Chapter 59

After half a stick of incense burned, a disheveled beauty suddenly pushed open the main hall doors. She cried while running out, shouting, "I don't want this, I don't want this anymore, Princess! I'm scared, I'll never dare again, sob sob..." She stumbled out in panic and disappeared quickly.

Elara stood at the door holding a whip, watching Imani's figure flee farther away. "Uno."

A strong figure knelt behind her right away. "Yes."

Elara nodded toward the fleeing Imani with her chin. "Get someone to follow him. Also, let him hear what happened to the men I used to favor. Make sure he never dares get close to my bedroom again."

"Understood."

"And tell Mathias to load the sample box from the merchant estate onto the carriage. Change your clothes. You're coming with me to Lianyi Tower later." Elara looked away and turned back toward the bedchamber.

"Yes, Your Highness."

After scaring off Imani, she had temporarily dealt with the spy that Lord Gregory had planted right under her nose. While switching clothes with Tres to prepare for Lianyi Tower, Elara started thinking back over what had happened today.

Lord Gregory's probing threats had become bold and obvious. Even though she had managed to dismiss his suspicion this time, once she kept doing more things differently from the original princess, he would surely doubt her again. And next time, it would be much harder to fool him.

Although Lord Gregory was still hesitant and didn't dare directly touch her or Benedict for now, Elara felt that hesitation was quickly fading. One day, that sneaky, cruel man might tear off the mask and kill them both to take the throne for himself.

More importantly, she had been here for too short a time. She barely knew anything about Regent Martin, the man Lord Gregory was probably afraid of. Everything she had came from the original princess's memories, which weren't much.

Without understanding him, she couldn't make proper use of him. It was like having a sword hanging by a thread above her head, not knowing when the thread might snap and the blade would fall.

Relying on something she couldn't control to protect herself felt extremely unsafe to Elara.

If she wanted real safety, she needed to hold power in her own hands and have strength others wouldn't dare touch.

Elara rubbed her forehead and tried to figure out what resources she could use right now.

The merchant estate? No. It had just started and wasn't developed yet. It needed her protection, not the other way around.

Her title as Princess? Definitely not. It might help in some situations, but it was useless against Lord Gregory. She'd be lucky if it didn't make things worse.

The Wei secret guards? Also a no. They were her last line of defense. She couldn't risk them unless there was no other option.

After thinking for a long time, Elara realized she really had nothing. No people, no resources, no money. Nothing worth showing.

All she had left was the potential connection with Lianyi Tower.

Elara let out a quiet breath. She finished changing clothes and left Tres and Uno behind to pretend to be her in the bedchamber. Then, without drawing any attention, she quietly left the Princess's manor with Uno and headed toward Lianyi Tower.

...

The manager's smile froze for a moment. He raised his hand to stroke his beard. "Miss, do you mean you're only here to sell tofu this time?"

Elara nodded.

Manager Yang looked a little confused. He glanced at the tofu on the table and hesitated. "Although the tofu you make is indeed a rare delicacy, and Lianyi House is very willing to buy it, you mentioned earlier that it's made from bean flour. Producing bean flour in large quantities isn't easy. Even if three slaves use one stone mill at the same time, they might not be able to produce much in a day."

"If you're only selling tofu, the quantity might be too low. If you sell too little at a time, we might not have enough stock here."

When Elara said earlier that the tofu was made from bean flour, the manager had already considered this. In this era, making any kind of flour-based food is costly. Regular people can't afford it. But Lianyi House has plenty of resources and many wealthy customers, so even expensive foods are still within their means. That's why the manager kept talking with Elara without much concern.

After he finished speaking, he saw Elara shake her head. She said calmly,

"As long as you need it, I can send over hundreds of stones' worth of tofu in a single day."

The manager was stunned.

Hundreds of stones... how much soybean powder would that take? It would probably require at least a hundred stones as well.

Even if he ordered all the slaves in Lianyi House to do nothing but grind soybeans, they might not be able to produce that much. But Miss Elara... did she have some special method or trick?

Seeing his thoughts, Elara gave a soft laugh. "As for how the tofu is made, Manager Yang, let that remain my secret for now. You only need to know that I have enough tofu to supply."

Manager Yang came back to his senses and slowly realized that since Elara dared to sell tofu as a business, she must already have a way to solve the production issues.

Though surprised, he knew it would be rude to ask further since it was clearly a trade secret.

