Yun Tutu carefully selected the top gift box and gently opened the lid. Inside lay a necklace of lustrous, silver-white pearls that seemed to glow like moonlight. “This is called ‘White Moonlight,’” she said, smiling. “See if you like it.” She remembered the shop assistant describing it just like that.

Lin Xi’s eyes were glued to the necklace. Every pearl was perfectly round and uniform in size—a rarity. The last time she had seen such quality good was on the Royal Princess, who had received it as a tribute from a foreign nation. It had made all the noblewomen envious.

“Do you know the value of this pearl necklace?” Liu Ziqi asked. She had many pieces of jewelry, but pearls were quite rare in her collection.

Lin Shan’s eyes narrowed slightly, realizing that this Yun Tutu was more resourceful than he had imagined. A necklace like this was usually a royal tribute, and judging by the number of boxes still unopened…

“This one is more expensive,” Yun Tutu replied. She wasn’t one to undervalue her goods unless the situation called for it.

“Miss Yun, just name your price,” Lin Shan said, glancing at his sister. He had already decided—no matter the cost, he would secure this necklace as a gift for his sister.

Yun Tutu thought for a moment and held up a hand, indicating a number. “At least this much.”

“Two hundred gold?” Liu Ziqi asked.

Yun Tutu looked at her hand again and nodded. “Two hundred it is.” Originally, she had meant to indicate twenty.

Come to think of it, the first deal was also for 200 gold. It seemed like she had sold her cosmetics too cheaply.

Lin Shan breathed a sigh of relief. He had expected the price to be closer to two thousand gold, as such a necklace could easily be worth tens of thousands. Necklaces of this quality were usually traded only among royals and nobility, never appearing in the open market.

Miss Yun was indeed generous—they had just secured an incredible deal.

Both sides were pleased, each worried the other might change their mind. With smiles all around, the transaction was sealed on the spot.

Lin Shan, still curious about the other items in the bags, asked, “What about the rest of these things…?”

“Take a look,” Yun Tutu replied, knowing that rare items carried more value. This time, she had only brought one sample of each product. She signaled to the maids to clear the tea and snacks from the table. As she opened each box, Liu Ziqi and the others found themselves captivated, wanting to claim everything.

With the necklace setting the tone, it was hard to haggle over the other items. After some back-and-forth adjustments, the collection of twenty-some boxes ended up forming a small mountain of gold in value.

By the time everything was tallied up, the total came to a staggering fifty thousand gold.

In today’s terms, that would be 5,000 jin (roughly 2,500 kg) of gold. Even though the purity of gold in this era wasn’t as high, making it slightly less valuable, it was still a considerable fortune.

Once the transaction was complete, Lin Xi instructed the maids and servants to pack everything into crates before bringing up another topic. “Now, about the formulas.”

Yun Tutu shook her head slightly. “I don’t have those formulas at the moment, but I can help you find them. However, the price will be much higher.”

Even though it was a different world, Yun Tutu knew that selling off formulas was akin to killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. She wasn’t too keen on the idea.

But as Song Song had pointed out, the disparity between the two worlds was immense. If she didn’t sell cosmetics, she could always switch to something else.

“No formulas at all?” Lin Shan was visibly disappointed. He had come with great sincerity today, even preparing ten thousand gold for the occasion.

“I do have the formula for making soap. Are you interested in that?”

“Absolutely!” Lin Yuan blurted out before Lin Shan could speak. His aunt had given him a bar of soap, and he had grown so accustomed to it that he couldn’t imagine life without it.

Hearing that it was the soap formula, Lin Shan was also pleased. Soap was a consumable product, and having the formula would allow them to open new revenue streams in their various stores.

---

Song Song chimed in excitedly in Yun Tutu’s mind, “You almost gave me a heart attack! I thought the deal wouldn’t go through because you forgot about the formula.”

“I could’ve provided those formulas myself,” Song Song continued. “Even though their production capabilities here are limited, they could still produce something effective.”

Yun Tutu responded internally, “You don’t understand the importance of steady profits. Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”

To harvest profits from a business, you needed finesse—you couldn’t just cut down the whole field.

After some back-and-forth negotiations, Yun Tutu realized what a true businessman Lin Shan was. The haggling over the formulas had drained her mentally.

The earlier deal for the pearl necklace had been a stroke of luck, but when it came to the formulas, Lin Shan’s bargaining skills were those of a seasoned merchant.

“Alright, it’s settled at 3,000 gold,” Yun Tutu concluded. “Shall we draw up a contract?”

Lin Shan nodded. Of course, they needed a formal agreement, especially when it concerned the family’s business interests.

Lin Shan personally wrote up the contract, and both parties signed it. Song Song immediately cheered in Yun Tutu’s mind, “The deal is done! Time to head back.”

After packing away the final profits into the crates, Yun Tutu politely declined their invitation to stay for dinner. She donned her safety helmet and disappeared from the courtyard in an instant.

“It truly is a miracle,” Lin Shan and his son exclaimed in unison.

“Little sister, Ziqi’s fortune truly is a blessing. You must maintain strict discipline in the household,” Lin Shan advised his sister. “Make sure you keep everyone in line.”

“Don’t worry,” Lin Xi replied, as she divided half of the goods and handed them to Lin Shan and Lin Yuan. “Take this back with you. You’ve borne most of the cost this time, so I’m just taking a little for myself.”

Lin Shan had given her and Ziqi each a pearl necklace earlier, so she couldn’t take too much more.

“And what about the Marquis?”

“He didn’t ask for anything specific, and I didn’t use any of the household’s funds this time. If the palace needs anything next time, he can pay for it with gold.”

In the meantime, Liu Fengning hurriedly led Liu Changqing to the estate physician. After a thorough examination, the physician confirmed that there was nothing physically wrong with Liu Changqing’s eyes. As to why his vision was blurred, the physician had no answers. He even suggested consulting an imperial physician, admitting that his own medical skills were limited.

Liu Changqing broke out in a cold sweat. If his eyes were truly damaged, what would become of him? Forget inheriting the marquisate—he wasn’t even sure if he’d be able to live a normal life.

“Father, my eyes were perfectly fine before! It must have been that woman!” Liu Changqing’s voice was filled with venom as he spoke. He didn’t know where that foreign woman had come from, but aside from her strange hair, she didn’t seem any different from them. He had originally planned to sample her charms, but now he wanted her dead.

“Calm down, Changqing. I’ll find a way to heal you,” Marquis Liu reassured him. He didn’t believe the woman had such powers. After all, they had been quite a distance apart, and he had been standing between them. If she had really poisoned him, he would have been the one affected.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions. It could just be temporary eye strain from reading too much. I’ll take you to the imperial physicians,” the marquis said.

Liu Changqing felt a bitter taste in his mouth. Reading? That was just the facade he used to maintain a good image in front of his father.