Empress Dowager nodded. She bowed her head and felt sad. She finally calmed down after drinking two cups of tea. Then she smiled and said, “My dear, I will do as you said. I shouldn't be so impatient… You must protect my granddaughter from any injustice! As for the Emperor, don't worry. I'm here. He can't say anything!”

Shuo Ling smiled. Empress Dowager valued Yang Zijin so much. Yang Zijin would live well in the future.

While they were talking, they heard a servant saluted His Majesty. Seeing His Majesty came over, Shuo Ling walked away and stood aside.

“You don't have to be so courteous in private. Come here and sit down beside me.” Chus.h.i.+ Youtian looked amiable at the moment.

Shuo Ling walked forward.

Seeing Empress Dowager looked excited, Chus.h.i.+ Youtian asked, “What makes you so happy today?”

“I'm pleased. Shuo Ling told me great good news!” Empress Dowager became excited again.

Chus.h.i.+ Youtian was full of curiosity, “What makes my mother so happy? Shuo Ling, tell me.”

Shuo Ling didn't know how to reply.

Empress Dowager said, “Be patient. It is not the right time now. I will tell you at the right moment.” Empress Dowager planned to tell His Majesty after everything settled down. Otherwise, His Majesty would immediately go and take Yang Zijin back.

Chus.h.i.+ Youtian smiled, “Even you speak in riddles. Well, if you don't want to say, I won't ask then.”

Then he told Shuo Ling, “There are not many things that can please my mother. You must do it well.”

“I will, of course.” Replied Shuo Ling.

Empress Dowager nodded with satisfaction.

…

It was after 1 pm when Shuo Ling returned home.

When pa.s.sing Yang Zijin's courtyard, he smelled a strong smell of herbs. He looked toward the courtyard and saw Yang Zijin taking medicine beside the stone table. He stopped and entered into Yang Zijin's courtyard.

He walked to Yang Zijin, “Zijin, what's wrong with you?”

“I often suffered headaches in recent days. I don't know why. So I saw a doctor and got some medicine today.” Knowing Shuo Ling came, Yang Zijin replied without lifting her head.

Hearing her words, Shuo Ling felt anxious and asked urgently, “What did the doctor say? What is the problem?”

“The doctor didn't find out the problem, but he prescribed medicine for me.” Yang Zijin said casually.

Shuo Ling felt terribly worried, “Zijin, you even don't know the problem, how can you take medicine at will? Moreover, Qiao Shu is here, and you don't need to see a doctor outside the mansion.”

“I trust this doctor. Besides, when I suffered a headache, I wasn't in the mansion. I couldn't wait to come back a doctor.” She saw a doctor outside because she didn't want to ask Qiao Shu. She never saw Shuo Ling behave like that. She felt uncomfortable and made excuses.

“Mo Li, go and take Qiao Shu here.” He raised his voice slightly.

Qiao Shu lived beside Yang Zijin. She already knew what happened. It seemed that the chronic poison took effect.

The poison was terrible because there were no obvious symptoms in the early period. And it would be too late when the poison took effect. Thinking of this, Qiao Shu grinned.

At the moment, Qiao Shu heard someone knocking at the door. She tidied up her clothes and opened the door.

“Miss Qiao, His Lords.h.i.+p asks you to go and diagnose Young Master Yang.” It was Mo Li.

Qiao Shu's eyes got cold. She turned into the room to get the medicine box and came to Yang Zijin courtyard. She gently saluted Shuo Ling and then began to feel Yang Zijin's pulse. Her pulse was normal. What the book said about the poison was true.

Qiao Shu stood up and looked at Shuo Ling, “There is no problem.”

“No problem? Then why she suffered a headache?” Shuo Ling asked.

Qiao Shu saw his worrying about Yang Zijin. She couldn't help but felt jealous of Yang Zijin, but she hid her feelings well.

“If Your Lord wants, I can come to feel her pulse every day.” Qiao Shu said with a smile.

Shuo Ling looked at Yang Zijin. “That will be fine.”

Yang Zijin was helpless. They even didn't ask her opinion. “Ah… actually… you don't need to come every day. As there is no problem, I suppose I was only overworked these days. I will get better after taking rest.”

“Young Master, don't you believe my ability?”

Yang Zijin stood up and walked toward Qiao Shu, “No, Miss Qiao. I didn't mean that. I just don't want to trouble you to so much.”

“As a doctor, I have to take care of my patients. I won't think it as a trouble. You don't need to worry about that.” Qiao Shu looked so righteous, “Unless… you dislike me. If it is true, I can move out immediately….”

