Chapter 111
He had known it. After suffering so many losses, Su Wan’ning would never let things go.
What he had not expected was that she would strike from this angle—he had truly been caught off guard.
But on second thought, it made sense. Without the Lu family backing her, Su Wan’ning was short on money.
Although the Crown Prince’s residence looked glamorous, it was not a position that generated much profit.
Though civil officials controlled the court, the benefits they could skim were limited.
Lu Siwei had originally been someone the Crown Prince needed to win over, but ever since the Lu family gained two imperial relatives, the Crown Prince’s residence had completely lost Lu family support.
Of course, Lu Siwei was shrewd in dealing with people, and the tens of thousands of taels owed to him by the Crown Prince’s residence were quietly written off.
If the Crown Prince wanted to maintain a private army, he could not do so without money.
With no Lu family backing, Su Wan’ning had to find ways to raise funds on her own.
She heavily copied Lu Hanzhi’s business model to make quick money, then deliberately caused trouble for Lu Hanzhi. Although it did not inflict fundamental damage, it was disgustingly irritating.
And once she opened a shop, she would certainly use all sorts of tactics. For a short period of time, customer traffic would probably flood to her like rabid dogs.
Just as Lu Hanzhi had predicted, when he arrived at the entrance of Han Ji Fragrance House and took a look—oh ho! It was indeed deserted.
Looking across the street, there was frantic buying, just as expected.
People did not even seem to know what was being sold inside—they were simply buying for the sake of buying.
At that moment, the branch shopkeeper of Han Ji came out, bowed to him, and said, “Young Master, they… they are truly shameless!”
Seeing that Lu Hanzhi remained silent, the shopkeeper’s expression stiffened slightly, and he said apologetically, “This old man speaks crudely. Young Master… please do not take offense.”
Lu Hanzhi ground his teeth and said, “The shopkeeper isn’t wrong. They really are shameless.”
The shopkeeper cleared his throat and chuckled. “Young Master is truly forthright. But… if this continues, it won’t work. What should we do?”
Lu Hanzhi thought for a moment and said, “Hmm… how about this—send a servant no one recognizes to buy a set from them. I want to see exactly what they’re selling.”
The shopkeeper nodded and immediately went to the back courtyard to fetch a newly hired boy. He gave him a silver ingot and sent him off to make the purchase.
Once the goods were brought back, Lu Hanzhi opened them directly in the back room.
Frankly speaking, these items did not even qualify as high-quality counterfeits.
A strong stench of inferior perfume powder assaulted the senses, mixed with gray-black speckles.
Lu Hanzhi quietly asked the system, “Can you detect what this is made of?”
The system replied, “Talisman ash.”
Lu Hanzhi frowned. “What does it do?”
The system answered, “It greatly enhances appearance in a short period of time—by at least fifty percent.”
Lu Hanzhi could not help exclaiming, “Oh ho!”
Of course, he did not believe this was purely a good thing.
Lu Hanzhi asked, “How long does it last? What’s the price? And what are the side effects?”
The system felt that this generation’s host was far too clever and completely did not fit the persona of someone who was supposed to steadily focus on building a career.
Still, it answered dutifully, “It lasted for about one month. The price was the loss of an equivalent amount of lifespan. It could not be used long-term—if used for more than one month, it would cause skin decay.”
Lu Hanzhi clicked his tongue and said, “Why dress it up so nicely? Isn’t it just a rotten face?”
Trading one month of life and a ruined face for a bottle of talisman ash—and having to pay a hefty sum for it on top of that—he truly did not know what to say about these people.
In the end, the only one who benefited was Su Wan’ning. From what he observed, her daily turnover alone was at least ten thousand taels.
At that rate, she would earn no less than three hundred thousand taels in a month.
If she stopped letting people use this talisman within a month, they would not end up with rotting faces. They would simply exchange one month of their lifespan for one month of peak beauty.
Even if those women later returned to their original appearances, they would not suspect anything.
Instead, they would desperately clamor for new products.
When Su Wan’ning released new products then, they would still buy them at high prices.
Lu Hanzhi was genuinely impressed. Ignoring human lives just to make money—this was indeed something Su Wan’ning was capable of.
