I don't know if it's too hot to bear, or if it's just time for it to get hot.
The fifth prince's fever subsided after two days and three nights, and it seemed that his life had been saved, but he was left with an increasingly frail body.
All the palaces expressed their regret over this.
Some people outwardly expressed sympathy, but inwardly regretted not burning the little brat to death.
Someone was very caring and sent a lot of nice things.
Some people are wary, suspecting it's just a new tactic used within the palace.
But none of that matters. The Fifth Prince only needs to close the palace gates and live a secluded life, and that will be enough for the world to forget his existence.
Wen Zhiyun traveled between the clinic and the Wu residence every day, diligently studying medical skills, needless to say.
Xu Mo gradually became familiar with the Hanlin Academy, and would visit the Wenchang Pavilion every now and then. The poems and essays he wrote were passed down by word of mouth, and the name of the Young Master of Green Bamboo became more and more solid, attracting countless admirers.
Everyone was fine, except for the Zheng siblings, who were busy with their lychee business in Jiuzhenfang.
They overestimated the influence of established families on business.
Originally, they thought that by delivering lychees to the capital in a timely manner, they could secure a stable and highly profitable lychee business. However, they did not expect the Fang family to be so domineering, bringing in lychees that directly occupied half of the Fengjing aristocratic market.
Actually, you'll understand once you think about it this way.
The transportation cost of lychees is high, and their price is comparable to that of gold. Only the Fengjing family, a wealthy and influential family, can afford to eat them.
The Fang family led nearly half of the prominent families in Fengjing, so it was impossible for the Zhu and Tao families to ignore the lychees from the leading families and buy lychees from Jiuzhenfang instead.
As a result, the market for Lingnan lychees was greatly shrunk, leaving only close friends and relatives such as the Jiang and Yao families to purchase them.
Money can still be made, but it can't compare to the Liao family's monopolistic profits.
Zheng Ruqian was furious and exasperated, saying, "Why are they targeting me? My elder brother is in the Hanlin Academy, are they trying to cause trouble for him?"
Xu Mo, “…”
After finishing the leg-stomping and chest-pounding exercises, we still need to think of a solution.
A good businessman can never tolerate losing profits right before his eyes.
His eyes lit up, and he remembered the lychee ice that Master Kong had taught him last year. He immediately had people freeze it, and when the July sun became hot, he sold it at Jiuzhenfang.
Unexpectedly, the Fang family had also witnessed the popularity of lychee shaved ice, so they also froze it and started selling it.
This once again earned him a barrage of profanities from Zheng Lao Er.
With no other options, they could only send people to Sichuan to transport lychees again, hoping to capture the mid-range market and make money off their small family.
The Fang family didn't follow suit this time, probably because they looked down on such a small profit, or perhaps they didn't want to lower the prestige of a prominent family and barely allow Zheng Ruqian to catch his breath.
In September, he settled accounts with Jiang Sheng.
“The Liao family monopolizes the lychee business. From May to September, they can earn 15,000 taels of silver a month, which is 60,000 taels of silver in four months.” Zheng Ruqian skillfully manipulated the abacus. “This is just a rough estimate. If the transportation personnel and ice are their own, the profit can be even higher.”
Now that half of it has been taken away by the Fang family, it's no wonder that their hearts are trembling with pain.
Even though this amount of money is comparable to his total profits over the years, an ambitious person can never be satisfied.
Sometimes it's hard to tell whether ambition leads to success or success fuels ambition. Perhaps, provided we don't go astray, the two should complement each other.
The only saving grace was that the Fang family only took a share of the business and did not engage in the vicious competition that the Liao family did.
They weren't after a monopoly; they were more like people who needed money and wanted to earn some to spend.
“One hundred thousand taels of silver.” Jiang Sheng suddenly looked up as if he had just remembered something. “The Fang family donated one hundred thousand taels of silver.”
So they really did run out of money.
For a prominent family, 100,000 taels of silver wouldn't be enough to bankrupt them, but it's not something they could just throw away. Presumably, some of their liquid assets had been taken away, and now they need the lychee business to fill the hole.
They made their money easily, while Zheng Ruqian, whose profits were being ruthlessly taken away, was extremely resentful.
But he had to swallow his resentment, because they were not strong enough to resist the powerful families, let alone face a behemoth like the eldest prince.
At the end of August, the lychee season ended, and the Fang family promptly withdrew.
Whether Zheng Ruqian had become numb to the pain or realized that there are gains and losses, he actually became familiar with Eunuch Gou, who was in charge of receiving lychees. He unexpectedly learned that the end of the year was the Emperor's birthday and that the Court of Imperial Sacrifices was looking for fresh and unique ingredients.
He had a sudden inspiration and remembered the flock of sheep he had left in Shangjun.
The lambs that were once raised to satisfy my sister's appetite are now all plump and strong, and some of the ewes have even given birth to lambs. The flock of a dozen sheep has grown to dozens in just six months.
The unique breeds from the grasslands, along with the delicious flavors produced by the livestock with ample exercise, are still unforgettable for Jiang Sheng.
They had jokingly mentioned bringing the sheep to Fengjing to sell, but that was forgotten because the sheep were still small.
Now, it's time to bring it.
"Jiang Sheng," Zheng Ruqian deliberately tempted his sister, "would you like to eat mutton from the frontier?"
Its unique freshness, firm texture, chewy tendons and bones, and rich marrow.
Jiang Sheng quickly covered her mouth, eagerly asking, "Is Second Brother bringing all the lambs back?"
“Yes.” Zheng Ruqian nodded. “I’ll get up and go to Shangjun right now to bring all the sheep back. Give me some money to use.”
"Okay!" Jiang Sheng replied sweetly, hurriedly pulling out banknotes. "How much do you need?"
"I want fifty thousand taels."
...
The wind blew past the pastry shop, and the sweet little girl stood frozen in place, unable to recover for a long time.
When we bought the small patch of grassland and hired people to raise sheep, it didn't even cost five thousand taels. How come it costs fifty thousand taels to transport the sheep this time?
They only earned 50,000 taels of silver during the entire lychee season!
It's a lot, but it's heartbreaking to spend it all.
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