Chapter 148 Gambling
"McDull, do you want to die?" Zhou Shaoyu moved in front of her and grabbed her neck.
"Zhou Jingchen, you have to think carefully. If you dare to touch me, the court is hunting down your father. If my father avenges me, the north and south will attack you, and your Nanhai King Zhou family will surely cease to exist."
Zhou Tu knelt down and begged Zhou Shaoyu: "My Lord, you must not do this."
"Master, calm down." Huang Han and others knelt down to persuade him.
Xie Yanyan looked at Zhou Shaoyu's angry eyes and asked calmly: "Zhou Shaoyu, do you believe me?"
Zhou Shaoyu turned his head to look at her. Her eyes were black and white, cold but firm.
He loosened his hand.
Princess Xiyue held her neck and coughed for a long time. The sweetness in her heart disappeared completely. Prince Zhou really wanted to kill her just now.
"Princess Xiyue," Xie Yanyan said, "I agree to the competition. I will choose salt making, which is what you are best at. However, the stake is not the mining rights of the salt well, but the ownership."
"Yan'er..." Xie Anfeng was anxious.
Xie Yanyan gave him a reassuring look.
"Okay." McDull rubbed her neck and said hoarsely. She has always been domineering, but today she realized that not everyone will flatter her.
Seeing Xie Anfeng's anxiety, he was already confident in his heart, and now he is even more confident of winning.
The two sides agreed to compete the day after tomorrow to purify crude salt. Whoever produces refined salt with higher purity will win.
"If you win, I will immediately offer you the Linjiang Salt Well without any further ado; if you lose, this princess will not be polite either, and the madam of Qingfengju will be waiting on the scene."
"good."
The two of them high-fived three times.
Linqiong Salt Well is their lifeline. Even if she agreed, even if she died, her father would never agree to cede it to Xie Yanyan.
The Linjiang Salt Mine is different. It is close to the Wuling Mountains and is a place where fugitives are exiled. The King of Nanzhong cannot reach it and it is often robbed. If it can be used to exchange for her life, the King of Nanzhong will give it up.
Zhou Shaoyu said coldly and angrily, "Master Xie, Princess Xiyue is best at making salt."
[How can you be better than her? She has been learning salt refining from a salt master since she was a child.]
How can I ask you to be a waiter?
Xu Wenrong: [It would be the best if my sister wins. If she loses, I will destroy the brothel and take my sister back with me.]
Xie Yanyan: "Don't worry, I can't go to the Xiaoguan Pavilion."
Zhou Tu felt mixed emotions.
[The Prince is Confused]
[What does it matter whether the Third Young Master wins or loses? Without Princess Xiyue, it will be difficult to carry out the plan.]
Xie Yanyan:
McDull is gone.
Xie Yanyan looked at Zhou Shaoyu: "Tell me, what's going on?"
Zhou Tu endured the pain and said to Zhou Shaoyu: "Master, let me tell Master Xie?"
"Thank you, Master. The palace is in a difficult situation. Over the years, the prince and princess have thought about bringing the prince back every day, but they have always been powerless."
"It was very difficult for us to enter the salt market. It was only with the help of Princess Xiyue that we were able to enter the salt business."
The entire Chencheng city is controlled by the four major salt fields in the south, and the city lord is nominated by these four families and takes turns to be the boss.
The four giants will benefit in the end, and the money will be handed over to the court? Impossible.
In fact, after the Han Dynasty, this place has become an enclave, and the imperial court has no control over it. The taxes here are not paid to the imperial court, and it is already very polite not to rebel.
One of the four giants in the salt industry is the Nanzhong Palace.
There are no salt mines in the fiefdom of the Prince of Nanhai. In order to enter the salt industry, the King of Nanhai wants to form an alliance with the Prince of Nanzhong.
It was originally agreed that the Prince of Nanzhong would marry Zhou Shaoyu's sister Zhou Tangtang, but the daughter of the magistrate of Boluo County fell in love with the Prince of Nanzhong at first sight, and the marriage between Zhou Tangtang and the Prince of Nanzhong was called off.
