The next day, Jiang Muyu spent the whole morning inspecting the other five shops under his control, and finally went to the rice and flour shop on South Street.

Shopkeeper Tong didn't know she was coming. There was not much business in the store at that time, so he sat behind the counter with his head supported by one hand and took a nap.

Jiang Muyu walked in. He thought it was a guest, so he perked up. When he saw who it was, his sleepiness disappeared. "Madam, why are you here?"

Jiang Muyu looked around the store and asked, "Where's the waiter?"

Shopkeeper Tong quickly came out from behind the counter and said, "One of the waiters has caught a cold and is resting in the back. I sent another one out to buy something."

"The reason is reasonable, but... Manager Tong, your work attitude is not positive."

"ah?"

"The shopkeepers are listless when they open for business. How can customers be interested in coming in?"

"This..." Shopkeeper Tong hunched over, "Business in the store is not good, and there is nothing we can do."

Jiang Muyu sneered, "If there is no way, won't you give me a solution? I didn't raise you to eat for free."

Is the princess angry?

Shopkeeper Tong knelt down subconsciously and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me."

"Why are you kneeling? I haven't done anything yet." Jiang Muyu sat down and said, "It looks like there won't be much business today. How about this? You close the shop first. I'm going to give you a training session to boost your enthusiasm for work."

Shopkeeper Tong understood only half of what was said but did not dare to say anything more and could only do as he was told.

The waiter bought something from outside and found that the shop was closed. He walked into the shop in confusion and saw the princess sitting inside. He knelt down and saluted: "Your humble servant pays respect to the princess."

"Get up."

"yes."

"You are back just in time. I want to ask you, can you read?"

The waiter nodded and said, "Yes."

"That's good." She picked up the two pieces of paper on the table and handed them to him, saying, "Follow the instructions above and find each shop and personally deliver them to the shopkeepers."

The waiter took it, took a look at it, and nodded, "I will definitely do as you tell me."

"Well, go ahead."

The waiter put the things down and went out again.

The six shops under her management all had problems of varying sizes, and she planned to solve them all at once.

After waiting for an hour, the waiter and Yunyan who were sent out to deliver the letter finally came back, and the shop owners of each shop also came one after another.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Jiang Muyu began to speak: "I asked you to come here today because I have something to explain."

All the shopkeepers pricked up their ears and listened.

Jiang Muyu said: "I have secretly visited all the shops today and found many problems."

The five shopkeepers looked at each other in bewilderment, having no idea that the princess had visited them before, and a crisis began to arise in their hearts.

Jiang Muyu slowly straightened the wrinkles on her clothes, stood up, and said in a colder tone: "Manager He, you have taught me a lesson today. You dare to be so picky when you open a business!"

When the shopkeeper He was named, he immediately knelt down and asked, "I wonder what I did wrong?"

"I saw it clearly while sitting in the carriage today. You refused to let an old lady in because she was not wearing shoes. What? Now you cannot enter the store to buy cloth without shoes? You are such a big shot, Mr. He."

Who would have thought that the princess actually saw this? No wonder a man suddenly came from behind and bought two pieces of cloth and gave them to the old woman in front of him. He originally thought that it was some idiot who had money but didn't know where to spend it. Now that he thought about it, he was probably sent by the princess.

After figuring this out, Shopkeeper He thought the princess was a soft-hearted person, and he cried, "Madam, I was afraid that the dirty old woman would dirty the cloth in the shop, so I refused her entry. I was also thinking about the shop. I have worked for the Marquis' Mansion for so many years, and even if I have no merit, I have worked hard. Please forgive me this time."

Jiang Muyu said coldly: "I don't want people with bad morals. If you act like this, I'm afraid you will ruin my reputation in the future."

“My queen…”

Before he could continue to wail in his hoarse voice, Jiang Muyu interrupted him impatiently.

"Shopkeeper He, I hope you will be able to understand current affairs and pack up and leave immediately. I will at least give you some respect out of our old friendship. Otherwise, I will make you pay for the fact that you embezzled the waiter's wages."

