Chapter 485
The master of the Yongyi Marquis's Mansion thought that Yuan Jing had stayed in the mansion obediently these days and had not gone anywhere, but he didn't know that he went out to have fun every day.
The play "Repaying Gratitude" became known to more and more people in the capital. What made Yuan Jing and the other four playboys happiest was that even the empress dowager in the palace knew about the play and specially asked the troupe to perform it in the palace. This made "Repaying Gratitude" even more popular in the capital, and the play even spread outside the capital. Everyone wanted to know what the play that even the empress dowager liked to listen to was like.
This was an unexpected surprise for Yuan Jing and his team. Taking advantage of this wave of popularity, Yuan Jing launched a hardcover edition of the Gratitude Notes. The content of the hardcover edition was of course the same, but there were many more illustrations, which were of course drawn by Si Yao himself. As a result, as soon as the promotion came out, it was welcomed by book fans, and the one thousand hardcover copies were sold out in a blink of an eye.
Also released at the same time was the first volume of the book "The Yellow Beam Dream", which was also snapped up by fans who came for Si Yao. Many fans who got the news a step late came to the bookstore to urge them, so Xia Zhou had to urge the workshop to print more copies.
Although Xia Zhou was very busy, he was extremely excited. He made a lot of money this time. He had never had so much money in his hands before. His mouth was grinning from ear to ear.
The four of them gathered in the yard behind Jinlie Cloth Shop again. Xia Zhou sorted out the account books for Yuan Jing to see and changed the silver into banknotes and gave them to him.
"Fourth brother, please take me with you again in the future. I never thought I could make money this way. It turns out that making money is so easy."
"Bah, it's not easy at all. That's our Yuan Jing's ability. If someone else drew the illustration, would it be good? Our Yuan Jing might be able to make a living by selling paintings in the future."
At first, Li Yan and Zhao Yu didn't know that Si Yao was Yuan Jing, but because of the rehearsal and the printing and sale of the hardcover edition of "Repaying Gratitude", his identity could no longer be concealed. The two were surprised but also happy for Yuan Jing. They knew that Yuan Jing's life in the Yongyi Marquis's Mansion was very awkward. Obviously, the title should have belonged to their eldest branch, but because Yuan Jing was still young at the time, the title fell on the second branch. Now that Yuan Jing has grown up, will the second branch like him?
It’s great that Yuan Jing can earn money on his own now, and he makes a lot of it. They are proud of their brother.
Yuan Jing counted the silver bills in his hand. This time he got a full five thousand taels. He said that this silver was too easy to earn. He earned several thousand taels just by writing the Gratitude Record.
Why so much? Because the hardcover edition sold for ten taels of silver each, and if all the 1,000 taels were sold, that would be ten thousand taels. After deducting the cost and other expenses, Xia Zhou also earned several thousand taels, so he was so happy.
After counting the banknotes, he handed them over to Jing Lie, asking him to help him manage the household. He patted his chest and said, "We can earn so much this time, Li Yan and Zhao Yu have made great contributions. Tell me, what do you want me to do for you? I'll take care of it all."
It would not look good to give them the money, so it would be better to spend the money on other things. As for Jinlie Cloth Shop, it is already profitable now, and they also get dividends every month. Although it is not much now, Li Yan and others can see that the money will definitely not be less in the future.
"Haha, okay, then it's settled. This time, Zhao Yu and I are going to rip you off." Li Yan looked as if he was going to spend all the money Yuan Jing had. At the same time, he made a face and actually gave all the banknotes to Jing Lie. Oh, Jing Lie is really a good wife.
"Oh, right, there's something that I find very strange," Zhao Yu said after laughing. "In the story of repaying a favor, the prince disappeared on the battlefield because of amnesia. This time, it just so happens that your prince's cousin went to the border and his life or death is unknown. Could it be that he also didn't come back because of amnesia, and then brought back a village girl who saved his life from nowhere after a while?"
