This time, Hua Zhi did not go about things in a small, piecemeal way. Within just a few days she had assembled an entire sizable workshop. The workforce had been requisitioned from Wang Rong — she did not ask where he had found them all, knowing only that they were now all bound to the Shizi’s household under permanent contracts, and that Nian Qiu had been put in charge of the accounts in the interim.

Understanding craftsmen’s long-held anxiety about teaching apprentices and thereby rendering themselves redundant, she did not have the craftsmen instruct the household workers directly. Instead, she had them break each toy down into individual components, which the workers then produced separately, with a final assembly stage at the end. The craftsmen’s concerns evaporated at once. Once the whole workshop was up and running, the output rate was unexpectedly high — on just the first day, even with everyone still getting up to speed, four hundred of the simpler toys were produced.

The more intricate pieces Hua Zhi intended to sell to wealthy households; each one needed to be meticulously carved and refined by the craftsmen themselves — quality over quantity, which naturally commanded a steep price. She was not worried about finding buyers. If truly no one came forward, she would strong-arm them into handing over the silver herself.

From the preparations to the first silver received — seven days in total.

“Still not enough. Go and ask Wang Rong for more people.” Hua Zhi propped her head up with her hand and sat with her eyes closed while her mind kept turning without a moment’s pause. “Tell Wang Rong to find some craftsmen — these people will need to sign permanent contracts with the Hua Family.”

Ying Chun noted this down with a charcoal pencil and, cradling her small notebook, asked, “And the people from the Ministry of Works…?”

“The Ministry of Works has sharp eyes — they spotted the profit in this workshop fast enough and now want to insert themselves in the middle. I will not give them a chance to have authority over me.”

So that was it. Ying Chun nodded. “Understood. I will get the personnel into place as soon as possible.”

“I heard that Uncle Bai has returned to the capital. Go and invite him over.”

“Yes.”

Bai Mingxia had only just arrived in the capital when he was promptly invited to the Hua residence. He had been about to say something playful, but when he saw Hua Zhi — her face so gaunt that her cheeks had hollowed in — he swallowed the ill-timed words. He gave a sighing sort of murmur: “If you grind yourself into ruin, what will the men of the Hua Family have to face when they come home?”

“It is only that I have not slept well these past few days. Once I have finished talking business with you, Uncle, I will go and rest immediately.”

“Then I had best leave quickly.” Bai Mingxia let out a rueful laugh and followed Hua Zhi to a seat nearby. He looked longingly at the elegant tea set laid out before him but could not bring himself to ask Hua Zhi to brew tea — not when he had only just returned to the capital and already knew everything that had been happening.

“Your business has grown bigger and bigger, Uncle.”

“Enough of the pleasantries. Get to the point.”

And so Hua Zhi truly did not beat around the bush. “I have opened a new workshop, selling toys. I would like to use your connections to sell them across the nine regions.”

“I heard the supply is limited and people in the capital are already scrambling to buy them. Is that not the case?”

“I will increase production. These things are not like food — once eaten, they are gone. Buy one toy and you can play with it for a long while, possibly never need to buy another in a lifetime. Relying only on the capital is not viable.”

Bai Mingxia gave a considered nod. “I understand what you mean. Leave it to me — I will handle it.”

“Business is business, and I would not have you take a loss, Uncle. Same terms as with the preserved foods — we will negotiate a price that works for both sides. The markets outside the capital are yours to manage. That said, I hope you won’t price these things too high; I need to move large volumes.”

Bai Mingxia studied her with a meaningful look. Those who needed to know were already aware that Hua Zhi was raising money for the Ministry of Finance — yet she herself had never once mentioned it, carrying on as though this venture were purely a personal money-making enterprise.

“I have another business here,” Hua Zhi said, unaware of what was going through Bai Mingxia’s mind, her thoughts at that moment occupied entirely by silver. “I am not sure whether Uncle still has the capacity to take it on.”

