Chapter 390 Unlucky
Lin Yuesha didn't react, lost in a sea of calculations about input costs and outputs, her mind racing.
"How about this, I invite you to visit Yingcheng?"
Zhao Jingya was very interested in Lin Yuesha's business. She persuaded Lin Yuesha to open a shop, and her next step was to look for business opportunities and partner with Lin Yuesha in business.
Lin Yuesha did have the idea of opening a branch, but she was always constrained by manpower. Opening a shop is not child's play; you can't just open one whenever you want.
In terms of business acumen, Lin Yuesha was far less as thoughtful as Xiao Qi, and with her stepbrother currently in the capital taking the imperial examinations, he couldn't offer her any advice.
Lin Yuesha was torn between focusing on the shops in the prefectural city first or rapidly expanding the branch stores. She was a slow starter, and as a former chef, she knew it would take at least eight to ten years to master the craft; it wasn't something that could be achieved overnight.
Lin Yuesha was short of money and needed some cash. Nobody thinks they have too much money; these days, food, clothing, daily necessities, and social interactions all depend on money, and this path must continue.
After making a fortune through gambling and exploiting others, Lin Yuesha had to admit that her mindset had changed. She always wanted to take shortcuts in business and had long lost her original intentions.
Doing business requires investment, involves both profits and losses, and is time-consuming and laborious, while speculation brings in money too quickly. Compared to this, she was no longer willing to accumulate wealth step by step in a down-to-earth manner.
Mother Chen's worries were not unfounded; she should learn her lesson from being beaten.
"Sister Lin, is there something you're worried about?"
Zhao Jingya's dowry included several shops in Yingcheng. One of them had a large flow of people and was surrounded by relatively wealthy merchants, making it the perfect place to run a food business.
"If you're still worried, we can buy people in the prefectural city, have Granny Fang train them, and then arrange for them to be sent to Yingcheng once everything is settled."
Granny Fang occasionally takes on jobs and has some skill in it. Zhao Jingya gives Lin Yuesha advice and seems quite enthusiastic about it.
"Sister Lin, don't take it personally. I do have my own reasons for advising you like this; I want to contribute."
Zhao Jingya wanted to invest. She couldn't just sit around and do nothing with her dowry money. She wanted to use it to make money, so that if she were ever forced into something in the future, she would have a backup plan and never want to compromise again.
"You want to cooperate with me?"
Lin Yuesha was puzzled. Did Zhao Jingya have too high expectations of her? A shop with two owners is prone to disagreements in management, which Lin Yuesha was reluctant to accept.
"Sister Jingya, Sister Yuesha, why aren't you going in?"
Bai Youran went in first to help Li Ruoxue with her dowry, but Li Ruoxue treated her with disdain, which made Bai Youran furious. However, from the perspective of the Bai family, she could not expose the matter, which made her feel very frustrated.
Not wanting to live under the same roof as Li Ruoxue, Bai Youran went out to look for her and happened to see Zhao Jingya and Lin Yuesha huddled together, whispering to each other about something.
"We're going in now."
Urged on by Bai Youran, Lin Yuesha and Zhao Jingya helped Li Ruoxue with her makeup one after the other.
Inside the room, the room was packed with people. Li Ruoxue was showing off the dowry jewelry to the ladies who had come to add to her dowry, but she seemed dissatisfied with it.
"These are all ordinary goods. Even the styles in the capital are no more than this when purchased from the Jade Pavilion."
Li Ruoxue glanced at Bai Youran. She was about to marry into the Bai family and would become Bai Youran's sister-in-law. As the eldest sister-in-law, she was like a mother to Bai Youran, and she expected Bai Youran to be subservient to her.
“Miss Li, our family is not as well-off as yours, and what we are offering is just a token of our appreciation.”
The outspoken young ladies couldn't help but blush at Li Ruoxue's words. The young lady of the Li family kept showing off, and the hidden meaning in her words was that she looked down on the dowry given by everyone.
Originally, no one wanted to come, but out of consideration for the friendship among the female students, some people traveled for several days to come and personally deliver the dowry, only to be ridiculed and mocked.
Although the dowry wasn't very valuable, not everyone came from a wealthy family, so they brought out their best jewelry to avoid being laughed at.
"I meant that my dowry jewelry was ordinary, nothing more."
Li Ruoxue looked at herself in the mirror and, seeing that her words had angered the crowd, hurriedly tried to make amends.
My mother said that she should restrain herself before the ceremony is over, and that she should only be arrogant after the deed is done.
She didn't say these words to mock the young ladies, but rather to allude to Bai Youran. Bai Youran, the daughter of a prefect, was self-righteous and still couldn't buy suitable hairpins at the Jade Pavilion, because all the ones she liked had already been bought by her.
Bai Youran's face turned ashen. Unable to bear it any longer, she took a deep breath and went out first.
If she stayed in the room any longer, she feared she wouldn't be able to resist revealing Li Ruxue's identity and ruining the marriage between the two families.
Li Ruoxue would have been better off not explaining at all. People who hadn't thought much of it before suddenly felt like they'd been stabbed in the chest, and everyone's expressions turned grim.
Fortunately, the awkward atmosphere didn't last long. The matchmaker entered, covered Li Ruoxue's head with a veil, and said with a smile, "The auspicious time has arrived, Miss Li. Young Master Bai has come to pick you up. From now on, you will be the young mistress of the Bai family!"
"Um."
Li Ruoxue smiled shyly, taking small steps and trying her best to walk with proper posture.
Perhaps even the heavens couldn't stand her arrogance. The moment Lin Yuesha stepped out the door, she clearly saw a refined-looking young lady next to her quickly stick out her foot and put it under Li Ruoxue's wedding dress.
Li Ruoxue leaned forward, raising her hand in a flustered attempt to grab something to steady herself.
Several young ladies stood on either side, and as if by prior agreement, they all tacitly stepped back, none of them helping Li Ruoxue up. The matchmaker was saying auspicious words and didn't notice at all. By the time she reached out to help her up, Li Ruoxue had already fallen face-first to the ground.
"Ouch! My arm!"
The wound on her arm hadn't healed and had reopened. Li Ruoxue's mind went blank, and she couldn't see clearly. She could only reflexively pull off the veil and throw it away to focus on the injury on her arm.
The atmosphere was silent; everyone around watched the scene without saying a word.
Bai Youran closed her eyes, with only one thought in mind: It's over, it's all over.
"You're Li Ruoxue, not Li Ruoshuang!"
At the girls' school, Li Ruoxue was bitten by a vicious dog, causing a great uproar. In the end, Granny Fang couldn't explain the origin of the dog and was subjected to a lot of trouble by Li's family.
Li Ruoxue killed Zhao Fendie, and everyone received the same news: Li Ruoxue was so distraught that she had hanged herself. In order to bring good luck and dispel bad fortune, the Li family arranged for Li Ruoshuang to marry Bai Dingfeng in her place.
Miss Li was arrogant and domineering just now. The other young ladies thought Li Ruoxue was dead. As the younger sister, she was the only one favored by the Li family, so they were arrogant.
Now it seems that's not the case at all.
Either Li Ruoshuang died, or neither of the sisters died.
How could that be?
Of all those present, Zhao Jingya was the most shocked. She had thought that the culprit was dead, which would be enough to settle the matter, but unexpectedly, Li Ruoxue was still alive!
"Oh dear, oh dear, the veil has fallen to the ground, it's bad luck, it's bad luck!"
The matchmaker almost burst into tears. The bride had thrown away her veil before even leaving the hospital, which meant the marriage was destined to be short-lived and would bring disaster to the family. It meant she was willing to remain a widow!
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