Lotus in a Bottle - Chapter 21

Section 34

That night, I polished off three bowls of noodles in a row.

My father was so furious that he slapped the table and demanded to know whether Tan Lian had been mistreating me and refusing to feed me.

My mother elbowed him under the table, signaling for him to shut up and stop mentioning Tan Lian.

I blinked. “No. He was always coming up with new ways to make delicious food for me. I had a wonderful life with the Tan Family.”

I couldn’t let them know.

I couldn’t give Tan Lian a chance to hurt them.

After that, I settled back in at home.

I didn’t want to sit around like a useless burden, so I returned to my old trade. Relying on my naturally keen sense of smell, I began developing new scented balms.

The Xie Family’s balm shop released five new products that month and made a staggering profit. My father, however, was so alarmed that he asked if I had fallen ill.

My mother told him to shut up.

“When has Baoping’er ever worked this hard? In the past, wealthy families offered fortunes to commission custom balms from her, but she always complained that it was too much trouble and refused. Something must have happened for her to act like this!”

The truth was, I had simply seen the light.

Love was a lie. It could never be trusted. Only the money firmly in my grasp truly belonged to me.

From this day forward, I, Xie Baoping, would devote myself wholeheartedly to making money. One day, I would become the richest person in all of Dayan!

As long as I was rich enough, who would dare offend me, no matter how irresistible the heartthrob or how rabid the second male lead?

And so the days drifted by as I lived the simple, unglamorous, and tedious life of making an enormous fortune.

Just when I thought I had forgotten certain people, an unexpected customer appeared at my balm shop.

Section 35

Shen Huaihuan spent money like water, buying every last balm in my shop for three days straight, all so the shop assistant would pass along a message.

“Shopkeeper, Young Master Shen said he’ll wait for you upstairs every day at noon until you agree to meet him.”

To my shame, I hesitated.

If I held out for a few more days, couldn’t I make several more hefty profits?

But Shen Huaihuan was a member of the imperial family, after all. I didn’t dare take things too far, so I left home at the appointed time the next day.

When we met, there was one thing I couldn’t help wondering.

“Why didn’t you come directly to the Xie Family residence to see me?”

Other customers might not know where I lived, but surely he did.

Shen Huaihuan gave me a coy sidelong glance, his expression both bashful and reproachful. “Nothing has been settled between us yet. If I visited your home now, your parents might think I was being frivolous.”

I stared at him in silence.

Confused and bewildered, I realized that I might never understand how the Third Prince’s mind worked.

Shen Huaihuan huffed. “I already know everything, so don’t even think about hiding it from me.”

“Uh… what exactly do you know?”

“Honestly, do you have to make me say it?” Shen Huaihuan snapped open his folding fan and used it to hide his faintly flushed face. “You and Brother Tan parted on good terms, didn’t you? So of course I… I had to come find you.”

The moment I heard that name, my mind went blank. I instinctively echoed his words in disbelief.

“We parted on good terms?”

“Yes.”

Seeing my reaction, Shen Huaihuan looked somewhat confused as well.

“Brother Tan has acknowledged his ancestry and returned to the imperial clan. Imperial Father intends to arrange a new marriage for him, and he didn’t refuse. Wasn’t that because the two of you had already divorced?”