Chapter 29: Turning Stone into Gold? No—Turning Stone into Crystal!
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“Your Majesty, please calm down first.”
Ye Qingyan leafed through the account books of the shops her mother had left behind, her brows drawing tighter with every page. The deficits recorded in them were like bottomless black holes.
The shops were not badly located, but they dealt only in outdated fabrics and sundries. In this prosperous district, where businesses stood shoulder to shoulder, they had no competitive edge whatsoever. Their closure was only a matter of time.
She could not simply sit and wait for ruin.
Pushing the account books aside, she began to form a clear commercial blueprint in her mind.
“Floral dew”—in other words, perfume from a later age—could be distilled and extracted from many different flowers. Its fragrance would have layers and complexity, utterly incomparable to the monotonous incense oils and scented balms of the present day.
Then there were pastries. They could be improved into the wildly popular “snowflake crisp” of later generations, with exquisite shapes, novel textures, and utterly unique packaging…
Ye Qingyan’s eyes grew brighter and brighter. The entrepreneurial dream of a wage slave from her former life was blazing fiercely within her.
Just as she was rolling up her sleeves, ready to make a grand venture of it, a solemn and icy voice suddenly exploded inside her mind.
[Imperial Edict: Traitor! You have only just dabbled in skincare products, and now you want to expand into other industries as well? Such greed!]
Ye Qingyan jolted so hard she nearly sprang from her chair.
The Tyrant System? How had it gone online again?
[I pity your ignorance, so I hereby bestow upon you the divine art of “Turning Stone into Gold.” Hurry and fill My treasury! Do not neglect your proper duties and indulge in such lowly diversions!]
Turning stone into gold?
Ye Qingyan froze, then felt a surge of wild joy.
This was exactly like receiving a pillow when one was sleepy! She had been worrying about a lack of startup capital, and now this divine art had arrived at precisely the right moment. With the power to turn stone into gold, why bother with a real business? Wouldn’t it be far better to lie back and count her money?
Suppressing her excitement, she looked around and fixed her gaze on a piece of blue-gray stone propping up one corner of a table.
That one!
Ye Qingyan hurried over, crouched down, extended a finger, and silently thought, “Turn stone into gold!”
A faint radiance spilled from her fingertip and spread across the stone.
She opened her eyes wide in anticipation.
Yet the dazzling golden scene she had imagined failed to appear. The stone remained a stone. Its surface merely looked as though it had been smeared with a layer of cheap glue and then sprinkled with countless tiny shards of glass, reflecting a gaudy, painfully bright gleam beneath the light.
The smile on Ye Qingyan’s face instantly froze.
Unwilling to give up, she picked up a broken roof tile and used the ability again.
The result was exactly the same. Its surface was coated with the same glittering substance.
“This is turning stone into gold?” She picked up the crystal-covered stone, furious enough to curse. “This is clearly turning stone into crystal! And the cheapest kind of glass crystal at that!”
She roared at the system in her mind, “What kind of worthless junk is this? Defective system! I want a refund! One-star review!”
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The system remained silent, apparently too disdainful to acknowledge her tirade.
The angrier Ye Qingyan became, the harder she gripped the stone. She raised it, intending to smash it against the floor.
But with her hand suspended in midair, she suddenly stopped.
Her gaze fell upon the glittering crystals covering the stone’s surface, and a thought flashed through her mind like lightning.
This… wasn’t this the “rhinestone” that had once taken later generations by storm?
The tacky yet dazzling, bling-bling style pasted onto phone cases, handbags, and clothing!
In this era, gold and silver were precious, but aesthetic tastes were relatively limited. These unprecedented, iridescent crystals would be an overwhelming blow to women who yearned for novelty and splendor.
They could be used for packaging, for decoration…
Ye Qingyan’s heartbeat suddenly quickened. As she stared at the stone in her hand, the disappointment in her eyes transformed into fervor.
This was no defective product. It was a treasure more valuable than gold!
She immediately fetched a plain porcelain bottle intended for the floral dew and an ordinary wooden pastry box.
Drawing a deep breath, she carefully applied the power of “Turning Stone into Crystal” to the bottle and the lid of the box.
A miracle occurred.
The once-simple white porcelain bottle was instantly covered in a dense layer of crystals. As the light shifted across it, it looked as though a river of stars had been scattered over its surface, dazzling beyond compare.
