Chapter 24
Mu Yulu's gaze was intense as she listened: "Is that all?"
Feng Wentang nodded: "That's good."
"Good, good, good," Mu Yulu laughed inwardly. Feng Wentang was decisive and efficient, indeed quite straightforward. This was a friend worth having.
"I'll bring the silver notes over in a bit, Miss, feel free to withdraw them." After saying this, Feng Wentang didn't rush to leave, but stood there hesitantly, as if she had something to say but didn't dare to.
Mu Yulu naturally noticed his hesitation: "Is there anything else you want to ask me?"
She had already decided that if Feng Wentang asked her what she planned to do with the money, she would tell him directly that she wanted to use it to buy some shops. These shops would serve as her base for future business and also as one of her channels for making money from money in the future.
After all, he provided the principal, and he was considered a shareholder, so he had the right to know what the money was used for.
Unexpectedly, after hesitating for a long time, Feng Wentang asked this question: "Did Mu Qinhan secretly sneak into the Mu residence some time ago? Did he...did he bully you?"
This was clearly the most tactful way of putting it that Feng Wentang could think of.
However, because it was too tactful, Mu Yulu didn't understand at all, and she clearly missed the point: "How do you know that Mu Qinhan sneaked into the Mu residence a while ago? Weren't you still on your way then?"
Feng Wentang looked away shyly: "I have some friends in the capital who are keeping an eye on the Mu family's situation for me. They told me about these things after I came back."
Mu Yulu said "Oh," and then added, "You seem to have quite a few friends."
Feng Wentang was visibly on the verge of collapse. He hesitated for a while before finally mustering the courage to ask again, "I heard from them that you were seriously ill some time ago and were left alone in the mansion without anyone to take care of you. Mu Qinhan sneaked into the Mu mansion and went to your courtyard. He hasn't come out for several days."
He even stammered towards the end: "He...he didn't bully you, did he?"
If Mu Yulu still couldn't understand what he wanted to ask after he had hinted at it to this extent, then she would truly be as stupid as a pig.
"Guardian Feng, Brother Feng! What are you thinking?" she said, somewhat exasperated. "I'm seriously ill, not dying. How can I let him bully me? If he dares to touch me, I'll throw myself into the lake right now."
Feng Wentang quickly reassured her, "Don't worry, I'm just worried that he'll bully you."
He explained, "I heard from my friends that Mu Qinhan entered your courtyard and never came out again. Not long after, he sent someone to the Mu residence to propose marriage, so I let my imagination run wild. I was wrong, please don't be angry, okay?"
Mu Yulu wasn't angry; to be precise, she was more surprised than angry at the moment.
Why does Feng Wentang even know that Mu Qinhan once sent someone to propose marriage?
To save Mu Qinhan's face, Mu Yugang kept the news tightly under wraps. Logically speaking, apart from a few people in the Prince's Mansion and the Mu Mansion, no one else should know about this.
Mu Yulu looked at Feng Wentang with suspicion: "How do you know that Mu Qinhan once came to propose marriage? Did your friends in the capital tell you about this?"
What kind of friend is so resourceful, and keeps an eye on the Mu residence all day long?
Feng Wentang remained silent, guiltily shifting his gaze away and refusing to meet Mu Yulu's eyes.
Mu Yulu could tell that Feng Wentang didn't want to continue the discussion. She couldn't help but let her imagination run wild. Feng Wentang must be far more powerful in the capital than she thought, and the Mu family was one of their targets. Perhaps Feng Wentang had some hidden identity, and wasn't just her father's bodyguard?
However, since he didn't pry into her privacy, she didn't need to keep pursuing him.
In fact, ever since she learned in her previous life that the Mu family had been executed, she had guessed that Mu Yugang's activities in the capital were not just about doing business. Otherwise, even if he were smuggling salt, his whole family would not have been beheaded.
Mu Yugang also has many secrets, or rather, the entire Mu family mansion is full of secrets, otherwise so many people wouldn't have come to her house to find out what's going on.
However, Mu Yulu didn't want to delve into these matters at all. She only wanted to escape the Mu family mansion, work hard to plan and manage her affairs, and strive to leave the capital within three years. Otherwise, when the entire Mu family was executed, she would not be able to escape either.
With a slight smile, Mu Yulu stopped pressing the matter and said nonchalantly to Feng Wentang, "Alright, I won't ask you anymore. We're partners now, and no matter how much money we make in the future, I'll give you half."
Feng Wentang smiled at her and said, "Then I wish Miss a prosperous year with abundant wealth."
And so, with Feng Wentang's financial support, Mu Yulu's money-making plan was launched in full swing.
First, she used the money to buy a lot of dilapidated houses in a very remote place.
When accompanying Mu Yulu on the site visit, Xinyun asked her with great incomprehension, "Miss, you finally managed to borrow some money from Guard Feng, why are you using it to buy these courtyards that are uninhabitable?"
It's no wonder Xin Yun was puzzled; the locations of the courtyards that Mu Yulu bought were far too remote, making them unsuitable for business or even for living.
