It's no wonder that Luo Sheng is skeptical, not everyone has the ability to make a profit from this business. In the past, Xie Teng and his wife were reluctant to let go of their dead rent, but now Xie Wan is planning to open five shops at once, anyone would be uncertain about it.

  But from another perspective, they live in the mansion, and every year they save one or two hundred taels of silver. With this amount of silver plus a few hundred more invested, even if it's a loss, it won't affect the foundation of the second house. Moreover, it will be gradually expanded. Since there is a chance of success, why not give it a try?

  The brave get killed in battle, while the timid die of starvation.

  Xie Wan took out a 500-tael silver note and said, "You can go to Huangshi Town now to take a look. If you find a good plot of land, just buy it. It's the peak season for sales now, don't miss it. After buying the land, move some goods from Li Zi Hutong over there. Then use this 500 taels of silver to replenish stock and fill up the warehouse."

  It's a pity to sell so many goods at a low price, but the popular colors this year may not be popular next year. With the arrival of spring, it is easy to get moldy. It's better to turn them into cash than to pile them up in the warehouse.

  Luo Xiang stared at her for half a day, seeing that her eyes were firm and not like joking around, so he had to respond: "I don't know how the two accomplices in Li Zi Hutong are being dealt with?"

  Xie Wan said, "These two people can't stay. You go to the warehouse tomorrow with the inventory book and count the goods. If there's anything missing, let them pay for it themselves. If they can't afford it, fire them."

  Twenty or thirty bolts of cloth are worth at least sixty or seventy taels of silver. If they can produce this amount of silver, why should they come out and work as accountants? This is just to make them look good when they leave, so that they won't be caught by the master for not working after taking money, and it will also be difficult for them to find another job in the future.

  Lu Shengdao said: "Then we have to hire someone else. It's easy to handle in Qinghe County, the little ones can be watched at any time, but how can we handle the other side of Huangshi Town?"

  Xie Wan said, "I've thought about this layer. Although Huangshi Town is out of reach, we are relatively familiar with each other. You can ask someone you know to find a few clever women to do this business. In short, we set the base price for each meter of cloth and confirm the monthly sales volume. If they can sell all of that quantity and sell it at a higher price than the base price, then the extra money will be theirs, as a way to cultivate their enthusiasm. Once things open up, we'll discuss it further."

  This kind of thing can't be done in just a few days, she's going to recruit and cultivate her own loyal followers, but things have to be done step by step, don't they?

  Luosang hesitated for a moment before saying: "Since Miss has already figured it out, I'll go and take care of it."

  Still with a worried look on his face.

  Xie Wan smiled and said: "The sky is raining and the road is slippery, be careful."

  At noon, the rain grew heavier.

  Yu Xue cooked the lily porridge, put it in a cracked ceramic soup bowl that had been washed clean by the rain, and paired it with a small spoon of the same material. She walked to the Fengfeng Courtyard with Xie Wan wearing wooden sandals.

  Huang was sleeping, Qi took the soup bowl and thanked her, then quietly led Xie Wan to the back of the green silk room, where Xie Yu was writing. Xie Yu stood up and pulled her hand, saying: "It's raining so heavily, why did you come over here? Your pants are all wet, come here and warm up."

  Under the bookcase was originally a copper foot stove. Xie Wan sat down and smiled as she put her feet on the stove.

  Because they were only separated from the Huang family by a thin wall, they couldn't make any noise to avoid waking her up. It just so happened that Xie Wei saw Xie Wan wearing a rose-colored silk-lined long pants with fine needlework today, which seemed to be this year's popular Yulan flower style. The two of them lay face-to-face on the couch and started talking about embroidery. Xie Wei guessed that Xie Wan didn't understand much yet, and Xie Wan was also careful not to reveal her ignorance. As they chatted, drowsiness crept in, and they both yawned and closed their eyes.

  In the daze, suddenly heard the sound of Huang's turning over from the other side of the wall, asking: "Is someone coming?"

  "Ah, it's Third Miss who has arrived, and she even brought some congee to see you. Right now, she's taking a nap with Elder Sister in the green silk room."

  Xie Wan heard the conversation and immediately woke up. She opened her eyes to see Xie Wei's two eyelashes falling on her lower eyelids, like two rows of long brushes placed on a jade plate, sleeping peacefully. Afraid of disturbing her, she also continued to close her eyes.

  Huang's family sat up and said in a sparse tone: "Has Brother Yun not returned yet?"

  "Within a few days, it will be the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. The mistress has ordered some pastries to be made and is preparing to have them sent to the nearby residences. At this moment, she has summoned the brothers to the upper house to discuss who should go to which household to deliver gifts."

  "Huang's voice became urgent: 'Don't let Yun-ge go to the Ren family!' Because she spoke too hastily, she suddenly coughed twice after finishing. Qi-niang hurriedly stepped forward to pat her back, and the rustling sound of clothes came intermittently."

  Not letting Xie Yun go to the Ren's house, isn't that not wanting to be too close with the Ren's? From Huang Shi's urgency, can it also be interpreted as her relationship with the Ren's being what she is most concerned about right now?

  Xie Wan's lips curled up slightly, it seemed that she had guessed correctly. Huang Shi's illness was due to Xie Rong scolding her in the letter for being presumptuous and trying to climb up the noble ranks. Moreover, Xie Rong's attitude must have been quite harsh.