"Fuck, this is really similar to the story in the story of Repaying Gratitude. Oh, and doesn't Zeng Yuanxin also have an engaged fiancée? If he really brings a village girl back like in the story of Repaying Gratitude, then the girl from the Yu family will be in trouble for the rest of her life, right?"
Xia Zhou hesitated and said, "No way. Stories are stories, reality is reality. Even if there is such a life-saving grace, I will marry the life-saving benefactor. Which rich and powerful family would marry a village girl as their principal wife?"
"What if Zeng Yuanxin has lost his mind?" Li Yan had no good feelings towards Zeng Yuanxin. He always looked at him like a fool, which made Li Yan very sick.
Seeing that the two of them were seriously discussing this, Zhao Yu shook his head and said, "I just said it casually. How could it be such a coincidence? You have to know that Yuan Jing wrote this story first, and Zeng Yuanxin disappeared on the battlefield later. Unless Yuan Jing has the ability to predict the future, right, Yuan Jing?"
Yuan Jing scratched his head like a chicken pecking at rice: "Yes, yes, I don't have the ability to predict the future. You think too highly of me. I just want to find a way to make money."
Li Yan and the others all thought it made perfect sense, but Jing Lie was the only one who looked at these three guys as if they were fools. They actually believed whatever Yuan Jing said. They would know when Zeng Yuanxin brought the village girl back in a year.
Several people started talking about the new things in the capital. This month, a shop in the capital started selling colorless transparent glass products. The prices were so high that the people present were jealous. Although they made a lot of money from writing storybooks, they had earned several thousand yuan in total, but it was heard that a transparent glass product in the shop cost several hundred taels, and the most expensive one cost several thousand yuan. This shop had just opened not long ago, and it was no exaggeration to say that it made thousands of gold a day.
"I don't know who the nobleman behind this is. I heard that many people are jealous of this shop and want to find out the source of this transparent glass, but their outstretched claws were chopped off. Anyway, now we can only be sure that the boss behind it is very powerful, but we don't know who it is." Li Yan has the highest status and is the most informed about the news.
Yuan Jing and Jing Lie looked at each other. They didn't expect that the Fifth Prince would get the glass out so quickly. They thought that Han Miao must be highly valued in the Fifth Prince's backyard now.
"We will know who the boss behind this is sooner or later. Who is the most powerful person in our capital? Would such a good thing not alarm the princes today? Once they make a move, how can the boss behind this hide?" Yuan Jing reminded.
Li Yan clapped his hands and said, "Yes, but this kind of glassware is also very expensive. If the profit is not very big, then there is no point in snatching it."
"What if the cost is very low?" Yuan Jing said with a smile.
"How is that possible?" All three of them didn't believe it.
Yuan Jing smiled and said nothing more.
You know, the Fifth Prince has always been very low-key. If the other princes knew that the owner behind this glass shop is the Fifth Prince, and the cost of glass products is extremely low, would they believe that the Fifth Prince is low-key and will not participate in the fight for the throne?
It is also a good idea to let the fifth prince reveal his ambitions in advance.
After the meeting, everyone went back to their homes. Yuan Jing also swaggered back to the Yongyi Marquis's residence with a few boxes of cakes. He entered through the main gate. After the doorman let him in, he slapped his forehead and asked another person, "When did the fourth young master leave the mansion today?"
The other person also couldn't remember: "I don't remember, did the fourth young master leave the mansion?"
"Did you see a ghost just now? Didn't the fourth young master just come back from outside?"
"this……"
The doorman didn't dare say anything. Perhaps they really had remembered it wrong and had forgotten the scene of the Fourth Young Master leaving the house.
At this time, it had been almost two months since the news of Zeng Yuanxin's disappearance came back. The people sent to the border were unable to find Zeng Yuanxin's whereabouts. Song fell ill again because of this, and was only able to get up recently to take care of the affairs of the mansion. Even Zeng Jingshu had become much quieter and no longer acted bossy like before.
