Rebirth of the Merchant Woman's Revenge

Gu Xunwei received the five hundred taels of silver note sent by Qian Shi as she wished. She was holding a piece of strange-looking incense in the incense-making room. Without even looking at the silver note, she said to Chen Xiang, "Put it away. The Xie Mansion probably won't be able to take out any more silver now."

"Yes, judging from Madam's expression just now, it should be almost time."

Chenxiang also echoed, and thinking of the scene when Qian and Li Ma came to deliver the banknotes just now, she couldn't help but give a thumbs up to the young lady's plan.

Bai Zhi also came back from outside the mansion with a booklet in her arms. Seeing that the young lady was not busy but chatting with Chenxiang, she took out the booklet and handed it to Gu Xunwei.

"Madam, this is not collected by my brother. Someone has collected the poems that have been circulating in teahouses, taverns and the streets these past two days, compiled them into a book and is selling them quietly. It is said that the price is five taels of silver per copy. The sales are quite good, so my brother did not bother to buy one directly. All the poems he has heard are also collected in the book."

Gu Xunwei was not overly surprised after hearing Bai Zhi's words. After all, there were all kinds of people in the capital, and there were many people who specialized in making money from the literati.

She nodded and asked Chenxiang to take out two silver hairpin ornaments from her dressing box, one inlaid with pearls and the other inlaid with rubies. "You two have been running around these past two days and have been very tired. These are for you. Pick one each."

Chen Xiang seemed to be used to Gu Xunwei's rewards, "Sister Bai Zhi, please choose first."

Bai Zhi was surprised. She had always thought that helping the young lady was her duty, but she did not expect that she would get a reward. Moreover, the reward was too thoughtful. If she liked it, she could wear it herself. If she did not like it, she could just use it as silver.

"Well, Madam, I have done what I should do. I dare not accept it." Bai Zhi still did not reach out to take it. After all, this silver hairpin was equivalent to two months' salary of hers.

Chen Xiang smiled, and then continued, "Sister Bai Zhi has just started working with the young lady, so naturally she doesn't know. Just focus on your work, and you will be rewarded. In three years, you will be able to save up a generous dowry."

There was a hint of joy in her tone, and she also had a special care for Baizhi.

Bai Zhi blushed immediately, but was still too embarrassed to reach out to take it.

Gu Xunwei then said, "You two take it. Everything went smoothly today, so let's make something delicious to celebrate in the evening."

"Yes." Seeing that Baizhi was really embarrassed to take them, Chenxiang agreed and picked up both silver hairpins. The two of them divided them privately.

Next, she really should prepare well for tomorrow's perfume-testing competition. Although she has already thought of all the steps, she still needs to rehearse it again to make sure everything goes well. After all, tomorrow, the perfume shop Ruixiangzhai, opened by the imperial merchant Lian family in the capital, will also participate in this perfume-testing competition.

The Lian family is similar to the Gu family, and they have also been making incense for generations, but their head is more scheming than Gu Ziyu. In recent years, he has even established a connection with the palace and become the royal incense-making master. However, as the Lian family has become more prosperous in recent years, the reputation of Ruixiangzhai has also risen, and the price of incense has increased by several levels.

However, in Gu Xunwei's opinion, although the Lian family's incense-making skills are good, their selection as imperial merchants has little to do with the incense they make, but more to do with the person they rely on behind the scenes, Prince An.

In the previous life, the Gu family and the Lian family basically kept to themselves and lived in peace. After all, they mainly did business with the royal family and high-ranking officials, while the Gu family was closer to the common people and the families of minor officials. However, two years later, the Lian family disappeared from the country due to their involvement in a case of miscarriage of a concubine in the palace, and has never appeared since then.

This also led to an increasing number of customers for the Gu family, to the point that they were later noticed by Prince An, who then set his sights on the Gu family.

Neither she nor her father had big ambitions, otherwise they would not have left behind the high-end fragrances in the Gu family's fragrance recipes and instead made some more common fragrances.

However, after experiencing what happened in her previous life, Gu Xunwei truly felt that being coveted by others was a very bad feeling. Instead of this, it would be better for her to join forces with Prince An's opponents and use all means to bring Prince An down. In this way, the Gu family might be able to escape unscathed and finally live their lives in peace.

And this is the best ending that Gu Xunwei could choose after much thought. While doing these things, she also has to get rid of the murderers who directly killed her in the previous life, Xie Chengan and Gu Qiongsi, the Xie family, and her second uncle and his wife.

As for what their endings will be, that depends on their respective fates.

For example, now, she didn't think of taking direct action against the Xie family. She just cut off their money, and several people were already running around like headless flies. She thought that she wouldn't even need to do anything, they would be able to send her away.

Gu Xunwei had a good sleep that night, but the other people in the Xie Mansion did not have such a good sleep, especially Qian and Xie Chengan, who tossed and turned without closing a wink the whole night.

Putting all the savings of the Xie family on Gu Xunwei and Gu Jiaxiangfang, they must have felt uneasy.

The sun rose as usual the next day. Gu Xunwei prepared everything with a refreshed spirit. She took two maids to Rongdeyuan to pay her respects to Mrs. Qian and Mr. Xie, and then went to Yaxiangzhai wearing a veil.

Shopkeeper Li was already waiting in the lobby, and standing next to him was actually Shopkeeper Liu from Ruixiangzhai.

This is a middle-aged man in his forties, who looks honest.

When Gu Xunwei walked in, Shopkeeper Li hurried over to greet her, and Shopkeeper Liu also followed suit.

"I have met Madam Xie. I have heard of her for a long time. My family's head has mentioned several times that he wants to meet Madam Xie, but before we could arrange it, this happened. It's really..."

His words were just polite. Gu Xunwei naturally didn't think that the head of the Lian family would want to meet with her, but she also politely replied, "Yes, I have been suggesting to Shopkeeper Li that we visit the head of the Lian family, but I was afraid of being abrupt, so I delayed it."

"I guess even the head of the family will be present at today's fragrance tasting contest?" Gu Xunwei asked Shopkeeper Liu with a smile.

"The master of the family has gone out to look for spices, so this time, the master's eldest son, Young Master Lian, will represent Ruixiangzhai to attend the fragrance tasting competition. Madam Xie will be asked to give more advice at that time." Shopkeeper Liu said politely.