"Miss Lu, these are all new styles from our store. Please take a look." The female worker placed the horn combs on the table for Lu Qiqi to choose from.

Lu Qiqi sat down and picked up the comb to examine it.

This ox horn comb is hard and difficult to carve and polish, so the design is simple, with a few openwork patterns carved on the handle.

Lu Qiqi wasn't picky about these kinds of items; she just wanted something that was easy to use and practical.

So Lu Qiqi said, "Could you please wrap up all these patterned ox horn combs for me?"

"Okay," the female worker said, overjoyed at the thought of earning an extra commission when she settled her monthly salary.

The female worker then tried to promote the product, saying, "Miss Lu, our shop has just received a batch of sandalwood combs. The patterns and carvings are excellent. Would you like to take a look?"

Lu Qiqi glanced at the wooden frame the female worker was pointing to. The sandalwood comb on it gleamed with oil, clearly made of good wood.

"No, just wrap the ox horn comb for me," Lu Qiqi refused without thinking, simply because this sandalwood comb, apart from the good wood, the carving skills were actually inferior to Li Qingshan's.

Lu Qiqi sat on a high chair, waiting listlessly for the female worker to pack her things.

A servant brought Lu Qiqi a cup of tea.

After taking a sip of tea, Lu Qiqi was deeply impressed by the excellent service at Fengyi's cosmetics shop.

Just then, the two rich young ladies, one dressed in red and the other in green, sitting next to Lu Qiqi, started talking again after their laughter subsided.

It's not that Lu Qiqi was eavesdropping; the two were talking so loudly, chattering away like two magpies.

The woman in green said, "If she didn't have a good father, she might not be doing as well as I am!"

"Wearing all white every day, I wonder who she's trying to seduce!"

The woman in red covered her mouth with a handkerchief and laughed, "She's still your cousin, aren't you afraid of being overheard? Besides, her father just died, so wearing mourning clothes is just fulfilling her filial duty!"

The woman in green snorted coldly, "Zhu Huan, whose side are you on? If you're taking her side, don't come looking for me!"

"Oh dear, my good sister, you've misunderstood me. Of course I'm on your side," the woman in red, called Zhu Huan, quickly smiled ingratiatingly, trying to win over the woman in green.

Zhu Huan said, "Now that the border city has fallen and the general is dead, your eldest branch will decline. What will your second branch do in the future?"

The woman in green didn't seem to care. "My father was also a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations). If it weren't for my uncle's family being so ambitious, my father wouldn't have had to work so hard for so many years to only become a sixth-rank official."

Zhu Huan said, "Xin'er, don't blame me for not reminding you. The old lady is coming back to the old house recently, so you'd better stay home as much as possible. Otherwise, if your cousin complains to the old lady, you'll be in big trouble."

Feng Xin'er said, "She dares! She's a penniless woman with no parents, only a half-brother and a concubine. She dares to offend me? She must be tired of living!"

Just then, a female worker placed a tray of hairpins on the table for Zhu Huan and Feng Xin'er to choose from.

Fearing that Feng Xin'er might get angry and leave, Zhu Huan quickly tried to appease her, saying, "Good sister, let's not talk about that unlucky person anymore. This hairpin is really beautiful. You'll look as gorgeous as a fairy descended from heaven when you wear it."

Feng Xin'er, who had been holding back her anger, was coaxed by Zhu Huan with a few words. She glanced at the hairpin in Zhu Huan's hand and said indifferently, "If you like it, I'll give it to you."

Having received a benefit, Zhu Huan flattered her even more fervently, and Feng Xin'er gave him a whole host of nice things in one go.

After Feng Xin'er left, Zhu Huan immediately stopped the female worker and said, "Help me return all these things."

The female worker glanced at Zhu Huan indifferently, then routinely checked the items and processed the return.

After Lu Qiqi finished packing her things, she overheard an important piece of information from the two women.

The border town has fallen!

It seems the situation in the Great Jin Dynasty is not optimistic. The Tartars are burning, killing, looting, and committing all sorts of atrocities. I wonder if the people in the border city have evacuated in time.

If we lose two more cities, the Great Jin Dynasty will likely descend into chaos.

In chaotic times, Lu Qiqi couldn't guarantee that she could protect the people she cared about.

I just hope that day never comes!

On Monday, after counting the incense charcoal and collecting the money, he went to the front hall to find Lu Qiqi.

"Is everything taken care of?" Lu Qiqi asked Zhou Yi.

Zhou nodded and picked up the gift box on the table, saying, "It's all taken care of."

"Then let's go back," Lu Qiqi said. Feng Yi was too busy as the manager and there was no way to talk to her today.

Fortunately, Lu Qiqi and Feng Yi had already finalized the business deal, so from now on they just need to receive orders and deliver goods on time to get paid.

Today, Lu Qiqi brought Zhou Yi to the cosmetics shop because she wanted to entrust the delivery to Zhou Yi.

Otherwise, if Lu Qiqi had to do everything herself, she would exhaust herself.

After leaving Luzhou Prefecture, Lu Qiqi and Zhou Yi drove their carriage to Qingshui Town.

Upon entering the noodle shop, Lu Qiqi asked Zhou San to prepare two bowls of spicy noodles for her and Zhou Yi to fill their stomachs.

After the two finished eating their noodles, Aunt Niu and Aunt Zhao came out to clear the dishes and took them into the kitchen to wash.

When Aunt Niu and Aunt Zhao saw Lu Qiqi, they said in unison, "Greetings, shopkeeper."

“Okay,” Lu Qiqi nodded with a smile, then turned to Zhou Yi and said, “Zhou Yi, could you take the dish soap off the carriage?”

On Monday, he quickly brought the dish soap into the noodle shop, and Lu Qiqi led him into the kitchen.

Two aunties were washing dishes, and wisps of white steam were rising from the hot water in the basin.

Lu Qiqi poured some dish soap into the basin and said, "From now on, you should use this dish soap to wash the dishes the first time. This dish soap is very effective at removing dirt and grease."

"In this way, you won't have to repeatedly boil water to scald the oil."

After saying that, Lu Qiqi demonstrated to the two aunts, and the two aunts stared at Lu Qiqi's hands without blinking.

Lu Qiqi poured dish soap into the basin, then put her fair hands into the warm water and stirred it, creating a layer of foam.

Lu Qiqi said, "This foam must be washed off completely, otherwise it will be harmful to the human body if ingested."

"But you don't need to worry. Just rinse it a couple more times and then sterilize it with boiling water at the end."

The two aunts didn't know what sterilization was; they just thought the dish soap Lu Qiqi brought looked magical.

After trying it myself, I found it very practical. This way, they don't have to keep boiling water, which reduces a lot of their work.

The two aunts immediately began praising the dish soap that Lu Qiqi had made.

On Monday, he also learned how to use the dish soap. He never expected that the two kinds of leaves he and Lu Qiqi picked on the mountain that day would have such a wonderful use.

Unbeknownst to him, Zhou Yi's gaze toward Lu Qiqi had become much more reverent.

Lu Qiqi was completely unaware that the way Zhou Yi looked at her had changed. She taught the two aunts how to use dish soap and didn't linger at the noodle shop, but instead went to Nanshi.

Lu Qiqi bought a lot of fish in Nanshi. There were no fish fry in winter, but there were still quite a few fish in the pond.

Lu Qiqi kept all the fish in her space, so that she could simply go into the space to catch them whenever she wanted to eat them.