The next two days were not peaceful. When they went to dine with Emperor Kangxi, the Crown Prince's attitude was much better. Li Jia also argued with Qingyan again, always speaking to her in a condescending manner, which infuriated Qingyan.
At dawn, Yin got up at three-quarters past 1:45. Before it was even light, Qingyan was fast asleep, clutching her silk quilt.
"Su Peisheng, have someone prepare breakfast." Yin glanced at the sky, decided not to hand Qingyan over, and carried her into the imperial carriage to get better.
Today, Emperor Kangxi told Consort Tong that they did not need to pay their respects; they could go out directly.
The lights in Yin's courtyard were lit early in the morning. Yin was awakened by the noise and stood at the window, listening to the sound of carriages rolling on both sides. Li Jiashi, wearing a morning robe, hugged Yin's waist from behind.
"Master, let's not talk about what the Fourth Princess Consort is complaining about!" Li Jia was secretly delighted. She was of lower birth than the First and Fourth Princess Consorts. In the future, when her master sat in a high position, wouldn't they have to pay their respects to her?
Yin felt uneasy. Qingyan was never one to mince words. In the past few days, Li Jia had been putting Qingyan down quite a bit, yet she still said those things.
"You can even tell the difference between polite words and reality?" Yin felt a little smug, but quickly calmed down.
Li Jia pursed her lips, clearly having won, and should have faced her sisters-in-law with a victorious air.
When Li Jia was about to challenge Qingyan, Qingyan was still fast asleep and showed no signs of waking up. Yin hugged the cloak tightly to keep the little girl from being frightened by the noise outside.
When the two came out, the servants knelt down silently. Some of the bolder ones saw Qingyan being put into the carriage with a cloak over his shoulders and felt a pang of envy.
An hour later, Qingyan woke up and saw that she had fallen asleep in the carriage again, which made her a little angry.
She was always carried in by Yin, and the maids were sure to gossip about it.
"Little darling, get up quickly and have your meal first!" Yin put down the book in his hand and looked at her with a faint smile.
"Didn't I tell you to wake me up? How did you end up carrying me in?" Qingyan repeatedly instructed that she must wake her up.
After Qingyan finished washing up, Yin poured her a cup of warm honey water. He didn't really like such sweet water, but the imperial physician insisted that Yin drink it, so Qingyan had no choice but to share the hardship with Yin.
"My sister-in-law and Songkelierha were both carried onto the carriage by my elder brother. They left too early today!" Yin and Yin discussed privately that they should try to leave as early as possible so as not to run into Yin who came to pay his respects.
Qingyan pouted, looking unhappy.
"Look at this, it was brought by the manager of Yuelai Inn when we came out today!" Yin rarely interfered with Qingyan's business. As they were about to leave the city gate, Su Peisheng saw the manager of Yuelai Inn anxiously waiting at the door.
Qingyan opened the account book and looked through it page by page. It recorded many exchanges between government officials.
Starting half a month ago, the salt merchants began to dine with Li Xu more and more often, sometimes even inviting all the officials from Liangjiang to join them.
"Sisi, when did we decide to head south?" Qingyan calculated that every meal was the most expensive set meal at Yuelai Inn, which was beyond the reach of ordinary people. In half a month, the salt merchants and officials hosted twenty banquets.
Yin sat behind Qingyan, looking at the place she pointed out, his face darkening.
"It was the guards sent by Tulichen who spoke to Cao Yin about this half a month ago." Yin looked at the list of people recorded by the shopkeeper. Cao Yin appeared once; he was hosting a banquet for the salt merchants.
Li Xu's attendance at this event also involved many officials from Jiangnan.
The relationship between Cao Yin and Li Xu gradually cooled, and the death of Madam Li greatly affected the relationship between the two families.
“Li Xu…” Yin muttered softly.
When Qingyan mentioned Li Xu, she thought of Madam Li. Her delicate appearance and tiny bound feet would drive any man crazy.
"Do you think the maids preparing to climb into the bed might have been arranged by the salt merchants?" Qingyan's mind was filled with a little drama: those salt merchants wanted to control the princes' backyards.
In modern times, the residences of those salt merchants have all been preserved; many of the ancient houses remaining in Yangzhou were once the residences of salt merchants.
Yin shook his head. What she said made sense; it would be too hasty to draw conclusions now.
"It has nothing to do with us. All those servants have been dealt with. It's the Crown Princess's turn to have a headache!" Yin smiled coldly. The Crown Prince was fond of beautiful women, and the Crown Princess could keep it in check. However, Li Jia was a woman who used her beauty to seduce the Crown Prince, so she dared not mention it to him.
Qingyan smiled, she really enjoyed watching the chaos in Yuqing Palace. Ever since the two sisters-in-law first met, the Crown Princess and she had never gotten along.
"What does the shopkeeper mean by sending this?" Qingyan was puzzled. What was the shopkeeper trying to say? "It was sent this morning?"
Yin nodded, while Qingyan frowned and looked out the window, his expression growing increasingly serious.
"Oh no! The Yuelai Inn has been exposed! Li Xu definitely won't let the innkeeper off the hook." Qingyan slapped her forehead, realizing she'd forgotten to protect the innkeeper. "He's playing a trick on us!"
Qingyan shook her head in annoyance. She felt really annoyed. Why didn't she think it through beforehand?
"Little darling, he wouldn't dare touch those shopkeepers." Yin squeezed her little hand to calm her down.
At this moment, he understood that Kangxi's desire for them all to come out likely had another meaning.
"Fourth, those managers are all very capable. If one of them is dealt with, the others will be in danger too!" Qingyan couldn't understand what the higher-ups meant. If protecting the officialdom in Jiangnan meant that several managers would be dealt with, Cao Yin was one of Kangxi's most trusted people. The possibility of touching him was extremely small.
Yin let Qingyan lie in his arms and quickly comforted the little guy.
“Li Xu is about to make a move!” Kangxi had a bottom line: trusted court officials must never marry Han women as wives, unless they were Han officials like Zhang Ying. Li Xu was of Han military banner origin, so he should understand that the position of stepmother should be held by someone from the Han ethnic group.
"As long as my managers are alright, that's fine. Should we send this ledger back?" Qingyan looked at the remaining trees at Yuelai Inn, not wanting to reveal anything.
Yin nodded. The shopkeeper had sent it out in advance, perhaps so that they could deliver it to the higher-ups.
"You don't need to send them all. Just send back these few pages that specifically record the salt merchants' and government officials' transactions. Hurry up and check the account books. I'll write a memorial of greetings, and send it to the Emperor today along with the memorial of greetings." Yin saw Qingyan's fingers tremble slightly, but he still spoke.
"Okay!" Qingyan said, revealing the full extent of Yuelai Inn's profits.
This was a huge sacrifice. Fortunately, there were several other businesses; otherwise, even a single copper coin moved by Yinzhen would have been known to Emperor Kangxi. (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)
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