Chapter 81 The Princess's Business Apology
When the caravan returned, Hu Changpu would come down the mountain to see her on his own without Gu Youan having to invite him.
Hu Changpu came into the city with his wife and children today. The three of them first went to the pharmacy owned by Princess Qi in the west of the city. When they arrived, Manager Han was looking at the inventory list.
"Here comes Mr. Hu. Please come in."
The servant shouted, and the shopkeeper Han in the room heard the noise, looked outside, and saw that it was Hu Changpu, so he hurried out to greet him with a smile.
"You've come just in time. If you hadn't come today, I would have gone to the mountain to see you tomorrow."
"Manager Han, your status is different now. I, a mountain dweller, am here to pay you a visit. How can I trouble you to go up the mountain? It's not appropriate, it's not appropriate."
Shopkeeper Han laughed and patted him on the shoulder: "You can speak nice words now, like a head of the family."
When greeting Hu Changpu, Manager Han nodded to his wife Ying, who bowed with a smile.
The son in her arms whimpered and seemed about to make a fuss. Hu Changpu hurriedly patted his back to comfort him. She smiled and said, "I wouldn't say I'm the head of the family. I just help with some housework. This is all thanks to the princess and you guys."
Although Hu Changpu was the eldest grandson of the eldest son's family, he also had many cousins. His grandfather would bypass his father and several uncles and brothers to hand this matter over to him. In addition to his own abilities, his personal relationship with Princess Qi played a big role.
Shopkeeper Han smiled knowingly and said, "Since you're here, go pay your respects to the princess today. The princess wants to see you."
"That's what I was planning."
Shopkeeper Han said, "It's almost noon now. I'm sending someone to the palace to deliver a message. Will you go there this afternoon?"
"It's up to you."
Shopkeeper Han took a note from the cabinet, wrote it, and told the servant to take it to the palace. Then he asked Hu Changpu, "Did you bring the note?"
"I brought it."
Manager Han led the way and took the three members of the Hu family to the backyard. After they sat down, he asked the servant to bring them tea.
After sitting down, Hu Changpu put down the basket on his shoulder and asked the servant to bring some boiled water.
Shopkeeper Han said with a smile, "Good boy, you are a thoughtful person who can take care of your son, unlike me who is a rough man."
Hu Changpu said proudly, "My son loves to cling to me. He needs me to coax him to sleep at night."
"Just spoil him. When you have two or three sons, I wonder if you can hold them all."
Hu Changpu laughed and said, "How could I have thought of such a far-reaching thing? Let's take care of him first."
As they were talking, a servant brought tea and a bowl of water. The servant said, "The Guo family has many children. The princess gave them three dairy sheep, which they are still raising. If your son is hungry, I can go to the Guo family and get a bowl of goat's milk."
"Thank you, but we brought food."
After the servant left, Manager Han asked, "Where's your prescription?"
"In the backpack."
It was inconvenient for Hu Changpu to feed her son water while holding him, so Ying took out the medicine list from the backpack. All the medicinal materials in stock in the Hu family in the first half of the year were on the list.
After thanking Ying, Shopkeeper Han took the prescription and looked through it carefully, then asked with a smile, "Is it more than this time last year?"
Hu Chang Pu nodded. "More than 3,000 kilograms more. The weather is good this year, the population of Songjiang City has increased a bit, and more people are willing to go up the mountain to collect herbs, so the amount is a bit larger."
"According to your estimate, will the output be even higher next year?"
"I dare not say that. No one knows what the situation will be like next year."
Although the Hu family lived in the mountains, he was still clear about what had happened in Songjiang City in the past few months. The feud between Prince Qi's Mansion and the imperial court was difficult to resolve, and how the medicinal materials business would develop in the future remained to be seen.
"I heard your family is planning to build a warehouse? Why are you investing so much money when you know the situation is not good?"
Hu Changpu smiled and said nothing.
