Ever since Lu Zhaozhao achieved great success in the cosmetic business, Mr. Lu had to begin to take his granddaughter’s business acumen seriously.

He intended to hand over all family business to Lu Zhaozhao in the future.

With this in mind, he initiated a succession training plan, taking Lu Zhaozhao to meet various shopkeepers and hone her skills in the businesses Lu Family was involved in.

The Lu Family had business establishments in Jiangnan, and after Lu Zhaozhao’s betrothal, Mr. Lu took her to Jiangnan for the first time to familiarize her with the business there.

Tong Huaqiong couldn’t help but look at Lu Zhaozhao differently upon learning that she discovered a shop in Su and Hang with three years of falsified accounts.

"...Grandfather must have already noticed. The reason he let me expose it was, firstly, to test me, and secondly, to use this opportunity to help me establish authority. Think about it, as a girl who will manage the family business in the future, those shopkeepers and clerks would surely not accept me easily. I need to show some real skills to impress everyone."

Lu Zhaozhao, while eating cherries, responded to Tong Huaqiong’s praise with humility.

These cherries are truly sweet.

Tong Huaqiong said, "But you did withstand the test."

It must be said that Lu Zhaozhao has made significant progress in both financial savvy and emotional intelligence.

Lu Zhaozhao didn’t become so insightful just in the past half year; she always had a talent for business, but in her previous life, she was confined to the inner chambers.

Tong Huaqiong asked, "So how did you punish the involved clerks?"

Lu Zhaozhao replied, "An accountant surely wouldn’t dare act so boldly; the mastermind is the shopkeeper. I fired the shopkeeper. Initially, it was good to part ways on peaceful terms, but he said that without him, our family’s silk business wouldn’t have grown so large. So I had to show that it was our platform that made him, and not the other way around. Now that the news of his falsified accounts is out, I guess no owner would dare to hire him."

Tong Huaqiong praised, "You handled it well. If you want to shoulder the burden of the Lu family’s business, you can’t be soft-hearted."

Receiving approval from her future mother-in-law, Lu Zhaozhao smiled, revealing her beautiful teeth.

Jingzhe slipped past outside the window.

The future mother- and daughter-in-law started talking about Jingzhe.

There wasn’t anything that couldn’t be discussed.

Although Tong Huaqiong was Jingzhe’s mother, she still had a young spirit, and talking with Lu Zhaozhao was akin to late-night dormitory chats in the future.

Tong Huaqiong always knew that Lu Zhaozhao liked Jingzhe very much.

Whether in the previous life or this one.

Tong Huaqiong, thinking about Lu Zhaozhao’s experiences in the past life, wanted to remind her not to be too absorbed in love.

"Do you know why I agreed with your grandfather to let you and Jingzhe marry a few years later?" Tong Huaqiong asked.

Feeling the sincerity of her future mother-in-law, Lu Zhaozhao discussed her own marriage without a hint of embarrassment.

She shook her head, her bright eyes fixed on Tong Huaqiong, eager to hear her reasoning.

Tong Huaqiong said, "You and Jingzhe are still young. Now it seems your love is deep, but no one knows if feelings will change in the future. I’m not mistrusting my son, but that’s human nature."

"Zhaozhao, although I am Jingzhe’s mother, I must remind you. We women must certainly not be overly infatuated."

Lu Zhaozhao asked, "What do you mean by overly infatuated?"

Tong Huaqiong replied, "It means being devoted without reserve to someone, believing everything they say and do, and even when they betray or hurt you, you still hold onto unrealistic hopes and never leave them."

In past life, Lu Zhaozhao was just like that.

Lu Zhaozhao smiled and said, "Then I understand."

Lu Zhaozhao suddenly looked up, smiling as she said, "Aunt Tong, you’ve been advising me not to be overly infatuated, worrying about Jingzhe’s change of heart. But why couldn’t it be me who changes? Why couldn’t it be Jingzhe who’s overly infatuated?"

