"Huan Qiu, you go to all the rice shops on the street later, try to order as much rice and flour as possible. When you finish, send it all to my newly bought house. Remember, store the rice and flour separately in the rooms, and try to arrange for the rice shops to deliver at different times, to avoid suspicion."
The greatest advantage of Huan Qiu was her thrift with words, she never asked why Cai Wei was buying so much rice. She simply took the silver bills from Cai Wei, said "yes" and got off the carriage to find the rice shops.
Today was the day when Cai Wei and Huo Yuan agreed to hand over the ginseng shop. After separating from Huan Qiu, she instructed the coachman to take her to ’Mu’s Shen Record Shop’.
Mu’s Shen Record Shop was located in a grandiose two-story building. The luxurious facade, marble steps, hollow carved door, and gold-plated sandalwood plaque all showcased the economic strength of its owner.
Cai Wei got off the carriage and walked directly into the shop.
There weren’t many people in the shop, there were only four shopkeepers and one supervisor. It was still early so there were no customers. The four shopkeepers were cleaning with various tools while the handsome young shopkeeper was sitting behind the counter using his abacus.
Upon Cai Wei’s arrival, a shopkeeper who was wiping the counter immediately greeted her with a smile, "Miss, are you here to buy ginseng?"
"You carry on, I’m just browsing!"
Cai Wei wandered around the shop with her hands behind her. Last time she had not had a chance to take a good look around. But now that she was legally the shopkeeper, she had to thoroughly acquaint herself with her own shop.
Without a doubt, Huo Yuan had spent great effort on the ginseng shop. Be it the decor or the goods in the shop, everything was impeccable.
The shop was decorated with valuable purple sandalwood. Shelves displaying different grades of ginseng were made from pear wood. The spacious hall, the red velvet embroidered peony carpet, the huge white jade carved screen depicting sixteen Luohan landscapes, the purple sandalwood counter, the pear wood shelves, and the dozens of genuine old ginsengs on the shelves made the shop look subtly luxurious and classy!
The young shopkeeper finished tallying the accounts, walked out from behind the counter, and bowed respectfully to Cai Wei, saying, "Are you Miss Mu, the one who made an agreement with my young master?"
Cai Wei laughed and said, "Yes, it’s just that I don’t know where your young master is now?"
The shopkeeper said: "The young master came early in the morning and has been waiting here for a while. He was later invited by someone from Ying Tianfu. Before he left, he asked me to convey to the lady that the handover should be postponed until he comes back from Ying Tianfu."
Big Brother Huo has been invited over by Ying Tianfu!
A crease appeared on Cai Wei’s brow as she recalled the scene she had seen at Silk Palace yesterday!
In the beginning, Consort Huo was promoted by Empress Jin. She also promoted several other future concubines who were in similar situations to Consort Huo- women of low birth but with attributes pleasing to the Emperor that she could use to challenge the Empress.
Now, the Empress had been completely suppressed by Empress Jin and was no longer a threat. Having all these future concubines lingering in the palace would only lead to trouble, especially Consort Huo, who had produced a son that was a constant irritation to Empress Jin.
Therefore, a public falling out with Consort Huo inevitably had to happen. It was a good opportunity, and she had good enough reasons to take her down.
It seems that Empress Jin had indeed fallen out with Consort Huo. Now, Big Brother Huo had become the main suspect in harming Jin Dapeng. If Empress Jin wanted to make things difficult for Big Brother Huo, even the entire Huo Family wouldn’t be able to protect him!