Shopkeeper Han put down the list of herbs and said with a smile, "There are some things I can't tell you. You need to ask the princess. But there is one thing I can tell you clearly. As long as you can get the herbs, we can sell as many as we want."
"oh?"
Shopkeeper Han said, "I won't say anything more. You and your sister-in-law should stay here. Have lunch at the pharmacy today and rest up before going to see the princess in the afternoon."
Manager Han still had things to do, and Hu Changpu was not an outsider, so he left after he had said what he needed to say.
As Shopkeeper Han stood up to leave, he couldn't help but pinch his son's chubby little leg and said with a smile, "Take your Dalang to see the princess. The princess has never met your Dalang before. This is the first time they meet, so she should at least give him some kind of greeting gift, right?"
Shopkeeper Han left with a smile. Ying, who had been silent the whole time, whispered to her husband, "Shopkeeper Han should be of the same generation as our uncles, but he speaks to you as if you were your equal."
Hu Changpu smiled and said, "In this case, it can be considered as a result of Princess Qi's help."
At that time, Princess Qi was still the Shopkeeper Gu. When she first came to do business, she overwhelmed the shopkeepers in the medicinal materials business. Although she was young, others had to respectfully call her Shopkeeper Gu when they saw her.
"At the beginning, Shopkeeper Gu and Shopkeeper Han treated each other as equals, and I treated Shopkeeper Gu and I as equals. After spending so much time together, Shopkeeper Han and his friends no longer treated me as a junior."
Ying said expectantly, "I've always heard my family say how smart that person is, but I've never met him."
On the day of their wedding, Ying wore a red veil throughout the whole process. The next day, after she met with her parents-in-law and elders, she had already passed away.
Later, her husband went down the mountain to see Manager Gu several times, and heard that Manager Gu had become the Princess of Qi, and the Hu family went to attend the wedding banquet. She was pregnant and could not go out, so she never had the chance to see her.
"Don't worry, you'll see him this afternoon."
The son struggled and swung his chubby legs, humming and hawing, asking his mother for a hug. Hu Changpu patted his son's butt and said, "Be good and don't bother your mother."
Ying stretched out her hand and said with a smile, "Let me hold him. You've been holding him since we left home today. You must be tired."
Hu Changpu refused to give it to him and said, "Little Fatty is too heavy. Your hands are tired. Who will help me write the list of herbs?"
Ying smiled and said, "Ask someone else to write it."
“They can’t write as well as you.”
Hu Changpu refused to admit that he loved his wife, but his actions showed it. Ying smiled so hard that her eyes curved.
Ever since she traveled across mountains and rivers from Lingnan for several months to marry outside the Great Wall, Ying has been smiling every day. Her life has been going smoothly, and her relationship with her husband has gradually deepened. Now that she has a child, all the anxiety and insecurity she had before getting married has disappeared.
Ying hadn't thought about her family in a long time, so when Princess Qi asked about her family and the medicine store in Lingnan, Ying was stunned for a moment, then said, "I've been away from home for more than two years, and I don't know anything about my family anymore."
"I heard that the most famous pharmacies in Lingnan are Ying, Zhang, Xie, and Chen?" Gu Youan changed the question.
Ying said, "Before I got married, these four medicine shops were indeed the most famous, but the Ying family was not ranked first. The first place went to the Xie family, who had the most medicine shops in Lingnan."
"Although the Xie family has many pharmacies, they follow the same path as the Grand Commander of Zhennan. If we exclude the herbs they sell to the army, their business is not as big as yours."
Ying had never expected that Princess Qi, who had never been to Lingnan, knew so much about the four major families of Lingnan medicine shops.
Ying said, "The Ying family is just taking advantage of the herbalists. Unlike the other three families, they have to buy herbs from the herbalists and are constantly worried about the herbalists raising prices and being controlled by them."
Hu Changpu smiled and continued, "Princess, listen to this. The herbal farmers in Lingnan can even control the drug dealers. We in the Hu family obey your orders and do whatever you say on a daily basis."
