After Jiang Wenlin and Madam Lu left the Yun residence, their expressions immediately darkened.

Neither of them spoke, and they returned to the inn first.

The courtyard in this town belongs to Jiang Wenhan. They didn't know where it was, and it wasn't convenient for them to stay there. After arriving here last night, they stayed at the inn.

Back at the inn, Madam Lu frowned. "She really doesn't know what's good for her. Without a powerful maternal family, does she think she can hold onto her position as a princess? Once Prince Yun returns from the war, and the emperor promotes him again, there will be countless people wanting to enter Prince Yun's residence. Without a powerful brother to back her up, how long does she think she can remain in Prince Yun's favor?"

Jiang Wenlin said coldly, "Judging from her tone, she still blames me for not having any dealings with her back then. Doesn't she realize that I'm just an illegitimate child, living under the control of my stepmother, and my aunt has no background? How could I dare to risk the limelight to take care of them?"

"What do we do now? It seems she doesn't want to acknowledge us as relatives," Mrs. Lu said worriedly.

"Let her think about it first. I think she'll figure it out. In this world, for a woman to live well in her husband's family, she must have a family that can support her, especially a place like the Prince Yun's Mansion. She's still inexperienced and doesn't understand these things."

After saying this indifferently, Second Master Jiang added, "You rest first. I'll go out and check on the business at the shop, and also take a look at that pomegranate shop."

Madam Lu agreed, and Jiang Wenlin went out for a stroll in the street with his attendants.

Customers were constantly coming and going at the entrance of the pomegranate shop. Just by standing on the street and watching for a while, you could tell that the business was really good.

No wonder Mrs. Zhou received such praise from Jiang Wenhan.

He told his attendants to wait outside, and went inside the pomegranate orchard to take a look around.

In his opinion, such a shop was not worth his attention. The clothes were displayed in a messy way, and the styles of the clothes were unconventional and not the kind of clothes that women of this era usually wore.

In his view, only styles that are popular can sell in large quantities and generate profits.

Unfortunately, Master Jiang didn't know much about the ready-to-wear industry. He focused more on men's clothing, believing that men were the main customers of the ready-to-wear industry because they were the ones who went out most often.

But in his view, the clothes in Li Mai's shop were mainly women's clothing, mostly skirts, with fewer styles of men's robes. Considering that the owner was a woman in charge, he understood.

He went out after watching for a while.

After he left, Zhou Heng and Lu Ban exchanged a glance. This must be the person their boss was talking about!

Zhou Quan went out the back door, said a few words to one of the guards who jumped down, and then went back to continue his work.

The guard returned to the Li residence and, upon hearing that Li Mai had gone to the Yun residence, went next door to deliver the message to Li Mai.

Li Mai nodded, indicating that he understood, and told the guards to go back.

Once inside, Li Mai said to Xu Changhuan, "Jiang Wenlin did indeed go to my shop. According to Zhou Heng's judgment, that person does not agree with the business model of my shop."

Xu Changhuan nodded, "He's far inferior to Jiang Wenhan in business management."

"From this perspective, it seems quite difficult for the Jiang family's business to recover within three years under his control," Li Mai said politely.

Xu Changhuan laughed, "We don't need to worry about the Jiang family anymore. After Fu Bao's 100-day celebration, let's start preparing for the incense shop!"

“Okay!” Li Mai agreed, and the cooperation between the two was thus confirmed, and they began to work on the plan.

Li Mai asked her sister-in-law and brother if they had received any news. Xu Changhuan shook his head and said that only a letter had been sent back in February. It was short and only told her and the children to be careful and to have more people with them for protection.

They didn't say a word about the war.

Li Mai told her not to worry, and that if there was good news, her older brother would definitely send them a message. Xu Changhuan nodded and said she understood.

That evening, Li Mai told Zhou Quan about what had happened that day. Zhou Quan said that Jiang Wenlin wouldn't amount to anything and that they could focus on their work without worry.

"By the way, how old is Zhou Heng this year?" Li Mai asked.

“He should be twenty-three. I remember he’s two years younger than me,” Zhou Quan said.

"Go have a drink with Zhou Heng tomorrow night and ask him if he has a girl he likes, or someone he has feelings for. We need to put Heng's marriage on the agenda."

"Also, take a look around in the south of the town and see if there's a house for sale, a two-courtyard one will do. Buy it for Aheng as his wedding home." Zhou Heng has been with them for two years. In these two years, he has made a lot of progress, learned very quickly, saved them a lot of trouble, and helped them earn a lot of money.

"Let's also discuss whether he plans to start his own business after three years or continue working with us. Once the inn is completed next year, I'd like to select one of him and Lu Ban to manage it. If he's still willing to stay with us, we'll promote him to head manager with a monthly salary of ten taels of silver. After we separate the clothing shop and the fabric shop, he'll start managing both shops."

Zhou Quan nodded, "Yes, Madam, rest assured, I will complete the mission."

Li Mai smiled and said, "Now that there are more and more people in the town, it's a good opportunity to develop businesses. Go back to the village in the next few days and see if anyone wants to start their own business. They can take this opportunity to buy a piece of land in the expanded area of ​​the town. The land prices here will only get more and more expensive in the future."

“Okay!” Zhou Quan agreed.

“If Zhou Zhong and the others want to buy it but don’t have the money, they can ask us for an advance on their wages,” Li Mai said with a smile.

Zhou Quan looked at her with a puzzled expression.

Seeing that he didn't understand, Li Mai smiled and said, "You can just ask like that. If they are willing, they will contact you."

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!