Chapter 163 The Money Boss
After returning to the banquet, Master Liu turned to look at Feng Ge, wanting to ask him why he took so long to relieve himself.
Feng Ge was soaked to the skin, like a wet towel, and asked in confusion, "What's going on?"
Feng Ge gritted his teeth and said, "I'm fine. I just accidentally fell into the lake. Don't worry, sir."
Hu Xin'er, Jing'an, and Mu Qing looked at each other, and the three of them tried hard to hold back their laughter. Only Xuanyuan Huili had an extremely ugly expression.
It was already midnight when the banquet ended.
As soon as they returned to the Duke's Mansion, Xuanyuan Huili and the Duke's wife started quarreling.
"What happened to you at the banquet today?" The Duke's wife was a little dissatisfied. "Even if you couldn't get along with Master Liu, you shouldn't have lost your composure like that."
"Mom!" Xuanyuan Huili was filled with anger today, unable to maintain her gentle and demure appearance any longer. "I've already said I won't marry either Young Master Liu or Young Master Zhao. Why are you forcing me to do this?"
The Duke's wife was also stunned by the roar. After she came to her senses, she felt embarrassed and quickly sent the servants away.
She pointed at Xuanyuan Huili and said, "Look at what you've become! I think Lu Yunjue is a vixen. Not only did he seduce you, but he also made you look so delirious!"
"I won't let you scold him!" Xuanyuan Huili was so angry that she burst into tears. "Anyway, if I can't marry Lu Yunjue, I'll jump into the river and commit suicide, rather than fulfill your wish!"
After such harsh words were spoken, the Duke's wife hurriedly coaxed her, "Alright, alright, my dear daughter. I will definitely find a way to prevent Hu Xin'er from becoming Madam Lu. She will obediently give way to you!"
Xuanyuan Huili threw herself into her mother's arms and began to cry.
Hu Xin'er and Mu Qing walked home hand in hand, but met an unexpected person at the door.
"How rare! Why are you two here together?" Hu Xiner joked.
It turns out that Erdong and the eldest princess came together!
Erdong uttered two words: "Shop."
"I came to ask about my aunt's recent situation." The eldest princess said this, but her eyes kept glancing at Erdong, and it was obvious that she had other intentions.
Speaking of Mother Lu, Hu Xin'er looked dejected: "Since that day, Mother has been bedridden and refuses to see anyone."
The doctor said that she was depressed. Hu Xiner knew that she was probably troubled by Lu Yunjue's identity.
As for the doubts about his identity, Mu Qing decided not to tell the Princess and Erdong for the time being.
After all, they were both old friends of Lu Yunjue, and it was only because of the Lu family's relationship that he took care of the couple.
If we tell them about this before the cause of the incident is found out, it will only cause them more trouble.
The princess comforted them: "I will ask my father to send a doctor to get some ginseng or something to nourish my aunt!"
Then, she looked at Erdong and said, "Take out what's in your arms!"
Erdong handed the deed to the shop to Hu Xiner. Hu Xiner took it and looked at it with a look of shock on her face: "This..."
Her money was only enough to buy two shops at most, so how come there were twenty!
The eldest princess smiled proudly: "The extra 18 shops are bought for you by me. I am your financial sponsor, so naturally I want to give you the best investment!"
Hu Xiner looked at the contracts for the 20 shops and thought about the huge wealth behind them. Her heart was pounding and she no longer cared about the eldest princess taking advantage of the title.
She screamed with excitement, then suppressed her surging emotions. "But if we print so many sketchbooks at once, what if they don't sell well? If we don't print them, the rent will be wasted."
The monthly rent of the shop is 5,000 taels. If the empty room is not used for a day, it will be a waste of 166 taels of silver!
The eldest princess hadn't thought about it. She looked at Erdong and said, "Yeah, what if it doesn't sell well?"
Erdong was speechless. He thought the princess had some grand ambitions and a foolproof plan to rent 20 shops in one go!
It turns out he's just a simple business idiot with too much money and nowhere to spend it.
He sorted out his thoughts and said, "The picture books you sell haven't appeared in the capital yet. I think we can divide some of the factories to print old works and the rest to print new works."
This was the first time Hu Xiner took over such a big business. She took a few deep breaths to calm her anxiety.
If she were to do it herself, even if she had as much money as the eldest princess, she would definitely rent two rooms first to test the waters, and then slowly expand the scale later.
But now that the matter is settled, I have no choice but to take a chance!
But all the money was spent, so they had to use the last 100,000 taels of silver for the factory's daily expenses and material purchases.
The 100,000 taels were obtained from selling things that the eldest princess had left in the town, and were considered as sponsorship by Hu Xiner.
Hu Xin'er looked at Erdong and asked, "Have you found everything I asked you to find?"
Erdong fished out a small notebook from his bosom. "The printing press in town has been modified by you, making it more efficient. There's no existing one on the market, but the princess has already sent her best craftsmen to finish it."
As for the purchase price of other papers, Hu Xiner needs to decide it personally.
"We originally planned to test the waters with low-quality paper, but with the current scale, we can sell it in hardcover, collector's edition, and regular edition."
Hu Xiner muttered to herself while making a few sketches on the notebook.
Then he ran into the room, brought back a stack of manuscripts, and handed them to Erdong along with a small notebook: "You can print this manuscript according to the regular edition first. I still need to design the packaging for the hardcover and collector's editions."
The princess looked at the manuscript curiously. The title was "Evil Dad and Proud Baby"
"What does 'nanny' mean?" The eldest princess was a little confused.
Hu Xiner explained: "He's the baby's father."
The eldest princess was impressed. She flipped through a few pages and exclaimed repeatedly, praising, "Your drawings are so good! I've been bored to death these past few days without your new works!"
They were all surprised to hear such flattery from the eldest princess.
The eldest princess was embarrassed: "Isn't it just praising people? I praise people all the time, okay?"
Erdong raised his eyebrows and smiled: "It's good that you don't curse!"
The eldest princess pretended to be angry: "Okay, you dare to slander me!"
The two of them walked away laughing and joking.
The courtyard suddenly became quiet. Hu Xiner noticed that Mu Qing was unusually silent and wondered if he was in a bad mood because the eldest princess mentioned Lu's mother just now?
She asked hesitantly, "Mu Qing, are you worried about your mother?"
Mu Qing sighed: "Mother's health has been getting worse recently, but I haven't found any clues."
I wanted to ask Lu's mother directly, but she has been sometimes confused and sometimes lucid recently, so I couldn't get any answer from her.
Hu Xin'er thought about it and suggested, "Why not ask Young Master Liu? After all, he's an old friend of yours."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
