In the crowd, a young man and a young woman were kneeling on the ground, with a corpse wrapped in a mat lying beside them.

On the ground, four characters were written: “Selling oneself to bury a mother.”

Li Zhiyue couldn’t help but sigh deeply.

The Great Wei Kingdom had been around for two hundred years, and it had entered the late years of its dynasty.

In such a period, the greatest conflict was over land.

The rich owned millions of acres of land, while the poor had no place to bury their parents.

They had only two choices: either bury their relatives in a mass grave, turning it into a wild tomb, or sell their bodies to bury their parents, seeking a resting place for their family.

“Selling oneself to bury my mother, it’s me who is selling!” The young man said angrily. “My sister won’t sell herself!”

“Even in such dire straits, you’re still holding on to your chastity?”

“You look like a good woman. Why not come work in my house as a bed warmer? Then both of you will have a future.”

“Two taels of silver, I’ll take it!”

As soon as the words were spoken, the man stepped forward to grab the young woman’s wrist.

The young woman didn’t struggle much and whispered to her brother, “Take the silver and bury mother properly. Don’t worry about me, I…”

“No, sister, you can’t go!” The young man rushed toward the man, “Let go of my sister! I said my sister won’t sell herself, let go of her!”

The conflict between the two sides was about to erupt.

Li Zhiyue squeezed through the crowd and coldly said, “In broad daylight, under the Emperor’s rule, how can anyone dare to kidnap a commoner on the street?”

The man turned around, about to curse at the person interfering, but when he saw Li Zhiyue and Bai Ruzhu’s attire, his words caught in his throat.

The two women had just come out of the Grand Princess’ residence, and it was obvious from their luxurious appearance that they came from a rich and noble family.

The man didn’t dare to utter a sound and fled in a hurry.

Li Zhiyue took out some silver from her sleeve and handed it over. “This silver should be enough for your mother’s burial. After you’ve buried her, you two come to the Xiangyang Marquis’ residence to see me.”

The young man pursed his lips. “My sister won’t…”

“I know, she won’t sell herself.” Li Zhiyue interrupted him before he could finish, “You two rely on each other, and now that your mother is gone, if you sell yourself and leave, you’ll leave your sister alone at home. Don’t you think someone will have improper intentions? I’ll just buy you. Your sister can work for me as a servant. How about it?”

The young woman hurriedly kowtowed. “Thank you, Miss, for saving our lives. We, the siblings, are willing to follow you!”

The siblings took the silver and carried their deceased mother’s body to the outskirts of the city for burial.

Bai Ruzhu sighed. “This is the capital, yet life is this hard for the common people. Other places must be even worse.”

Li Zhiyue didn’t know what to say.

She suddenly thought about everything in the modern world.

She came from a divorced family, with parents who each remarried and had new children.

Every few months, her parents would drop everything to spend a day with her—going to an amusement park, climbing a mountain, or going to the library.

As a child, she eagerly looked forward to these days, but as she grew older, she became more reluctant to spend time with her parents, as they always passed on responsibilities to each other.

Her tuition fees, medical bills, and living expenses were a huge burden on them.

She never really established a close relationship with her parents.

After she started working, it became difficult to contact them, sometimes not even once in half a year.

Now that she had transmigrated into this book, she couldn’t help but wonder what her parents might be feeling.

“Yue Niang, what’s wrong?”

Noticing her daughter’s mood, Bai Ruzhu asked softly.

Li Zhiyue lifted her head. “I suddenly feel a little lucky.”

Although she was unfortunate to have transmigrated, she was fortunate to have such a family.

..

Back at the Marquis’ residence, Li Zhiyue suddenly remembered that Jiang Yan had hurriedly left the banquet without returning the bracelet.

She immediately sent someone to the Xuanping Marquis’ residence to retrieve it.

Anything that belonged to her, she had to take back—she wouldn’t let others benefit.

Next, she turned her attention to the reopening of the tea house.

Li Zhiyue took the siblings to the Li family Tea House.

The older sister, Qiao Jia, was sixteen years old, and the younger brother, Qiao Mu, was fourteen.

They followed Li Zhiyue, heads lowered, too afraid to look around.

After burying their mother the night before, they reported to the Xiangyang Marquis’ residence.

The housekeeper had them settled, each in their own room with new bedding and meals they had never seen before.

Everything here was too good, making the two of them uneasy, thinking that the Marquis’ residence had some ulterior motive.

They never expected that the young lady would bring them to the tea house.

Li Zhiyue stepped inside.

The tea house had three floors, making it relatively large, but its business was extremely poor. There wasn’t a single customer.

The shopkeeper was counting beads, and the waiter, likely bored, was polishing the tables until they nearly reflected his image.

Upon seeing Li Zhiyue enter, the shopkeeper jumped up and quickly walked out. “Greetings, Miss!”

His face visibly fell.

In the past six months, the tea house’s business had worsened.

Originally, there had been a dozen workers, but now there were only two, and they had nothing to do.

The shopkeeper knew that the Marquis’ residence probably didn’t intend to keep the tea house and that they had probably arranged for the young lady to take over and sell it.

The shopkeeper sighed heavily. “Please have a seat, Miss. I’ll prepare the tea.”

The waiter was so despairing that he almost cried.

The shopkeeper was a family-born servant of the Marquis’ residence, but he was just a temporary worker. If the tea house closed, he’d be out of work.

He had a family to support, and his meager wages were their only source of income.

He didn’t know where his future lay, and his entire body slumped in despair.

Li Zhiyue sipped her tea and said, “Our tea house has fine teas like Biluochun, Maojian, and Silver Needle. Any other tea house can have them. To attract customers and make money, we need to introduce new products…”

“Yes, I’ll arrange to sell the tea house… What?” The shopkeeper’s eyes widened. “New… new products?”

Wasn’t the young lady here to sell the tea house?

Why was she suddenly talking about new products?

So, the Marquis’ residence hadn’t given up on running the tea house!

The shopkeeper was overjoyed. “Please, Miss, continue. I’m listening.”

Li Zhiyue smiled and said, “Aunt Zhang, Qiuer, bring the pearl milk tea you made over, one cup for each person.”

One cup after another of milk tea was served, with the fragrance of tea and milk filling the air.

The shopkeeper, who was an expert in tea brewing, had never seen such a combination of tea and milk before.

It seemed a bit absurd.

But seeing the young lady watching him, he could only lower his head and reluctantly taste a small sip.

He struggled to swallow the milk tea. “It’s… too sweet.”

Li Zhiyue understood.

After all, milk tea wasn’t for everyone.

It’s normal that someone of the shopkeeper’s age, who loved tea, would find it hard to get used to the sweetness of milk tea.

Except for the shopkeeper, everyone else present showed expressions of amazement.

They drank the milk tea in one go and slowly savored the black pearls at the bottom.