Seeing Jue Luo's pensive expression, An Ning knew that she was overthinking things. This was intentional on her part, just in case Jue Luo wasn't thinking too much.
"How do you want your mother to help you manage the hot spring resort?"
"My daughter has stumbled upon a formula for cultivating silver ear fungus on a large scale. Does Mother know what this means?"
Jue Luo was surprised: "Are you sure you can cultivate silver ear fungus on a large scale? Is it very expensive?"
"The process is a bit complicated and costs more at the beginning, but if you do it well, you'll make a profit from then on."
Jue Luo thought this was a good idea, since it was white fungus! Nobody had ever thought of cultivating white fungus before; it was all harvested naturally.
Because of its scarcity, it was a common ingredient in soups for wealthy families, and the demand remained consistently high. A single flower could fetch a few taels of silver, while a high-quality one could sell for tens of taels.
"Your mother will do this for you."
"For now, we'll use the estate from Xiaotangshan that was part of the dowry. We must be careful in hiring people; Mother should choose those who are cautious and loyal. If the cultivation is successful, give those people more silver. It's best not to sell the cultivated silver ear fungus on a large scale in the capital; mainly sell it to the Jiangnan and Guangdong regions..."
As Jue Luo listened to An Ning's eloquent speech, she felt that An Ning had grown up, and at the same time, she felt that the palace was a place where people could truly be trained.
"Mother has remembered."
"The daughter gets 20% of the profits from selling white fungus, while the mother gets 20%."
Jue Luo shook her head, refusing the share: "Mother doesn't need this."
Anning felt she had to give it to her: "Mother, you must accept it. Even if you don't think about yourself, you have to think about your brothers. If this white fungus can be grown, it will definitely take up a lot of your time. At that time, you will probably need your brothers' help. This 20% profit is a hard-earned fee."
Under Anning's persuasion, Jue Luo agreed to take 20% of the profits.
After seeing off the Jue Luo clan, An Ning finally breathed a sigh of relief.
In the blink of an eye, a year has passed.
The structure of the harem had completely changed to one imperial concubine and five other concubines jointly managing palace affairs.
Originally, Emperor Kangxi intended to entrust the affairs of the inner palace to the Crown Princess. However, Anning sensed Kangxi's intention in advance and immediately spread the news to the other four consorts and the Imperial Consort. Then the Crown Princess got busy.
Seeing this, Kangxi understood that the Crown Princess still needed more experience. She couldn't even manage Yuqing Palace properly, and was suppressed by the Consort, so no matter how virtuous she was, Kangxi would not let her manage palace affairs.
Power and ability must be matched, otherwise power will harm others and oneself.
The silver ear fungus business outside Anning Palace was also on track and was indeed very profitable. In Jue Luo's words, it was no different from robbery.
Previously, all white fungus was wild and had limited production. Now, it can be artificially cultivated, and there is no way to distinguish between wild and cultivated ones on the market. Naturally, they are all priced the same, and artificially cultivated ones even look better and sell for more.
An Ning looked at the box of silver notes, which contained a total of 200,000 taels, and this was only the first year.
In fact, Anning has other ways to make money, but they are not easy to implement. For businesses like glass, which can be very profitable from the start, let alone whether the Ulanara clan can resist such a great temptation, the key is that they may not be able to control the profits alone.
Now is the time for her to emerge.
Because of peace and tranquility, Emperor Kangxi was in good health, even better than some of his older sons.
Because he did not feel his body aging, Kangxi was not so wary of the Crown Prince. However, he was determined to train the Crown Prince, and the eldest prince was completely promoted by him, constantly going against the Crown Prince.
An Ning saw all of this and felt that Kangxi was courting death. Even if the two of them were to fight to the death, and the Crown Prince could be tempered, how could the First Prince, who had been worn down, be willing to be a whetstone? In the end, he would do everything in his power to drag the Crown Prince down with him.
Emperor Kangxi was too confident, confident that he could control everything. He thought everything was under his control, but little did he know that the outcome was already predetermined when he allowed the eldest prince to stand out in court.
An Ning watched coldly, waiting for Kangxi to one day reap the bitter fruit of his actions.
Wealth, power, a son, and the emperor's favor—this was Anning's life in the imperial harem.
Although they lacked freedom, they were truly wealthy, and this life continued until Yin Yi was six years old.
An Ning said with a reluctant expression, "Your Majesty, I am quite reluctant to send Yin Yi to the Imperial Study to study."
Kangxi shook his head helplessly: "It's just going to the Imperial Study, not leaving the palace. It's easy to see him. Yinyi is such a smart child. If you hadn't been so reluctant to let him go, I would have sent him to the Imperial Study two years ago. The child is growing up and needs to grow. As my son, he can't be useless."
Anning: "It was just my womanly kindness. I felt the child was still too young. Besides, I don't ask for anything else, I just hope the child is safe and sound."
Emperor Kangxi frequently visited Changchun Palace. Yin Yi was naturally intelligent, and Emperor Kangxi was very fond of him. However, the people of Changchun Palace kept their mouths shut, and Anning did not want Yin Yi to be too conspicuous at this time, so she kept making excuses to Yin Yi to study time.
In addition, she could enlighten Yinyi and influence his thinking.
She did this to create a persona in front of Emperor Kangxi—a person who loves children and has no ambition for power.
When Emperor Kangxi has personally deposed all his older sons one by one until he has no more useful sons, and then looks back and sees his clever youngest son, Yinyi, then Yinyi will not need to fight for power; Kangxi will naturally give it to him.
What she had to do was make Kangxi feel very young, extremely young, and then suddenly send him away when he was supposed to die.
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