Your Token

The man who staggered through the door was none other than Qi Yanhan. He should have been dressed in plain, elegant brocade, but now his entire outer robe was soaked through with blood, as if dipped in crimson. His pale garments were stained a dark red, the blood at the hem already dried into stiff patches. The metallic scent of blood quickly overpowered the fresh, citrusy fragrance in the air.

Zhou Yao, ever composed and unfazed, could not help the flicker of worry that crossed her face. Her delicate brows knitted together as she rushed forward, intending to help him into a room. But before she could reach him, Qi Yanhan seemed to lose the last of his strength and pitched forward, crashing hard against the floor.

"Qi Yanhan! Qi Yanhan, are you alright?" She pressed her fingers beneath his nose, feeling for breath—a faint, almost imperceptible whisper of air. His condition was dire, yet sending a servant for a doctor would only expose his whereabouts... and until she knew who had tried to kill him, she could not risk making a move.

"Madam, I'll go fetch a physician right away!" Su'er, startled by the sight, turned to rush out, but Zhou Yao swiftly grabbed her arm. "Wait!"

Zhou Yao's expression turned grave as she looked at Su'er. "Not a word of this to anyone. Not a single hint even to Qing'er or Cui Wei. Understood?"

Su'er quickly dropped into a bow. "My life was saved by Your Highness. Whatever you command, I will hold my tongue!"

"Elder Princess's birthday banquet tomorrow is important. You and Cui Wei will go deliver the gifts in my stead, and say that I've been feeling under the weather and couldn't come." Zhou Yao draped Qi Yanhan's arm over her shoulder, straining to lift him. Su'er moved to help, but Zhou Yao waved her off.

"I'll handle him. There's still perfume you need to make here."

After careful consideration, and for the sake of safety, Zhou Yao had a carriage brought around to the side gate of Golden Curtain Terrace. There were still customers lingering inside, so she stripped off Qi Yanhan's blood-soaked coat and pulled her own outer robe over him. After quickly wiping the blood from his face, she passed him off as a drunken guest and helped him into the carriage.

The carriage drove straight to the back gate of the Princess Mansion. When she had purchased the residence, Zhou Yao had deliberately avoided extravagance for security reasons, and now the mansion was the safest place she could think of for Qi Yanhan.

He had been gravely wounded—every cut was aimed to kill. The wounds had yet to scab, and the fresh robe she had just dressed him in was already soaked through with blood again. Within moments, his body began to burn with fever.

"What now?" For the first time, Zhou Yao felt at a loss. She settled Qi Yanhan in her own courtyard, laying him on the bed before frantically searching through cabinets and drawers for the medicine box.

From what she vaguely remembered, in her dowry there had been a wooden medicine chest filled with various items, containing some emergency pills... When Liuli had stolen from her dowry back then, she had only taken the jewelry that looked valuable at a glance. The medicine chest should still be there from when she moved out of Qi Manor.

By the time she unearthed the medicine chest from a corner, Qi Yanhan was already burning with fever and barely conscious. Even in that state, he mumbled something under his breath. Zhou Yao leaned in, straining to catch the words, but could not make them out.

Seeing that this could not go on, she turned to search the bottles. "Your... High...ness..." A faint, mosquito-thin voice came from behind her.

"You're awake?" Zhou Yao hurried to his side and sat down, only to realize it was the rambling of a fever dream. For a moment, exhaustion washed over her, and she lowered her eyes with a muttered curse. "Honestly. If you're not awake, why are you talking? You're going to—"

She rose to continue searching for medicine, finally finding a bottle with a red label marked "Hemostatic Pill."

"Going... to... what...?" A faint stirring came from behind her. In the near-silent room, his voice was barely audible.

Pouring warm water from the kettle into a porcelain bowl, she shook out a pill into her palm and fed it to Qi Yanhan. "You're half dead, and you still have the curiosity to ask?"

Qi Yanhan was weak as a kitten, his disheveled, pathetic state on full display for Zhou Yao. What also caught her eye was the faint, struggling attempt he made to force a smile.

"Waist..." He seemed to summon every ounce of strength to push the word out on a breath of air.

