For the next two days, Xie Wan had Wu Xing familiarize himself with the affairs of the second house, and on the third day, he invited him to enter the Baoxue Hall.

  "We currently have only six shops in our hands, one of which is still under preparation. However, we are currently short-handed. The person who used to help me manage the shop went out on business. Mr. Cheng just arrived and for now, he's helping me take care of all the accounts in the shop. Once he gets familiar with things, I'll assign other tasks to him."

  Cheng Yuan nodded and took over the account book she handed over, flipping through it. After just two glances, he bowed his head and retreated out of the room.

  On Qixi Festival day, Luo Yu and his friends finally returned.

  Xie Wan dropped her half-eaten meal and rushed to Li Zi Hutong.

  Three people were dusty and exhausted, even covered in sweat, but the joy on their faces couldn't be hidden by the dust.

  "Miss, it's done!" Luo Ju exclaimed loudly as soon as he entered the door.

  Xie Wan heard this and suddenly felt a weight lift off her mind.

  Luo Ju took a sip of tea and said, "This time things went very smoothly. On the day we arrived in Cangzhou, Ning Er Ye had his sworn brother invite Tian Kuai over because there was an acquaintance who made the introduction, so it didn't take much trouble at all. According to the agreed-upon price, they paid the deposit and then Tian Kuai's master brought Luo Ju and Qian Zhuang to sign the contract in the middle of the room and handed over the token. Miss, look!"

  Xie Wan took over the plaque with a dragon head mark handed over by him and smiled: "You've all worked hard."

  "I told you so!" Ning Da'er said with a pleased expression, his voice loud enough to be heard on the main street: "From now on, just come find me for these kinds of things!"

  Qian Zhuangshun swiftly picked up a fruit from the table and threw it into his mouth, rendering him speechless.

  Everyone burst out laughing.

  Xie Wan's heart felt a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. She immediately ordered someone to book a table at Chunyan Zhuang across the street and treat the three of them to a feast as a special reward.

  Ning Daier was boasting on the seat, and every time he saw Xie Wan's cold gaze, he couldn't help but lower his voice. But before long, he would rise again with everyone's language and emotions.

  As long as he doesn't harm others, Xie Wan is too lazy to bother with him. However, since this matter has finally been settled, she's also happy and accompanied him in drinking a few cups.

  After dinner, Xie Wan took Qian Zhuang and Luo Ju back to the mansion.

  Ning Da's face fell as he pointed at his own nose and said, "What about me?"

  Qian Zhuang slanted his eyes and stroked the soft knife at his waist: "Do you want me to send you back?"

  Ning Da'er was taken aback and fell silent at once.

  Xie Wan thought for a moment and said to Luo Sheng: "Give Gongzi twenty taels of silver as carriage fare."

  "What do you want my money for? I'm not short of money!" Ning Dabai straightened his waist as soon as he heard that he was being bought off. Xie Wan looked at him silently, and his momentum was once again extinguished. He muttered to himself: "I'm not willing to help with just anyone's business." After finishing speaking, he flipped over onto the horse and galloped far away.

  Xie Wan smiled and ignored him, going straight back to the mansion.

  Qian Zhuang returned to his room to wash up and took a short rest. He came back to Xie Wan's side in the late afternoon, only to find Cheng Yuan discussing accounts with Xie Wan, both of them looking stunned.

  Xie Wan took the opportunity to introduce each other to each other.

  After Cheng Yuan took over the shop's accounts, Luo Ju could finally extricate herself. With the grain boat matter settled, she had to immediately head south to purchase rice and grains, a task that only she could undertake, as she didn't trust anyone else with it.

  Luo Ju set out three days later, and Xie Wan sent Shen Tian to accompany him.

  Qian Zhuang couldn't follow him this time, his main job was to protect Xie Wan's safety.

  However, as time goes by, there will be more opportunities for them to go out and handle things on their own. In this way, going out alone is inevitable to have accidents. So she feels that the people around her are getting fewer and fewer.

  If there were seven or eight bodyguards like Qian Zhuang around her, it would be much safer to do things. With her current ability, she can't afford to hire a guard. But if she really did that, it would be too eye-catching. She is now living in the Xie Mansion, with ready-made guards for protection. Why does she need her own bodyguards?

  No need to say more, I would be targeted by Wang first.

  The Xie residence was never meant to be a long-term dwelling. Once the rice shop opens, the frequency of people coming and going will increase. Originally, she had planned to wait until Xie Liang went to the capital before making plans to move out. But now it seems that in order to successfully avoid detection, they may not be able to wait that long. However, she didn't know where to move to, Huangshi Town was comfortable but unfortunately too far and inconvenient for travel.

  It's really difficult. She plans to wait until the rice shop is on track before thinking of a way to deal with this matter.

  Lu Ji went to Jiangzhe, and she took the maps of Qingyang Prefecture and Hejian Prefecture to study for two days.

  When Cheng Yun came in again, she said: "What does Mr. Cheng think about the location of the rice shop?"

  Cheng Yuan was silent for a moment, then said: "Three is close to the main road, two is close to the bustling city, one is close to the vegetable market. All three have their pros and cons. It all depends on the maiden's inner world."

  Xie Wan slightly raised her lips and smiled, "Alright, you can go now."

  "Deqiong walked away, and she called Luo Sheng: 'The most marketable place in Hejian Prefecture is naturally the area around the prefecture, but the most marketable place for opening a rice shop under the sky is actually the capital. You take two days to go to the hutongs near Xueyuan Street in Shuntian Prefecture, Beijing, and find a ready-made vegetable and rice shop to rent. It's best if it's a small courtyard with a front shop and a back house.'"