The old lady used to be very wealthy, but she has lost a lot of weight and looked much older recently. There has been no news from her for two months. To ordinary people, Zeng Yuanxin is as good as dead, otherwise Song would not have fallen ill at this time.
Zeng Yuanxin is gone, and perhaps Zeng Kang's other illegitimate sons feel that their chance has come. Yuan Jing has seen his third cousin Zeng Yuanliu showing a satisfied smile from afar. Originally, the illegitimate sons were suppressed by the Song family and Zeng Yuanxin, the legitimate son, but who would have thought that Zeng Yuanxin, the prince, would never come back. Now that the legitimate son is gone, isn't it the turn of the illegitimate sons?
As for Zeng Yuanjing, the legitimate son of the first wife, the illegitimate sons of the second wife did not regard him as a competitor, because in the eyes of Zeng Yuanliu and others, their father would not let the title return to the first wife. After all, they were also their father's sons.
At this time, Yuan Jing distributed the cakes he brought back to various places, and several sisters also received some. Such actions did not attract much attention from the old lady and Song.
Yuan Jing had already noticed Zeng Yuanliu's change, so how could Song not know about it? It was precisely because she knew about it that she got up from her bed again. This mansion could only be inherited by her son, and those bastards should get out of here as far as possible. She would never let them be proud of themselves.
As long as she hadn't seen her son's body with her own eyes, she would never admit that her son was gone. She had to guard this mansion well for her son.
Zeng Kang returned from outside the mansion before Yuan Jing and went to the old lady's place. The old lady was not as energetic as before. Her eyes lit up when she saw her son, and then dimmed again.
Zeng Kang felt bitter. He had gone to the border safely, intending to accumulate some military merits, but he did not expect that he would disappear without a trace in such a short time.
He said with a bitter face: "Mother, some of the people who went to the border have returned to report the news. Until now, Xin'er's whereabouts have not been found. I am afraid..."
"Impossible!" The old lady threw a soft pillow over to him, not allowing him to say such an unlucky word. Even though she knew that they hadn't found anyone for such a long time and the hope of survival was slim, she could still hold on to hope as long as she didn't see the body.
"Yes," Zeng Kang didn't argue with the old lady, "The rest of us will stay there and continue searching, maybe..."
Tears flowed from the old lady's eyes. "Why is God so hard on my Zeng family? The eldest son and my eldest grandson died there, and now Yuan Xin is missing. I regret letting Yuan Xin go to the border. Even if he didn't have any military merits, he could live in peace in the capital, and he could inherit the title in the future."
Zeng Kang comforted his mother: "You can't blame your mother for this. It was Xin'er himself who wanted to go to the border to make achievements. He wanted to follow his father's path."
The nanny beside her wiped the old lady's tears. The old lady closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair. After a while, she opened her eyes and asked, "What did the palace say?"
Zeng Kang shook his head: "My son has submitted a memorial, but there has been no response from His Majesty so far."
Zeng Kang submitted a memorial to the emperor to apologize, even though his son had not been found yet. However, Zeng Yuanxin not only did not make any meritorious service in the past, but also caused the deaths of hundreds of people. If the matter was investigated, the Yongyi Marquis's Mansion would also be held responsible. Therefore, Zeng Kang was worried about the whereabouts of his son and the future of the Marquis's Mansion.
Yuan Jing was outside seeking a meeting at the time and bringing snacks to the old lady to show his filial piety. When he went in, he saw his second uncle Zeng Kang was also there, and greeted him politely.
Zeng Kang, who was worried about the future of the Marquis' Mansion, suddenly had an idea in his mind when he saw Yuan Jing's beautiful face. Then he breathed faster and clenched his fists in his sleeves. Perhaps the future of the Marquis' Mansion would depend on his current nephew, but would his mother agree?
No, for the future of the Marquis's Mansion, there is no way my mother would not agree.
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