Regarding pawnshops, Muxue was truly unfamiliar. Neither in her previous life nor this one had she ever dealt with one.
Given her status, she couldn't stay in the shop to observe and conduct research to obtain first-hand information. She could only rely on simple imagination and analysis.
Since a pawnshop primarily profits from the interest paid by those who come to pawn items, the primary task should be to increase the number of people willing to come in. For example, if one day her princess's residence was forced to maintain its dignity by eating next year's food this year before receiving the stipend for the following year, and she had to pawn things to get some money to get by, how would she feel?
Probably quite ashamed and resentful, right?
She would definitely send a confidante, such as Nanny Wu or Mama Zhao, to go secretly. It would be best if no one saw them.
However… current shop doors were made of individual boards fitted together. To open for business, the doorboards had to be removed. Everyone passing by could see exactly what was happening inside the shop.
Perhaps adding a screen at the entrance would help?
It was a small change that wouldn't take much effort, so Muxue told Nanny Wu to pass on the word. She ordered Rong'an Pawnshop to place an additional screen at the entrance.
"It doesn't have to be any kind of expensive screen; just pick a wooden one that is tall and wide enough so that when people walk in, those passing by outside cannot see their faces." Muxue thought for a moment and added, "Actually, put a painting of something auspicious and luck-turning on the side facing outward to make it look better."
She had intended to consider other matters, but New Year's Eve followed immediately. She had to enter the palace for the banquet, socialize with other imperial relatives, and deal with a mountain of trivial yet specific tasks.
At the palace banquet, Muxue quietly asked others about the state of pawnshops. The Fifth Prince said to her, "I received one when I got married, and Fourth Brother has one too. This kind of pawnshop is quite convenient. You don't need to worry about it; just leave the capital there, and they'll give you your share of the interest at the end of the year."
Thinking she was worried the pawnshop manager might be dishonest, he explained, "Even if you are away from the capital, they wouldn't dare cheat you on the interest they owe. I'll help keep an eye on them for you as well."
Muxue nodded and let the topic drop.
As it was the New Year festival, fireworks were set off in the palace.
By the pond in the South Garden, Kangxi led the imperial concubines, children, and other relatives to enjoy the fireworks together. Shadows flickered everywhere. In the past, Muxue would watch along with them, but she didn't find it novel and was too lazy to squeeze to the front. She remained hidden behind the crowd, just there to make up the numbers.
Dorji, who accompanied her into the palace, suddenly asked, "How long will these fireworks last?"
Muxue was startled and looked at him sideways, suddenly realizing that Dorji had never seen such fireworks.
Over the past few days, Dorji had accompanied her to the palace banquets almost every day. Despite so many people and so many unfamiliar rules, he had never complained. He simply stayed by her side appropriately, playing the role of a perfect consort.
On these days meant for family reunions, his own kin were far away in Mobei. For a moment, Muxue felt a bit of pity for him.
Fine, it was the New Year; she would indulge him.
Seeing that the time for the fireworks was near and it wasn't convenient to squeeze to the front, Muxue simply grabbed Dorji's sleeve. "Come with me—"
Without waiting for him to speak, she pulled his sleeve and ran to the side.
Not far away, by the bamboo grove near the pond, there was a rockery and stone forest. It was a prime spot for viewing fireworks that Muxue had discovered in previous years when she wanted to watch without the crowd.
Just as they reached the rockery, Muxue stepped onto a stone, and with a thunderous boom, the fireworks bloomed, dyeing the night sky in magnificent colors.
"Wait for two more bursts. The firework they set off then is the most beautiful; it reflects across half the pond in red."
Muxue's tone was light. She turned her head to look at Dorji, only to find that he wasn't looking at the fireworks at all; instead, he was looking at her with a smile.
The dazzling light of the blooming fireworks illuminated Dorji's face, his pupils reflecting both the fireworks and her face.
Muxue felt her face grow hot. Amidst the deafening roars, she raised her voice and shouted at Dorji:
"What are you looking at me for? Look at the fireworks! They're gone in an instant!"
As a result, the smile on Dorji's face deepened, revealing two canines as he laughed.
Bloody hell! How did this man always manage to make her inexplicably angry?
The moment before Muxue couldn't help but lose her temper, he finally sensibly turned his head to admire the sky full of fireworks.
Fiery trees and silver flowers, scattered like a thousand competing branches of beauty, shining like ten thousand torches joined in red.
It was truly a magnificent display of fireworks.
The thirty-seventh year of Kangxi arrived just like that.
The sixth day of the first lunar month was the minor market opening.
Shops whose workers lived in the capital began to open one after another, while those whose homes were further away would wait until after the fifteenth day of the first month.
In front of Rong'an Pawnshop, several children covered their ears, their eyes fixed on the firecrackers in the clerk's hand.
The fire sickle struck, igniting the fuse. The clerk immediately thrust the bamboo pole holding the firecrackers forward. They crackled and popped, leaving the ground covered in red paper scraps.
