He Youyou stood at the door, watching him approach.
"Where is Your Highness headed?"
Zhao Changqing walked up to her and asked instead of answering, "Youyou, where are you going?"
He Youyou smiled: "Let's go for a stroll in the bustling city center. We've been in the capital for several days and haven't had a proper opportunity to explore. The capital is the most prosperous place in the world; wouldn't it be a shame not to take the time to explore it properly?"
Zhao Changqing lowered his eyes, then raised them again.
Two points of starlight condensed in his eyes.
“I will go with you.”
He Youyou tilted her head: "Oh, Your Highness has such leisure and refined tastes? Willing to keep me company? This humble woman is most honored."
“Call me Hanzhang,” Zhao Changqing corrected her. “As the host, I am quite familiar with the capital and would like to volunteer to be your guide and show you around.”
He Youyou glanced at his expensive clothes, then at her own carriage: "My carriage is simple and plain, Your Highness is wronged."
"It's alright. It's easier to travel discreetly. People in the royal family might be criticized by officials if they act too ostentatiously."
“Alright, since Your Highness doesn’t mind, let’s go.” He Youyou led the way into the car.
The two boarded the carriage and sat facing each other.
When Zhao Changqing got into the carriage, he gave the driver a message, instructing him to go to the most bustling street in the capital.
Inside the carriage, He Youyou took out some snacks and fruits to treat him.
"Your Highness, I feel really bad for receiving so many things from you these past few days."
As she spoke, she pulled a few sheets of paper out of her sleeve.
The document was clearly a few pages from an account book, recording various items that Zhao Changqing had sent over from the day they moved in.
From everyday items to various precious ingredients, there was a dazzling array of goods, filling several pages with entries.
Zhao Changqing looked at those pages of paper, his expression slightly unnatural.
"Who wrote this down?" he asked.
He Youyou said, "I asked Lao Qian to write it down. I require Lao Qian to register everything you send so that it can be easily found later."
"Why are you memorizing these things? They're nothing special."
He Youyou laughed and said, "We ordinary people can't compare to the prince. The prince has high standards. In the prince's eyes, these things are just ordinary. I'm different. I find these things very rare."
Zhao Changqing looked at her intently and said, "The things you give me are rarer than anything else; you can't find them anywhere even if you have money."
He Youyou: "No matter what, I want to thank Your Highness for your care. I'm so grateful to you these past few days."
"Don't say that. We're like family. Back in Jizhou, I troubled you a lot at your residence. I'm so grateful for your hospitality. There's so much stuff in the Prince's mansion that we can't finish it all. Sending it to you is just a matter of convenience. It's nothing. Don't take it to heart."
"Alright, this debt is impossible to settle no matter how you look at it. I'll repay this favor another time."
Zhao Changqing quickly replied, "No need to return it."
He Youyou put away the papers, then suddenly remembered something: "By the way, I asked you to help me find out about that seller. Do you have any news? Is this person a legitimate seller?"
When Zhao Changqing heard her ask this, his body tensed slightly, and he lowered his eyes to suppress his gaze: "Oh, you mean that... I inquired and asked an acquaintance in the yamen. I carefully investigated that person's background and found nothing wrong. The house that person got was not inherited. It was mortgaged to him by someone who couldn't repay the loan. He was in a hurry to sell it, so he sold it cheaply."
"Is that all?" He Youyou asked, her brows furrowed.
That's it.
He Youyou sensed a tension in Zhao Changqing.
However, I did not sense any malice.
The reason she felt relaxed and at ease when she was with Zhao Changqing, whom she had known for so long, was because she couldn't sense any malice from him.
Intuition is a very mysterious thing.
Zhao Changqing is actually not a very cunning person.
For example, right now, looking at his slightly stiff body, she could sense that there was a clumsy attempt to conceal something.
If it were someone with a deeper mind, they would naturally have a more foolproof way of concealing the truth.
She smiled and didn't say anything more.
We started by chatting about the scenery of Beijing, then changed the subject.
Zhao Changqing secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she was no longer asking questions.
As the carriage entered the bustling city, pedestrians lined the streets in an endless stream.
The two got out of the car and walked slowly along the street.
Zhao Changqing rambled on as he introduced her to the various people.
In fact, he had not been in the capital for long and had been living far away on the border.
I don't know much about anything in the capital.
He wasn't the type of person who liked to wander around the city aimlessly.
Even when He Youyou introduced it, she only scratched the surface, and some parts even sounded like nonsense.
"Look, there's a jewelry shop here."
"The trinkets here look nice."
Regardless of whether they know each other or not, the main goal is to forcefully make their presence felt.
He Youyou didn't mind.
She is not socially anxious.
For things Zhao Changqing didn't understand, she would ask questions and observe them herself.
Along the way, we chatted enthusiastically with the merchants, peddlers, and laborers on the roadside.
How long have you been doing business in Beijing?
How much is the monthly rent for the shop?
Is business good?
How much can you buy in a day?
What taxes did the imperial court levy each year?
Where do the goods mainly come from?
...
The shop owners, seeing that He Youyou was a pretty young woman, were very friendly to her.
Seeing the noble-looking man beside her, she guessed he was a high-ranking official traveling incognito and dared not offend him.
He Youyou asked politely, and they responded warmly.
Zhao Changqing's background actually made her market research work much easier.
"You're not shy at all; you can strike up a conversation with anyone you meet," Zhao Changqing remarked.
"This is basic professional ethics. In my line of work, I deal with people all day long."
As the two were walking and talking, a carriage suddenly came along the street and stopped beside them.
He Youyou stared at the carriage in surprise.
The carriage was large and luxurious, with ivory decorations on several parts of its body.
When the emperor traveled, he used five types of chariots: the jade chariot, the gold chariot, the elephant chariot, the leather chariot, and the wooden chariot.
Jade chariots were used for sacrifices; gold chariots were used for receiving guests; elephant chariots were used by the emperor's relatives; leather chariots were used by feudal lords; and wooden chariots were used by foreign tribes for hunting in all four seasons.
When princes travel, there are restrictions on the scale of their travels; they can only use elephant carriages at most, and cannot use gold or jade.
When Zhao Changqing was the Grand Commander of the Army, he did not receive the treatment of a prince. Now that he has been conferred the title of prince, he should have a royal carriage. However, He Youyou has not yet had the opportunity to see his carriage.
And which prince owns this elephant carriage?
Just then, a head suddenly peeked out from behind the curtains on the carriage and smiled at Zhao Changqing.
"Fourth Brother! What are you doing shopping here?"
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