Are you crazy? It's not like you're on a blind date, why are you dressed so flashy?
Jiang Shuwan was too lazy to pay attention to him, but she had to pretend to be polite because of his status.
“Your Highness, please be careful. I believe you know better than I do that it is not appropriate for us to meet in private.”
"It's okay, as long as no one knows."
"..."
Jiang Shuwan was breathless. She wanted to send him away but was afraid of making too much noise, so she took a deep breath, sat down, and continued to look at the accounts.
"Let's leave when you've had enough fun."
After saying that, he ignored him. Li Chengyun was quite patient. He ordered a pot of tea and a plate of snacks and sat there for the whole afternoon.
During this period, Song Huaizhang came in once, but he wasn't looking for Li Chengyun; instead, he was discussing the spring sales plan with Jiang Shuwan.
Song Huaizhang was quite something. Even after his identity was exposed, he still reported various matters to Jiang Shuwan as usual, and he even prepared a new quarterly report.
It's done quite well.
"It would be good if he wasn't one of the fourth brother's men..."
Jiang Shuwan sighed inwardly, signed her name on the report, and then instructed Song Huaizhang to begin arranging the reception of foreign businessmen.
The New Year is over, the weather is starting to warm up, and foreign merchants will gradually appear in the capital.
When the time comes, she will ask the North to bring over a batch of top-quality goods, not for money, but for seeds.
"seed?"
Song Huaizhang was taken aback, and Li Chengyun, who had been lazily drinking tea, straightened up.
Foreign merchants can sell many items at high prices in large markets, such as pepper.
They had considered acquiring the seeds, but the trade routes were too risky, and the spread of pepper seeds faced enormous difficulties.
Another issue is that foreign companies intentionally control the outflow of seeds, so even if they have the money, they can't buy them.
Threatening with one's life is not an option, since if this matter escalates, it will become a matter between two countries.
"Who would threaten someone with their life? We're all civilized people, why would we need to use knives and guns?"
Jiang Shuwan kept everyone in suspense.
After finishing her business, she packed up and went back to her residence. Li Chengyun didn't stop her. They went back to their own homes and to their own mothers.
In the following days, Li Chengyun would occasionally stroll over, not doing anything, just sitting there drinking tea.
Jiang Shuwan didn't speak to him, but the other managers liked him quite a bit. They would go over to him from time to time to say a few words and ask about his background. He only said that he was Song Yi's cousin, which made the managers think of him even more highly.
Li Chengyun was particularly generous, often treating the managers to milk tea, and would even call over an opera troupe to perform when he was bored.
Within a few days, Jiang Shuwan's subordinates had become close friends with him, especially several female managers who would often peek at Li Chengyun through the crack in the door. Their blushing faces made Qingxing stomp her feet in anger, fearing that he would steal Jiang Shuwan's heart.
After all, the Song family also has businesses.
Especially Meixue, she used to go in and out with Chunjiao. Before the new year, Chunjiao got married to the head guard of the front courtyard of the Marquis's mansion. Meixue basically went to and from work alone. In addition, she was also of marriageable age.
Of all the people in the office, she was the one who spied on Li Chengyun the most.
Li Chengyun had only been there a few days when she not only prepared tea and snacks early, but also picked a few early-blooming magnolias and placed them in a vase on the tea table for him to admire.
Poor thing, the magnolia flower had only sprouted two tiny buds and hadn't even grown up yet when it was ruined by Meixue.
No, it was Li Chengyun who ruined it.
In the corner, Qingxing gritted her teeth and pulled Meixue over.
"You don't actually like him, do you?"
"How could that be! He looks like a lazy, good-for-nothing gigolo. I'd be crazy to fall for him. But he is quite handsome, much better looking than the other men who tried to arrange marriages for me before..."
As Meixue spoke, she peeked through the crack in the door again. Li Chengyun felt her gaze and returned a captivating smile. Meixue screamed, covered her face, and ran away. Li Chengyun probably thought he was very charming and proudly waved his peony fan.
When Jiang Shuwan found out, she immediately clutched her stomach and laughed so hard she couldn't stand up straight.
Niu Meixue Niu, how dare she call a prince a lazy, good-for-nothing gigolo.
It's no wonder Meixue misunderstood. A prince pretending to be Song Huaizhang's cousin every day, eating and drinking in the office without doing any real work, is bound to be seen as a loser.
But these happy days didn't last long.
"Miss, tomorrow is the day the results of the imperial examinations will be announced..."
On the first day of late February, as soon as Jiang Shuwan got up, she heard Qingxing announcing the date.
What was said unintentionally was taken to heart by Jiang Shuwan, whose mind was completely preoccupied with the cheating case in the imperial examinations. She was somewhat unsettled when she left home in the morning, and when she returned home in the evening, she happened to run into Pei Yanzhi, who was returning from his post.
After the imperial examinations, Pei Yanzhi returned to work. Everything in the commercial tax department was proceeding smoothly without any major issues, but he was still extremely busy. It was rumored that he had been assigned to repair the palace for the old emperor.
The old emperor collected six million taels of silver in taxes last time. After paying military salaries and wages, a lot of silver was left over, which Pei Yanzhi instigated the old emperor to squander. He spent money like crazy on things like increasing the expenses of the concubines and building palaces.
Especially when building palaces, which are the most expensive things, since you use Phoebe zhennan wood for the pillars, you can't use ordinary blue bricks for the walls; you have to use gold bricks for the height and width as well.
The bricks were all made of gold, and the interior furnishings couldn't be cheap either. They used whatever was expensive, and the money was spent like a bottomless pit.
Crucially, this doesn't even include the glass that Jiang Shuwan sent to the palace.
When Pei Yanzhi was building the palace, he took many large pieces of glazed glass from her to seal the windows. Once it was built, it was truly magnificent and beautiful.
When has the old emperor ever lived in such a luxurious house? Ever since he came to power, the Great Jing Dynasty has been plagued by constant problems, with leaks in the sky here and earthquakes there.
He never had a good life, and the palace was built by the previous dynasty.
The palace was still relatively new during the late emperor's time, but it began to fall into disrepair under his rule.
It was one thing to be poor before, but now that they have money, and with Pei Yanzhi's instigation, the old emperor also felt aggrieved, thinking that he had suffered too much and was wronged. With a wave of his hand, he gave the task of repairing the palace to Pei Yanzhi.
For some reason, Pei Yanzhi spent money without restraint. Jiang Shuwan didn't know at first, but later found out from Yao Zhijie that Pei Yanzhi had used all the money left over from the commercial tax to repair the palace, and hadn't paid back a single penny of the ten million taels of silver owed by the old emperor in the famine.
Pei Yanzhi still has some money, but not much. He doesn't know how long it will last, as spring planting is coming soon, and there are places that need money everywhere...
Thinking about this, Jiang Shuwan realized that she didn't understand Pei Yanzhi at all.
With Pei Yanzhi's keen insight, he should be well aware of the financial difficulties of the Great Jing Dynasty and should spend the money on repairing the palace.
That's so stupid.
Let alone loyal ministers, even treacherous ministers would advise the emperor, but Pei Yanzhi went even further, instigating the old emperor...
I really have no idea what he's up to...
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