Chapter 165 Branch
Mengxi found that the Second Master had also begun to pay attention to Yichuntang, so she told Zhiqiu that Yichuntang was not a good place to live. After hearing this, Zhiqiu screamed:
"Second Grandma!"
Seeing Zhiqiu's excitement, Mengxi frowned. This girl was becoming more and more impulsive. She was so angry this morning that she wanted to close the store. Now she got anxious before he had even finished speaking. Even if she had good intentions, she had to see where they were and who was talking.
In this deep house, it's okay to be a little spicy, but you have to be steady, otherwise, you might die without knowing how. Thinking of this, he stopped talking and sat there staring at Zhiqiu.
Zhiqiu was frightened by the Second Mistress's gaze, and lowered his head and said in a low voice:
"I thought Second Madam was going to close the medicine hall, so I got a little anxious."
Seeing that Zhiqiu knew he was wrong, Mengxi spoke up:
"I haven't finished what I'm saying yet. Look how anxious you are. You don't have the energy to be calm at all. In this deep house, these are . You are my eldest maid. Everyone is watching you. You must learn to stay calm when encountering things."
Mengxi's tone was calm, but it carried a sense of unapologeticness. When Zhiqiu heard it, he knew that the Second Grandma was angry. Thinking about it carefully, he realized that the Second Grandma had been neglecting things for some time, and she was a little restless.
He knelt on the ground with a plop and said:
"I was wrong. I will be more careful next time. Please don't be angry with me, Madam."
Seeing Zhiqiu like this, Mengxi sighed and said:
"Get up, this is for your own good. As the saying goes, trouble comes from the mouth. In this mansion, I may not be able to protect myself, let alone you. The four of you have followed me since entering the mansion. I don't want any of you to get into trouble. You must learn to stay calm and protect yourself in the future."
Zhiqiu and Zhichun responded quickly. Zhichun had already pulled Zhiqiu up, and the two maids stood aside cautiously.
After looking at the two people, Meng Xi continued what he had just said:
"I was thinking, as the saying goes , a cunning rabbit has three burrows. We can't just rely on this one pharmacy. I asked Li Du to recruit some orphans and train them carefully. You can go and see how they are doing."
"I will arrange for someone to go there in a moment."
After hearing what the second wife said, Zhiqiu quickly responded.
"I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to go out during this period. It would be best if you go there in person tomorrow and discuss with Li Du to see if you can recruit some smart and reliable people from the orphans to open one or two more branches outside Pingyang City. The location of these branches should be as far away from the Xiao family's assets as possible. If you don't have enough money, you can open one temporarily to test the waters and make it work."
"Second Madam, you didn't mention it. My brother and father are both considering this matter. They mentioned it to me a few days ago, saying that Yichun Hall is making a fortune and that the land can no longer be expanded. The money is just sitting there, so they want to buy two good properties outside of Pingyang City and open branches. They asked me to ask you what you think. Seeing that you are in a bad mood recently, I didn't dare to mention it. I just told my brother not to worry and that I would mention it to you later. I didn't expect Second Madam to bring it up first."
When Zhiqiu said this, he looked at the Second Mistress carefully, and seeing that she didn't say anything, he continued:
"Although you usually stay at home, you are really a genius in business. I can't think of this idea no matter how hard I try. I will go there early tomorrow morning. My brother said that with our current strength, it will be no problem to open three branches. It's almost the end of the month, and the accounts of Yichuntang will be sent to you for review in the next two days."
Oh my god, in my previous life, the streets were full of chain stores and I didn’t have to think about it, but here I become a genius. Mengxi felt her face getting hot when she saw Zhiqiu praising her, she really deserved it.
Thinking that she had been a little depressed these days, it was not because of these girls. Now she was in a better mood. When Zhiqiu mentioned it, she felt her face getting hot. Just when she was about to speak, Zhichun, who had been silent, seemed to remember something and asked cautiously:
"Second Madam, I don't understand. If you open two more branches, they will also be named Yichuntang. They will also attract the wind. How can it be a good place to settle down?"
"For this business, you either have to expand it or start it on a small scale. The worst thing is to be like us. We sound famous, but in fact we have no strength at all. If we don't rely on the crown prince, the Xiao family might be wiped out in one blow. Now that the crown prince is helping us, we should open one or two branches to test the waters. These branches will not sell the medicines on the second floor, but only the ordinary medicines on the first floor. This way, we won't attract too much attention."
Having said this, Mengxi picked up the tea, took a sip, and continued:
"If it doesn't do well, it won't attract attention. We can settle down in a branch store outside the mansion. If it does well, we will simply expand it. Following this path, we will let Yichuntang flourish everywhere in Daqi. When Yichuntang's power is strong enough to compete with the Xiao family, we will use Yichuntang's power to force the Second Master to divorce, and we will leave the Xiao mansion openly."
"blossom everywhere!"
"Divorce?"
As soon as Mengxi finished speaking, the two girls asked at the same time. Mengxi pressed her forehead and thought that there was really no such thing as "divorce by peace" in Da Qi.
After thinking for a long time, she didn't know how to explain to the two girls. She was afraid that they would think she was shocking again, so she coughed and said vaguely:
"Divorce means asking the Second Master to write me a letter of divorce."
"Second Madam, you really, really want to be with Second Master..."
