Chapter 189 Selection of Personnel for the Silver Shop

After receiving pocket money from the eldest prince, the princes, accompanied by their guards, left the tavern and went off to stroll along Qianmen Street.

The Third Prince, who had always loved literature, plunged into the bookstore to pick out newly published poetry collections, as well as books explaining and annotating classics and historical texts that were not available in the palace. He directly immersed himself in the ocean of knowledge and roamed around.

The Fourth Prince wasn't interested in shopping. He had originally planned to accompany the Eighth Prince around, but when he discovered a shop on Qianmen Street that specialized in selling sandalwood beads, his eyes lit up and he couldn't help but go inside, wanting to order a sandalwood Buddhist prayer bead bracelet.

Seeing this, the Eighth Prince had no choice but to accompany the Fourth Prince into the shop, where he searched for the most suitable sandalwood for the Fourth Prince amidst the faint sandalwood fragrance.

The Fifth Prince was already a bit hungry while he was at the Tong residence, and after riding his horse to Chongwen Gate and out of the outer city, his stomach started growling even more. The Fifth Prince ate his way along the street, wanting to try every kind of food he saw being sold by the roadside. Before long, he and his guards had their hands full of all sorts of food.

The Seventh Prince, who had difficulty walking, first declined the Third Prince's invitation to browse the bookstore together, and then politely declined the Fifth Prince's suggestion to go out for food. After smilingly seeing off Yin'e and the Ninth Prince, who were going shopping together, the Seventh Prince found a teahouse near the tavern where the First Prince had been drinking.

Upon entering the teahouse, the Seventh Prince went straight to the second floor and requested a private room, reserving both the rooms on the left and right sides so that his guards could rest and have something to eat.

After sitting down by the window, the Seventh Prince asked the waiter to brew a pot of tea and bring over a few plates of snacks, intending to while away some time in the teahouse.

The Seventh Prince could leave the palace once every two weeks. He had already strolled along Qianmen Street many times and wasn't particularly interested in shopping. But compared to returning to the palace to study in the Imperial Study, the Seventh Prince preferred to find a teahouse outside the palace to pass the time, at least that would be a form of rest.

"Tenth Brother, where are you meeting Guo Yi?" After leaving the tavern, the Ninth Prince whispered in Yin'e's ear.

Indeed, the main purpose of Yin'e and the Ninth Prince leaving the palace today to come to Qianmen Street was not to go shopping, but to meet with the current Duke Guoyi, Faka, to see the people Faka had found for them, and to let those people know who the employer was and what specific tasks they would be doing after being hired.

Scratching his head, Yin'e was also a bit at a loss: "Qianmen Street is full of shops. Even if I remember the name of the shop we agreed to meet, I won't be able to find it in a short time."

After thinking for a moment, Yin'e suddenly had a brilliant idea: "Ninth Brother, I've got it. Let's find a shop with the Niohuru clan's mark and have the people in the shop go find Uncle Faka."

If they can't find Faka, can't they ask Faka to come to them? Compared to Yin'e and the Ninth Prince, who were leaving the palace for the first time, the shop assistants working in the shops run by Niohuru would definitely know better which shops nearby belonged to Niohuru and would be the fastest to find Faka.

Qianmen Street is the busiest area in Beijing. The merchants who can open shops on Qianmen Street are all extraordinary. They all have backgrounds and powerful backers.

As a noble and powerful Manchu family, the Niohuru clan owned many shops in prime locations like Qianmen Street. Yin'e was familiar with the Niohuru clan's logo and soon found one: "Ninth Brother, the corner of this shop's signboard is engraved with the Niohuru logo, so it must be a Niohuru family shop."

Yin'e was pointing to a two-story wooden building that looked extraordinary from the outside, decorated very ornately.

The two men, accompanied by their guards, entered the spacious hall and found tables arranged in a staggered manner. Some guests stood by the wooden tables, seemingly selecting items that suited their tastes.

Walking over to the long table closest to the entrance, Yin'e gave a slightly embarrassed twitch of his lips. He noticed that the trays on the table were filled with glittering, golden jewelry: hairpins, pearl flowers, gold hair ornaments, as well as bracelets, rings, and necklaces—all kinds of ornaments could be found here.

