The envelope bore the words:
“To Wang Chang, Personally.”
Wang Chang was Wang Shi’s maiden name, and very few people knew it, so Wang Shi was greatly startled.
“Xiaotao, has anyone entered my room?”
“Replying to Madam, no one has entered.”
Wang Shi immediately understood.
Anyone capable of delivering a letter into her room without being noticed by the maids standing guard was no ordinary person.
For some reason, she had a very bad feeling about this.
With unease in her heart, Wang Shi opened the letter.
After reading its contents, her hands began trembling.
Clutching her chest, she gulped down several cups of tea before finally calming herself.
“Xiaotao, has the Master returned yet?”
“Replying to Madam, Master has not returned.”
Wang Shi let out a long breath.
Fortunately, she had been the first to discover the letter.
If Lin Qingyun had seen it, everything would have been over.
Years ago, she had given a sum of money to Lin Baozhu’s biological father and sent him far away.
She had never expected him to return.
And now he was threatening her with his identity as Baozhu’s father, demanding 7,000 taels of silver. Otherwise, he would expose the truth.
Xiaotao added,
“One of Master’s attendants came back earlier and asked me to pass on a message. Master is entertaining colleagues at Cuiying Pavilion.”
Cuiying Pavilion was one of the capital’s most famous brothels.
Xiaotao spoke nervously, afraid Wang Shi would become angry and take it out on her.
Normally, whenever the master visited such places, Wang Shi would smash things throughout the room, and the servants would inevitably get hurt.
Yet today, Wang Shi remained unusually quiet.
“Xiaotao, stand guard outside.”
“Yes, Madam.”
Xiaotao secretly rejoiced.
She had escaped disaster.
After personally watching Xiaotao close the door behind her, Wang Shi finally took out the portrait enclosed in the letter.
The portrait depicted Zhu Qiang, the former manager of Drunken Immortal Tower and Lin Baozhu’s biological father.
He was fairly handsome, but not particularly dependable.
Zhu Qiang’s face was strikingly similar to Lin Baozhu’s.
Even the mole at the corner of his mouth was in exactly the same place.
Wang Shi believed that if Lin Qingyun ever saw the portrait, he would immediately realize Baozhu was Zhu Qiang’s daughter.
There would be no need for any blood test.
The affair between herself and Zhu Qiang had been known only to the two of them.
Even her father, the Left Chancellor Wang, believed Baozhu was Lin Qingyun’s biological child.
Therefore, Wang Shi was completely convinced that Zhu Qiang was the one extorting money from her.
No. The truth must never be exposed.
She walked to the window and carefully looked outside.
After confirming nobody was nearby, she opened a hidden cabinet in the wall and removed a cash box.
Inserting a key into the brass lock, she heard a click.
The box opened.
Inside were stacks upon stacks of banknotes.
Her eyes filled with reluctance.
Yet in the end, she painfully counted out seven notes worth one thousand taels each.
The letter had specified that she must place seven thousand taels in Datong Bank exchange notes inside the hollow of the third tree behind the Lin Residence at dawn.
After some thought, she took out brush and ink and wrote a heartfelt reply.
She urged Zhu Qiang to remember that even a vicious tiger would not eat its own cubs.
After taking the money, he should leave the capital forever and never harm his own daughter.
Wang Shi worried about the matter all night.
Eventually, she decided to personally deliver the banknotes.
She wanted to remind the hateful Zhu Qiang one more time to leave the capital permanently.
Unable to sleep, she spent the night awake.
The next morning at dawn, with dark circles under her eyes, she brought Mother Sun along and deposited the banknotes into the designated tree hollow.
She expected to encounter Zhu Qiang.
Instead, after waiting for a long time, nobody appeared.
When she finally checked the hollow, both the banknotes and her letter had vanished.
Strange.
She hadn’t seen anyone approach.
How had the silver disappeared?
