The cold winter always passes quickly, perhaps because she spends most of her time indoors reading or watching TV online during the winter, since everyone is busy.
Even Cheng Huan seems to have entered her rebellious phase recently. She doesn't want to go home and spends all her time playing with her sisters, rarely staying at home.
Yinreng was also someone who was never at home; he followed Lord Chen around all day, trying every possible way to squeeze money out of him.
This has made Lord Chen annoyed just seeing him now, and Emperor Kangxi is also quite helpless. Chen Tingjing has come to talk to him several times, and Emperor Kangxi has also spoken to Yinreng, but to no avail.
So we can only let him loiter around the Ministry of Revenue. At least he doesn't go anywhere else. As long as he only causes trouble at the Ministry of Revenue, that's good enough. As long as he doesn't come back to bother us, it's fine.
Yinreng, dressed in bright yellow clothes with a jade pendant at his waist and a fluffy hat of the same color as his cloak, headed towards the Ministry of Revenue with a smile.
People kept seeing him on the road, all of them smiling and bowing, and Yinreng obediently returned the greetings.
Then they continued walking until they reached the office of the Minister of Revenue.
Chen Tingjing was about to go out to take care of some business when he saw Yinreng standing at the door. His previously warm expression suddenly turned into a long, stern look.
When Yinreng saw Lord Chen's expression change, he was genuinely heartbroken. He looked completely innocent, as he hadn't done anything wrong recently.
Why is Lord Chen so wary of him?
"Your Highness, why are you here at this hour? I have other matters to attend to, so I will not disturb you any longer. I will take my leave now." Chen Tingjing finished speaking dryly and prepared to leave with his men.
Yinreng greeted him with a smile: "What is it that you need, Lord Chen? Do you need my help? I have nothing to do right now, so I can go with you."
"No need!" Chen Tingjing exclaimed in alarm, but seeing the surprised expressions of the people around him, he realized he had exaggerated and quickly tried to salvage the situation. "It's just a small matter, Your Highness, no need to trouble yourself. I can handle it myself."
Yinreng narrowed his eyes, sensing something was wrong. He immediately stepped forward and grabbed Chen Tingjing, saying, "It's alright, Lord Chen. I'm fine anyway. I'll just go with you and broaden my horizons. Let's go." With that, he pulled Chen Tingjing forward.
Chen Tingjing, his face dark with anger, was pulled away by Yinreng. If it weren't for the embarrassment of losing face in public, he would have definitely shaken off the Crown Prince's hand.
Honestly, if His Highness the Crown Prince finds out about what happened today, he'll be rushing to demand the money.
He couldn't do that. He had to understand that although the imperial court had made a lot of money in recent years, there were also many projects with huge cash outflows. A lot of the money was basically gone as soon as it entered the national treasury, before it even had a chance to be properly stored.
The national treasury looks very prosperous, but only he, the person in charge of the treasury, knows that it's all just an illusion.
Moreover, after the New Year, envoys from various regions will come to pay their respects, and there will definitely be many expenses involved, so he absolutely cannot let this money go out easily.
Yinreng had no idea that in that short time, Lord Chen had already imagined a whole series of things. He smiled and pulled the man forward, not knowing where they were going, and even stopped to ask the left and right vice ministers standing next to Lord Chen.
The two vice ministers glanced at the Crown Prince Ai, who was all smiles but clearly harbored ill intentions, and then at Chen Tingjing, whose face was dark but who had no other choice.
They exchanged a glance, sighed, and could only helplessly tell His Highness the destination of their journey.
Passersby who saw the four of them in this state all showed expressions of sympathy.
Everyone knows that the Emperor assigned Minister Chen the task of keeping a close eye on the national treasury and carefully calculating the amount of money spent. The national treasury already has many projects that require funding, and His Highness the Crown Prince still comes to bother Minister Chen every day.
Everyone shook their heads helplessly, expressing their deepest sympathy for Lord Chen's plight. It was a battle of wits between the father and son of the Tian family, and no one knew why it was Lord Chen who ended up getting hurt.
Everyone sympathized with Lord Chen's plight, but no one dared to go up and rescue him, because you didn't know if you would be the next unlucky one to suffer.
In this case, Yinreng and Chen Tingjing arrived at the place where some items had been brought back from the voyage. The exact price of these items was unknown, and they were not easy to sell, so they needed to discuss with the Ministry of Revenue how to sell them.
Although Chen Ting was extremely willing, he knew that His Highness the Crown Prince had many tricks up his sleeve and might actually have a lot of ideas, so he explained them to him along the way.
When Yinreng arrived, everyone was surprised to see him. No one said that His Highness the Crown Prince was coming, but they quickly realized what was happening and hurriedly bowed.
Yinreng waved for everyone to get up, and then had someone lead him and Lord Chen inside for a look.
Looking at the room full of Western items—luxurious clocks, swords, clothes, jewelry, Western decorations, paintings, fine wines, and all sorts of other things—Yinreng nodded. No wonder everyone didn't know how to sell them.
Although everyone knew the price when it was bought, scarcity drives up the price, and now that it has reached the Qing Dynasty, it should naturally be sold at the Qing Dynasty's price.
Yinreng walked up to a box and looked curiously at the contents. The person standing next to him, seeing the Crown Prince's interest, quickly came over and explained: "This is cosmetics used by Westerners. It's similar to the cosmetics of the Qing Dynasty, but the person who brought it back said it's much better. However, we don't know how to use it."
Yinreng nodded, looking at the box in front of him. Wasn't this the makeup and face-changing device that the cat had shown him before?
An idea gradually formed in Yinreng's mind, and then he stopped looking at Chen Tingjing and looked at him with a smile.
Chen Tingjing was looking at the account book provided by the merchant in front of him, and the two of them were deciding on a suitable price before having it sold.
Suddenly, Chen Tingjing felt a cold wind blow over him and shivered. He turned his head and saw Yinreng's kind eyes that gave him goosebumps.
Chen Tingjing paused for a moment, then decisively turned back to continue the discussion. The person in charge set the price, and Chen Tingjing added a little more as appropriate.
When Yinreng saw the look in Lord Chen's eyes as he quickly turned away, he walked over and looked at the prices the two had set.
Although it was already quite high, it was not at all the price he had previously researched.
If we could sell it, wouldn't we be losing money?
Thinking of this, Yinreng could hardly stand. "Lord Chen, I have a very good suggestion that will definitely sell for a much higher price than what you have set. I wonder if Lord Chen would be interested in hearing it?"
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