Madam Zhen silently gritted her teeth.

In the past, whenever she came to the door, the Marquis would always help her willingly.

But this time, he sent her to see the Marquis’s wife instead.

It must have been the Marquis’s wife whispering sweet nothings into his ear that made him so distant toward her now.

Lowering her head, she hesitated and stammered, “These past two days, the ice blocks sent from the Marquis’s residence to Osmanthus Alley were half the usual amount. I wonder if the lady misunderstood something between the Marquis and me, so that’s why she treated me this way…”

“My wife isn’t that narrow-minded,” Li Suifeng said calmly.

He had planned to tell the steward to give Madam Zhen a few more ice blocks, but suddenly he remembered the cup of milk tea he had just drunk.

Yue Niang worked hard managing the household and cutting expenses everywhere, yet he was lavishly spending what Yue Niang saved on outsiders.

Was that appropriate?

“The Marquis’s residence is running a deficit, and recently we have been cutting costs,” Li Suifeng paused, “The amount of ice we use has been halved too. It’s not that we’re deliberately treating sister-in-law harshly.”

Madam Zhen simply didn’t believe him.

The Li family of the Marquis of Xiangyang was a century-old noble family.

Their ancestors had been high officials; the great-grandfather had saved the late emperor and was thus ennobled.

With such a vast fortune accumulated, how could they suddenly be pinching silver?

It was just an excuse to deceive a widow.

“Yes, yes, I was too forward,” Madam Zhen dared not press further.

She had to lay low for now, let the Marquis’s wife relax her guard, and then find a way to bring the Marquis to Osmanthus Alley.

..

The next day, Li Zhiyue got up and began to count the silver in the account books.

There were four thousand taels left: the servants contributed more than two thousand, she won over a thousand from her older brother’s gambling funds, and after deducting the expenses of the past few days and reserving some daily necessities for the Marquis’s residence, about three thousand taels could be used for the milk tea business.

She issued instructions one by one.

“Order a batch of cups from the kiln factory, slightly larger than normal cups, and they must be delivered within three days.”

“Tea leaves are very important and must be the finest Longjing tea.”

“And goat milk — consumption will be high, so there must be a stable supply…”

Li Qingsong spoke up, “Miss, goat milk is hard to store, and the dairy farm’s milk has a fixed quota. To buy so much at once, we’ll have to pay a premium.”

Li Zhiyue asked, “How high is the premium?”

“On the market, one liter of milk costs three to four hundred wen. Since we’re suddenly buying in bulk, it’ll have to be at least five hundred wen per liter,” Li Qingsong said.

Li Zhiyue quickly calculated in her mind.

One cup of milk tea is 200 ml, with an 80:20 milk-to-tea ratio, so one liter of milk can make about 20 cups. The premium wasn’t too bad.

She nodded, “Order half a hu at this price and deliver it to the teahouse in three days.”

One hu equals 50,000 ml, so half a hu could make about 500-600 cups of milk tea. That should be enough for the first day.

Next, she arranged manpower.

The teahouse at the Marquis’s residence had been running for over ten years.

Business was decent in the beginning, but as more teahouses appeared in the capital with creative offerings, this one gradually fell behind.

It barely made a hundred wen a day now, with only a shopkeeper and one waiter. At this rate, the Marquis’s family might just sell the place.

Li Zhiyue said, “Mo Yu, gather everyone in the courtyard.”

As the daughter of the Marquis’s family, she had four maidservants of each rank and four elderly female servants.

They often idled away time eating sunflower seeds in the corners, so it was time to find something for them to do.

A group of them entered nervously.

A few days ago, the lady had given all the managers a warning.

They had witnessed it and were afraid the fire would burn them too.

Before Li Zhiyue could speak, a young servant rushed into the courtyard, “Miss, Scholar Xue has arrived.”

She was stunned, “Which Scholar Xue?”

The servant hurried, “Miss, didn’t you instruct that once Scholar Xue arrives, I must report immediately?”

Boom!

Li Zhiyue’s mind exploded.

Since arriving here, busy every day, she had completely forgotten about that Xue fellow.

About half a year ago or earlier, the original Miss had met Scholar Xue, a learned and eloquent man. The original Miss had fallen in love, and he had expressed his intention to propose after the provincial exams.

That wasn’t strange.

After all, mutual affection made a good match.

But after passing the provincial exam and becoming a jinshi, Scholar Xue kicked the original Miss aside and got engaged to the Duke’s daughter instead.

The original Miss had supported Scholar Xue for a year, spending huge amounts of silver, but received nothing in return and would not let it go.

When she was about to confront him, Scholar Xue beat her to it by sending the love letters she had written to him to the old Marquis, extorting a large box of treasures.

The old Marquis was so furious he fell ill.

Not long after, the Marquis’s family was disgraced and exiled, and Scholar Xue even added insult to injury…

Thinking of this, Li Zhiyue quickly got up and rushed to her inner chamber.

She took out the original Miss’s most precious little box by memory and opened it. Sure enough, there were over ten letters from Scholar Xue.

She immediately glanced through them.

Her eyes went black.

Isn’t it said that people in ancient times were conservative?

This was way too explicit!

If this got out, the original Miss would be ruined!

No wonder the old Marquis was willing to be extorted of such a large box of gold, silver, and jewels!

The immediate priority was to get back the love letters written by the original Miss!

She stood and instructed, “Mo Yu, hide this well.”

If Scholar Xue was not honest, she would retaliate in kind.

She went to the courtyard and looked at her wet nurse, Aunt Yuan, saying, “Nanny, come with me.”

Aunt Yuan was pampered and quite sturdy, her arms thicker than Li Zhiyue’s thighs, quite intimidating.

Outside the residence, a man stood next to a stone lion—it was Xue Ling. He wore a dark green long robe and held a book, looking like a proper scholar, but Li Zhiyue found him disgusting.

“Miss Li.”

Xue Ling cupped his hands and bowed politely, very refined.

Li Zhiyue forced a smile, “The autumn exams are less than three months away. Scholar Xue, how do you have time to come to the Marquis’s residence? Are you short on paper and ink?”

“Not at all,” Xue Ling said. “I heard the eldest lady is holding a banquet, and all the notable scholars in the capital will attend. I… I want to attend and make friends through literature, but with my current status… sigh—”

His intentions were clear, but he sighed heavily, clearly hoping Li Zhiyue would offer to help so he wouldn’t be at a disadvantage.