Xiao Yinxue’s cheeks flushed slightly as she watched Di Shengyue change the sign of the incense powder shop to “Snow Moon Scented Pavilion.”
“Naming it something like that, you really have no shame,” Xiao Yinxue said, though her heart was filled with a bit of sweetness.
“Oh?” Di Shengyue curved her lips, looking at Xiao Yinxue playfully. “Princess, please tell me, how is this shameless? I took this name from the four characters ‘wind, flower, snow, and moon’ in The Preface to Yichuan Jirang Collection, referring to the beautiful scenery of the four seasons.”
“You…” Although she knew Di Shengyue was twisting the meaning, Xiao Yinxue couldn’t find any words to refute her.
She immediately turned her back in annoyance, refusing to pay attention to Di Shengyue.
“If the Princess doesn’t like it, I’ll change it,” Di Shengyue said, making a move as if to take down the sign.
Seeing this, Xiao Yinxue immediately panicked, quickly turning around and grabbing Di Shengyue’s arm. “Who told you to take it down!”
“Then the Princess means she likes it?” Di Shengyue chuckled softly.
Xiao Yinxue glared at Di Shengyue, feeling that this person was truly wicked.
“Hurry up and prepare,” Xiao Yinxue changed the subject. “The incense powder craze should start very soon these few days.”
“How does the Princess know?” Di Shengyue raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.
Based on her memories from her previous life, she knew the incense powder would start a craze, but she wasn’t sure exactly how long after the powder entered the palace the craze began.
Yet, Xiao Yinxue knew it would be within these few days.
As soon as something Di Shengyue didn’t know was mentioned, Xiao Yinxue’s eyes brightened a bit, and she said rather smugly, “Haven’t you paid attention to the news from the palace?”
“News from the palace?” Di Shengyue thought about it, but couldn’t figure it out.
The news Xiao Yinxue could obtain was very little—just whether the Emperor was in a good mood today, which palace he went to, or which concubine he favored.
Di Shengyue had always thought this information was useless, but Xiao Yinxue insisted on receiving daily reports.
“For three consecutive days, Father Emperor has favored Noble Lady Yu,” Xiao Yinxue glanced at Di Shengyue and said confidently, “Although Noble Lady Yu’s rank is not high, her family has high status. A few days ago, she arranged for someone to take a box of the incense powder from the palace.”
With Xiao Yinxue’s explanation, Di Shengyue understood, and her eyes suddenly lit up. “You mean the Emperor favors her because of the incense powder?”
“Of course,” Xiao Yinxue said. “Otherwise, Noble Lady Yu has been in the palace for so long, why has she only recently regained favor?”
Di Shengyue was truly shocked now. She knew Xiao Yinxue was very intelligent, but she never knew she could be so keen, analyzing so much about the situation from such small clues.
Looking at Xiao Yinxue’s smug appearance, Di Shengyue found this version of Xiao Yinxue extremely attractive. She couldn’t help but reach out and pull her into her arms. What a treasure she had missed in her previous life.
“Hey, what are you doing!” Xiao Yinxue was suddenly embraced, and her cheeks turned a little red.
“The Princess’s intelligence is truly moving,” Di Shengyue said.
“Hmph, did you only just realize this Princess is intelligent?” Xiao Yinxue buried her head in Di Shengyue’s chest, not allowing her to see her flaming red cheeks.
“Princess!” Youtao rushed in from outside, interrupting the peaceful moment.
Xiao Yinxue was stunned and quickly got up from Di Shengyue’s embrace. “What’s the rush, what’s wrong?”
Seeing their situation, Youtao knew what had just happened and couldn’t help but cover her mouth and chuckle. “My apologies, Princess, it was my fault for rushing in like this.”
Xiao Yinxue’s face turned even redder upon hearing this. She glared fiercely at Di Shengyue, as if saying it was all her fault just now.
Di Shengyue was amused by her proud and shy demeanor and laughed. “Princess, please forgive me, I was presumptuous just now.”
