She, a princess, was actually deceived by someone with counterfeit goods and even gave them away. If word got out, wouldn't people laugh their heads off? The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Just as she was about to call someone up to take away the counterfeit goods, Meng Zhao stopped her.
"Princess, please wait. May I take this?"
Princess Danyang was filled with shame and anger. "What do you mean? You know it's a fake, yet you still take it. Are you going to take it back and laugh at me?"
"Your Highness is wise. I am already deeply grateful for your kindness in bestowing gifts upon me. How could I possibly mock you?"
Seeing her respectful attitude, Princess Danyang's anger subsided slightly. She snorted and said, "Don't worry, since I said I would reward you, I will naturally give you the best. I will have someone find you a genuine set later."
Although revealing the truth now would likely anger the princess, keeping it a secret would only allow her anger to fester. So Meng Zhao stood up, put her hands on her waist, and bowed slightly, saying, "Your Highness, please forgive me. The Treasure Pavilion you mentioned... is a shop I founded in my hometown."
"What?!" Princess Danyang's almond-shaped eyes widened, momentarily forgetting her anger. "These...you made these things?"
Meng Zhao nodded slightly. Princess Danyang, recalling how she had just mocked her by calling her a "country bumpkin," blushed deeply. "Then why didn't you say so earlier? Were you laughing at me in your heart?"
"How dare I, a humble woman!" Meng Zhao hurriedly explained, "I truly never expected that something from a small shop in my hometown would catch the eye of the princess. I was so shocked that I didn't inform her in time. Please forgive me, princess."
Seeing Meng Zhao so respectfully offering a way out, Princess Danyang felt a little better. She coughed lightly and changed the subject, saying, "Then why do you still want this fake set?"
“In reply to Your Highness, I am preparing to open a branch in the capital, but I did not expect that someone has already copied my goods. I would like to take them back for careful inspection in order to prevent such a thing from happening again. I hope Your Highness will grant my request.”
Princess Danyang nodded. "Alright then, take the things. That damned swindler dared to cheat me, you can't let her get away with this so easily."
Seeing that Meng Zhao was still half-squatting and bowing, Princess Danyang reached out and pulled her up, pressing her down on a brocade stool. "You said the Treasure Pavilion is yours? Then you must be very good at makeup, right?"
Meng Zhao nodded slightly, then slowly shook her head. "I am only more familiar with the things in the shop and can use them more easily. But Your Highness has so many capable people around you, I'm afraid I can't compare."
"Then can you do natural makeup, peach blossom makeup, hibiscus makeup, and plum blossom makeup?" Princess Danyang rattled off a string of makeup names as if they were her own treasures, her eyes full of anticipation.
Meng Zhao nodded. In order to promote her products, she interspersed some makeup names in many of the stories in Mingxianglou and also created tutorials. These were some of the more famous makeup looks.
Seeing her nod, Princess Danyang was even happier. She had heard about these makeup styles in storybooks before and had her maids do her makeup according to the descriptions, but she was never satisfied. Now that she had finally found someone who knew how, she wanted to invite her to do her makeup, but she was still a little awkward. So she said hesitantly, "What is your relationship with Young Master Huazhang?"
Meng Zhao thought to herself, "Oh, you finally asked." So she quickly got straight to the point, "As for the relationship between my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, I married Hua Zhang's elder brother when I was young. I watched Hua Zhang grow up. Now that I see him become the top scholar in the imperial examination, I can't be happier."
"Uncle, uncle and sister-in-law relationship?" Princess Danyang was clearly taken aback.
"Yes, my husband passed away early. After the mourning period ended, my godmother recognized me as her goddaughter. Hua Zhang also calls me elder sister. I just arrived in the capital a while ago and stayed at my godmother's house for a few days. Now that I have found the courtyard, I have moved out of the Shen family's house."
Princess Danyang was surprised to find out that this was the case. No wonder she had heard others call him Shen Erlang before. It turned out that he had an older brother who died young. Thinking of this, she felt a little embarrassed. It was all her fault for not finding out more, which caused both of them to fall into the water. However, she couldn't bring herself to apologize. To make up for it, she told them something else.
"Oh, right! You didn't know, did you? Qingxi Villa has already been raided."
"Broken? Isn't that the Marquis's mansion?" Besides, that mansion was bestowed by the Emperor; how could it be copied so easily?
Princess Danyang sneered, "So what if it's a Marquis's mansion? Under the Emperor's nose, how can they be allowed to run rampant?"
She leaned closer and said mysteriously, "I heard that someone found a corpse in the back mountain of the villa. The Jingzhao Prefecture sent people to investigate, and they dug up several corpses, all dressed in the clothes of servants of the Marquis's mansion."
After saying that, she became angry again and slammed her hand on the table. "I was wondering how such a large mansion could be so poor that they didn't even bother to repair the railings when they were infested with worms. It turns out that they killed all the servants in the mansion and almost killed me too! So what if they confiscated a separate courtyard? They didn't confiscate the entire mansion. It's already a favor that your uncle did for them."
Princess Danyang fell seriously ill after falling into the water and spent half a month recuperating, during which time she gained a lot of weight. She was furious whenever the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion was mentioned. She thought that Meng Zhao had also fallen ill because of this, so she wanted to tell her this good news so that she could also vent her anger.
Meng Zhao was somewhat suspicious, as the coincidence was too much. The murder happened right after they fell into the water, but she naturally wouldn't say anything, only echoing the princess's words that evil will be punished.
After the two finished talking, Meng Zhao got off the carriage with the box of counterfeit goods in his arms and quickly returned to his own carriage. Huang Cui was already sweating profusely with anxiety. When she saw Meng Zhao coming over, she hurriedly went to greet him: "Shopkeeper, are you alright? If you had come back any later, I would have gone to find Lord Shen."
"It's alright, don't worry. Her Highness the Princess summoned me to thank me, not to make things difficult for me."
"That's good, that's good. It seems this princess is a reasonable person; she didn't implicate us because she fell into the water." Huang Cui breathed a sigh of relief, then her gaze shifted to the gift box in Meng Zhao's hand, and she exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? Isn't this from our shop...?"
Before she could finish speaking, Meng Zhao had already opened the box. Huang Cui leaned closer to examine it closely. At first, she thought it was one of her own products, but after seeing the details, her expression changed drastically: "This...this is clearly..."
"A counterfeit." Meng Zhao replied in a deep voice, a hint of worry flashing in his eyes, "And judging from the looks of it, there's probably more than just this one circulating in the capital."
Upon hearing this, Huang Cui wrung her hands anxiously, exclaiming, "What are we going to do? Our shop hasn't even opened yet, and this has already happened!"
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