Busy times always fly by. Ancient Wen Heng commuted to and from Yingshan Academy every day, while Jin Qianqian got her workshop up and running.

Seeing batch after batch of regular soap and scented soap piling up in the warehouse, Jin Qianqian couldn’t sit still any longer.

"This warehouse is almost overflowing." On several occasions, Jin Qianqian had to resist the urge to move the goods into her personal dimension.

Ancient Wen Heng hadn’t expected the servants they’d bought this time to be so effective. Not only were they easy to manage, but every one of them was quick and skillful. They didn’t slack off or cause trouble. He had thought the manual labor would be slow, but instead, they had produced so many finished goods so quickly.

"Don’t be anxious yet. If it really comes to it, we can just use the empty rooms at home."

Jin Qianqian was speechless. If she didn’t trust her senior, she would have run out to start selling the soap herself. Staring at the overflowing warehouse made her anxious, even though she knew these items were rare necessities.

"Getting antsy, are we?" Ancient Wen Heng knew her personality all too well. He caught her eye-roll but just chuckled in amusement.

"Don’t worry! I’ve already found a powerful backer for this shipment. Even if we bring it out now, no one will dare to make a move."

"Is it one of the teachers from the academy?"

Initially, that was the path they had planned to take. With Yingshan Academy as their backer, the influential figures of Sea City would at least have to think twice before acting.

Ancient Wen Heng shook his head mysteriously. "Prince Bai."

"Him?" Jin Qianqian was rather surprised. "When did you two become friendly?"

"Lu Ping." As soon as Ancient Wen Heng said the name, Jin Qianqian understood.

"These nobles aren’t as glamorous as they appear on the surface. Didn’t we discuss his family background before? His current situation is not nearly as rosy as people think." As for Ancient Wen Heng, he didn’t care what was going on internally; as long as he could borrow some influence and establish a firm foothold, that was all that mattered.

"How big of a cut did you give him?"

Ancient Wen Heng held up three fingers. "Prince Bai’s mother was quite a reliable person. Before she passed away from illness, she entrusted her entire dowry and all her accumulated wealth to her most loyal confidants.

These confidants were all carefully selected by her. When Prince Bai was old enough to stand on his own, they returned everything to his hands."

Speaking of which, Ancient Wen Heng felt a pang of envy. He wasn’t envious of the man’s good mother, but of his loyal and devoted followers.

It was said that those loyal servants had paid a great price to ensure Prince Bai could grow up safely to this day.

"So the plan is to ship them all over the country?" Jin Qianqian began to calculate mentally, wondering if the finished products she had on hand would be enough to go around. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Ancient Wen Heng wagged his index finger in front of her. "No. Don’t forget our current location."

"You mean you want to package it to look like a foreign import?"

Ancient Wen Heng snapped his fingers. "That’s my wife, knows me best."

As long as it was presented as an imported good, it would buy them some time to react, even if people got ideas.

"How much more time do we have to prepare?" Jin Qianqian secretly wondered if she should ramp up production and stockpile more goods.

"Prepare as much as you can. The cargo ship won’t be here for a while, and Prince Bai is currently looking for partners to collaborate with. When you put on a show, you have to go all the way."

Jin Qianqian was at a loss for words. ’Is he planning to be a master director in ancient times?’ she thought.

***

At the port today, people were coming and going. Many officials and merchants stood on the shore, watching expectantly.

"You all received the news too? Here to wait for the shipment?" one of the lavishly dressed young masters asked an old man beside him curiously.

"Isn’t that the truth? The last caravan said they had another cargo ship arriving today and that it was carrying a rare item never seen before. We just don’t know what it is."

"Everyone is looking forward to it, but we’re also afraid we won’t be able to get our hands on any of the goods." The old man sized up the young man. "I didn’t expect someone so young to be so well-informed. Well? Have you heard any other important news? Share it so we can be mentally prepared."

The young master in fine clothes looked smug. "I did get some news. This thing has never been seen before in our Rong Dynasty."

"We’ve all heard that already. Got anything new?"

The young master leaned in mysteriously and whispered in his ear, "I hear it’s a woman’s favorite. What do you guess it is?"

The old man frowned. "Clothes or jewelry? That can’t be right. Our style of dress is completely different from those barbarians. That stuff wouldn’t sell here."

"Haven’t you heard it’s a consumable? Since when are clothes and jewelry consumables?"

"This is too hard to guess. I’ve been in business my whole life, and I’d really like to see what kind of imported good could make so many people wait like this."

They didn’t have to wait long before a commotion arose from the port.

"Look! That ship in the distance, is that it?"

"Looks like it. Look at the flag flying on it—it looks very strange."

"That’s nothing. Wait until they disembark. The people look even stranger."

...

In a cabin on one of the ships at the port, Lu Ping and Shan Ke’an were on their tiptoes, peering into the distance. "With so many people here, do you think they’ll buy it?"

Shan Ke’an replied, "You sound a bit pessimistic. Didn’t you try it yourself before? The regular soap and the scented soap each have their own marvelous uses. Wouldn’t you be willing to spend a little more money to enjoy something better?"

"Of course I know that," Lu Ping said, "but other people don’t! And since the goods have just arrived, they can’t try them out. Will they really buy them?"

Shan Ke’an reminded him in a low voice, "Keep it down. Don’t forget, this is your good brother’s and my cousin’s business. Don’t say such discouraging things."

Lu Ping fell silent.

"You certainly know how to keep your cool," Bai Jinglie said, looking at the unfazed Ancient Wen Heng. He felt a flicker of admiration.

Ancient Wen Heng replied with complete composure, "Haven’t we already made several arrangements? As long as these people aren’t fools and can smell the profit in this, there’s no way it’ll be a flop."

Among the goods were not only the soaps Jin Qianqian had been rushing to produce for so long, but also some glass products that he had made using Bai Jinglie’s facilities.

Although he hadn’t personally made many of the items, the key components were still in his hands.

Bai Jinglie was now brimming with confidence. This was about to be his first pot of gold, and it would make all his recent, frantic work worthwhile.

"It’s here! It’s docking!" Lu Ping craned his neck in excitement, wishing he could run out onto the deck and join the commotion.