Chapter 381 Replacing Zhuangzi
After driving away the Jiang family members who had come to their door without warning, Xie Wanniang was about to go back to her room to rest when Cunyu reported that new guests had arrived.
Xie Wanniang, “...Who?”
Upon hearing this, Cunyu knew that Xie Wanniang was starting to get impatient, so she quickly explained in a low voice, "It's the head maid from Princess Dekang's residence next door. She said she was sent by the princess to deliver a return gift."
Xie Wanniang's princess residence was adjacent to the residence of Princess Dekang on one side and the residence of Prince Dongyang on the other.
Princess Dekang was the third daughter of the retired emperor. Because she and her mother were both honest and upright, the emperor treated her with great courtesy and respect, even though she was not the current emperor's biological sister.
The Prince of Dongyang was the retired emperor's nephew and the current emperor's cousin.
This guy is a real playboy who idles his time away. He has no skills, no sense of responsibility, and his only redeeming quality is that he's a coward who never causes trouble.
Such a person may not be of much use, but he also won't cause any trouble for his uncle and cousin who are the emperor.
Compared to those who are incompetent but extremely greedy, always scrambling to seize their own interests or secretly exploiting the people, even at the cost of ruining the royal family's reputation, he, this honest, content parasite, is truly likable.
Xie Wanniang and her family had just moved in, and their neighbors were the same neighbors they hadn't interacted with or had any conflicts with before, so Xie Wanniang naturally wanted to take the initiative to socialize with them.
So she had pastries sent over long before the banquet started.
The Prince of Dongyang was not at home. After receiving a report from a servant, his wife immediately had someone pick out two boxes of freshly made pastries from the kitchen as a return gift.
Princess Dekang delayed sending someone until now, and the person who came even asked to see her. It's unclear whether there was something else that delayed things before, or if there was some other reason.
She didn't change her clothes again, since there were quite a few women dressed as men these days.
It was the same flower hall in the front courtyard where Xie Wanniang had met the Jiang family before. As soon as she entered, she saw a middle-aged woman with a gentle smile on her face, dressed in a simple blue dress.
Upon seeing Xie Wanniang enter, the old woman immediately stood up and greeted her with a smile.
Xie Wanniang said "No need for formalities" and then invited the other party to sit down.
The old woman thanked her and carefully sat down. "This is a return gift prepared for you by Her Highness Princess Dekang."
As she spoke, she handed over a gift list.
Xie Wanniang raised her eyebrows slightly.
Since a gift list was written, it proved that there were quite a few items. However, she didn't understand why Princess Dekang, who had no prior relationship with her, would suddenly send such a generous gift today.
She could have simply done what the Princess Consort of Dongyang did and casually sent her a couple of pastries as a token of goodwill.
She took the gift list and quickly glanced at it. "Your Highness is too kind. I am truly unworthy of such a generous gift."
The implication is, what exactly is your princess up to?
In social interactions, if one party suffers a loss while the other gains an advantage, it is not a sustainable way to maintain a good relationship in the long run.
Unless the party that suffers a loss can make up for it elsewhere and make its generous gift worthwhile, the relationship between the two families is unlikely to last.
Xie Wanniang didn't think that the dignified Princess, along with her shrewd servants and officials, would be ignorant of such a simple principle.
Therefore, the fact that the princess sent her such a generous gift must mean she had other motives.
She wasn't one to beat around the bush, so she simply voiced her doubts directly.
The old woman was clearly familiar with Xie Wanniang's style of doing things, and she wasn't surprised at all when she heard her say that.
Her expression remained unchanged, but she was still somewhat embarrassed inside, simply because her princess's request was rather peculiar.
Of course, as a servant, she didn't dare to criticize her master.
Not only could she not criticize, she even had to shamelessly pretend to be nonchalant and truthfully convey her master's request.
"To be honest, Your Highness, my eldest princess does indeed have a request."
Xie Wanniang thought to herself, "Good heavens, don't you guys really realize how presumptuous you are?"