Gu Youan glanced at him with a smile: "Are you saying that this princess has treated you unfairly?"
"Hahaha, I dare not say that. If I tell my grandfather at home, he will definitely scold me for being ungrateful."
Gu Youan smiled and said, "I haven't seen your grandfather for a while. How is he?"
"The old man is in very good health. My family bought a lot of wood this year. After selling this batch of medicinal materials, we will prepare to build a new warehouse. My grandfather is keeping an eye on this matter." Hu Changpu did not tell the truth to Manager Han, but he was willing to tell it to Gu Youan.
"Congratulations!"
Hu Changpu smiled and said, "My grandfather has been waiting for this day for many years."
The Hu Changpu branch of the Hu family is considered a relatively weak branch in the Hu family. Now that they can expand the warehouse again, it means that the Hu family in Songjiang City is becoming more and more prosperous, which is a good thing.
Gu Youan remembered that when Hu Changpu proposed to her to expand the warehouse, he obviously deceived her that he was not knowledgeable about it, but she saw through his mistake. Unexpectedly, he really started to build a new warehouse this year.
Gu Youan said, "Since your family is willing to expand the warehouse, you must be looking forward to expanding your business. Let me give you a definite promise: as long as Prince Qi's Mansion exists, your Hu family's business will not fail."
Hu Changpu said, "What a coincidence! Shopkeeper Han also said something similar to me this morning."
"Oh, what else did he say?"
"Nothing else was said, only that I was asked to ask you."
Gu Youan smiled and said, "Actually, it's okay for him to tell you. After the autumn harvest, the Songjiang City government office will issue a notice, and then everyone will know."
Know what? Hu Changpu stared at Princess Qi.
Gu Youan: "After the autumn harvest, we will build an official road from Songjiang City to the eastern estuary."
Seaport? Official road?
Gu Youan turned his head and smiled at Ying, saying, "After the official road is built, you can take a boat from the east of Songjiang City to Lingnan."
Take a boat to Lingnan? Ying had never thought of returning to her parents' home, but it would be nice to go back.
Although her father and stepmother treated her harshly, her grandfather and her aunt's family were good to her. She wanted to go back with her husband and children to let them know that she was living a good life now.
If Songjiang City's fine medicinal herbs could be sold to further afield by ship, it would be a boon for the Hu family. Hu Changpu's breathing quickened. He said quickly, "We need a ship to go out to sea, right? Besides, no one has ever sailed south from outside the Great Wall before. We don't know if the waves will be strong along the way."
Gu Youan naturally knew that this sea route was feasible; she even had a clear sea map in her hand. However, she didn't need to mention this to Hu Changpu. She simply said, "I'll send people to the south to find experienced sailors who have crossed the sea. As long as we can open up the official road from Songjiang City to the seaport, everything else will be no problem."
Gu Youan asked with a smile, "I remember that your Hu family has many relatives in other parts of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Traveling by land is inconvenient. If we take the water route, how many places can we connect to?"
Hu Changpu thought about it and realized that except for the north, most of the places where the Hu family lived in the south were accessible by water.
At the same time, Hu Changpu also understood the hidden meaning of Princess Qi's words. She wanted to make Gu's pharmacy bigger and wanted to pull in the entire Hu family, no, other families in this business, such as Princess Qi's maternal family, the Du family, and his wife's family, the Ying family.
Hu Changpu sucked in a breath of cold air. Did Princess Qi want to take control of all the pharmacies in the Zhou Dynasty?
Gu Youan: "The world is so big, how can you and I exhaust it? I don't have such big ambitions. I just want to expand my business first, and then I can think about other things."
Do you think I believe what you said?
It was not the first time that Hu Changpu knew her. He knew that she was a person with hidden ambitions because she was a woman who dared to form a caravan to trade and she dared to steal the business of the Han family right after she started her business.