Qiao Shu lowered down her voice, which embarra.s.sed Yang Zijin a lot. In this case, Yang Zijin had to accept their idea.

…

Several days pa.s.sed, Blossoming Peach didn't see its business picking up.

Yang Zijin found that the girls were all worried in their spare time. She used to talk about the reform with them, but the plan had been delayed because of her. She felt that they couldn't wait any more. It's time to detail the procedure.

On her return to the mansion of Marquis, she got into her room and closed the door, trying to find out a business that was new and popular, so they didn't need to worry about income. After thinking for a long time, Yang Zijin recalled that shopping malls, disco dancing, bars are the most popular places in modern life. However, in this conservative era, it was impractical.

Yang Zijin shook her head several times while thinking. Then she suddenly patted her head. It was always easy to earn money from women and children, so she wanted to try this way.

As far as she knew, women in ancient times all used strips of cloth, but they were inconvenient and couldn't protect b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She could introduce modern underwear. Moreover, official ladies often partic.i.p.ated in banquets. Although there were clothes of different colors and textures, the styles of clothes were only a few. So she could make some dresses. After all, women never complained that there were too many clothes in their wardrobes.

As for children, she would get some carpenters to make some strollers or build a children's park like that in modern life.

With this determination, Yang Zijin took out the charcoal she had made in her spare time and found some pieces of paper. Then she wrote down her ideas as well as materials and workers she needed.

Yang Zijin wanted to strike while the iron was hot and was to work out sketches for dresses, then she heard Mo Li outside the room, “Young Master, Lu'an is waiting for you.”

Hearing that Lu'an was here for her, Yang Zijin frowned and worried whether there was trouble in Blossoming Peach. Why was he so urgent? Yang Zijin answered and hurriedly put away the papers. Then she went out.

Seeing Lu'an walking back anxiously and forth, Yang Zijin hurried to ask, “Lu'an, was there trouble in Blossoming Peach?”

“Young Master, I finally found you. Uncle Liu went to Blossoming Peach for you. But he didn't see you, so he drank and played with the girls. Their behavior was extremely inappropriate. Wufu, Xian, and I failed to stop him. So I come here for help.” Said Lu'an said anxiously.

Yang Zijin was relieved and asked Lu'an, “Is Uncle Liu back?”

“Yes, Young Master. You need to hurry back to have a look. Otherwise, Blossoming Peach will be in chaos because of him!” Lu'an continued.

She knew what kind of a person Uncle Liu was, to which Yang Zijin was also helpless. Except for treating an illness, Uncle Liu was always like a naughty child. It was no exaggeration to say that he was a lunatic.

Yang Zijin nodded and walked toward Blossoming Peach. Yang Zijin intended to allow them to do as they wanted, which would make the girls happier. But thinking of her headache, which became more frequent in recent days, she wanted to see Uncle Liu for advice.

She heard laughter before entering the courtyard. Yang Zijin felt relieved. She didn't hear their laughter for a long time. Thinking of this, Yang Zijin came in.

A girl saw Yang Zijin and whispered, “Young Master is coming.”

Hearing that, all the girls stood in a row at once and lowered their heads, thinking that they would be punished by Yang Zijin.

“I won't blame you for this. I know that you're unhappy recently as Blossoming Peach didn't attract customers here. You become happy today for Uncle Liu's coming. That's good. You don't need to worry too much about the business. I used to talk with you about the reform. I detailed the plan already. I need you to get prepared in the next several days, and we will start the reform soon.” Yang Zijin said.

The girls became happy again and looked at Yang Zijin….

“Young Master, is that true?”

“That's wonderful. I've been so boring in recent days.”

“Young Master, what is the reform about? I'm afraid I'm incapable of the work.”

“…”

“My dear, you don't need to worry about that.” Yang Zijin explained. “I'll let you know in a few days. I will arrange your work according to your talents.”

Hearing what Yang Zijin said, the girls calmed down and scattered.

“You deserve to be the owner of Blossoming Peach. You still remember to help them calm down after relieving them.” The voice came from above.

Yang Zijin looked overhead, and Uncle Liu was lying on a peach tree sipping wine. She said, “Uncle Liu, please don't make fun of me. Why did you come here today?”

“Don't you welcome me? I have been traveling for a long time and hasn't drunk the peach blossom wine made by you for a long time. So I came here immediately after coming back.”

Yang Zijin knew that he would reply like this, so he smiled and said, “Welcome, of course. Uncle Liu, I went to see you the other day and wanted to drink with you, but you went out.”

Hearing her words, he suddenly recalled that Yang Zijin suffered headaches, but he didn't find out the problem. He jumped down from the peach tree and put down the wine pot.