I Clip Coupons in Ancient Times

After an accident on set, Cui Youyi was born into the body of a concubine-born daughter in the Duke’s household.

From then on, confined to the women’s quarters, she could only pretend to be timid and obediently accept her father’s arrangement to become a eunuch’s second wife.

Her second elder sister, the legitimate daughter, was granted a marriage by the emperor.

Strong-willed, the second sister refused to marry Xiao Jingxing, the Borderland Prince of Beibei, who was said to have little time left to live, and decisively fled the Duke’s household.

Just after Cui Youyi learned the news, the matriarch summoned her.

When she came back out, she had become the Duke’s legitimate daughter.

Wonderful! There’s always a way out. Being a widow is much better than marrying a eunuch!

Besides, the Xiao clan of Beibei had served the country loyally for generations, and only the gravely wounded Xiao Jingxing remained. She would have no mother-in-law or parents-in-law above her, no uncles, aunts, or sisters- and brothers-in-law below, and no illegitimate relatives on the side. She would enter the household as its mistress.

Once Xiao Jingxing passed away, she would be a widowed princess with an official title and Beibei as her powerful backing. Who would dare force her to marry again?

There was just one problem: she had power, but no money.

Staring at the empty cash box, Cui Youyi started putting her dowry shops to work so she could live comfortably and securely as a widow.

At the time, Chang’an’s aristocrats and socialites all considered plain white hemp paper crude and drab, unfit for poetry and elegant prose.

Then she would make stationery paper: add powder and wax to improve how it wrote, dye and decorate it to suit the nobility’s tastes, and offer it in handy, pre-cut sizes for just fifteen coins a sheet!

When low-priced, shoddy competitors entered the market?

She would switch to a different track.

What kind of honest business could make money as quickly as marketing, hype, and sweet-talking the nobility?

She was going to fleece those aristocrats for all they were worth!

She used her status as a princess to attend the princess’s poetry banquet and break into aristocratic circles.

First, she would subtly promote her wares and make a tidy profit.

Then she would launch a bespoke service and make an even bigger profit.

After that, she would roll out gift boxes co-branded with celebrities... Low cost, high returns. Cui Youyi managed to hype stationery into a luxury good and a symbol of power and status.

Her business thrived, and money poured in.

Of course, she had a few minor worries. Namely: why was her husband still so full of life?

Theme: Independence brings freedom.