Lady Hou is reborn and, by pampering her illegitimate son, reclaims her life of wealth and privilege

Upon hearing that there were a thousand bolts of cloth, the servant was so excited he could hardly contain himself. He thought to himself that his manager desperately needed this, and hurriedly said to the middle-aged man, "You must keep these thousand bolts. My manager urgently needs to purchase a large quantity. Where are your fabrics stored? I will go and inform my manager right away."

The middle-aged man pulled his servant into a small shop next door, borrowed paper and pen, and quickly wrote down the location where he stored his fabric. "Young man, my fabric is hidden in a quiet farmhouse on the outskirts of Beijing. Here is the detailed address. You can take my shopkeeper there to select it."

The servant carefully tucked the note into his pocket, a joyful smile on his face. "Uncle, you must reserve this batch of goods for us. I'll go back and inform my manager right away."

The middle-aged man nodded slightly and agreed.

The servant hurriedly rushed back to his own shop.

Manager Liang sat in the shop, his brow furrowed. The servants in front of him had only brought back a few bolts of cloth, far short of the required thousand. He sighed deeply, slumped weakly into his chair, and muttered to himself, "Am I destined to accept my fate?" Twenty thousand taels of silver—enough to buy his life ten times over.

Just then, the servant rushed in, his face beaming with excitement. "Manager, fantastic news! I've finally found it!"

Upon hearing this, Manager Liang immediately jumped up from his chair and asked nervously and expectantly, "How many did you actually buy?"

The servant, panting heavily, smiled broadly, his joy evident in his expression, "One...one thousand horses."

Shopkeeper Liang's eyes widened instantly, his surprise and delight evident. "Really... is it fake?"

This sudden joy was like a gentle rain, instantly brightening his mind. "Great, we're saved!"

The page took out a piece of paper with beautiful handwriting from his bosom and recounted the strange events he had just encountered.

Boss Liang took the note, glanced at it, and then called a few of his employees to hurry the carriage toward the address on the note.

The carriage rumbled along, speeding for a full hour before finally arriving at the abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts of the capital. By then, dusk was falling. Boss Liang leaped down from the carriage and stood before the farmhouse gate, calling out loudly, "Is anyone inside? Is anyone inside?"

He was anxious. The estate looked dilapidated and had been uninhabited for a long time, which made him question the young page: "Are you sure this is the place?"

The pageboy answered in a weak but firm voice, "It's written clearly on the note, right here."

Just then, a middle-aged man carrying a lantern walked out of the village and asked in a hoarse voice, "Who's there?"

Upon hearing the sound, Boss Liang and the others looked over. As soon as the page saw the man, he excitedly jumped up and pointed at him, saying, "It's him, boss! It's this gentleman."

Mr. Liang was thrilled and stepped forward to the man, saying, "We came here to purchase fabric. This afternoon, my servant happened to meet you on the road."

The middle-aged man seemed to understand, nodded and smiled, "Oh, it's you. Why are you so late? If you delay any longer, it will be completely dark. Come in quickly, the fabric is stored in the warehouse, I'll show you."

Boss Liang and his group followed the man into the warehouse, which was dark inside. The man held up a lantern, and the light illuminated the bolts of cloth.

"Take a look, is this the fabric you're looking for?" Boss Liang picked up a piece of fabric and examined it closely in the dim light. He then picked up a few more pieces and looked them over briefly before nodding in approval. "That's right, it's the fabric we're looking for."

He couldn't help but laugh excitedly, looking up at the sky: "Hahaha, it's truly a case of 'the mountains are high and the rivers are long, and there seems to be no way out, but then a village appears amidst the willows and flowers,' Heaven has really blessed me."

Turning to face the middle-aged man, Manager Liang said with deep gratitude, "Thanks to this sworn brother, thanks to your helping hand."

His eyes even welled up with tears of emotion.

The middle-aged man waved his hand gently and smiled, "No need to thank me. On the contrary, I should thank you. Ever since my cloth shop was poorly managed and had to close down, these goods have been piling up here for a long time. I also want to express my gratitude to you for being able to revitalize these goods."

Manager Liang laughed heartily and patted the middle-aged man's shoulder heavily, "We two brothers supported each other and solved each other's problems together."

The middle-aged man also couldn't stop laughing, "That's right, haha."

Manager Liang directed his servants to load the goods onto the carriage and settled the account with the middle-aged man, totaling ten thousand taels of silver. Finally, Manager Liang warmly shook the middle-aged man's hand and invited him to drink fine wine, but the man politely declined.

Manager Liang and his entourage drove away in high spirits. Watching the carriage gradually disappear, the bearded man standing in place revealed a sly smile. He raised his hand and slowly peeled off a piece of simulated human skin from his face.

The face that was revealed was that of Steward Zheng.

……

Back at the shop, Manager Liang parked the carriage loaded with goods in the backyard and arranged for several reliable employees to take turns keeping watch at night, just in case.

Manager Liang thought with satisfaction that this operation would be foolproof.

The next day, Manager Chao arrived at Manager Liang's shop early in the morning with several strong employees to pick up the goods.

Manager Liang greeted Manager Chao with confidence and joy, saying, "I have fulfilled my mission, I have fulfilled my mission. All the fabrics are ready and are in the carriage in the backyard."

Seeing Manager Liang's confidence, Manager Chao smiled broadly, "Excellent, excellent. The Marquis of Changtai's mansion truly lives up to its reputation, emphasizing integrity. Manager Liang's execution is also admirable. It's truly remarkable that so much fabric was completed on time. We must continue to cooperate in the future."

Manager Liang was overjoyed by the praise, "Of course, of course."

Manager Chao led his men to the backyard, pointed to several carriages, and instructed, "Get on and carefully inspect the goods."

Several burly men took out several bolts of cloth from the carriage one by one and carefully unfolded them for inspection.

Manager Liang stood calmly to the side, his eyes as sharp as a hawk's, watching a group of burly men meticulously inspect the cloth.

One of the burly men carefully lifted a piece of cloth, his brows immediately furrowing into a small mountain as he turned his gaze to Manager Chao.

"Shopkeeper, take a look at this."

Upon hearing this, Manager Chao and Manager Liang hurried forward and saw a large patch of water stains in the center of the fabric.

Manager Liang's expression changed rapidly, filled with shock and disbelief. "What... what's going on?"

Immediately afterwards, the other men also lifted the cloths in their hands, each of which had suffered the same damage from being soaked in water.

Manager Chao took a deep breath, his gaze sharp as knives, and glared angrily at Manager Liang. "Manager Liang, is this the merchandise you carefully selected for me?"

Manager Liang waved his arms frantically, trying to explain, "Manager Chao, please listen to me, I really know nothing about this. I personally purchased all these fabrics, I..."