At this moment, Jiang Ling's heart was pounding, and she quickly thought of a solution in her mind.

“My husband’s family owns a dye shop. Some time ago, my husband’s money pouch accidentally fell into the dyeing vat, and the silver was dyed. If you mind, brother, I… I’ll ask my husband to exchange it for another one!” Jiang Ling said with a slight stutter.

The tall, fat man sized up Jiang Ling, then bit the silver with his teeth to confirm it was genuine before waving his hand and saying to Jiang Ling, "It's alright, you can keep it!"

As he spoke, he stuffed the silver into his pocket and handed Jiang Ling a bottle of shampoo.

Jiang Ling thanked them repeatedly and took the shampoo back to her room.

"Mother..." Jiang Yaojie immediately stood up from his chair when he saw Jiang Ling return, looking at her with a hesitant expression.

Jiang Ling placed the shampoo she was holding on the table and said to Jiang Yaojie, "It seems someone has taken advantage of our shampoo supply!"

"Ah. Then... what should we do?" Hearing this, Jiang Yaojie turned pale with fright and looked at Jiang Ling in terror, not knowing what to say.

Jiang Ling couldn't think of a solution for the moment, but not wanting to put pressure on Jiang Yaojie, she comforted him, "Don't worry, Mother has a way to deal with them. I just observed them, and they didn't take away too many goods. Let's put this matter aside for now and go to Yecheng to resolve your father-in-law's porcelain issue! We'll discuss this further when we get back!"

Jiang Yaojie had no choice but to nod helplessly.

During these past few days at sea, Jiang Yaojie has been filled with anxiety. He couldn't understand why these two people got the goods, nor could he figure out where the real buyer had gone. He was even more worried about whether his mother's hard-earned business would be damaged.

These questions lingered in the boy's mind one after another, making him restless and irritable in everything he did these past few days.

Jiang Ling saw this and finally, on the last day when the ship was about to dock, she called Jiang Yaojie to her room and said softly, "Yaojie, do you know why I called you here?"

Jiang Yaojie shook his head absentmindedly, his eyes darting elsewhere as he continued to ponder the unsolvable matter.

"Yaojie, I know you're worried about that batch of shampoo, but will your worries solve anything?"

Jiang Ling's words were like a sharp dagger piercing right between the eyebrows.

Jiang Yaojie, who had been glancing around, suddenly turned his gaze back and stared wide-eyed at Jiang Ling, his face clearly showing only two words: "surprise".

Seeing Jiang Yaojie's current expression, Jiang Ling was very satisfied. She continued, "Since nothing can be solved, why should we even think about it? We have no idea who those two men are, and we can't just tell the captain to turn back and go home to investigate this matter immediately, right?"

One question after another, and Jiang Yaojie could only nod blankly.

"Yaojie, I know you're worried about me and our business, but worrying won't solve anything right now. We need to figure out how to deal with your father-in-law's situation first. As for the shampoo, I believe we can handle it completely! These past few days, I've seen you so restless and unable to eat or sleep properly, and it breaks my heart!"

Jiang Yaojie's heart skipped a beat after hearing Jiang Ling's words. He nodded and whispered, "Mother, I... I won't do it again!"

Jiang Ling didn't want to hear Jiang Yaojie admit his mistake, especially since he hadn't done anything wrong in this matter. She continued, "I'm not telling you this to make you admit your mistake. You'll be taking over all of my business in the future. A composed businessman should remain calm and collected!"

After saying that, Jiang Ling patted Jiang Yaojie on the shoulder. Jiang Yaojie felt a mix of emotions, but at that moment he knew the importance of staying calm no matter what happened in the future.

The boat finally slowly docked. The dock was crowded with people. Jiang Ling gestured for Jiang Yaojie and Nianci to be quiet and silently followed behind the two men until they reached an inn.

Jiang Ling quietly moved her room to the one next to that man's.

As soon as she entered the room, Jiang Ling pressed her ear against the wall.

The wall panels weren't very soundproof, and Jiang Ling could hear the two men's conversation clearly, even though she was pressed against the wall.

However, the conversation between the two men was pointless, and Jiang Ling lost interest after listening for a while.

...

The next morning, Jiang Ling deliberately chose a crowded place, carefully placed the blind box on the ground, and said to Jiang Yaojie and Nianci with two stacks of flyers, "Go, hand out some flyers to these people!"

The two children took the brochure and disappeared into the alleyway corner in a flash.

"Blind boxes, porcelain blind boxes, come and take a look!" Jiang Ling cleared her throat and started shouting as she stood in front of her stall.

As she expected, Jiang Ling's shout immediately attracted a lot of attention. Several curious people even walked up to Jiang Ling's stall.

They carefully examined the box Jiang Ling had placed on the ground, and doubt gradually appeared in their eyes.

"Big sister, what are you selling?" Finally, a girl dressed in a light blue waist-length ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) couldn't contain her curiosity and asked.

Jiang Ling looked up and quickly glanced at the girl. Her clothes were well-tailored, and the fabric was in this year's trendy colors. The hairpins in her hair also revealed that they were "very valuable".

Jiang Ling smiled and took out a flyer to enthusiastically introduce to the girl, "This is called a blind box. It's a novel toy that looks the same on the outside, but contains different things!"

"This batch is porcelain blind boxes. You can take a look at the promotional leaflet; all the porcelain designs shown are inside. If you're lucky, you might even get a rare one!"

The girl in blue took Jiang Ling's flyer, seemingly understanding but not quite. She carefully read the text on the flyer, and some curious people around her also gathered around to look at the flyer with her.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Ling immediately took a lot of flyers and distributed them to everyone.

"Big sister, I really like this one. Can you tell me which box I can get this porcelain piece from?" Another girl in purple in the crowd said, pointing to a teacup with a light pink flower pattern on the flyer.

Jiang Ling shook her head and said to the girl in purple, "I'm sorry, even I don't know which one will give you the one you want. That's the fun of opening blind boxes!"

The girl in purple couldn't help but show a disappointed expression. She reluctantly handed the flyer back to Jiang Ling and left with her maid.

"Oh well, I don't know if it's a scam or not. Oh well, let's just go."

"Yes, she said who knows if they have any? What if they don't? Forget it, I'd better go to Yipinpu and buy some pastries to eat, it's more cost-effective."

"Yeah, if it's not interesting, it's probably a scam!"

A discordant voice spread through the crowd, and many people left amidst the murmurs.

Jiang Ling wasn't in a hurry. She knew that from the very beginning, blind boxes weren't targeted at this group of people.

"How much is each of these blind boxes?" the girl in blue, who had been silent all along, suddenly asked.

The sound, like a thunderclap from a clear sky, brought everyone to a standstill.

Those who originally wanted to leave looked at the girl in blue with different expressions, especially the girl in purple, who looked at her with schadenfreude.

"Miss, we..." The maidservant beside her frowned and whispered a reminder.