After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

"Ji Yaozu, what did I tell you? Are you crazy? Do you even know how much money you owe them?"

Ji Wanwan was exasperated and wanted to slap Ji Yaozu, but looking at his bruised and battered face, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Ji Yaozu, knowing this, knelt down and grabbed her legs, pleading, "Sister, save me! I'm the only male heir in the Ji family. If I die, the Ji family line will end."

Ji Wanwan closed her eyes: "How many times have I told you? Don't gamble, don't gamble. If you keep gambling, you'll end up like our gambling-addicted uncle. Our Ji family was ruined because of him."

Ji Yaozu put on a shameless act, "Sister, you have to believe me, I was tricked by them."

Upon hearing this, the gambling den owner was displeased. He licked the blade, walked up to Ji Yaozu, and kicked him arrogantly.

"I lied to you? What did I lie to you about? I'm open for business, do you think I'd stop you from gambling? You're unlucky and bad at gambling, don't blame yourself, blame me!" The spit-covered dagger slapped Ji Yaozu's face. "A life for a life, a debt for a debt. Either pay back the money, or leave one hand here to be my slave. You can get out of here when you've paid off your debt."

Ji Wanwan couldn't bear to see Ji Yaozu being beaten, so she suppressed her fear and said, "Manager Yin, right? The money is negotiable. My brother will definitely pay it back."

"Are you his elder sister? You're going to pay off this ten thousand taels of silver for her? I, Yin Shisan, am very easy to talk to, especially with a beauty like you who still retains her charm." Yin Shisan reached out, but Ji Wanwan dodged his hand. Yin Shisan's expression changed drastically, and he said coldly, "Cash or banknotes are fine. If you really don't have those, jade or calligraphy and paintings will also do. The latter needs to be appraised by our local appraisers. We don't want fakes or things that are worthless."

"I--"

Ji Wanwan wanted to say she had no money and ask the shopkeeper to hold off, but Yin Shisan stopped her with his words.

"Judging from your clothes, you don't seem to be poor. This hairpin is worth at least a hundred taels. And this dress is worth at least two hundred taels."

“What kind of taste do you have? This hairpin of mine is from Yu Bao Zhai, and it’s worth five hundred taels. And this dress of mine is from Jinxiu Fang; the embroidery on this dress alone is worth two hundred taels.”

"So, Sister Ji is rich? Then hand over the money." Yin Shisan held out his hand, as if to say, "I won't let you go until you hand over the money."

Ji Wanwan avoided Yin Shisan's murderous gaze: "You know the Pingnan Marquis's Mansion, right? I am now the head of the mansion. Ten thousand taels is nothing."

"The Marquis of Pingnan's mansion?" The shopkeeper smiled enigmatically. "It is indeed very wealthy, but I seem to remember that the head of this mansion is surnamed Xie."

"Xie Chaoyun? She has already been rejected by the Marquis's mansion." Ji Wanwan said with an air of superiority: "From now on, I am the head of the Marquis's mansion."

"So it's Madam Ji. May I ask what your relationship is with Lord Lu? Why have you suddenly become the head of the household?"

"My elder sister is my brother-in-law's beloved!" Ji Yaozu couldn't help but say, "Not only that, my brother-in-law will also marry my elder sister and make her the head mistress of the Marquis's mansion. My two nephews will become the eldest daughter of the Marquis's mansion and the eldest son of the Marquis's mansion, inheriting the title of Marquis. If you don't want to offend the Marquis's mansion, you'd better release me quickly."

"So you're the future mistress of the Pingnan Marquis's mansion." The shopkeeper gave a forced smile. "Do you think I, Yin Shisan, am easily intimidated? I don't care what kind of damned Marquis's mansion you are. Here, paying back debts is a matter of course. Give me the money, and I'll let you out. If you can't give me the money, then you'll have to follow my rules."

Ji Yaozu was so frightened that he burst into tears, clinging to Ji Wanwan's leg and repeatedly calling her "elder sister." Ji Wanwan's head ached from hearing his calls, but she couldn't leave Ji Yaozu alone. Under Yin Shisan's persistent questioning, she promised to deliver the silver notes before dark.

