Seeing that her husband had a rare secretive expression, as if he was thinking about something, Xie Shu's eyes flashed with a smile, and he also leaned over to listen.
Yu Chuxi blinked and said softly, "Xie Shu, do you still remember Xiyuan?"
West Garden? Yes.
Xie Shu's eyes lit up. He had been to West Garden before. It was halfway up the mountain, quiet and elegant, with every detail being exquisite.
If there is any place in Jinling with the most advantageous geographical location for building a temporary palace, then Xiyuan is undoubtedly the place. What's more, Xiyuan is owned by the Gu family, and all the ready-made things are there. Does your intention mean to plot against the Gu family?
Yu Chuxi smiled and said, "After three months, it will be August or September, which is the height of summer. Your Majesty will travel from Yangzhou to Jinling, mainly by water, from Qianjiagang to Qinhuai River. It will be tiring and tiring all the way, so he naturally does not want to live in a palace on the water. What would satisfy Your Majesty most would be a rare summer resort in the mountains.
This West Garden was built by the Gu family for summer retreat. It is located in the suburbs of Jinling, only a few miles away from the city. It is not too far away. There are green mountains and clear waters, lush forests and bamboos. How can Your Majesty not like it?"
After hearing what her husband said, Xie Shu also agreed deeply. The West Garden built by the Gu family was completely in line with the emperor's taste.
It looked elegant, but in fact it was luxurious. There were more than a hundred courtyard lofts, which must have been enough for the emperor's entourage. But the Gu family would definitely not be willing to give up the West Garden. I don't know what idea the young master came up with...
Xie Shu looked at Yu Chuxi, who was so charming and smart that it was hard to describe. Xie Shu couldn't help but take her husband's hand, squeezed it back and forth, and said with a smile: "My husband, do you have any ideas? Tell me about it."
Yu Chuxi was being pinched by him and her heart was beating wildly. How could she hold on?
Although this was not fair, Yu Chuxi knew that Xie Shu would not think that he was doing something wrong...
As expected, after hearing Yu Chuxi's words, Xie Shu couldn't stop smiling. Seeing Yu Chuxi turn his eyes away, Xie Shu felt a little itchy in his heart, and he wanted to tease him. He sighed softly, "My dear, your talent is beyond my reach."
On that day, Su Kai, the head of the Su family, went to the Yu family with dozens of servants in a high-handed manner. This matter attracted much attention. After all, there had been a lot of rumors about how several wealthy businessmen in the city were operating these days, and the Yu family had undergone many changes because of this.
It was thought that the situation in Jinling would change greatly from today, but no one expected that the Yu family would find a glimmer of hope to turn things around!
Not only did Su Kai leave the Yu family in disgrace, he also offered many gifts to apologize in a servile manner. As for the other three wealthy businessmen, when they heard the news, they hurriedly followed the Su family's example and apologized before they had time to digest it.
When this happened, it was simply jaw-dropping and confusing.
At this time, everyone heard the news that the emperor would be coming to Nanjing on a southern tour in three months, and the Yu family took the initiative to call on other salt merchants to donate money to build a palace for the emperor's southern tour. This was favored by Eunuch Liu, so the Yu family was responsible for building the palace!
In the eyes of everyone, the emperor's southern tour and his choice of Nanjing was a great happy event.
The emperor is the Son of Heaven, the supreme being. Today the world is stable and the people are obedient, all thanks to this wise and holy ruler.
Of course, not everyone thinks this way. There are still too many injustices in this world. It's just that Nanjing is a rare prosperous place, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and the people are well educated. Naturally, they respect His Majesty more than other places.
Therefore, the status of the Yu family in everyone's mind was suddenly elevated a lot, and they were unrivaled.
After this incident was reported, it not only shocked the four richest businessmen in Jinling.
Wang Jing has been feeling a little uneasy these days.
That day he sent the guard to capture Xie Shu's servant and find out the reason. Who knew that the guard from the palace was so useless that he couldn't even catch a servant of a scholar.
What Wang Jing couldn't understand was that the guard was captured by the Jinling patrol so quickly. This was really strange.
Let's not talk about why the patrol's ability has improved so much. Besides, this guard is still Eunuch Liu's man on the surface. How could Eunuch Liu allow this local person to dare to take action under his nose?
Unless Eunuch Liu knew the identity of this person and did it on purpose, if he really knew, he should know that this person was the Third Prince's man. Although Eunuch Liu did not surrender to the Third Prince, the two of them were also in a cooperative relationship. Soon, Wang Jing found out that when Xie Shu found out that the servant was missing, he hurried to report to the police. But he didn't know whether it was an accident or a coincidence that he found the clue.
What surprised Wang Jing was that Xie Shu had such a close relationship with the government officials that even the prefect Wan Linming had opened the door for him. This solved some of her doubts.
In fact, Wang Jing was not worried that he would be exposed. This person only looked for him once that night. Although he went to Jiang Mansion with him afterwards, no one found out. He was also a palace guard. Even if he made a mistake, local officials could not punish him at will. Moreover, for such a small matter, since this person worked for the third prince, he knew his strength and would not confess.
