Early the next morning, Prince Yan left the Glazed Pavilion in high spirits. He went to the morning court and then assisted the crown prince in handling governnt affairs.
Prince Yan and a group of his trusted ministers were discussing the border war in the Surveillance Office.
Prince Yan was looking through the battle reports sent from the border. His face lit up with joy. "General Shen Xingxiu has made nurous outstanding achievents in battle, killed countless enemies, and has excellent virtues. He has the deanor of a great general," he said.
The ministers echoed his words and praised Shen Xingxiu one after another.
Suddenly, an idea flashed through Prince Yan's mind. He picked up a writing brush and quickly wrote the character "De" on a piece of rice paper.
"De" ans having excellent virtues and being of high moral character. If Shen Wei gave birth to a boy in the future, he could be nad "Li Chengde".
Prince Yan silently noted down this na and was very satisfied with his naming ability. With a smile on his face, he continued to discuss matters with the ministers.
...
On the other hand, after Prince Yan left in the morning, Shen Wei got up slowly. She started her regular fitness exercise as usual and then had her breakfast.
The previous night, Shen Wei deliberately "acted stupid" and gave a terrible na to the unborn child, which made Prince Yan determined to na the child himself.
This was a strategy to draw Prince Yan closer to the child.
But it could only be used once.
When Shen Wei got pregnant again next ti, she couldn't "act stupid" when naming the child. She had to show her real talent for naming.
At the age of eighteen or nineteen, Shen Wei's innocent and silly way of naming the child would make Prince Yan think she was cute and innocent.
However, if in her forties or fifties, Shen Wei was still so innocent and made no progress, the mature - minded Prince Yan would think she was really stupid and would feel disgusted.
At the breakfast table, Shen Wei took a sip of hot porridge and temporarily put aside the matter of naming the child.
Shen Wei instructed Nanny Rong, "Nanny Rong, you've got to work hard these days. Go to the Confucian Temple to find out about Shen Qiang. Check her character and find out why she left Sichuan."
Apart from serving Prince Yan, who was like a gold mine, Shen Wei also had her shops on her mind. She had contracted a large area of land in Nanshan to grow a lot of fruits and vegetables, which needed a trustworthy manager.
Shen Qiang was her elder sister and was quite proficient in crop - growing techniques. She was a useful person.
But before using her, Shen Wei needed to find out if Shen Qiang could be entrusted with an important task.
"Don't worry, my lady. I'll find out as soon as possible," Nanny Rong readily took on the task.
In the following days, Shen Wei ate, drank, checked the account books sent from the shops, and served Prince Yan every day.
Most of the ti, Prince Yan stayed with her. Occasionally, he would visit Liu Ruyan and the princess, and he also spent one night with Xiang'er in Fangfei Courtyard.
Li Yao, that young girl, ca to the Glazed Pavilion more and more frequently. At first, Li Yao was quite reserved and kept a polite distance from Shen Wei. She would leave politely after staying for about half an hour.
Later, after they got familiar with each other, Li Yao simply brought the account books to the Glazed Pavilion. She would play on the swing for a while, eat sothing, and then look at the account books. She would stay there for the whole afternoon.
The relationship between Li Yao and Shen Wei beca increasingly harmonious.
One afternoon, Shen Wei was sitting in the pavilion by the waterside. There were a lot of bottles and jars in front of her. The small bottles contained things like talcum powder, glycerin, soap powder, vegetable oil, and paraffin.
These were the raw materials for making "foundation". Shen Wei's dessert shop had started to make a profit, and she was considering other businesses.
For example, a rouge shop.
In ancient tis, won didn't have foundation for makeup. Most of them used a kind of powder for whitening. This powder was either made by grinding rice into a white, sticky rice powder or using white lead powder.
The "foundation" made from rice powder had poor stickiness and would easily co off the face. White lead powder contained the heavy tal "lead". Using it for a long ti would cause lead poisoning and make the face turn yellow.
So, Shen Wei decided to use modern technology to make an ancient - style "foundation". The foundation she made was very concealer, not easy to co off, and had low toxicity.
If the product could be put on the market, it would definitely be popular throughout the city of Yanjing and even the whole country.
Shen Wei was tinkering with the ingredient ratio of the foundation when Nanny Rong walked into the waterside pavilion in the bright sunlight.
Nanny Rong said, "My lady, according to your instructions, I've thoroughly found out about Shen Qiang's background."
Shen Wei stopped what she was doing and said with great interest, "Tell ."
Nanny Rong told the story in detail.
Shen Qiang, Shen Wei's elder sister, was also a poor woman. After her elder brother died in the border war, in order not to be a burden to her family, Shen Qiang was willing to marry a rchant in Sichuan far away.
The rchant's family was wealthy and had several acres of good farmland. The rchant was often away on business, and Shen Qiang took on the responsibility of being the mistress of the family. She was very good at farming. She could predict the seasonal climate changes according to the temperature and find the right ti for planting. So, the rchant's farmland always had a good harvest every year.
She never increased the farrs' land rent and managed hundreds of tenant farrs very well.
Due to years of hard work, Shen Qiang had changed from a beautiful girl to a tanned village woman and was disliked by her husband. Every ti her husband ca ho, he would bring back several beautiful won. Her mother - in - law was very harsh to Shen Qiang. Shen Qiang often went out to work on the farm and check the growth of the crops, but her mother - in - law suspected that she had a man outside.
Last year, there was a severe drought in Sichuan, and the crop yield was not as good as in previous years. The mother - in - law wanted to increase the rent of the tenant farrs, but Shen Qiang disagreed. She was even locked in the ancestral hall and beaten by the mother - in - law's people. When her husband ca back, he also scolded Shen Qiang for being disrespectful to her elders and not having a child after five years of marriage.
After getting married, Shen Qiang had been working hard for a long ti and never had a child. The mother - in - law called Shen Qiang a "hen that can't lay eggs" and simply gave her a divorce letter and drove her out of the house. Having nowhere to go, Shen Qiang had to beg all the way back to her hotown. She found that her mother and younger brother were missing. After inquiring, she learned that her younger sister, Shen Wei, had sold herself as a slave, and her mother and younger brother had gone to Yanjing to look for her.
After going through all kinds of hardships, Shen Qiang finally ca to Yanjing and reunited with her family. She was a hard - working woman and couldn't stay idle. She planted vegetables and trees near the Confucian Temple to support her family.
Nanny Rong finally said, "My lady, Shen Qiang has a good character. I sent soone to buy vegetables from her, and she never short - changed the custors. I also asked a little girl to pretend to be injured and faint. Shen Qiang carried the little girl to the dical clinic and even paid the dical expenses for her."
Shen Wei tapped on the table, getting to know this elder sister better.
Shen Wei said, "I have nothing to do this afternoon. Nanny Rong, I want to visit my relatives. You ask Cailian to accompany and send a ssage to Ye Qiushuang to wait for at Wangshu Inn."
She wanted to see Shen Qiang in person.
Nanny Rong nodded happily. "I'll arrange it right away."
When going out to visit relatives, one should not dress too ostentatiously. Shen Wei deliberately changed into a plain - colored long dress, took off the gold and silver hairpins on her head, and only left a simple peach - wood hairpin.
Leaving from the back yard and passing by the prince's mansion garden, Shen Wei suddenly heard a clear call: "Sister Shen, where are you going?"
Shen Wei turned around and saw Xiang'er in the pavilion.
Xiang'er was sitting there leisurely with two maids, enjoying the cool. In the hot sumr, she was wearing a showy pink silk dress, with five or six hairpins in her hair and makeup on her face.
She looked arrogant and very pleased with herself.
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