As the two were talking, several eunuchs arrived at the Imperial Garden carrying baskets containing several oil-paper umbrellas.
"Umbrellas for sale! Umbrellas for sale!"
"One string of cash per bundle!"
[One string of cash?]
Yun Duoduo was stunned.
Good heavens, an umbrella sold for seven or eight hundred yuan! Third brother, you've really got some skills!
"Third brother, one string of cash?" Yun Duoduo tugged at Yun Yishu's sleeve to confirm.
"Are you robbing me?"
Yun Yishu raised an eyebrow: "Things are valued for their rarity, and besides, these people are all rich."
"My brother didn't rob me directly; he even gave me an oil-paper umbrella."
Yun Duoduo pursed her lips and nodded slightly: "Yes, Your Majesty is right."
Just now, when she noticed the swallows flying low, Yun Duoduo knew it was going to rain. She glanced around the Imperial Garden for a moment and found that none of the ministers had brought umbrellas. There was only a small pavilion nearby, and no side hall where everyone could take shelter from the rain.
Therefore, she asked Yun Yishu to prepare some umbrellas to sell to the ministers attending the banquet.
Normally, the palace banquets are held in Anqing Hall, so it doesn't matter if it rains. But this time, Yun Beiye and the Empress Dowager were in high spirits and chose to hold the banquet in the Imperial Garden.
Moreover, the weather had been sunny and clear for the past few days, so the palace servants had not prepared any rain gear.
The ministers were in a hurry to use the umbrellas, and they didn't care how much it cost. They rushed to buy the limited number of oil-paper umbrellas.
Compared to being drenched in front of His Majesty and losing face, what is a string of cash?
Moreover, this is an umbrella used exclusively by the imperial family in the palace.
"Give me an umbrella!"
Zhou Yixuan gritted his teeth and grabbed the little eunuch, demanding to buy an umbrella.
"Oh dear, I didn't bring any money with me, old man Xue, could you lend me some?"
Kang Fuguo shielded himself from the rain with his hand, patted his clothes, and asked Xue Guangjin, the Left Prime Minister, beside him for money.
The ministers jostled and shoved each other, reaching into their pockets. For the old men who couldn't afford to pay, Yun Yishu thoughtfully prepared IOUs for them; they could simply put their fingerprints on them and take the umbrellas away.
On the other side, Yun Duoduo set her sights on the women.
The rain caused these young ladies from official families to lose their beauty; their makeup smudged and fell off, revealing their true appearance.
The women hurriedly covered their faces with handkerchiefs.
Several palace maids, carrying baskets, squeezed into the center of the women's quarters and began to call out in low voices, "Rouge and face powder! Ink and eyebrow pencils!"
Limited quantity, first come, first served!
The women immediately went wild when they heard that there were foundation, lipstick, and eyebrow pencils available.
"The stone dye that will draw my eyebrows!"
"I want it, I want rouge!"
"Limited quantity, highest bidder wins!" the palace maid shouted loudly.
"One at a time!"
Without any money, the housekeepers and young ladies, their faces covered in graffiti, took off all sorts of gold and silver jewelry and stuffed it into the hands of the palace maids, in exchange for a box of rouge and face powder, or eyebrow pencils.
For them, rouge, face powder, and cosmetics were far more important than pearls and silver.
"Leave a box of stone ink for my young lady!" a maid shouted, squeezing through the crowd.
"Line up! Line up to buy! Highest bidder wins!"
The palace maid ignored the maid and continued to greet the people queuing to buy. Before they came to sell rouge and face powder, the princess had already instructed them to queue up and not to pay attention to those who tried to take it by force.
"You lowly servant, my young lady is the niece of Consort Chen! Bring my young lady a box!"
The maid was arrogant, her eyebrows and eyes were disjointed when she spoke, and her head was held high as if she were looking down on people.
"Are you deaf? I've already said one by one, the highest bidder wins."
"A young lady from an official family, whose foot had been stepped on by a maid, said unhappily."
"Whose maid is this, so ill-mannered?!"
"Oh, who do we have here?"
"So you're the eldest daughter of the Bu family!"
"Look at her, she's so angry she's lost her eyebrows."
"She has a relative who is a concubine in the palace. We can't afford to offend her!"
After saying this, the ladies took their boxes of rouge and powder and left the crowd.
"Quickly, get our young lady a box of Shi Dai!"
Bu Yaolian's maid shouted.
Sold out!
After saying a few words, the palace maid looked down to examine the silver and jewelry she had received.
Bu Yaolian bit her lip in anger, stomped her foot, and turned to leave in a huff.
[Hmph, who cares about these things? You bunch of poor scum, just stay here and let people pick and choose you like merchandise!]
Besides, I'm still young. My parents said they just came to visit today.
[Come to the palace to meet these imperial relatives; there's no need to rush into marriage.]
【I'm destined to marry the Prince of Jibei, who cares about these princes?】
Nanyang was a territory conquered on horseback!
Yun Duoduo was watching the excitement when she suddenly seemed to hear the words "King of Jibei" and immediately became alert.
She looked around but didn't see Jinzhi's brother or hear any more of the King of Jibei's voice, so she gave up.
After the goods were sold out, the palace maid took out two bronze mirrors and placed them on the table.
"Thank you all for coming. This bronze mirror is a gift for you!"
The daughters of officials who had managed to snatch the goods were overjoyed. They breathed a sigh of relief and sat down in front of the bronze mirror to quickly make up for their mistakes and put on makeup.
...
After an incense stick had burned, the rain stopped and the sky cleared, and the banquet and dance continued.
The head of the imperial kitchen, along with a group of eunuchs and palace maids, brought ginger soup.
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