Chapter 239 Late-Night Summoning
Huang Sheng was very surprised.
"Do you know the matriarch of the Chen family?"
In recent days, Li Nanke had been learning the ways of business from him, and he had also talked about several famous imperial merchants of the Great Chu.
However, they are currently mainly concentrated in the north, with the only imperial merchants in the south being the Chen family of Quanzhou, whom I mentioned briefly last time.
Li Nanke nodded.
“I saw her at the temple fair today. I heard she was the matriarch of the Chen family, so I thought I'd ask Master Huang if he knew her.”
Huang Sheng touched his bulging eyeballs triumphantly and chuckled.
“Then you’ve come to the right person. I do know a bit about Bai San Niang. I even saw her twice when I went to sea.”
"Oh? Master Huang, please tell us about it."
Huang Shengdao said: "Twenty-five years ago, although the Chen family was a well-known merchant family in Quanzhou, their business was only in Quanzhou and Fuzhou, mainly dealing in tea and porcelain."
When the old master of the Chen family suddenly passed away, the huge Chen family was handed over to his only son, Young Master Chen. Unfortunately, Young Master Chen had been weak since childhood, and not long after taking over as the head of the family, he contracted a serious illness and his life was in danger.
Despite consulting numerous renowned doctors, Madam Chen was unable to cure her son's illness. In desperation, she decided to try a desperate measure: a marriage to bring good luck.
Bai San Niang was married into the Chen family to bring good luck. Strangely enough, on the second day after she married into the Chen family, the sickly head of the Chen family showed a significant improvement in his health.
However, she couldn't overwork herself and couldn't support the Chen family business, so the Chen family head handed the business over to Bai San Niang.
Li Nanke was very surprised.
"The family business has been handed over to a bride who was brought in as a bride to bring good luck? And none of the Chen family members have any objections?"
Huang Sheng said, "Naturally, there were many people who opposed it, but Old Madam Chen and the Chen family head were determined to support Bai San Niang. This Bai San Niang is also a legendary figure."
I've heard that she's decisive and resourceful, and on her second day in power, she swore in front of the Chen clan that she would double the size of the Chen family's business within two years.
Naturally, no one in the Chen clan believed her; they all waited to see her make a fool of herself. But to their surprise, she turned around and spent a fortune building ships and setting sail, and even recruited people to establish the Chen Clan Maritime Escort Team.
She spent a year building ships and training her guards, then spent six months at sea. Her first voyage brought back goods which were transported to the capital, resulting in enormous profits.
"After that, the Chen family opened up sea routes, and more and more merchant ships appeared. The business of the Chen family business also grew bigger and bigger. In less than two years, the business of the Chen family doubled."
After that, the Chen family expanded their businesses to other prefectures and counties of the Great Chu. As far as I know, the Chen family had businesses in every one of the 126 prefectures of the Great Chu.
Li Nanke gasped.
"Wouldn't that mean the Chen family's trading companies would be all over the Great Chu?"
Huang Sheng nodded.
"It can be said that the Chen family is already the richest merchant family in the Great Chu! All of this was built up under the promotion of Bai San Niang."
Therefore, Bai San Niang is not only the matriarch of the Chen family, but also the actual person in charge of the Chen family business. Those Chen family members who were dissatisfied with her at the beginning have long been convinced of her worth.
Bai San Niang held absolute power and influence in the Chen family.
Li Nanke was deeply moved; Bai San Niang's story was full of fantastical elements.
In twenty years, a woman opened her business all over the Great Chu and transformed a second-rate merchant family into the richest merchant family in the Great Chu!
How could such a legendary woman possibly have any connection with her grandfather, Marquis Anping?
What do you want from him?
Does he love opera and collecting antiques? Or is it because he has a bad temper? Or was he just blind when he was young and got deceived?
Li Nanke thought about Anping Hou's appearance carefully, and felt a lot of questions.
Or perhaps she made a mistake?
