Chapter 207 Entering the Palace to Serve the Sick
The next day, news spread that Prince Ding Xiao Nanchen was heading to Jinnan to quell the rebellion.
The maritime ban triggered a series of incidents, especially affecting maritime merchants and coastal residents the most. With no other options, they could only go to sea and become pirates. The Tianxin Sect took the opportunity to expand rapidly and incited the people to riot.
At that time, all the students of the Imperial College jointly petitioned for a memorial, saying: If the market is open, the bandits will turn into merchants; if the market is closed, the merchants will turn into bandits...
Originally, the imperial court had very strict control over maritime trade, and trade could only be conducted through a few sea markets. Now that the sea trade has been directly banned, the only remaining hope has been blocked, and chaos has immediately broken out.
Soon after, word spread that the current emperor had realized that the disadvantages of the maritime ban outweighed the advantages and was preparing to abolish it.
When this news spread, the merchants below immediately went crazy...The craziest one was the Prince's Mansion that managed the Royal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau.
Not only did the Prince's Mansion sell all the raw silk prepared for the Royal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau to Chen Ning, but later, in order to make a profit, it even used money to purchase the raw silk and sold it all to Chen Ning, preparing to buy it back at half price and reap half of the profits.
But now, the price of raw silk has fallen to the bottom, and before they have time to buy back the raw silk they have sold, there are rumors that the maritime ban will be abolished soon.
In other words, the price of raw silk will increase...
After being slapped, Shen Xiang didn't care about anything else and hurriedly found Shen Ning, asking for six cents of silver to buy 50,000 kilograms of raw silk. The current market price is still four cents, which is already a high price.
But Chen Ning certainly refused to sell. Shen Xiang hesitated for a day, and the next day, the price of silk rose to seven cents.
But the problem is that the seven-cent raw silk outside is not as good as the top-grade raw silk that Chen Ning had purchased at the time...that is what the weaving and dyeing bureau wants to use.
Now they no longer cared about whether they could make money. The Prince's Mansion realized that something was wrong, so Shen Xiang directly lowered the price to eight cents of silver and wanted to buy it back at the original price.
However, Shen Ning still refused.
The current emperor has realized the importance of maritime trade. The opening of the sea is imminent, and more importantly, once the sea is opened, foreign merchants such as France will surely flock to the country.
It is forbidden to sell goods from Daxuan to Japan. Those sea merchants who purchase goods from Daxuan and then resell them to Japan or other places can double their profits.
The higher the quality of the raw silk, the more profitable it is.
Within a few days, the price of silk rose from three and a half cents, which no one was interested in, to nine cents, which was still unsold.
Those who sold it at a low price are now regretting it, and those who have raw silk in their hands are holding on to it tightly hoping to sell it at a high price.
There was chaos in the Prince's Mansion.
In addition to the money they collected and bought privately to sell to Chen Ning, they also embezzled 50,000 kilograms of raw silk from the weaving and dyeing bureau's reserves. When they sold those 50,000 kilograms of raw silk to Chen Ning, they got 40,000 taels of silver.
But now, to buy it back, it would cost 45,000 taels of silver... More importantly, Chen Ning refused to sell it.
The price of raw silk changes every day nowadays... Even if they spend money to buy it from other places, it will delay their work, and with the transportation costs added on, they are afraid that they will lose everything.
And the most important and most terrible thing is that there is no time left, the Royal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau is about to start work!
The weaving and dyeing bureau was under the charge of the Empress Dowager.
The Queen has always been very dissatisfied with the Queen Mother's management of the Royal Treasury Workshop and has been watching closely from the sidelines.
The virtuous king Xiao Yuanfeng was extremely anxious, because he knew that if something went wrong in the weaving and dyeing bureau, and it gave the queen a handle to speak against the empress dowager... then his career as a virtuous king would be over.
That was why when Shen Xiang came to see Shen Ning again, she stopped acting and directly brought up the Queen Mother.
The implication was that the weaving and dyeing bureau was about to start work, and the raw silk reserves were insufficient. The empress dowager asked about it. Knowing that Chen Ning had high-quality raw silk, she praised Chen Ning for her vision and said that she would support her when Chen Ning married into Prince Ding's mansion in the future.
Shen Ning knew without thinking that these messed up words were made up by Shen Xiang himself.
She sneered in her heart, but showed a nonchalant expression: "You are joking, Princess. How could the Queen Mother ask about such mundane matters... I have other uses for those raw silks. Princess, please ask elsewhere."
Shen Xiang's expression could no longer be suppressed. Before leaving, she gritted her teeth and said, "Okay, okay, you don't even take the Empress Dowager and the ancestors seriously. Don't blame me, your aunt, for not warning you in the future."
The next day, the price of silk rose to one liang and one qian. The day after that, it was one liang and three qian. The day after that, it was one liang and four qian...
The Prince's Mansion did not dare to delay any longer and could only send people to purchase high-quality raw silk immediately.
However, they did not want to suffer such a loss and lost a full 20,000 taels of silver in vain. The next day, Xiao Yuanfeng went to the palace to file a complaint.
Of course, he did not dare to say that he wanted to make money with the reserve silk of the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau. Instead, he said with a loyal look that there was a problem with the raw silk reserve of the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau and it was not enough and needed to be replenished, and only Shen's Silk Shop near the capital had the best raw silk.
But Chen Ning raised the price arbitrarily, and even when she knew that it was needed by the Royal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau, she refused to give in, hoping to make huge profits.
Xiao Yuanfeng's best skill was hugging the Queen Mother's legs to show his loyalty. After he finished crying, Chen Ning became a cunning person who was asking for a higher price, was ignorant of the world and was a traitor.
