The second prince, who had been hanging outside all day, was finally redeemed by his imperial concubine with gold in the evening.
The Second Prince's wife came from a noble family and her dowry was not large. After serving as a princess for several years, the filial piety of her servants and the extra income from managing the household had made her private treasury quite substantial, but it still did not amount to 100,000 taels of gold.
The Second Prince's residence is not in good condition either. In recent years, the Second Prince has been recruiting soldiers and buying people's hearts, spending money like water.
The second prince had a large number of concubines and illegitimate children, resulting in substantial monthly expenses. If it weren't for the support of his maternal grandfather's family, the family would have been struggling financially long ago.
Even so, the Prince's treasury doesn't have much silver left. Otherwise, the Second Prince wouldn't have done something so foolish as to force the purchase of the mall.
To raise money to ransom her, one would have to sell land, shops, antiques, and paintings, but that still wouldn't be enough unless one added her private treasury.
But to touch her private funds, wouldn't that be the death of her?
Unwilling to hand over 100,000 taels of gold for nothing, she contacted her maternal family and the second prince's maternal family.
So that day, several groups of people came, some pleading for mercy, some using threats and inducements, and some even bringing large groups to snatch people away.
But faced with absolute power, no matter how many people there were, it was useless. Lin Qianqian swept them all away with a flick of her sleeve, throwing them out into the street. This further confirmed the rumors that Lin Qianqian and her companions were immortals.
Finally, the ailing Left Prime Minister, carried on a soft stool by his servants, also came to the door in person. He wanted to use his influence to plead for Lin Qianqian to release the Second Prince.
But does he have any face in front of Lin Qianqian?
Of course not!
To Lin Qianqian, his title as the Left Prime Minister was worthless.
Left with no other option, the Second Prince's wife gritted her teeth and scraped together money from all sides. By the time she had gathered enough gold to ransom the Second Prince, he was already hanging by a thread, barely clinging to life.
After his imperial concubine redeemed him, she refused to spend a single penny to redeem the guards and servants who had been hanged along with the second prince.
Because Lin Qianqian set a ransom of 100 taels of gold for each of these accomplices.
The Second Princess Consort raised her head and said sarcastically, "In order to raise 100,000 taels of gold, the Prince's mansion is so poor that it can't even afford to eat. There is no extra money to redeem these useless people who failed to protect their master."
Even though the Second Prince was barely breathing, he was still in a daze, scolding the servants and guards for their inadequate protection and saying he would punish them when he got back.
This couple is a perfect match; one is ruthless and the other is vicious.
The couple's attitude chilled the hearts of all their subordinates. They all regretted their poor judgment in following the wrong people, knowing that one day they too would be so easily abandoned.
Lin Qianqian watched coldly, thinking, "It's no wonder this kind of person can ascend the throne!"
In the end, the Fifth Prince paid out of his own pocket to redeem everyone, thus ending this farce.
That morning, just as dawn was breaking, a group of children aged seven or eight to their teens were waiting at the street corner.
Everyone's heads and faces were slightly damp, whether from sweat or morning dew, it was hard to tell, but everyone had made a special effort to tidy themselves up.
Although their clothes were tattered, they were still clean and tidy. Their fingernails and toenails were trimmed, and their usually messy hair was tied up with strips of rag. A maid who had seen Zhang Qi yesterday led them into the mall.
Zhang Qi, holding his younger sister's hand, stood in front of Lin Qianqian, looking quite uneasy.
The fairy said she was looking for twenty or thirty people, but he had ulterior motives and brought along all the friends he knew who were of good character, making a total of fifty or sixty people.
He just wanted his friends to have something to eat these few days, but he didn't know if the fairy would think there were too many people and make them stop working.
Lin Qianqian looked at the group of children, all of them were pale and thin, malnourished, and felt very sorry for them.
It didn't matter if there were more people; she just felt sorry for them, having to struggle to make a living at such a young age. She wanted to help them as much as possible during this time.