"Waist?" Zhou Yao glanced down at his midsection, assuming he was uncomfortable there. She was about to adjust his position when a pure gold token engraved with the words "Ninth Princess Command" came into view.

For a long moment, she could not react, her gaze fixed on those four characters. Zhou Yao knew well that the Ninth Princess Command had never fallen into her hands precisely because her father had silently allowed it. Only a princess without real power could serve as a check on powerful officials. Anything else would breed endless trouble.

The smile Qi Yanhan had failed to produce earlier finally settled on his face. His voice was barely a whisper. "Your Highness... your token... I went and got it back for you..."

"I know you've always wanted it back. And I know... you never wanted this marriage between us..."

Zhou Yao said nothing, her heart a tangled mess with no idea how to respond. All she could muster was a dry, "Stop talking."

She was trying to silence him, instinctively avoiding the words she knew were coming next.

"You got what you wanted, Your Highness. Then why are you crying?" He tried to lift his icy fingers to wipe away the tear at the corner of her eye, but could not manage it...

It was only after he spoke that Zhou Yao realized, belatedly, that she had tears on her face.

"Don't talk about that. You still have a fever."

He let out a soft laugh. "I'm afraid if I don't say it now, I'll never get the chance."

"I told you to shut up, didn't you hear me?!" Zhou Yao looked away, her mind blank. "How stupid. Even without you... I could have gotten my princess command back on my own. Besides, it was never yours to begin with."

Qi Yanhan did not say that he knew the Elder Princess would never retrieve the token for her, nor did he mention that he had taken this reckless gamble only after learning how difficult it was for her to get it back through any ordinary means.

"If I die, Your Highness... will you think of me, even a little?" Before Zhou Yao could answer, he went on. "Because I will think of you, Your Highness."

"I like you, Zhou Yao. I love you..." His eyes, normally sharp with a hint of fox-like charm, were now misted over. "Before I went to see Consort Xi, I wrote out the divorce agreement and gave it to Duyun."

If Zhou Yao wanted to leave, she was free.

Every word she had ever spoken, he had taken to heart and acted upon—even at the cost of his own life.

Qi Yanhan had spent a lifetime in careful scheming, and now, in the matter of Zhou Yao, he had lost all his wits.

"Say no more. I'll go beg Father for a royal physician right now. I'm not letting a villain like you die so easily." Zhou Yao's voice came out hoarse. "Wait here. I'll be back."

When she opened the door, the sky outside had already darkened. She judged that the curfew had long since passed—the hour when all movement was strictly forbidden.

She fastened the Ninth Princess Command at her waist, mounted a horse alone, and rode hard toward the palace.

The warm night breeze brushed against her cheeks. As expected, she was stopped at the palace gates by soldiers. "Halt! Out past curfew, are you? Seize them!"

A row of spears leveled at Zhou Yao.

"I am the Ninth Princess, Zhou Yao! Open the gates!" Zhou Yao displayed the token at her waist. The tightly sealed gates did indeed open for her. At any other time, she might have felt a rush of triumph, but now she had no time to spare for such thoughts.

She only stopped at the entrance to the Emperor's private chambers. Eunuch Wang was waiting outside as always, just as he had been when she came to beg her father before her wedding.

Zhou Yao knelt smoothly on the ground outside the door and called out at the top of her lungs, "Father! Your daughter's husband is at death's door! I beg you, have mercy! Spare him, Father!"

"Back then, you sacrificed my marriage to rein in the Qi family. Are you now ready to ruin my whole life? Father!"

She shouted until her throat burned, and still there was no response. Eunuch Wang made as if to approach and console her, but Zhou Yao's mind turned, and she called out again: "Father! If you will send a physician to treat Qi Yanhan and spare his life, I will give every coin I own to the state treasury to aid the suffering common folk!"

Sure enough, the moment her words fell, the doors of the hall were pushed open from within. Zhou Yao looked up through red-rimmed eyes to see the King standing there, fully dressed.

Yes—the King, not her father.

What affection had he ever shown her? For him, she was merely another subject to be calculated against.

