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"Eh? Big Sister, do you think that person is Lin Siyu?"

Lin Yuan was pondering matters of the Fuman Building, and, upon hearing her sister’s words, also leaned forward curiously, looking in the direction her sister was pointing.

"She’s walking so fast, she’s already entered the tea house." By the time Lin Yuan looked, Lin Siyu had already neared the tea house. However, Lin Yuan managed to get a clear view of Panpan, who was following behind, and thus confirmed that it was indeed Lin Siyu.

This place was not particularly bustling, but it wasn’t very remote either. However, it was quite a distance from the Li Mansion. It was truly strange that Lin Siyu would come so far for tea in the late morning.

As Lin Yuan was wondering, another figure appeared. Since it wasn’t the tea house’s peak time for hosting guests, there weren’t many customers, and therefore this man particularly caught Lin Yuan’s attention.

Even without having met him, she could guess his identity by the face that bore a seven-part resemblance to Li Chang and by his age; he was Li Chang’s eldest son, Li Chengzhi, birthed by his first wife, also known for his notorious reputation as a lecher who toyed with women.

Look at how hurried he appears, as if there’s some great beauty waiting for him inside the tea house.

A great beauty?

A realization flashed through Lin Yuan’s mind, one a concubine of Li Chang, the other his son, who, like Li Chang, was crazed with lust. These two people appearing at the same place at the same time, could that really amount to nothing?

"Stop the carriage." Instinctively, Lin Yuan instructed Lin Yi to stop the carriage, but after stopping, then what? Confront them in adultery? And then use that as leverage to blackmail them for a sum of silver?

Lin Yuan pursed her lips, feeling that this idea was rather ignoble and not worth considering.

While she was contemplating, suddenly their eyes met, and Lin Yuan was startled, nearly breaking into a cold sweat.

Lin Siyu’s maid Panpan was closing the windows in an elegant room on the second floor. Just now, their gazes had collided head-on!

But it was only for an instant, as the maid immediately acted as though nothing had happened and closed the window.

Lin Yuan let down the curtain, certain that Panpan had seen her, because for that brief moment, she felt the shock in the other’s eyes. She had heard from Liuzi that the girl was Uncle Wang’s daughter, who had once visited Uncle Wang at the Rice Flower Fragrance.

And after the unfriendly parting with Lin Siyu last time, she should also be aware of the relationship between the two of them, right? Given this, would she tell Lin Siyu about the recent incident, to give her a heads up?

Having Lin Yi pull the carriage over to a small alley on the side of the road, Lin Yuan had a clear view of the tea house across the street. After waiting a good quarter of an hour, there was no sign of either Lin Siyu or Li Chang leaving.

Lin Yuan finally was sure that the little maid had not tipped off Lin Siyu. But why? Had she not seen her? Or did she see her and deliberately choose not to remind her?

Trusting her instinct, Lin Yuan felt that this seemingly innocent maid actually had something significant on her mind.

Feeling that waiting any longer would be fruitless, Lin Yuan told Lin Yi to drive the carriage towards the Rice Flower Fragrance.

The business at Rice Flower Fragrance was improving by the day, with nearly hundreds taels of silver in revenue daily, so now everyone in the shop took it as commonplace and were no longer as shocked as they had been on the opening day.

However, owing to the reward system Lin Yuan had set up later on, which allocated red envelopes to the staff at the end of each month based on the shop’s earnings—more revenue meant fuller red envelopes, and less revenue meant slimmer ones—this system greatly motivated everyone’s enthusiasm, prompting them to serve customers with greater zeal and make pastries with even more care.

When Lin Yuan entered, she just so happened to overhear the conversation between two young ladies leaving together, which greatly enlightened her.