou would sometimes come out to take a look, and sometimes she would stand by and watch the craftsmen working diligently.

The craftsman finally finished his work and looked up to see Zhou Zhou watching him intently. When he saw that Zhou Zhou was done, he nodded slightly and said, "It looks very good and is also very interesting."

Goodness, he is indeed a nobleman; his voice is soft and gentle yet carries an inherent air of authority.

"This is simply my livelihood, so naturally I must learn to make something of it," the craftsman replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Seeing that he was about to start working again, Zhou Zhou thoughtfully withdrew.

Asking the workers if they like it when superiors come to inspect is a question that requires some discussion.