The morning light in the Prince's Mansion flowed like melted gold foil, slowly flowing along the veins of the carved window lattices, weaving a mottled brocade across the blue brick floor. Shen Weiwan lay at her rosewood desk, her wolf-hair brush clenched between her white teeth, the tip hovering over the yellowed account book. A drop of ink smudged the last stroke of the characters "one hundred million taels" into a deep brown, like a stranded, inky beast. The tip of her nose, stained with stale croton powder, trembled slightly with her breath, like a young animal that had tasted frosting, gleaming in the morning light.

"Miss! No, Princess!" Chuntao rushed into the warm room, clutching three stacks of banknotes wrapped in oilcloth. The croton flower string in her hair was half undone, and the soles of her indigo shoes were still stained with light brown mud from Liming's grinding of croton powder. Every step she took left a faint footprint on the blue bricks. "The Scam Academy's revenue for the first month was 327 taels and 4 qian, plus the dividends from the young prince and princess selling 'Honest Laxative'—"

Chen Weiwan looked up suddenly, her wolf-hair brush clacking down on the account book, creating a dot of ink next to the "Ninety Million Taels Gap" mark and startling the tiny gnat perched near the inkstone. "Wait!" her voice still raspy from the morning. "Those two brats are selling laxatives behind my back again?" Before she could finish her words, the carved lattice door of the east side room slammed open, and Kenken and Wawa rolled in like two sugar-coated melons, their trailing money bags sparking on the ground. The falling gold ingots clattered against the blue bricks with a jingling sound, startling the swallows on the beams and sending them fluttering by.

"Mom!" He tilted his chubby face upward, the gold dust from the tip of his nose falling, piling up like a fine, pale yellow snow on his clothes. "We sold 'Honest Xie' to the silk merchant in Nanchu!" His chubby little hand opened the purse, and the gold ingots that rolled out illuminated the room. One of them hit the tip of Shen Weiwan's shoe, and the gilded words "Attract Wealth and Treasure" rubbed against the croton flower branches embroidered on the hem of her skirt, leaving a dazzling mark.

Wa Wa, her pigtails swaying, the croton-red string tied to the ends brushing against the edge of her purse, pulled out a twisted mulberry paper note with a few neat teeth marks on the corners. "Look, mother!" she said, her small, missing front tooth grinning. "This is our dividend! The accountant said it's enough to buy a whole carriage of fireworks!" The cinnabar seal on the note was blurred by saliva, but the four characters "Wanshun Bank" were still legible.

Chen Weiwan stared at the dazzling gold and silver in her purse, then glanced at the "100 million taels target progress bar" painted in cinnabar on the account book. The red line had barely reached one-tenth of the mark when she suddenly slammed her wolf-hair brush into her purple inkstone, splashing ink onto her moon-white skirt, creating a seductive black flower at the hem. "I'm so angry!" Her eyebrows shot up, the croton flower hairpin in her hair dazzling. "This princess is still short of 9,013,200 taels after all the calculations, and you two little kids have already earned a million taels?"

From behind the screen came the rustling of fabric. Xiao Yu emerged, twirling a gold ingot fashioned from croton powder. The silver python patterns on his dark brocade robe danced in the morning light, as if poised to soar into the air. "Madam," he said, the ingot clattering from his fingertips onto the account book, landing right next to the figure "ninety million taels." "Your son and daughter have more business acumen than you do. Last month, they repackaged 'Honest Laxative,' covering it with Western tribute paper and calling it 'Tianshan Beauty and Slimming Pills.' The ladies of Southern Chu were lining up to buy it, and the profits were twelve times higher than your swindling academy."

"How can that be the same?" Shen Weiwan put her hands on her hips, her skirt sweeping over the potted croton plant at her feet. The morning dew on the bean sprouts wet the hem of her skirt, and it felt cool against her skin. "I was cheating people and helping the world, punishing evil and promoting good! They're...this is commercial fraud!"

He tilted his head and tugged at her satin skirt. His chubby little hands rubbed against the bulging croton powder pouch at her waist, dusting his fingertips with powder. "Mom, you said yesterday," he blinked his grape-like eyes, "that doing business is just transferring money from other people's pockets to your own. It's almost like cheating people."

"Ahem!" Chen Weiwan choked on her own saliva, and the croton flower hairpin on her bun almost slipped off. "Don't take things out of context, little kid!" She cleared her throat and tried to put on a straight face. "This princess's ultimate goal is to get 100 million taels, and then take your father to Beidi to see the snow, and Nanchu to go boating, and by the way..."

"Let's buy some fireworks that explode!" Wa Wa stood on tiptoe and hugged her legs. Her pigtails brushed against the croton pods embroidered on her knees, making her toes curl in an itch. "I want the kind that shoots up to the moon and explodes with a 'clattering' sound like money falling!"

"Buy!" Chen Weiwan waved her hand, startling the sparrows pecking at the croton powder on the windowsill. Their fluttering wings sent a cloud of powder flying. "When I make enough money, I'll buy you a whole mountain of fireworks. I'll set them off for three days and three nights at the Northern Di Royal Court, the Southern Chu Imperial Palace, and the Western Shu City Tower!"

Xiao Yu chuckled softly as he pushed her back onto the pearwood chair. His fingertips brushed the croton powder off the tip of her nose, leaving it feeling as smooth as sand. "Don't set off any fireworks just yet," he said, unrolling a piece of gilded paper. The edges were rimmed with tin foil, glittering in the morning light. "The King of Western Shu has sent a letter, inviting you to open a branch of the Pitman School in Chengdu. He'll give you 70% of the profits and guarantee Shu's year-round supply of croton powder."

Chen Weiwan's eyes lit up like a lamp. She snatched the note away, her nails leaving white marks on the "70%" character. "West Shu's 'flaming spicy' croton powder is perfect for making 'laxative tea'!" Her fingertips tapped the note. "Let them know what it's like to be dragged down to the wall and instinctively call a liar daddy..."

"Mom!" Kengkeng stuffed the purse into her arms, the gold ingots hitting her ribs painfully. "We're going to Xishu to sell 'Honest Laxative' too! This time, we'll package it as the 'Elixir of Business Trust' and wrap it in gold foil. We guarantee we'll make more money!"

Shen Weiwan suddenly frowned, picked up the small collar of the pit, and brought him up to her: "Wait, what is the formula of the 'honest diarrhea' you sell? Don't fool people with croton powder and mud again!"

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