Chapter 31 She and Xie Shian are the poorest people in the palace
"A useful person?" Xie Guanlan repeated her words. "What does it mean to be a useful person? Miss Wen, you must know that whether your calligraphy is selected for the Xihe Gallery or you help your fourth brother set up a stall to make money, to me, they are just small things."
Wen Xingluo clenched his hands.
The narrow eyes of the young man in front of him were deep and dark, like a dark sea full of dangers.
In the future, he will raise an army and rebel against the imperial court, becoming a separatist prince.
As far as his eyes could see, there were only the treacherous and turbulent court and the magnificent mountains and rivers. Naturally, her petty actions were not worthy of his attention.
but……
Wen Xingluo didn't know where he got the confidence from, but he still said firmly: "I will definitely become someone who can be of use to the prince."
Their eyes met.
It was like a delicate and fresh peach blossom falling on the nose of a ferocious beast in spring.
The ferocious beast wanted to brush it off, but it smelled a faint sweet fragrance, which made it sneeze several times. It couldn't help but press the peach blossom with its claws, not understanding how this small flower could move it so much.
Xie Guanlan narrowed his eyes.
He didn't say anything more, just looked at Wen Xingluo deeply before leaving.
…
When Wen Xingluo found Xie Shian, business at the stall was booming.
Xie Shian looked at the mountain of copper coins in the basket and praised with a smile, "Xingluo, you are really smart. We have earned so much money in just half a day!"
The business idea that Wen Xingluo came up with was not complicated.
Fold pieces of paper with words like "dolls," "dried fruits," "rice cakes," "rock honey," "refined salt," etc. written on them and put them in a bamboo basket. Customers can spend eight cents to touch a piece of paper, and they will get a prize for whatever they touch.
It is true that eight cents is not cheap, but rock honey and refined salt are very expensive things, and even if you don’t get these two prizes, there are still other small prizes as consolation.
So even though the sign stated that the probability of touching them was only five percent, curiosity and a sense of luck drove people to rush in and participate, so Wen Xingluo's stall soon made a lot of money.
Wen Xingluo made a rough estimate of the accounts based on his business experience in his previous life.
She said, "We can earn about twenty taels of silver today. The garden party will last for three days. By the time the novelty wears off tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, I'm afraid the money we'll earn won't be as much as it was today. For the three days combined, I estimate we'll make a net profit of about fifty taels of silver."
Xie Shian's eyes suddenly widened: "So many?!"
Wen Xingluo was not surprised by his reaction.
After all, she and Xie Shian were the two poorest people in Zhenbei Palace.
They both received the same monthly allowance, only five taels of silver.
But the King of Zhenbei was very strict and disliked Xie Shian for gathering his friends to fight cocks and run errands all day long, so the King of Zhenbei deducted all his red envelopes and monthly allowances in the past few months. Xie Shian could not sell the treasures of the palace, so he might be poorer than her.
Wen Xingluo narrowed his eyes and said, "We'll split it equally then."
Xie Shian rolled up his sleeves excitedly: "This small business is actually so profitable! Come on, let me shout a few words myself!"
Both brother and sister love money.
So when Xie Guanlan, Du Taishou and other officials passed by, they saw the two of them working together to sell things busily, especially Xie Shi'an, who shouted so hard that those who didn't know would think that the Zhenbei Palace was mistreating him in food and clothing.
Governor Du twirled his beard and smiled, "Your Highness's Fourth Young Master is truly... a rare talent. Speaking of which, since I'm here, I might as well go and show my support."
Governor Du was unlucky. He drew ten slips of paper, and all he got were cheap dried fruits and rice cakes.
Wen Xingluo exchanged the prize for him and glanced at him secretly.
I heard that Prefect Du was sent by the imperial court and was a disciple of the emperor. He served as prefect of Shu County for ten years.
Although he looked short, fat and amiable, and was polite when speaking to Xie Guanlan, Wen Xingluo remembered the conversation in Wangfu Shanzhai - this person was most likely the mastermind behind the assassination of Xie Guanlan.
"Ah, my," sighed Governor Du, taking a bite of the rice cake. "I'm unlucky today. I didn't get anything good. Commander Xie, would you like to give it a try?"
Xie Shian urged: "Brother, why don't you try it? It's fun!"
Xie Guanlan was not interested in such things.
Just as he was about to refuse, Wen Xingluo had already brought a bamboo basket full of notes to him.
Fine beads of sweat oozed from the girl's forehead. She raised her rosy little face towards him. Because she was busy, there were a few gray marks on her fair cheeks that she hadn't had time to wipe off, making her look like a little cat.
She said, "My Lord?"
The word "no need" rolled around between Xie Guanlan's lips.
He stared at Wen Xingluo and asked, as if possessed by a mysterious force: "What's the biggest prize?"
"It's salt!" Xie Shian answered quickly, "Finely ground, white refined salt!"
Xie Guanlan still stared at Wen Xingluo.
The girl's smile was charming and sweet, and in the eyes of others, it looked like melted rock sugar.
But Xie Guanlan thought that Wen Xingluo was more like a handful of fine salt.
It looks pure white and crystal clear, but it is actually salty and astringent, and not to be messed with.
But no one stipulates that little girls must be as sweet as candy.
Xie Guanlan thought it was a good thing that the little girl was like salt, at least she wouldn't be bullied at will.
He said gently, "Really? Then I'll try my luck."
He took out a piece of paper and handed it to Wen Xingluo.
Wen Xingluo opened it and said with a smile, "Congratulations, my lord, you won a doll!"
She took one out of the basket of dolls and was about to hand it to Xie Guanlan when she was startled.
Xie Guanlan: "What?"
Wen Xingluo came back to his senses and handed the doll to him: "Nothing... nothing..."
Her eyes once again vaguely swept over the doll.
This was a rabbit she had patched together last night when she couldn't sleep, using various scraps of cloth. It was only the size of a palm, and even its two long ears were made of cloth of different colors. The nose and mouth were embroidered on casually, and looked quite sloppy.
She thought it was ugly, so she threw it into the shopping basket.
I didn't expect that I would pick this one out at random.
She felt a little sorry for Xie Guanlan and couldn't help but cough lightly with a guilty conscience: "If you think it's ugly, I can change another one for you..."
Xie Guanlan glanced at the basket and said, "They're all pretty ugly."
Wen Xingluo: “…”
The cost is there, so in order to lower the price, she must have bought cheap goods.
Xie Guanlan fiddled with the long-eared rabbit in his palm and noticed that the rabbit's belly was sewn with a small piece of lotus purple cloth, and one of its ears was spliced with a piece of cyan gold cloth. The fabric was exactly the same as the one Wen Xingluo was wearing.
This rabbit is different from other dolls.
It was written by Wen Xingluo.
The young man curled his thin lips in a malicious manner, his gorgeous face like a jade. "Although they are all ugly, this rabbit is particularly ugly. Such an ugly and unique doll, I am actually interested in keeping it."
Wen Xingluo: “…”
Although her rabbit is ugly, it is not that ugly!
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