When Guan Zhiyue arrived at the Imperial Study with Bilian, she heard voices inside. At first, she couldn't recognize them, but when she got to the door, she knew who they were.

"Oh, the big merchant is actually here!"

Guan Zhiyue murmured to herself. Bilian, who was following behind, heard Guan Zhiyue's words, but unfortunately did not respond.

"Greetings, Your Majesty the Empress," the young eunuch at the door said respectfully.

The conversation inside the room stopped abruptly, and everyone turned to look at the doorway, where several people were sitting.

Li Qiji sat down at the jade table. Lan Shanqi, Li Qishang, and Su Xu all bowed and greeted Guan Zhiyue with clasped hands as she entered, saying, "Your Majesty the Empress."

"No, please don't do this. Everyone, please sit down. Did I come at the wrong time?" Guan Zhiyue asked cautiously.

Li Qiji said, "You've come at just the right time!"

"Sister-in-law, you've come at the perfect time! You know what? We were just discussing how to rip off our overseas friends!"

Li Qishang stood up excitedly, walked over to Guan Zhiyue, and invited her to sit down and talk.

Guan Zhiyue said without any hesitation, "Okay, let me see what's going on!"

"Little Nuonuo, look, is this what you wanted?" Lan Shanqi took something out of his sleeve and handed it to Guan Zhiyue, looking at her expectantly, as if he had something to say about it.

Unfortunately, Guan Zhiyue took the item Lan Shanqi handed her, examined it closely, and said, "It's alright. It doesn't seem quite pure! Is this jade not the best quality?"

That's right, Lan Shanqi gave her a jade seal carved with Guan Zhiyue's seal. Guan Zhiyue used it to stamp the account books she had reviewed. Originally, she wanted Li Qiji to order it, but Lan Shanqi said he would get it for her, and now he finally brought it to her.

“This is warm jade. Although it’s a defective product, it’s still good enough for a seal,” Lan Shanqi said with a smile.

Guan Zhiyue didn't mind and put it directly into her sleeve. In fact, she put it directly into her space by hiding it in her sleeve. After all, it was just a seal, so there was no need to make it so fancy.

"What are you discussing today?" Guan Zhiyue asked again.

Li Qiji looked at his wife and said, "Indeed, as Qi Shang said, we were discussing how to make money from our overseas friends."

"So, you summoned our big businessmen? You've been discussing this for so long, what's your plan?" Guan Zhiyue asked rhetorically.

The group looked at each other awkwardly.

Although Lan Shanqi is a businessman, the rest of the people are just clueless idiots. What are they even doing?

So that's why!

The group looked at Guan Zhiyue somewhat awkwardly. They had indeed been sitting there all morning and hadn't come up with a very feasible solution. Wasn't this making them feel embarrassed?

Especially Lan Shanqi, although the others are emperors, princes, and ministers, he is a real businessman. He didn't come up with a complete solution within a certain time. Isn't that a bit embarrassing?

Guan Zhiyue understood and then said, "So, you haven't come up with a solution? Then tell me your ideas."

Li Qiji said, "I just want to make money from those overseas friends; I don't have any other ideas."

Guan Zhiyue looked at the others and it seemed that they were indeed the same!

"Little Nuonuo, you have the most clever ideas, can you think of some for us?" Lan Shanqi said to Guan Zhiyue.

Li Qiji, who was standing to the side, seemed a little uncomfortable hearing Lan Shanqi call Guan Zhiyue so intimately, but he didn't say anything harsh.

However, her cold expression wasn't very pleasant. Guan Zhiyue was very curious as to why Lan Shanqi kept calling her "Little Nuonuo." If she understood correctly, shouldn't "Nuonuo" mean someone who talks a lot?

"Let me think, I don't know where you want to start. Besides, if these foreign friends come to serve as envoys, our country will definitely pay for their hospitality, and arrange their accommodation and meals. Our restaurant's food will be of no use."

"However, unless we stop providing them with free meals, or the meals we serve aren't up to the standards of the imperial chefs, would that solve the problem..."

This statement caused an uproar throughout the room. Could this be...?

"Yue'er, won't this tarnish the dignity of our royal family?" Li Qiji asked.

Guan Zhiyue stretched out her right hand, raised her right index finger, and shook it at the group, saying, "No, no!"

"Let me be friendly and say that our palace gates only offer simple food. There are many delicacies in our country in the restaurants outside. If you would like to try them, you can go to the restaurants and have a taste."

"Boss Lan, you should tell all the restaurants and everyone to be on high alert and serve these overseas friends wholeheartedly, empty their pockets, and also raise the price of all the dishes by one or two taels of silver. Only in this way can we make money more easily."

After hearing Guan Zhiyue's words, the others said uncertainly, "Ah, isn't this too aggressive? Or isn't it too immoral to do this?"

Guan Zhiyue shook her head and said, "Open up your horizons. If you're going to do something, do it big. Don't a lot of people like to date beautiful women?"

Upon hearing this, the group waved their hands repeatedly, exclaiming, "Good heavens! They're not going to go looking for any beautiful women!"

"Oh dear, sister-in-law, you..."

"Hey, what are you thinking? I didn't say you were looking for any beautiful women. Why are you waving your hands? Let me finish!" Guan Zhiyue said.

"Don't we also have all sorts of other things, like foot massage parlors, beauty salons, and wellness centers?"

The group nodded in unison, remaining silent and waiting for Guan Zhiyue to continue, to see what else she could say.

"Send some beautiful women to foot massage parlors and wellness centers. You know what I mean. You can rent a few of these women from brothels, or negotiate with their mothers. As long as you can get them out to serve customers, see if you split the profits 30/70 or 20/80." This is standard practice. If you want to make money, nothing is impossible.

"And it's all foreign friends' money. Also, they'll decorate all the places in the hotel and raise the price. In addition, they'll change the names of all the dishes we usually eat. This is called changing the soup but not the medicine. Or they'll reduce or add some things that they don't need!"

As soon as Guan Zhiyue finished speaking, everyone's eyes filled with love. Goodness, they had been racking their brains all morning, but it was not as good as Guan Zhiyue's one word of advice.

Looking at Guan Zhiyue, who was speaking eloquently, Li Qiji felt that she seemed to be surrounded by a thousand rays of light, so dazzling and eye-catching.

"Yue'er, why aren't you attending the Hundred Flowers Banquet in the inner palace? What are you doing in the Imperial Study?" Li Qiji suddenly remembered to ask, which was simply too inappropriate.

Guan Zhiyue said with a smile, "Here, let me show you what I've prepared—the monthly exam questions!"

As she spoke, she asked Bilian to bring over the exam paper so that everyone could see what was going on.