Chapter 65 is at most a robbery.
Minister Wu remained silent.
The Minister's mansion could probably scrape together over ten thousand taels of silver.
The fear is that this extravagant spending of tens of thousands of taels of silver on jewelry will lead to impeachment by the censors.
When the Emperor investigates, the Grand Princess may not be able to protect herself.
"From this day forward, you will stay in this mansion and are not allowed to go anywhere!"
"But His Majesty's birthday is in a few days, and Grandfather said he would take his granddaughter there..."
"What time is it and you're still thinking about these things?!" Minister Wu said angrily. "Whether the Wu family can even live to see His Majesty's birthday is another matter!"
Wu Xinyi felt wronged. Her grandfather didn't have the abilities of the Grand Princess. He was extorted for money and then took his anger out on her.
His Majesty is currently in good health and still young.
If they take a liking to us, why should the Minister's Mansion fear a mere Princess's Mansion?
Even assuming I don't catch the Emperor's eye, there are so many unmarried princes out there; if I could catch the eye of just one of them...
She herself was a princess, far superior to Jiang Wan Ning, who was a princess of a different surname.
"Stop with your scheming!" Minister Wu saw through his granddaughter's thoughts. "With your stupidity, marrying into the royal family will only bring disaster to the Wu family!"
“But Grandfather also said before…” Wu Xinyi retorted.
"I wanted to get you into the Emperor's favor, but now it seems you're too stupid."
"From now on, you will stay in this manor. If you disobey, I will have someone send you to the estate."
Upon hearing this, Wu Xinyi knew that her grandfather was truly angry, and dared not utter another word.
On the other side,
Jiang Wanning and Shen Ruzhi put the items they had just chosen back with some 'disdain'.
"Shopkeeper, who buys these pieces of jewelry?" Shen Ruzhi asked with a look of disgust. "They're so ugly, and so expensive."
Even Jiang Wan Ning couldn't help but nod in agreement; it was indeed quite ugly.
Mo Mo brewed some fine tea and placed it on the table in front of the two of them, smiling as she said, "The cost price of these items is only about a hundred taels of silver."
"They were all made casually by me and the waiter in this shop."
Shen Ruzhi: "...and then it'll sell for a few thousand taels of silver?"
No wonder everyone who goes up to the second floor has to buy one item. "Isn't this robbery?"
“Miss Chen, this is a legitimate business, how can it be considered robbery? At most, it's just theft.”
Mo Mo explained, "You two are unaware of the fact that the court is currently unstable and the national treasury is empty."
Chen Ruzhi: "..."
"All the officials in the court were complaining about being poor, so the prince and the emperor came up with this idea."
"They complain about being poor, but the women in the inner quarters are the most competitive."
"So, the story about His Majesty buying something here and the previous incidents where people broke the rules and were looted is all false?"
Mo Mo shook her head. "It's not fake, it's acting."
"In this way, the families of court officials will go up to the second floor to compete with each other, and once they go up to the second floor, they can only submit to being slaughtered."
“They’ve been fooled, so naturally they won’t tell anyone, for fear of losing face. Instead, they’ll promote how good the jewelry on the second floor of Jin Yu Fang is.”
"The purpose is to encourage others to compare themselves with them, to make them fall for the same scam as you, so that everyone knows the truth but keeps quiet."
Jiang Wan Ning understood; no wonder an ordinary piece of jewelry was priced at over a thousand taels.
So this is a scheme conspired between the prince and the emperor to swindle people.
In my previous life, I didn't like browsing jewelry shops and had never been to the second floor of this Jin Yu Fang.
The prices listed on this floor are actually quite reasonable.
I have bought two of them before.
"What about this silver?"
“The silver will naturally be split equally between the Prince and His Majesty,” Mo Mo said.
To be honest, my princess is really something; she made those two people vomit over ten thousand taels of silver with just a few words.
The happiest person right now is His Majesty.
