The following day, there was another grand court assembly held every five days.
A few days ago, Gu Yaoniang went to the Ministry of Revenue every day. Even if she didn't say a word, she would sit beside her, preparing that if any official asked about the Gu family's commercial notes, she and Lu Zhaoan would be there whenever they were called.
The court assembly had nothing to do with Gu Yaoniang. However, whenever there was a major court assembly, the officials from the Ministry of Revenue would gather in twos and threes after the assembly ended, chat, have a leisurely lunch, and then return to their offices to report for duty.
Now that this is the last grand court assembly before the summer break, it is exceptionally long. Gu Yaoniang has also had some free time. Today, she had dinner at the Gu family's house before going to the Ministry of Revenue to report for duty.
After finally sleeping in, Gu Yaoniang felt all the recent depression and fatigue dissipate, and her vitality returned.
Bizhu fetched water and washed her face. She was used to doing things herself, and she was not used to being served in everything. She felt that her fingers had become less dexterous.
But Bizhu and Bishuang were too skillful; she couldn't do as well as they did when she tried to dress herself. After a while, she got used to it.
At this moment, Bizhu was picking out hairpins from her jewelry box. She sat in front of the bronze mirror, idly playing with the hairstyle that Bizhu had just styled for her.
Before she even put on any hairpins or ornaments, a few stray hairs still clung to the ends of her hair. She picked them up with her index finger and played with them in her hand, then exclaimed, "Bizhu! Has my hair thinned? And I have gray hairs!"
Bizhu was startled by her exclamation, and her hand trembled involuntarily. Turning around, she saw that Bizhu was holding her hair up with one hand and playing with a strand of hair with two fingers in the other. She couldn't help but raise her voice slightly: "My lady!"
She gently pulled Gu Yaoniang's hand down and scolded, "Why are you acting like a child! Playing with my hair too."
Gu Yaoniang looked away guiltily, but then suddenly remembered something and said with some urgency, "Look, do I have gray hair?"
Bizhu was both amused and exasperated: "How old are you? How come you already have white hair?"
Following the direction of Gu Yaoniang's finger, she carefully examined the hair, ran her fingers through it a few times, and then firmly replied, "It's really not there, my lady, you can rest assured."
Gu Yaoniang visibly breathed a sigh of relief, but was still somewhat skeptical: "Really? But I think I just saw it."
As she spoke, her right hand involuntarily reached for her hair bun, but Bizhu stopped her: "Don't mess up your hair! How old are you? How can you have white hair?"
She took the jade comb and smoothed Gu Yaoniang's hair, gathering up the stray strands, and said, "Your hair is so soft and shiny, it's probably just reflecting the light that makes it look like white hair."
Gu Yaoniang gazed intently at her reflection in the mirror, seemingly relieved by Bizhu's affirmation: "That's good. I'm twenty now..."
Bizhu found it amusing: "My lady is only twenty, still in the prime of her life, why worry about these things?"
Gu Yaoniang chuckled softly, "That's true. These days I go to the Ministry of Revenue every day, just like an official going to his post. I feel like I've aged a lot. Being an official is really a torment. Luckily I'm not thinking about taking the imperial examination, otherwise, I'm afraid I'll be sad for a while whether I pass or not."
-
According to Prince Qing's wishes, the paper, brushes, and ink used for the commercial notes produced under the supervision of the Ministry of Revenue this time should still be the same as those used by the Gu and Lu families, and the brushes and inks of the Pearl Xuan paper and the Lu family should continue to be used.
When Gu Yaoniang arrived at the Ministry of Revenue, she bumped into Lu Zhaoan, who was also there. The two entered the Ministry of Revenue together.
The officials from the Ministry of Revenue had not yet fully returned to their posts; only a few remained.
Gu Yaoniang and Lu Zhaoan greeted the officials present one by one and went to the small tea room next to the council hall.
That was where they most often stayed when they listened in on the Ministry of Revenue's meetings.
After the two left, the officials who had been sitting scattered around gathered together, whispering to each other.
“This lady from the Gu family comes every day.”
"I've heard that His Highness Prince Qing used to enjoy drinking at the Gu family's Jin Yu Lou restaurant!"
"This lady from the Gu family is quite good-looking; the Prince Qing's mansion currently has no female relatives..."
The group exchanged glances and laughed in a cryptic manner.
Lu Zhaoan had already walked far away with Gu Yaoniang, but his ears twitched and he looked back again.
His usually aloof demeanor was now even colder as he stared at the officials from the Ministry of Revenue. Those officials were all scholars, and they knew that gossiping behind people's backs was unbecoming of gentlemen.
As if caught red-handed, even though they were far apart, they were cautious and spoke in hushed tones, perhaps too soft to be heard clearly. Yet, they still dispersed guiltily.
Seeing Lu Zhaoan's actions, Gu Yaoniang peeked over and looked in that direction, puzzled: "What's wrong?"
Lu Zhaoan shook his head: "It's nothing. I just heard them making a fuss and wanted to see what was going on."
Gu Yaoniang pursed her lips and chuckled softly: "When did you become so fond of watching the excitement?"
Lu Zhaoan shook his head and continued walking towards the tea room. Gu Yaoniang glanced over there curiously again, but seeing nothing unusual, she didn't think much of it.
-
When Prince Qing arrived at the Ministry of Revenue, he saw Gu Yaoniang and Lu Zhaoan chatting and laughing happily, so he also chatted with them for a few minutes.
"The reason I asked you to come here today is for our Flying Silver."
Seeing the two men's confusion, Prince Qing suddenly realized: "Oh, I forgot to tell you, now that the Ministry of Revenue is in charge of manufacturing it, it's impossible to still call it the 'commercial notes' that you old merchants used to talk about. I discussed it with a few officials from the Ministry of Revenue, and we've tentatively named it 'Flying Silver'."
Gu Yaoniang pondered the name "Flying Silver," finding it quite fitting. It could be used as money, yet it was lightweight and portable, convenient for long journeys. Truly, it was as convenient as money flying away.
"Madam Gu, you go first."
Judging from Prince Qing's words, he intended to speak with the two separately. Gu Yaoniang and Lu Zhaoan exchanged a glance, then looked away.
At this moment, Prince Qing was full of pride and had no intention of making things difficult for Gu Yaoniang.
"How did Madam Gu go back and discuss it with her elders?"
He asked.
Gu Yaoniang bowed gracefully and replied, "Since it is what the court needs, the Gu family is duty-bound to do so. In the future, whenever the court needs anything, the Gu family will provide it without taking a penny. Since it has already been used as silver, the Gu family will never sell the pearls to others in the future, so that no one can come into contact with them again, and no one can counterfeit silver and confuse the public."
Prince Qing frowned, clearly dissatisfied. He and his advisors had already decided that the Gu family must present their pearl-making techniques. Otherwise, what kind of decorum would it be for a mere merchant like the Gu family to interfere in matters of state?
He turned cold: "Does Madam Gu mean that the Gu family is unwilling to hand over the secret recipe for Pearl Xuan?"
Gu Yaoniang scoffed inwardly—of course she wouldn't!
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