Plans

Huang Xing wiped the sweat from his brow and said with a forced smile, "I came here today not only to ask for that idea from earlier, but also to inquire about that Miss Xu... I wonder if you are still willing to cooperate with her?"

Fu Yunlang frowned. "Cooperate? How do we cooperate?"

He felt very uncomfortable just thinking about this person, whose name he couldn't tell was Xu Xi or Zhao Ruxi.

Previously Ruyu was always happy and carefree whenever she met him. But ever since Zhao Ruxi returned to the Marquis's residence, she has been depressed and unhappy.

Although Zhao Ruxi was not entirely to blame for being switched at birth and having her true identity exposed, Ruyu had never spoken ill of her in front of him, Fu Yunlang still had a very bad impression of Zhao Ruxi and felt annoyed just mentioning her name.

The reason their jewelry store is doing so poorly is all because of Zhao Ruxi! If she hadn't run away without a word and partnered with the Gathered Treasures Studio across the street, how could their business have fallen so far?

Huang Xing had no idea what Fu Yunlang was thinking. He said, "I'm thinking, since the Gathered Treasures Studio across the street is doing so well because of the jewelry designs drawn by this Miss Xu, why don't we bribe Miss Xu to draw designs for us? That would reverse the situation, wouldn't it? So why not use a high reward to lure Miss Xu away?"

Because it involves increased costs, he explained, "Since we need to use high profits, we'll have to pay a price in the short term. But once Gathered Treasures Studio goes bankrupt, we can simply change our cooperation terms with Miss Xu. Without Gathered Treasures Studio, even if we lower our offers, Miss Xu can't do anything about it. After all, the jewelry stores in the capital all have their own trusted designers and might not cooperate with her. Even if she runs away, it doesn't matter. By squeezing out Gathered Treasures Studio, we'll have no competitors, and business will return to normal."

He also disliked Zhao Ruxi, which is why he came up with this terrible idea.

When Fu Yunlang heard Huang Xing say that he would use Zhao Ruxi first and then discard her, he felt a strange sense of satisfaction.

His expression brightened, and he nodded, saying, "Okay, that's a good idea."

Relieved by his master's approval, Huang Xing felt a sense of relief and became Gao Xing.

"I think that since Gathered Treasures Studio is willing to give her one hundred taels of silver for a single design, we can do the same, plus a share of the profits. That is, for every piece of jewelry made from her designs that is sold, we'll give her half a percent of the profits. With such a generous offer, I'm sure she'll be tempted."

"Half a percent?" Fu Yunlang frowned. "If the profit margin for a piece of jewelry is two hundred taels, then for every piece sold, we have to give her ten taels as a cut. If we sell ten pieces, that's one hundred taels? We already gave her one hundred taels when we bought her design?"

"Yes."

Seeing Fu Yunlang's displeasure, Huang Xing couldn't help but smile wryly.

Jewelry shops of their caliber deal in small businesses. Jewelry with a profit margin of two hundred taels would sell for at least five hundred taels. Selling twenty or thirty pieces of such jewelry a year would be considered quite good. The second young master only sees the commission given to Miss Xu; why hasn't he considered the profit the shop could earn from selling these pieces?

"Alright, let's do it that way then," Fu Yunlang said.

He didn't care about the profits Zhao Ruxi shared, as Huang Xing thought. He simply disliked Zhao Ruxi and didn't want her to earn so much money from his jewelry store. They themselves didn't even make much from selling a single piece of jewelry.

However, this jewelry store is too important to him; the Fifth Prince is paying close attention to it, and he needs its success to prove his own abilities.

"Alright, you go talk to her." He waved his hand.

Having received permission, Huang Xing took his leave. He wouldn't be able to return to Beining that night and would have to stay in the servants' quarters of the Marquis of Pingnan's Residence.

After Huang Xing left, Fu Yunlang sat there for a while. Remembering his brother's words, he called over the steward of the manor, "Go and inquire about the estates, shops, and houses under Wei Qiu's name. If the price is right, we'll buy them."

The steward gave a wry smile, "As soon as their family got into trouble, I went to inquire. Their shops and houses in the capital are all in prime locations, and they also have two large estates in Beining County. Countless wealthy families are eyeing those properties; we might not even be able to seize them."

Fu Yunlang was taken aback, then frowned. "If we want to buy it, where should we go to pull some strings?"

"Originally, the property of convicted officials should have been recovered by the Ministry of Revenue after the confiscation of their property. However, after Lord Zhang of the Court of Judicial Review Court of Judicial Review became the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, he repeatedly went to the Emperor to complain about being poor, saying that the officials of the Court of Judicial Review worked hard and in danger while handling cases, but only received a small salary from the court. Other government offices had lucrative opportunities, but they did not, which was really unfair. The Prince could not stand his nagging and had no choice but to agree that the property of convicted officials handled by the Court of Judicial Review could be distributed and sold by them, with the Court of Court of Judicial Review taking a certain handling fee before transferring the proceeds to the Ministry of Revenue."

"So, we need to find officials from the Court of Judicial Review to smooth things over?" Fu Yunlang asked.

"Yes, young master."

After dismissing the steward, Fu Yunlang returned to the inner courtyard, his mind preoccupied. As he changed his clothes, he asked his Daya, Yue'er, "Has anything happened at home lately?"

He returned from Jiangnan, took a quick bath, and went to see Zhao Ruyu. Later, he attended a banquet and didn't have time to ask about his family.

Yue'er glanced at the other maidservant who was also serving in the room, but said nothing.

Fu Yunlang understood and found an excuse to send the maid away.

Yue'er then whispered, "Young Master, yesterday the Madam came and said that the Mu Family intends to arrange a marriage for Eighth Miss. Madam is very interested and has sent someone to inquire about it."

Fu Yunlang's hand trembled, and the jade pendant he had just taken off almost fell to the ground.

"I know about this," he said with a stern face.

Since Beining Women's Academy still accepted her as a student, Zhao Ruxi got up early the next morning, had breakfast, and Gao Xing prepared to go to school.

"Miss Xi, Gao Weiqiang and the other two will escort you there, and they will pick you up again tonight."

Zhao Yuanxun pointed to three tall, strong young and middle-aged men and said, "This is Gao Weiqiang. He is not only the head of the guards in our Earl's Mansion, but he will also teach your younger brother martial arts. This is Wu Dong, and this is Ma Sheng."

"Uncle Gao, Uncle Wu, Uncle Ma," Zhao Ruxi greeted them.

She turned to Zhao Yuanxun and said, "Thank you, Father. However, I'll be going to the Xu Family at noon, and I'll be painting with my master and the others in the afternoon, so I plan to have Uncle Lu and Qingfeng stay in the county and not come back. Otherwise, it will be inconvenient for me to go out at noon. Uncle Gao and the others can drop me off and come back to pick me up in the evening. There's no need for them to stay there all day like Uncle Lu and Qingfeng."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yuanxun felt deeply that they should have a house in Beining County. Since Zhao Ruxi would be studying there, having a house to stay in would be much more convenient.

He secretly made a mental note of this and said to Zhao Ruxi, "Let Ma Sheng stay there with Uncle Lu and the others. The other two will come back and we'll pick you up tonight."

"Okay." Zhao Ruxi had no objection to this arrangement.