Privately, the King of Nanzhong and the King of Nanhai intended to pair McDull and Zhou Shaoyu together.
McDull is a genius in salt-making. Zhou Tu fought hard with the local salt tyrants, and with the help of McDull, they finally got a place in the salt industry.
"Recently, a salt mine was discovered near Chencheng. The reserves are extremely large. Because the salt mine is located outside Dongguan County, Houwu State, the fiefdom of the King of Nanzhong, and the fiefdom of the King of Nanhai, even other nearby cities want to compete for it."
"All parties agreed that instead of fighting and snatching, everyone would compete to make salt. They would dig out salt from the well, and whoever could extract refined salt the fastest would own the well."
The Nanhai Palace wanted to have a piece of this cake, but it was troubled by the lack of talent in salt production.
McDull is recognized as the most talented salt-making expert in the entire industry.
After weighing the pros and cons, the King of Nanzhong agreed to lend McDull to the King of Nanhai to participate in the competition. He also joked that the Yuheng Salt Well would be taken over as McDull's dowry.
Therefore, Zhou Tu and others always treated McDull as a distinguished guest and never dared to offend him.
After listening to this, Xie Yanyan finally understood what was going on. No wonder Zhou Shaoyu came to Chencheng for no reason.
"People should be used but not indulged!" Zhou Shaoyu said firmly, "I don't want to be controlled by others anymore."
At the word "again", Zhou Jin and Zhou Tu's eyes suddenly turned red, and they replied, "Yes, I will remember it."
For the sake of the entire royal palace and the entire Zhou family, the prince has been a hostage in Kyoto for ten years. From a small child to now, he has been under control throughout his childhood and adolescence. They will never forget it!
"Third Young Master, I called you here just to have fun. After all, the exile team is too suffocating." He really wanted to bring her here to relieve her boredom, but who would have thought that he would meet Princess Xiyue.
He was very angry because he was pushed to the center of the storm.
"Zhou Shaoyu, will Princess Xiyue be your Crown Prince's Consort?" Xie Yanyan suddenly asked Zhou Shaoyu.
Zhou Shaoyu didn't even think about it and said firmly: "No! There is no way I can marry her."
Having said this, he added: "It was because I was determined not to marry her that my father agreed to exchange 100 war horses for her help in taking over the Yuheng Salt Mine."
Xie Yanyan said softly: "Then I must have won her."
It was late at night and everyone was exhausted. Zhou Tu ordered the East Room to be rearranged. Xie Yanyan didn't think much about it and fell asleep.
But Xie Anfeng and Xu Wenrong couldn't sleep.
Xie Anfeng couldn't hide his worry: "Yan'er shouldn't accept the provocation of Princess Xiyue. She doesn't have the technology to make salt."
Xu Wenrong said thoughtfully: "Uncle, what if my cousin really can do it?"
"Impossible, she never learned it."
"What if someone is gifted?"
"Wenrong, what do you mean by that?"
"Uncle, just wait and see, she will definitely be able to make salt, and her ability is far superior to that of Princess Xiyue!" Xu Wenrong said confidently.
Xie Anfeng said nothing. He devoted very little energy to his children.
"My cousin is not an ordinary person. All the glory of the Xie family belongs to her."
Xie Anfeng remained silent. He was extremely uneasy the last time they eradicated locusts in the northwest, and now, his uneasiness increased again.
This daughter, perhaps, is no longer the pretty and delicate little girl that I held in my arms when I was a child!
He wasn't suspicious at the moment, he just didn't want to face it. Every time he faced Xie Yanyan's unyielding face, he couldn't ask the questions he wanted to ask.
He was afraid, afraid that if he asked, he would get a positive answer, and then his daughter would really leave him forever.
His eyes were a little hot. He returned to his room, took out a half-carved wooden doll from his pocket, and continued carving under the candlelight. Yan'er's birthday was more than a month away, and he wanted to make a gift for his daughter personally.
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