Zhao Qing held the wine glass and said with a smile: "Is this wine from the palace? No wonder it smells so good."
She grew up in Liangzhou City and drank the coarsest whole-grain wine. Zhao Qing's heart leaped with joy, and he carefully sipped the wine from the white jade cup.
Sweet, mellow and fruity!
It’s really delicious!
It is worthy of being the imperial capital of Daqing. The remote Liangzhou City is not even one-tenth as good as the imperial capital.
Shen Wei remained silent, secretly observing Zhao Qing's every move. Just now, when Shen Wei said "Palace Jade Liquor", there was no surprise in Zhao Qing's eyes.
Shen Wei watched Zhao Qing finish a glass of wine, and smiled and said, "Princess Zhaoyang is the beloved daughter of the Emperor and Empress of Daqing, so there is no shortage of fine wine in her mansion. It is said that this fine wine costs 180 taels of silver to buy a glass in the Yanjing market."
"One hundred and eighty taels per cup, so expensive." Zhao Qing was surprised. Everyone in Yanjing really knows how to do business.
Shen Wei carefully observed Zhao Qing's expression, and she secretly concluded that Zhao Qing was either not a modern person, or she was particularly good at playing dumb.
After thinking for a moment, Shen Wei pretended to be envious and couldn't hide her praise: "Pingyang County Princess, I heard that you are quite good at making weapons, this is really amazing."
Zhao Qing raised his head with a proud look on his face.
With the precious "Taihua Notes" in hand, Zhao Qing was full of confidence. Zhao Qing pretended to be modest: "I was born in a cold and harsh borderland. I watched my father do carpentry work since I was a child and learned some basic skills."
This was an excuse Zhao Qing deliberately made up. When in Liangzhou City, Shangguan Xuan and Shen Mieyue asked her about her past, wanting to know why she knew how to make these wonderful weapons. Zhao Qing always used "my father taught me" as an excuse.
Her father was a carpenter and has been dead for many years. Even if outsiders want to investigate, they will have no evidence.
Shen Wei seemed to agree with her words. She raised her hand and fumbled in her hair, taking out a gold and emerald hairpin. Chen Wei said, "The county lady and I hit it off right away. We met briefly at the Marquis's residence a few days ago, and today we met again at the Princess's residence. It was truly fate. This hairpin was a gift from the prince, and I'm giving it to the county lady today."
Caiping, who was serving at the side, understood what he meant and took the hairpin and handed it to Zhao Qing.
Zhao Qing was surprised at first, then politely accepted the hairpin. She is no longer a herbalist from Liangzhou; she is a distinguished county lady and the future mistress of a marquis’s mansion. Shen Wei was a concubine who took the initiative to please Zhao Qing, so Zhao Qing accepted it as a matter of course.
Zhao Qing looked closely at the exquisitely shaped hairpin. Made of pure gold, the hairpin head is shaped like a half-screen of a peacock, which is very luxurious and beautiful.
Chen Wei narrowed her eyes and reminded her: "County Princess, this hairpin was made by a skilled craftsman in the palace in half a month, and it also contains a secret."
Zhao Qing took a closer look and saw a soft green light in the center of the peacock shape on the hairpin.
What an exquisite design, worthy of being produced by craftsmen from the Imperial City of Yanjing. Zhao Qing exclaimed: "It hides green light and imitates peacock eyes. It's really interesting."
Zhao Qing accepted the hairpin without hesitation.
Shen Wei watched Zhao Qing's every move, thoughtfully. This gold and turquoise hairpin has an inlaid structure. A small net is woven with gold thread in the head of the hairpin, and an emerald is inlaid in the net pocket. Just by turning a small mechanism on the hairpin, you can open the gold mesh and see the emerald inside.
Zhao Qing can conceive of ingenious weapons, but he can't even detect a small hairpin hiding a mechanism...
Shen Wei thought of the "compound bow" that King Yan had mentioned before. The King of Yan once said that military advisor Zhao Qing only provided blueprints and never participated in the specific production of weapons.
Are you unwilling to participate in the production? Or does Zhao Qing simply not know how to make it?