"So this is a jewelry store..." Yin'e muttered to himself, then turned to look at the Ninth Prince, casting an inquiring glance at him, "Ninth Brother, how about we go to another store?"

The silver shop mainly deals in gold and silver jewelry. Of course, Yin'e had just looked at the jewelry displayed on the wooden table and saw that some of them contained elements of gemstones, pearls, jade, and sandalwood. He figured that this silver shop not only sold gold and silver jewelry, but also precious stones, jade, and sandalwood.

After discovering that the store they had entered was a jewelry store, Yin'e carefully examined the customers in the lobby on the first floor. He found that the customers were indeed mostly women. Apart from their group, there were a few male customers, but they were obviously accompanying their female relatives. They stood aside as decorations, or occasionally nodded and gave their opinions, and praised loudly.

"Why go to another store? Let's go shopping!" Ninth Prince's eyes sparkled as he leaned closer to the wooden table to examine the jewelry on the tray.

He didn't like the jewelry because it was pretty; he just thought it was valuable because it was so shiny. To put it bluntly, the Ninth Prince's eyes practically turned green with envy when he saw the table full of gold and silver jewels.

After the Ninth Prince invested five hundred taels of silver in the initial stage of his milk candy business, he was short of money. Although he received fifty taels from the First Prince today, his financial situation had not improved significantly, so he could only admire the candy but could not afford to buy it.

However, the Ninth Prince had no intention of buying them. He adhered to the principle of looking but not buying, and only wanted to feast his eyes on these valuable jewelry pieces before Guo Yi Gong Faka found them.

Seeing the Ninth Prince leaning against the wooden table with a fascinated expression, Yin'e, who was seeing the Ninth Prince's greed for money for the first time, was both amused and exasperated. He shook his head and ignored the Ninth Prince, then waved to the shop assistants standing by the counter, indicating that they needed to serve him.

The shop assistant standing at the far end of the counter walked over with light, graceful steps. Although she walked quickly and reached Yin'e's side in no time, her footsteps were not loud at all, and her movements were very small, which made her appear very well-trained and classy, ​​thus subtly elevating the level of this jewelry store.

Yin'e raised an eyebrow, thinking that Niohuru was quite good at business and had many ideas. If it weren't for the taboo against being too close to Niohuru and arousing Kangxi's suspicion, Yin'e would really like to do business with Niohuru. Niohuru seemed like a perfect teammate, with a brilliant business mind.

The shop assistant, dressed in a light blue cheongsam, glanced at the guards following behind Yin'e and the Ninth Prince before her gaze settled on Yin'e and the Ninth Prince, realizing who the real customers were.

Although it was a little strange that two little boys were running into the jewelry store to look at jewelry, the shop assistant did not show her doubts. She just smiled slightly and asked in a calm and steady manner, "I wonder what you two are looking for? Our jewelry store sells a complete range of jewelry in various styles. Please feel free to choose."

When her gaze fell on the yellow belt around Yin'e's waist, the shop assistant's smile froze for a second, and her expression became slightly cautious, but still relaxed and not too nervous—she recognized the yellow belt that only members of the imperial family could wear, but she did not recognize the prince's seal hanging on Yin'e's waist.

Although members of the imperial family with yellow sashes held a prestigious status, the Qing Dynasty had been in power for decades, and the imperial family population had been increasing year by year, so they were no longer so rare as to be seldom seen. Working at a jewelry store on Qianmen Street, this shop assistant had seen quite a few people with yellow sashes, so she wasn't intimidated and unable to maintain her composure.

"Do you know where Yuelai Teahouse is?" Yin'e said, mentioning the name of the shop he had arranged to meet with Faka. "Send someone to Yuelai Teahouse and tell my uncle that I can't find it and to have him bring people to find us."

After a pause, not wanting to play any games of face-slapping, Yin'e did not hide his identity and directly said, "I am the Tenth Prince. I have arranged to meet Uncle Faka at the Yuelai Teahouse today."

