General, you should rest now; the lady is even more ruthless.

"Master." After a short while, Sixteen came to the tent to report.

"All the assassins have been killed. They killed more than ten of our people, and also set fire to our supply crates."

"Heh, I knew it," Shen Luo said. "Are the things alright?"

"It's alright, Master." We moved everything out as you instructed at noon today.

Shen Luo nodded: "That's good."

"It seems the Third Prince really doesn't want to see us return with a full load."

It's a pity, he had no choice.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Despite some setbacks, they returned safely.

The interrogation of Cui Zhi was handed over to Shen Luo and the others. It is said that Thirteen also managed to extract some other information from Cui Zhi. Jiang Qiqi was very satisfied, and she could finally slack off.

As for the first thing to do upon returning, of course, it was to visit a teahouse.

When asked before, Xiang'er said that she and Cheng Zixian had already finished the preparations when she left. Now everything is ready, and they are just waiting for Miss to come back so that they can officially open for business.

To be fair, although Jiang Qiqi had impersonated many people and experienced many things as a spy, she had never actually been a boss.

It's the first time in my two lifetimes that I've been a boss, and it feels amazing.

After lunch, Jiang Qiqi and Xiang'er, along with Qi Yu, rushed to the teahouse.

The teahouse is located in the east of the city, facing south. At the intersection of the most bustling street, the vermilion plaque at the entrance bears four large characters written in black and gold ink: "Fusheng Teahouse".

It actually looks quite convincing.

Over here, Cheng Zixian heard that Ninth Master had returned, so he had his men waiting at the door early on.

To be honest, Jiang Qiqi felt that the five taels of silver were well spent.

Cheng Zixian is not only meticulous, but also personally handles everything and always responds to questions.

In modern times, they would definitely be among the top ten outstanding employees.

"Ninth Master, you're back." Cheng Zixian was very happy and greeted Jiang Qiqi from afar with great enthusiasm.

Jiang Qiqi smiled and said, "I'm back. How are the preparations at your teahouse going?"

"There are still some details that need to be decided by you, Ninth Master."

As Cheng Zixian spoke, he pushed open the door: "Ninth Master, let's take a look at the general shape first."

Jiang Qiqi nodded slightly in agreement.

“Ninth Master, look at the lobby on the first floor. There are twenty tables set up, and at the very back is a small stage. The area around the stage is spacious, so the sound can travel far and be heard by the guests on the second floor.”

"Several private rooms have been set up on the second floor as planned..."

……

Cheng Zixian implemented almost all of his previous plans.

If what Jiang Qiqi saw last time was a blueprint, what she sees now is definitely a finished product.

I didn't really understand the plan when Cheng Zixian talked about it before, but now that I've seen it with my own eyes, I realize that he has arranged everything very reasonably, and it is in no way inferior to those big restaurants.

Jiang Qiqi admitted that her decision to hire Cheng Zixian last time was somewhat of a gamble, but she had to admit that she was lucky and made the right bet.

She noticed a group of people who had been standing by the wall for a while.

"Who are those people?"

Cheng Zixian beckoned them over: "Ninth Master, I've hired a waiter for our teahouse."

"Oh?" Jiang Qiqi glanced around and saw four boys and two girls, all of whom were quite young.

"What did you do before?" she asked.

"Reporting to Ninth Master, I used to work for a wealthy family, where I was responsible for cleaning the young master's room. Later, that family fell on hard times and I was sold off."

“I have many brothers and sisters in my family, and my parents really couldn’t afford to support me anymore, so they sold me out of slavery and made me fend for myself.”

The situations of most other people are similar to those of these two.

“Okay.” Since Jiang Qiqi had entrusted these matters to Cheng Zixian, she would not doubt his choice.

"I almost forgot." Jiang Qiqi pulled out Qi Yu, who had been silently following behind her, and introduced her to Cheng Zixian.

"This is Qi Yu. He just started working for me these past two days. But he's too young and too frail, so for now, let him help you out at the teahouse," Jiang Qiqi said.

“Alright.” Cheng Zixian readily agreed. “Brother Qi, my name is Cheng Zixian.”

"Brother Cheng," Qi Yu returned the greeting somewhat awkwardly, "I hope you will guide me in the future."

After they had finished chatting, Jiang Qiqi didn't forget to sign the contract. She had Cheng Zixian write out a contract exactly the same as his and showed it to Qi Yu.

Cheng Zixian counted down in his mind: "Five, four, three, two..."

"Five taels!!!" Qi Yu's exclamation came faster than he had expected.

Jiang Qiqi remained calm and simply nodded in response.

Qi Yu: “…”

I'm writing a book overnight to express my gratitude to my divine master!

……

"You said you had some minor details for me to finalize? What are they?" After walking around, Jiang Qiqi was very satisfied.

"It's like this, Ninth Master, we haven't decided on a tea supplier for our teahouse yet. We've asked several tea merchants, but they've all declined. Ninth Master, do you have any recommendations for shops?"

Cheng Zixian had just arrived in the capital and was not very familiar with the city's internal network of relationships.

"I'll ask around." Jiang Qiqi didn't have any connections either, but she could ask Shen Luo and the others.

Tea is the foundation of a teahouse and should be taken seriously.

“Ninth Master,” Qi Yu suddenly spoke up, “I can do something for you.”

"What?" Jiang Qiqi asked.

"I can handle the tea problem."

Jiang Qiqi became interested upon hearing this: "How do you plan to solve this?"

“Master, I heard that there is a tea city in Beiming Kingdom on the border with our Nanyue. The tea there is of excellent quality and inexpensive. If we could get the tea directly from there, wouldn’t that differentiate us from other teahouses in the capital?”

Jiang Qiqi had seen the location of the tea city in a book, but she gave up on it.

Firstly, she needed someone specifically to talk to the suppliers, and she didn't have anyone she could send out.

Secondly, for some reason, the people of this tea town almost never do business with merchants from Nanyue.

“I know where it is, but none of us can go,” Jiang Qiqi said.

“If you trust me, Master, I am willing to go,” Qi Yu said.

"You?" Jiang Qiqi was shocked. It wasn't that she didn't trust Qi Yu, but this child was only fifteen or sixteen years old, thin and small. He didn't look like the kind of reliable businessman that others would be willing to cooperate with.

Jiang Qiqi wanted to refuse outright, but seeing his confident eyes, she hesitated before saying anything.

She said, "Beiming Kingdom is not nearby, Qi Yu. You have no experience in business dealings before, so don't make assumptions."

She met Qi Yu's eyes and said, "How about this, I'll give you a chance. There's a tea shop called Qingming in the capital, the largest tea shop in the entire capital, and they have all kinds of tea. Go and negotiate with them. If you can successfully persuade them to buy all the tea from our tea shop for the first year, I'll allow you to go to Beiming on your own."

"Yes, master."