Chapter 403 "This is one thing, Lieutenant Li, what do you say?"
(Thanks to reader 20241205235327433 for casting 3 monthly tickets.)
On the day Li Shiyue returned to her residence, she didn't even wash up and went to see Zhou Yiran with a strong odor.
The two closed the door and chatted inside until evening before opening it again. Li Shiyue even ate her dinner in Zhou Yiran's room.
The next day was a bright and sunny day.
Zhou Yiran sent someone to inform Liang Yongkang early in the morning that they wanted to meet.
Before noon, Zhou Yiran sent servants to inform Li Shiyue, Xie Mingyue, and their sixth sister that they should make preparations quickly, as they would be leaving the Turkic royal court early on the morning of March 30th.
While Li Shiyue, along with Gao Jin and the others, were driving a carriage loaded with chests of gold and silver, following behind Zhou Yiran to deliver the goods and pay Liang Yongkang, Xie Mingyue went to the market again.
She was going to meet Yelü Jiujin.
Xie Mingyue had already traded some snowflake salt and brocade with Yelü Jiujin. Before she was to return to Andong with Li Shiyue, Yelü Jiujin sent someone to say that he wanted some more snowflake salt.
Yelü Jiujin was very interested in the snowflake salt in Xie Mingyue's hand. He even once said to Xie Mingyue, "No matter how much you have, I want it all!"
Therefore, Xie Mingyue came to the market this time to say goodbye to Yelü Jiujin;
Secondly, he wanted to discuss the sale of snowflake salt with Yelü Jiujin.
Xie Mingyue's snowflake salt had long been sold out. Most of it was sold to the Turkic Khan at a price 30% lower than the market price, while the remaining 20% was snapped up by Yelü Jiujin, and the rest was scattered in the market.
The snowflake salt was indeed of top quality; otherwise, Yelü Jiujin wouldn't have shamelessly tried to buy more after establishing a relationship with Xie Mingyue.
At this moment, Xie Mingyue and Yelü Jiujin were sitting face to face.
Xie Mingyue put down her teacup, smiled at Yelü Jiujin, and said, "Yelü Dashang, I will only say this once here."
If you want as much of that snowflake salt as you like, I can certainly get you as much as you want.
I can even sell it to you for 30% less than the market price, and the profit will be enough for you to make!
Although Yelü Jiujin's Chinese was not very good and had a heavy accent;
He didn't recognize Chinese characters, let alone understand Han Chinese history books;
However, having been in business for a long time, Yelü Jiujin, this great merchant, naturally developed his own survival wisdom.
Upon hearing Xie Mingyue say this, he knew in his heart that there must be conditions behind Xie Mingyue's huge concessions;
Moreover, this condition is likely one that even he himself would have to weigh carefully, and in the end, he might not be able to accept it.
Sure enough, Xie Mingyue said, "But! I need you..."
Apart from Xie Mingyue and Yelü Jiujin, no one else knew what the two of them had discussed.
On March 30th, the sky was cloudless.
Zhou Yiran gathered many people from the market to help their mission transport wool.
Besides the wool from this transaction, the wool they brought back to Andong this time also included a portion that the Turks had sent to Andong as a deposit last year.
However, this time, they came to collect it themselves, so that portion of the wool was discounted by 20%.
But with so much wool, the carts they had prepared were no longer enough to use.
Therefore, they rented manpower and carriages from other merchants at the market.
However, this was also a plan devised by Zhou Yiran and Li Shiyue, a way to have outsiders impersonate their escort team of 100 people.
Of course, this method is actually a self-deceptive tactic.
However, at this moment, before the Mohe barbarians who went to the market returned to their tribe and discovered the fact that their tribe had been wiped out, they naturally had to keep up the act.
The long procession of carriages stretched for about two miles from the entrance of their residence.
The sixth sister sat in the carriage. She lifted the curtain and took one last look at the tent where she had been staying for almost half a year. A bitter feeling rose in her heart about the future.
"My lady, you should put it down. You're still in your postpartum period, so it's best not to let the wind blow on you."
After lowering the curtain, it took more than fifteen minutes before Sixth Sister realized that her carriage had started moving.
Because the procession was so long, it took almost half an hour before Sixth Sister and the others finally left the outskirts of the Turkic royal court and stepped onto the vast grassland.
Among the people who came to see Li Shiyue and his entourage off from the outskirts of the Turkic royal court, Liang Yongkang watched the last car of the Andong delegation drive away and wondered, "Why is that?"
She'er overheard Liang Yongkang's mutterings and immediately asked him loudly, "Inspector Liang, what did you say?"
"Your Highness, what I mean is, I don't know when they will come again next time."
Upon hearing Liang Yongkang's words, She'er knew that Liang Yongkang was just trying to appease him.
However, he didn't care.
Now, She'er is completely preoccupied with matters concerning his cousin Helu!
Liang Yongkang watched She'er ride away respectfully, and when he looked up, his expression changed from humble and polite to serious.
As for his question "why," it actually stemmed from his earlier discovery of Zhou Yiran's inconsistent attitude when discussing—or rather, "negotiating"—the wool trade and the matter of his sixth sister.
Liang Yongkang was a Han Chinese, and a scholar who had naturally studied the classics, histories, philosophical works, and literary collections of the Han people.
Therefore, he would naturally have many thoughts about Zhou Yiran's fickle attitude.
However, after thinking about it for several days, he still couldn't figure out why Zhou Yiran would do such a thing.
Delaying time?
for what?
Therefore, he was moved to speak when he saw the delegation's carriages and horses leaving, as Li Shiyue and Zhou Yiran's delegation departed.
Among the convoy hired by Zhou Yiran and his group was Lu Guang, the traitor who had met Xie Mingyue once before.
Lu Guang was hired by Zhou Yiran. Although Li Shiyue had seen the list of people hired by the car team, she did not know each of them in detail.
Therefore, Li Shiyue was unaware that Lu Guang was also in the convoy.
Therefore, Li Shiyue, who was riding her horse and inspecting the caravan, was genuinely surprised when she saw Lu Guang sitting on the shaft of a cart loaded with wool.
However, Li Shiyue did not raise any objections or ask any questions on the spot, but instead rode his horse to inspect the area as usual.
It wasn't until the convoy stopped to cook that Li Shiyue went to find Zhou Yiran.
"...I know that you, Zhou Canjun, reviewed the list before showing it to me, so you must know that this Han merchant named Lu Guang is on it, right?"
Li Shiyue took the water pouch handed to her by Li Qiutian, tilted her head back and drank a few mouthfuls. She then casually wiped the water stains from her mouth with the back of her hand before raising an eyebrow at Zhou Yiran and continuing, "Don't tell me you don't remember who this Lu Guang is."
When Zhou Yiran was asked a question by Li Shiyue, he frowned for a moment, then smiled and said to Li Shiyue, "Of course I know this person. Isn't he the Han merchant who was captured to be an interpreter on the day when Madam Xie had a conflict with the Sixth Prince?"
When Li Shiyue heard Zhou Yiran say this so casually, an idea began to form in her mind.
She had always been wary of Zhou Heixin.
Seeing the growing suspicion in Li Shiyue's eyes, Zhou Yiran sighed inwardly, but maintained a calm demeanor as he continued to explain to Li Shiyue: "He has been a merchant on the grasslands for nearly twenty years, and he is also close to the sixth prince of the Turkic court."
Now we need a lot of manpower and vehicles to transport wool, and he is the one among the Han merchants who can free up the most vehicles.
Of course I'll use his.
"That's one thing, Lieutenant Li, what do you say?"
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