They were all old acquaintances, so it was enough to talk about this. Gu Youan no longer mentioned business matters. He talked to Ying with a smile, chatting about the scenery of Lingnan, and asked her if her son Dalang was easy to raise.
Ying Shi seemed quiet, but she did have something to say to Princess Qi. She glanced at her son sleeping in her husband's arms and smiled, "This child has a good temper and doesn't cry or make a fuss. During the day, while I'm working, he lies in his little bed and plays by himself without crying. At night, his father takes care of him, and he falls asleep as soon as he touches the pillow. He doesn't worry me at all."
Gu Youan sighed, "When Prince Qi comes back, I will definitely tell him that as a father, he should follow the example of Hu Changpu."
Ying covered her mouth and laughed. She couldn't imagine what it was like for His Royal Highness Prince Qi to take care of a baby.
A mother and a soon-to-be mother were chatting animatedly. Hu Changpu remained silent. After thinking for a long time, he said, "This matter is too big. My consent is useless. It requires the consent of my grandfather, my parents, and everyone else in the family. My grandfather must also speak up to all the Hu family members in different places."
"Also, if you're interested in the Ying family, you can find someone else to talk to. Dong Niang's relationship with her family is average, so don't make things difficult for her."
Gu Youan glanced at Ying and said to Hu Changpu with a smile, "Don't worry, I won't embarrass your wife. Even if the Ying family doesn't agree, I have other candidates available."
Hu Changpu nodded: "There's no rush for this matter. I'll come see you after my family has discussed it."
"Okay."
It was already this late, and Hu Changpu and his family of three definitely couldn't go back to the mountain today, so Gu Youan asked them to stay for dinner before leaving.
When it was time for dinner, Hu Dalang woke up, crying and drooling. Hu Changpu, as his father, took good care of his son without any complaints.
Gu Youan couldn't help but look forward to it in his heart. When Zhou Qi came back, he would definitely invite Hu Changpu and his family to dinner at his house again and ask him to learn from Hu Changpu how to take care of children.
Gu Youan liked Hu Dalang very much, and also liked Ying very much. When they left, they gave Ying a very generous gift, and Ying was embarrassed to accept it.
Hu Changpu was not polite at all. He accepted the gift generously and said with a smile, "Thank you for the gift, Princess. We will come again next time."
"There will be no meeting gift next time you come."
"That's fine. Let's come back during the Chinese New Year. Even if we don't have a meeting gift, we can always have a New Year gift."
Ying was so embarrassed that she wanted to cover her face. Her husband was really too shameless.
Hu Changpu laughed, hugged his son and left with his wife.
Gu Youan said to Mrs. Wei beside him: "The Ying family is so lucky."
Sister Wei also agreed, but said: "You are more fortunate, our prince is also considerate."
Zhou Qi? Gu Youan smiled. Zhou Qi, although he was considerate to her, but compared to these daily tenderness and care, the couple was more like like-minded fellow travelers, with a high degree of spiritual compatibility.
Gently touching his belly, Gu Youan suddenly said, "I don't know what he's busy with right now."
Mrs. Wei and the others certainly couldn't answer this question. They all knew in their hearts that the princess didn't say this to hear their response.
I missed him so much that I went back to my room, wrote him a letter, and gave it to Liu Zhong: "It's too late today, I'll ask someone to deliver it tomorrow."
Liu Zhong nodded in agreement.
This letter of missing King Qi took three days to travel and waited for two more days for King Qi to return from the grassland before it was finally delivered to King Qi.
In the tent, under the candlelight, Prince Qi's cold brows softened as he read the letter.
Summoning the messenger in, Prince Qi asked, "Is the princess doing well in the palace? Is she busy?"
"The princess is doing well in the palace. A few days after you left, the princess's caravan returned. She met with many people and made arrangements for the repair of the official road in advance."
Prince Qi read the letter again before putting it away. He then asked about the princess's daily diet and rest. These were things that the guards were not allowed to know, so they just said they didn't know.
