After receiving the Cuju (ancient Chinese football), Qingyu drew the seven continents and five oceans on the world map from her memory, and pointed to the locations of the Qing Dynasty and Great Britain.
Upon seeing this, the envoy nodded in admiration, but Hongli revealed a mocking smile, "Ulanara Qingyu, what kind of nonsense are you drawing? The sky is round and the earth is square, but you drew the earth as round?"
"If the land is truly flat, as Your Majesty says, then has anyone ever been to the ends of the earth?" Qingyu retorted calmly.
“No!” Hongli shook his head.
"If we haven't reached the ends of the earth, why is it called 'heaven is round and earth is square'?" Qingyu asked aggressively.
Hongli was taken aback for a moment, then realized what he meant and sneered, "It has always been like this. If you can't find the ends of the earth, it must be because the land is too big."
"Even the biggest things have an end, otherwise the Emperor would send someone to search for them." Qingyu didn't want to explain any further to him.
She could understand Hongli's perspective; understanding these new things wasn't something one could grasp immediately. Besides, she didn't have the time or energy to waste on such pointless arguments.
In her view, Hongli was simply too arrogant.
Hongli looked at her for a moment, a hint of anger flashing in his eyes, and thought to himself: Watch how I humiliate you.
He assumed everyone would follow his lead and respect him.
He then turned to look at the envoy and asked, "Is it really as she said, that we are so far apart?"
The envoy nodded. "Qing Yu's words are exactly as described."
The envoy's reply was a slap in the face to Hongli, whose face darkened and whose eyes flashed with cold light.
Perhaps Hongli was inexplicably confident because of the flattery he received all these years, especially from Heshen, who was like honey to him, making him feel smug. So when someone contradicted him, he would show his displeasure.
Normally, when ministers saw his expression, they would kneel down and beg for mercy. But the envoys were not afraid. If he dared to kill them on the spot, their king would definitely bomb the gates of the Forbidden City.
Fortunately, Hongli wasn't completely stupid. He knew that when two countries are at war, one should not kill envoys. In the end, he could only vent his anger on Qingyu, saying, "Since the Empress is so knowledgeable, then you can pay the ten thousand taels yourself to buy that so-called spinning machine!"
Having said that, he turned and left, feeling that there was no need for him to stay there any longer. He might as well take advantage of the free time to go find the Yangzhou "slender horses" in the palace.
In fact, he also liked the female envoy and had considered taking her into the palace, but he minded that she was already married and was afraid that the world would laugh at him.
As Qingyu watched his figure disappear, she thought to herself: He should have left a long time ago; he's affecting my performance.
After Hongli left, the female envoy looked at her with a hint of inquiry in her eyes, "Qingyu, do you want it?"
Upon hearing this, Qingyu withdrew her gaze. "It's optional." Her tone was calm, without a trace of urgency.
The male envoy was now somewhat confused. "No... this is a good thing, and you think so too, how could you not want it?"
"The items are good, but ten thousand taels is too expensive for you," Qingyu said bluntly.
“It’s not expensive.” The envoy shook his head. “As long as you produce a few more, you’ll break even quickly.”
The envoy was right, and Qingyu understood this as well, but she was short of money; otherwise, she would have taken it without hesitation.
But she didn't want the envoy to see her embarrassment, so she said confidently, "What you say is true, but I know the Jenny spinning machine too well. Maybe if I have the craftsmen study it more, we might be able to produce it."
She had only seen the spinning machine in history books; she knew absolutely nothing about how it worked.
However, the envoy was still taken aback by her confident appearance. "We know that you are knowledgeable and experienced, but it will cost a lot of money for you to have someone research and make it. It would be better to just take ours."
The envoy paused, then said, "How about a smaller amount, nine thousand taels?"
Qingyu still couldn't afford to pay that much silver, so she could only shake her head again.
"How many do you want?" the envoy asked anxiously.
"Six thousand taels."
"No, this is far too little." After calculating, the envoy finally said, "Seven thousand taels, no less."
Coincidentally, Qingyu's savings amounted to seven thousand taels. The reason she had this was because she learned it from watching her friends bargain when they bought things in modern times.
"Okay." Qingyu readily agreed, and the agreement was finally reached.
"Thank you so much, Qingyu. Otherwise, our trip would have been in vain," the female envoy said gratefully.
They didn't feel they were losing too much by receiving the seven thousand taels. After all, the spinning jenny had long been available in the British market and was not a rare item. They felt they had made a profit by receiving the money.
Qingyu chuckled and said, "You're too kind."
He then sent someone to the Kunning Palace treasury to retrieve all the silver.
The envoy accepted the heavy taels of silver with a smile.
Before leaving, he added, "If Qingyu were the ruler of the Great Qing, we believe you would do even better, and the people would certainly become more prosperous."
Fortunately, Hongli wasn't there, otherwise the three of them would have lost their heads on the spot, which would have been a crime of treason.
Qingyu didn't speak, but watched them leave with a gentle expression.
She then took the spinning jenny and meticulously crafted it back to Kunning Palace, thinking about how to get it out of the palace to benefit the people.
As I was thinking, night fell.
Just as she was getting ready to go to bed, the door was kicked open.
Alarm bells rang in Qingyu's mind, and she immediately jumped out of bed, grabbing the coat beside her to cover herself.
She knew who it was.
Sure enough, a deep, husky voice rang out, "Ulanara Qingyu, do you want to become the second Wu Zetian?"
The speaker was Hongli, and beside him were Wei Yanqing and a young eunuch.
Qingyu rolled her eyes at him and replied coldly, "Who told you that?"
"Who said it is not important; what is important is that you actually dared to have such a thought," Hongli said sternly.
"Hmph!" Qingyu snorted coldly, "Even I myself didn't know I had this thought, yet Your Majesty found out first?"
At this moment, the shifty-eyed eunuch beside Hongli spoke slowly in a shrill voice: "Alright, Your Majesty, just admit it. This servant heard everything you said to the envoys this afternoon."
What was originally the envoy's last sentence has been overheard by those with ulterior motives, who will naturally make a big deal out of it.
However, Qingyu wasn't scared at all; on the contrary, she felt much more relaxed.
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