She never planned to be the "overly infatuated" person Aunt Tong had described.

In the city, she socialized with many ladies from prominent families, sometimes invited to banquets, where gossip about mistresses replacing wives, childhood sweethearts being abandoned after a husband reached the top, and the abandonment of a faithful wife following one’s success was common. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

She once wondered who she would marry, and what she would do if her husband lost interest?

At that time, she thought she could only find a husband who would be devoted to her alone.

But later, she wondered how she could be sure the husband wasn’t truly devoted to her.

Like a scholar in the city, who grew up with his childhood sweetheart who bore him children, took care of his blind elderly mother, and even embroidered to support his studies for the imperial exam.

When he made it to the top of the list, he dismissed his childhood sweetheart as incapable of providing better support, and married into a branch of a Shengjing family instead.

His original wife couldn’t take the humiliation and drowned herself.

Lu Zhaozhao thought if she were the original wife, she wouldn’t have taken her life so easily, which would only benefit the heartless scoundrel.

If one decides to end their life, shouldn’t they take the scoundrel down with them first?

In these six months, after engaging more in the family business, her worry about finding a devoted husband disappeared.

When she got engaged, she already told Jingzhe that if he ever betrayed her, she wouldn’t let him have it easy either.

"Aunt Tong, I’m just joking."

Seeing Tong Huaqiong’s silence, Lu Zhaozhao thought she might have upset her, considering no mother-in-law would wish for their son’s wife to change her mind. Feeling she said the wrong thing, Zhaozhao gently shook Tong Huaqiong’s arm in a playful manner.

Tong Huaqiong came back to herself, patted Lu Zhaozhao’s black hair, and said, "You are right, I only thought about Jingzhe. Why couldn’t it be you changing your mind?"

Indeed, why couldn’t it be Lu Zhaozhao who changes in this life?

Everything has changed in this life, so even if this lifetime, the relationship between Lu Zhaozhao and Jingzhe is destined for hardship, why couldn’t Lu Zhaozhao be the one troubling Jingzhe then?

Of course, deep inside, Tong Huaqiong hoped these two lovers would finally become a couple.

If, by any chance, she said if by any chance someone’s feelings change, she would prefer it to be Lu Zhaozhao.

Tong Huaqiong said, "If Jingzhe changes his heart, I’ll castrate my son. If you change yours, my son will just have to endure it."

Lu Zhaozhao: "..."

Tong Huaqiong’s words left Lu Zhaozhao speechless.

Who exactly is Aunt Tong’s child here?

If Lu Zhaozhao wasn’t certain she was indeed the Lu family’s child, she would have suspected they were switched at birth.

Lu Zhaozhao asked, "Aunt Tong, why are you siding with me?"

Tong Huaqiong said, "It’s not about siding with you, it’s just that my son is good-looking. If you change your heart, he can still find some girl to take the rebound."

Lu Zhaozhao: "..."

So, a grandchild of an Imperial Merchant’s family and a Champion Scholar’s sister like me won’t find anyone, right?

Passing by the corridor, Jingzhe overheard his mother and Lu Zhaozhao speaking and was thunderstruck.

His mother seemed to be increasingly unrestrained in her speech.

For some reason, his mother never seemed to trust his feelings for Lu Zhaozhao, as if waiting for him to change his heart.

Jingzhe felt a rebellious streak rise within him; out of defiance against his mother’s doubts, he vowed never to betray Lu Zhaozhao.

However, he never considered the possibility of Lu Zhaozhao betraying him.

He believed that if a woman changed her heart, it was often because the man hadn’t provided enough security, that she left after accumulating enough disappointment.

Like his cousin Tong Pandi, who decided to divorce and leave Wu Musheng despite bearing the burden of gossip and slander.

As long as he treated Lu Zhaozhao well and placed her at the center of everything, he believed Lu Zhaozhao would not change her heart.