Chapter 10: Dowry

Gu Yundian was quite bold; he directly converted a bookstore into a rouge shop.

However, Gu Yunhan still made a scene with him, scolding him for a long time.

Fortunately, he withstood the pressure, and in less than half a month, he had already earned nearly ten thousand taels of silver.

Ten thousand taels of silver—he had never seen so much money in his life before.

Now, he felt that gambling dens were completely uninteresting.

Hanzhi had already told him about the scams in the gambling dens.

If one wants to gamble, one should gamble in business.

Gu Yundian was feeling quite pleased with himself, and he never expected to encounter such a situation; it was truly bad luck.

However, he couldn't easily explain the reasons behind it to Hanzhi.

The whole thing was just too coincidental; how could it be so coincidental?

And Yunzhu, too—how could she go out without even bringing a single maid?

This matter couldn't be reported to the authorities either. Once reported, Yunzhu’s reputation would be completely ruined.

Originally, it was their family who looked down on Liu Ming.

Now, it was the other way around: Liu Ming looked down on their family, and they were the ones having to scramble to curry favor with him.

Gu Yundian spoke to the Old Madam with great magnanimity: "Yunzhu is my own sister; how could I not be good to her? I will handle her dowry. If only I had taken charge of these shops sooner.

Big Brother only cares about being pretentious; those things of his don't make money and even lose it. If I had been in charge for three years, I would have given Yunzhu at least one hundred thousand taels of silver for her dowry. Now, the time is just too short."

"Then sell a few shops to serve as Yunzhu's dowry."

The Old Madam said to Gu Yundian with complete indifference.

In her eyes, these shops belonged to Hanzhi, so selling them wouldn't hurt the Marquis's estate assets.

"Mother, these shops are prime locations in the capital. If we sell them, we will never be able to buy such good spots again."

Gu Yundian was anxious now.

In his eyes, these shops were hens that laid golden eggs one after another. If they were sold, his path to wealth would be cut off.

One must know, he still had a great many plans that hadn't been realized yet.

He was almost shocked by his own talent for business; he hadn't had the opportunity before, but now he did.

"Mother, doesn't Concubine Liu have the money from when Sister-in-law sold the shops? Tell her to bring it out. I give the profits I earn to the family every month, so that money from the sold shops should be used for Yunzhu's dowry."

Gu Yundian didn't want to take out his own money; the money in his hands was meant to make more money.

These days, he had a feeling of controlling the trends of the capital.

He was the one who decided what was popular in the capital.

The marketing methods his sister-in-law mentioned really worked, though promotion did cost money.

The little stories Hanzhi wrote about his rouge, when told by storytellers, had an effect that was beyond measure.

He now even specifically supported a group of poor scholars, tasking them solely with writing such stories.

Now, those top courtesans who used to look down on him were all fawning over him, just for a set of premium rouge and powder.

However, Gu Yundian still kept Hanzhi's words in mind: hunger marketing. The reason premium goods are premium is that few people use them, and they aren't for everyone.

If too many people used them and everyone had them, they wouldn't be rare anymore.

Especially for the noble ladies of powerful families—if a courtesan used the same rouge as them, it would inevitably offend those people. Gu Yundian was very careful about this.

This kind of life was something Gu Yundian never dared to imagine before.

In the past, his drinking buddies played with him, but none of them ever talked about marrying their sisters to him.

But now, one after another, they desperately told him how wonderful their sisters were and invited him to their homes. The implication was very obvious.

Whether people respected him or not was hard to tell before, but now he could definitely feel it.

Money can beget money. Hanzhi had repeatedly warned him not to show his wealth at home, as there were too many places where money was needed for business.

But Gu Yundian really couldn't suppress the smugness in his heart.

Gu Yunhan had his salary; he could dismiss him with a few words.

Concubine Liu was just a concubine, formerly nothing more than a maid in the manor.

Giving her a little for household expenses was already generous enough.

He couldn't be expected to support Gu Yunhan's mistress, could he?

He was already helping him support his son and his concubines!

As for Gu Zunzhu, a married daughter is like spilled water.

Gu Yunzhu had never had a good relationship with him and had always looked down on him; she still looked down on him now.

He wouldn't be so stupid as to spend his money to please someone who looked down on him.

If Gu Yunzhu’s attitude improved in the future, he might give her some money to help her and that poor scholar.

In Gu Yundian's view, Gu Yunzhu had lost her mind; it was even possible that she and that poor scholar had planned this together.

Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence?

The Marquis's manor wasn't short of people, yet she didn't even bring a trusted maid.

Marrying such a poor scholar would be of no help to him in the future anyway.

Gu Yundian hadn't dared to think about it before, but now, under Hanzhi's flattery, he felt he was no worse than Gu Yunhan and would surely marry a lady from a high-ranking family in the future.

Gu Yundian even fantasized about Gu Yunhan's expression when he married a high-born lady; at that time, he would surely be pale with envy, and just thinking about it made him happy.

The Old Madam also knew the situation in the manor. Gu Yundian hadn't been promising before, but now, he was very capable. She knew of the changes in Gu Yundian these days.

One must know that in the past, when the Old Madam tried to arrange a marriage for Gu Yundian, no one was willing to pay her any mind.

But now, some of her old friends were actually willing to contact her voluntarily, saying they wanted to marry their daughters from concubines to Gu Yundian.

What did this mean? It meant Gu Yundian was now successful.

Compared to Gu Yunhan, Gu Yundian was thoughtful, obedient, filial, and didn't like those messy people.

Although he was a bit of a playboy, he didn't have a single concubine or child. This situation was much better than Gu Yunhan's, and Gu Yundian was someone she had raised herself.

Gu Yunhan had been in charge of the shops for so many years but had never sent her anything.

But Gu Yundian! Although she couldn't use the rouge because she was old, the moment he heard it was the most popular in the capital, he immediately sent it to her.

One box of rouge after another—she hadn't intended to use it, but she tried it once by chance and felt it was quite good.

When she was at gatherings, those old friends saw it, and upon hearing it was a gift from her son, they were all incredibly envious.

They all begged her to help them keep an eye out for the "Supreme" edition of the rouge.

This made the Old Madam very happy. It had been so many years.

She hadn't felt this sense of being valued in a long time.

Only when the old Marquis was alive did she have such a feeling.

And now, she was experiencing it again.

Her eldest son was excellent, but he didn't have a good relationship with her and wasn't raised by her personally.

Yunzhu was someone she had watched grow up, but she was only a daughter, and now that she was halfway through life, she would certainly need the Marquis's manor to support her.

The only person she could rely on was Gu Yundian.

Therefore, the Old Madam naturally sided with Gu Yundian.

Since Gu Yundian was unwilling to sell the shops, she had no choice but to let it go.