The next day, when Gu Wu saw the Prince, he reported the matter of the spy truthfully.
This man had originally been one of the Prince’s trusted aides, secretly investigating the mastermind behind the canal gang. He had already made some progress, but after getting drunk one night, he lay by the roadside and was beaten to death by vagrants.
“Tong Quan was absolutely not that kind of person!” Gu Wu said. “I suspect someone drugged his wine.”
“If that’s the case, doesn’t it mean all our arrangements have been exposed to the other side?” Gu Wu voiced the worst possibility.
“I’m not so sure,” the Prince pondered for a moment before saying. “Perhaps Tong Quan inadvertently offended someone.”
“Speculating aimlessly won’t help. I’ll draft a letter. You must go to the Spring Fragrance Pavilion as soon as possible to find Miss Ying’er and gather some information.”
“Yes!” Gu Wu promptly agreed.
Saying he would draft a letter simply meant the Prince dictated while Gu Wu wrote it down. In the letter, the Prince inquired in detail about recent movements within the canal gang and urged Miss Ying’er to be careful.
This Ying’er was a girl the Prince had rescued years ago in a war zone. Originally, she had been taken as a forced bride by bandits from the Wood Green Mountain. To repay the Prince, she voluntarily entered a brothel to gather intelligence from various sources for him. Later, after the Prince fell from grace, she became the most crucial information relay point.
In the hearts of all the Shadow Guards, Miss Ying’er was like the Prince’s confidante. When it came to contributions, every one of them, grown men as they were, had to admit defeat.
Naturally, the Prince had to keep his secret meeting on the mountain hidden from Ye Ningxin.
Similarly, he didn’t take Fu Sheng along either.
A child’s mouth has no filter. If he got too excited and accidentally let something slip in front of Ye Ningxin, the Prince didn’t know how he would explain it later.
So, after the Prince left, only Ye Ningxin and Fu Sheng were left at home, staring at each other.
The hangover didn’t feel good. After getting up, Ye Ningxin brewed herself a bowl of hangover soup, but she still felt listless.
Fu Sheng didn’t miss the chance to be alone with Ye Ningxin, pressing her about what exactly the business plan she mentioned yesterday was, leaving Ye Ningxin feeling confused.
“Sister,” Fu Sheng still preferred to call her that when no one else was around, “will you and the Prince return to the capital in the future?”
“I haven’t thought about that question. We’ll see when the time comes.”
This question was indeed difficult to answer, and the decision wasn’t entirely in Ye Ningxin’s hands either.
Her current goal was to build her own business locally. Once the Weight-Loss Pills gained fame, no matter if they were royalty, nobility, generals, or ministers, they would all come begging for her medicine. Whether she sold it or not would depend entirely on her mood.
Ye Ningxin was still fantasizing about a bright future.
The hardest part was figuring out how to break into the market.
However, an opportunity soon presented itself.
That day, Shopkeeper Qian specially sent his young apprentice to Ye Ningxin’s residence to find her.
Hurrying to the pharmacy with the apprentice, Shopkeeper Qian quickly came out to greet her: “Oh, my Princess Consort, you’ve finally come! I haven’t seen you for the past couple of days. Where have you been?”
Ye Ningxin: “Shopkeeper Qian, you specifically sought me out. Is there something important?”
Shopkeeper Qian: “Yes, yes, yes! Come in quickly.”
“Is it related to my Weight-Loss Pills?” As soon as they entered the back hall, Ye Ningxin asked first.
Shopkeeper Qian: “It is related, but not entirely.”
“Stop beating around the bush,” Ye Ningxin urged impatiently.
“Alright, alright, listen to me slowly,” Shopkeeper Qian said, a bit excited.
“Our Qingzhou Prefecture’s magistrate, doesn’t he have a precious daughter?”
Ye Ningxin replied, “I don’t know.”
Shopkeeper Qian: “…”
Shopkeeper Qian: “It doesn’t matter if you don’t know. His daughter has taken a liking to a local scholar.”
Ye Ningxin: “Shopkeeper Qian, are you going to tell me a story of a talented scholar and a beautiful lady?”
Shopkeeper Qian: “No! Listen to me.”
He paused to choose his words carefully, then continued, “Logically speaking, marrying into the magistrate’s family would be a joyous occasion for Scholar Li. However, the scholar is a proud man who doesn’t want to rely on powerful connections. Moreover, the magistrate’s daughter, well…”
Seeing Shopkeeper Qian hesitate again, Ye Ningxin grew impatient: “Does the magistrate’s daughter have a hidden illness?”
“No, no, she’s just… sigh! She’s just overweight and has an enormous appetite. It’s said she eats two chickens and half a goose every meal. Scholar Li used the excuse of being devoted to his studies and uninterested in marriage to keep refusing the proposal.”
Ye Ningxin: “If he doesn’t agree, then find someone else. After all, her father is the magistrate. Surely, she can find someone suitable.”
Shopkeeper Qian sighed and said, “That’s what everyone says! But this girl is stubborn. After hearing Scholar Li’s refusal, she refused to eat any more, vowing to lose weight.”
“That ginseng they bought from our shop last time was used to keep her alive. The girl hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for five days and was on the verge of collapse. The magistrate ordered the servants to prepare ginseng soup for her every day, forcing her to drink it if she refused. That’s how they managed to save her life.” Shopkeeper Qian shook his head repeatedly as he spoke. “But after all that trouble, she didn’t lose much weight and instead developed many health issues. I heard she cries every day at home, worrying her parents sick…”
“You called me here because you want to sell our Weight-Loss Pills to them?” Ye Ningxin finally understood Shopkeeper Qian’s intention.
“I heard the magistrate has posted another notice: whoever can solve his daughter’s weight problem will be rewarded with 1,000 taels of silver.” Shopkeeper Qian rubbed his nose. “What do you think, Princess Consort? Should we go for it?”
“Only a fool would pass up easy money!” Ye Ningxin said, ignoring Shopkeeper Qian’s expression. “I want to see what that scholar will say once the girl loses weight.”
“Then we’ll set off for Qingzhou Prefecture tomorrow. But will the Prince agree?” Shopkeeper Qian knew Ye Ningxin would agree, so he had already thought about the potential problems she might face.
“I’ll handle the Prince,” Ye Ningxin said confidently.
The round trip to Qingzhou Prefecture would take two days, and with the time needed for diagnosis and prescribing medicine, it would take at least three to four days. If the magistrate insisted they stay during the treatment, they might even be there for half a month.
Making up excuses would be useless. Ye Ningxin decided to tell the truth.
This wasn’t a big secret anyway, and being evasive would only make things worse.
So, Ye Ningxin gave the Prince a simplified version of the story, emphasizing that she had developed Weight-Loss Pills and saw this as an opportunity to promote them.
Since the Princess Consort wanted to pursue her career, the Prince naturally wouldn’t stand in her way. They had already discussed this matter before.
However, the Prince was also uneasy about letting her go to Qingzhou Prefecture alone. He wanted her to take Fu Sheng along so she would have someone to look after her.
But Ye Ningxin also wanted to leave Fu Sheng at home, so she could feel more at ease when she left. After all, the Prince was blind and not very mobile.
Seeing the two of them going back and forth, Fu Sheng ended up being the most troubled one: “How about splitting me in half, one half going to the prefecture and the other half staying at home?”