Saying that, she stood up, leaned close to Xiao Yinxue’s ear, and whispered, “Next time, I’ll definitely choose a place where no one is around.”
The hot breath on her sensitive ear, combined with Di Shengyue’s low voice, made Xiao Yinxue’s cheeks instantly turn crimson.
She dared not look at Di Shengyue and could only hurriedly change the topic, asking Youtao, “Is there some important news from the palace?”
“Yes,” Youtao said seriously, focusing on the matter at hand. “Someone has come from the palace. They are people sent by the Empress, coming to ask for incense powder. They say the quota in the palace is not enough, so they want to borrow some from our shop first. Luoxiang is currently outside receiving them.”
“They came quite quickly,” a shadow of calculation flashed in Xiao Yinxue’s eyes.
The word “borrow” sounded nice, but in plain terms, they were coming to monopolize their incense powder.
Once the incense powder entered the palace, how much was allocated would be up to the Empress. Since these incense powders were handled by the Third Prince, as long as the Third Prince manipulated the quota slightly, the Empress could monopolize all the incense powder.
Currently, in the inner palace, the Empress and Consort Wan were evenly matched, one managing the Eastern Palace, and the other the Western Palace, engaging in constant, subtle conflict.
Now that there was incense powder the Emperor liked, the Empress naturally wanted to take the lead.
“So, what should the Princess do now?” Youtao asked with some worry.
They opened this incense powder shop intending to hold a unique commodity and make a large profit.
They never expected the Empress to come and demand all the rare incense powder in the shop.
Moreover, since she was the Empress and used a very legitimate reason, they couldn’t even refuse.
“Sell, of course, we must sell,” a calculating light shone in Xiao Yinxue’s eyes. “Since the Empress has come, we naturally cannot disrespect her. Youtao, sell all the rarest incense powder to the Empress, leaving none behind.”
“Princess, I don’t quite understand,” Di Shengyue listened for a while, feeling a bit confused.
The relationship between Xiao Yinxue and the Empress was not as good as it seemed on the surface; logically, Xiao Yinxue wouldn’t want the Empress to gain power.
But looking at Xiao Yinxue now, she didn’t seem unwilling at all; on the contrary, she seemed quite happy.
“Shengyue,” Xiao Yinxue looked at Di Shengyue with a smile, her slender index finger gently tapping on Di Shengyue’s forehead. “I may not be as good as you in matters of the court, but in matters of the inner palace, you are far below me.”
“I am eager to hear the details,” Di Shengyue grasped Xiao Yinxue’s mischievous little hand, holding it in her palm.
She truly loved Xiao Yinxue’s intelligent and confident appearance.
In her previous life, when had she ever seen Xiao Yinxue like this?
“I never planned to keep these rarest incense powders,” Xiao Yinxue said. “Firstly, their price is too high; ordinary officials’ wives can’t buy much, and keeping them would be a waste. Secondly, while having a unique commodity is good, unnecessarily offending the various palace ladies is not. If you sell to every palace lady at the same price without any preference, that would be the biggest problem. In the palace, the most taboo thing is not favoring one side but having no preference. Often, people with no preference are either fence-sitters or have much greater ambitions. Either way will lead to trouble.”
Di Shengyue was momentarily stunned; she hadn’t considered this layer at all.
Xiao Yinxue continued, “Now, you are outwardly showing preference for the Third Prince’s faction, and selling to the Empress can be seen as a gesture of goodwill.”
“Furthermore,” Xiao Yinxue said, a delighted smile playing on her lips, “selling to the Empress can also redirect the hatred from the other palaces toward her. We can also make a huge profit along the way. To monopolize this incense powder, the Empress will accept any price as long as it’s not too outrageous.”
Di Shengyue looked at the shrewd light shining in her eyes and felt that Xiao Yinxue, at this moment, was full of spirit and deeply attracted her.
Di Shengyue couldn’t help but press a kiss on her forehead. “Yinxue, what more could a husband ask for with a wife like you?”
Xiao Yinxue’s face turned crimson, feeling all the blood rush to her cheeks with Di Shengyue’s words.