She Came to Heal, Stayed to Conquer

The hotpot restaurant is not far from the Tengyun Building, designed to be accessible to the public, with three floors, managed by Big Fatty Zhang Hanlin.

The kitchenware, tableware, tables, and chairs in the hotpot restaurant were all bought directly by Han Lei through a system. When choosing these items, Han Lei particularly considered making everything look both novel and not too detached from this era.

The hotpot base ingredients are pre-packaged, with a long shelf life to facilitate Han Lei’s restocking.

As for other dishes, Han Lei lets Zhang Hanlin test and decide for himself; anything that can be cooked with hotpot can be served. Pricing is set for the masses.

The other store is "Drunken Immortal Brew House."

This establishment needs to stay open until midnight, and although it does not operate 24 hours, in this era where curfews are still in place at night, it can be considered a form of nightlife.

The tavern has two floors, and besides its flagship Drunken Immortal Brew, there are also some pre-packaged snacks to pair with alcohol, such as spicy chicken feet, drunken peanuts, konnyaku jelly, and spicy bamboo shoots. Each type of snack has a shelf life of about a year.

Inside the store, rows upon rows of neatly arranged wooden shelves are filled with wine jars, and the air is filled with the intoxicating aroma of alcohol.

Those pre-packaged snacks have been removed from their packaging, beautifully arranged on exquisite porcelain plates, placed in prominent positions to attract the attention of passersby.

The last store, named "Mandarin Duck Hairpin," is derived from the ornate "Mandarin Duck Shoes" and "Gold-plated Jade Hairpin."

Since ancient times, women’s money has been the easiest to earn. The word "hairpin" at a glance is something used by women, so this is a specialty store for women’s products.

This store’s decoration is more refined and elegant. The shop’s decor is primarily white, with delicate orchid patterns, giving it a fresh and refined appearance.

The store is divided into two floors; the upper floor displays high-end jewelry, each piece dazzling and shining with seductive brilliance.

In addition, there are some exceptionally novel women’s products from this era on the upper floor, such as vanity mirrors, and nail polish.

The upper floor is intended for earning money from the wealthy, while the lower floor has skincare products with good effects and affordable prices, such as snowflake cream and some ordinary rouge and powder in vintage packaging. These products cater to the general public with their excellent quality and reasonable prices.

When Yang Haibo and Tang Xiaotong arrived in the Capital City, the Jingzhou Big Character Team’s security bureau had begun to have work, and they continuously transported goods to the Capital City to ensure the normal operation of the stores.

Yang Haibo and his brother had once been wandering traders; they had a knack for business, knew what kind of goods should be sold to what people, and more importantly, they knew how to stir up attention to attract traffic.

While following Han Lei, they witnessed the establishment of the Youjia Inn in Jingzhou’s Songyang Town, and on a whim, chose the location for the tavern and Mandarin Duck Hairpin near the corner of the street with the most brothels.

This area had many wealthy men who liked pretty women. But because there was just precisely a corner, it didn’t belong to the same street, so the rowdy atmosphere of the brothels didn’t lower the two stores’ standing.

The tavern and Mandarin Duck Hairpin were closely adjacent, and under Wei Chengchao’s efforts, the signage on the stores’ eaves bore Mr. Wei’s handwritten characters.

The two stores seemed like a pair of sister flowers standing side by side, each blooming with unique charm.

At this moment, the street in front of the two stores was already surrounded by a dense crowd. The sound of drums banged loudly, and the lion dance performance reached its climax.

With the crackling sound of firecrackers, thick smoke billowed in front of the two stores, adding a festive atmosphere to this grand opening ceremony.

Wei Chengchao, the nominal owner controlled by Han Lei with poison, had regained some vitality these days.

At this moment, Wei Chengchao, dressed in ceremonial attire, was standing on the steps between the two stores with a mournful look on his face, his eyes revealing some helplessness and reluctance.

Despite having a thousand unwilling thoughts in his heart, under the threat of poison, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and participate in this opening ceremony.

Standing beside Wei Chengchao, Da Jiu gave him a sideways glance, the corner of his mouth curling into a playful smile, unable to resist giving him a light nudge with his elbow.

"Hey, give us a smile. Don’t put on that sour face like someone owes you money."

Hearing this, Wei Chengchao forced a wan smile worse than a cry.

"I can’t muster a smile, my heart feels stifled."

Da Jiu rolled his eyes, "You’re just being stubborn. Isn’t this pretty good? If you manage these two stores well, you wouldn’t earn some money all the same?"

The listless Wei Chengchao also rolled his eyes at Da Jiu, not in the mood.

Is money what he’s worried about?

Does he look like someone who’s short on money?

What he’s worried about is that starting today, his life of being the fall guy officially begins.

Just then, the sound of firecrackers gradually subsided, and the smoke slowly dispersed.