It wasn't until the carriage stopped at the Fang Mansion's gate that Fang Zhi still couldn't pry a single word out of Li Wanming's mouth.
In the end, Fang Zhi got anxious. Her words were no longer veiled but came out straightforwardly.
However, no matter what she asked, Li Wanming only replied with "No", "Wrong", "Not allowed", "It's not", "You don't want to" and so on. She didn't even change her facial expression.
"I clearly saw the Princess Royal chasing after His Majesty..."
"No, she wasn't. You saw it wrong!"
Li Wanming flatly denied it.
Fang Zhi was so anxious that she felt like scratching her heart. But there was nothing she could do. She reluctantly got off the carriage and stood at the Prime Minister's Mansion's gate, watching Li Wanming's carriage leave.
...
When Li Wanming returned to the inn, Zhao Yanke and Feng Xiao were no longer there. In the lobby, only Xiao Jingnan was leading the girls to clean up the mess.
Seeing her come back, Xiao Jingnan stepped forward. "Did you send Miss Fang home?"
Li Wanming nodded. "Where are the other two?"
"Feng Xiao said there's a side courtyard behind the General's Mansion. One can enter directly through the side gate without disturbing General Feng. So I asked him to take His Majesty to the General's Mansion to rest."
Li Wanming looked at the mess on the ground and suddenly felt exhausted.
She wandered around the lobby aimlessly for two circles and then plopped down on the steps.
Her inn...
All her hard work...
The venue she had painstakingly decorated for ten days...
It was ruined after just one night of operation! No, it didn't even manage to operate for a whole night before being destroyed by those four young masters and ladies from prominent families.
Moreover, their comment on her inn was: "Is this all?"
Li Wanming's teeth were almost grinding.
Xiao Jingnan also walked over and quietly sat down beside her.
After a while, he said, "The decoration inside the inn has been damaged."
"Yeah."
Li Wanming replied sullenly.
"We need to redecorate it."
"Yes."
"Maybe we won't be able to open for business for the next two days."
...
Li Wanming sat there with her head down. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.
There should be hundreds of thousands of inns all over the world. Which one could be as "fortunate" as her Changxing Inn?
On the first day of its opening, it was smashed by the current Emperor and the Princess Royal...
"Don't be too worried, my lady. A blessing may disguise a curse, and a curse may conceal a blessing. Who knows if this won't turn out to be a good thing?"
Li Wanming was so angry and didn't catch what he said. She just suddenly stood up, picked up a broom, and silently joined the cleaning.
She was too angry. She had to do something.
Xiao Jingnan stood behind, looking at her figure, hesitating to speak.
A moment later, Li Wanming suddenly remembered something and shouted at Xiao Jingnan, "Hey, did they pay their room fees?"
Although those four people didn't stay here, they did participate in "The Peony Pavilion Dream". So they still had to pay the room fees!
Xiao Jingnan finally burst out laughing. "Of course. Moreover, I've taken inventory of all the losses here, made a list, and will send it to the palace and the Princess Royal's mansion tomorrow."
"Really?"
Li Wanming's interest was immediately piqued.
She put down the broom and ran over. "How much did you list?"
"Silk veils, porcelain, wisteria, glass lamps... Roughly estimated, it should be at least six hundred taels!"
"Six hundred taels!"
Li Wanming gasped. "...You're really bold to ask for that much."
All the decoration and furnishings in her inn together were worth less than two hundred taels. But Xiao Jingnan asked for three times that amount!
Xiao Jingnan raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Why not?"
"They broke the things in the store. We need to redecorate, and we won't be able to open for at least two days. Don't they need to compensate for the losses during this period?"
"Although we won't be open for these two days, we still have to pay the wages of the store employees. Don't they need to compensate for that?"
"Because of them, we had to clear the store and drive out the other customers today. The wine we compensated and the damage to our reputation, don't they need to compensate for that?"
"Also, they fought in the store, scaring our employees. The medical expenses for them, don't they need to compensate for that?"
"Not to mention other subsidies, resettlement fees, and mental damage fees. Asking for six hundred taels is very reasonable. I didn't ask for a single extra copper coin."
Li Wanming stood there with her mouth open, unable to come back to her senses for a long time.
This sounded very reasonable, but when she thought about it carefully, it seemed strange everywhere.
It seemed like they were extorting money, but they also seemed like the victims.
They were clearly the victims, but they were also extorting six hundred taels.
Jumping back and forth between extortion and victimhood made her a bit dizzy...
Xiao Jingnan walked to the front desk, picked up the money box, and stuffed it into her arms. "So our business income today is six hundred and forty taels."
Six hundred and forty taels...
On the first day of opening, without even officially starting business, they earned six hundred and forty taels!
Li Wanming didn't know whether to cry or laugh for a moment.
If it continued like this, she didn't even need to operate the business. She could just invite the Emperor and the Princess Royal to come and play every day!
After three months, maybe she could even extort the full one hundred thousand taels!
Seeing that she didn't take it, Xiao Jingnan directly grabbed her hand and put the money box in her hand. "Get a good rest tonight. Tomorrow, ask Chuntao and Luping to come over and buy all the things needed for the inn. Then let's go to the pawnshop and take a look."
The pawnshop?
Oh right, she still had two other stores.
She didn't even have time to go and check them out today. She didn't know how the first day of business went for the other two stores.
There was no way. The inn was too lively, and all her attention was focused on it.
...
Early the next morning, Li Wanming went to inspect her other two stores.
When she got there, she stood still at the door.
She didn't know how to describe her feelings.
One of the two stores was bustling with customers, while the other was deserted.
The difference was huge.
The deserted one was naturally the paper figurine shop.
Xiao Jingnan had decorated the paper figurine shop to look like the Dragon Palace of the Eastern Sea and set the price of the funeral items inside sky - high. Even though the publicity had caused quite a stir in the capital, the high consumption threshold still made the common people shy away.
On the first day of business, very few people dared to step into the store to take a look.
The person who bought the paper boat yesterday even returned the goods the next day, stammering that his family had scolded him for it, saying it was inauspicious.
On the other hand, the Wanfu Pawnshop was a completely different scene.
There was a bustling crowd outside the door.
According to Wu Yao, on the first day of opening yesterday, there were twenty - six customers.
Li Wanming was extremely surprised when she heard this. "Really? The business is so good? What about the things we accepted? Hurry up and take me to have a look!"
In all her life, she had never seen the things in a pawnshop before.
Wu Yao blocked her way and proudly said, "There aren't any!"
There aren't any...
What did that mean?
Li Wanming was confused.
"Didn't you say there were twenty - six transactions yesterday? How could there be none?"
Hearing her question, Wu Yao became even more proud. "The things they brought to pawn were all fake, but they asked for high prices. All of them were rejected by Aunt!"