After hearing what the second grandmother said, Zhichun opened his eyes wide, looked incredulous, and asked again uncertainly.
Seeing Zhichun's look, Mengxi's mood darkened. She looked at Zhiqiu, who hated the Second Master the most. She thought he would agree with her divorcing the Second Master!
Looking over, Zhiqiu was also dumbfounded, just as much as Zhichun.
She sighed secretly in her heart. It seems that the idea of men being superior to women and being faithful to one man is deeply rooted in ancient women and cannot be changed in a day or two. Zhiqiu supports her so much. It can be said that Zhiqiu is the one who hates the Second Master the most among people around her. But looking at her expression, she would rather live independently in the Xiao Mansion with the empty title of Second Wife than be divorced. It seems that if she wants to make these two girls truly accept her ideas, she still has a lot of trouble!
Mengxi thought of this and held back the important matter that was about to come to her lips to inform the two girls. She ignored Zhichun and said:
"Let's just leave it at that. Zhiqiu wanted to tell Li Du that there's no need to rush to open more stores. Just open one or two first and try it out. Once it's stable, we can move on. If we have enough money, it would be best to buy a separate courtyard. We can't live in the pharmacy when we go out in the future."
"Okay, I will go out early tomorrow morning. Grandma, do you want a villa with good scenery or convenient transportation?"
"It's better to have both, so that you can have the medicine delivered later. I've been shopping all morning and I'm really hungry. Bring us some food."
Zhiqiu and Zhichun glanced at the Second Grandma. This Second Grandma was really greedy.
…
As Zhiqiu and Zhichun expected, the eldest lady sent Baozhu to the door to pick up the second master. It was really Xiu'er's idea.
It turned out that when Xiu'er heard that the old lady asked her cousin and his wife to go to Jingyun Temple together to fulfill a vow, she lost her composure for the first time in many days. Getting a wedding to bring good luck was a concern for Xiu'er, and she thought this was the only area where she could not compare with her cousin's wife.
At first she was determined to marry her cousin, but she could not resist her mother's earnest persuasion, saying that the imperial physician had predicted that her cousin would not live more than half a month and that she would be a widow as soon as she married into the family. She also hated herself for being so bewildered that she agreed to her mother's engagement with someone else, which gave her cousin's wife the opportunity to marry in.
It turns out that getting married for good fortune is so simple. After the two of them got married, my cousin's illness was cured. She can do it too, and she is even more considerate than my cousin's wife.
Thinking back on it, she regretted it so much. If she had stood up for herself at that time, the Li family would have happily cancelled the engagement. There wouldn't have been this annoying cousin-in-law.
She was really afraid that her cousin's wife would take the opportunity of burning incense to seduce her cousin and make her cousin waver in his determination to divorce her. She was even more afraid that her cousin would think of the wedding to bring good luck in his "wish" and blame her for not being firm enough and not marrying him without hesitation.
Looking at the embroidered pair of mandarin duck pillows, Xiu'er was somewhat uneasy. She talked about this with Bingxin and Yuxin, and finally Bingxin said:
"This is the first time that Second Master and Second Mistress have left the house together since their wedding. They should also eat together when they come back. This way, people can see that they are a harmonious couple, and Second Mistress can also look respectable in front of others. Miss, why don't you ask the first mistress to send someone to pick up Second Master at the second gate? First, let the servants watch. The two of them go to burn incense together. It's just that they have to go because of the old lady's order. As soon as Second Master enters the house, he can't wait to see you and show you his true feelings. At least it can put Second Mistress's power in check. Second, even if Second Master is attracted to Second Mistress when he burns incense, as long as Miss appears in front of Second Master in time and casually mentions Second Mistress's shortcomings, Second Master's thoughts will soon die."
After listening to this, Xiu'er thought about it and agreed that it was a good idea, so she took Bingxin directly to the eldest wife's room.
The first wife also felt that it was inappropriate to do so at first. After all, the second wife was the legal wife who was carried in a sedan chair by eight men. The couple should have burned incense together and eaten together. There was nothing important. If they went directly to the second gate to rob people, the second wife would have to choose the gift, which would not look good to the old lady.
But he couldn't resist Xiu'er's sweet talk, and he only heard Xiu'er say:
"Aunt, what are you afraid of? Since ancient times, it is normal for a mother to miss her son and want to have dinner with him. Aunt will go and invite him. If cousin's wife tries to stop her, she will get angry. The servants at the door are watching. If it gets out, people will say that Second Madam is unfilial. What's more, she hasn't paid respects to him for some time. She can burn incense but not invite him to the funeral. Aunt will put these two things together with Second Madam. It's not an exaggeration to say that she is 'disobedient to her parents'. This will give the old lady an excuse to divorce her."
After Xiu'er finished speaking, she saw that her aunt was still hesitating, and said coquettishly:
"Aunt, this is a bit far-fetched, but you know what the old lady means. She just wants an excuse."
After hearing what Xiu'er said, the first wife thought about it and realized that the scheming old lady had changed her usual style of hiding her true intentions these days, and her desire for Jun'er to marry Xiu'er was clearly written on her face. She was afraid that she just couldn't find a good excuse to divorce the second wife legitimately, so she had delayed it until today.
Thinking of this, the eldest wife praised Xiu'er for her intelligence and sent Baozhu to the second gate to wait for the second master.