She had just moved in, and her only connection with the princess was that she sent two boxes of pastries to her new neighbor on moving day, which was a small gesture of goodwill towards her future neighbor.
How could the other party have the nerve to ask her for a favor when they had such a quasi-neighborly relationship?
But considering the other party's identity, Xie Wanniang couldn't openly criticize him for lacking tact.
After all, she's a fake princess, while the other one is a real princess...
If the other party's request wasn't too unreasonable, she would have to give this real princess some face, even if it was just for the sake of the generous gift.
Thinking this way, Xie Wanniang simply put on an expression of "willing to hear the details" and was listening attentively.
The old woman secretly breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the woman did not immediately become angry.
After all, this person is different from her princess. Her princess was born into a good family, but this person's current status is entirely due to her own hard work and achievements.
If the current ruler of the Great Wei is still the retired emperor, as long as the princess doesn't act too outrageously, the retired emperor, as her biological father, can generally tolerate her minor mistakes.
But now the ruler of Great Wei has become her princess's half-brother. It's fine if her princess behaves herself, but if she acts out of line and offends this new princess who has made many contributions to Great Wei, the new emperor of Great Wei, who doesn't have much of a sibling relationship with her princess, will probably not even give her the most basic respect and dignity she has now.
This wasn't her exaggeration; she had personally witnessed the extent to which the new emperor controlled the royal family.
Her princess's half-sister and half-brother were reprimanded and punished by the new emperor according to the rules because they acted out of line and broke taboos. It can be said that they lost all face and dignity.
"To be honest, Your Highness, my eldest princess has taken a fancy to the hot spring resort you recently bought, located 30 miles east of the capital. If you are willing to part with it, my eldest princess is willing to buy it at double the price."
Xie Wanniang: ...
Hot spring resorts in the capital are hard to buy, and she was only able to get notified by the broker because she spent a lot of money when buying the house.
And this time she did not disappoint the broker either. After seeing the estate in person, she readily paid for it.
Princess Dekang, on the other hand, was a step behind due to a delay in receiving the news and was unable to purchase the hot spring resort she had longed for.
Families like theirs, unless they fall into poverty or are unable to make ends meet due to natural disasters, man-made calamities, illnesses, or other unexpected events, will always only acquire property rather than sell it.
On the one hand, you want to keep these assets to benefit your descendants. On the other hand, if others see that you are so poor that you need to sell your assets, they will inevitably guess that something is wrong with your family.
Such speculation can negatively impact one's reputation and could easily invite others to take advantage of one's misfortune or profit from one's misfortune.
Not to mention that what Princess Dekang is about to buy is a hot spring resort that she just acquired not long ago.
This thing is very hard to buy in the capital. Some people wait for several years, or even more than ten years, and still may not be able to buy one that suits their taste.
That's why the nanny sent by Princess Dekang felt guilty.
What she didn't know was that Xie Wanniang wasn't really interested in the so-called hot spring resort. When the broker approached her, she happened to have some money on hand and thought the resort was good, not only worth the price but also with the potential for appreciation, so she bought it on a whim.
Now that Princess Dekang wants to buy, she wouldn't mind selling if the price is right, but she didn't agree immediately.
The reason is simple: if she readily agrees to sell the estate, then even more people will inevitably come knocking on her door.
At that time, one of them will say he has his eye on her shop, another will say he has his eye on her estate, and some might even say they have their eye on her house.
If everyone is urging her to part with her assets, won't her properties in the capital soon be divided up?
Thinking about all this, Xie Wanniang looked troubled. "It's not about the price; it's about how much I really like that estate."
The old woman could completely understand; after all, none of the nobles in the capital disliked hot spring resorts.
Moreover, people who can afford hot spring resorts are certainly not short of money.
But she still had to bite the bullet and try to persuade Xie Wanniang, "I know you are not short of money. How about this? My lord has quite a few good shops, estates and houses. If you are willing to part with them, my lord said that you can choose any of the properties under his name."