You could say this is the slum of Beijing, and the people living in the slum are naturally marginalized by this prosperous capital.
They toiled day after day, creating the prosperity of the Vermilion Bird Empire, but this liveliness and prosperity never belonged to them; they were both creators and bystanders.
This area and the people who live here are like lice hidden under a gorgeous robe, or like a festering sore under the fur of a giant beast, slowly rotting away.
So Xinyun really didn't understand why Mu Yulu would spend so much money to buy almost three streets' worth of courtyards, since these courtyards would probably be given away for free.
But Mu Yulu had her own reasons for doing this.
The reason she chose to buy a house in this location is that Mu Yulu, after her rebirth, knows about world affairs and some business opportunities are hard to miss.
Soon it will be the birthday of the emperor's most beloved third prince, when all nations will come to offer their congratulations. The third prince, who has endured the slums for a long time, is finally going to stop. He decides to intensify efforts to improve the environment of the capital before his birthday.
The first measure was to expel all the poor people living in these dilapidated courtyards from the capital, and at the same time, to buy back these courtyards at a high price for the court to renovate.
Although the residents here are mostly poor, the actual owners of these courtyards are mostly officials or wealthy merchants. Buying a few courtyards is easy for them, and the daily rent alone is a considerable income.
Now that the imperial court is allocating funds to reclaim these courtyards, the owners are naturally happy to see this happen and are selling them back to the imperial court for ten or even a hundred times the price.
Mu Yulu wanted to earn money from the imperial court.
She bought these courtyards before the Third Prince gave the order, planning to sell them at several times the price when the court reclaimed them. At that time, the amount of silver in her hands would increase several times over.
Only then did she truly have the capital to do business.
However, before that day arrived, she didn't intend to be idle. She made use of the courtyard she owned and opened a fortune-telling shop.
Having been given a second chance at life, she possessed a wealth of information unknown to others. Whether they were businesspeople or officials, information asymmetry was crucial to them, as having more information meant having more opportunities for wealth or survival.
Therefore, although Mu Yulu's fortune-telling shop was located in an extremely remote place, her business was getting better and better every day.
Xin Yun was very impressed: "Miss, no wonder you were able to have a prophetic dream before and help Feng Huyuan and the others escape a calamity. It turns out you were born with this kind of constitution, and you can even predict the future so accurately."
Goodness, this girl is convincing herself like this, and the more she thinks about it, the more reasonable it seems.
Mu Yulu simply smiled without saying a word.
Now, her movements within the manor are becoming increasingly convenient. After all, Mu Qinhan had previously come to propose marriage, and Mu Yugang believed San Zhou Jinse's words that he would marry no one but her. With these two backers, Mu Yulu is no longer the same as before and can be considered a proper young lady in the manor.
Therefore, no one dared to ask about her affairs. Even though she locked herself in her room all day long, never venturing out, the servants in the mansion never asked or said a word, assuming that Mu Yulu was too shy to go out because she was about to throw the embroidered ball.
So no one knew that she would disguise herself as an old man every day, sneak out of the mansion by climbing over windows and walls to run her fortune-telling shop.
Besides her and Xinyun, only Feng Wentang knew about this in the Mu family.
The reason Mu Yulu told Feng Wentang about this was mainly to get him to promote her fortune-telling shop within his extensive network of friends.
After all, even the best wine needs advertising. No matter how accurate the information Mu Yulu divined was, it wouldn't attract the first batch of customers if no one promoted it.
"Blink if you've been kidnapped." This is what Xu Xingzhi, Feng Wentang's close friend, said as Feng Wentang enthusiastically promoted Mu Yulu's fortune-telling shop.
Feng Wentang glanced at him helplessly.
Qi Zhizhi, the young master of the No. 1 Restaurant in the world, continued, "That fortune-telling old man can't be your lover, can he?"
Well, there's something even more outrageous here. Feng Wentang is considering whether to break off their friendship.
However, it's not entirely their fault that their friends have such a misunderstanding.
After all, Feng Wentang never believed in fate and never consulted anyone for divination. It's hard not to speculate when he suddenly and inexplicably promotes a fortune teller for free.
Fortunately, Mu Yulu's calculations were very accurate, and her reputation in the industry grew, which indirectly helped clear Feng Wentang of some suspicion.
Even Qi Zhizhi, who had previously mocked him, became interested in Mu Yulu's fortune-telling shop: "I heard that the fortune teller is a genius. He guided a peddler to take over a shop in the western suburbs of the capital. Half a month later, the court issued a notice that during the month-long birthday banquet of the Third Prince, the Vermilion Bird Kingdom would close the city gates in the east, south, and north. All the countries that came to pay tribute could only enter the capital through the western suburbs gate."
He fanned himself and glanced sideways at Feng Wentang: "In my opinion, that old fortune teller wasn't predicting fate, but rather the major events in the court over the past few years, wasn't he?"
The wind asked Tang, but she remained silent.
He decided to play dead.
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