A peasant girl travels through time with a hospital, rising to become an empress.

Nie Qianqian smiled and said to Grandma Ma, "Grandma Ma, I'm glad you like it. If you want to pick something else, you can go shopping with my mother again."

Grandma Ma was never one to be coy. Although she was deeply moved, she didn't show her emotions much in front of others. She nodded and, together with Liu Yan, plunged back into the pile of clothes to pick through them.

Jiang Botao witnessed all of this, and after today's events, he gained a deeper understanding of Nie Qianqian.

This girl is quick-witted, resourceful, and strong-willed. She would never tolerate injustice. Take today's incident, for example; even if he hadn't stepped in to help, Nie Qianqian certainly wouldn't have let Zhao Jiaojiao get away with it so easily. Moreover, she's a loyal and devoted person, genuinely good to her family and Grandma Ma.

Jiang Botao thought to himself, "This kind of partner is extremely rare. He values ​​relationships and won't just be focused on money. If we treat each other with sincerity and work together, we're sure to make a lot of money together in the future."

Thinking of this, Jiang Botao brought up the business matter they had discussed last time: "Madam Nie, we talked about doing business with women last time. I wonder if you have any ideas now? When can we start this?"

Nie Qianqian has been busy searching for the jade pendant and learning martial arts lately. Although she's kept this matter in mind, she hasn't had time to properly think about it. Right now, the most important thing is to handle the Guangjuxuan matter properly, taking it one step at a time. She needs to get Guangjuxuan in order first, and only when things are stable there can she fully devote herself to the new business with Jiang Botao.

However, although we can't focus all our energy on it right now, we can't neglect the preliminary preparations. Making plans early will allow us to open for business and make money sooner.

She pondered for a moment and said to Jiang Botao, "There are so many tricks to this women's business. Makeup powder, rouge, face powder, lip rouge—we can sell anything that makes women beautiful. However, deciding exactly what to sell, from researching the market to developing products, will take a lot of thought and time. I think we can start by choosing a shop location. Mr. Jiang has extensive connections and influence in Qinghe County; finding a suitable shop shouldn't be difficult for him."

Nie Qianqian knew she couldn't tell Jiang Botao that she hadn't had time to think about it yet. She would just say that it was complicated and couldn't be resolved in a few days. This way, she could make the product seem valuable, highlight her own role, and have more weight in future business dealings.

After a pause, Nie Qianqian continued to explain her requirements for the shop in a logical and organized manner: "The shop must be located in the busiest part of the county town. It should be at least 200 square meters in size, with a spacious layout, preferably three or four rooms, so that there can be more goods on display and it will look lively to customers. Ideally, it should be two stories, with the first floor for selling goods and the second floor for other purposes."

Jiang Botao listened attentively and kept everything Nie Qianqian said in mind.

“Finding a shop is only the first step,” Nie Qianqian said, her eyes sparkling. “Once we find a shop, we need to renovate it. The lighting needs to be good; we need to install several large windows to make the shop bright and airy so customers can see the makeup effects better. We’re in the business of making people beautiful, so we need a dedicated makeup trial area where customers can try out our products. This area needs to be elegant; we should have a few makeup artists as staff, and some gleaming bronze mirrors so female customers can clearly see how they look with makeup. This way, when customers buy things, they can more intuitively experience whether our products are good or not.”

"At the entrance of the shop, set up a display stand, lay out silk, put the most popular cosmetics on it, and add some pretty silk flowers and small aromatherapy items as decorations to attract customers into the shop."

Nie Qianqian briefly shared a few ideas for the renovation. She knew that renovation was a meticulous task, and to make it stand out from other cosmetic shops and attract customers, she needed to put in a lot of thought. Even with just a few casual words, Jiang Botao was already engrossed, inwardly marveling at how brilliant these ideas were.

"Madam Nie really has a good idea!" Jiang Botao couldn't help but praise.

Nie Qianqian smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Jiang, you can just call me Qianqian. The shop's decoration still needs to be planned carefully. I'll draw up some decoration drawings in a few days, and then we can discuss it properly with Mr. Jiang."

"Qianqian can draw?" Jiang Botao was a little surprised.

Nie Qianqian waved her hand and said, "How could I know how? But my husband definitely does."

Jiang Botao thought of Gu Xiao; the man did indeed seem to be proficient in all the arts, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Jiang Botao was focused on his business and hadn't given it much thought; how could a village scholar possibly know everything?

