My elder sister forced me to become a concubine; I was reborn and remarried into the emperor's

Wei Nanxun couldn't explain how these marks came about, and could only blush and admit that they were insect bites. It wasn't until she saw the clothes and belt that had been changed that she remembered something she had overlooked.

Even if this outfit is very similar to hers, it is not her own, and her belt and inner garment are still in the palace.

Those were no ordinary clothes, but personal items; her inner garment was embroidered with orchids and the character "熏" (xun, meaning to smoke or fumigate) on the corner.

It's alright if it gets burned or lost, but if it's kept... then she'll be doomed.

Seeing that Zhixia had picked up the clothes from the ground and was about to take them out for the maid to wash, she quickly stepped forward and snatched them away, saying, "These clothes are unlucky, so don't wash them. I'll just burn them later."

The maids who serve her will surely recognize her clothes; she must not let them notice anything different.

She hastily rolled up her skirt, but touched a hard, protruding object. Not daring to be discovered, she secretly hid it in her sleeve.

Zhixia was naive and thought everything the girl said was right. She didn't notice the girl's little tricks at all. When the girl asked if she should step over a fire pit to ward off bad luck, Zhixia forced a dry laugh and brushed it off.

If everyone in the world were as easy to coax as Zhixia, that would be wonderful!

She didn't have the habit of having someone keep watch at night. Only after Zhixia closed the door and left did she take the thing out of her sleeve.

It was a jade pendant with a smooth and lustrous finish, without any elaborate carvings. It was simply engraved with the character "寂" (ji, meaning lonely or desolate), giving it a sense of solitude and isolation.

She didn't know the prince's name, nor was she sure if it belonged to the lord's household. After much deliberation, she couldn't bear to throw away the jade pendant, since the lord would soon be leaving the capital, and she would never see this benefactor again.

Let it be a token of her gratitude and respect for her benefactor.

Thinking about it, she pulled out a brocade box from under the bed. Inside were things her mother had left her before she passed away, including deeds to houses and land, several shops, and a lot of silver notes.

Her mother said that she should keep it safe so that it could be used for her dowry and her younger brother's wedding. She also told her not to give it to her father, and not to let her grandmother or anyone else know about it.

She was too young to understand her mother's predicament.

She grew up in the Wei family. Although she was born out of wedlock to the second wife, her father was a good earner and her mother's family were merchants. Her maternal grandparents were very generous to her, always giving her money whenever they saw her. She never lacked money in her memory.

He had a very happy childhood. His father doted on him, his mother was gentle, and although his grandmother was strict, they didn't see each other often.

It wasn't until his mother suffered a difficult childbirth and developed chronic illnesses that she passed away a few years later. His father then began to drink heavily every day, and his business fell into disrepair.

Grandmother was furious, blaming Mother for dragging Father down, and even forbidding Mother's remains from being buried in the Wei family ancestral graveyard. It was because of this that Father had to pull himself together.

From then on, she and her brother were increasingly disliked by the elders in their family. When their maternal grandparents came looking for them, Wang Shi stopped them, and over time, she rarely had any contact with her maternal grandparents' family. It was as if the siblings had been abandoned by everyone.

It was around that time that Wei Mingzhao started looking for her, and she would think of her whenever she was receiving guests or going out to play. That's why she regarded Wei Mingzhao as her best older sister, and she would give Wei Mingzhao any rare and wonderful things that her father brought back from his trips.

Even when she got married, she felt that she couldn't bring these things into the Eastern Palace, so she left them all to her younger brother, and they all ended up in Wang's pocket.

Looking back now, Wei Mingzhao was probably only kind to her because of these things, and at the same time, he could gain a good reputation for treating his half-sister well.

She looked through the shops and land deeds inside and found that many of them were prime locations in the capital. She needed to take a good look at her family's assets and plan for her future.

-

Wei Nanxun is a man of action; once she has made up her mind, she will do it without hesitation.

The next day, he found Steward Qiu, who had been left at the mansion by his father. This man was someone his father had saved when he was trading in the west years ago, and he was extremely loyal and capable.

He was originally intended to stay and manage several shops in the capital, but Wang refused on the grounds that he was not a servant of the Wei family and had no experience. Now he is temporarily in charge of a restaurant and the affairs of the estate.

When she was young, her mother taught her how to do accounting and bookkeeping, but her grandmother later disliked it because it was not respectable. After her mother passed away, she gradually put it aside, but how could she forget what she had learned?

Father habitually makes a copy of every account and keeps it in his study. Wei Nanxun looked at it last night and found that among the annual profits and losses of the merchants in the capital, Steward Qiu's restaurant made the most money.

She summoned him under the pretext of buying a gift for her maternal grandfather and asked him in detail what kind of business was most suitable in the capital at that time.

Qiu Guan was taken aback at first, thinking that the girl had just had a whim, but he still answered seriously.

"The most profitable businesses are those that cater to customers who buy food, clothing, and daily necessities. Among them, teahouses and restaurants are the most popular, followed by cloth shops and jewelry stores. The least popular are shops selling stationery, calligraphy, and paintings."

He had hit the nail on the head. Of all the shops in the manor, why was his the most profitable, while the others were mostly losing money? It was all because Madam Wang was concerned with appearances and wanted all the shops in the Wei family to be elegant and respectable, such as music shops and calligraphy and painting shops. Little did she know that these shops were not decades-old establishments; without a foundation or reputation, no one would patronize them.

"Uncle Qiu, I invited you here today because I want you to help me save these shops."

As she spoke, she handed over several shop leases. These shops were part of her mother's dowry and had been rented out to others. With the leases about to expire, she didn't plan to continue renting them out but wanted to open them herself.

"This? Young lady, this is no joke. Besides, how can an unmarried woman like you open a shop and do business? Absolutely not."

"As long as I don't show up, and you don't show up either, hire a few trustworthy managers and come to each shop one by one. I don't ask for much income in a year, I just want to revitalize these shops."

"But, this, this won't work either."

Wei Nanxun stood up and solemnly curtsied: "Uncle Qiu, you know the situation in your household better than I do. My father travels all over the country to support this family, but how do they treat him and my siblings? My father has painstakingly accumulated a fortune over the years, but he hasn't saved a single penny for himself. My father is getting old, and in a few years he won't be able to travel anymore and will be useless. At that time, do you think my aunt will be willing to give him much of the family property? I don't want to see my father's hard work and sincerity trampled on."

Steward Qiu was naturally loyal to Master Wei. He had always felt that Master Wei's years of hard work had been in vain, but after trying to persuade him many times to no avail, he gave up and decided to just do his job.

I never imagined I would hear a girl with such awareness.

"Please allow me some time to consider, young lady."

"I trust Uncle Qiu. Don't feel too much pressure. Just think of it as preparing my dowry in advance."

After pondering for two days, Steward Qiu finally agreed. The young lady was right; they absolutely could not let the Second Master's hard work be wasted by these ungrateful wretches. They had to prevent future troubles.

Since he had agreed, he couldn't be just playing around. He reported everything to the girl, from what kind of shop to open, what kind of manager to choose, how to repair and rebuild, and what the business model should be.

To his surprise, the girl listened very attentively, taking notes of everything he said. She asked questions whenever she didn't understand, without giving any perfunctory answers. She genuinely wanted to open a shop.

This gave Manager Qiu even more motivation, and within just one month, he converted one of the shops into a pastry shop, which will reopen next month.

"Uncle Qiu, this is our first shop. It opens tomorrow, and I'd like to go and see it for myself."

Manager Qiu: ...?

That's not what you said in the first place. Didn't you agree not to show up?!