The ordinary wooden box was transformed as well. Intricate and magnificent patterns were traced across its lid in crystal, and the entire box instantly acquired an air of extravagant luxury. Its perceived value rose by more than tenfold.
“Wow!”
Ye Qingyan picked up the transformed porcelain bottle, unable to bear putting it down.
“Who needs marketing now? This packaging alone is enough to drive every woman in the city into a frenzy!”
She immediately set to work, upgrading every plain bottle, jar, wooden box, and paper box in the inventory.
The next day, when the first batch of floral dew in “Starlight Glazed Bottles” and snowflake crisps in “Shattered-Diamond Brocade Boxes” was placed on the counter, the effect was immediate.
The shop had not even had time to hang its new signboard when every woman passing by—whether an aristocratic young lady or the daughter of an ordinary household—was captivated by the glittering objects displayed on the counter.
“Shopkeeper, what is this? How can the bottle be so beautiful?”
“Good heavens, is that box made of gemstones? It’s gorgeous!”
“What’s inside? Hurry and take it out so I can have a look!”
The shop was instantly packed with people, and questions rose one after another. Ye Qingyan and the two newly hired assistants were so busy that their feet barely touched the ground, yet smiles remained impossible to hide from their faces.
Chen Huai’an happened to pass by after finishing an errand. From a distance, he saw the crowd gathered outside the shop. When he drew closer and noticed the distinctive bottles and boxes on the counter, approval flickered in his eyes.
He squeezed through the crowd and came to Ye Qingyan’s side.
“Miss Ye, business seems to be doing well.”
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Ye Qingyan looked up at him and smiled as she wiped away a bead of sweat. “It’s all right. We’ve only just opened.”
Chen Huai’an’s gaze swept across the excited noblewomen, and his voice dropped low.
“When a tree rises above the forest, the wind will tear at it. Your wares are too conspicuous. Be careful in all things.”
The instant he finished speaking, the system in Ye Qingyan’s mind suddenly sounded an ear-piercing alarm.
[Alert! Descendant of a traitor detected! Traitor, you dare conspire with this villain!]
The system’s voice was filled with murderous force.
[The entire Chen family is a clan of rebels, deserving of utter extermination! I shall execute his entire extended family!]
Ye Qingyan’s heart leaped in fright, and she hurriedly soothed it in her mind.
“Your Majesty, please calm down! Please calm down!”
Thinking quickly, she rapidly fabricated a lie.
“This man is not my accomplice! He… he is a pawn I planted within the enemy’s ranks! Yes, a pawn! He is there to gather intelligence!”
The system’s alarm paused, as though digesting this information.
[A pawn?]
“Precisely!” Ye Qingyan hurriedly affirmed. “Please believe in my loyalty, Your Majesty!”
The system remained silent for a long while before issuing a cold command.
[Granted. But should this villain make a single suspicious move, you must kill him with your own hands. Otherwise, I shall deal with both of you together!]
Ye Qingyan secretly breathed a sigh of relief and repeatedly promised to obey.
She looked up at Chen Huai’an, her expression somewhat complicated.
Chen Huai’an knew nothing of the turmoil raging inside her mind. Seeing her expression change, he assumed she was worried about the business. After reminding her once more to “be careful in all things,” he turned and left.
Over the next few days, Ye Qingyan’s shop became the talk of the city.
The “Starlight Glazed Bottles” and “Shattered-Diamond Brocade Boxes” became the focus of conversation throughout the capital. The limited quantities placed on sale each day were snapped up the moment they appeared, and orders were booked a month in advance. Ye Qingyan made a fortune, finally easing her immediate financial troubles.
Just as the branch shop was about to open and the whole city was watching, an invitation was delivered quietly to her.
“Miss Ye, my family’s master requests your presence.”
The invitation had been delivered by a steward of the Wang family, the wealthiest household in the capital. His manner was respectful, yet carried a trace of arrogance.
Ye Qingyan accepted the invitation and lowered her eyes to it.
It was an extravagantly luxurious gilt-edged card. Around its corners, an intricate pattern had been stamped in an exceptionally fine technique.
Under the light, the pattern shimmered with tiny scattered sparks. It looked remarkably similar to the effect she had created with “Turning Stone into Crystal.”
No—indeed, it was even more delicate and luxurious than hers.
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