Hearing this, Shopkeeper He no longer dared to beg for mercy. He kowtowed and said tremblingly, "I'll leave now, I'll leave now." Then he left in disgrace.

The other shopkeepers were so stunned at the sight that they could not even breathe.

They had never expected that Princess Rui's move would be so swift and powerful, without any mercy. They began to review in their minds what they had done one by one, fearing that they would step on any landmine.

These shopkeepers were all personally selected by Mu, so there was no problem with their abilities. At first, they were all positive and good shopkeepers. However, in recent years, she seemed to have neglected the shop and the business was getting worse and worse, so she became negligent over time.

Jiang Muyu had already thoroughly investigated their private deeds. These shopkeepers did not have any special backgrounds. Most of them had worked as waiters or followed caravans before being gradually promoted. A quick check revealed everything.

There are many dishonest people among them, but Jiang Muyu is in need of people right now, so it is impossible for him to send all the shopkeepers away.

Today, she punished the worst of them, the shopkeeper He, in front of them just to make an example of them, so that they would put in their utmost effort when working for her in the future.

Jiang Muyu smiled and said, "Don't be afraid, shopkeepers. I am a reasonable person and will not wrongly accuse a good person for no reason. Of course, I will not let a bad person go. As long as you don't do anything sneaky, against the rules, or against the law under my command, I will not cause trouble for you."

One of the shopkeepers said, "I will work diligently and serve you wholeheartedly."

Another shopkeeper said, "I will definitely follow your Majesty's lead."

Several people talked at once and expressed their loyalty in various ways, and they were just one step away from committing suicide to prove their loyalty.

Jiang Muyu raised his hand to signal them to stop, and everyone fell silent immediately.

"I am very pleased with the loyalty of all the shopkeepers, but..."

Several people breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly they heard her change the subject and their hearts immediately rose again.

She continued, "I have carefully checked the accounts, and the profits of the shops under your management are really terrible."

Several people looked at each other, not daring to say a word.

Jiang Muyu pointed at one of them and said, "Manager Zou, you also run a cloth shop, how come your business is worse than Manager He's?"

Shopkeeper Zou said with a bitter face: "Your Majesty, you don't know that a coffin shop opened next to my shop a few years ago. People were afraid of violating taboos, so they didn't dare to come to our shop to buy cloth, which caused our business to plummet. In those years, the best-selling product in our shop was white cloth. Although the coffin shop has been closed now, its reputation is really hard to save."

This was something Jiang Muyu had not expected. She had only checked the accounts and personnel status in a short period of time, and had not had time to check the development history of the store and the changes in the surrounding environment. After all, these would be too intensive and trivial to check.

She held her forehead helplessly, "You... I will think of a solution later. What about your rouge shop, Mr. Zeng?"

Shopkeeper Zeng stepped forward and said, "In fact, our business was pretty good at first, but two years ago, Mudankou, the leading rouge brand in Beijing, opened a store across the street from us, and then opened three stores in a row. Our rouge and powder were not as good as theirs, and our reputation was not as high in Beijing, so... all our customers were snatched away by Mudankou."

Jiang Muyu frowned when he heard this. How could he steal someone's business like this? It was too dishonest!

"Who is the owner of Mudankou?"

"The official owner is Bai Mudan from Ruyifang."

"And who is behind this?"

Shopkeeper Zeng nodded and said, "The owner behind Ruyifang is very mysterious. Even Bai Mudan has to obey him. Mudankou is naturally the product of this mysterious owner."

Jiang Muyu nodded in understanding.

She didn't need to guess to know that the person behind it must be a powerful person in the capital.

The capital city is like a towering tree, with imperial power as the trunk, the various noble families as the intertwined branches, and the various industries as the intertwined roots underneath.

On the surface, there is almost no connection between the various industries, and the owners are different. In reality, it is still the powerful and wealthy who are manipulating everything behind the scenes, linking one thing to another.

This is true for Mudankou, Shuiyunjian and Zhulinyouju.