Chapter 116: The Bustling Rouge Shop
“Jun Yanqing’s taste in other things might be acceptable, but his taste in personal guards is too poor! The big black guy is annoying, and this new one is even more annoying!”
Yan Shiyilang rubbed his bruised face and said to Miss Yan, while eating an orange peeled by a maidservant.
Seeing several bottles of new scented cream on the table, he casually picked one up and sniffed it:
“Look, Jun Yanqing even understands rouge and powder. I heard this scented cream is selling very well. The young masters who came to the city for the Treasure Contest had their servants lining up to buy it.”
“Nowadays, when you go to Yihong Tower for drinks, the girls there don’t want gold and silver jewelry, they only love this scented cream and lip balm.”
Miss Yan put down the ledger in her hand, her eyes sharp: “Second Brother went to Yihong Tower?”
Yan Shiyilang shivered and quickly waved his hands: “I just heard about it, I would never go! Eldest Brother would confine me if he knew.”
“I’ve been running to the Border City every day recently, let alone drinking, it’s hard to even have a cup of tea.”
Miss Yan really wanted to inquire about Li King’s recent situation, but she was afraid her Second Brother would mock her.
Thinking of quickly calculating this month’s accounts and personally delivering a portion of the dividends to the Border City, she would then have a chance to meet Li King openly.
The annual Mid-Autumn Treasure Contest in Yanzhou City brought together young ladies and gentlemen from all over Yandi to Yanzhou, making her Rouge Shop very popular, with several items sold out.
Especially the high-grade scented cream with red ginseng and pearl powder, which was rumored to be from an imperial court secret recipe, and noblewomen in Yandi were eager to get it.
There was also the lipstick in a white porcelain tube, which, with a slight twist, revealed red lip balm that, when applied lightly to the lips, made them red and alluring.
It was much more convenient than lip paper, and it wasn’t troublesome to touch up makeup in public. Nowadays, noble ladies in Yanzhou take pride in collecting all the lipstick shades.
With the help of the Yan Clan’s old steward, Miss Yan managed the Rouge Shop, and with these few new products, she quickly made it the most popular rouge shop in Yanzhou.
The goods were always in short supply, and the profit for this month alone was tens of thousands of Taels of silver!
Miss Yan had never cared about money before, let alone looked at account books.
But now she knew that Li King was short of money, and the reconstruction of the Border City required a lot of money. What she could do for Li King was to make their cooperative business flourish.
She knew very well that she and Li King had no future, but she couldn’t help but want to see him, even if it was just to do something for him.
Hearing her Second Brother mention Li King, she pretended to ask casually, “What happened to the Prince’s personal guards?”
Speaking of this, Yan Shiyi became angry:
“A pretty boy, who claims to be an old guard from Chang’an, is very arrogant. He’s even more temperamental than Jun Yanqing. I made a joke, and he hit me.”
“You must call him Prince! The Prince is kind-hearted, you can’t just call him by his name. What did you say?”
Yan Shiyi chuckled: “I wasn’t talking nonsense. They go in and out together, and live in the same room. This Jun… Prince, can’t marry a woman, so he’s so close to men.”
Miss Yan gave him another sharp look, and Yan Shiyi flinched:
“Just a joke, a joke! I heard that homosexual preference is popular in Chang’an. What if Li King is also into that?”
Miss Yan was furious: “Second Brother, if you talk nonsense again, I’ll report you to Eldest Brother! Is this something you can say in front of your sister?”
Yan Shiyilang quickly tried to appease her. If he really told Eldest Brother, he would definitely be beaten. He wasn’t being reckless, he just wanted to dispel his sister’s unrealistic fantasies about Li King.
Seeing that Yan Shiyilang hadn’t come to the Border City for several days, Jinsui didn’t pay much attention. This guy said he was here to watch the Yan family members work and listen to Cheng Yu lecture on the Thirty-Six Stratagems, so it seemed like he had a short attention span.
