A row of carriages lined the roadside—some exquisite and understated, others luxurious and extraordinary. At a glance, they were clearly the vehicles of womenfolk from wealthy families traveling out.

Those people who had curiously entered the new shop only to leave came flooding back in again.

The manager of Flower Countenance craned his neck to peer over, his expression uncertain with surprise and doubt.

What was the background of this floral water shop called “Wuxiang”?

Among those who came to show their support were Young Commandery Princess Qi Qiong, Miss Chen Yi from the Earl of Huai’an’s mansion, and her two good friends Zhu Jiayu and Tao Qing.

Back during the fragrance testing stage, Lin Hao had already sent floral water to these friends, so they all knew Lin Hao was opening a floral water shop. For these young ladies who passed their leisure time with embroidery, playing the zither, and chasing butterflies, this was undoubtedly quite interesting. On opening day, they all came to show their support.

Lin Hao didn’t present herself in the capacity of proprietor but instead mingled with Qi Qiong and the others, smiling as she watched them spend money like water, buying so much floral water that even the maids who came with them couldn’t carry it all.

Seeing more and more people entering, Qi Qiong’s group gradually went out one by one.

The manager of Flower Countenance watched as one noblewoman after another emerged, each with maids beside them carrying baskets full of floral water. Unable to contain himself any longer, he sent a clerk to pose as a customer and buy floral water.

He wanted to see whether this floral water shop’s proprietor had powerful connections, or whether the floral water was so good it drove these young ladies of great families to madness.

The clerk ran back before long. “Manager, I couldn’t buy any!”

The manager was stunned. “They recognized you?”

Fellow traders were natural enemies—this was an eternal truth since ancient times.

“They didn’t recognize me. It’s that their shop’s floral water sold out completely.”

“Sold out completely?” When the manager said this, even his beard trembled.

An obscure new shop, selling things so expensively, yet on opening day—not even half a day—everything sold out. Could this really exist?

Lin Hao wasn’t surprised by this result.

They say good wine needs no bush, but in her view, there was no need to deliberately keep a low profile. Today, the appearance of Qi Qiong and the others made nearby shops realize the floral water shop had backing, which would eliminate quite a bit of malicious competition. And ordinary customers, seeing these young ladies from prominent families competing to buy floral water, would follow the trend and purchase as well, thus smoothly opening up the floral water sales channel.

Her goal was to use the floral water shop to provide for women who had fallen into difficulties. The sooner the shop turned a profit, the better—not to play some game of pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger with the merchants on Wanqing Street.

Just as Lin Hao predicted, seeing Wuxiang’s opening achieve such grand success, nearby shops chose cautious observation. Meanwhile, quite a few people who had bought floral water began to regret it once they got home.

How had their heads gotten so hot that they bought it!

“How much? Two taels?” The young wife raised her voice, glaring at the man who’d brought floral water home.

The man showed an ingratiating smile. “A newly opened fragrant water shop—so many people were buying. I squeezed in and finally managed to grab a bottle—”

The young wife angrily pinched him. “Flower Countenance has been open for over ten years. Their floral water tastes good and is cheaper than this, yet even then I’m reluctant to buy it often. But you? You ran off to a newly opened shop to waste money!”

After being scolded thoroughly, the man slunk off dejectedly to the west room.

This was a young couple who’d had a quarrel. To get his wife to stop being angry so she’d move back to the east room, the man had run out to buy floral water to make her happy. He hadn’t expected her to get even angrier.

That night, after washing up, the young wife glanced at the floral water on the table. Though her anger hadn’t subsided, thinking that since it was already bought it would be wasteful not to use it, she opened the stopper and dripped a few drops onto her wrist.

The jasmine flower’s fragrance drifted subtly outward, seeming to blend with other scents—much more pleasant than the jasmine water she’d used before. Though the young wife still found it expensive, she wasn’t as angry anymore.

By the next day, she was surprised to discover the fragrance on her wrist hadn’t faded. When the man came home, she greeted him with a smiling face.

Those women who used the floral water, like the young wife, quickly discovered the floral water’s merits. The fragrance was pleasant and lasted long. Calculating the time one bottle lasted, the slightly higher price was completely acceptable.

Thus, in a short time, Wuxiang Floral Water Shop on Wanqing Street, which specialized in selling floral water, became known to most of the capital’s women who loved beauty.

On this day, Lin Hao came to the shop to check on the situation. She had just returned to the mansion when she received word from the Lin residence that a woman was looking for her.

Lin Hao’s first thought was of the proprietress from Liu’s Pockmarked Noodle Shop.

When she arrived at the Lin residence and saw the proprietress’s appearance, Lin Hao was shocked.

