Chapter 776 --776

Chapter 776: Chapter-776

The shopkeeper, now treating Heena like a visiting imperial envoy, eagerly pulled out stacks of high-grade, finely combed cotton in deep, practical shades of midnight blue and forest green. It was breathable, soft against the skin, and flexible enough to allow her to work over a hot stove without tearing her stitches.

"The total comes to exactly eight silver taels, Miss," the shopkeeper said respectfully, bowing her head.

Eight taels. For an ordinary commoner, that was nearly half a year’s wages. It was an exorbitant amount to spend on a few changes of clothes.

Heena didn’t even blink. She calmly handed over the silver ingot, accepting her two taels of change in loose silver bits without a second thought. Money was a tool; if you didn’t spend it to elevate your status, it was just dead metal sitting in a pouch.

Since the soft cotton tunics were cut in standard, ready-to-wear sizes, the shopkeeper quickly bundled them up. The premium silk robes, however, required precise tailoring to fit properly.

Heena allowed the female attendants to quickly and gently take her measurements with a knotted string, ignoring the lingering sting in her back as she held her arms out.

"I need the silk garments finished and delivered in exactly two days," Heena stated, pulling her old black cloak back over her shoulders. "Deliver them to the apothecary with the Crimson Lotus lantern in the East Market."

"Two days? Yes, absolutely, boss! We will put our best seamstresses on it immediately," the shopkeeper promised, practically vibrating with excitement over the massive commission.

Her business concluded, Heena didn’t linger to browse or chat. She turned on her heel, bypassed the colorful, crowded men’s section without sparing the gossiping peacocks a single glance, and strode straight out the front doors into the cooling evening air.

Up on her shoulder, the System popped into existence, looking thoroughly disappointed as they walked away from the vibrant boutique.

"Come on, Host!" the digital cub complained, looking back at the shop. "Who is she? Why the rush? You literally just spent twenty minutes chatting up a hardware store full of random househusbands to build your reputation, but you completely ignored the crowd in there! That boutique looked like the absolute perfect place to make high-level connections!"

Heena let out a sharp, dismissive scoff, adjusting the bundle of cotton clothes under her arm.

"That boutique? That is never a place to make a connection right now," Heena replied coldly, her eyes scanning the darkening street as she headed home.

"Why not? They had way more money than the guys buying soup ladles!"

"Exactly," Heena said, her tone dropping into the deadly, calculating register of a strategist. "Think about it, you idiot. The men in that hardware store were middle-class commoners, or low-ranking domestic servants. They are harmless gossips. I can feed them a tragic, romantic story, and they will spread it to the lower rings without questioning me."

She glanced back toward the textile district, her eyes narrowing.

"But the men in that high-end silk boutique? Those are either the favored concubines of high-class nobles, or the direct, personal attendants of wealthy, powerful matriarchs," Heena explained grimly. "They aren’t just rich—they are tied directly to the apex predators of this city’s political ladder. Including, potentially, the Lu family’s social circle."

The System’s blue eyes went wide as the realization clicked into place. "Oh... if you drew too much attention to yourself in front of them..."

"They wouldn’t just gossip," Heena finished. "They would report back to their Matriarchs that the disgraced Lu daughter is walking around with pockets full of official silver. If the high nobility or my venomous sisters find out I am building a fortune before my foundations are solid, they will crush my apothecary before I even open the doors."

Heena turned her gaze forward, the silhouette of her dark, quiet shop appearing at the end of the street.

"To survive this game, you have to know exactly how much light you can stand in," she murmured. "Right now, I need to be out slightly—just enough to build a local reputation and secure my supply chain. But I cannot step completely into the sun. Not until the Black Lotus is too powerful to burn."

Heena didn’t bother explaining any of this to the System. It was entirely useless; the digital cub simply didn’t possess the street-level survival instincts required to navigate a society built on venom and hierarchy.

The moment she had stepped over the polished mahogany threshold of that boutique, Heena had seen the look in those men’s eyes. It was completely, fundamentally different from the way the vegetable vendors or the hardware apprentices had looked at her.

The commoners in the street saw a tall, imposing woman in a black cloak and immediately assumed she was a powerful, untouchable noble. But the men in the silk shop? Their eyes had functioned like cold, calculating abacuses. In a single, sweeping glance, they had dissected the fraying hem of her cloak, the cheap linen at her collar, and her posture.

There was no shock in their eyes. No intimidation. Just a swift, ruthless appraisal of her net worth and social standing.

That lack of reaction was a massive red flag. It meant those men were so deeply entrenched in the capital’s upper-ring politics that they either recognized her instantly as the disgraced Lu daughter, or they simply knew she wasn’t wealthy enough to matter to their circles. Either way, Heena had instantly understood that she needed to shut her mouth, buy her clothes, and get out without making a single wave.

She was a small fish swimming in a very dangerous pond. Until she grew into a shark, it was best to stay in the shadows.

Thankfully, the trip hadn’t been a total waste.

Before leaving the boutique, Heena had stepped behind the wooden folding screen and stripped off the coarse, scratchy clinic tunic, changing directly into one of her new, ready-to-wear cotton robes in a deep midnight blue.

The physical relief was instantaneous. The finely combed cotton was incredibly soft, breathing easily against her skin and resting lightly over the thick, agonizing scabs across her shoulder blades. For the first time in four days, it didn’t feel like she was wearing sandpaper.

Stepping back out into the cooling evening air of the market, Heena let out a long, satisfied exhale.

She did a quick mental inventory of her haul. Groceries? Loaded on the cart. Heavy ironware? Delivered. Wardrobe? Secured.

She couldn’t remember if she was still missing anything. Reaching into the deep pocket of her new cotton robe, she pulled out a small piece of crystallized ginger candy she had bought near the spice merchant, popped it into her mouth, and looked down at her left palm.

Earlier that morning, she had used Old Lady Lin’s inkstone and writing brush to scribble a quick shopping list on the inside of her hand.

She opened her palm, only to find a massive, illegible gray blur. The sweat, the friction of carrying baskets, and the slow drying time of ancient ink had completely smudged the characters into a dirty shadow across her life lines.

Heena stared at her ruined list, the sweet, sharp ginger melting on her tongue.

God, Heena sighed internally, violently scrubbing her thumb over the dried ink. I really, really miss ballpoint pens.