The Matchmaker Comes Calling?

Hearing Zhou Chun's words, Qian Duoduo finally gained confidence. He knelt down with a thud and kowtowed three times to Zhao Ruxi, his voice trembling, "This old servant... kowtows on behalf of the more than two hundred people on the estate to thank you for your great kindness."

They have lived in dark and damp places for generations, and many of them develop severe rheumatism in their forties, making it difficult for them to walk.

Thinking about how he can finally live in a mud-brick house, Qian Duoduo couldn't help but shed tears.

Qingfeng knew that Zhao Ruxi disliked people kowtowing to her, so when he saw Zhao Ruxi make the gesture, he quickly went forward to help Qian Duoduo up.

Seeing Qian Duoduo like this, Zhao Ruxi felt very uncomfortable.

She said gently, "As long as you listen to me and do your jobs well, good days are ahead. You'll be able to afford even a simple brick house. Life will only get better and better."

She pointed to a spot on the blueprints and said, "See this? This is the first house you're going to build; it's a private school for the children. Once it's finished, I'll send someone to teach the children in the village, to teach them to read and write."

Qian Duoduo became even more excited upon hearing this and tried to kneel down and kowtow again, but Zhao Ruxi stopped her.

"Go back and measure the area of your village. Mark out the slopes, the trees, and the uneven spots on the map. Make the adobe bricks first, and then we'll build after I've planned the layout for you."

"Yes." Although Qian Duoduo didn't understand what Zhao Ruxi meant by "planning," he still readily agreed.

After pointing out the blueprints and arranging the tasks to be done at the estate, Zhao Ruxi sent Qian Duoduo away.

Thinking of the grain piled up in the granary on the estate, Zhao Ruxi rubbed her temples. "Uncle Zhou, I plan to turn the newly harvested grain and other produce from the estate into food for sale. In the next few days, have someone pass on a message to a few middlemen, saying that we want to buy four or five pastry chefs and two small shops. I'll meet with the chefs later; you can decide where to buy the shops, I won't worry about it."

"Yes." Zhou Chun praised Zhao Ruxi immediately upon hearing that she wanted to turn the grain into food, "Making food and selling it, young lady, is a good idea."

Farming and selling grain are the two most arduous and least profitable steps. However, if the grain is processed before being sold, the profit margin is much higher.

However, while everyone understands this principle, putting it into practice is very difficult. The pastry chefs who are sold by their masters aren't particularly skilled, and established shops have already perfected their pastry business. Selling these pastries in large quantities by these pastry chefs is extremely challenging.

But after hearing Zhao Ruxi say that, Zhou Chun felt that his daughter must have a solution.

Even if we don't achieve our goal, it doesn't matter. At worst, we can just sell the chef's pastries in the two shops and also sell grain. We won't lose money no matter what.

After giving these instructions, Zhao Ruxi noticed it was getting late and returned to the capital.

After getting off the carriage and entering the hanging flower gate, she saw Lady Zhu accompanying a woman dressed as a matchmaker as they came out, as if they were seeing off a guest.

"Oh my, this must be Fifth Miss Zhao? Congratulations!"

The matchmaker deliberately lingered until this time because she had heard that Zhao Ruxi always came home around this time. Now, looking Zhao Ruxi up and down, she found that she was indeed as beautiful as rumored, and immediately smiled broadly, her eyes disappearing from her teeth.

"Fifth Miss Zhao is truly an exceptional person. As the saying goes, 'Where there's a phoenix tree, there's a phoenix;' that perfectly describes Fifth Miss Zhao. I..."

Before the matchmaker could continue, Lady Zhu interrupted her, "Matchmaker Jiang, it's getting late, you should go home now. I'll discuss what you mentioned with my daughter. I'll send someone to let you know when we have a result. She's a young girl and easily embarrassed; she'll feel awkward if you tell her these things."

Matchmaker Jiang had no choice but to let Zhao Ruxi go and took her leave.

"Mother, what's going on?" Zhao Ruxi asked, frowning.

"I had another question for you," Lady Zhu said, following her into the house. "Besides that, a matchmaker came today. She introduced you to some good families. What did you do to make them interested in you?"

Zhao Ruxi was completely bewildered.

She didn't do anything.

Zhao Ruxi's face darkened when she thought of Liu Zongyao.

Could it be that the Crown Prince was behind this? He sent Liu Zongyao to embarrass her, but failed, so he resorted to this tactic. He thought the Earl of Suiping's Residence was anxious about her marriage, so he sent a matchmaker to propose marriage, offering her seemingly good but actually disastrous matches?

If that's the case, isn't the Crown Prince utterly disgusting?

"What's wrong? What happened?" Lady Zhu asked, noticing her daughter's pale face.

Let's go inside and talk.

The mother and daughter went to the old lady's courtyard, entered the house and dismissed the servants. Zhao Ruxi then told her about Liu Zongyao's trip to the training class for her.

"My senior brother investigated his background. Although he didn't have concrete evidence, he suspected that he was sent by the Crown Prince. You all know that the Crown Prince was angry with me for making them lose a high-ranking official, which is why he beat up my third uncle and expelled him from the Office of the Grand Steward. It's quite normal for them to send someone to make things difficult for me, ruin my reputation, and even scheme against my marriage."

"Heavens!" The old lady and Lady Zhu were stunned. "This person is too wicked!"

Regarding the matter of Ge Wu, Zhao Ruxi did nothing wrong; being humiliated and threatened by Jia Junze, Zhao Ruxi was also a victim. Even if the Crown Prince lost a high-ranking official position because of this, he should not be blamed on Zhao Ruxi.

It's one thing to have someone publicly humiliate Zhao Ruxi —let's just say he wanted to vent his anger. But scheming about marriage is utterly disgusting. It's something that can ruin a person's life, far more heinous than taking someone's life.

"How can someone from the Crown Prince's palace be so despicable?" said Lady Zhu.

Zhao Ruxi nodded and pointed to the sky. "That person favors another person and scolds him all day long. If someone else stirs things up around him and intentionally spoils him, it's normal for him to have a bad temper."

The original novel was a sweet romance, focusing heavily on Fu Yunlang and Zhao Ruyu. It only mentioned once during the palace coup that the Crown Prince was usually capricious, petty, impulsive, and easily angered, which displeased the Emperor.

Before the palace coup, the crown prince had been harboring a lot of anger due to certain events, which finally erupted, leading to the coup. During the coup, he murdered his father, Emperor Xiao Ge, but was stabbed to death by the Third Prince who came to protect him, thus allowing the Third Prince to seize the throne.

After learning that she had transmigrated into a book, she went through all the details she could remember. At the time, she even felt a little sorry for the Crown Prince, thinking that he was purely harmed by Consort Jin and the Third Prince.

If Xiao Lingyan wants to avoid becoming a target and support Xiao Lingpu's ascension to the throne, she must eliminate the Crown Prince. Whether it's the original plot or the scenario where she and Xiao Ke try to save themselves and change the original plot, the Crown Prince's fate is death.