Chapter 186 Chen Ning has stepped into the trap
The news that His Royal Highness Prince Ding and the newly found eldest daughter of the Shen family were married by the Queen Mother spread quickly throughout the capital, and everyone was shocked.
What shocked the dignitaries in the capital even more was that it was said that it was His Royal Highness Prince Ding who personally asked to marry the daughter of the Shen family.
His Royal Highness Prince Ding, the only one of the current emperor's sons to be crowned king, has made remarkable military achievements and holds an extremely high reputation... Such a powerful and noble man actually wants to marry a widow!
She was also a widow who had wandered the countryside.
Is this world crazy?
Because this was so unbelievable, some people said that it was the Shen girl who was demanding a reward and forcing Prince Ding to marry her by relying on the fact that she was his Highness's savior.
But anyone with a bit of common sense knows that this is nonsense.
With the status of the Shen family, can they force a marriage with Prince Ding?
Therefore, the only explanation is that Prince Ding really wanted to marry the daughter of the Shen family.
For a time, restaurants and teahouses were full of discussions about the engagement between Prince Ding and Ms. Shen.
"I once saw the Shen family girl from afar. She was indeed as beautiful as a flower. No matter how noble His Royal Highness Prince Ding is, he is still a man. Even a hero cannot resist the temptation of a beautiful woman."
"So what if she's as beautiful as a flower? A married widow, isn't Your Highness Prince Ding too unrefined..."
"Hehe, what do you know? It's said that those two spent several months together day and night when Prince Ding was in trouble. They were alone, so I'm afraid they've already had an affair."
"No matter what, marrying her as a concubine is the best we can do. This is Princess Ding..."
"Your Highness Prince Ding is a true man!"
In the private room upstairs, listening to the people downstairs talking loudly and then quickly lowered from time to time, Xu Zhiyi drank a glass of wine with an expressionless face.
The guard next to him spoke cautiously: "Third Master, the silk company headquartered by Lord Shen Xiang has signed an agreement with Changfeng Weaving Company and has begun to purchase raw silk on a large scale...Should we tell Lord Shen Xiang about the upcoming maritime ban?"
Changfeng Weaving, under the instructions of the Prince's Mansion, deliberately placed a huge order with Shen's Silk Company, asking Shen's Silk Company to purchase a large amount of raw silk.
However, no one knew that the imperial court was about to impose a sea ban.
The number of people who knew the news now could be counted on one hand, among them were the Queen Mother and Lord Xu... Xu Zhiyi naturally learned about it from his father, Lord Xu.
The Prince's Mansion was managing the Empress Dowager's property, so naturally they got wind of it.
So, Shen Xiang gave Old Madam Shen an idea and deliberately asked Changfeng Weaving Company to place a huge order with Shen's Silk Company.
By the time Shen's Silk Company has purchased 30,000 kilograms of raw silk, the news of the sea ban should have spread.
By then, due to the maritime ban, Changfeng Weaving Company would certainly have to cancel the order, and the loss would only be 10% of the deposit... But what Shen's Silk Company would get is a full 30,000 kilograms of raw silk and more than 20,000 taels of silver.
After the maritime ban, silk lost its market. Who would still buy raw silk? No one would want those 30,000 kilograms of raw silk even if they had to lose money.
However, the Prince's Mansion manages the Royal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau for the Empress Dowager, and the Royal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau naturally needs to use raw silk.
When the Shen Silk Shop had too much raw silk to sell, the Prince's Mansion stepped in and bought it at a very low price... They had no choice but to accept the loss.
By then, the price would probably be only three or four taels of silver.
But they didn't know that what they were buying for eight cents of silver per pound was the raw silk that the Prince's Mansion had reserved for the Royal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau.
In other words, Shen's Silk Shop bought raw silk from the Prince's Mansion for eight cents of silver, and after the maritime ban, it sold it back to the Prince's Mansion for three or four cents of silver.
The Prince's Mansion doesn't have to do anything, just wait, and it can earn more than 10,000 taels of silver from Shen's Silk Shop!