Prince Qi did not ask any further questions. He wrote a letter and hung it to dry. He then packed it up himself and handed it to the guard: "Send the letter back tomorrow morning and tell the princess that everything is fine here. I will go back after I finish my business."
"yes."
After the guards left, the Northeast Army's commander, Dong Yizhong, walked in and said, "Your Highness, that man under Commander Shen..."
"Leave him alive and send him to Dongcheng City, and let the Shen family deal with him themselves."
Dong Yizhong originally wanted to plead for someone, but when he heard the prince's bad tone, he didn't dare to say anything more and lowered his head to retreat.
As soon as Dong Yizhong left the main tent, he ran into Xu Zhi who came over. Dong Yizhong pulled Xu Zhi aside and told him about the prince's treatment of Deputy General Shen.
"That guy is indeed a fool, but he is a member of the Shen family after all. He only made a small mistake this time, but the prince kicked him back. I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain to General Shen."
Xu Zhi gave a sarcastic smile: "What do you want to explain? What's there to explain? As a commander, do you need to inform the court and the Shen family about punishing an incompetent deputy commander?"
Dong Yizhong stared at Xu Zhi without saying a word, his eyes clearly meaning: Isn't this the procedure?
Xu Zhi smiled and patted his shoulder: "General Dong, relax. You are not Zhang Minghui as the commander-in-chief. Don't learn his cowardly behavior."
Dong Yizhong said with a cold face: "I'm not a coward, I'm just afraid that the prince and the Shen family will become estranged. Who knows when the Shen family will stab us in the back."
For example, telling the imperial court to limit their military pay.
"Don't worry, if the Shen family really dares to do this, the prince will lead his troops to Dongsheng City to rob their military pay. Do you believe it?"
Dong Yizhong was surprised. Is it going to this extent?
Xu Zhi laughed out loud: "I'm just teasing you."
Xu Zhi had other things to do, so he left Dong Yizhong behind.
After finishing his work, Xu Zhi went back to see the prince. Seeing that the prince was writing, he told him about what happened to Dong Yizhong just now.
Prince Qi just nodded, and Xu Zhi said nothing more.
Xu Zhi is the closest person to the master. He knows more and more complete information than Dong Yizhong. He knows that the prince kicked the deputy general surnamed Shen back to warn the Shen family.
The Prince Qi's Mansion, which completely controls the Northeast Army and is about to control the Yanzhou Army, is no longer the Prince Qi's Mansion of the past.
The people under Prince Qi's Mansion need to understand this matter, and the Shen family also needs this reminder.
Dong Yizhong didn't quite understand why the prince had become enemies with the Shen family. But when the guards who had sent Deputy General Shen back brought back several carts of apology from the Shen family, he understood.
Times are changing!
Zhou Qi glanced at the list of gifts sent by the Shen family. It was just okay. It was probably similar to the gifts his princess had given to the Shen family.
If Xu Zhi knew what his master was thinking, he would be shocked. Aren't these treasures sent by the Shen family, which are worth thousands of gold, more valuable than the food and daily necessities sent by the princess?
Zhou Qi threw the gift list to Xu Zhi and said, "Find someone to send it back to the palace and make the princess happy."
"yes."
"Tell Baldy that Dongsheng City doesn't need so many people watching over it. Withdraw some of the troops and return to Songjiang City."
"I see. I'll write to you right away."
The apology gift from the Shen family had to be sent back to Songjiang City. Zhou Qi got up early the next day and asked the person who delivered the gift to wait for a while. He also asked someone to select some cattle and sheep to send back.
It would definitely not be fast to travel with cattle and sheep. In Dongsheng City, it was a few days after the secret guards of Prince Qi's Mansion withdrew that Gu Youan saw the gift sent by Zhou Qi.
