Matthew didn't have any misgivings about Harper entering the clothes business. It was no longer like the beginning of their
marriage. At that time, he would have had his doubts. How could such a young lady from a powerful family who barely went
outside know how to do business in different fields? However, he had learned to respect her capabilities after being married to
her for so long. Moreover, he was mystified by her way of thinking. The more he knew her, the more she intrigued him.
"What kind of garments do you want to make?"
"Matthew, do you have outstanding female embroidery workers?" Harper asked. The couple had visited all the garment shops in
the city, and had seen the wide scope and abundance of garment makers there, but not many of them were outstanding.
"Yes. How many do you need?" Matthew asked decisively.
Harper stretched out three fingers and said, "I need thirty. All of them must have exquisite embroidering skills."
Matthew nodded, looking at her lovingly. "Don't worry. I will find only the best ones for you."
"Why don't you ask me what I have in mind? Aren't you afraid that I will do something foolish or bad?" Harper asked with a smile.
"Will you? Do you need a knife? I will prepare one for you," Matthew said after a moment's consideration.
With a smile, Harper punched her husband. "I want to create a brand in River City."
"Who is 'Brand'? Is it a boy or a girl?" Matthew asked innocently.
Harper's mouth twitched in a mixture of amusement and irritation, and for a moment she didn't know how to answer, but then she
calmed down. "I mean, when people see any garment that comes from my shop, they will recognize it straightaway. This is the
brand."
"I see. It's a form of fame." Then he made a deduction. "We can use the rich and powerful people in River City... Hmm, Pearce
and his wife are our best choices, I think. We can invite them to your shop to buy some clothes. Your brand will spread twice as
far with half the effort if they wear the clothes with your brand."
"That's what I am thinking too. So, now, let's try our best to keep them happy. If we need any help, we'll just ask them," Harper
said frankly.
"Smart girl!" Matthew praised as he stopped in front of a tea house. "How about using this building as your shop?"
Harper looked the building up and down several times. It was a three-floor house, which met her requirements for a clothing
shop perfectly. She walked into the building with her husband in order to have a look at the interior.
This tea house was quite busy with customers. The waiter walked over to them as soon as he saw them enter. "Welcome! There
are private rooms upstairs, please."
"Yes." Harper nodded her head and was pleased to see how the hall was decorated. She walked upstairs to the second floor,
following the waiter. The arrangement of the second floor was also nice, but if she wanted to make a clothing shop there, she
would need to make some adjustments.
"Waiter, what is on the third floor?" she asked the waiter.
"The storeroom is on the third floor, and our shopkeeper lives there," the waiter said with a smile. "Sir, ma'am, what would you
like to drink?"
"A pot of green tea, two plates of your best desserts."
"All right. Hang on, please."
"Honey, it won't be easy to buy this place, since they are doing such good business," Harper commented cautiously.
Matthew stared at her and smiled. "If they don't sell it, we can just snatch it. Or, we can kill them all and loot it."
Harper's face darkened immediately, but she would have been a fool if she couldn't see that he was joking. "Is this tea house
yours?" she asked.
Matthew nodded and said, "Yes, but if you like it, it's yours now."
"Well, thank you very much. When will the embroidery workers be ready?" A pleasant smile spread across Harper's face. She
had faith in his speed.
"Within three days, I will have the embroidery workers arranged for you. Although outstanding embroidery workers are easy to
find, their embroidery styles are almost the same without any specialties. How do you make the clothes of your shop distinguish
from other shops'?" Matthew asked curiously. He had once gone to the gambling house improved by her, and found that it had
drawn many new customers in an instant and defeated all its competitors within a few neighboring blocks. When Felix became
aware of it, he almost wanted to take back the title deed. This time she wanted to open a clothing shop, and Matthew looked
forward to her good performance.
"We won't leave here until the New Year, at any rate. I have enough time to think about it." Harper smiled mysteriously. "By the
way, all the embroidery workers you find must be morally upstanding."
"Don't worry. I will find all the workers for you and give their indentures to you. If you find problems with any of them, you can
beat or kill her."
"Cruel beast." Harper rolled her eyes. "But I like that."
"Well, you always need some method of intimidating your subordinates, after all. But I'm curious. What exactly are your
intentions, Harp?" asked Matthew.
"There are many gifted scholars and beautiful ladies in River City. It's natural to make good use of them. We need to persuade
Marquis Pearce and his wife to help us and let everyone else think it is their business. Since we are doing business outside the
imperial capital, we must keep a low profile as much as we can. His Majesty is always waiting for me to make a mistake." Harper
was excited by her plan.
"Are you afraid?"
"I'm not afraid of him, but I don't want to get in trouble." As she spoke, Harper poured a cup of tea for her husband. "Honey,
please support me in the following days."
"No problem. By the way, when you're free, you should train Rufus more. Turn him into a money-making slave for us."