CHAPTER 182: CHAPTER 181: ONE HOUSEHOLD, ONE ABLE-BODIED MAN—NO MISTAKES ALLOWED

After Yu Zhengyang and Jiang Lin’s team whirled into the city, there was a new recruitment notice on the city wall.

The notice was surrounded by a crowd, but Yu Xiaolian didn’t squeeze in and instead, strolled home cheerfully.

Anyway, Jiang Lin is coming to her house tonight, so there’s no need to look at the notice now; she can just ask him later.

She must prepare a little more food tonight to properly entertain Jiang Lin.

When Yu Xiaolian returned to Taotao Residence, Fu Zihan was waiting for her in the shop.

Seeing her come back, Fu Zihan raised a bottle of translucent pink nail polish and joked, "As soon as I arrived, Er Ya gave me this, but said she didn’t know how to use it. I’m waiting for you to show me!"

Yu Xiaolian laughed, "Let me apply it for you then."

Fu Zihan nodded, "Alright!"

It was the first time Fu Zihan had seen such nail dye. Her mother had told her that in their younger days, they used balsamine flowers to dye their nails, and later, after discovering that layered red worked better, they switched to using that.

Fu Zihan and her sisters had also used balsamine flowers to dye their nails.

First, they would gather fresh balsamine flowers together, tear off the petals one by one, and crush them into a paste in a ceramic vessel.

Then they would apply the paste onto their nails, wrap them with leaves, and repeat the process several times for the color to turn out beautifully and last longer.

Seeing Yu Xiaolian use a small brush to quickly coat a nail with translucent pink, a shade she had never dyed before, Fu Zihan was amazed.

This Taotao Residence, she was willing to call it a treasure trove shop.

Fu Zihan’s hands were delicate, and her ten fingertips slender; the translucent pink nail polish made them look even fairer and more tender.

The translucent pink nail polish was something Yu Xiaolian had bought on Taobao for herself, still unused, always kept in her bag.

A few days ago, she pondered what she could give Fu Zihan as a gift, and remembered this nail polish.

When she first arrived here, translucent nail polishes were quite popular, so she followed the trend and bought a few bottles, and now they were coming in handy.

While waiting for the polish to dry, Fu Zihan mentioned she was here to bid farewell because she would be returning to the Capital tomorrow.

Yu Xiaolian thought, with Jun Yian going to the Northern Land, he would probably meet Xiao Fangfei, but after her throat moved up and down a few times, she said nothing and simply wished Fu Zihan a smooth journey.

Fu Zihan also wanted to stay a while longer at her grandmother’s place, but with the Mid-Year Festival approaching, she had no choice but to return.

After the Mid-Year Festival, it would be the Empress’s fifty-fifth birthday; her grandfather had said that the Astronomical Bureau suggested a grand celebration for the Empress’s birthday to bring fortune to the Emperor’s health.

The Empress believed the Astronomical Bureau, so the birthday celebration arrangements were already underway.

Every year for the Empress’s birthday banquet, she would accompany her mother to the palace for the feast.

Fu Zihan sighed.

She still hadn’t decided what gift to bring for the Empress!

In recent years, she has been ’personally’ embroidering some longevity characters or painting some pine trees as birthday gifts.

In the earlier years, the Empress would have someone open them up on the spot to admire her work and then praise her.

But in recent years, the Empress would just nod faintly and have someone put them away.

She wouldn’t even look, nor would she praise.

Obviously, even the Empress found her gifts lacking in novelty.

Curious if Taotao Residence had any decent gifts, Fu Zihan asked, "In a while, I have an important elder celebrating a birthday; do you have anything better, something special that could be a good gift?"

Yu Xiaolian asked, is the one celebrating male or female? How old are they?

Fu Zihan answered everything, and then looked at Yu Xiaolian with anticipation.

Yu Xiaolian tilted her head and thought for a bit, believing she might have a market for her branded perfume.

Yu Xiaolian told Fu Zihan to wait for a moment, turned around to the back yard and returned with a bottle of Chanel perfume, a favorite of her mother which she had bought as a new gift this May Day, still unused.

She had spent over a thousand yuan when purchasing it, and now, she wouldn’t sell it even if it were cheaper.

Yu Xiaolian sprayed some perfume onto Fu Zihan’s sleeve, "This is called perfume, the top notes are a mix of grapefruit and vetiver, the middle notes are a sweet floral blend of jasmine and hyacinth, and the base notes finish with amber, cedar and musk.

If you are gifting it to a wealthy lady, this is definitely a great choice."

Fu Zihan sniffed her sleeve intensely, "It smells so good, this scent is amazing, why didn’t you show me this lovely item earlier?"

Yu Xiaolian explained, "This item is priced too high. I’m afraid it won’t sell, and I also fear putting it out in case it gets stolen, so I never displayed it.

If you hadn’t asked me just now, I would have forgotten I had such a splendid item, it’s a unique good from an oceanic ship in Bohai City."

Fu Zihan was in awe, "Bohai City? That’s so far away, have you really been to such distant places?"

Yu Xiaolian responded, "Where do you think all these exotic goods in my house come from? They’re all from overseas."

Fu Zihan asked, "Are my nails dry? Can I move now? I want to touch that bottle of perfume, I saw you just press it and it sprays! How magical!"

Yu Xiaolian advised, "Wait a bit longer, your nails aren’t fully dry yet!"

Fu Zihan gazed at the pink perfume bottle with stars in her eyes, "Is this a glass cup?"

She knew of glass, she also had a pair of glass cups in her room, gifts from a student of her grandfather during his birthday. Because she liked them, her grandfather gifted them to her.

Later, she specifically inquired about the price of those glass cups, a thousand taels!

Fu Zihan mentally estimated this bottle of perfume’s price, instantly realizing gifting the Empress a painting wasn’t impossible after all.

Sure enough, upon asking Yu Xiaolian about the price, Fu Zihan lowered her head.

A thousand taels!

Too expensive, beyond her affordability.

But she really liked it.

Now she wasn’t even considering if the Empress would like it, she just adored it!

She wished to own it, what to do?

Seeing this, Yu Xiaolian overestimated Fu Zihan’s budget, reluctantly took out a bottle of cheap perfume, the kind sold at supermarkets for eight yuan.

"Considering how you’ve brought so many customers to me, I won’t charge you three hundred taels or five hundred taels, let’s count this as two hundred taels, no less."

This osmanthus perfume, though just eight yuan, had a delightful scent. The only downside was its shorter staying power.

By this time, Fu Zihan’s nail polish had dried. She accepted the osmanthus perfume, yet her eyes remained on the Chanel bottle.

The fascination in her eyes was evident.

Suddenly, Fu Zihan pulled a pearl the size of a longan from her purse.

When she first arrived in Luocheng, Jun Yian had given her a box full of pearls, from which she picked the largest one and carried it with her in her purse.