Meanwhile, Lin Qianqian effortlessly obtained 7,000 taels without expending a single soldier or weapon.
Combined with the 1,000 taels awarded by the government, she now had exactly enough money to purchase the Jiang Residence.
Over the past several days, Zhang Hanyan had visited the Lin Residence multiple times without ever finding Lin Qianqian.
She was lively by nature.
Now that the Flying White Fox had been captured, she could finally go out and have fun every day again.
So she invited her cousin Feng Shu to go shopping.
The two rode together in a carriage while discussing where to visit.
Feng Shu said,
“In a few days it will be the birthday of the Princess of Liangping County. I want to buy a box of rouge as a gift.”
Zhang Hanyan replied,
“If it’s for the Princess of Liangping County, then of course we should buy the best and most expensive rouge in Great Yan. Let’s go to Alluring Beauty Rouge Shop. I also want to buy a box for my Sister Lin.”
After getting off the carriage, Zhang Hanyan discovered that the line outside the shop was just as long as ever.
The two obediently waited in line.
When it finally became their turn, the day’s entire stock had already sold out.
They had wasted an entire morning.
The Alluring Beauty Rouge Shop truly lived up to its reputation.
Buying something there was harder than ascending to heaven.
If only they knew the owner, perhaps they could make an exception.
The disappointed customers gradually dispersed.
Feeling guilty, Zhang Hanyan said,
“Cousin, it’s all my fault. We spent too much time chatting. Otherwise, we might have gotten a box of Beauty Powder.”
Just as she was preparing to leave dejectedly, she spotted a familiar figure inside the shop.
It was none other than the Lin Sister she had been thinking about day and night.
Immediately, she rushed forward and hugged Lin Qianqian.
“Sister Lin! I’ve missed you so much! I went to the Lin Residence several times and never managed to see you.”
Pulling Feng Shu over, Zhang Hanyan proudly introduced her.
“Cousin Shu, this is the Sister Lin I told you about before. Thanks to her, I didn’t have to shave my head and become a nun.”
Feng Shu immediately bowed.
“I am Feng Shu, daughter of the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. Thank you for saving my cousin. At noon, I would like to treat you to a meal at Heavenly Fragrance Tower next door.”
“You’re too kind, Sister Feng.”
Feng Shu had fair skin, willow-shaped brows, large eyes, and a cherry-like mouth.
Dressed in a light purple ruqun, she appeared elegant and dignified—the complete opposite of the lively Zhang Hanyan.
Zhang Hanyan then asked,
“Sister Lin, are you here to buy cosmetics too?”
Lin Qianqian replied,
“Oh, no. This shop belongs to my adoptive mother. I happened to have some free time today, so I came to review the accounts.”
Her adoptive parents had spent years traveling and enjoying life.
During those years, Lin Qianqian had managed the shop’s accounting on their behalf.
“What?! Did I hear that correctly?”
Zhang Hanyan’s mouth dropped open wide enough to fit a salted duck egg.
“The famous Alluring Beauty Rouge Shop belongs to your adoptive mother?!
Sister Lin, you’re already impressive enough. I never imagined your background was this powerful too.
You’re actually the young proprietor of this shop!”
The noble ladies of the capital all loved visiting Alluring Beauty Rouge Shop.
Its cosmetics were light, natural-looking, and superior to those sold elsewhere.
They also nourished the skin, leaving it smoother with continued use.
Unfortunately, only sixty-six boxes were sold each day.
Even princesses had to queue.
Rumor had it that noble young ladies from neighboring kingdoms paid others to purchase products on their behalf.
A box that sold for twenty taels in Great Yan could fetch two hundred taels in the Kingdom of Nanzhao.
Countless people had wondered what kind of extraordinary person could create such unique cosmetics.
Yet the owner remained mysterious and had never appeared publicly.
Who would have guessed that Sister Lin was actually the shop’s young proprietor?
Zhang Hanyan felt that this was a story she could proudly boast about for many days to come.