This jewelry store was located on Qianmen Street, in a prime location and on a large scale. It was an extremely important asset of the Niohuru clan, so all the employees on duty had long-term contracts with the Niohuru clan, and most of them were even directly transferred from the Duke of Guoyi's mansion, being servants of the Duke of Guoyi's family.

Although the shop assistant who came to serve Yin'e was waiting on the first floor and not serving on the second floor, she also came from the Duke of Guoyi's mansion and knew all too well what the Imperial Concubine and the Tenth Prince in the palace meant to Niohuru.

A hint of panic appeared on the shop assistant's face. He took another closer look at Yin'e and saw that he was wearing a yellow sash, his age matched, and the guards behind him were all hawk-like and powerful, not the kind of people an ordinary family could afford to support. He also dared to call himself the Tenth Prince, so he was probably real and not lying.

The shop assistant, suppressing her panic and trying to remain calm, half-squatted down and whispered to Yin'e, "Your Highness, please come upstairs and sit for a while. I will tell the manager to send someone to the Yuelai Teahouse to inform the Duke."

Yin'e hummed in agreement, but then turned around and saw that the Ninth Prince had finished looking at the gold and silver jewelry on one table and then ran to another table. So he shook his head and said, "No need, Ninth Prince and I will wait downstairs."

Ninth Brother... Ninth Prince? So it wasn't just one prince who came, but two?

The shop assistant was stunned for a moment, his mind a jumble of thoughts. Then, his body stiffened but his face remained expressionless as he stood up. He first curtsied to Yin'e and the Ninth Prince, and then, still facing them, retreated to the counter and whispered a few words in the shopkeeper's ear.

The manager of the silver shop was a middle-aged man with a goatee. He was also from the Duke of Guoyi's family and had been a trusted member of the household when Ebilun was still alive. Later, when this silver shop opened on Qianmen Street, he was transferred to be the manager because of his outstanding abilities.

The silver shop owner still remembered the appearance of the Imperial Concubine, and was even more familiar with the appearance of the current Duke Guoyi, Faka, who shared the same mother as the Imperial Concubine. He stood up from behind the counter to greet him, and after only glancing at Yin'e's face once, he immediately became certain that he must be the Tenth Prince: "Your Highness, please wait a moment, this servant will go to the Yuelai Tea House right away."

The Imperial Palace, the Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Kangxi had just finished his lunch and was about to take a short walk to digest before taking a nap when Liang Jiugong approached stealthily with a whisk in hand, calling out softly, "Your Majesty..."

Upon seeing Liang Jiugong's appearance, Kangxi knew that he had something to report, but it was not good news, which was why he was so hesitant.

With a chuckle, Kangxi, who was in a good mood after lunch, was too lazy to argue with Liang Jiugong and simply said, "Just say what it is."

Liang Jiugong lowered his head and whispered to Kangxi what had happened outside Deshengmen that morning, describing the facts objectively from beginning to end without adding a single subjective opinion.

Upon hearing Liang Jiugong's report, Kangxi's good mood vanished, his face darkened, and his expression became uncertain: "Longkodo... Hmph, Uncle's airs are getting bigger and bigger."

Liang Jiugong dared not accept this. During the Kangxi era, there were three imperial relatives, but only Longkodo dared to call himself the princes' uncle. This was all thanks to Kangxi's indulgence.

Having served Emperor Kangxi for decades, Liang Jiugong had a good understanding of his temperament, if not completely. At this point, neither agreeing with nor disagreeing with Kangxi would end well; it was best to remain silent and minimize his presence, pretending to be invisible.

Setting aside his dissatisfaction with Longkodo for the moment, Kangxi paced back and forth in the Qianqing Palace, his brow furrowing with worry: "Longkodo has offended all the princes. They probably won't want to visit the Tong family again anytime soon, but..."

However, Tong Guogang's funeral is about to be held. On the day of Tong Guogang's funeral, in addition to sending envoys to pay their respects, a prince should also be sent to represent the royal family to show their favor to the Tong family.

But after today's incident, the princes had a falling out with Longkodo, and Kangxi began to deliberate on who should be sent to the Tong residence to pay respects to Tong Guogang.