"Your son, Zhou Yao, pays respects to Your Majesty. I beg you to grant this one small wish of your daughter..." As she bowed, something between her and her father seemed to shatter entirely.

But no one cared.

One cared about his empire; the other cared about her plans for the future.

"It's the middle of the night. Come inside to talk. Don't disturb Consort Xi and the Empress's rest."

"Yes." Zhou Yao kept her head bowed, not meeting his gaze.

As soon as she stepped inside, the room was filled with black-and-gold dragon-patterned silks and ornaments. The King settled himself in the main seat before speaking slowly. "You've been causing quite the stir in Chang'an these days, and tonight your husband storms the palace. I was already being generous by not having him killed on the spot! And now you come—are you planning rebellion?"

Zhou Yao kept her head low. "It is wrong of me to disturb Your Majesty tonight. I only beg you to send a physician to treat him at once..."

"Hmph!" He flung his wide sleeves in fury. "You barely had any dowry when you married, and instead of staying quietly in your chambers like a proper wife, you run around outside making a spectacle of yourself every day. What kind of conduct is that?! Is this what the palace matrons taught you?"

"If that's the case... Wang Ansheng!"

"Here, at your service."

"The matrons have failed in their duty to educate the princess. Execute them all."

"Yes..."

Zhou Yao pressed her lips together, and only after a long silence did she speak. "Father must have forgotten. My matrons all died in the palace before I was even married. As for the ones still alive now, you can slaughter every last one and it will make no difference."

"And lest you forget, since I opened my shop, a single location has earned over ten million in gold. Over a million has gone to my staff, and over a million to expenses. If Father thinks I should stay shut up in my chambers being a good wife, then by all means. But I fear in that case, the rich will only grow richer and the poor poorer, and the entire realm will be thrown into chaos."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Not at all. I only want Father to understand that in this situation, your daughter can help ease your burdens—and only I, the daughter you never valued, can do it." At this, Zhou Yao finally lifted her head to meet the King's eyes. "If I'm not mistaken, the state treasury has been running dry for quite some time. First there were the disasters, one after another, and then there are the corrupt officials. No amount of money can survive that kind of drain." She closed her eyes for a moment, steadying herself. "The money in the treasury probably isn't even a tenth of what I've earned."

"So instead of thinking about how to get rid of me, Father, you should be thinking about how to use me to earn more money for yourself and the treasury. Don't you agree?"

In that moment, the King's eyes changed as he looked at Zhou Yao.

It was as if he had never truly understood this daughter of his. He had thought her earlier recklessness was just youthful willfulness, but now he realized he had been entirely wrong.

Yet Zhou Yao was right. At this moment, the King indeed needed a way—without involving the court directly—to quickly claw back wealth from the hands of landlords, wealthy merchants, and corrupt officials.

"You, daughter... have truly opened my eyes..."

There was no small measure of mockery in his words, but Zhou Yao paid it no mind. She simply looked at him and said, "Father used me to suppress the Qi family before. Why not now find a convenient excuse to let Elder Qi, who holds the real power, step down and make way for a 'better' man? Once Elder Qi retires, the new head of the Qi family will be unpopular at court, and the Zhao family—long suppressed by the Qi—can finally catch their breath."

"The Zhao family has been crying poverty to the court under the guise of aiding disaster victims. Father surely knows this by now. Why not seize this heaven-sent opportunity to reshuffle the cards?"

"Otherwise, both the Qi and Zhao families support the Crown Prince. And the power they hold between them might just rival that of the throne..." Noting the dark scowl on the King's face, Zhou Yao wisely stopped there. "Forgive my impertinence, but I urge Father to consider it carefully."

"You see things clearly indeed... Zhou Yao." The King stared hard at his kneeling daughter. After a moment of silence, he waved a hand. "Wang Ansheng, convey my order: send the Chief Physician to treat Qi Yanhan at once. No delay."

"Yes..."

Only after Eunuch Wang had withdrawn did the King allow Zhou Yao to rise. Having knelt on the cold stone for so long, her knees ached fiercely.

"You've schemed all this for more than just getting Qi Yanhan healed, haven't you. You want me to help Qi Yanhan remove Elder Qi, and you want something else as well. Say it all at once."