These past two days, Jinsui’s leg injury had greatly improved, and she could ride a horse. She took the opportunity to visit the salt fields in the East Sea, bringing Liu Xiaowei of the Tuntian Army with her.
She thought it would be better to hand over the salt fields to the Tuntian Army in the end. The Black Feather Camp was an army, and it had to train, suppress bandits, and fight. It was unreasonable to also manage salt fields.
After the shared battle against the Tartars and defending the Border City, the Tuntian Army and the Black Feather Camp became as close as brothers. With Gu Changxiao also arriving at the Border City, Jinsui didn’t have to worry about management loopholes.
She felt she could confidently hand over such an important and confidential matter as the salt fields to the Tuntian Army.
Gu Changxiao naturally followed along. Jinsui also wanted him to see the Tuntian Army’s farmland.
After all, she had burned his Border City, so she had to let him see what she had done since arriving at the Border City.
On the way to the East Sea, Jinsui introduced him from time to time:
“That piece of farmland under the river beach is newly reclaimed. We will plant our new crops here in the future. They are high-yield. After planting for two or three years, even if the population of the Border City increases, there will be no shortage of grain.”
Liu Xiaowei seized the opportunity to say: “Prince, speaking of this, I have one more thing to report to you. Our experimental field for seedling cultivation was half burned by the war.”
Jinsui was shocked: “Which half? Potato seedlings or tomato seedlings? While the weather is still warm, quickly replant them!”
She didn’t blame Liu Xiaowei for not reporting it in time, because after the battle of the Border City, the survivors were so busy that they wished they could do the work of ten people. Especially Liu Xiaowei, who was in charge of everything in the Tuntian Army.
Besides, reporting the burned seedling field to her wouldn’t have helped, so she could understand the delay in reporting.
Liu Xiaowei quickly said: “We have replanted, and we are building greenhouses. Even if there is a sudden frost, the seedlings won’t be frozen.
The burned half of the field had potato, tomato, and sweet potato seedlings. I calculated that the surviving seedlings are enough to plant five mu of land. We will plant on a larger scale next spring.”
Gu Changxiao heard them talking about the three new crops. Before coming to the Border City, he had never heard of them. Our Li King told the people of the Border City that these were seeds presented as tribute from the Western Regions to Chang’an, and he brought them from Chang’an.
The people of the Border City believed him, but Gu Changxiao knew very well that Chang’an did not have these things.
So, Daoist Ji, where did you get the seeds for these new crops?
He didn’t want to investigate deeply, because the imperial court attached great importance to new crops, as it had always been throughout the dynasties. In the past, the Kingdom of Bolan presented Bolan vegetable seeds as tribute to the Tang Dynasty and received great rewards.
Countries guarded their crop seeds very strictly. Everyone knew that Goryeo had good cotton seeds, but whether through official channels or smuggling by merchants, they could not obtain a large number of cotton seeds from Goryeo.
If Daoist Ji wanted to ask for something from the imperial court, these three new crops could be presented as tribute through the Taoist route. Whether it was to ask for a Taoist temple or a noble title for Daoist Ji, it would be no problem.
But he asked for nothing and gave them directly to the Tuntian Army of the Border City.
Gu Changxiao’s gaze towards Jinsui became increasingly filled with admiration and appreciation for talent. He was determined to keep Daoist Ji in the Border City!
Just then, they passed a field of lush green beet plants. Jinsui said happily: “When I came last time, this area was still being reclaimed. You are very fast!”
Liu Xiaowei chuckled and said: “When the Zheng family was here, they reclaimed land overnight and planted the vegetables suggested by the Prince before the frost.”
Beets were mainly for sugar extraction, but looking at the large vegetable field at this moment, Jinsui had a flash of inspiration and thought of something else.
She quickly asked Liu Xiaowei: “Are there any Chinese cabbage and turnips planted in this area of vegetable fields?”
