The Emperor, noticing that he didn’t object, continued, "I’ve been thinking, you seem to show little interest in women, the only one you have been somewhat close with, is probably Old Man Chen’s daughter, Chen Yining. Why don’t I arrange a marriage for you..."
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty, but I have my own plans for my marriage. You needn’t trouble yourself," Marquis Mu retorted.
The Emperor lightly coughed, "Actually, I was thinking that if you were to get married, Princess Chaoyang could finally let you go." Otherwise, he had no interest in whether Marquis Mu would marry or not.
Marquis Mu replied, "I came to the palace today to request permission for a leave."
"A leave? Why so?" The Emperor asked in surprise.
"Some personal affairs." Marquis Mu pursed his lips, the image of her eyes filled his heart with longing.
Upon his return to the capital, he had been consumed with thoughts of her day and night. Even his judgement became impatient while dealing with matters. He annihilated Gongsun Yi in the most decisive way, quickly solved the issue about the leaked defense layout map, and seized Old Man Chen’s power. Finally, when everything was settled, he couldn’t bear to stay away from her any longer. He was eager to rush back to see her.
Whether she was angry or sad, he dared not think about. He was afraid that such thoughts would stir his longing and impulsively make him drop everything and rush to her side. His biggest sense of rationality in his life came from restraining his thoughts of her during these days, and his biggest act of irrationality, was falling in love with her.
Marquis Mu’s lips tightened. He needed to find her. He wanted to marry her!
——
Since the business of Qinghe Store was getting better, Ji Xinhe took this opportunity to expand her small workshop and recruit more people. They divided the tasks appropriately. Except for the grape wine, which she and her big brother made personally, plenty of people were recruited to make pickles and canned food.
The workshop was opened in the front yard of their new house. Most of the workers were villagers. Some people from neighboring villages also came to work. Their wages were much higher than that of outside works.
Ji Dashan’s family was so jealous watching Ji Xinhe making money like water. The villagers also made a lot of money with her, but their family was left out. They couldn’t even get a small piece of meat, and felt extremely wronged.
Xiulan slammed the bowl of coarse noodles in anger, "What can she be proud of? She’s a divorced woman! Even though her reputation is ruined, the villagers still flatter her. What’s the use of earning so much money? No man would want to marry her!"
Ji Dashan glared at her, "You’d better shut up! Last time, your mother made a slip of the tongue in front of her and got a good scolding. Do you want more of that? Behave and get married as soon as possible."
At these words, even Lady Ding couldn’t help but shudder.
Ji Xiulan felt wronged but could only close her mouth in indignation. She had seen how Ji Xinhe had taught Lady Ding a lesson last time. That girl was indeed terrifying when she got angry.
"Exactly!" Ji Xiaobao exclaimed. "You should hurry up and get married, don’t stay at home eating free food. If you marry, we can also get a decent dowry, then we won’t be so poor."
"But who can I marry?" Ji Xiulan was very anxious. She was almost eighteen, and was watching her age creep up on her.
Ji Dashan was also worried about this. Their family was now so poor that they didn’t even have a penny. Furthermore, Ji Xiulan’s reputation was so bad. How could they marry her off like this?
Lady Ding couldn’t help but burst into tears, "How can we live like this? This is going to kill me!"
But Ji Xiaobao suddenly seemed to think of something and whispered, "Hey, I suddenly remember a good family. The young master of the Sun Family mentioned it last time. Apparently, the old master of the Sun Family in the town is thinking about taking a concubine. My sister can give it a try!"
Ordinary people would feel humiliated upon hearing the word concubine. But when Lady Ding heard it, she thought of money.
Only wealthy families could afford to take concubines!
Lady Ding’s eyes lit up, "Which Sun family? Are they wealthy?"
"Very wealthy. As a matter of fact, this Sun Family, is actually the maternal home of Madam Wang. Just think about it, the Wang Family used to be a royal merchant. They earned a lot of money, and the Sun Family naturally benefited from it!"
Ji Xiulan seemed to see a ray of hope, and asked eagerly, "Really?"
——
When Ji Dong came into the house, he saw Xinhe sitting on the kangtou deep in thought.
"Xin He, what are you thinking about?"
Only then did Ji Xinhe come back to her senses, and put on a smile, "It’s okay." She then put away the handkerchief she was holding.
She quickly added, "By the way, big brother, I have to go to town today."
"What are you going to do in town? Do you want me to give you a ride?" Ji Dong asked.
"No need, I’ll take Jin Bao’s bullock cart with Hong Qin later. No need to trouble you, big brother."
She hadn’t told Ji Dong about the incident with the assassin at the Lantern Festival last night. Therefore, she didn’t want to talk about the Wang family either, lest he worry.
"Alright then, just be careful." Ji Dong said, then seemed to remember something, "By the way, you mentioned before that you wanted to buy some land after the spring. Now is a good time. You can plow as soon as you buy it, and by the time of the autumn harvest, there will be plenty of grain."
Ji Xinhe nodded, "I almost forgot because of being busy. We make pickles and canned fruits now, and we might develop other products in the future. Unfortunately, we have to buy all the raw materials from others, which is really not cost-effective. So I’m thinking, not only do we need to buy land, but also lease a mountain."
Ji Dong widened his eyes, "Buy a mountain? That would cost a lot of money."
"We make grape wine, canned fruits, and in the future, we might want to produce other products. These all require fruits. Buying fruits from fruit shops is too expensive. It’s much more cost-effective for us to produce by ourselves. So, I must buy this mountain. Also, we can purchase about a hundred acres of fertile land, which would be sufficient to supply our pickles business. It would be more appropriate for big brother to handle the land purchasing."
Ji Dong understood what Ji Xinhe intended by her words, and nodded, "Since you say so, I’ll start working on it right away."
"Ok!"
——
When Ji Xinhe arrived at the town, she didn’t go to the shop or return to her house. Instead, she went straight to the Wang’s house.
She could choose not to mention the assassin incident from last night, but that doesn’t mean she would let it go. She had to figure out what the Wang family was plotting.
The Wang’s servant hurriedly ran in to report, "Master, the owner of Qinghe Shop, Miss Ji, is here."
Master Wang’s face turned pale when he heard this, "What does she want?!"
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