After a while, Liu Yan and Huang Zhenzhu finished picking out clothes and piled them all in Liu Xiong's arms. Liu Xiong was almost completely covered by the clothes. He was pursing his lips, looking unwilling. Nie Qianqian couldn't help but laugh when she saw this. Looking at her uncle like this, she was reminded of those men at the market who were dragged around by their wives carrying things, looking helpless.

Jiang Botao quickly had someone take the clothes that Liu Xiong was holding and count them to settle the accounts.

In total, they bought eleven pieces of clothing. Liu Yan bought seven: two for Nie Qianqian and two for Gu Xiao, two for Tuantuan, and one for herself. Huang Zhenzhu bought five: two for Liu Xiong, one for Tiedan, and one for herself. Grandma Ma, who was short of money, only bought one, intending to save it for Da Ma's wedding.

Nie Qianqian was thinking about Guangjuxuan, and Jiang Botao also needed to ask Manager Hu about the business situation of Jinxiuge. Since both of them had things to do, they agreed to meet again in seven days to discuss the cosmetics shop.

Before leaving, Nie Qianqian thanked Jiang Botao again and said to Manager Hu, "Thank you also for following the rules and not listening to that Miss Zhao's nonsense. Just now, I saw how well Manager Hu managed the shop; you're clearly an expert in business!"

Manager Hu was surprised that Nie Qianqian would praise and thank him to his face. Since his new employer was also there, this was a great honor for him in front of the new employer. He quickly cupped his hands and said, "Madam Nie, you are too kind. It is what I should do."

After leaving Jinxiu Pavilion, Nie Qianqian led everyone to stroll around Shizi Street again, buying some New Year's goods. Nie Qianqian had a thousand taels of silver in her pocket, so she was quite well-off and bought things without hesitation. Liu Xiong's family, on the other hand, only bought some daily necessities.

Nie Qianqian even bought a jade hairpin for Liu Yan and Huang Zhenzhu. These hairpins weren't cheap; the two together cost 10 taels of silver. Huang Zhenzhu clicked her tongue when she saw the price and quickly declined. But Nie Qianqian had already paid and simply stuffed the hairpins into her arms.

The hairpin, costing five taels of silver, felt heavy even in Huang Zhenzhu's hand. She wondered if it would be even heavier to wear on her head. Before she could figure it out, Nie Qianqian had already inserted the hairpin into her hair and then picked up a bronze mirror for her and Liu Yan to see.

After spending a lot of time together, Nie Qianqian had figured out Huang Zhenzhu's temperament.

Huang Zhenzhu is strong-willed and a capable homemaker. Occasionally, she has a few ulterior motives, like wanting her family to do the house construction so she could earn some extra money, but these are all perfectly normal human feelings. When it comes to important matters, she is decisive and won't interfere blindly.

She had a fiery temper than Liu Yan. When Liu Yan first divorced, some villagers gossiped behind her back, and Huang Zhenzhu was always the one who rolled up her sleeves and confronted them. Despite her outwardly fiery personality, she was actually quite soft-hearted, just like Liu Yan. Previously, when Liu Xiong sent money to Nie Qianqian and her daughter for financial assistance, Huang Zhenzhu always readily agreed. Most importantly, Huang Zhenzhu was genuinely good to Liu Xiong, always putting her husband first and making their life together very prosperous.

Nie Qianqian felt that such an aunt was already very rare; there was no such thing as a perfect relative.

With the jade hairpin on her head, Huang Zhenzhu felt her head was heavy, but the hairpin was so beautiful that she couldn't help but raise her hand to touch it.

Looking at the hairpin in her hair, Liu Yan also felt it was too expensive and that she didn't deserve to wear such a nice thing. She said, "Qianqian, such a nice hairpin is not suitable for your mother. It's too expensive!"

Nie Qianqian, who had been smiling, immediately stopped smiling upon hearing this. Looking into Liu Yan's eyes, she said earnestly, "Why isn't it suitable? Mother, just now at Jinxiu Pavilion, that Miss Zhao looked down on country folk, thinking we weren't worthy to buy things there. We can't control what others say, but we can't take those words to heart. This world divides people into different classes, but in my heart, Mother is the most important person, the most precious. It's not about whether you're worthy or not, but whether you can afford it. Mother, you deserve all the good things in this world..."