Seeing that Madam Gan had no bitterness in her expression, Eleventh Lady calmed down and said with a smile, "What does Sister Fuzhen want to talk to me about?"

Mrs. Gan smiled at her and turned to open the box.

"I asked my brother to buy it for me some time ago. I didn't use it later." She sat down in front of Shiyi Niang and put the paper box on the table. "I'll give it to you!"

Eleventh Lady opened the paper box in confusion.

There was actually a box of Cordyceps sinensis neatly stacked there.

The color is golden, the meat is plump and large, and it is obviously top quality at first glance.

Madam Gan smiled and said, "It looks good, but it would be a pity to keep it with me."

It’s Madam Gan’s sincere gift!

Eleventh Lady readily accepted it: "Thank you, Sister Fuzhen!"

Mrs. Gan smiled, her eyes showing some joy. Then she asked the maid to serve her Tieguanyin tea and asked, "What have you been doing these days?"

Eleventh Lady told Madam Gan about Master Jian's arrival and how they were discussing opening a wedding shop.

Madam Gan listened and said in silence, "It's not easy to open a shop in Yanjing. Not only do you need capital, but you also need a backer. Do you want me to give my brother a heads up? I can't say anything else, but I can probably get it done by telling the Shuntian prefect and the Wucheng military commander."

Eleventh Lady was very grateful: "I told the Marquis. The Marquis asked the housekeeper Bai to come out and help greet them. If I encounter any difficulties at that time, I will ask Sister Fuzhen for help."

"You don't have to be polite to me." Madam Gan smiled and said, "If Manager Bai can't do it, I'm afraid my brother can't do it either." At this point, she paused, hesitated for a moment, and said, "I'm a few years older than you, and you call me sister. I have something to say to you. It's better not to involve the Xu family in your shop. Otherwise, some rumors will spread out, and it will be difficult to distinguish the Xu family's property. I have heard a little about the Xu family's situation. It seems that the third and fifth masters have already been divided, but I don't know if your second branch has been divided. If not, it may be a bit troublesome for your widowed sister-in-law to adopt a child. You are still young, and you should plan for your future. If you don't want to inherit the Xu Mansion, you can't give your status to others."

This is truly from the bottom of my heart.

Eleventh Lady nodded continuously and described the situation at that time: "...I didn't know who to ask for help at that time, and I was the one who asked for it. Now that I have returned to the Marquis, it is not good to be so fickle."

Madam Gan suggested to her, "Didn't Manager Bai say that he would wait until you get the confirmation before he goes to greet him? I think it would be better to do this. I have several shops on East Street, and I happen to have two shops. I rented a shop from a Jiangnan shop that makes rouge and powder. They have been doing business in Yanjing for more than ten years and are quite famous. But the boss is getting old recently and wants to return to his hometown to retire. A few days ago, someone brought me a letter saying that he wanted to stop opening the shop after the beginning of winter. He asked me if I could find a new tenant. If I could, that would be the best. If not, they can only do it until the end of the year at most. I was thinking of asking my brother to help find a new tenant. You might as well ask Master Jian to take a look. If you think that place is good, I would like to use the rent of that shop as a share and form a partnership with you to open a wedding shop together. What do you think?"

If they used the shop rent as capital to invest in the company as Mrs. Gan said, they would not have to pay the rent in advance. And because it was an investment, if they lost money, they would not have to pay the rent; if they made money, they would pay the rent according to the amount of profit. Unless Mrs. Gan could predict the future, this account would be in her and Master Jian's favor no matter how it was calculated. Moreover, in Mrs. Gan's situation, it would be much more low-key and worry-free for her to rent the shop to others than to open a shop in partnership with others.

Eleventh Lady immediately understood what she meant.

Madam Gan is not looking to invest, she is clearly thinking of ways to help her.

But before she could say anything, Madam Gan said, "I want you to help me make a fortune, you can't refuse it outright!"

"Whether the business is profitable or not is still uncertain." Eleventh Lady said with a smile, "I'm afraid I'll drag you down with it!"

"Will I have less food if I lose the rent of those two shops?" Mrs. Gan said with a smile, "I am only a shareholder and I will not be involved in the affairs of the shops. If you need any help, my brother can help run errands. You don't have to rush to answer me, go back and discuss it with Master Jian!"

Eleventh Lady felt that Madam Gan’s character was trustworthy.

She smiled and said, "Okay, I'll go back and discuss it with Master Jian and give you a definite answer as soon as possible, so that I can also give others a reply about the matter at the shop as soon as possible."

Madam Gan nodded with a smile and wrote down the specific location of the shop for her. The two chatted for a while. Seeing that it was getting late, Eleventh Lady stood up and said goodbye.

I met with Master Jian in the evening and told him about Madam Gan's suggestions.

"Birds of a feather flock together." Master Jian smiled and said, "Since you are good friends, you must be a good person. It would be great if Madam Gan could invest in the shop with the rent. You don't know, I went to ask about the rent of the shop today, and I was shocked. Some shops, a single room, cost 500 taels a year. The lower ones cost 200 or 300 taels a year..." Master Jian told Shiyi Niang about his situation. The next day, he went to the address given by Shiyi Niang to check it out.