This deal was a scam from the beginning, but now, Chen Ning's silk shop is purchasing large quantities of raw silk.
She had one foot in the trap.
That was why Xu Zhiyi's close followers asked him whether he wanted to remind Chen Ning.
Although he didn't dare to say it openly, the personal attendant knew in his heart that his master's feelings towards Miss Chen... were hidden because of their current relationship. But ever since Miss Chen started avoiding his master last winter, his master had been feeling unprecedentedly irritable and had no way of concealing it.
And the unprecedented silence of the master after learning that Miss Shen was engaged to Prince Ding...
The next moment, Xu Zhiyi sneered: "Why should I care about her? I don't even bother to deal with such ungrateful people."
The followers could only remain silent.
"Okay, let's go back."
Xu Zhiyi stood up, drank the wine in the glass, and then threw it on the small table behind him without even looking at it.
With a "bang", the wine glass fell steadily on the corner of the table without shaking at all.
There was a sound of the door opening, and the corner of a white robe slipped out, leaving only an empty wine jug on the table.
After returning to the Xu family mansion and about to enter his own yard, Xu Zhiyi heard a scream of pain coming from another yard in the distance behind him.
"ah……"
He stopped and looked back with a frown: "What happened?"
The Xu family has a strict family tradition and never allows servants to be abused.
The servant behind him bowed and whispered, "It's in the eldest lady's yard..."
Xu Zhiyi raised his eyebrows.
His eldest niece was domineering and arrogant, but her brain was not very good. Even though she was calm and confident, she did not know how to hide her anger and went crazy in a big way.
Is she afraid that others don't know that she, the future Crown Princess, is thinking about the Crown Prince's younger brother?
Xu Zhiyi clicked his tongue and turned to go into his own yard.
In another elegant courtyard across a garden, Xu Ying was hung on a tree, her toes just touching the ground, but several thick and sharp spikes were pointing upwards at her heels.
Her hands were hung, her arms were twitching in pain, but she had to stand on tiptoe and not dare to step down... Next to her, Xu Ya's face was pale and she didn't dare to say a word.
In fact, she regretted coming to the capital.
When she stayed in Pingning, even though her family was broken up, she was still the daughter of the Xu family and would never be treated like a servant.
At that time, Xu Wanqing was staying in their house and was always calling her Sister Xu... But now that she was living under their roof, she had become a servant who could be beaten and scolded at will.
No, worse than the servants.
Xu Ying's face was pale and she lowered her head. She had been tortured by the scorching sun and was extremely weak.
Across from her, Xu Wanqing's face was livid and her expression was almost distorted: "It's all your bad idea...it's all because of you, bitch!"
Her aunt had said that Xiao Nanchen had proposed marriage himself in order to help Chen Ning out and prevent her from marrying the consumptive man. If it weren't for Xu Ying's bad idea of arranging a marriage for Chen Ning, how could things have turned out like this!
Over the years, there were countless daughters of wealthy families in the capital who wanted to marry Xiao Nanchen, but he never paid any attention. But now, he actually asked for the hand of marriage from that lowly widow himself!
Xu Wanqing was filled with hatred and blamed all the faults on Xu Ying.
While someone was torturing Xu Ying, Xu Wanqing sneered and sarcastically said, "I heard that you went to the Shen residence a few days ago to look for that... Shen Qingbai? And then you were kicked out of the house."
Feeling unhappy, Xu Wanqing picked out some harsh and malicious words to say, "Why, you look down on the person I recommended to you and want to climb up the social ladder yourself?"
She had long lost the closeness she had felt towards Xu Ying, who called her "Sister Xu" when they were in Pingning.
The Xu family in Pingning had long been destroyed, and Xu Ying was being toyed with by those lowly slaves...Xu Wanqing sympathized with her at first, but over the past few months, she had unknowingly regarded Xu Ying as a lowly servant.
If she hadn't taken her in with such kindness, where would Xu Ying have gone now?
Xu Ying was tortured and insulted, but she didn't say a word. She just lowered her head, looking extremely pitiful, but no one saw the hatred in her eyes...
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