A few tens of thousands of taels of silver was a small matter to the Queen Mother. What made her angry was that the Shen girl had refused the marriage before and now she was committing treason... It was obvious that she was very arrogant.
As soon as Xiao Yuanfeng left the palace and returned home, the imperial decree summoning Chen Ning to the palace to serve the sick was delivered to the Chen residence.
In order not to make it too obvious, the Queen Mother not only summoned Chen Ning, but also summoned the future Crown Princess Xu Wanqing and the Crown Prince's concubine Chen Nian to the palace to attend to the illness, saying that while attending to the illness, she would also teach these three the rules of the palace.
Ever since the price of raw silk started to rise, Chen Ning had asked Liu Yue to keep an eye on the goings-on at the Prince's Mansion. Naturally, she knew that the Prince's Mansion was coming to the palace to seduce her, and she also understood that the Empress Dowager's summons for her to enter the palace was probably not a good thing.
But it was just right that she had entered the palace and was closer to the Empress, so perhaps she would be able to figure out some things more easily.
She had already learned everything about the Queen Mother's temperament and had her own way of dealing with it.
Hearing that Chen Ning was going to enter the palace, Xie Yunqing was extremely worried. She also knew that her family had offended the Queen Mother when she arranged the marriage last time, and she was afraid that her daughter would be tortured after entering the palace.
Shen Ning tried to comfort her for a long time, and had to bring up Xiao Nanchen again, which made her feel a little relieved.
The next day, Shen Ning packed up and left the house with Qiyue.
The carriage stopped outside the gate. When Shen Ning took Qiyue out, she saw Shen Chengxi sitting in a wheelchair, being kneeled by a young woman in front of her and begging in a low voice.
"Please have mercy and give them a chance to live..."
The one kneeling and begging Shen Chengxi was Xu Ya.
Because of the broken leg caused by the murder of Shen Chengxi, Xu Shuo was expelled from the Imperial College and was sentenced to exile in Yazhou together with Xu Ying.
Yazhou has long been known as the end of the world, and those who were exiled there were in great danger of death.
Shen Chengxi had come out early just to wait and talk to Shen Ning. Seeing Shen Ning come out, he no longer had the patience to deal with Xu Ya. He shouted and asked someone to drag Xu Ya away, then showed Shen Ning a somewhat nervous and restrained smile.
"Ningning, go into the palace..."
"It's getting late, I'm leaving first." Shen Ning didn't want to say anything more to him, so she interrupted him perfunctorily and took Qiyue into the carriage.
Shen Chengxi hurriedly said: “Then take care of yourself.”
The curtain dropped, but there was no response.
Watching the carriage slowly drive away, Shen Chengxi lowered his head in disappointment, and then was pushed back by the servants... Xie Yunqing, who had sent Shen Ning out, stood at the door and sighed silently when he saw his appearance.
Not far away, Xu Ya was thrown onto the street by the Shen family guards. Seeing that Shen Chengxi refused to let go, she wiped away her tears, picked up her skirt, got in the car and went to Jingzhao Prefecture.
She only had a few dozen taels of silver on her body. If she couldn't save her brother and sister, she could only give it to them as travel expenses. But how could a mere few dozen taels of silver keep them safe along the way?
However, when Xu Ya arrived outside Jingzhao Prefecture, she still couldn't see anyone.
The Xu brothers and sisters harmed Shen Chengxi. Behind Shen Chengxi was the Xie family of the General's Mansion, as well as Concubine Xie in the palace. Moreover, his sister was the future Princess Ding.
Xu Shuo and Xu Ying were just impoverished people living in the Xu family, and no one took them seriously.
Xu Ya was driven out by the guards of Jingzhao Prefecture again. She fell to the ground in a mess and fell at someone's feet. She looked up in a daze and met a handsome face with a bit of evil in it.
It’s Xie Yuncheng.
Xu Ya recognized this Mr. Xie, and knew that the Xie family was fully responsible for the matter between Xu Shuo and Xu Ying. She quickly knelt down and pleaded for mercy.
Xie Yuncheng raised his eyebrows and smiled.
He still remembered this woman... On the day when the Xu family in Pingning suffered disaster, he led his troops into the Xu family. The Xu family had become a hell on earth. In a yard, he kicked away the debris in the corner, and the woman rushed towards him with a pair of scissors in her hand, closing her eyes and screaming, almost cutting his hand.
He tutted his words, "Helping your brother and sister? What good can I get from that?"
Xu Ya looked up in a daze, and the next moment, she hurriedly took out the only few dozen taels of silver from her sleeve. After a pause, she took off the hairpin on her head, took off the earrings, and took off the jade pendant her mother left for her from her neck, and tremblingly held them all in front of Xie Yuncheng.
The next moment, a sneer was heard.
"Although I am a bastard, I am not short of a few small things like you. You... should think about it carefully."
After saying that, Xie Yuncheng walked straight to the side and got on the carriage.
"Thank you, General. Thank you, General..."
Xu Ya hurriedly chased to the carriage, only to see Xie Yuncheng suddenly lift the curtain and look at her: "Why, you want to get in my carriage?"
His eyes were full of meaning. "If you come in and talk to me in detail, it's not impossible. But... I'm in this car now, and I'm afraid it won't be easy to get out. You'd better think carefully."
The man's eyes were full of evil, and the corners of his lips curled up.
Xu Ya was so frightened that she subconsciously took a step back, and saw Xie Yuncheng sneer and was about to lower the curtain.
But at this moment, she suddenly reached out and grabbed the curtain.
Her body trembled slightly. Xu Ya swallowed and whispered, "...Okay."
Xie Yuncheng stared at her quietly, and the next moment, he reached out and grabbed her wrist... and suddenly exerted force to pull her into the car.
The carriage slowly drove away, and a low cry came from inside, followed by a suppressed sob...
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