"So Father is agreeing."

"Then I'll speak plainly. In addition to Your Majesty not interfering with my business in the future, I also ask that you grant me the thirteen salt mines in the west that have long remained unallocated, along with the right to trade in salt."

"You dare!" He flew into a rage. "What would a woman know of such things! Every year those salt mines bring in more revenue than a third of the common people's taxes combined, and you would simply ask for thirteen of them!" He broke into a fit of coughing and had to pause before continuing, "This is utterly outrageous!"

"Father speaks too soon."

"My business is supported by nobles and officials. A single piece of my glassware can be worth more than a common family could earn in a lifetime. With disaster upon disaster now, the people are starving and homeless, unable to pay taxes or corvée labor. The common folk have no food to eat or clothes to wear. If we also drive the price of salt—something every household needs—higher still, it's only a matter of time before the people rise up in revolt."

"If Father lets me take over the salt fields and mines, starting with low-priced salt, we can lighten the burden on the people, reduce taxes for those who qualify, and provide real aid. That way the nation prospers and the people flourish. Only then can the elderly be cared for and the young supported. Only then will the homeless truly disappear from the city."

"Rather than allowing the powerful to keep slaughtering refugees to put a temporary stop to the problem."

"I beg Father to consider it carefully! I swear, all profits from the salt mines under my charge will go to the court, and I'll submit the accounts to you every month for your review."

"Based on what you've said today, I could kill you ten thousand times over and it would still not be enough!"

"I don't care, Father. If you can take even one word of what I've said to heart, then even if you had me executed on the spot, I would die without regret."

"Fine. For that statement alone, I'll give you the thirteen salt mines. But I have conditions." Zhou Yao looked at the King, who was now glaring at her with deadly seriousness. "I'll give you one year. You must show me results, or—"

"If I fail, I will die to atone for it!" Zhou Yao prostrated herself in a deep bow. "Thank you, Father."

"It's late. You can... stay in the palace tonight."

This was the first time the man before her—for all that he was supposed to be her father—had ever offered her even this much of his sparse "care." If this had happened five years ago, or even earlier, she might have harbored a sliver of hope for him.

He reached out to help her up from the ground, saying, "I'll draft the decree first thing tomorrow morning."

"Thank you for your kindness, Father, but I am worried about my husband and will not stay the night." She sidestepped his hand smoothly, bowed, and took her leave.

By the time Zhou Yao returned to the Princess Mansion, the physician had just finished removing the last of his acupuncture needles. Qi Yanhan's wounds had been carefully wrapped in clean white gauze. Seeing her enter, the physician bowed respectfully, and she waved a hand for him to continue.

"Princess, the consort's wounds are quite serious. I left the palace in haste and only brought hemostatic ointment. I'll need to register and gather more medicine at the Imperial Medical Academy tomorrow. After brewing, it must be taken for half a month to see improvement. If combined with my acupuncture treatment, it may heal even faster."

"The wounds have already stopped bleeding—that's also helped by the hemostatic pill His Highness took. His condition is stable now, so please don't worry. Just be careful that the wounds aren't pressed or get wet. I'll come again tomorrow."

The physician was about to take his leave when Zhou Yao stopped him.

She had a servant bring out a newly crafted set of glassware and place it on the table. "I've troubled the Chief Physician. I hear your wife has a fondness for glass ornaments?"

With a glance, she indicated the carved wooden box on the table. "This is a small token of my appreciation. I hope you'll accept it."

"This... how could I dare... I was merely following orders today. I can hardly take credit." The physician quickly bowed, half in deference.

"Please, don't be nervous. That you were willing to do your best to treat him today is a kindness I will not forget. These are only small things." She stood and helped him up. "Besides, I'll need your continued support in the future. I would be most grateful."

She stressed the words "continued support" heavily. The Chief Physician, long seasoned in the ways of the palace, knew exactly what she meant. He still hesitated outwardly, so Zhou Yao steered the conversation elsewhere. "This glass, now—it's the first full set of tea cups we've ever tried making at Golden Curtain Terrace. Actually, it's quite nice for drinking cold-brewed tea in the summer."