Of course, distributing flyers was also for promoting the online store and completing the task. Although the Fifth Prince assured her that he would handle things well, Lin Qianqian was certain that the officials below would find other ways to stop them, let alone help promote the online store.
As for whether these kids will be harassed or obstructed when they go out to hand out flyers?
Great! She was just looking for an excuse to vent her frustrations, and she was just hoping they would come along.
She has plenty of vines and trees; the best form of publicity would be to hang those who oppose her all over the streets and post notices explaining the reasons under the trees.
They brought everyone to the fifth floor, handing the boy over to Luo Zexuan and the girl over to Xiaodie.
The children were given a bath and their hair was washed. Then they changed into matching shirts, vests, and trousers, and put on matching little hats. After they were dressed, each child was given a loaf of bread, a bottle of milk, and two eggs.
Wearing brand-new clothes and holding soft bread and warm eggs in their hands, they were reluctant to eat them, instinctively wanting to hide them in their pockets, but afraid of getting their new clothes dirty.
Lin Qianqian had no choice but to raise her voice and urge them: "Eat quickly, or I won't hire you to work anymore."
Those words were incredibly hurtful. Watching them wolf down their food, Lin Qianqian's eyes welled up with tears again.
What's wrong with her? She's been so sentimental lately!
After they finished eating, they were given a brief training session on how to distribute flyers, how to shout out their wares, where to distribute them, and how to report any incidents involving the Fifth Prince's residence.
They also selected a few older boys to learn to ride bicycles and tricycles. Children from poor families mature early; they learned very diligently, doing their utmost to earn a living.
An hour later, ten bicycles and ten tricycles lined up in a winding row and drove out of the northwest gate of the Prince's Mansion.
A group of children, carrying matching backpacks and wearing matching clothes, the older ones riding bicycles and the younger ones riding in cars. On the ancient streets, they would definitely turn heads.
The group of children rode their bicycles, swaggering through the city to the most bustling street in the capital. Perhaps the Fifth Prince's warning had worked, for no one stopped them along the way, and the soldiers maintaining order at the street corners were replaced by guards from the Prince's residence.
Once on the street, they split into four groups as agreed beforehand, led by Zhang Qi and three other older children. The four groups dispersed in four directions, each finding a place with the highest foot traffic.
On the south side of the street, Zhang Qi took a megaphone out of his small bag and climbed onto the back of a truck. Zhang Hui, who was next to him, immediately took out a small gong and banged it a few times, attracting the attention of everyone around.
Zhang Qi raised the megaphone and introduced the mall to the crowd, "Everyone come and take a look..."
The lines were all memorized by Lin Qianqian beforehand, and the other children took the opportunity to hand out leaflets to the people who gathered around.
The colorful flyers were designed to be simple and clear, with only photos and prices of some products printed on them.
In no time, the group of children was completely surrounded. Everyone was asking if it was true.
Previously, there were only rumors about such a miraculous shop, but most ordinary people had never seen it in person, so they didn't know if it was true or not.
At this moment, someone in the crowd immediately said, "My second aunt's husband's third uncle's neighbor's cousin's son works as a servant in Lord Huang's household. I heard that in the past two days, Lord Huang and his ladies have gone to that shop run by a deity three or four times, each time bringing several cartloads of things, including food, drinks and entertainment."
Another person said, "Yes, yes, yes, my third uncle's wife's fourth aunt's cousin's son's friend works as a guard in the Fifth Prince's mansion. He said that all the high-ranking officials in the court have been to the Immortal Shop. We common people don't know this. They deliberately blocked the news because they want to monopolize the Immortal Shop's goods."
Then someone else came out and said they saw a certain nobleman's carriage going in and out, carrying loads of things, mostly grain and large amounts of fish and meat. Anyway, the rumors became more and more outrageous, but more and more people believed them, and some anxious people had already gone home to get their money.
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