The news reached the palace three days later.
Early in the morning,
From the moment Pei Yanchuan entered the imperial study, the laughter of the imperial merchant Xiao Yu never stopped.
"Ah Chuan, your princess is really something else, hahaha..."
"It's really not easy to get Old Dog Wu to cough up tens of thousands of taels of silver all at once."
Pei Yanchuan's lips curled up slightly, "Ningning, you do have some skills."
Xiao Yu was taken aback, then chuckled and pointed at Pei Yanchuan, saying to the head eunuch, "Panpan, take a look."
"Look at how smug he is."
Wu Panpan smiled along with the joke, but didn't say much.
"Tell me," Emperor Xiao Yu said, looking at the tens of thousands of taels of silver notes on the dragon table. "Send all the silver to the palace."
"Of course, I want something else."
Pei Yanchuan didn't stand on ceremony and said directly, "Your Majesty is wise."
"Hmph, whether I'm wise or not is another matter, but I know you too well."
If there was nothing they wanted to ask for, why would all those tens of thousands of taels of silver be laid out on the dragon's desk?
"Ningning wants to open a shop and needs a lot of ice."
Your Majesty paused, for it was the height of summer and the palace was running out of ice.
The Emperor pointed at Pei Yanchuan with his finger, "Alright, A-Chuan."
"Your household doesn't have enough ice; you're eyeing my ice."
Pei Yanchuan remained silent, but Wu Panpan whispered a reminder: "Your Majesty."
"Your Highness probably wants to borrow ice from someone else."
Wu Panpan deliberately emphasized the "other people's house" part.
Xiao Yu's mind cleared instantly, and he suddenly realized, "You want to use the Wu family as a pawn?"
Pei Yanchuan put down his teacup. "Wu Kui, as the Minister of Rites, can afford to spend tens of thousands of taels of silver to buy jewelry for his granddaughter."
"Rumors will definitely spread."
In the end, the Wu family will be seen as corrupt officials by the common people, and the Grand Princess will abandon this pawn to avoid trouble.
After all, those who win the hearts of the people win the world, and the Grand Princess did not want to have a bad reputation among the people.
The Emperor nodded. "The Wu family is a great help to my aunt. She won't give up so easily."
"That depends on what His Majesty does. The Grand Princess will definitely ask Prince Qi for help."
Upon hearing this, Wu Panpan quietly waved her hand, signaling the eunuchs and palace maids behind her to step back.
He also retreated to the back of the warm pavilion.
This way, he wouldn't hear the Emperor and the prince discussing matters, but he could always hear the Emperor calling him if the Emperor raised his voice slightly.
He can hear and absorb it immediately.
"Ah Chuan, what do you mean?" Xiao Yu asked seriously, "Let them fight amongst themselves?"
Pei Yanchuan nodded, "His Majesty's birthday is in two days. We just need to create a misunderstanding between them."
"The Grand Princess cannot protect the Wu family."
The Grand Princess and Prince Qi were always on the same side, but they also used each other.
Their current target is the Emperor; once they defeat the Emperor, they will naturally compete with each other.
Therefore, it wouldn't be difficult to sow discord between the two of them.
Because there was never any trust to begin with.
Xiao Yu was in high spirits. "I really didn't expect Jiang Zheng's daughter to be so intelligent, hahaha."
"I've also heard that she saved someone, and that person can cure your illness? Is that really true?"
"The method is good, but the conditions are not met, so it's practically useless," Pei Yanchuan said calmly.
Xiao Yu breathed a slight sigh of relief. "In that case, you should still take the medicine I found for you."
"When sufficient conditions are met, I fear you might not live to see it..."
"Your Majesty, rest assured, with Ningning by my side, I will never give up hope of survival."
"That's good."
"I have other matters to attend to, so I will take my leave now." Pei Yanchuan rose and bowed as he left.
Mo Ran, who was waiting at the door of the Imperial Study, looked displeased.
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