Chapter 016: It smells so good, I want to bite the little mermaid's neck

The four great masters, Cui, He, Chen and Li, are well-known to everyone in the capital. They have survived several dynasties and have a history of hundreds of years. They can be said to be famous all over the world.

Even though they were suppressed by the royal family many times later and suffered heavy losses during the turbulent decade, as the saying goes, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, and they still have a place in the capital.

The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Justice were their home turfs. The head of the Cui family was a famous scholar of the time and the chief academic officer of the Imperial College, and was deeply loved by scholars.

In addition to a large amount of mountains, forests and fields, the four families also each have their own way of making money - Cui paper, He porcelain, Chen tan and Li cloth.

In addition to these four, several other businesses are also involved, such as the Chen family's summer ice business.

With money and power in hand, it is hard for the four companies not to be arrogant.

The four great family heads of the time were of similar age and were all ambitious. At first, seeing that Zong Zheng's family background was shallow and Zong Zheng Xiao was young, they not only looked down on him, but also wanted to take advantage of the instability of the new dynasty to restore the former glory of their family.

But who knew that Zong Zheng Xiao was not someone to be trifled with? They had suffered many setbacks from him in the past few years.

King Jing was a chess piece they had placed since Zong Zhengxiao ascended the throne. They were only waiting for the right time to kill Zong Zhengxiao and support him to take the throne.

But they didn't expect Zong Zhengxiao to be so lucky that he happened to discover their plan and took advantage of the situation to deal with many of them.

The aristocratic families could not bear the humiliation of losing the rice while trying to steal the chicken. As the head of the four major families, the Cui family proposed a plan to increase the price of paper.

I thought everything was foolproof, but unexpectedly something went wrong in the end.

In the secret room, even though there were several basins of ice all around, the head of the Chen family still had a red face. It was because of the heat, but more importantly, he was very anxious.

This summer was particularly hot, and even though their ice was priced higher than one or two taels of silver, it still sold very well. When business was best, they could earn five or six hundred taels of silver a day.

The day before Ji's Ice Shop appeared, he was planning to raise the price to make more money, but he encountered this unexpected change.

Now that his family has failed to frame the Ji family, and they can't sell the ice, when they think about how much money they will lose, the head of the Chen family wants to rush directly to the Ji family and hack that family of peasants to death!

"Master Cui, the Ji family is becoming more and more reckless. The little emperor must be behind this. If we can't find a solution, the ice business will be taken away by them!"

Seeing that things were about to get serious, Patriarch Cui was still playing with walnuts calmly, so Patriarch Chen had to speak first.

Patriarch Cui still didn't say anything, but Patriarch He said, "What's the use of being anxious? They must have made perfect preparations if they dared to take action. But you, you didn't need any clever methods to destroy their ice shop. You failed to frame them and got caught. Who can save you now?"

Hearing the tone of indifference, Patriarch Chen was furious, but he didn't hold it back and said directly: "Patriarch He, if you want to watch from the sidelines, you have to see whether others agree or not. Today it's my ice, how do you know it won't be your porcelain tomorrow? I can still sell coal if I lose ice, but if you lose porcelain, you really have nothing."

The He family is indeed the one with the weakest industry among the four families, and the retort from the head of the Chen family hits the nail on the head.

"You..." Patriarch He was about to curse, but Patriarch Cui suddenly said, "Well, if quarreling can solve the problem, why do we have four people sitting here?"

As soon as he opened his mouth, the two heads of the Chen and He families fell silent at the same time. Head of the Cui family clenched the walnut tightly, closed his eyes and sighed: "Just as Head of the He family said, they came prepared. We have no choice but to give up."

Patriarch Chen's eyes widened, his face full of disapproval, "So, isn't that just giving away so much money for nothing?"

The head of the Li family, who had a serious expression from beginning to end, said: "What else do you want? Haven't you figured it out yet? The ice business is just a warning to make us give up the plan to raise the price of paper."

After he said this, the head of the Chen family remembered that there was someone here who was even more miserable than himself, and that was the paper-making family of the Cui family.

If Zong Zheng Xiao really learned how to make paper, the Cui family would be devastated.

In comparison, his own situation didn't seem to be the worst, which made him feel inexplicably relieved.

Looking at his expression, Patriarch Cui knew what he was thinking, and said coldly, "The plan to raise paper prices will be put on hold for now. We'll talk about it later."

Patriarch Li nodded: "If he can really make paper, it is impossible for him to not reveal any news later. We have plenty of time to wait. If he can't produce paper by then, hehe..."

A plan to raise paper prices can be implemented at any time.

Having said that, the four families were skeptical about the rumor that Zong Zhengxiao could make paper. But after the incident of selling ice, they were actually a little panicked, fearing that Zong Zhengxiao would really take action against their family.

No one wants their wallet to be stolen, but in front of their own people, they all pretend to be calm.

*

When Zong Zhengxiao found that the noble families had not taken any action, he knew that his plan had succeeded.

In addition, the income from selling ice cream continuously flowed into his private treasury. His wallet was full and he felt confident. It was hard for him not to be happy.

Rong Yin also noticed Zong Zheng Xiao's joy, so she became much bolder in her behavior these days. For example, she occasionally ate Zong Zheng Xiao's smoothie, hid in the water to sneak attack him when he was taking a bath, and deliberately played tricks when playing the hand-slapping game with him...

Just as Rong Yin expected, Zong Zheng Xiao showed him a tolerance as broad as the ocean. Rong Yin felt that even if he really went crazy now, Zong Zheng Xiao would not be angry.