Xie Wanniang was somewhat tempted, but did not immediately agree.
It wasn't that she was truly reluctant to part with the hot spring resort, but rather that she couldn't possibly go and pick through Princess Dekang's assets.
She didn't want to suffer a loss by choosing the cheapest option, but choosing the most expensive one would give others cause for criticism and damage her reputation, so it wasn't really worth it.
The old woman noticed her hesitation and confusion, and after a moment's thought, she understood Xie Wanniang's concerns.
Thinking that her princess was actually taking something that belonged to someone else, the nanny simply picked out a few shops and estates from her princess's properties that were worth about 2 to 3 times the market price of the hot spring resort.
As Xie Wanniang listened to her explain, she was already very willing to accept this replacement method. However, in order to fully express her love and reluctance for the hot spring resort, she patiently acted out her struggle and hesitation for a while longer.
But the more she did this, the more the old woman felt she had a chance, so she persisted, using her silver tongue to persuade her relentlessly.
Xie Wanniang delayed for about 15 minutes before finally nodding slightly, her expression a mixture of reluctance and heartache, as if she were being honest but unwilling to compromise, and agreeing to the exchange.
The old woman was currently trying her best to recommend a farm owned by her master to Xie Wanniang. Although the farm did not have hot springs, it covered a vast area with fertile land, abundant water resources, and most importantly, it was close to the capital.
Xie Wanniang had already thoroughly investigated the market situation in the capital. After hearing the old woman's description of the estate's specifics, she immediately calculated the value ratio of the two estates in her mind.
As a shrewd businesswoman, she quickly concluded that if Princess Dekang's estate were to be put up for sale, it would fetch 2.6 times the price of her hot spring estate.
Of course, Xie Wanniang also considered that Princess Dekang was willing to exchange her properties to persuade her to sell the hot spring estate, perhaps because the hot spring estate was hiding some secret.
For example, during times of war, someone may have buried treasure there.
The moment Xie Wanniang realized this possibility existed, she really wanted to turn her estate upside down.
But then she thought again, secrets and treasures are not directly equivalent. Who knows if what's hidden in that manor is treasure or something else deadly?
This is based on the premise that the estate does indeed have secrets. Who knows, maybe that princess is simply rich and loves to enjoy life?
With that in mind, Xie Wanniang finally decided to give up that hot spring resort.
If there are no secrets there, that would be best. But if there are, she'd better pretend not to know.
Yes, one cannot be truly confused; one can only pretend to be confused while knowing the truth.
With this in mind, Xie Wanniang dismissed the overjoyed nanny.
Once the other party left the princess's residence, Xie Wanniang immediately instructed Cunyu, "Go and call Lao Qian and Da Yang over here."
She had to have people investigate her hot spring resort separately, as well as the estate the other party intended to exchange for it.
Only when she is certain that there are no deep pits or abysses waiting for her at either end can she feel at ease making money from the price difference.
It's relatively easy to investigate the hot spring resort under her own name, since it's their own territory.
Just as Xie Wanniang had just planned, her people could even dig three feet into the ground at the hot spring resort.
Of course, they wouldn't do such a thing unless absolutely necessary.
As for the estate that the eldest princess planned to exchange for the hot spring estate, Xie Wanniang intended to first arrange for a group of people to conduct as much investigation as possible in secret.
If any problems are found immediately, then the transaction will naturally not take place.
If no problems are found initially, she will wait until she completes the transaction with the other party, and then arrange for another group of people to conduct a further investigation of the estate.
As for whether others will covet her properties because she agreed to the exchange—as long as they can offer her a satisfactory deal, she doesn't mind making a little extra profit.
Conversely, if anyone tries to fool her or treat her like a pushover, she won't hesitate to show them her decisive and ruthless nature after she changes her tune.
Leaving aside how overjoyed Princess Dekang was after the old woman returned to the mansion, Xie Wanniang, after finally arranging everything, finally returned to her bedroom in the inner quarters to rest.
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