I fought back after reselling my engagement

Zhen Su checked the account book in the shop, took out an abacus, and started to calculate slowly. He took out a new notebook next to him and recorded the best-selling items.

Su Qiniang sat there for a while, feeling really bored. "Cousin, when I went out, my mother didn't even give me any money. I always go to the Mao Mansion, so I can't go empty-handed. I also borrowed the Mao Mansion's precious space to hold a tea party, which costs eight taels of silver for each event. Cousin..."

Zhen Su looked at her pitiful appearance, took out a few banknotes from his sleeve, took out a ten-liang note and handed it to her, "Use it to buy what you like."

Su Qiniang's nurse saw that the madam only gave five taels at most each time, and sometimes she would scold the girl for spending too much money. But this princess gave ten taels at once, "Princess, this... can't be done."

Zhen Su added another one, "If twenty taels is not enough, I won't add any more."

"Thank you, cousin!" Su Qinnan smiled like a flower and walked out with the maid.

After looking through the account books for the past six months, Zhen Su wrote down the goods that had been sold, took a piece of white paper and drew a simple map according to the location. He wrote down clearly which shops were in the area and what business they were engaged in.

Zhen Su took a carriage to another grocery store. This one was a little secluded, but the business was better than the bustling street market. She was quite surprised. Shop No. 2 was located in the southern part of Yueyang City, where most of the shops were residential. There was a residential lane diagonally opposite, and there were several residential lanes next to it. Most of the shops were doing business for the common people.

Cui Ji's No. 1 Shop was a wrong choice. He could have made more money by doing other business. The area was full of high-end shops, so he could have bought the shop with his own money.

Zhen Su looked at Cui Ji Shop No. 2 and then took a look at Cui Ji Cloth Shop. The location was neither good nor bad, between Shop No. 1 and Shop No. 2.

Cui Ji Cloth Shop's business was neither good nor bad. Zhen Su visited several shops in the same industry and found a strange phenomenon: Xiang embroidery and Xiang satin materials were not selling well here, and the ones that really did well were the leaders in this field. For example, Ruyifang, which was famous for Xiang embroidery, had embroiderers who were selected from hundreds of thousands of Xiang embroidery experts, and ordinary people could not enter.

The cloth shop opened by Cui sold clothing fabrics for ordinary people and also sold some Hunan satin. This was not acceptable at all, so they had to switch to selling silk and satin clothing fabrics from Jiangnan. The decoration style of the shop was too conventional and had no style.

Zhen Su inspected the three shops, looked at the account books, and found out which products were selling well and which were not selling at all. If they were not selling well, he should not buy them again. However, the managers of the three shops did not care at all, and looked like they were just waiting to die. There was no reward mechanism for his aunt-in-law.

Cui was originally the daughter of a minor official. Because she was engaged to Su Shao, her family took the last-minute measures to select four of her own sons as dowry girls. Even the beautiful maids were bought at a high price after the engagement. Although the Cui family had hoped that their daughter would marry a wealthy family, that is, the son of the prefect, they never expected that she would end up marrying a better man, who was valued by her in-laws and respected by her husband.

When Zhen Su returned to Shop No. 1 after his inspection, he saw Su Qiniang's nurse standing outside the First-class Restaurant. Seeing the Su Mansion's carriage coming, she said, "Princess, the young lady is having lunch with Master Mo and Master Wu at the First-class Restaurant. Please have lunch with them before returning home."

Zhen Su said: "Okay."

She took Chunyue into the private room of Yipintang Restaurant. The food was already on the table, waiting for her to come over.

Su Wulang said, "My cousin has spoiled my seventh sister too much. She spent all the twenty taels of silver today and even sent a maid back to coax mother. She took out two pieces of palace silk to make autumn clothes. Such good material, she is growing up. Mother has told her that if she makes it now, it will be too small next year and it will waste the material. But she refused to listen and even did something to coax her elders..."

Su Qiniang said: "Fifth brother also said that I didn't succeed either, but you stopped me."

"I didn't ask you to make new clothes, but you bought a set of jewelry. You are the granddaughter of a first-rank governor, and you are wearing a set of jewelry worth twenty taels of silver. Isn't this a joke? Don't you have any good jewelry? All the jewelry your grandmother gave you when she was alive is good. Can you wear the one you bought now?"

Why didn't my mother give my sister money? It was because she would spend it recklessly and buy things that she couldn't use. For example, today, a set of jewelry worth twenty taels of silver. How did she come up with this idea? This kind of jewelry was only worn by maids in the circle of noble ladies. Su Wulang was so angry that he wanted to scold her. He was a man who knew this kind of thing, but his sister was ignorant and just wanted to be angry with him, not caring whether it was useful or not.

Zhen Su said, "Is it really as bad as my fifth cousin said?"

Su Qiniang said angrily: "It's obviously very delicate?"

"Exquisite? Who are you? The Su family is also a famous family. Why don't you think before doing anything? Twenty taels of silver for a set of jewelry, I dare say even the daughter of the seventh-rank county magistrate of Yueyang Prefecture can't wear it."

Zhen Su winked.

Chunyue and Su Qiniang's nurse brought the jewelry box. Zhen Su took a look and said, "The jewelry is very delicate and lovely. The Ninth Princess and Princess Changle gave me some fine pearls and gemstones. I will make some materials and go to the best jewelry shop to make a few sets of jewelry. One for each of us, my aunt, me, and my cousin."

"Just spoil her, cousin. Mother knows that she likes to spend money recklessly and has been suppressing her. If she is spoiled by you, what will happen in the future?" Su Wulang was quite annoyed. He was scolding his sister, but his cousin suggested buying some jewelry for her.

Su Qinnan was very happy.

Zhen Su said, "Cousin, don't spend money on jewelry next time. You are young and can't tell the difference between good and bad, and you can't choose whether it suits you. If you want to buy jewelry, you have to talk to your aunt. If you buy it on a whim and you can't wear it out, it's a waste of money."

Su Qiniang had been scolded by her brother earlier and had been unhappy. But when her cousin said that to her, she did not refute: "Cousin, this is a new product from Linglong Jewelry Shop. I snatched it from my cousin from the Mao family."

Zhen Su smiled and said, "You don't get along with her?"

"How did my cousin know?"

"If you are friends, why would you fight with each other? Since you snatched it on a whim, you must have met someone you don't get along with and you regard him as your enemy." Zhen Su replied, and said to Su Qinniang's nurse: "Send the jewelry back and say that you have written a prepayment order for 20 taels of silver. Tomorrow, the mansion will send custom-made jewelry with pearls and gemstones. I will design the pattern myself."

The nurse responded "yes".

Su Qinnan was about to get new jewelry, and no one stopped her.

Zhen Su still acts like an elder sister in front of her cousins.

Just when they were halfway through lunch, a young girl rushed in through the open door of the private room like a gust of wind. She looked panicked, ducked down, and slid under the table. Su Qiniang yelled, "Who... who are you? What's wrong with you?"

There were footsteps outside, and the owner of Yipin Restaurant shouted, "Who are you? Why are you bringing thugs into the restaurant?"