"Mom, this totals 423 strings and 192 cash."

How much is one gift box?

"The gift boxes were custom-made by Mu Zi's family on the craft street. Since you don't have enough for 500, I estimate they'll cost 300 coins each."

“Three hundred coins each…” The madam picked up the price list again, muttered to herself, and exclaimed in surprise, “Oh my, are you trying to rob me with a knife to my throat? The menstrual cloth and cotton pads are two hundred and eighty coins in total, plus the gift box, three hundred and thirty coins. And you’re pricing the panties at ninety-two coins? Oh, there’s a discount for three or five pairs. I have over a thousand pairs, and I don’t even have a penny.”

Yunling patted the back of her hand and nodded, saying, "Mom, calm down. I'm doing this for your own good. Others might get discounts, but not at Fengyue Tower. You don't want your customers to ask you for a discount, do you? My grandma said it's bad luck and will affect business."

Damn it, I hit the nail on the head!

The madam glared resentfully at Yunling, muttered "little fox" to herself, and then ordered someone to prepare paper money and copper coins.

A short while later, a servant brought up a round tray. There were twenty-three strings of copper coins pressing down on four banknotes, and about a hundred copper coins on the side.

The madam took the tray, placed her hand on the hundred or so copper coins, and looked at Yunling, saying, "Let's not pay a deposit or anything. I'll give you the full amount at once. I doubt you would dare to cheat me. As for these, let's just forget about them. It'll be easier to take a round number back."

But Yunling had already taken out a small string of copper coins from her pocket and thoughtfully untied the knot. "No, it's easy for me to slip it in like this too~"

The madam immediately glared at Yunling and grumbled, calling Yunling a "calculating weed."

Yunling wasn't angry at all. After all, who in this world could be angry with the God of Wealth? But she wasn't completely naive; after she had safely pocketed all the money, she coaxed him, saying:

"Mom, don't be angry. I wonder if the large size you wore last time was comfortable? How about we get a medium size to try this time?"

"No need, plus size is fine. Don't embroider patterns that look like those of young girls for me. I'm happy with something simple."

"Yes, yes, I saved it."

The madam's expression softened, and she ordered a plate of peach blossom cakes to be prepared.

Yunling happily ate two pieces and drank a cup of tea. After the madam finished copying down the names, she left.

Yun Ruoxia had been waiting at Shengfu Restaurant. When she saw Yun Ling return and the four banknotes and twenty-three strings of copper coins, her face lit up with a smile. But then a question occurred to her.

"Ling-jie, in that case, won't you have to go to Qingcheng again?"

"Yes, the beef tendons we brought back last time are definitely not enough, and we also need to use them in the kapok slingshots. This time we must buy everything that Qingcheng has."

Yun Ruoxia nodded, but then shook her head. "If you leave, wouldn't I have to go to the brothel and deal with the madam?"

Yun Ruoxia hit the nail on the head. The madam paid the money in one lump sum because she wanted to get the goods as soon as possible. Although there was a shortage of cowhide thread, there was still some stock that had been prepared before. All that was needed was to embroider a pattern on it and the goods could be shipped. The negotiation would require a middleman.

"Aunt, I'll show her the design first. I'll start embroidering on a large scale only if she has no objections. You can just send it over then."

"OK."

The two of them were talking casually, but when they faced Zhang, they were like limp quails, unable to utter a single word for a long time.

Finally, Yunling was pushed by Yun Ruoxia to stand in front of Zhang Shi. After stammering for a while, she finally opened her mouth and said, "Mother, I received an order, but we don't have enough beef tendon and cotton..."

Zhang turned her back discreetly, lifted the pot lid, and stirred the mutton simmering in the pot, pretending not to have heard Yunling's words.

Yunling approached the stove, but before she could continue speaking, she was drawn to the milky aroma of the mutton. The fragrance wasn't gamey at all; if she could take a bite, her mouth would surely be filled with the sweet taste of milk.

"Mother, your cooking skills are really good. Just this one dish of mutton is more fragrant than any chef in the city."

Zhang's lips curled up slightly, but she quickly suppressed it. "Don't try to flatter me. Just do what you normally would."

"What's wrong, Mother? I'm only going once. If the quantity increases, the cotton mill owner can deliver the goods, and I won't have to travel so much. It's a good thing, don't you think?"

“Yes, that’s absolutely right! It will save us money on the escort fee, and what we save is what we earn.” Yun Ruoxia was so excited about the door-to-door delivery that she wanted to clap her hands until they were raw. “Sister-in-law, let Ling’er go with that escort leader Chen. She’ll definitely return safely like last time.”

"What do you mean, 'returned safely'?"

When Granny Yun returned from outside, she brushed the dust off her clothes and asked as she did so.

"Sister Ling has received an order, and it's quite a lot."

"That's great! It's a good thing that the neighbors can help Granny Fan and the others. It's a good deed."

Having said that, what else could Zhang say? She could only sulk silently and then generously sprinkle a handful of chopped green onions into the pot so that Yunling could choose.

Yunling picked out her favorite piece and even gave the best one to Zhang Shi, which made Zhang Shi's anger disappear completely.

The next morning, Yunling asked Yun Shenghua to find the same way as last time to buy beef tendon, in case she couldn't make it back from Qingcheng and was delayed for too long.

Then she took the blueprints to the Fan family next door. She wanted Bingniang and the others to embroider six designs in one day so that she could go out of town the next day for the madam to inspect them. She also wanted to go to Chen Jie to discuss going to Qingcheng and buy cotton cloth.

Old Lady Fan was delighted to have work to do. Upon hearing Yunling's request, she quickly brought back her eldest daughter-in-law to help with the embroidery.

"Grandma, I think you and Auntie can embroider the words and flowers, while the more difficult rabbit and nine-tailed fox embroidery can be done by Second Auntie. What do you think?"

"That would be great, how much work is there?"

"The employer needs thousands of pieces. As for the price, I won't make any profit from you. I'll just pay sixty coins per pattern. I figured words are easier to embroider than animals, so the price is a balance. I wonder if this is acceptable?"

Not only Old Lady Fan, but also Fan's eldest daughter-in-law immediately nodded, "Yes, yes, that's perfect, we're very satisfied."

This one style costs sixty coins. Adding the eight coins for each piece of work, that's sixty-eight coins. If there are thousands of pieces, that's sixty-eight strings of cash. Good heavens, is this for real?

But when they saw Zhang carrying a large bag of things in, and placing it heavily on the table with the sound of coins clinking, their three pairs of eyes lit up!