Facing the skeptical looks from his clan members, Lu Xingyao suddenly found the pastries in his mouth losing their sweetness. With a sigh, he put down the remaining pastries, pushing them towards the others.

The clan members exchanged glances, confused by his actions. When they saw his expression—one of feigned grievance—they were immediately irritated. Does this young master think we’ll feel sorry for him if he pretends to be pitiful?

With gritted teeth, they quickly divided up the remaining pastries among themselves, not leaving even a crumb for Lu Xingyao. After all, he already had the ancestor’s gifted gloves and scarf—what did he need more pastries for?

Seeing that they didn’t leave him a single piece, Lu Xingyao felt a pang of regret. Is this what family is supposed to be like?

On the other side, Gu Xingzhao, who had been quietly scrolling through her phone, noticed the commotion. She looked over to see the fair-skinned young master gazing pitifully at the now-empty plate, as if he couldn’t compete with the burly men around him.

Lu Xingyao was clearly faking his misery, but Gu Xingzhao decided to indulge him. She reached into her bag, pulled out another pack of pastries, and sent them directly to Lu Xingyao.

When another set of pastries suddenly appeared before Lu Xingyao, the others instantly noticed.

“?”

“???”

“!!!”

What? Why is the ancestor giving him more pastries?

Lu Xingyao cleared his throat, picked up the pastries, and began eating them while glancing at the others. See? It’s not that I want to hog the ancestor’s gifts; it’s just that the ancestor cares about me.

The others could only stare in silence, realizing that Lu Xingyao had deliberately acted pitiful to gain the ancestor’s sympathy. This guy is too cunning!

They seethed with frustration, but unfortunately, they didn’t have the shamelessness to pull off such a trick themselves.

Resting her chin in her hand, Gu Xingzhao watched the scene with a smile. Of course I know he’s pretending, but as long as he’s willing to put in the effort for me, it’s fine. Besides, it’s just some snacks—let the kid enjoy them.

Meanwhile, with the support of the Xu family, He Zhen’s shop was up and running in no time. Thanks to the spectacular fireworks display on the night of the Lantern Festival, customers flooded in—some out of curiosity, others from rival businesses hoping to buy and reverse-engineer the products.

After tallying the sales for the day, He Zhen set aside one-third of the profits to exchange for gold and jewelry from the Xu family, placing them in the designated room.

At the same time, Gu Xingzhao was balancing her accounts and considering renting a larger space to expand her supermarket. She planned to hire more staff as well, especially since there were plenty of small supermarkets in town but very few large ones.

The city had been pushing tourism in recent years to boost consumption, and the town’s quaint, traditional architecture made it a perfect fit. If she could open a large supermarket with a unique flair, it could attract tourists from outside the area.

Glancing at her phone, she saw that she had about 800,000 yuan at her disposal. While it seemed like a lot, it was still not enough for her plans.

She considered selling the items she had stored from Yu Heng, but they were in poor condition and likely wouldn’t fetch much.

Just then, He Zhen’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Goddess, are you there?”

“I’m here,” Gu Xingzhao replied, putting down her phone. “What’s up?”

He Zhen explained, “The batch of fireworks you sent has already sold out. I’ve taken one-third of the profits and used it to buy some gold and jewelry from the Xu family, which I’ve placed in your room along with the account book. Please take a look.”

Gu Xingzhao was surprised. She had sent over a large quantity of fireworks, and although they had been a hit during the Lantern Festival, it had been less than a week. How could they have sold out so quickly?

She remembered that He Zhen had priced the fireworks quite high. It seems there really are a lot of wealthy people in the capital.

“Alright, I’ll send over another batch tomorrow,” she said.

The success of the fireworks meant more income for Gu Xingzhao, which was excellent news.

She immediately traveled to the ancient world, where He Zhen had packed everything into a large chest. When she opened it, the dazzling array of gold and jewels nearly blinded her.

This batch was far more valuable than what Yu Heng had given her before.

Realizing that He Zhen had bought these from the Xu family, Gu Xingzhao couldn’t help but marvel, “The Xu family is really something… They’re loaded.”

But she wondered, If I sell these to Xu Shisan, would it be considered the Xu family buying back their own goods?

Not wanting to dwell on the irony, she skimmed through the account book before transferring everything back to the modern world.

He Zhen had carefully chosen mostly gold items, with a few jade pieces mixed in. Despite the passage of time, only a few pieces were damaged and needed restoration.

Gu Xingzhao set aside the valuable but damaged items in her warehouse, and placed the remaining dozen or so pieces on the ground. She also brought out the items Yu Heng had given her that still needed repairs, snapped a picture, and sent it to Xu Shisan, hoping to add some funds to her business plan.

When Xu Shisan received the message, he was scrolling through videos in the bathroom. The WeChat notification made him nearly jump off the toilet.

I knew it! I knew it! It wasn’t just my imagination last time—look, she actually contacted me first!

He excitedly opened the message, and when he saw the picture, he really did jump up. “Oh my God!”

What on earth does Gu Xingzhao do? Where did she get so many ancient artifacts? And she wants to sell them all!?

What puzzled him even more was that she had just laid them out on the floor. Anyone else would be handling these with extreme care.

After the initial excitement, Xu Shisan frowned and quickly typed: “Are you in need of money?”

Could she be in some kind of trouble?

Gu Xingzhao quickly replied: “Yes, are you interested?”

Xu Shisan stared at the photos for a long time. It was hard to tell.

This was a lot more valuable than the previous items, so he couldn’t just throw out a price like before. His parents and grandfather might not be around anymore, but if his uncle found out he undervalued these, he’d be in serious trouble.

After some thought, Xu Shisan replied cautiously: “There’s a lot here. I’ll need to see them in person.”

Looking down at the items scattered on the floor, Gu Xingzhao hesitated. There were so many, and she wasn’t sure how to protect them. If they got damaged during transport, it would be a big problem.

After a moment of consideration, she sent another message: “Can you come to my house? I don’t have proper protection for these, and I’m worried they’ll get damaged in transit.”

“!!!”

Xu Shisan’s eyes lit up. He quickly pulled up his pants, dashed out of the bathroom, and began tearing through his wardrobe, trying on clothes in front of the mirror.

Who understands this joy? Gu Xingzhao actually invited me to her house!

If you think about it, isn’t this basically like giving me the jade pendant! ?