Bai San Niang and Bai Shi, the lover of Marquis Anping, had no relationship.
What are you thinking about?
Seeing that she didn't speak, Huang Sheng tapped her on the head.
Li Nanke snapped out of his reverie and said with a smile, "I was thinking, I wish I could be that good too."
Huang Sheng looked at her and grinned.
"That day will come."
That evening, Li Nanke told Li Mu and Song Yi about Bai San Niang.
Li Mu's first reaction was exactly the same as hers.
"If Bai San Niang is really as powerful as you say, what has she taken a fancy to about Marquis Anping? Could it be that we've made a mistake, and they're not the same person at all?"
Li Mu now feels very resentful towards Marquis Anping. Now that it's just the three of them, he doesn't even want to call him "father" anymore.
Li Nanke...
She really wanted to know too.
Song Yi stared at Li Mu's face for a moment, then whispered, "Your father-in-law was quite handsome when he was young."
The implication was that Bai San Niang had taken a liking to Anping Hou's face.
Li Mu...
Although Li Nanke was exhausted from the day, he couldn't fall asleep in bed at night.
I wondered if Chen Xu had been taken away by those people, or if he was already dead.
Who were the people who killed Shen Xu?
Then she remembered Shen Cong's insistence on telling the Emperor about Shen Xu's news, and felt a little annoyed.
Finally, she thought of Bai San Niang and Chen Shi. In the dream, when she was by Shen Xu's side, Chen Shi was already the number one imperial merchant in the Great Chu.
The Chen family also sent women to the palace to serve the emperor, and Shen Xu arranged for members of the Chen family to enter officialdom. Shen Xu also used the Chen family's wealth to do many things.
The Chen family has now entered the capital, and Shen Xu has also appeared in the capital.
Everything is leading to the continuation of the storybook's plot!
Could it be that even though she suppressed the reborn Song Hui, she still couldn't stop the plot from unfolding?
Li Nanke tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
Just then, she heard a faint commotion outside. She got up and listened for a moment.
The sound seemed to be coming from the street, a rumbling sound, like the sound of galloping horses.
Why would someone be riding a horse so late at night?
At this moment, Zisu rushed in, looking flustered.
"Someone from the palace has arrived. Miss Xuan, please enter the palace immediately."
Li Nanke asked in surprise, "Now? What time is it?"
"The hour of Hai (9-11 PM) is almost over."
As Zisu spoke, she grabbed the clothes from the hanger and hurriedly put them on Li Nanke.
He muttered to himself, "Summoning a young lady to the palace in the middle of the night, I wonder what happened?"
Li Nanke, however, understood perfectly.
It must have been Shen Cong who went to the palace and told the emperor about Shen Xu's appearance at the Xiangguo Temple fair. The emperor was anxious and summoned her to the palace for questioning.
Zisu hurriedly combed her hair, tied on her cloak, and then stuffed a warm hand warmer into her hand.
"It's too cold outside, holding a hand warmer will help me stay warm."
Li Nanke went to the front hall and found that, in addition to his grandmother He Shi, Marquis Anping, Li Mu, Song Yi, and Li Yao were all in the front hall.
Li Mu and Song Yi nervously chatted with the eunuch who had come to summon them, trying to find out why Li Nanke was being summoned so late.
Marquis Anping and Li Yao both had their brows furrowed.
As soon as Li Nanke entered, Marquis Anping frowned and coldly shouted, "Have you gotten into trouble again? Why don't you confess honestly?"
Li Mu's face darkened, and he retorted without hesitation.
"The matter hasn't been clarified yet, so why is Father so certain that Ke'er caused the trouble? Does Father secretly wish for Ke'er to cause trouble?"
"you!"
Marquis Anping's face turned ashen.
Li Mu ignored him and left with Song Yi and Li Nanke.
However, he and Song Yi were not summoned and could not enter the palace; they could only wait at the palace gate.
Soon, Li Nanke was brought into the Daqing Hall.
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