Xie Changshi's curiosity was destined to remain unanswered, because after Lu Muchen and Gu Yuzhi reached a friendly agreement, the two skipped over the topic.

After handing over the gifts that the Emperor and the ladies of the harem had given Gu Yuzhi, he rushed to Quanzhou overnight.

Gu Yuzhi stood outside the gate, watching Lu Muchen ride away on horseback, waving his hand incessantly until he was out of sight before entering the house.

He clapped his hands lightly, in a very good mood.

Because when Lu Muchen left, he secretly told him that he would find a way to talk to Prefect Ke about this matter.

Once he has prepared the rest and leave schedule, and Magistrate Ke has been tracking people and figuring out the patterns, Gu Yuzhi can then send people over.

With the cooperation of all parties, it's highly likely that Chief Secretary Xie will find out about it without any unexpected circumstances!

As for Guard Zhang, it was already late April when he escorted Bai Jiwu to the capital.

Before even entering the capital, the group could feel the prosperity and bustle of the city. The crowds of people outside the city gates stretched for miles.

Guard Zhang and the others waited at the tea stall. The guard took Gu Yuzhi's token and letter to negotiate with the emperor, and soon returned with a smile on his face.

"Captain of the Guards, the city garrison has agreed. They also said that His Majesty had instructed us not to delay after entering the capital and to proceed directly there."

Guard Zhang then mounted his horse, waved his hand, and the group quickly entered through the Anding Gate.

Previously, this route through the capital had always been taken by Guard Qi. This was the first time Guard Zhang had returned after more than a year.

It seems like nothing has changed, but I just feel like I'm not used to this kind of bustling place anymore.

Guard Zhang couldn't help but think of the young prince.

On the rare occasions the young prince strolled through Changzhou Prefecture, he would marvel at its prosperity. If the young prince were to come to the capital, he would probably jump up and down in the streets.

Guard Zhang kept talking about the young prince, and the ladies of the harem also kept talking about Gu Yuzhi.

Since becoming pregnant, the four consorts often gathered with Consort Taixian at Kunning Palace. They didn't have anything important to do each day, just chatted with the Empress.

But today, upon hearing from the servants that Guard Zhang had entered the capital, the topic of discussion naturally shifted to Gu Yuzhi.

Consort Liang considered the time and muttered to herself, "I heard before that Xiao Liu spent the New Year in Xinliang because of his blindness. Now that he has finally recovered, he needs to be carefully cared for."

She smiled and looked at Consort De: "Consort De, your family are medicinal herb merchants, so you should pay more attention to this matter."

Consort De rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair: "Do you need to tell me? When this news first reached the capital, our family gathered a lot of medicinal herbs and sent them over."

She looked Consort Liang up and down: "Consort Liang, what did you send as a gift?"

Consort Liang chuckled, her voice carrying a hint of sarcasm: "What can I possibly give? Our family is far less wealthy than Consort De's, and we have a meager foundation. We can only offer His Highness what he needs."

She raised her chin proudly and said, "The seeds Xinliang planted this year were all donated by our family."

There were no seeds saved for rice and other grains grown in Xinliang, and with Xinliang continuing to reclaim wasteland this year, the demand for seeds will be even greater.

If the young prince and his family were to buy it themselves, it would be a considerable expense.

The superior seeds given to the young prince were all purchased by Consort Liang's family out of their own pockets.

The concubines then let Liangfei go, and turned their attention to Shufei, who was happily munching on melon seeds: "What did Shufei send this time?"

Consort Shu never expected that the quarrel between the two women would escalate to her own level, and she was immediately displeased, carefully tidying up the sunflower seed shells.

She waved her hand: "What can I give? We have neither medicine nor food. What can I give?"

She sighed and was about to speak when Consort De chuckled and chimed in, "So Consort Shu didn't send anything after all."

Consort Liang exclaimed, "It's alright if you didn't send anything. Xiao Liu is very sensible; he won't distance himself from you just because you didn't send anything."

Seeing the two women taking turns attacking her, Consort Shu rolled her eyes without hesitation and remained silent. After they finished, Consort Shu smiled and said, "I didn't send anything, but that doesn't mean I didn't express my feelings, does it?"

“Xiao Liu had mentioned before that he wanted to open a jewelry store. When I heard that, I thought, ‘Well, our family has experience in this area.’”

The Consort Liang and Consort De, who had been so smug and seemed to have won, suddenly looked dejected.

They were unhappy, but Consort Shu was happy: "I wrote a letter to my mother, and my mother thought that this was also a good opportunity to increase her dowry, so she planned to send a few jewelry craftsmen over."

What she didn't say was that these craftsmen hadn't set off yet because of Xiao Liu's blindness and the chaos in the northern desert.

However, there are advantages to not setting off, because Consort Shu had already arranged with her family that they would bring fashionable jewelry with them.

Not only jewelry, but also mining cooperation contracts, ensuring that Xiao Liu's jewelry store will not have to worry about raw materials once it opens.

Consort Shu felt that she was being too kind. If she revealed the rest, wouldn't she have utterly humiliated these people?

Consort Liang and Consort De, finding no sense of presence in Consort Shu, exchanged a glance and then turned their attention to Consort Xian, who was quietly drinking tea to the side.

Consort Liang smiled and said, "Sister Consort Xian, you are the head of the four consorts, what did you give to Xiao Liu?"

Consort De quickly added, "Yes, yes, if you ask me, it's still Consort Shu who gives the most to Xiao Liu, since Xiao Liu has been saying that Xin Liang is short of people."

“Yes, yes, yes!” Consort Liang quickly chimed in, “Xiao Liu said that Xinliang seems to have tens of thousands of acres of land. For such a large city to reclaim wasteland, the most important thing is people.”

She chuckled and glanced sideways at Consort Shu, saying things like, "You're practically useless; even if you sent those two over there, you wouldn't be able to help Xiao Liu with land reclamation."

Consort Shu had her own plans and ignored Consort Liang's veiled remarks, which only made Consort Liang snort in anger, and she turned her gaze to Consort Xian again.

Not only the two of them, but even Consort Shu and the Empress were very curious about what Consort Xian had given to Xiao Liu.

Consort Xian seemed completely oblivious to the ill-intentioned stares from everyone in the room, and said with a smile, "I can't compare to my sisters who have family wealth, sending grain and medicine as gifts. I was just thinking that since Xiao Liu needs a lot of money to reclaim wasteland and support the people, I'll send him some money. It's not much, just three thousand taels of gold."

The faces of Liang, Shu, and De immediately darkened. Looking at Consort Xian's smiling face, they rolled their eyes in annoyance.

Not much, just three thousand taels of gold...

That's ridiculous! If you really thought it wasn't much, why would you emphasize it like that?

What a hypocritical woman!