  "Grandma, don't worry, Brother Yun is currently in high spirits. In front of his wife, it's probably not easy to persuade him back." Qi Niangniang spoke again, "Moreover, with so many brothers, it's not necessarily going to let Brother Yun choose the Ren family."

  "Huang's expression changed slightly, and she suddenly said with a hint of sarcasm: 'Since she favors the eldest son so much, let Huai Ge go instead! You go to the main house and keep an eye on things. Yun Ge is friends with Ren Jia Gongzi, don't let him volunteer for this task.'"

  Qiu's mother went out.

  Xie Wan didn't have to think deeply and guessed that the "she" in Huang's mouth referred to Wang, but everyone in the mansion said that Wang was very respectful to the three madams. However, Huang said that Wang was biased towards the eldest branch, could it be that what she heard wasn't actually true?

  In her past life, she didn't live in the Xie Mansion, so she really knew too little about the internal relationships between Wang Shi and the children of the two houses. She thought back to when her uncle and aunt came to the door to negotiate with Xie Qigong, but Huang Shi never showed up from start to finish. Was she really too ill to come out, or was she deliberately avoiding this matter?

  She remembered that when she died in her previous life, Huang Shi was still stable in the position of the old lady's concubine, managing the entire house's internal affairs and miscellaneous matters. She had never heard that Huang Shi had any discomfort or illness, so it seemed that Huang Shi's physical condition should be very good. At that time, the funeral of her parents was also handled by Wang Shi and Pang Fu, and Huang Shi was only in charge of some trivial matters. How could she not get out of bed for over ten days?

  It seems that it is almost certain that he is avoiding getting involved in this matter.

  She knew that Wang was planning to take over Er Fang's property, and fearing it would ruin Xie Rong's reputation, so she avoided him?

  Since Huang's wife could write to Xie Rong before showing goodwill to the Guang'en Duke Mansion through Ren's family, it can be seen that the couple is still in harmony. If she avoided it because she knew the inside story, then Xie Rong should have known about it from her too. Given Xie Rong's character, if he knew, he would definitely stop Wang's wife. His goal is in the temple hall, and even climbing to the rank of a noble family is not worth his effort, so how could he be hurt by this small amount of property from the second house?

  But Wang was not a fool, would she not know the nature of her own son? Xie Rong returned home to mourn for only five days. Wang knew that Xie Rong would stop him, so he naturally wouldn't reveal it to him. Later, Huang learned about this and told Xie Rong again when he had already returned to the capital, but it was too late to stop him.

  It was precisely because Xie Rong did not know at that time that Wang's family could successfully persuade Xie Qigong to agree to let Xie Liang and his wife stay.

  It seems that Xie Rong's current protection of his reputation is actually beneficial to Xie Wan and her brother. At least in the three years after he entered the Hanlin Academy as a compiler, he can still be used by Xie Wan to restrain the Wang family.

  Among the women, Huang's avoidance not only revealed Xie Rong's attitude towards this matter but also showed that she was on guard against Wang. Despite being well-read and courteous, she was after all a woman and would have her own little ways of doing things. Therefore, it is highly likely that she had also planted informants around the "partial" Wang, otherwise how would she know about Wang's plans for the second house? Moreover, why would she openly show affection towards Xie Zhu?

  She personally took Xie Wan to go upstairs and pay respects, which is a kind of attitude towards Wang Shi and Zhang Fang.

  Xie Wan was delighted, at least because she took the initiative to offer a step to Huang Shi, making Huang Shi have to accept it and take advantage of the second house to put pressure on the main house. With Xie Qigong's attention to the third house, in the few years before Xie Rong needed Xie Wan and her brother to maintain their reputation, as pawns, they didn't have to worry about food, clothing, and expenses at least.

  Or else, with Wang's family being only concerned with money as their life, could they have tolerated it for a while, and could they have tolerated it for several years without using various excuses to torment them?

  Xie Wei turned over and sat up.

  Xie Wan rubbed her eyes and got up after a yawn.

  Huang shouted softly at Wei Jie outside the door, and the two of them walked out one after the other. Huang said with a smile: "Wei Jie has also woken up. Did you sleep well?"

  Xie Wan leaned over, lying on her bed and said: "I had a dream, I dreamed that San Shu took me and my sister to the street to eat delicious food." Then, as if suddenly remembering, she said: "I asked Yu Xue to cook lily porridge for San Shu! Added many lotus seeds, eating this is useful for reducing fever. In the past when I was sick, my mother would cook this for me to eat. San Shu, please eat it quickly!"

  She carefully brought over the bowl of soup, opened it and sniffed, saying: "It's still hot!"

  Huang smiled and took it over, saying: "Third Aunt has received Wan's thoughtful gift, and her illness is already half cured!"

  Xie Wei also smiled and pulled Xie Wan into a hug, saying: "Second Uncle and the others have been living outside for so many years, I didn't know that Third Sister was so thoughtful and considerate!"

  The three of them chatted and laughed for a while, and after Huang finished eating more than half a bowl of lily porridge, her spirits began to lift. It was unclear whether it was the effect of the porridge or if she had not been that seriously ill in the first place.