Before he could speak, Elara continued,

"This time, I'll sell tofu by the stone. Of course, since Lianyi House and I are partners, my price will be low, basically just ten percent above the cost as a wholesale rate. In addition, I'll also give Lianyi House the recipes for three tofu dishes for free. Once we finalize the deal, I can prepare them for you right away to taste, and I promise the flavor will be just as good as the two dishes we worked on before."

Hearing Elara offer such generous terms, Manager Yang, who had been in the business world for decades, instantly understood there was something more behind her words. He smiled and returned to his usual calm expression.

"Then, what else would Miss Elara like in return?"

To offer such favorable selling terms, she clearly wanted something significant in exchange.

Elara didn't hold back and went straight to the point.

"Manager Yang, you must already know that I used to do business elsewhere. I came to the Plumera capital this time to set up a stable base. But unfortunately, over the past two days, I've looked into all the prosperous streets in the city and found that they are tightly controlled by the powerful officials of the court. There's no way for outsiders like me to even rent a place."

"So, my request is for Lianyi House to give me access to two shop locations in Plumera Capital."

"I'm open to buying or renting. The locations don't need to be perfect, and the space doesn't need to be large. But if I rent, I'm willing to pay the highest price. The rental period should be at least one year."

This was something Elara had thought about the first time she rode a carriage around Plumera Capital. But unfortunately, people like Lord Gregory had already taken all the best locations. She couldn't do business with them or rent their places, so she had to turn to Lianyi House.

Once she had shopfronts, her Bai family merchant company would be officially established. Everything the company produced could be properly sold, reaching all kinds of people in the capital and slowly building her reputation.

More importantly, if the shops came from Lianyi House, outsiders would assume her merchant company had strong ties with them.

Then greedy officials like Lord Gregory wouldn't dare act against her easily, even if they had their eyes on her business.

She wouldn't need to keep pretending and wasting energy dealing with them directly.

Thinking of this, Elara quietly clicked her tongue in her heart. Starting a business really was hard, especially for someone like her who had to survive between the cracks. Even opening a shop meant she had to carefully lean on someone else's name to stay safe.

After listening to her, Manager Yang, though he had expected she would ask for something big, hadn't guessed she would ask for two shopfronts.

But when he put himself in her shoes, he could understand her situation.

He stroked his beard and said, "To receive three tofu dish recipes from you for free—there's no need to taste them, I already know they must be excellent. However, our Lianyi House doesn't have many shops in the capital besides this main building. If you want to rent or buy one, it's not impossible. But I can't decide on my own. I'll need to write to the two young masters. You should get an answer by tomorrow."

Elara never expected the deal to be settled in one day. In her past life, some large contracts had taken months of back and forth. Judging by Manager Yang's attitude, he didn't seem against her proposal, so the chances looked good. She nodded calmly.

"Alright."

Seeing how calm and composed she was, with the patience and mindset even older merchants lacked, Manager Yang respected her more and smiled again.

"Then let's settle the tofu deal for now. Miss Elara, is there anything else you came to Lianyi House for?"

Elara smiled. "You flatter me, Uncle Yang. How could I dare to give orders to Lianyi House? But aside from selling tofu, there is indeed something else I came for."

Hearing her call him Uncle Yang made Manager Yang beam with delight. He personally poured her a cup of hot tea. "Please speak freely."

"I want to solve another first-tier problem posted by Lianyi House."

Before the surprised manager could respond, Elara went on,

"But this time, I don't want silver or gold as a reward. I want a person."

"Say it! Say it! Whoever it is you want, just say it!"

Lianyi House had branches all across the continent mainly to recruit talent by challenging people to solve difficult problems.

Just two days ago, Miss Elara had solved a first-tier problem in the very building he managed. It brought him great praise and benefits, which was part of why he was being so warm toward her now.

If she solved another first-tier problem, his position might soon be promoted again. How could he not be excited?

And if all she wanted was one person, it was an easy request. Lianyi House could find people anywhere. Even if Plumera didn't have someone, they could bring one from another state.

But before he could get too excited, Elara, now seated upright and speaking in a quiet voice, said,

"I want one of your spies placed inside the top-ranking noble households of the Plumera court. For example, someone inside Lord Gregory's."

Manager Yang, who had just been beaming confidently, froze. His face changed instantly, and he nearly spit out the tea in his mouth.