Lu Hanzhi asked, “Then… is there any way to shorten the duration of these side effects?”
The system replied, “Yes.”
Lu Hanzhi no longer believed the system’s casual affirmations and asked directly, “Just tell me—how many exchange points do I need to spend?”
The system answered, “Not many. You only need twenty exchange points. You can redeem an acceleration talisman from the ordinary artifact category.”
As soon as he heard that, Lu Hanzhi impatiently went into his mental space and exchanged for the acceleration talisman.
Before using it, he checked the instruction manual. It stated: This talisman can increase the activation speed of all low-tier talismans by ten times.
Lu Hanzhi thought to himself that this was practically tailor-made for his current situation.
He immediately took out the talisman and asked, “Uh… I just want to ask—how do I use this talisman?”
The system replied, “Attach it to a location frequently passed by the targets. As long as it can illuminate them, it will take effect.”
Lu Hanzhi slapped his hand and said, “Got it!”
As he spoke, he summoned the young servant who had gone to make the purchase earlier, gave him a few coins as a reward, and told him to paste the talisman onto the doorframe of Wan Ji across the street.
After being affixed, the talisman would automatically turn invisible, so Lu Hanzhi did not need to worry about it being discovered.
Moreover, Su Wan’ning had recently been confined and definitely would not appear in public during broad daylight.
Even if she discovered it at night, the talisman’s effect would already have taken hold.
As long as dozens or hundreds of people were affected by the talisman, their faces would rot within three days.
A rotting face was not frightening—using regenerative ointment could restore it.
But if used daily, their lifespan would continue to be reduced.
Lu Hanzhi felt that he was saving people in a roundabout way, and a sense of righteousness naturally arose in his heart.
After watching the servant finish pasting the talisman, Lu Hanzhi returned to Prince An’s residence, thoroughly satisfied.
He had also observed for a while and discovered that the talisman’s effective range was quite large. As long as someone passed by, they would be illuminated by the talisman’s light.
The system was indeed reliable—Lu Hanzhi awarded it a “reliable card.”
Even so, it could not change his fundamentally scheming nature.
After all, that small pit of about ten square meters was still unresolved. At this point, no matter how hard he racked his brain, he could not figure out what such a tiny pit could be used for.
Even if he raised fish, what kind of fish could ten-some square meters support?
Surely he could not dig a well just to raise fish, could he?
Wait… a well?????
Lu Hanzhi suddenly slapped the table, nearly giving Yuwen Jue—who was reading nearby—a fright.
Yuwen Jue asked, “Hanzhi, what’s wrong? Are you… feeling unwell somewhere? You have dark circles under your eyes. Have you still not been sleeping well these past few days?”
Lu Hanzhi looked confused and said, “Huh? Dark circles? No way! I’ve been sleeping quite well! It’s just that I always feel like I haven’t slept enough.”
At this moment, Lu Hanzhi was extremely excited and did not want to engage in idle chatter with his second sister-in-law.
He called He Ming over, drew a diagram of a traditional drilling method, and instructed him, “Go to the place we visited last time and dig a well there.”
He Ming nodded in acknowledgment and asked, “Young Master, a water well?”
Lu Hanzhi did not actually know what would be dug out, but since the land was system-bound, it definitely had abundant resources.
Maybe he would even dig up a thousand-year-old ancient tomb and make a fortune reselling artifacts—who knew?
After thinking it over, he said, “Just dig. No matter how deep it gets, keep digging until something is unearthed.”
He Ming smiled and replied, “Got it, Young Master. Since you’ve given the order, He Ming will head off right away.”
Lu Hanzhi stopped him. “Come back!”
He Ming turned around and asked, “Eh? Does Young Master have more instructions?”
Lu Hanzhi pointed at the sky outside and said, “Look—the sun has already set. Are you planning to go to the estate now and feed the night wolves?”
He Ming scratched his head, chuckled foolishly, and said, “Then He Ming will go tomorrow.”
Lu Hanzhi stepped forward and knocked lightly on He Ming’s head, saying, “I’ve told you all—safety first. Take better care of yourselves.”
