Chapter 37
Buying Shops

Song Wan lowered her eyes and said, “I understand.”

Jiang Xingjian felt a sense of relief, fearing that Song Wan might truly abandon the household and leave everything to Lin Jiayue.

The matter of managing the household was settled, and apart from Song Wan, only Lin Jiayue was dissatisfied with the outcome. She had many ideas, but if she were merely assisting Song Wan, wouldn’t all the credit go to Song Wan in the future?

With this thought, Lin Jiayue lost interest, but she knew she couldn’t rush things and had to proceed step by step with careful planning.

Thinking about how she had risen from a lowly concubine to an honored concubine in just a few days, Lin Jiayue smiled, her eyes full of joy.

“The household affairs are busy, so I’ll take my leave.” After paying her respects to the old madam and Mother Jiang, Song Wan left Fuhe Hall.

Lin Jiayue watched her back with a slight smile and was about to follow when Jiang Xingjian grabbed her.

As they left Fuhe Hall, Lin Jiayue blinked and asked, “Why are you holding me back?”

“The household affairs have established rules, and you don’t need to worry about them on a daily basis. Instead, you should focus on the shops outside the household.”

Jiang Xingjian held Lin Jiayue’s arm, his expression serious. “The capital given by Consort Jiang must be guaranteed to be profitable. Do you understand the importance of this?”

“Don’t worry, how could I not know?” Lin Jiayue raised her eyebrows and smiled, confidently holding Jiang Xingjian’s arm. “I’ve already decided what to do.”

“Do you know whose money is the easiest to earn in this world?”

“It’s women and children, so I want to open a cosmetics shop that will have everything from women’s clothing to jewelry. The money will flow in like water.”

Hearing this, Jiang Xingjian felt slightly relieved. “As long as you know what you’re doing. If you need, I can assign a few managers from the household to help you.”

“That would be good.”

Although Lin Jiayue wanted to gain control of the household, the task given by Consort Jiang was far more important. Therefore, she devoted all her energy to the business outside the household.

Song Wan was happy that Lin Jiayue was not hovering around her and continued to handle the household affairs as usual.

“Miss…” Nanny Zhao had just returned from the outer courtyard. Today, she went to see the wife of the steward of Song Wan’s dowry estate.

Although the woman was married, she still had some dowry properties and shops to manage, so there were always some stewards and maids running around to handle these matters.

“Nanny, you’re back?”

Nanny Zhao nodded and leaned in to speak softly, “Miss, the person from Xiu Yan Pavilion bought the shop you put under the eldest young master’s name a few days ago.”

“For how much?”

“12,000 taels of silver.”

“I don’t know what’s going on in the capital lately. Ever since you had the eldest young master start buying shops, the properties in the capital have suddenly become scarce. What used to cost four or five thousand taels now can’t even get you a place on the main street.”

“Is someone else buying properties?”

“Yes, but I couldn’t find out who. I only know the owner behind it has the surname Xiao.”

Song Wan frowned slightly, unable to think of any prominent family with the surname Xiao in the capital.

Unable to figure it out, she took the box Nanny Zhao handed her and casually looked through the silver notes inside. Besides the 12,000 taels from selling the shop, there were also earnings from the estate, totaling just over 13,000 taels.

“Wasn’t this money supposed to be sent to my brother?”

“The eldest young master said that you should keep it yourself, miss.”

“The eldest young master also said…”

Nanny Zhao paused for a moment. “The eldest young master said that you shouldn’t do such things in the future, as it will harm your relationship with the young master.”

Song Wan smiled faintly and said nothing. She took out her dowry list and pointed to the three shops she had recently purchased. “Which one was sold?”

“The one in the south of the city.”

“How did it increase in value so much in just half a month?”

She had bought the shop for just over four thousand taels, and in just a few days, its value had tripled, which was quite strange.

Nanny Zhao said, “I heard from Nanny Lang that the shopkeeper with the surname Xiao spread the word that he would buy properties in the capital at high prices the day after you started buying shops. The dowry shop you have now has increased to six or seven thousand taels. I don’t know which family with the surname Xiao inadvertently helped you.”

“Originally, when you quietly bought shops, people speculated that the prices would rise. Then this Mr. Xiao made a big fuss about buying at high prices, and those with properties didn’t dare to sell, fearing some new government policy.”

“Now, the whole capital is saying that property prices will soar in the future. If the eldest young master hadn’t seen that the Marquis’ residence couldn’t afford it if prices rose further, he wouldn’t have agreed to sell.”

Song Wan couldn’t help but laugh. “My brother cares about me.”

Nanny Zhao sighed. “The eldest young master was furious when he heard that Concubine Lin wanted to buy shops for business…”

Nanny Zhao was also angry about the chaos in the Marquis’ residence. If Jiang Xingjian hadn’t been so unfair, she wouldn’t have let Song Wan take such a risky step.

“If people find out that the shop was sold by you, it might cause other troubles.”

“It won’t.” She trusted her brother.

In just half a month, she had earned eight thousand taels of silver, and Song Wan was in a good mood. She gathered the silver notes and said, “Send this money to my brother and tell him I have more things to trouble him with.”

“Also, apart from the dowry shops given by the household, sell the other newly acquired ones while the prices are high.”

“Miss, aren’t you going to wait for the prices to rise further?”

Song Wan thought for a moment and shook her head. “If someone really wanted to buy shops, they wouldn’t make such a big fuss about it. It seems like this person is deliberately helping me.”

“Since it’s not stable, and I can’t manage so many shops, it’s better to sell them early.”

Nanny Zhao thought for a moment and agreed that her young lady made sense. She nodded, organized all the documents, and left with the box.

Heng Zhi was grinding ink nearby and whispered, “Consort Jiang gave Concubine Lin five thousand taels of silver, and the Marquis’ residence can only use thirty thousand taels at most. How could the first master agree to let Concubine Lin buy shops with so much money? Just one shop cost so much. Can this business really expand?”

Song Wan said, “Whether the shop is bought or not, it must be bought. Whether Lin Jiayue’s business can make as much money as she claims is yet to be seen, but the value of the shop won’t change. Jiang Xingjian bought this shop, and in the future, he will have to give it to Consort Jiang.”

“If Lin Jiayue can make money, that’s good. If not, this will be Lin Jiayue’s ransom money.”

Heng Zhi felt a surge of anger. Her young lady worked hard to save a few dozen taels for the Marquis’ residence, while Jiang Xingjian spent thousands of taels to clean up Lin Jiayue’s mess. How could this not make people angry?

“Miss…”

“Yes?” Song Wan looked up and saw Heng Zhi’s bright eyes.

“Concubine Lin wants to open a cosmetics shop, right? Why don’t you open one too and make it impossible for her to do business in the capital? She boasts so much. Let her taste the consequences of her words.”

Song Wan smiled. “Silly Heng Zhi, there’s no need to go to such trouble.”