However, Wang Jing did not completely gain the trust of the Third Prince, and there were not many people he could mobilize. Now something went wrong. How could Wang Jing not be anxious?
But before the matter was resolved, another piece of news came out. Now, Eunuch Liu not only announced the salt merchants' donations, but also gave full authority to the Yu family to be responsible for the construction of the palace!
Wang Jing is the third prince's man, so she naturally knows the inside story.
It was originally the Third Prince's idea to secretly extort the salt merchants. This not only maintained the interests of the Gu family and him, but also was equivalent to holding the handle on Eunuch Liu.
But now, Eunuch Liu's move is equivalent to escaping from the control of the Third Prince!
Wang Jing certainly didn't think that Eunuch Liu could see through it at a glance. There must be someone behind the scenes directing him, but who was this person?
A figure soon emerged in Wang Jing's mind. If it had happened not long ago, Wang Jing would definitely not believe it, but now, there was no better explanation.
Wang Jing couldn't help but feel a huge sense of absurdity in his heart. Could it be that Xie Shu had already known the connection between these things?
But how is this possible?
If he really knew that the person behind this was the Third Prince, how could he dare to go against the Third Prince like this!
Wang Jing has always been by Zuo Ran's side. Although the teacher has never entered the government and won a good reputation, Wang Jing knows that the teacher retired out of disappointment at the dark officialdom and the incompetence of the previous emperor. Later, when the current emperor ascended the throne, didn't the teacher waver?
Wang Jing had been reading books written by sages since he was young, collecting stories of sages and saints, and taking exams to obtain official titles. What he was looking for was nothing more than choosing a wise master and realizing his ambitions. But Wang Jing soon discovered that what his teachers taught him was too idealistic.
There are levels of fairness in this world, and so are people.
In the established social rules, the wealthy families have long had the upper hand, while the poor families have only a small share.
As a person from a poor family, if Wang Jingzhen wanted to realize his ambition, his only choice was to place his chips in the hands of a prince who might inherit the throne.
Because in this world, only the emperor has supreme power and can decide a person's life and death.
Wang Jing knew that the Third Prince was not the wise ruler he thought he was, but Wang Jing also knew that, precisely because the emperor had such power, the extent of the world's constraints on the emperor depended entirely on the emperor's own will, and there was no such thing as punishment or reward that could take effect immediately. Therefore, there were many tyrants and incompetent rulers in the world, and wise rulers were very rare, so Wang Jing never held such expectations.
But Wang Jing never thought that Xie Shu not only dared to refuse the Third Prince's recruitment, but also went against the Third Prince.
For a moment, Wang Jing didn't know what to feel.
But it only took a moment for Wang Jing to come back to his senses. He didn't need to understand Xie Shu, nor did he need to guess Xie Shu's intentions, because after Xie Shu made such a decision, his position was already contrary to his. Now all he had to do was to report truthfully.
But even so, Wang Jing couldn't help but frowned, and her mood was more complicated than ever before.
On the other hand, the Gu family was also worried about this.
They never expected that Eunuch Liu would suddenly regret it! Not only did he make the matter public, he also handed over the construction of the palace to the Yu family.
In this case, who should be responsible for the renovation of the Gu family?
Fortunately, Eunuch Liu did not break off relations with them and took out 100,000 taels of silver. For Gu Zhong, this was completely different from what he had expected at the beginning.
One hundred thousand taels of silver was an astronomical sum in the eyes of ordinary people, but it was far from enough to deal with the emperor, and Gu Zhong had to add part of it himself...
However, Gu Zhong could barely accept it. After all, he didn't want to have an unpleasant experience with Eunuch Liu.
He has been away from the capital for a long time now, but in order to make His Majesty always remember him, he not only has to rely on his sister, but also has to bribe the people in front of the emperor from time to time.
However, in this way, their original plan to kill someone with a borrowed knife and deal with the Yu family was completely thwarted.
Now that Eunuch Liu has obtained the imperial edict for the Yu family, those wealthy families have no time to curry favor with them, so how dare they have other thoughts? Even Gu Zhong couldn't do this at this time, but instead had to give them convenience to avoid being caught.
But in Gu Zhong's opinion, the Yu family had no experience at all. If they wanted to take on such a big task, they would not be afraid of losing more than they gained. Moreover, it was too difficult to build a palace on flat ground in just three months. If there was any mistake, they would lose their heads. So Gu Zhong was not in a hurry and just waited for subsequent developments.
But for several days, Gu Zhong did not find out any large-scale actions of the Yu family. He just gathered many people from all walks of life to tell fortunes and predict the future.
Is it possible that the first step of site selection is stuck?
Gu Zhong was not surprised. How could it be so simple to choose a location for His Majesty's palace? Jinling City was millions of miles in radius, with mountains, rivers, and beautiful scenery. However, there were too many factors to consider in choosing a location.
The Yu family is so shallow and ignorant that they actually think they can choose a location by just finding a few Taoists and monks?
Just when Gu Zhong sneered at this, he suddenly heard news that these people had unanimously calculated the most suitable place to build a palace.
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