He wavered, his resolve softening. "Since the princess is so insistent, I'll accept it with thanks."

Seeing him take the gift, the taut string in Zhou Yao's chest finally loosened. She turned her gaze back to Qi Yanhan. "Glad you like it."

She turned to her maid. "Ling'er, see the physician out."

Only once they had left did Zhou Yao take a proper look at Qi Yanhan lying on the bed.

If he stayed away from the Qi Manor much longer, Elder Qi was bound to take issue. She thought it best to shield him for now, to keep old wounds from getting new ones.

"Madam." Someone called her from outside the door. "Everything you ordered is ready, but..."

"But what?" Zhou Yao turned. The figure and voice both seemed to belong to Su'er.

"At Elder Princess's birthday banquet tomorrow... do we really need to send this much glass? It's going to be a big loss for Golden Curtain Terrace." Su'er sounded a little worried.

"It's fine. Tomorrow, you and Cui Wei go boldly." Zhou Yao opened the door and handed her the Ninth Princess Command. "Keep this safe. And tell the people below to keep their mouths shut these days."

"Yes, Madam. We've been diligently handling everything you asked." She then handed Zhou Yao a glass bottle filled with orange essential oil. "While making the perfume, we noticed an oil layer on top, so we separated it out. The sisters studied it a while, and we found that a single drop of this oil can make a whole bottle of perfume!"

"And it smells just as good as the perfume below!" Su'er paused, then hesitated, as if weighing whether to speak.

"The eunuchs from the palace came to Golden Curtain Terrace earlier to deliver the decree. We all heard about what happened at court..."

"The sisters are all worried about you. Golden Curtain Terrace has come so far. And with all your savings going to the treasury, you might be in a tight spot from now on—even for daily expenses."

Zhou Yao assumed she was afraid the trouble might implicate them, so she shook her head reassuringly. "Even if something happens on my end, the money I gave you all before should be enough to keep you safe. If you all think—"

Su'er cut her off, flapping her hands frantically. "No, no, it's not that. The sisters have discussed it, and we've all pooled together what you gave us. We're giving it to you as an emergency fund to help you through this. It comes to eight thousand gold in total."

"Cui Wei has also catalogued all of Golden Curtain Terrace's projects into a ledger, so when the officials come tomorrow, everything can be accounted for in one pass."

"Then... this bottle of oil?" Zhou Yao looked at Su'er, bewildered.

"It's from Qing'er and the other sisters, made just for you. We're all waiting for you to pick yourself up again!"

It seemed the decree had only mentioned confiscating her wealth, not the salt mines, which was why everyone was in such a panic.

Regardless, the kindness of those who came to her aid in her time of need was real.

Zhou Yao pulled Su'er into a hug and held her for a long moment before murmuring, "Thank you... but I can't take your money. It's rightfully yours—you earned it."

"The money I gave up was only what I had on hand. Everything Golden Curtain Terrace and Fragrant Orchid Pavilion earn from here on out is still mine." What she truly wanted was to tie the shop more closely to the court, so that anyone who tried to lay a hand on it would think twice. Even if the Elder Princess disagreed tomorrow, Zhou Yao no longer needed her. The only thing she needed now, perhaps, was for Qi Yanhan to recover quickly.

"It's getting late. I still need to meet the Elder Princess first thing tomorrow. Go on back and rest."

Once Su'er was gone, Zhou Yao dismissed the remaining servants, leaving only her and Qi Yanhan in the room. It had been a long time since they had been alone like this...

In Zhou Yao's mind, Qi Yanhan had always been a calculating, masterfully deceptive scoundrel. Even after all their time working together, she had to stay on guard against his schemes.

But this token had come out of nowhere. By the King's own account, Qi Yanhan had stormed the palace—and had forced the token back for her, at the cost of nearly his own life.

It had been reckless. Utterly reckless.

Not just for Qi Yanhan storming the palace, but for Zhou Yao, who had staked her entire fortune at dusk. When they had been forced into this marriage, the two of them had drawn clear boundaries. They had kept out of each other's way, coexisting peacefully.

But now, Qi Yanhan had shattered that unspoken "accord" between them, staking his life on a gamble. How could Zhou Yao simply look away?

