"Look at what you're saying, miss. The very purpose of Siyu Nunnery is you," Zixin quickly replied.
When they saw Zhao Luoning again, everyone's eyes welled up with tears.
It had been so long.
So long that they had thought Zhao Luoning had forgotten them all.
Speaking of the origin of Siyu Nunnery, it had quite a history.
This nunnery had been around for at least a decade. It was initially built on a whim by Zhao Luoning.
At that time, Zhao Luoning never expected that this nunnery, which she had bought out of kindness to shelter the orphan girls she had rescued, would become the starting point of her career and now, her sanctuary.
This nunnery was built by Zhao Luoning, and all the people here were rescued by her.
When the little girl Zidou heard that Zhao Luoning was going to stay at Siyu Nunnery permanently, she jumped for joy. Knowing that Zhao Luoning was their master, she could only hug Qiuling, who was standing beside Zhao Luoning, and jump up and down.
"Sister Xin, your sister likes the eldest miss much more than she likes you," someone joked to the nun Zixin.
Zixin looked at her younger sister, who was as happy as a monkey jumping up and down, with a loving gaze.
Seeing her so happy, a smile involuntarily appeared on Zixin's lips.
"The eldest miss is so kind. It's only natural for Dou'er to like her."
Back then, after her parents died, Zixin had to beg on the streets with her younger sister, experiencing all the hardships of the world.
At her most desperate moment, Zixin wanted to end her and her sister's wandering life with a pack of poison.
When Zixin used the money she had begged for to buy arsenic at Zhao's pharmacy, she was discovered by Zhao Luoning.
Zhao Luoning saved the two sisters and arranged for them to live in the nunnery. She not only provided them with food and shelter but also let Zixin manage such a large nunnery.
Zhao Luoning's kindness was like that of a reborn parent. So Zixin was happier than anyone else that Dou'er liked her.
Of course, Zhao Luoning didn't do this out of idle charity.
For the production of rouge, this was the perfect place.
Out of sympathy for Zixin and Zidou, she wanted to find them a place to settle down.
Thinking of Luo Yu's experience, Zhao Luoning couldn't help but feel sympathy for girls younger than herself, so she rescued many orphan girls.
But she never expected that this would be the turning point of her career.
When she first took over the Zhao family, Zhao Luoning knew that running the family would only result in more expenses than income.
And Siyu Nunnery had unexpectedly become the first step in Zhao Luoning's independence.
The biggest contributor to this was Zixin.
Before her family declined, Zixin's family was a well - known incense - making family.
She had inherited the excellent craftsmanship of her family. Coupled with the prescriptions provided by Zhao Luoning, the rouge they made was much better than that on the market.
Zhao Luoning accidentally learned that Zixin's family was an incense - making family.
After seeing Zixin's superb craftsmanship, Zhao Luoning, who always cherished talent, couldn't bear to see Zixin's talent go to waste, so she proposed that Zixin make rouge for the use of the mansion.
Just as Zixin had been troubled about how to repay Zhao Luoning's life - saving grace, she readily agreed without hesitation.
Unexpectedly, less than a year later, Madam Lu came to the door and directly said that she wanted to discuss the matter of partnering with Zhao Luoning to open a rouge workshop.
Madam Lu was not only forthright but also offered a price twice as high as the market price.
Zhao Luoning never missed a business opportunity, and this time was no exception.
So, after asking Zixin's opinion that year, Zhao Luoning began to prepare for the incense - making workshop.
The only difference was that she had planned ahead and didn't appear in the name of the second young master of the Zhao family. Instead, she let Caixue and Feixing arrange everything.
Because Zhao Luoning deliberately wanted to hide from the Zhao family, she always tried to distance herself from the Zhao family. Even for business, she mainly focused on the capital city.
In Huangcheng, there was not a single bit of news.
Zhao Luoning's whim not only found a home for the orphan girls but also gave them a meaning to live.
When there were visitors, these orphan girls would dress as nuns to avoid suspicion.
When there were no visitors, they would make rouge, and then Feixing would regularly deliver it to Madam Lu.
In order to make better rouge, Zhao Luoning didn't hesitate to spend a large amount of money to buy prescriptions from other places. Combining Zixin's craftsmanship, the rouge they made was not only fragrant and elegant but also had bright and natural colors.
After using it, it would never damage the skin like ordinary rouge and powder.
Even Zhao Luoning herself didn't expect that the simple business of making rouge would bring her profits that, by the third year, were on par with all the businesses of the Zhao Mansion.
If it weren't for the shortage of manpower and Zixin's high requirements for the quality of the rouge, which led to a low output, these rouges would have been famous throughout the court and the countryside long ago.
It was only after cooperating with Madam Lu and Zixin that Zhao Luoning had the ability to put the silk shop and the pharmacy under her own name.
You know, when the silk shop wanted to recruit weavers and embroiderers at the beginning, the silver invested was not a small amount.
As for the pharmacy, even the most capable cook couldn't make a meal without rice. To revive such a large pharmacy, the silver needed couldn't be solved with just a few hundred taels.
Zhao Luoning never restricted the freedom of the people in the nunnery. Everyone could come and go as they pleased, and everything was left to Zixin to manage.
Although they used the identity of nuns to avoid suspicion, Zhao Luoning never asked them to be heartless and cut off from the mortal world.
Instead, out of gratitude for Zhao Luoning's life - saving grace, they vowed never to marry and rarely left the nunnery.
For them, who had been wandering, having a quiet place like Siyu Nunnery to live in without having to worry about food and clothing was something they couldn't even dream of before they came here.
Everything started from Siyu Nunnery.
Unexpectedly, in the end, she still returned to Siyu Nunnery.
Although the time was not long, these years had passed like a dream.
Not only had her status and position changed.
Even her state of mind was no longer the same as before.
The only thing that remained unchanged was the group of people in Siyu Nunnery who had always followed and supported her.
It was time to make Siyu Nunnery famous!
Zhao Luoning stopped her memories and sighs.
She secretly cheered herself up.
"Zhao Luoning, congratulations. From now on, you can truly live for yourself and completely manage your own business!"
Yes, completely manage her own business.
That had always been Zhao Luoning's dream and goal.
When she was in the Zhao Mansion, she had to take care of the Zhao family's business.
When she was in the Ji Mansion, she had to manage the Ji family's property.
It was too tiring.
So tiring that she had to give up her own business many times.
So tiring that she hadn't been able to expand her business volume over the years and could only choose the small - but - exquisite route.
Now, she was no longer the eldest miss of the Zhao family, the second young master of the Zhao family, nor the second young mistress of the Ji family.
She was not anyone's wife, daughter, or daughter - in - law.
She was just Zhao Luoning.
The merchant, Zhao Luoning.