Chapter 237 I knelt on the ground and begged him.
(Thanks to reader 20210301105380486302 for voting with one monthly ticket.)
Xing Guangzong, Wan Sanbao, and Tian Guilan were very surprised, and at the same time, they were somewhat flattered.
The three of them never imagined that Li Shiyue would be willing to introduce them to Liu Tan in such a setting!
The three men approached Liu Tan with trepidation to pay their respects, but Liu Tan remained seated at the table with an air of nonchalance. He asked each of them what kind of goods they were selling.
He also encouraged the three of them, saying, "...Your response to the Prince's call is a service to my Andong."
Rest assured, in this trade, small merchants like you will be exempt from taxes as long as the volume of goods traded exceeds a certain amount.
We will make sure you don't come here for nothing!
Xing Guangzong and the other two were extremely grateful, as they had never expected to learn about the tax exemption from Liu Tan in advance.
Liu Tan rested for a while in the inn, and Zhao Da came in to report. Li Shiyue then tactfully withdrew.
She went to the backyard and saw Li's mother and the others sitting and talking with Yan Jiuniang.
"October, come quickly, I brought you some delicious food!"
Li Shiyue looked around and saw that the kang (heated brick bed), the table, and the floor of the room were covered with all sorts of things, such as wooden boxes, bundles, and grain bags.
Yan Jiuniang then opened a brocade box for Li Shiyue, inside which was a gleaming gold hairpin.
"I gave some to autumn and summer, but I picked this one out especially for you. Take a look and see if you like it?"
"like!
It's made of gold, how could I not like it?
I like these foods even more.
"I'm glad you like it!"
That Biji rice is the most delicious; whether cooked as rice or porridge, it has a special aroma.
I'll bring you more after you've finished eating!
Li Shiyue nodded to Yan Jiuniang, but she still went over and took Yan Jiuniang's hand to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed). The two took off their shoes, got on the kang, and sat down facing each other.
Li Shiyue's opening remarks immediately caused Yan Jiuniang to break her smile.
"Stop pretending, it doesn't look good at all."
Upon hearing this, Yan Jiuniang's smile vanished completely; the feigned happiness in her eyes was gone, replaced by pure sorrow.
At this moment, Li's mother and Zheng Meiniang wisely went out, leaving only Li Shiyue and her young daughters in the room.
After a long pause, Yan Jiuniang finally raised her head with tears in her eyes and said to Li Shiyue, "Haha, you saw right through me!"
With a deep sigh, Yan Jiuniang looked at Li Qiutian, Li Shiyue, and Li Xiatian from left to right and said, "I really envy you all, truly."
At least your father won't use your maternal uncle's family to threaten you into marrying.
Haha, my dad is alright, he said as long as I behave well, he will give me a lot of dowry!
Money is always good. Look, all of this was bought with the money my father gave me. Don't be disgusted, just eat and use it as you like. My father has plenty of money.
If you help me spend a little more, I'll feel better.
After hearing what Yan Jiuniang said, what could Li Shiyue say?
The Prince of Zhenbei is the most powerful man, truly wielding real power. He is both a father and a king, and Yan Jiuniang is both his daughter and a subject under his rule. The only way to escape or rebel against the Prince of Zhenbei's decisions is to overthrow his regime.
But Yan Jiuniang was ultimately just a young girl with a business mind. She had a mother and an uncle. In Andong, what could she do besides obey the Prince of Zhenbei?
Are we supposed to just let her leave Andong with Yan Xuefei, regardless of her uncle's family's fate?
But how could the sentimental Yan Jiuniang do such a thing?
Besides, even a young man like Liu Tan, who holds military power, wouldn't dare to rebel against the Prince of Zhenbei.
So how can anyone criticize Yan Jiuniang?
Li Shiyue pulled Yan Jiuniang's hand, "How could the Prince bear to let you out to be with the General?"
I knelt on the ground and begged him.
I told him I wanted to see the grand scene of the trade market before I got married, so I went out with my elder brother.
On the first day of next month, he should take Liu Shu with him to the grasslands. My elder brother said there will be a friendly sparring match between the two armies, supposedly at the request of the Great Khan of the Turks.
When Yan Jiuniang mentioned Liu Shu, Li Shiyue immediately asked how he was doing.
“I haven’t seen him, but I heard that he can walk on his own now, so I think he’s almost fully recovered.”
"Have you found out anything about the person behind this?"
Yan Jiuniang hesitated, and Li Shiyue quickly said, "If you can't say it, then don't say it."
I don't necessarily need to know this, but I'm just asking casually.
I don't want to have anything to do with him whatsoever.
Yan Jiuniang nodded with an indescribable expression: "I can't tell you the specifics, but just stay far away from him."
Over the next few days, the snow on the ground melted and froze again, and new snow fell from time to time.
Li Shiyue led his men to level the ice surface on the drying ground and create an ice rink.
The dozens of dogs kept in Liujiatun finally came in handy.
The exhilarating speed of the dog sled not only delighted Yan Jiuniang, but even Liu Tan, who had been staying at the inn, thought that the thing Li Shiyue had created was really quite good.
Wan Sanbao also took a liking to the sleds that Li Shiyue and his team had made. "These things are great. Winters are long and cold in our area. If we raise a dozen or so dogs, we can tie them to ropes and pull them up, and they'll fly like the wind!"
Li Shiyue smiled and said to Wan Sanbao, "Wan Dongjia's place is definitely not the coldest place. I read in a book that some tribes in the far north use sleds to carry goods."
Our village is right next to the Black Mountain. It's much colder here than in the city, otherwise we wouldn't be able to get here by sled.
In the last two days of the month, both inns in Liujiatun were full, and even the woodshed had people paying a few copper coins to stay there.
The row of livestock sheds next to the inn was filled with large animals, including donkeys, horses, cows, mules, and even more than a dozen reindeer.
This was the first time Wan Sanbao had ever seen a sled like the ones Li Shiyue and his group had seen. The tribesmen wearing deer antler hats and clothes made entirely of fur were driving reindeer-drawn sleds loaded with goods tightly wrapped in oilcloth.
The tribesman wearing a deer antler hat spoke Mandarin with a thick accent, but Wan Sanbao preferred talking and chatting with this burly man named Has.
"How did you manage to come all the way from those distant mountains and forests?"
I thought it was cold enough back home, but I had no idea there were people living further north!
Has laughed twice and said to Wan Sanbao, "There are people living further north of my house!"
They all lived in igloos, and I traded salt with them.
Has took a bite of the fried dough ball with a grin and continued, "The Han Chinese who went to our place to trade for furs said that if you come here, you can exchange furs for more salt and also for silver."
"With money, I can buy more food," Haas said, pointing to the plate of pasta dumplings on the table. "I've never eaten anything so delicious and crispy."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