I’m busy every single day—can you at least look after yourselves properly?
He Ming only nodded repeatedly, but warmth surged through his heart.
What kind of master cared about the lives of servants? In their eyes, their young master was truly good beyond words.
In truth, Lu Hanzhi was afraid. Ever since Ah Man’s accident, the guilt in his heart had never faded.
Even after adopting Xiao Liu, he still felt uneasy.
These past few days, the imperial faction had grown increasingly active, beginning to push forward new reforms under the Crown Prince’s leadership.
The new policies were: reducing taxes, reopening special imperial examinations, exempting corvée labor, and returning wealth to the people.
The first three points were uncontroversial, as they were all beneficial to the livelihood of the people.
However, the fourth point pushed the Lu family straight into the eye of the storm.
What exactly did “returning wealth to the people” mean?
Meaning at present, the imperial merchants of Great Zhao held excessive financial power, monopolizing the economic lifeline and obstructing the common people of Great Zhao from making money.
Lu Siwei had a splitting headache. He felt that the Crown Prince was deliberately targeting him.
Yet he could not refute the Crown Prince, because his status as an imperial merchant had originally been personally granted by the royal family, and moreover, he was rather timid by nature.
Instead, several ministers whose stances differed from the Crown Prince stepped forward to oppose him. Only then did Lu Siwei finally speak up: “What the Crown Prince says is indeed reasonable. However, most of the financial power held by the imperial merchants ultimately flows into the state treasury. If the treasury has no funds, then military campaigns will certainly lack safeguard. Of course, this minister is not someone who covets financial power. If the Crown Prince can truly obtain His Majesty’s approval and return the monopolized financial power to the people, then this minister will absolutely shoulder the responsibility without hesitation.”
Everyone in court knew that Lu Siwei was a slippery old fox. Otherwise, with his mediocre abilities, how could he have stood firm in court for so long?
The Crown Prince did not get angry either. He had always prided himself on being magnanimous.
He merely smiled faintly and cited two examples.
The first was Lu Siwei’s son, Lu Hanzhi, who had founded Han Ji on his own and was now flourishing in the capital.
The Crown Prince smiled and said, “Hanzhi’s way of making money was probably inherited from Lord Lu. Truly, a tiger father begets no weak son.”
When Lu Hanzhi was mentioned, Lu Siwei’s face was also full of pride.
A son surpassing his father was naturally a source of joy.
However, right after that, the Crown Prince cited another example—his own side consort, Su Wan’ning.
When the Crown Prince spoke of Su Wan’ning, his pride was exactly the same as Lu Siwei’s.
With a faint smile, he said, “Consort Wan is Lord Lu’s niece. The Lu family’s talent for doing business has truly been passed down to the younger generation. Recently, Side Consort Wan opened a small incense shop, and its daily turnover reached as much as ten thousand taels of silver. It really opened my eyes. Even a seemingly delicate woman could possess such talent. If financial power were returned to the people and only the appropriate commercial taxes were levied, wouldn’t that better enrich the state treasury?”
Lu Siwei said nothing. Toward this Side Consort Wan, he truly had no good impression.
Several members of the Crown Prince’s faction rushed forward to flatter him, giving thumbs-up and praising Side Consort Wan as an extraordinary woman, saying that His Highness the Crown Prince was truly blessed.
Just at that moment, outside the court hall, the Dengwen Drum rang out loudly.
The Crown Prince frowned and asked, “Who is sounding a grievance at this time?”
A young eunuch hurried in to report and replied, “In reply to Your Highness, it is the titled wife of Prime Minister Lin.”
The Crown Prince asked in confusion, “The old titled lady? For what matter is she striking the drum?”
The young eunuch answered with difficulty, “Th-this… she says that Minister Lin’s daughter-in-law suddenly died in front of Wan Ji Fragrance Shop, and she was eight months pregnant.”
Your favorite BL chaos wouldn’t be possible without coffee… lots of coffee….
Support Ciacia’s translation temple on Kofi—and if the cliffhanger demons are haunting you, join the Han’er Tier to purge them with advanced chapter access (up to 5!) before the masses even blink.