It was raining outside that day, so Zong Zhengxiao ordered people to bring out the guqin and played it for Rong Yin himself.

There was a rustling sound of rain outside and melodious piano music inside. Even Rong Yin, who had no musical sense, thought that Zong Zheng Xiao played the piano very well. He was entranced by the music while holding the ice basin.

By the way, there is a lot more ice in the palace recently, as if it is inexhaustible. Rong Yin can only sigh: This is the privilege of the emperor!

After the song ended, Zong Zhengxiao looked at Rong Yin and asked, "Do you like it?"

Rong Yin looked at Zong Zheng Xiao with sparkling eyes and answered him with her eyes.

Zong Zhengxiao smiled and said, "If you like it, I'll give you more bullets in the future."

Rong Yin answered in her heart: Okay, okay!

Seeing the little mermaid happy, Zong Zheng Xiao was also happy.

The mermaid's ice-making method helped him a lot. He was very grateful to the mermaid and wanted to repay him, but now the two of them haven't talked it out yet. He can only keep his gratitude in his heart and reward the mermaid within an appropriate range first.

When they can communicate with each other without any scruples in the future, he will give him the money he owes to the little mermaid.

"Ah!" Rong Yin touched the guqin with one hand and pointed at himself with the other.

Zong Zhengxiao: "Want to learn this?"

Rong Yin had only seen the guqin before but had never touched it. Now that he had the chance, he naturally wanted to try it.

"Ah!" Rong Yin directly handed her hands to Zong Zheng Xiao.

Zong Zhengxiao chuckled, held Rong Yin's hand and pulled her into his arms.

Since he was interested, Zong Zhengxiao was of course willing to teach him.

Rong Yin nestled in Zong Zheng Xiao's arms. Zong Zheng Xiao taught him how to press and pluck the strings step by step. Rong Yin's eyes lit up every time the tone changed. It was more like playing with a child than a serious teaching.

The summer was hot, and even though there was plenty of ice to keep people cool, Zong Zheng would still wear light clothes when he was free, and Rong Yin was even more naked.

The two were so close that they could feel each other's heartbeat and transmit body temperature to each other.

Rong Yin was immersed in learning the piano and didn't notice anything. However, Zong Zhengxiao, who was already attracted by Rong Yin's body fragrance, was not so calm.

Because the weather was hot, Rong Yin braided her long hair into a braid in front of her body, exposing her entire back.

The mermaid's skin is white and delicate, like a priceless silk cloth, making people want to touch it and try what it feels like.

The beautiful and slender neck was clearly blocking Zong Zhengxiao's sight. Zong Zhengxiao could smell that the charming fragrance was emanating from there.

He was very curious about why his little mermaid smelled so good. After observing for a long time, he found that only he could smell the fragrance.

Is this scent hidden in the blood? If the skin is bitten and blood flows out, will the scent be stronger?

Zong Zhengxiao seemed to be possessed for a moment. His Adam's apple moved, his thin lips pursed, and he unknowingly got closer and closer to the back of Rong Yin's neck...

"Boom——"

Suddenly, thunder roared outside the house, so loud that it hurt people's ears.

Zong Zhengxiao suddenly came to his senses, and at this moment, he was only a finger's distance away from the back of Rong Yin's neck. He could kiss Rong Yin's skin by just lowering his head slightly.

Zong Zhengxiao's breath was choked, and instead of leaning back immediately, he stepped back little by little until he returned to his original position.

Rong Yin was so frightened that she instinctively covered her ears. It took her a long time before she turned to look at Zong Zheng Xiao. Only then did she realize that Zong Zheng Xiao did not look well.

Rong Yin blinked her eyes: Is Zong Zheng Xiao afraid of thunder?

Zong Zhengxiao, who was regretting that he almost did something wrong, said: "..."

Rather than knowing the truth, Zong Zheng Xiao thought it would be better for Rong Yin to just think that he was afraid of thunder.

Rong Yin did not laugh at Zong Zheng Xiao, because the thunder just now was so loud that even he was a little scared.

"Ah ah!" Rong Yin found that Zong Zheng Xiao had retracted his hands at some point. He wanted to continue learning the piano, but also wanted to divert Zong Zheng Xiao's attention from his fear of thunder, so he took the initiative to put his hands into his hands.

Seeing this, Zong Zheng Xiao suppressed all the emotions in his heart, held Rong Yin's hand, and was about to continue teaching him, but he heard footsteps from the side.

——It was the palace maids who brought smoothies and cakes.

Rong Yin was thirsty, so her eyes unconsciously glanced towards the smoothie, and then she saw the palace maid who was serving the smoothie.

The moment he saw the palace lady's appearance clearly, Rong Yin subconsciously took a breath of cool air.

I must have seen it right, this palace maid is... Lu'e!

Rong Yin's eyes were wide open without blinking, and there was no way Lu'e didn't notice that he was looking at her.

However, Rong Yin's eyes did not contain any lust or disgust, but pure surprise and curiosity, so Lu'e did not feel offended.

She put down the smoothie, bowed to the two of them, and stood in a corner with the other palace servants.

Rong Yin secretly glanced at Lu'e, then at Zong Zhengxiao, thinking: Could it be that Zong Zhengxiao passed by and saved Lu'e from being beaten to death, and that happened without my knowledge? Otherwise, why would Lu'e appear here?

Zong Zheng Xiao heard this and learned another piece of information: it turned out that in the "book" that the little mermaid was reading, he had saved Lu'e.