Ji Wanwan left, and Yin Shisan wiped his face and went into the back room.

"Miss Amber, how do you think I did with this matter?"

Yin Shisan had a lover who, due to a family offense, had been demoted to a lowly status. To have her status removed, a special arrangement was needed. This was something no one else could handle, but the Xie family could. Amber used this to make a deal with Yin Shisan.

Ji Yaozu was a good-for-nothing to begin with. He was not only addicted to gambling but also frequented brothels. Because he had no money, he had been staying in low-class brothels for the past two weeks. Yin Shisan simply sent someone to mention to Ji Yaozu that Yongsheng's money was easy to win and deliberately left a bag of silver for him to pick up, and Ji Yaozu took the bait.

To save Ji Yaozu, Ji Wanwan pawned some of her jewelry, but it was far from enough. She wanted to take money from the storeroom, but upon opening the chests, she found only one contained gold and silver; the rest were all antiques and paintings. Considering she had just become the housekeeper and needed cash on hand, Ji Wanwan didn't dare touch the chest of silver. Instead, she found an excuse to trick Lu Huai into handing over the deeds to the shops.

The four shops sold for a total of 13,000 taels of silver. After returning 10,000 taels to the gambling den, the rest was used to rent a house for Ji Yaozu to recuperate, and to buy two maids and servants.

You don't know how expensive firewood and rice are until you go to the capital. Just renting a house and buying maids and servants cost a thousand taels of silver, and that was for a relatively remote house.

In Fangfei Courtyard, Amber handed the house deed to Lu Zhiyuan.

"Miss is amazing! How did you know that Ji Wanwan would sell the shop?"

"What other options does she have besides selling shops? Unlike my mother, she doesn't have as many businesses."

Lu Zhiyuan examined the property deeds in her hand; four shops, all in prime locations. Her scumbag father truly doted on Ji Wanwan, even giving her such good shops. It's just a pity that Ji Wanwan was so disappointing, squandering the wealth she had gained.

Liu Ying served tea, stared at the house deed in Lu Zhiyuan's hand for a while, and then belatedly realized, "Did Miss ask Madam to hand over the power to manage the household? Miss knew that the gambling den would send things over, and was afraid that the Marquis's mansion would put this debt on Madam. Miss is so smart, everything is under Miss's control."

"It's just a case of the Xie family using their influence to their advantage. If it weren't for the Xie family, Sister Amber wouldn't have been able to make this deal with Yin Shisan." Twisting the property deed in her hand, Lu Zhiyuan squinted and said, "The officials in the capital aren't just sitting idly by. There are some things we can't do ourselves. Yin Shisan is very good; he has connections in both the underworld and the criminal underworld. If this deal is done, there will be many more deals to be made later."

"Miss is going to do business with that Yin Shisan?" Liu Ying leaned closer. "I heard that man is ruthless! I also heard that there are many dead people buried under his gambling den. Even the gamblers are like mice in front of a cat when they see him."

凶？

Lu Zhiyuan had never met anyone more ruthless than her. Before transmigrating into the book, she was a notorious female demon in the underworld who killed without blinking an eye.

He handed the property deed to Amber: "I can't handle the shop matters myself, and it's not appropriate for the Xie family to handle them. Go find your eldest uncle and ask him to help me find a few trustworthy managers. I want to reopen these shops."

Amber took the property deed: "What does Miss want to do? Do you want to open a cosmetics shop, a jewelry shop, a general store, and a pawnshop, just like before?"

Lu Zhiyuan thought for a moment: "We want to open a rouge shop, but not the kind of rouge shop we used to have. We also need to change the business model of the jewelry shop, general store, and pawn shop. I haven't thought about the specifics yet. I'll discuss it with you in detail when I have."

"How would this servant know anything about business? You'll have to talk to the young master and madam about this. This servant is just a gofer." Amber smiled, pursing her lips. "This servant will go find the young master right away."