Chapter 500
Han Miao had never thought that Liu Yiyi would refuse. She was shocked and said, "Do you know what you rejected? It was a great opportunity to become the wife of a duke. Don't you know that merchants are lowly these days? Anyone knows how to choose between a first-class duke's wife and a lowly shopkeeper. You can't be so naive, right?"
Zeng Yuanxin was going to become a Duke in the future. Liu Yiyi was dazed for a moment, but soon came to her senses. How could someone like Zeng Yuanxin become a Duke? Did he really have such great ability? Forget it. Even if he had such ability, it had nothing to do with her.
"Yes, I choose to be the head manager. As for the Duke's wife, let someone else take that position." After Liu Yiyi finished speaking, she felt relieved all over. At the same time, she admired herself for being able to resist such a great temptation. If she had been told of this possibility at the beginning, she might have been obsessed with getting into the Earl's Mansion. But now that she has experienced the prestige and freedom of being the head manager, she can't go back, especially when she found out that Zeng Yuanxin was no different from the men nowadays, she was even more reluctant to go back.
Han Miao cursed softly. She didn't expect that after she told her such important news, Liu Yiyi would still be so stubborn. How could she feel at ease with such a Liu Yiyi? She lowered her voice and threatened, "Do you know that I can shut down your shop with just one word from you? What do you think the shopkeeper is?"
Liu Yiyi's eyes turned cold, but she recovered her previous expression in just a moment, and said lightly: "I know that the head shopkeeper is not a good person, so I found a backer for myself. The grandson of the Duke of Zhenguo, Master Li Yan, the Duke of Yiyang, Master Zhao Yu, and Master Xia Zhou, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, all invested in my shop. That's why my shop was able to take root in the capital smoothly. I didn't rely on the Duke of Yongyi's Mansion."
Han Miao stood up suddenly, gritting her teeth. This woman actually found such a backer. The other two were fine, but the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion was a force that even the Fifth Prince would not offend easily. It was a force that needed to be won over. "Do you really think you can sit back and relax just by relying on them? Those young masters of noble families are nothing good. Who knows what they see in you? Besides, when His Highness's big event is done, whether you can keep your shop going, what the Duke of Zhenguo said will be useless by then."
So you'd better come to me, only I can keep you safe.
Liu Yiyi seemed to not understand what she meant. She shrugged and said, "Let's talk about the future later. Thank you for Concubine Han's kindness, but I'm used to being free and can't stand being restricted. I don't want to live the life of a noble lady. Concubine, you can rest assured that your affairs, including mine, will never be revealed to the outside world. This has nothing to do with Concubine, because I also want to live a good life and don't want to be burned alive as a demon."
"Okay, okay, you are so ungrateful. I hope you won't regret it in the future." Han Miao left angrily after saying these harsh words.
Liu Yiyi breathed a sigh of relief and finally left. In fact, after knowing Han Miao's identity, she didn't want to conflict with her. It would of course be best if the two could coexist peacefully. But it was obvious that Han Miao was very ambitious. Not only did she want to curry favor with the future emperor, she probably also wanted the position above everyone else. But where did she get the confidence to defeat a bunch of women and keep the Fifth Prince devoted to her?
Liu Yiyi really didn't want to get involved in the fight between Han Miao and other women and other princes. If she got involved, she would only become cannon fodder.
Even if the fifth prince really became the emperor, Han Miao would still be favored, but nowadays, the harem is not allowed to interfere in politics. Would the emperor interfere with a shop she opened for her? With such an emperor, the people's lives would probably not be too easy.
Liu Yiyi sighed. Life in ancient times was really not a good life for human beings, especially for women. It was even more miserable.
The two thought that no third person knew about their meeting and conversation, but in fact, not only the third person, but also a fourth person knew about it.
After Han Miao left, Yuan Jing touched his chin and said, "Duke, does that guy really have this ability?"
Jing Lie smiled and said, "We will know whether we have this ability soon."
"Yes, then Han Miao will know that the history she knows will not remain unchanged."
After returning to the Fifth Prince's Mansion, Han Miao was still angry. Usually, even the Fifth Prince's wife avoided her, which made Han Miao even more complacent. But now she was rejected by a woman from the countryside. Han Miao, who was frustrated for the second time, was able to endure this anger.
The first setback was when her meeting with Xie Boli was inexplicably exposed, and the reason has not been found out until now. However, she had long forgotten about this matter since entering the Fifth Prince's Mansion. Liu Yiyi's ignorance made her even more annoyed. She couldn't wait until the Fifth Prince became emperor to teach Liu Yiyi a lesson, and she wanted to take revenge on Liu Yiyi now.
So Han Miao didn't want to wait until later, she wanted to compete with Liu Yiyi right now. It's just about soap, perfume and skin care products. Liu Yiyi knows everything, and she knows even more. In her previous life, she envied the women in novels who traveled back to ancient times, so she looked up a lot of information about what to do if she went back to ancient times one day, so she came prepared.
Han Miao wanted to make whatever Liu Yiyi sold in her shop. She didn't think that what she made was worse than Liu Yiyi's. Besides, she had the Fifth Prince as her backer, so her business would definitely be better than Liu Yiyi's. By then, Liu Yiyi should know that relying on her was the right choice. But she made a mistake from the beginning.