Deep into the night, Zhou Yao's mind kept drifting back to Qi Yanhan's pale, weak face and the words he had spoken.

If retrieving the Ninth Princess Command was the first crack in the ice that had formed around Zhou Yao's heart, then the divorce agreement he had prepared in advance to set her free was a stone cast into the still waters of her heart, sending ripple after ripple through her.

With nowhere to vent her pent-up sorrow, Zhou Yao went to the back courtyard, plucked a leaf from a tree, and brought it to her lips to play a tune. In the old days at the palace, her fellow princesses had instruments like zithers and bells to accompany them. She had no one to teach her, so she had learned from the servants how to play simple tunes on leaves. Over time, she had actually gotten rather good at it.

Zhou Yao was not quite sure why, but with everyone else, she could settle accounts cleanly—debts paid, favors returned. Yet with Qi Yanhan, nothing was ever that simple. Favors were not favors, and grievances were not grievances. She had ended up owing him no matter what.

Her tangled heart made her abandon the leaf-melody idea altogether.

She resolved the question of how their relationship would proceed in the time it took to play three short tunes.

Since Qi Yanhan had already broken through that barrier between them, she saw no reason to dither any longer. If his heart was true, she would not betray him.

"Father... as it turns out, you were right."

Perhaps, in her heart, accepting Qi Yanhan was an admission that everything she had done to escape that marriage had been in vain.

It was never that she did not understand matters of the heart. It was that she was a stubborn fool who refused to admit it.

Back in the room, she looked at Qi Yanhan, still unconscious, and apologized softly. "I'm sorry. For calling us strangers back then. It hurt you."

"If you make it through this, I'll grant you three wishes."

By law, Zhou Yao and Qi Yanhan had never bowed in the wedding ceremony, which meant they were not truly man and wife, and should not be sharing a roof. But neither of them had ever been one to follow the rules.

Perhaps, in some way, they were well matched after all. With that thought, Zhou Yao settled herself by the bedside and, at some point, drifted off to sleep.

In the deep of night, when dew was heavy, a heavy thud landed in the courtyard outside. Zhou Yao was awake in an instant. She smoothed her robes, drew the short blade she kept in the cabinet, and slipped out to investigate.

"Cough, cough."

In the dim light, she caught a glimpse of someone who had scaled the wall, their hand waving at the air—clearly coughing from the dust they had stirred up. Since when were burglars this clumsy?

She crept forward slowly, suspicion piqued. It was not until she was close enough to press the tip of her dagger to the intruder's throat that she recognized him.

Duyun, dressed in dark night clothes, had slipped into the mansion and was quietly surveying the grounds, entirely unaware of Zhou Yao's presence.

"Duyun. Over here." She called out, alerting him.

"Ninth Prince."

Duyun bowed to her, then retrieved a folded document from his waist—the divorce agreement—and handed it to her. His brows were furrowed, his expression serious. "The situation tonight proved troublesome. I apologize for arriving late, Your Highness. My master instructed that I am to protect you from now on."

"There's nothing I need from you here. Once Qi Yanhan recovers, take him back." Zhou Yao took the divorce agreement and turned toward the study to sign and seal it.

"Your Highness... there is something I wish to say."

"If you're not sure whether to say it, don't. I don't want to hear it." Zhou Yao was exhausted and simply wanted to finish with this and get some rest.

"When you first opened your shop and business was slow, you couldn't sleep all night. The young master knew. He did a lot for you—he sought out the lady of the Gu family and asked her to patronize your business, just to see you smile."

Zhou Yao thought about this for a long moment. There was a faint flicker of memory.

On the day she had gone to ask the Empress for the calligraphy plaque, there had been a Madame Gu who had spent ten thousand taels of gold in a single visit to the top floor of Golden Curtain Terrace.

"The Madame Gu you speak of..." Zhou Yao hesitated. "Is she the wife of Commandant Gu, the one named Yu, who is skilled at running businesses?"

"Yes."

"So that day... all that success at Golden Curtain Terrace was because of Qi Yanhan's help?" Her expression grew complicated as she looked at Duyun.