Shopkeeper Hu cupped his hands to greet the second manager and the senior and junior clerks. "In the New Year, may you have instant success and great fortune."
Taking down the doorboards to open for business, Shopkeeper Hu called several clerks to carry out an elmwood screen. The shopkeepers and clerks from neighboring shops came over with their hands tucked in their sleeves to watch. "What are you doing with that thing? It's blocking the light."
Cui Gu, standing by the corner, shot them a glance and smiled. "New Year, new look. Setting up a screen helps gather wealth."
There was a clerk in the neighboring shop who usually couldn't stand seeing women acting bossy. Seeing Cui Gu show up directly at the shop during the minor market opening and even setting up some screen, he merely snorted.
What was the world coming to when these women didn't stay at home to serve their husbands and teach their children, but instead showed their faces in public to meddle in business!
The neighboring clerk whispered to his companion, "Allowing a long-haired, short-sighted woman to meddle in the shop's business—Shopkeeper Hu is getting worse every year. I reckon this Rong'an Pawnshop will be ruined by this woman sooner or later."
His companion said, "You haven't been here for two years, so you don't know. This pawnshop's original manager was this woman's father. It's a pity the old manager wasn't fated to have a son, so he raised this daughter. Only after taking in a son-in-law did they get Shopkeeper Hu."
"That's still a hen crowing…"
"Hey! You two, what are you muttering about over there?" Cui Gu had already noticed these two men. Their shifty eyes and looks were unsettling. Getting closer, she heard the remark about a hen crowing, and her brows shot up as she barked a shout.
"Speak louder! Say it for your Grand Aunt to hear!"
When she got fierce, the two men went silent. They pretended nothing had happened, turning around to touch goods here and dust there, looking busy.
Truly cowardly bastards.
Cui Gu sneered, "Our Rong'an Pawnshop has been an official pawnshop since my grandfather's time, and now it is a proper Imperial Pawnshop. If you want to start acting delirious, you'd better think clearly first; our master is the Fourth Princess. Hens or drakes, you'd better feel your own necks before you speak! It's the New Year and your Grand Aunt is feeling kind enough to let you off this once. If there's a next time, just you wait!"
After saying that, she spat hard on the spot where the two had been standing and turned to go back into the shop.
Shopkeeper Qian advised, "That's enough. It's the New Year, and you've already scolded them. Be happy."
"Easy for you to say." Cui Gu rolled her eyes and continued walking toward the warehouse.
Nestled against the corner of the wall was a pomegranate tree her grandfather had planted when she was born. However, this area surrounded by bluestone slabs was not friendly to a pomegranate tree. After so many years, it had only grown to about the height of a person, with sparse branches and leaves.
Cui Gu looked at the bare pomegranate trunk and dazed off slightly.
Since her earliest memories, she had grown up in this pawnshop. When she was little, she was only as tall as the corner of the wall; then, as she grew day by day, the walls, rooms, and furniture seemed to shrink.
She had walked across every room and every bluestone slab of Rong'an Pawnshop countless times.
Her father doted on her. Because he had no son, he would occasionally teach her the pawnshop rules as if it were a game.
"New robes and new jackets enter the pawnshop; eaten by insects, gnawed by rats, bare and nothing left." No matter how new the clothes being pawned were, they had to be recorded as "eaten by insects and gnawed by rats" to avoid any accidents during storage, or simply to prevent the person pawning the item from making trouble when redeeming it.
There were also secret codes like "kou, ren, er, bi, cai, hui, cun, ben, jin" to represent numbers, preventing outsiders from knowing the prices.
She was very clever; her father only had to say things twice at most, and she would have them completely memorized.
Her father had been so delighted he'd picked her up and spun her around. "My Niuniu is so smart; she's a natural-born shopkeeper."
But immediately after, her father's smile would turn bitter, like foul-smelling traditional medicine.
"It's a pity…"
Little Cui Gu's heart would sink along with him. She knew what he found a pity. Her grandmother's angry face, the tears her mother dripped onto her face, and the words "no male heir" that slipped out during arguments with playmates… every tiny detail was like wind and rain battering her body.
From a little girl to a young woman, and now to a wife, these voices had been like maggots in her bones, never ceasing.
Cui Gu took a deep breath, shook her head, and went into the room to pull out a thick stack of papers.
That day, the arrival of the Fourth Princess had been like fireworks in the night sky, leaving her heart surging with emotion.
She had kept the words the Fourth Princess left with her in her heart. Visiting relatives for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day—all of it could wait!
Using the excuse of being ill, she escaped from those trivial matters that a mistress of the house had to handle and threw herself wholeheartedly into organizing the documents regarding the current situation of pawnshops in the capital.
Though she knew the hope was slim, that it might have just been a casual remark from the nobility…
Yet Cui Gu still couldn't help but harbor hope.
What if… what if because of this new master, her future could be just a little bit different?