Because it was a powder and rouge business, there were many female customers. There were also two powder and rouge businesses next to it, one was a wig business, and the other was a women's shoe business. Mrs. Gan's shop was connected to two storefronts, and it was on the corner connected to East Street. Sometimes such a shop was hard to find even if you had money. She was very satisfied and went back to tell Shiyi Niang: "You say, is it really God's blessing? I feel that everything is going well since I came to Yanjing."

Eleventh Lady also thought that this was a good start and nodded quickly.

The two went to see Mrs. Gan the next day and gave her a formal reply, which was also a meeting of the three shareholders. They decided to take over the store after the beginning of winter.

Shiyi Niang told Bin Ju about the wedding shop and asked her if she was willing to help out in the shop. Bin Ju went back to discuss it with Wan Daxian, who naturally agreed.

She went to the lady again.

When the lady heard about it, she was very supportive: "...Master Jian looks like a reliable person. You can also make some money for rouge and powder." She also gave her two thousand taels of silver in private, "When you make money, return me double. If you lose money, you will have plenty of free time at that time, so help me make a few more clothes."

At this point, Shiyi Niang could only feel grateful. She also secretly made up her mind to run this wedding shop successfully no matter what.

Everyone heard about it during dinner.

Xu Lingkuan said, "Fourth sister-in-law, I will invite a troupe from Beijing to perform there. Congratulations on your opening!"

Wouldn't that make it known to everyone?

"No, no." Eleventh Lady said with a smile, "We are just opening a small wedding shop, there is no need for such a big scene."

She and Master Jian decided to do a mid-range business. If they made the scene too grand, ordinary people would not dare to go to the shop.

Xu Lingyi also said: "It's a business for women to make some money from rouge, don't interfere."

Eleventh Lady reports progress to Xu Lingyi every day, and Xu Lingyi knows a lot about their affairs.

Xu Lingkuan felt a little depressed after hearing this.

The Fifth Lady smiled and said, "Well, we will send congratulations when the time comes. Fourth Sister-in-law has just opened her business, so it's more economical than hiring some opera troupe to perform."

"Yes, yes, yes." Xu Lingkuan and Xu Lingyi were not very familiar with household affairs, but they both had businesses under their names and knew a little about these things. "When Fourth Sister-in-law first opened her business, it would be better to sell at the cost. Once the dock is taken over, we can find a way to switch to new products and add a little profit. Once we have established ourselves, we can change products again and start making money."

"Then I'll accept your good words, Fifth Master!" Eleventh Lady thanked him with a smile.

Xu Sizhun looked a little depressed after hearing this.

Eleventh Lady asked him softly, "What's wrong?"

Xu Sizhun hesitated and said, "If mother opens a wedding shop, won't she have to check accounts with the managers frequently? Then should I help take care of my fifth brother?"

"What? You don't want to!" Xu Lingyi, who was sitting next to him, suddenly said lightly.

Xu Lingkuan and the Fifth Madam's expressions became somewhat unnatural.

"No, no." Xu Sizhun said hurriedly, "My master wants to compile "Yanjing Chronicles" these days and asked me to help look up allusions and sources. I have to tell the master first. If mother is busy, I will see if I can bring my fifth brother to Shuangfuyuan as well."

Xu Sizhun lived with the old lady, while Xu Sijie lived with her. If they were not given opportunities, it would be difficult for the two of them to interact except for the morning and evening visits. In order to deepen their relationship, Shiyi Niang often asked Xu Sizhun to take Xu Sijie out to play when she checked accounts with the housekeepers at the end of the month. He must have thought that his mother had one more thing to do and would be even busier in the future, so he asked this question.

The lady laughed and hugged Xu Sizhun in her arms, "My dear grandson. Your mother is just a shareholder. The affairs of the shop will naturally be managed by Master Jian. Even if he is busy, he will only be busy for two or three days! Besides, your fifth brother has his mother who is in charge of the business. You don't need to worry about it."

A faint smile appeared in Xu Lingyi's eyes.

Only Xu Sijie, not knowing why his brother mentioned his name, opened his beautiful eyes wide and looked around curiously.

Eleventh Lady smiled and hugged Xu Sijie in her arms.

Master Jian began to look for businesses that provided fabrics and needles, and casually contacted some old friends in Jiangnan to see if anyone was willing to come here to be an embroiderer. Liu Yuanrui's family was responsible for finding people who were good at embroidery in the surrounding neighbors to help with the work, while Bin Ju cleaned up some of the old patterns and went to Xipu to see what work others were doing and how much they were selling. The task of accompanying Zhenjie to do embroidery fell on Qiuju. Qiuju couldn't help but often yearn for it, so much so that Zhenjie once said, "Mother, how about I help you embroider things in Xipu?"

"That won't do." Eleventh Lady said with a smile, "You are not an embroiderer. It would be bad if your embroidery fell into the market!"

They were busy like this until the beginning of October, and the problem of the embroiderers, which was their biggest headache, was basically solved.

Because they did not want to get involved in the fight between Caixiufang and Xianlingge, four or five embroiderers who had received favors from Master Jian and had no family burden decided to come to Yanjing to seek refuge with Master Jian. Although these embroiderers were not very famous, they were more than capable of handling the embroidery work of Xipu.

The matter of opening a wedding shop is beginning to take shape.

Eleventh Lady was in a good mood, and Jinlian and Yinping, who were beside Tenth Lady, suddenly came to her.

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Sisters, affectionately call on the pink ticket...

Thanks!