Shen Wei took a sip of the hot drink in silence. If my guess is correct, Zhao Qing should not be a modern person. Zhao Qing was probably lucky and got the knowledge about modern weapons from somewhere.
Maybe it's a book, or a mural, or a scroll.
Shen Wei secretly decided that she had to find some time to check and make sure to find out where Zhao Qing got his modern knowledge from.
...
...
On the other side, in the study of the princess's mansion. Zhaoyang asked the maid to grind ink, and she picked up the pen and quickly wrote two IOUs.
Zhaoyang wrote as he said, "Dowry is a woman's private property. Only a spineless man would use a woman's dowry. Your mansion still owes Sun Qingmei 12,000 taels of silver. Sun Qingmei asked me to act as her agent. The Marquis must return it this year."
Write the IOU quickly.
The maid handed the IOU to Shangguan Xuan. Shangguan Xuan's face turned pale. He actually knew that his mother was willing to let Sun Qingmei marry into the family because she valued her huge dowry. Sun Qingmei's father died in battle and her brother died of illness. She was the only child left in the Sun family. All the huge fortune accumulated by the Sun family belonged to Sun Qingmei.
Marrying Sun Qingmei is like marrying a bag of money.
Everyone in the Marquis' Mansion understood each other tacitly and all lay on Sun Qingmei to suck her blood. But after being exposed by Zhaoyang in person today, Shangguan Xuan still felt embarrassed.
Zhaoyang was just a princess without real power, but she relied on the favor of the emperor and empress to act tyrannically in Yanjing. Shangguan Xuan has made great military achievements. He guards the border for the Li family of Qing State and defends the country. Who wouldn't regard him as a national hero?
He was really unwilling to accept such insult from Zhaoyang after returning to Beijing.
"Okay, I'll sign." Shangguan Xuan was full of resentment. He held the brush and signed his name.
He has military achievements and a smart wife like Zhao Qing, so the Zhennan Marquis Mansion will surely regain its former glory.
A mere ten thousand taels of silver can be paid back quickly.
Zhaoyang was satisfied and put the IOU back into the box. "I know your mansion is poor, and I won't force you. From now on, on the 15th of every month, I will send someone to the mansion to ask for 1,000 taels. You can pay it back in one year."
After putting away the IOU, Zhaoyang took a sip of the hot drink handed to her by the maid and asked leisurely, "You said you had an important letter. Take it out and let me have a look."
Shangguan Xuan took out a letter from his sleeve.
This was given to him by Yan Yunting.
Yan Yunting is now an official in Liangzhou City, assisting Shen Mieyue in the war. The sky is high and the land is long, and the journey is long. Being too far away from home, Yan Yunting couldn't help but miss his lover in Yanjing. He wrote letters to both Tan Tairou and Zhaoyang.
Tan Tairou would reply to every letter, and her words were full of love. She also asked someone to send boots and a leather hat to Yan Yunting. But Yan Yunting has not received any letter from Zhaoyang yet!
The letter that Yan Yunting asked someone to send to Zhaoyang also fell into oblivion.
Yan Yunting suspected that Zhaoyang was still angry with him. Because Luoyuehu did not keep the appointment, Zhaoyang held a grudge against him for a long time. So Yan Yunting wrote a letter and gave it to Shangguan Xuan, asking Shangguan Xuan to present it to Zhaoyang in person.
"Your Highness, you will be very happy to see this letter." Shangguan Xuan handed over the letter.
Everyone in Yanjing knew that Princess Zhaoyang was deeply in love with Yan Yunting.
After Yan Yunting left Beijing for his new post, Zhaoyang had not had any contact with any other man for the past six months. She had been behaving herself well, as if she was waiting for Yan Yunting's return.
The maid took the envelope and handed it to Zhaoyang.
Zhaoyang glanced casually with his beautiful almond-shaped eyes and saw the eight neatly written characters "Respectfully written by Yunting, personally addressed to Zhaoyang" on the surface of the envelope. Zhaoyang's eyes widened: "A letter from Yan Yunting?"
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