"Your Highness misunderstands. All my master did was give you a good start. Everything else was your own doing."

"Fine. I understand."

As she was about to leave, Duyun spoke again. "Your Highness, after you and the young master had your quarrel, he hid away in the manor and wept for days. It was only much later that he came looking for you... I suppose he had finally thought things through."

Her emotions in turmoil, her mind churned with confusion. Wept? Qi Yanhan? The two words together might as well have been from another language.

"You... your master?"

As she was mulling it over, an image came to mind: the way Qi Yanhan acted in front of her, all dramatic and affected—like one of those spoiled "kept lovers" noble families kept outside their homes, incapable of managing even their own affairs. The thought startled her.

"Fine. I understand."

Satisfied that his point had been made, Duyun went to keep watch by Qi Yanhan's side.

The next morning, Zhou Yao was woken by Ling'er. After a quick dressing and grooming, she made her way to Golden Curtain Terrace to deal with a mountain of chores.

By the time she arrived, the Chief Eunuch and a retinue of palace attendants were already waiting at the shop's entrance.

With a sycophantic smile, the Chief Eunuch bowed courteously to Zhou Yao and stepped aside. "Your Highness, if you please."

"Ling'er, bring the ledgers the girls compiled yesterday." Zhou Yao turned to the Chief Eunuch. "I'll trouble you to go through the accounts, Chief Eunuch. If everything checks out, please be sure to report faithfully to the King."

She gestured for another maid to slip a heavy pouch to the Chief Eunuch. His eyes glittered as he took it. Zhou Yao smiled. "A small token of appreciation for serving His Majesty so diligently."

"You flatter me, Your Highness. This is all our duty. I am here today solely on orders of the throne. If ever there is anything I can do for Your Highness, please do not hesitate to ask. May you achieve all that you wish."

Those four words—"achieve all that you wish"—were enough for Zhou Yao to guess the contents of the imperial decree.

Thanks to the team's diligence yesterday in accounting for everything, the eunuchs finished their task quickly.

"Since the assets are all accounted for, please receive the decree, Your Highness."

"This servant thanks Your Majesty for his boundless grace."

Zhou Yao knelt and kowtowed, and as the Chief Eunuch read aloud the decree, she found it was indeed as she had hoped. The edict matched exactly what she and the King had agreed upon last night.

The thirteen salt mines in the west were placed under Zhou Yao's management, and the selling rights were hers. All the corresponding credentials were handed over along with the decree.

She watched as the eunuchs carried away crate after crate of her hard-earned savings—all the fortune she had amassed in such a short time—and felt a pang of loss.

In exchange, she had received nothing more than a thin slip of paper. She had no time to dwell on it. Back at the front hall of Golden Curtain Terrace, she instructed the porters to move the goods out through the side gate, so as not to disturb the day's business.

Su'er and Cui Wei had gone to the Elder Princess's residence, so they would not be back until noon. Golden Curtain Terrace had other hands to manage things. As for Fragrant Orchid Pavilion... after seeing how the Elder Princess responded to the perfume, if it sold well, Zhou Yao planned to launch it at the color lottery event on the fifth day of next month.

Pairing perfume with glass bottles was a winning combination. Zhou Yao was confident that such a portable item would sweep the city—no, the entire country.

Distilling perfume by steam was far too slow. If she could infuse the fragrance through a wine base, she could mass-produce it without expending too much manual labor.

The kilns at Nine Kilns could then all be put to full use, and she could add more colors to the same glass products.

The glass cups she had sold previously had been single-colored, and they had already moved plenty. Beyond perfume bottles, she could introduce multi-colored glass cups, tea bowls, and teapots. As for jewelry, aside from the glass beads and bracelets that had briefly sold at the grand opening, the other styles could wait until later.

Glass was fragile and could not withstand high heat, but she had no worries about finding buyers for it.

Even if the salt mines' output did not match the old days, Zhou Yao was confident she could use a portion of Golden Curtain Terrace's profits to supplement them. If ordinary people could one day afford glass, that would be the true accomplishment she wanted to see.

Perfume, once put up for sale, would inevitably invite unscrupulous profiteers...