The explosive success of Curio Pavilion spread like wildfire, starting from Leping County and sweeping across a hundred miles in every direction.
But no business could run smoothly forever.
“Miss! Miss Xie! Please think of something!”
Outside Curio Pavilion, customers crowded the entrance, clamoring nonstop, all asking the same question: when will there be more stock?
In the back courtyard, Old Wang, the dark-skinned, burly leader of the transport convoy, wiped sweat from his brow with his sleeve, his face full of anxiety.
“Our carts have been running day and night without rest, the horses have lost weight from all the running, yet the blind boxes up front are still constantly out of stock! The customers are lining up outside, grumbling and complaining, they’re practically wearing down the doorstep!”
He continued bitterly, “And from the Liu family workshop in the west of the city to our shop, it should only take half an hour. But they insist on circling the entire city, taking a full hour! We’re already short on manpower, and now the route is even longer… this is killing us!”
Xie Qingyan was calmly checking the accounts. At his words, her brush paused slightly.
She lifted her cool gaze. “If manpower is insufficient, we can add more. But why is the route longer?”
“Well…” Old Wang hesitated. “Miss, you may not know. The convoy was arranged personally by the shop owner. We… we don’t dare ask too many questions.”
Her fingers tapped lightly on the table.
Arranged by the shop owner…
She understood instantly. These were his planted observers. Though he had ostensibly handed full control to her, he had still placed people to oversee the goods and keep an eye on her.
There was nothing wrong with oversight, but it had slowed everything down.
If customers had to wait too long, or if certain categories remained out of stock, the business would eventually collapse.
She turned to Thirteen, who stood nearby. “Mr. Thirteen, what do you think of this?”
Thirteen replied expressionlessly, “I will follow Miss Xie’s instructions.”
“Good.” Xie Qingyan picked up her brush.
A plan quietly formed in her mind.
Not only would she solve the logistics issue, she would also take this chance to test that mysterious shop owner again.
“Mr. Thirteen, transport scheduling concerns the lifeline of commerce. It is no trivial matter.” Her tone turned serious.
“Please report this to the shop owner immediately.” She took a map, wrote a line of instructions along with three strange letters, and handed it to him.
“Starting tomorrow, the convoy will follow the new route without exception. At the same time, they must strictly implement KPI.”
“…What?” Thirteen froze. Despite his learning, he could not make sense of the three letters at all.
“Just relay it as it is,” she said calmly, a faint smile touching her lips. “Tell him that if this KPI is not met, the entire convoy will be dismissed. If they exceed it, there will be rewards.”
In a private room at Lingyue Tavern, Zhao Chengze was enjoying his afternoon tea.
Thirteen respectfully presented the paper and repeated Xie Qingyan’s words in full.
Zhao Chengze picked it up and looked at the three familiar letters written on it.
He paused.
Then he let out a low laugh.
“Heh… hahaha…”
The laughter grew louder, his shoulders shaking, nearly spilling his tea.
“K… P… I?”
His long fingers tapped lightly against the table. “What a clever girl. There are no English letters in this era. She wrote this on purpose.”
She was testing him, and quite boldly assuming he might also be from the modern world.
“Your Highness, what does this ‘kai-pi-ai’ mean?” Thirteen asked, utterly confused.
“This is such an obvious trap that it couldn’t be more obvious,” Zhao Chengze said, suppressing his laughter, a sly glint in his phoenix eyes. “She’s trying to force me into it.”
“This prince… will not fall for it.”
He deliberately feigned confusion. “If you don’t understand, then neither do I.”
After a brief moment of thought, he gave Thirteen a few instructions to pass along.
Half an hour later, Thirteen returned to Curio Pavilion with a rather strange expression.
“Miss Xie…” he began awkwardly.
“What did the shop owner say?” Xie Qingyan asked, maintaining a calm facade.
“The shop owner… is very confused,” Thirteen said, struggling to repeat the exact words. “He asks what this ‘kai-pi-ai’ means.”
“And he says… even if the convoy fails its task… it doesn’t deserve death.”
“Why… must their skin be peeled off, and why must they wail?”
“Pfft—!”
Xie Qingyan had just lifted her teacup when she nearly spat it out.
She held it in, but her face flushed red.
Shameless!
Utterly shameless!
That man was clearly pretending to be stupid on purpose, twisting her meaning deliberately!
She set down the cup, her chest tight with irritation, and took a deep breath.
“Mr. Thirteen,” she said, regaining her composure, “go back and tell him that KPI is a term from my hometown. It means performance assessment.”
“That should be clear enough now, shouldn’t it?” she added, casting him a sidelong glance.
Thirteen scratched his head, puzzled. “Miss Xie, why not just say ‘performance assessment’ from the start? Everyone would understand.”
Her eyes shifted slightly as she improvised, “I thought the shop owner looked somewhat familiar, so I assumed he might be from the same place as me and wanted to test it.”
As Thirteen walked away, he muttered to himself in confusion. But Miss Xie hasn’t even met the master before… How could he seem familiar?
Left alone in the hall, Xie Qingyan rubbed her aching temples.
She realized something.
With a curtain between them, with Thirteen relaying every word, she would never uncover the man’s true identity.
He was far too good at acting. He always had time to think of the perfect response.
She had to see him in person.
She needed to watch his expressions, hear his tone directly. Only in an unexpected confrontation could his disguise crack.
But meeting him… was easier said than done.
In this rigid society, a young unmarried woman meeting a man privately again and again was already scandalous.
Especially since the broken engagement with the Wang family was still recent, the gossip had not yet died down, and the entire county was watching her.
If she crossed the line again, accusations of impropriety and shamelessness would surely drown her.
At dawn, when the first rays of sunlight filtered through the window, she finally opened her bloodshot eyes.
If she could not meet him privately, then she would go through her father first.
In the study, Xie Wenyuan was in high spirits.
Curio Pavilion’s booming business had brought in enormous tax revenue and created many jobs, breathing new life into the once stagnant Leping County.
Commercial activity had surged noticeably.
In the monthly evaluation by the prefecture, his name had, for the first time, received a “Good.”
Though not the highest rank, it was worlds apart from his usual bottom-tier evaluations.
He stroked his beard and hummed a tune, feeling his future was bright.
“Father.”
Xie Qingyan’s clear voice sounded from the doorway.