Chapter 288 The Emperor Visits the Rouge Shop
Soon, Du Wanchun's rouge shop gradually gained fame among the noble ladies of the capital.
However, Cheng'an County is quite far from the capital, so these noble ladies would send their servants to buy it from afar.
Du Wanchun had just arrived at the shop when she saw a servant riding in on horseback, looking travel-worn.
"Excuse me, is this Zhou Family Rouge Shop?" The servant dismounted and strode into the shop.
Du Wanchun smiled and looked up, replying, "Yes, this is Zhou Family Rouge Shop."
The servant wiped the sweat from his brow, then took a big gulp of water and said with a smile, "Shopkeeper, do you sell any anti-aging cream here?"
Du Wanchun replied, "That's right."
The servant was startled. "That's wonderful! My mistress sent me to buy it. How much is it?"
Du Wanchun replied with a smile, "We have three kinds of perfume here. One is thirty coins, another is three ounces, and the third is thirty ounces a bottle. See which one your lady would like."
The servant quickly replied, "It costs thirty taels a bottle. My mistress said that the more expensive your perfume balm is, the better."
Du Wanchun was pleased to see a customer. "How many bottles does your wife want?"
The servant took out three or four silver notes from his pocket, each note worth one hundred taels of silver, and said with a smile, "Manager, there are four hundred taels of silver here. How many bottles can you give me?"
This was the first time Du Wanchun had received such a large order, so she tentatively asked, "I sell you thirteen bottles for thirty taels of silver each. Four hundred taels of silver can only buy thirteen bottles at most, but since you came in such a hurry, I'll sell you fourteen bottles."
The servant was overjoyed upon hearing this and bowed to Du Wanchun, saying, "Thank you, manager."
Du Wanchun turned around and took out fourteen bottles of perfume, then sealed each one with a seal.
As she sealed the seal, she reminded the servant, "Look carefully. If this seal is opened on the road, our shop will not be responsible for anything after you've used it. If the seal is not opened, you can come to the shop to find me if you have any questions."
The servant looked closely and quickly replied, "Understood, manager."
Du Wanchun packed the perfume balm in her hand into a wooden box and handed it to him.
The servant took it from his hands, his face full of smiles, and turned to get into the carriage.
The carriage just left.
Not long after, two more carriages stopped at the gate.
Du Wanchun looked up towards the door and saw a beautifully dressed young woman stepping down from the carriage.
Immediately after her, a middle-aged man walked up behind her.
Upon seeing the middle-aged man, Du Wanchun's eyes narrowed slightly, and she bowed to him, saying, "Your Majesty..."
The emperor changed into a light yellow casual outfit, holding a fan in his hand, his hands behind his back, and looked around her shop. "No need for formalities, I just came to see your rouge shop."
These days, the perfume cream from the Zhou family's rouge shop is very popular in the capital.
Even the ladies in the palace wanted to spend a fortune for a bottle.
Accompanying the emperor today is his newly acquired favorite concubine, who has been pestering him to buy perfume. The emperor took it as a trip for her, which is why he came to Cheng'an County incognito.
Du Wanchun was surprised and went forward to pour a cup of tea for each of them.
That young concubine looks to be about the same age as Du Wanchun.
She picked up her teacup and glanced at it lightly, "You have the nerve to serve us this kind of tea?"
Du Wanchun placed the tea on the table without replying to her.
She bowed to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, have you come to buy perfume?"
After looking around the shop, the emperor laughed and said, "Your little shop is even smaller than I imagined."
Du Wanchun lowered her head and said, "Yes, it was originally just a small shop."
The favored concubine, seeing that Du Wanchun ignored her, was somewhat displeased and said to the emperor, "This little girl really doesn't know any manners."
She had originally thought the emperor would help her reprimand Du Wanchun, but to her surprise, the emperor simply said, "We are on an incognito visit this time, so what need is there for formalities?"
The favored concubine's face darkened upon hearing this, and she gritted her teeth and sat down angrily.
This favored concubine's surname was Yue. The emperor bestowed upon her the title of Lady Yue, which did not even qualify her as a concubine.
The emperor walked up to Du Wanchun and continued, "Where is Lord Zhou?"
Du Wanchun replied, "Lord Zhou is at the yamen."
The emperor nodded slightly, "I will pay him a proper visit at the county office later."
Du Wanchun breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, Your Majesty."
Normally, Zhou Ruiyuan wouldn't disguise himself unless there was something going on, but this morning Du Wanchun had a feeling that something was going to happen, so she had Zhou Ruiyuan do a simple disguise before leaving.
Fortunately, she reacted quickly, otherwise the emperor would have really seen her today.
The emperor instructed the eunuch behind him to give Du Wanchun one hundred taels of silver, which she used to buy three bottles of anti-aging cream.
Madam Yue was initially quite unhappy, but after receiving these three bottles of anti-aging cream, she immediately forgot her displeasure.
Du Wanchun followed the emperor to the mansion next to the county government office.
Just as the three of them reached the door, Xiao Mianmian ran out from inside with a beaming smile.
"Mother~"
"Mother~"
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