Gu Fei hurriedly pushed the door open and went in: “Mom, I’m back.”

Mrs. Chen breathed a sigh of relief: “You’re finally back, you’re such a playful girl.”

“Okay, okay, go wash up and go to bed.”

Getting up early and eating breakfast in the lobby of the inn, Mrs. Chen heard that the Lantern Festival was still one day away. She waved her hands and said: “No need to watch it, no need to watch it. There’s still a lot of work to do at home! I’ll go back after breakfast.”

Gu Fei was still thinking about the shop she saw yesterday. After thinking for a while, she said: “Dad, Mom, you go back first. I have something to ask.”

Gu Zhang didn’t know what Gu Fei was going to do, but he was relieved about his daughter, so he told Gu Sanlang: “Then you stay and drive the carriage for your sister.”

“Don’t leave your sister behind and go out to play like you did yesterday!”

Gu Sanlang said sullenly: “I won’t.”

Yesterday, his mother scolded him so much that he dared not do it again!

Not long after, Gu Zhang and Mrs. Chen took Gu Qing and Gu Erlang back, and Gu Fei asked her third brother to drive to Yipin Pavilion.

Yipin Pavilion had just opened, and the waiter was still cleaning. Shopkeeper Wang was holding a purple clay teapot and drinking tea from the spout.

Gu Fei went in with a bag of cakes, and said to the shopkeeper: “Hello, shopkeeper.”

“Oh, isn’t this Miss Gu? What brings you here today?” Shopkeeper Wang got up quickly.

Recently, Yipin Pavilion has launched two dishes made with chili peppers a day. At first, some people just wanted to try it out for fun, but after eating it, they couldn’t forget the taste and couldn’t help bragging to others. As time went by, more and more people came to eat spicy dishes, which also brought popularity to the restaurant.

The restaurant can only serve two spicy dishes a day, so reservations were required. Now, the spicy dishes that cost two taels of silver per plate have been reserved for a month later.

How could he, the shopkeeper, not be happy to see Gu Fei?

Gu Fei smiled brightly. When she saw Shopkeeper Wang’s enthusiastic look, she knew that spicy dishes would sell well.

“Today I want to ask the shopkeeper something.”

Shopkeeper Wang glanced at the cakes in Gu Fei’s hand and secretly sighed that this girl was very capable at such a young age.

He invited Gu Fei in: “Miss Gu, please go upstairs. As long as I know something, I will tell you everything I know.”

The two of them went into a private room upstairs and sat down. Gu Fei then told her the purpose of the visit: “I passed by this street yesterday and saw an empty storefront over there. I wanted to ask if you know why such a good store is empty.”

Shopkeeper Wang’s eyes flashed: “Miss Gu, are you interested in that store?”

Gu Fei nodded generously.

Shopkeeper Wang shook his head: “I advise Miss Gu, if you want to do business, you might as well look at other stores. That store is not easy to run.”

Gu Fei listened attentively: “Why is it difficult to run?”

“That store is owned by Old Man Huang. Although he is called an old man, he is not that old. He is only about 40 years old. He just looks old. His family used to run a silk shop. His silk shop is the largest on this street.”

“He has only one son. 2 years ago, his son went to Shu to buy a batch of Shu brocade. He was killed by robbers on the way.”

“Only the servant with a broken leg survived and brought back his master’s body with great difficulty. Old Huang’s wife fainted when she saw her son’s miserable state. After half a year, she also passed away.”

“Old Huang’s wife and children were all dead, and he had no intention of doing business anymore, so he sold the silk in the store and closed the shop.”

“After a while, Old Huang gradually came out to walk around. Someone advised him to rent out the shop and collect some rent to support his old age.”

“Old Huang agreed and rented the shop to a family that also did silk business. Who knew that something happened a few days later.”