Han Miao and his servants began to get busy. Because of the success of the Liuli Shop and Gunpowder, the Fifth Prince also supported it. Even if the Liuli Shop made a lot of money, who would complain that they had too much money? Moreover, he saw that the Yiliu Shop also made a lot of money and could win over many connections.
Han Miao also chose the shop diagonally opposite Yi Liu's shop, which covered a larger area, and began to decorate the shop according to her own ideas. After Liu Yiyi knew about it, she understood Han Miao's character more clearly. She was a vengeful woman, and those who offended her would not have a good ending when she was in power. Fortunately, she chose to cooperate with Li Yan and others, otherwise she would not have had any power to resist.
But she still had confidence in herself. No, she was more confident in the beauty recipes that Li Yan and the others had brought out. It was because of these beauty recipes that those noble ladies stayed in Yiliu's shop. She was originally worried that Han Miao could get a recipe with the same effect. Xia Zhou assured her that such a recipe was not something that anyone could get if they wanted it.
He didn't tell Liu Yiyi that this prescription was not obtained from the imperial physician, but was given by his fourth brother. The imperial physician might not have such a good thing in his hands. If he did, those noble ladies would have used it long ago.
One morning, outside the palace, someone was beating the drum for reporting to the emperor. Someone had filed a complaint with the emperor. The news spread quickly throughout the streets and alleys. The officials in the court were also shocked. Some people recognized who was beating the drum. Wasn't it Yu Jinkai who had left the capital for many years? Why did he suddenly come back to the capital and beat the drum? What grievance did he want to complain about?
The old emperor was discussing court affairs with several ministers when he heard the eunuch run in and report: "Your Majesty, Lord Yu is outside beating the drum to file a complaint with the emperor."
"Master Yu?"
"Master Yu Jinkai."
"Is it him? Who is he going to sue? Has he made it clear?" The old emperor looked a little dazed when he first heard Yu Jinkai, and then asked with concern.
"I asked, and Lord Yu said he wanted to personally meet His Majesty."
"Let's go and see who Yu Jinkai wants to sue." The old emperor took the lead and the ministers had no choice but to follow. At the same time, they were very curious. It was rare for the drum to be sounded, and this time it was struck by a court official.
Some people still haven't figured out who Yu Jinkai is, after all, he has been away from the capital for more than a decade. But an official who remembered him said something that made people understand his identity: "Master Yu's sister married into the Yongyi Marquis's mansion. After the Marquis and his son both died in battle at the border, Master Yu's sister also died of illness not long after."
Those who heard it immediately understood that the Yongyi Marquis and his son were not referring to the current Yongyi Earl, but the Zeng Heng and his son back then. The one who was filing a complaint with the emperor now was Zeng Heng's brother-in-law.
Speaking of the Yu family, some people also remembered that the earliest Yu family was not unknown. When Tai and Zu started the uprising to conquer the world, the Yu family donated most of their property. The original Yu family was a wealthy businessman. The property donated at the beginning played a significant role in Tai and Zu's fight for the world. Therefore, although the Yu family was a merchant, the head of the Yu family at that time also got a title when the world was rewarded, but it was lost after two generations. However, the Yu family also entered the court and began to pass down poetry and books from generation to generation.
Although the Yu family has been passing down poetry and literature since then, every generation of the Yu family will have one or two children with a talent for business. Therefore, although the descendants of the Yu family did not hold high positions, the family was wealthy. Even when Yu married into the Yongyi Marquis's Mansion, the generous dowry made Zeng Heng the envy of others for a long time.
The most powerful official in the Yu family now is Yu Jinkai. He has been serving as a prefect for more than ten years and is now a fourth-rank official. He should have gone to Beijing to appeal for his position, but instead he filed a complaint with the emperor. Some people are worried that something might have gone wrong in the local area, and Yu Jinkai might drag the officials in Beijing into it.
The emperor wanted to see Yu Jinkai in person, so his subordinates dared not to be perfunctory and quickly brought him before the emperor. Yu Jinkai's eyes were somewhat similar to his twin's. Most members of the Yu family had good eyes. Thinking of how Zeng Yuanjing, another person with Yu blood, had lived under his nose, the old emperor couldn't help but slow down his voice when he saw Yu Jinkai.
"Yu Qing, what grievances do you want to complain about?"
Yu Jinkai's face was weather-beaten. He had just arrived in the capital and came to beat the drum to file a complaint. He didn't even have time to drink a sip of water. Moreover, he was wearing casual clothes instead of court clothes. He came to file a complaint as an ordinary citizen.
He knelt down and held out the petition: "I want to sue the current Earl of Yongyi Zeng Kang. I sue him for conspiring with others to kill my brother-in-law Zeng Heng and nephew Zeng Yuanyi thirteen years ago. My brother-in-law and nephew died tragically. They did not die at the hands of the Rong soldiers, but died at the hands of their own brothers. I have evidence that Zeng Kang colluded with foreign tribes."
The officials present gasped when they heard this. How could this be possible? Zeng Kang was Zeng Heng's biological brother, a brother born from the same mother. Could he really have colluded with foreigners to kill his own brother and nephew?
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