The Third Prince had his doubts about Helian Jue, but the news from Yuezhou indicated that Helian Jue was disheartened by the matter of being deposed.
Even Xiao Zixiu wrote back, saying that Helian Jue was addicted to drinking every day, and that everything inside and outside the palace was left to Xie Shi to manage.
Even neglecting his own royal residence, Helian Jue did not make friends with officials or powerful families in Yuezhou, nor did he recruit soldiers.
No matter how you look at it, Helian Jue doesn't seem like someone who is working hard to develop his career and plotting to seize the throne.
Furthermore, Yuezhou was barren and desolate, and officials such as Cui Boyong monitored the area outside the palace, while subordinate officials such as Zhou Wencheng and Xiao Zixiu supervised the area inside.
Even if Helian Jue wanted to bide his time, he wouldn't have the chance.
As for Madam Xie, hmph, she's just a woman. Even if she comes from a prestigious family, she's only good at poetry and literature and knows how to manage household affairs.
...Not to mention the Third Prince, even the Emperor didn't take the Yue Prince's Mansion seriously.
Therefore, the booming sugar shop business in Yuezhou must have been Xiao Zixiu's idea.
Before Xiao Zixiu was forced to leave the capital, he told the Third Prince, "Although I am far away in Yuezhou, I will find a way to help Your Highness!"
Xiao Zixiu: ...I just wanted to express my attitude at the time. How could I be so awesome as to be able to do such a big thing?
Unfortunately, Helian Jue and Xie Yuan dug a huge pit together, and even if Xiao Zixiu returned to the capital and explained to the Third Prince face to face, he still couldn't explain it clearly.
Especially when he returned, he brought truckloads of sugarcane and a fragmented sugar-making recipe.
Even more coincidentally, Xiao Zixiu actually managed to produce relatively coarse brown sugar using the secret recipe and sugarcane.
He was even more unable to explain it clearly.
"This is sugar? Made from sugarcane?"
Xiao Zixiu hurried as fast as he could and managed to arrive in the capital before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
He rushed to the Prince of Yan's residence and personally presented him with the brown sugar he had brewed on the way.
Looking at the slightly blackened pieces of brown sugar, the Third Prince was so excited that he completely forgot about settling accounts with Xiao Zixiu.
While ordering someone to brew it, he anxiously inquired about Xiao Zixiu's needs.
Xiao Zixiu was overjoyed to have successfully made brown sugar.
He suppressed his smugness and nodded reservedly, "Yes! This is brown sugar! It can also be used to make white sugar!"
Although he doesn't know how to make white sugar yet, he thinks it should be similar to making brown sugar.
He has already found a craftsman and is preparing to have him try several times; he should be able to succeed.
In this way, Xiao Zixiu really helped the Third Prince find a highly profitable business.
Princess Xie made a fortune from her sugar shop, and so can the Third Prince!
Xiao Zixiu secretly thought: When I return to Yuezhou, I will deliberately open a new candy shop next to Princess Xie's candy shop.
Hmph, we can't let Helian Jue and Xie use the Third Prince's name for nothing.
"Great! That's wonderful!"
The Third Prince clapped his hands excitedly, and looked at Xiao Zixiu as if he were a great hero.
He is now being targeted by the princes and has been forced to step out from behind the scenes and into the limelight.
His situation became difficult.
His father did love him, but he couldn't show it too obviously.
Therefore, in many situations, he still needs to do it himself.
Recruiting officials, gathering powerful families and clans... so many things, and money is essential.
My father and mother secretly provided financial assistance, but who would complain about having too much money?
The candy from Guangcheng has become a sensation in Beijing.
The price was driven up to astronomical levels.
The powerful and wealthy considered it an honor to be able to buy the finest white sugar and rock sugar.
The candy shop displayed the sign of the Prince of Yan's residence, and the nobles in the capital and the palace believed it to be genuine.
Even the Sage once jokingly remarked that Xiao Zixiu was capable, having helped the Third Prince establish such an enterprise in Yuezhou.
Consort Xiao was Xiao Zixiu's older sister, and since she couldn't openly praise her younger brother, she pretended to complain and said, "Zixiu, you've expanded your business all the way to Guangcheng, why don't you think of opening a shop in the capital?"
The capital is the Third Prince's stronghold.
The emperor, as expected of a sage, considered things more thoroughly than Consort Xiao: "It must be a problem with the raw materials! Although Lingnan is remote, it has some crops that are not available in the north!"
This is also why many powerful and wealthy people did not go to the Third Prince to ask for the secret recipe for making sugar.
However, everyone was focused on the Prince of Yan's residence, thinking that if anyone from Lingnan came, they would investigate carefully and try to get a share of the highly profitable sugar business.
"I don't know if I can protect this prescription!"
Holding the sugar-making recipe presented by Xiao Zixiu, the Third Prince was somewhat worried.
Xiao Zixiu opened his mouth, wanting to say several times that the sugar-making was something the Yue Prince's Mansion had come up with on its own.
However, since the Third Prince did not inquire about Helian Jue's recent situation, Xiao Zixiu did not take the initiative to speak.
Furthermore, nominally, he is now an official under the Yue King's court.
An invisible barrier had already formed between him and the Third Prince.
Human nature is complex, and Helian Jue is also Xiao Zixiu's own nephew.
Even Xiao Zixiu himself couldn't guarantee that the Third Prince still trusted him completely.
"Forget it! I've already made brown sugar, and Helian Jue is a cripple. There's only Xie Shi, so he shouldn't be able to cause any big trouble. Why should I create these unnecessary complications?"
Thinking this, Xiao Zixiu swallowed back the words he was about to say.
Xie Yuan, whom Xiao Zixiu deemed "unable to cause any trouble," began to stir up trouble after Xiao Zixiu left Yuezhou.
"Ruyi, have you gotten your hands on the secret recipe for making brown sugar?"
Inside the room, Xie Yuan spoke to Ruyi with an air of seriousness.
Ruyi cooperated perfectly, putting on an acting show with Xie Yuan, "As soon as Xiao Dianjun left, I went to the workshop! I was fortunate enough to succeed in my mission and finally got the secret recipe!"
"Good! It's good that I got the prescription! Humph, Xiao Zixiu, relying on being the prince's elder, has shown the slightest respect to the prince and me!"
"He's still using his position as the military commander of the Prince of Yue's mansion to work for the Third Prince! This is truly outrageous!"
"I can't make this brown sugar myself, but I can sell the secret recipe! Ruyi, go and inquire among the wealthy merchants and magnates of Yuezhou to see if any of them are willing to buy it."
Xie Yuan deliberately used a tone that implied "If I can't open a shop, you can't monopolize it either," making hurtful remarks that didn't benefit himself or others.
Zhao Jinxiu, who was eavesdropping outside the door, became breathless when she heard the words "brown sugar recipe".
That afternoon, Madam Zheng of the governor's mansion received the news.
"The brown sugar recipe? The Xie family got their hands on it? And they want to sell it?"
"Okay! I'll buy it!"
Sugarcane grows everywhere in Lingnan. If she could get the secret recipe, she could make brown sugar and make a lot of money!
Zhao Jinxiu, following Madam Zheng's orders, ran back to Xie Yuan to curry favor, "Your Highness, Madam Zheng has heard from somewhere that you have a secret recipe for brown sugar, and she is willing to pay a thousand taels of gold to buy it!"
Xie Yuan didn't reveal Zhao Jinxiu's "spy within a spy" identity at all, and feigned surprise, saying, "Really?"
She's dug a pit for herself, just waiting for Madam Zheng and other powerful figures from Yuezhou to fall into it!
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