Qingcheng raised her hand gently, and a few more sheets of paper flew out. “These are the drawings I’ve done of the layout. Remember, find workers who are reliable, and they must all be carefully selected before they get to work. As for the designs for the furniture and cutlery, find a business who’s trustworthy and willing to keep all of this a secret.” She didn’t want anything to go wrong at any stage.
After that, she asked another question. “Elder Yan, do you know if there’s a house for sale?”
Elder Yan replied respectfully, “There are houses available, but what sort of house would you like?”
“I need two houses. One of them will be for me to live in, and I just want a place that’s relatively large and comfortable in a convenient location with quiet surroundings. The other one needs to be a little more secluded and further out, in a location that doesn’t attract too much attention and that has as few neighbors as possible. I’ll be using that space to groom my team.”
Elder Yan thought about it, then replied, “I know of a place that’s for sale. It used to belong to a court official, but he was chased out of the capital city after he offended Prince Chen. It’s been left unoccupied for a year now, and that house is rather large, not too far from the city center, and the surroundings are quite quiet as well. So, it’s suitable for you.” He could tell that Qingcheng had a more aloof personality and wouldn’t like somewhere that was too noisy or lively.
“Why hasn’t anybody moved in after an entire year?” asked Qingcheng in a puzzled tone.
Elder Yan looked a little awkward as he replied, “The house right next to this one is Prince Chen’s residence, Prince Chen Manor. Rumor has it that Prince Chen likes peace and quiet and doesn’t like women, but the previous owner of the house next door was a real lecher who took ten concubines and often made a lot of noise every night. Prince Chen seldom returns to the capital city, but there was one day he came back at night to find that the house next door was simply too noisy, so in his anger, he made his guards tear down the dividing wall between the houses and threw the owner of the house out that very night. The next day, the emperor decreed that this official had been chased out of the capital so that house became unoccupied. Later on, it was put up for sale again, but nobody has dared to buy it thus far.” Elder Yan finished giving Qingcheng the entire account of what had happened.
Qingcheng continued to ask, “Did you say this Prince Chen is seldom in the capital?”
“That’s right, Master. Prince Chen might appear once every three to five months, or even only once every two or three years.” He, too, felt that this Prince Chen was very mysterious.
Qingcheng made a decision. “Alright, I got it.” Then she suddenly thought of something and said, “Here are 100,000 gold coins. You can use them to get everything done. There will be many aspects of the renovation that will require money. Don’t bother trying to save anything; just spend when necessary.” She waved her hand and a small box appeared. It was filled to the brim with 100,000 shiny gold coins.
Yan Xuan and Elder Xuan were both taken aback. Elder Yan’s mouth moved a little, but he decided against saying anything when he saw Qingcheng’s stare.
He then replied in a determined voice, “Master! We will definitely get the job done and will get it done to your satisfaction!”
Qingcheng nodded satisfactorily. “Very good. There’s nothing else for you. Go ahead and get busy.”
After Elder Yan left the place, he went to the back courtyard and took out the designs. “I wonder what Master’s personal designs look like?” He unrolled all the papers and couldn’t help but cry out in surprise.
“This is simply amazing! I’ve never seen such pretty designs for furniture and cutlery…”
He looked at another page. This was the design for the kitchen. It was designed according to modern hotel kitchens, so everything was in an orderly and logical fashion and made full use of the space.
The next sheet was the design for the interior of the restaurant, and it also followed a modern style. There was to be a wide and spacious main hall on the first level, and a crystal chandelier was to be hung from the ceiling of the second story. It would reach all the way to the middle of the hall on the first level.
This universe didn’t have crystal chandeliers, so Qingcheng designed a large hanging light made from jade. It had twelve round layers to serve as frames for lights that measured three meters across, and the lights were split into two sections of six layers each. Each frame was to have thirty light holders in the shape of a lotus that were made from white jade, and luminous pearls were to be placed in these lotuses. The middle of the chandelier would have nine hooks hanging down, and at the tip of each hook would be a lotus light holder that was three times the size of those on the frames.
In that way, at night, the light from the luminous pearls would make both the first and second story of the restaurant as bright as day. Other colored jade would look beautiful regardless of whether it was day or night, so she wanted a small hanging lamp above every table as well.
The three large private rooms on the second floor were designed in a modern style too. Just like themed restaurants that were trendy in modern times, each room had a dining area and a recreational area.
There was a large spiral staircase that led to the various floors and went up around the chandelier. The main hall on the first floor had simple colors and looked clean and bright, while the second story’s main dining area would have more luxurious chairs and a warmer color scheme.
The twelve private rooms on the third floor were twice as large as those on the second floor. There were to be wide corridors, a private bathroom for each private room, and a different style of decoration for each of them.
Two of them were a little more special. One had purple irises as its main theme, while the other had red roses.
There was even a blueprint for the back courtyard. The two-storied building had a total of twenty guestrooms. They were to be designed just like modern five-star hotels, and the fittings and décor of each room were to be different. Each room would have its own private bathroom and sink. They were also to be split into different categories, so some were Standard rooms, some were Premium rooms, and some were Deluxe rooms. The empty space between the front and back was redesigned to become a garden with fake mountains and all, and the outer area was also to be renovated.
After looking at all these blueprints, Elder Yan’s heart was already in deep shock. These designs were extremely unique, and every detail was practically perfect. When he was younger, he had traveled to some of the neighboring countries before, but he had never seen any designs like these.
Elder Yan exclaimed, “Master is really a genius that’s out of this world…”
On the second floor of the restaurant.
Qingcheng sat at the table next to the window and looked out at the people hurrying along the busy street below.
She quietly said to herself, “It’s so lively out there, so it’ll be such a pity if I don’t go for a nice walk…”
Then she turned and asked Yan Xuan, “Is there a place here that sells pills at a fairly high price?”
Yan Xuan politely replied, “Usually, if one wants to purchase pills, then you would have to go to those pill halls that are managed by the Alchemists Union. The pill halls usually only sell low-grade pills, too. They also buy pills, but they don’t offer high prices. If you want to sell at a high price, you can go to Treasure Trove Hall. That’s the largest chain of auction houses in Wei City, and the Alchemists Union does not manage them. But every pill they auction off is high-grade.”
Qingcheng became interested after hearing this. “Treasure Trove Court? What do I need in order to get in?” In her previous life, modern auction houses were by invitation only, so she wasn’t sure how this universe operated. She had a lot of pills on hand, so she didn’t mind selling some. On top of that, she was also curious to see what the auctions in this world looked like.
“Master, Treasure Trove Court always has some treasure of sorts being auctioned off. They have three auctions every month, two small ones and one large one. Usually, the high-grade and super rare treasures would only appear at the large auction,” replied Yan Xuan.
“If you want to enter Treasure Trove Court’s auctions, you will need an invitation card beforehand as well as a Crystals Savings Card from Ruifeng Bank. You will be assigned a different seat according to the type of card you have. If you have the most ordinary Clear Crystal Card, you will need to pay an additional entrance fee to enter the main hall. However, you can only stand in the standing area on the outer part of the hall, and you cannot participate in the auction. A White Crystal Card would require one to have at least 100,000 gold coins in savings with the bank, and you can reserve a space in the main hall as well as participate in the auction.” After saying all this, Yan Xuan glanced at Qingcheng. His master could take out two low-grade crystals without any reservation, so her assets were definitely worth more than White Crystal level.