Bai Mingxia nodded. “Tell me. Over the years I have also come to know various people — profitable business is not something they would turn away.”

“Soap.”

“The kind from the Zhu Family workshop?”

A gleam brightened in Hua Zhi’s eyes. “That formula is mine. I promised them the capital’s share would not be touched, but what lies outside the capital is not theirs. Uncle, knowing the product as you do, you know how much it sells — there is no need for me to tell you how much money is in it.”

Bai Mingxia understood perfectly. Outside the capital lay an enormous market, and over the past year he had already tasted the rewards — the preserved food trade alone had already earned him a small mountain of silver. If he added these two ventures on top of that, the Bai Family’s old holdings would count for nothing by comparison.

“Same terms as the preserved food?”

“The same — except I need large volumes. Very large.”

“All right. Give me a little time; I will contact my people and have them pool the silver.”

Hua Zhi nodded. “As soon as possible.”

Bai Mingxia rose to his feet. “Three days from now I’ll come back. You need to rest properly — people cannot be ground down like this, or there will be nothing left of you.”

“I will go right now.”

Hua Zhi slept through until the following evening, waking with her hands and feet limp and her body utterly drained of strength.

She did not stir, but simply lay there, stealing this one small fragment of peace in the midst of a full and turbulent life.

Until voices reached her ears. “Still not awake? Divine Physician Yu said it was only deep sleep — but with no food or drink for this long, can her body truly manage?”

That voice was… the Crown Prince’s. She was just turning this over in her mind when the door was pushed open. Ying Chun entered first, and hard on her heels was the Crown Prince himself.

She forced herself to sit up. The Crown Prince had already crossed the room quickly, and when he saw her awake, relief broke open in his expression. “She is awake — go and call Divine Physician Yu at once.”

Divine Physician Yu had already been at the Hua residence for nearly a full day. This was also the first time Hua Zhi had seen him since the affair at the palace, and she had always felt she could not face him — a physician of integrity would never put his skills toward harming another person, and though she could not say she had harmed anyone, her intentions had not been pure.

“Excessive worry and brooding — this is not the first time this has happened, is it?” He put away his stethoscope fingers from her wrist.

Ying Chun quickly spoke up from the side: “It is not. The young lady has fallen into this kind of deep sleep before.”

“This is the body reaching its limit and instinctively entering rest in order to repair itself. I am a physician, and though I know you will not heed this advice, I must still counsel you to set aside whatever is weighing on you and rest properly. If you continue like this, no matter how careful the treatment, it will accomplish very little.”

The Crown Prince bowed his head in guilt. It was his own inadequacy that left the Grand Tutor to exhaust herself this way.

“My family, my betrothed, my sister — they are all at the frontier.” Hua Zhi looked toward the Crown Prince. “As a teacher, when my student is not yet able to carry the weight alone, it is also my responsibility to carry it for him. In one’s life, all one truly has is one’s loved ones — when I have the ability to protect them, of course I must give everything I have to do so.”

Divine Physician Yu could only shake his head. The greater the ability, the greater the burden — this young woman was simply too capable, so much so that responsibility for things both within and beyond her purview now all rested on her shoulders. “Continue with the medicinal cuisine. I will make some adjustments to the prescription. Stop the medicine — it has its toxic aspects, and no medicine is entirely without harm.”

“I will follow your guidance.”

Divine Physician Yu went off with Fu Dong to review the medicinal cuisine prescription. The Crown Prince moved a little closer and seemed as if he wanted to say something — his mouth opened, then closed again.

Hua Zhi smiled slightly. “It was only exhaustion. Now that I have slept enough, I will recover. Has any military intelligence come in from the front?”

“None for the moment. Grand Tutor, please do not worry. I will let you rest. Take a few more days to recover.”

Hua Zhi considered this, and did not push herself to refuse. “Then I will take two more days’ rest. If anything arises, please have Laifu come and find me.”