  Luo Sheng heard that she had actually opened the rice shop directly in the capital, and it was near the Imperial Academy. He couldn't help but be stunned: "Didn't Master Cheng say it was going to be opened near the vegetable market?"

  Xie Wan raised her lips and said: "That's because in his heart, my universe is only as big as a vegetable market."

  Luo Ju was speechless and set off immediately for the capital.

  Xie Wan is preparing a reply letter for Zhao Zhen to take with him on his way.

  Zao Zhen recently sent another letter, Xie Rong indeed seems to have the idea of marrying into the Wei family, but Wei Cen is not currently in the mansion, and Qi Shi, the wife of Wei Bin, also does not seem to support this marriage. Although Xie Wei is outstanding, among the many noble ladies who have interacted with the Wei family, she is not one-of-a-kind, so the current success rate is extremely low.

  Xie Wan's sudden decision to open a store in Beijing was also because of this letter.

  Although Lady Wei loved her young son dearly and was unwilling to arrange a marriage for him lightly, after all, both parties were still young, and as time went on, it would be hard to guarantee that nothing would happen.

  She needs to get a good sense of Xie Rong's movements, so she can't help but often go to the capital. It's absolutely impossible to rely solely on Zhao Zhen to pass on messages. She can't put all her eggs in one basket, what if something unexpected happens at Zhao Zhen's place? For example, if Xie Rong discovers it and takes countermeasures, wouldn't her entire information network be completely paralyzed?

  So, to play it safe, not only do we need to expand her social circle, but also solve the problem of her long-term accommodation. Always staying in hotels is too conspicuous. Having a place of one's own is much better, first, there's a legitimate reason for coming and going, second, they're all our own people, so we don't have to worry about being watched.

  Nowadays, most households in the capital no longer have good fields. Especially those aristocratic and powerful families, because the imperial court has stopped granting land benefits, their food sources are almost all dependent on buying rice.

  Shuntian Prefecture is either a government office or a noble residence. Opening a rice shop there, can't worry about food and drink? Although the land price is expensive, the current trend is that the rice price will only rise and not fall.

  What's more, there will be several inevitable natural disasters in the future. She clearly remembered that in the tenth year of Qingping, the price of rice was only 100 coins per stone, and by the fourteenth year of Qingping, the price had risen to 150 coins per stone. After several natural disasters, by the twentieth year of Qingping, it had reached 300 coins per stone. Many ordinary people at that time had switched to eating millet instead.

  Nature. This is also because Xie Wan has the opportunity to relive history, so she can bear to invest. Now those businessmen who were affected by the wind of expanding Lin at the beginning of the year are still observing, even if they have a keen sense of touch?

  Things are on track now. Xie Wan spends more time walking around in the inner house.

  Xie Hu has recently been engaged in a marriage, the bride is the eldest daughter of Zhang's family who runs an oil mill in the north of the county. She hasn't read any books. However, Mrs. Zhang has been bedridden with illness for several years, and it was this Miss Zhang who took charge of household chores. It is said that after both families met, they were quite satisfied. They have already exchanged betrothal gifts and are now waiting for the auspicious day to be fixed.

  This is a wedding in the Xie family, and everyone's spirits are high. Recently, all they've been talking about is this matter. Although it doesn't concern Xie Wan directly, since she'll also have to take charge of Xie Liang's future marriage, it's good for her to listen in from the side.

  Wang was good at disguising herself, even if she hated Xie Wan so much that her teeth were itchy, but when facing her, she was still polite and courteous. Xie Wan was content with the situation, enjoying the rare fruits and pastries she had collected from various places in the upper house. Underneath the seemingly harmonious surface of the household, the hidden undercurrents and turbulent waves were invisible.

  Xie Qi and Ren Yu were getting along great. Although sometimes it was clear that he was annoyed with her, he had never explicitly expressed his refusal.

  It was roughly because of Xie Huai's marriage that the young men and women in the mansion began to have a strange feeling about the word "marriage". So even Xie Liang saw through the situation between Xie Ren and his wife.

  While having dinner, he revealed a gossipy face to Xie Wan and said: "Have you noticed that Qisister seems to like being with Junge together? Did she really intentionally take away that jade piece back then?"

  "How would I know." Xie Wan was too lazy to discuss these with a bookworm.

  Xie Qi's boldness is obviously due to the Rens' family background, Xie Wan has never had feelings for anyone, but even so, she can't imagine that because of vanity, she would persist in trying to please someone like this, wouldn't it be painful? If one day the Rens became penniless and poor, would she still chase after Ren Yun, disguising herself according to his preferences?

  She always felt that romance was too far away from her, and men in the world were either unconnected to her or had no fate with her.

  So in this life she never had any expectations for that aspect and always put her energy into how to avoid the suffering of past lives.

  However, she forgot that she still had an older brother. Seeing her so carefree, Xie Ceng didn't think the same way as her.

  "Wanwan, actually I think you are stronger than any of them. In the future, you will definitely meet a husband who is to your liking."

  Xie Wan didn't expect him to suddenly mention this, although she hadn't experienced such things before, but it wasn't enough to make her blush. She knew that her brother was saying this because he saw that everyone's attention was not on Xie Wan, but rather on Xie Qi, and his own sister was being ignored, which made him feel sad.

  She said: "Who knows what will happen in the future? I'm still so young."

  Xie Lang patted her hand and didn't say anything else.

  ps: Thanks ne7's pame for the fragrant sachet~~~~Thanks to the plain treasure, crispy small potato chips' safe charm~~~~Thanks to the peach blossom fan of Yiyang, love you all~!Mo Yi Ran 66, ee88, Feng Mi Xiao Zhen, Tian Ma Ye Neng Xing Kong, mezhaojingj's pink ticket~~~Thank you thank you~