The soldiers were so imposing that their every move startled a flock of birds into flight.
General Chao Feihong nodded, and Pei Yanzhi rode up to Lord Yun.
"How is Uncle? Don't worry, Uncle, I will send someone to escort you all the way."
Lord Yun, however, directly and angrily questioned, "Since you knew it was him, why didn't you say so sooner..."
"He was right about one thing: more than a thousand people died in the Zhennan Prince's Mansion back then."
The man's clear, cold voice echoed through the woods, its lingering sound reverberating in the distance.
Lord Yun sneered, stared at Pei Yanzhi, and said only seven words.
"You're still too young!"
"..."
Pei Yanzhi didn't speak. The man lowered his eyes and glanced at the Yun family members, whose eyes were red and filled with fear.
Without saying a word, he rode away.
Li Chengyun waited for him ahead, and soon the two were riding side by side on the same level.
Looking back at General Fei Hong, Li Chengyun raised an eyebrow and smiled, "When did this happen?"
"What does Your Highness mean?"
"General Fei Hong".
"Just casual acquaintances."
Li Chengyun sneered and didn't dwell on the issue, simply saying, "I'll say it again: choose me, and you can name your terms."
"Your Highness has chosen the wrong person. The Pei family will only serve His Majesty as loyal subjects."
After speaking softly, Pei Yanzhi flicked his whip and rode away.
***********
The first thing Jiang Shuwan did upon returning to the Marquis's residence was to raise General Gu's salary.
God.
Who would understand? I never expected that General Gu could read lips. It would be a real shame not to give a raise to such a multi-talented person as General Gu.
Moreover, according to the information relayed by General Gu, she had a vague feeling of familiarity, but she couldn't quite remember it for the time being.
If she couldn't remember, she would put it aside. Jiang Shuwan first drew up the design drawings for the telescope and sent them to the north.
Meanwhile, they began procuring food supplies.
This year, she rented a large plot of land in the North to grow flowers for making perfume and sugar beets for sugar production.
Planting and land reclamation require a large amount of human labor, and the amount of grain consumed is difficult to calculate. Since the northern region is not a grain-producing area, it can only be purchased from outside.
In April and May, when food was scarce, merchants who held large quantities of grain were mostly from the Jiangnan region.
Because of the commercial tax issue, these merchants lost a lot of money and disliked Jiang Shuwan. Seeing that she urgently needed food, they raised prices on the spot and treated her like a fat sheep to be slaughtered, as if they wanted to recoup their losses.
Construction in the Northland was costing money like water, and Jiang Shuwan didn't have that much money, nor did she want to be taken advantage of, so she put her previously shelved artificial pearl cultivation plan back on the agenda.
The pearl business has always been extremely profitable, but because of the scarcity of supply and the difficulty in extracting pearls, the industry chain is very small.
Knowing that Jiang Shuwan had the technology to cultivate pearls, the Jiangnan merchants instantly became amiable. After several discussions, the two parties signed a cooperative pearl cultivation contract, and the grain was sold to Jiang Shuwan at a preferential price.
With this, the food crisis in the north came to an end.
General Gu admired this immensely.
Because of the commercial tax issue, he thought Jiang Shuwan's influence in the Chamber of Commerce would decrease, but unexpectedly, not only did the Beijing Chamber of Commerce respect her, but the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce also formed an alliance with her.
If this continues, will it really become the leader among all businesses?
However, contrary to General Gu's expectations, Jiang Shuwan made no moves in the business world after securing the grain supply.
These days, she's been busy hiding from Li Chengyun.
Li Chengyun ambushed and killed Lord Yun at Shili Slope. Based on their relationship, if she had the ability, she would definitely find a way to teach him a lesson to vent her hatred.
Even if she had no right to hate him, she should still be seething with hatred, but lately, whenever she thought of Li Chengyun, she felt very guilty.
She used to avoid Li Chengyun, but back then she was afraid that others would see them meeting in private and that she would get involved with him.
Hiding now is purely out of a guilty conscience...
Although she didn't know why she felt guilty.
Especially when she accidentally bumped into Li Chengyun while discussing a collaboration with a businessman from Jiangnan at the theater, she was so nervous that she didn't dare to look him in the eye.
"I don't owe him anything!"
Summer has arrived, but Jiang Shuwan still can't figure out why.
Until one day, she overheard Qingxing and General Gu chatting under the eaves.
"Young General Gu, if your surname is Gu, you wouldn't happen to be from the Gu family of Pingzhou, one of the eight great families in the past, would you...?"
General Gu is certainly not. He has absolutely no connection with the Gu family of Pingzhou; they just happen to share the same surname.
However, it was this sentence that woke Jiang Shuwan up in the middle of the night.
"Miss, what's wrong?" Qingxing quickly put on her clothes and came over to see her.
Wiping the cold sweat from her forehead, Jiang Shuwan smiled reassuringly, "It's nothing, just a nightmare."
However, her forced smile was so unsightly that Qingxing quickly brought her a bowl of water.
"Is Miss worried about the Second Miss?"
Hearing Qingxing's words, Jiang Shuwan became even more silent.
There hasn't been any good news lately.
Looking up, the girl saw the sky outside. Dawn was approaching, and since she was awake, she decided not to go back to sleep.
Rarely getting up early, Jiang Shuwan first went to the old lady's room for a free breakfast.
Glancing at Liu Yunyan beside her, the old lady was happy to see Jiang Shuwan, but also a little embarrassed.
Ever since the Yun family returned to their hometown, the old man has lost his appetite and sends letters there every few days.
Knowing she was worried, Elder Yun replied to her letter without missing a single one.
However, the fact that the brother and sister were separated by thousands of miles and had difficulty meeting still made the old lady very sad.
Especially since she used to have Pei Shushu by her side, a clever and cute girl who could keep her company and relieve her boredom. However, at the end of last month, Pei Shushu also married into the Yao family, and for a time the old lady's courtyard became much quieter.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Liu Yunyan became close to him, and their relationship returned to how it was when Liu Yunyan first came to the Marquis's mansion.
Therefore, upon seeing Jiang Shuwan, the old lady felt inexplicably awkward.
She always valued Jiang Shuwan, and it was one thing for others to become Pei Yanzhi's concubines.
It just so happens to be Liu Yunyan.
You should know that Liu Yunyan was able to live in the Marquis's mansion because of her relationship with the Liu family, and only later did she take a concubine...
It's impossible for Jiang Shuwan not to have a thorn in her side.
In particular, after Liu Yunyan entered the family, Pei Yanzhi never went to Jiang Shuwan's courtyard once. She had tried hitting and scolding her, but it was all to no avail.
Therefore, she felt very uneasy every time she saw Jiang Shuwan.
Normally, they also try to avoid letting Jiang Shuwan and Liu Yunyan meet, and try to avoid the two of them appearing in the same place.
Jiang Shuwan got up early today, which was unusual for her, and she ended up running into Liu Yunyan.
In particular, Liu Yunyan was sitting and having dinner with her.
Upon seeing Jiang Shuwan, Liu Yunyan was also taken aback.
She and Jiang Shuwan hadn't seen each other for a long time.
"Ahem." Chang Mama, who was standing to the side serving, suddenly coughed twice. With a "whoosh," Liu Yunyan subconsciously stood up and curtsied to Jiang Shuwan.
Jiang Shuwan: "..."
Liu Yunyan: "..."
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