CHAPTER 202: CHAPTER 200 INQUIRIES (2)

Liu Si Ni was very happy, "Sure, Sister Yuzhu."

"So meddlesome!" The Great Princess glared at Li Yuzhu.

Li Yuzhu began teaching from one to ten, Liu Si Ni counting on her fingers to learn.

She learned quickly and mastered it in no time.

Li Yuzhu then taught her to count from ten to twenty, and then, how to count by tens.

The Second Princess walked into the room with a smile, "Oh, Si Niu can count numbers, come on, count my money for me."

She poured a bag of money onto the table for Liu Si Ni to count.

The major earnings of the day, the Second Princess gave to the Princess Consort Luling to keep, and kept an extra eighty coins for herself as pocket money.

Counting eighty copper coins was quite difficult for Liu Si Ni.

She counted over and over but just couldn’t get it right.

The Great Princess and the Second Princess laughed heartily.

Li Yuzhu sighed, she hadn’t really learned it yet, huh.

...

The Princely Heir left the main house of the North Courtyard and returned to his own South Courtyard, as usual, ignoring the Xue Family, opened the cabinet himself to look for a change of clothes.

But to his surprise, he couldn’t find the clothes.

Because the family was still quite poor, everyone had at most two or three sets of clothes.

One set was washed but not yet dry, one set was worn, there should be another set in the cabinet.

As he was puzzled, Xue Family came over holding the clothes and said, "The clothes are here, I’ve found them all."

Undergarments, underpants, outer pants, neatly folded one by one.

The Princely Heir glanced at her, took the clothes and turned to the bathhouse.

Xue Family held him, "Mao Lang, don’t be mad, alright? It’s my fault, I shouldn’t always lose my temper, it’s just... I can’t accept the current status all at once, I’m anxious, I’m worried about your career, I’m worried about the kids’ food and clothing."

As she spoke, she lowered her head and sighed.

The Princely Heir also sighed lightly, "I don’t blame you, I’m just too tired."

Seeing his voice soften, the Xue Family nodded, "I know you’re very tired too, so go take a bath."

She smiled slightly at the Princely Heir.

The Princely Heir looked at her, raising his brows in confusion, said nothing more, and went into the bathroom.

Once the words were spoken, the couple’s cold war ended.

At bedtime, Xue Family sighed, telling her grievances, "I don’t love to lose my temper; isn’t it just because there’s no money at hand? Wanting to buy something for the house, I have to ask Mother for money, and if I ask for too much, Mother blames me. Mother doesn’t manage the household, how would she know the difficulties at home."

The Princely Heir held Xue Family and said, "Don’t worry about the money, you’re the eldest daughter-in-law of the house, Mother’s getting older, her energy is declining, sooner or later the household management will be handed over to you."

Xue Family nodded, "I know."

"Tomorrow I’ll ask Mother to have you manage the household affairs," said the Princely Heir.

"Okay, thank you, husband."

"As long as you do well, I’ll stand by your side," the Princely Heir smiled faintly.

Xue Family glanced at him, said nothing more.

She wanted more, could he give it?

...

The next day, after the first cock crow, the Second Princess woke Liu Si Ni, then the Second Young Master, urging them to prepare to go to the market.

Li Yuzhu wanted to see the Second Princess’s business, so she got up early too.

In another room, Xue Family also got up early, arriving in the kitchen promptly.

Her usual arrogance was replaced with unusual diligence as she made breakfast for everyone.

Everyone looked at her for a long time as if she were a stranger.

Fixing her temper was a good thing, after all; everyone was only surprised for a moment, then set it aside.

After breakfast, Xue Family urged everyone to leave.

Li Yuzhu lifted the torch, the Second Young Master pushed the cart filled with essential shop items, and they set out under the cover of night.

The home’s stove, earthen pots, and charcoal, all were at the shop.

On the cart was a large clay basin, filled with flour mixed with old leaven.

Upon reaching the market, after an hour’s time, the old leaven would be almost ready.

Arriving at the shop just in time to knead the dough, not wasting any time.

By dawn break, they arrived at the market.

Xue Family was busy helping move things around, instructing Liu Si Ni to light the stove.

This surprised everyone even more.

The Second Princess whispered her doubts to Li Yuzhu.

Li Yuzhu glanced at Xue Family, who was helping sell pastries, and whispered, "As long as she works, don’t worry about other things."

"She’s so diligent it’s unrecognizable," the Second Princess frowned.

Li Yuzhu squinted, "Second Sister, you’re worried she’s up to something, aren’t you?"

"It’s a feeling I can’t explain," the Second Princess shook her head.

"Second Sister, rest assured, I’ll keep an eye on her for you," Li Yuzhu said.

With Li Yuzhu handling it, the Second Princess was at ease.

She went back to making pastries.

Li Yuzhu indeed paid closer attention to Xue Family.

However, Xue Family didn’t do anything wrong, she just stood in front of the counter, serving customers asking about the prices.

When someone wanted to buy pastries, she would call the Second Young Master to wrap it up.

The money collected went straight into the Second Princess’s bamboo tube, without any mistakes.

As the sun rose, more and more people came to the shop to buy baked pastries.

While making pastries, the Second Princess occasionally stopped to help wrap them.

At this point, Xue Family said she wanted to see if other places in the market were selling baked pastries, to understand how other shops conduct business, so they could learn from it.

The Second Princess frowned, "Sister-in-law, people come wave after wave, if you walk away, if suddenly seven or eight people, or five or six come, we won’t be able to handle it."

Xue Family said, "Finding your peers to understand how their business works is what matters, this is knowing oneself and the enemy, only then will be victorious in a hundred battles. If you don’t know how competitors conduct business, they might be thinking of ways to corner our business, and how would the shop still have five or six, or seven or eight people coming at once?"

The argument was irrefutable, leaving the Second Princess momentarily speechless.

The Second Young Master impatiently said, "If Sister-in-law wants to go, then go."

Li Yuzhu also said, "It’s fine for Sister-in-law to take a look, just make sure to come back soon."

"Alright, I’ll be right back," Xue Family smiled slightly.

She took off the apron she was wearing and quickly walked towards the market.

After walking for a while, Xue Family looked back and saw that the Second Princess’s baked pastry shop was already far away, she exhaled and asked a passerby, "Excuse me, young man, have you seen anyone with a Capital accent?"

The young man shook his head and walked away.

Xue Family asked another person.

Before this person could answer, a passing ruffian grinningly pointed a fan at Xue Family, "Isn’t that you, the person with the Capital accent."

Saying this, he tried to use the fan to lift Xue Family’s chin.

When had Xue Family ever suffered such an insult? Her face turned livid with anger.

She turned and ran.

But the ruffian blocked her, "Hey, why are you running? A young lady from the Capital? We’re kindred spirits, come, come, come, let’s have a cup of tea together."

But just then, someone kicked the ruffian aside, "In broad daylight, daring to molest a decent woman, do you want to land in jail?"

The voice was very familiar, Xue Family looked up and saw a familiar face.

She was scared out of her wits.