After reviewing the gift list, Xiaoyue was told to take it to the warehouse and send the cattle and sheep to the backyard for the time being. She was anxious to read the letter. Zhou Qi's letter said that the Shen family was not worthy of accepting the good things she had given them, and this time they were asked to compensate them, so that the Qi Wang Mansion would not suffer any loss.
Gu Youan smiled as he read the letter. That's good. He knows how to manage the household and knows that his family has suffered losses and wants to find a way to get them back.
"Xiaoju, ask someone to prepare the meal. I want to eat beef at noon."
"Princess, what would you like to eat?"
"As long as it's made with beef, it's fine. Braised, stewed, grilled, etc., prepare some. I'll try it."
"Why."
Prince Qi sent back too many cattle and sheep. She could only eat two or three meals of each one. The weather was hot and the meat was tasty, so she distributed it to different places in the palace. In half a month, the servants and officials serving inside and outside Prince Qi's palace all became fat.
After the Double Ninth Festival, Manager Han and the Du family led a caravan to enter the customs. Gu Youan sent a cow to the Gu family and treated them to a grand banquet.
Before the Du family left, Second Uncle Du came to the palace to find Gu Youan to discuss the settlement of the Du family in Songjiang City next year. Gu Youan promised to take care of it.
Aunt Qian and the others were going to follow the Du family back to Yizhou Prefecture. Gu Youan gave them many gifts of thanks. Among the gifts, she gave each of them a set of gold headwear as a token of respect from her as the princess.
Aunt Qian came to express her gratitude. She said, "We have handed over all our knowledge to the doctor. We will leave this time. When we come back next year, the princess will surely have given birth to the young master safely. I will come to pay my respects to the princess and the young master then."
Aunt Qian made it clear that she would definitely come back next year, and Gu Youan naturally welcomed her.
With the princess's approval, Aunt Qian felt relieved and no longer worried that there would be no place for her in the palace when she came back next year.
The Du family members made their choice, and Du Qing also said that he would come again next year.
On the first night before the caravan set out, Gu Youan returned to his mother's home.
Du Qing said, "After you gave birth, it would be rude for me, your uncle, not to come and visit. I've been away for a year every time I've been in Songjiang City, and it wouldn't be appropriate for your aunt to stay home to take care of the whole family. I'll go back and talk to your aunt about it. If she's willing, I plan to hand over the family medicine shop to your cousin, and I'll bring your aunt to Songjiang City to live for a year."
Gu Youan jokingly asked, "Uncle, are you reluctant to part with my mother and my niece, or are you reluctant to part with Uncle Zhang's medical skills?"
Du Qing said honestly: "I can't bear to do that."
Mrs. Du snorted lightly, "You've learned so much medical skills from him for nothing, and you haven't even become his disciple. When you come back next year, remember to give Doctor Zhang a generous gift."
Du Qing knew this etiquette, and would naturally bring a generous gift to the Zhang family when the time came.
The next morning, the Gu family's caravan and the Du family's caravan set off, but Gu Youan did not go to see them off.
The autumn harvest in Songjiang City was about to begin, and the village head, Zhang Gui, came to ask what to do with the harvested grain. After all, this year was different for his family. He had cultivated over a thousand acres of land, and the harvest was a considerable amount of grain, which the farm would surely not be able to store.
Gu Youan, the big landlord, had made preparations in advance and arranged for Tian Jiaxuan to bring people to her farm to sell the dried grain directly to the government office.
The granaries that were emptied after the old grain was taken away are waiting to be filled with this year's new grain.
When Zhou Chen learned that Tian Jiaxuan had received this mission, he thought, "The princess's farm is selling grain to the government? Why is it transferring it from one hand to the other? Why not just send the grain directly to the granary?"
Isn't the grain in the government storehouse the grain of Prince Qi's Mansion? Isn't the grain of Prince Qi's Mansion the grain of Prince Qi's Mansion?
Tian Jiaxuan smiled but said nothing. Zhou Changshi still didn't understand what kind of person the princess was.
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