The originally fresh and delicate woman was haggard and worn. At first glance she seemed to have gained weight, but upon closer inspection one could see it was swelling. Standing beside her was a thirteen or fourteen-year-old young girl, with a five or six-year-old boy in her arms.

Lin Hao had seen the young girl at Liu’s Pockmarked Noodle Shop—she was the proprietress’s daughter. The boy had his head pillowed on his mother’s shoulder, so his face couldn’t be seen for the moment.

“Ma’am—”

As soon as Lin Hao spoke, the woman pulled her daughter down to kneel. “Miss, please save us mother and children. We truly have no way to survive…”

It turned out that not long after that day, Pockmarked Liu had died of illness. Once he was buried, Liu Dalang turned on them, driving the mother and three children to live in the storage room. The proprietress’s daughter had been brought from her previous marriage. After marrying in, she’d been so busy with the noodle shop that she’d miscarried, and it took many years before she gave birth to a younger son. But he had been weak and sickly since childhood, spending considerable silver on medicine and nourishing food. Because of this, the proprietress worked even harder without fear of exhaustion.

The young son was already frail. After living in the storage room for only a few days, he fell ill. Seeing him get sicker and sicker, the proprietress begged Liu Dalang for money to get a doctor for the child. Not only did he refuse to call a doctor, he drove the mother and three children out.

In desperation, the proprietress thought of Lin Hao.

When she’d heard Lin Hao say those words that day, she hadn’t taken them seriously. Now, trapped in a desperate situation, she could only try to grasp at this straw.

What she hadn’t expected was that after she finished speaking, the people here really did send word, and that young lady appeared before her once again.

Lin Hao helped them up. “Since the child is ill, getting him medical treatment is the priority.”

She didn’t keep them at the Lin residence but instead brought them to Wuxiang Floral Water Shop. Behind the shop front was a residential courtyard with spare rooms available to house the mother and three children.

The proprietress’s surname was Hu. After the doctor examined the young son, she kowtowed firmly to Lin Hao several times. “Miss’s great kindness and virtue—this humble woman is willing to work like an ox or horse to repay you.”

“Mrs. Hu, there’s no need to say such things. You all settle in peacefully. Most importantly, nurse Little Stone back to health.”

The floral water shop’s business was good and they were short on staff. Mrs. Hu had the skill of making noodles—in the future if she wanted to open a small noodle shop, she could make a living. For Lin Hao, it was just a matter of giving a few taels of silver as capital. When the time came, whatever Mrs. Hu chose to do, at least the mother and three children’s settlement wouldn’t be a worry.

Within a few days, Lin Hao heard Chunni’s assessment of the mother and three children. “Mrs. Hu and Duo’er are so diligent. When they’re not looking after Little Stone, they help in the shop. Little Stone is also very well-behaved and never cries or makes trouble.”

Seeing that Mrs. Hu had recovered the composure and sharpness of a businesswoman, Lin Hao asked about her future plans. “Mrs. Hu, would you like to open a small noodle shop? Your noodles are delicious—business certainly won’t be a worry. Even if you don’t have capital, don’t be afraid. I’ll provide it first and consider it a loan.”

After hearing this, Mrs. Hu remained silent for a long while, then gave a bitter smile. “I won’t open a noodle shop.”

She emphasized again, “Never again will I open a noodle shop. This humble woman sees there’s no shortage of work at the floral water shop. If Miss doesn’t mind, please keep us mother and three children here to work. Just give us food to eat and that’s enough.”

“If Mrs. Hu is willing to stay, that’s perfect. The floral water shop is looking to hire people.” Lin Hao’s single sentence put Mrs. Hu’s heart at ease.

Later, after learning of Mrs. Hu’s experiences, Chunni asked indignantly, “Mrs. Hu, are you just going to let it go like this? If it were me, I’d definitely run and open a noodle shop right across the street and steal all his customers!”

Another young girl rescued from traffickers, named Ling’er, nodded vigorously upon hearing this.

“It’s still better here.” Mrs. Hu said with a smile, a sigh in her heart.

No matter how conscienceless that child was, she had still raised him for many years and watched him grow up. In the future, they would just be strangers.

Women in the capital who could afford to shop at Wuxiang Floral Water Shop quickly discovered that after buying floral water, besides Sugar Cheese Drizzled Cherries, there was now also a choice of Cold Beef Noodles.

Sugar Cheese Drizzled Cherries was delicious, and Cold Beef Noodles was also delicious. Most infuriating was that they were only given as gifts, not sold!

For a time, Wuxiang Floral Water Shop’s reputation grew even larger because of these two complimentary refreshments—so large that even Princess Lingque heard of it.