"Manager Zhao, who exactly is this Yang Hong? Didn't you let him go?" Manager Lu asked, looking puzzled.
“He is indeed my brother-in-law, but he’s a good-for-nothing who just loafs around eating and drinking. What has he been doing at the restaurant these past few days?”
Zhao Xian is not a person who likes to get angry, but this time he was really angry.
That afternoon, he came to the restaurant and said he wanted to see the manager.
I then asked him who he was and what business he had at the restaurant.
He introduced himself as Yang Hong, the brother-in-law of Manager Zhao, and said that he was specially arranged by you to manage the restaurant. At the time, I was very puzzled. Manager Zhao had already arranged for Manager Liu to help manage the restaurant, so why did he arrange for his brother-in-law to come as well?
I asked Manager Liu if he knew Yang Hong, and he shook his head. So I called your younger brother over and asked him if he knew Yang Hong.
Your brother nodded and asked Yang Hong what he was doing there. Yang Hong repeated the same question, but your brother didn't believe him at all. He told me and Manager Liu to be wary of him and not to let him get involved in anything at the hotel until we figured out the situation.
Regardless, Yang Hong is Manager Zhao's brother-in-law, so we treat him with courtesy. Therefore, the restaurant has been serving him the best food and wine these past few days.
Seeing that Manager Lu hadn't put Yang Hong in charge of the restaurant, Zhao Xian seemed relieved. He paused and then said:
"Manager Lu, calculate how much Yang Hong has spent at the restaurant these past few days. I will pay for it. When you go back this afternoon, make sure he leaves the restaurant. Don't let him freeload there. If he insists on eating and drinking at the restaurant, he can, but he must pay first."
"Isn't that a bit inappropriate?" Manager Lu hesitated.
“Do as I say. If you treat him politely, he won’t leave.”
“Okay, I’ll listen to Manager Zhao. However, when he came this morning, he told me in a hurry that something big had happened at the mansion and asked me to give him fifty taels of silver.”
Zhao Xian's eyes widened immediately, seemingly a little nervous, as he listened to Manager Lu continue.
“At the time, I didn’t know what was going on. Seeing that he was very anxious, I took out fifty taels of silver and gave it to him, telling him to go back and take care of things first.”
After he left, I realized something was wrong. If something had really happened in the house, he shouldn't have been the one to come and collect the money.
Later, I asked Zhao Xiaoshan about the situation at the house, and he said nothing was found. That's when I realized I'd been scammed. However, the money was a personal loan I gave him, not part of the wine bill.
Zhao Xian, of course, understood what Manager Lu meant. He gave a wry smile and said:
"Yang Hong asked you for money, and you must have felt obligated to lend him the money; that's what he was after."
He's borrowed so much money, he definitely won't do anything worthwhile, and might even cause some trouble. Now that he has money in his pocket, he'll be quiet for a while, but once the money's gone, he'll go back to the restaurants and freeload.
Manager Lu sighed, somewhat annoyed, and slowly spoke.
“I was not thinking things through properly; perhaps I really shouldn’t have lent him the money.”
"Let's not talk about this anymore. When you get back, tell Zhao Xiaoshan about Yang Hong borrowing money. Xiaoshan will tell his sister-in-law about it and see if Ruotong has any way to handle it. In short, Yang Hong can't stay in Qing'an Prefecture. We have to find a way to get him to leave."
"Don't worry, Manager Zhao, I know what to do," Manager Lu said.
"Yang Hong definitely can't repay this money, so I'll pay it back to you instead."
After Zhao Xian finished speaking, he took out fifty taels of silver and handed it to Manager Lu.
Manager Lu quickly waved his hand, "How can I ask you to return this money? I already know what kind of person your brother-in-law is. When I see him again, I will ask him for it back. I won't be polite to him."
"That's fine then. I won't return the money to you for now. When you ask him for the money, don't be polite. Make him feel the pressure."
After lunch, Manager Lu loaded the wholesale wine onto the carriage and left Narcissus Village.
Seeing that Manager Lu had left, Zhao Xian returned to the house. Just as he sat down, he heard the sound of a carriage outside.
When a horse-drawn carriage comes by, it usually means someone is coming to buy wine wholesale. However, it's already afternoon, so they probably aren't here to buy wine wholesale. Thinking of this, Zhao Xian went out to check.
Two carriages, one after the other, stopped in front of the house. These two carriages were luxurious and grand, and he recognized them all too well. Weren't these Princess Li Xue's carriages?
At this moment, Li Xue had already gotten off the carriage, and several female guards followed her down.
To be honest, Zhao Xian was a little afraid that Princess Li Xue would come. If she came, he would not be able to do many things and would have to spend a lot of energy protecting the princess's safety.
Zhao Xian wondered to himself what the princess had planned to do this time.
Li Xue had already seen Zhao Xian, and immediately beamed with joy as she walked towards him.
"It's been a long time. How have you been, Young Master Zhao?"
"Greetings, Princess. I was unaware of your presence. I am honored by your presence and hope you will not take offense."
“Young Master Zhao, you don’t need to be so polite. I’ve come to regard Narcissus Village as my second home. I’ve come here to see Xiao Hei.”
Zhao Xian was at his wit's end. This princess was too bad at lying. She had gone to such lengths and traveled so far; how could she have come just to see Xiao Hei?
Zhao Xian smiled and said, "Princess, you must have other things to do besides seeing Xiao Hei."
"Young Master Zhao is so clever; he saw it at a glance. He came here to bring you good news."
"Bringing good news." Zhao Xian was stunned. The princess had traveled so far to bring good news; it must be something very joyous.
Then Li Xue began to recount some major events that had occurred in the imperial court and on the border.
Last time, Zhao Xian helped Li Xue make three hundred crossbows. After Li Xue took these crossbows back, she handed them over to the Ministry of Works. The Ministry of Works did not dare to neglect them and immediately arranged for people to test these crossbows. After learning about the performance of the crossbows, Minister Ji of the Ministry of Works was overjoyed and immediately reported the matter to the Emperor.
The Emperor was overjoyed and immediately ordered the Ministry of Works to produce a large number of bows and crossbows to distribute to the soldiers at the front. The Ministry of Works then assigned the Ordnance Bureau to be in charge of manufacturing the bows and crossbows.
Many departments of the imperial court participated in the production of the crossbows, providing strong support in terms of manpower and financial resources. The Military Equipment Bureau immediately recruited a large number of skilled craftsmen and quickly produced five thousand crossbows based on the crossbow blueprints presented by Zhao Xian.
The first batch of crossbows was quickly delivered to the front lines, where the soldiers were having a minor skirmish with the foreign troops. These crossbows immediately came in handy.
More than two thousand barbarian soldiers came to provoke them. Relying on their powerful bows and arrows, they kept harassing the front lines. The soldiers wanted to test the performance of their bows and arrows, so they used the barbarian soldiers as live targets and fired a barrage of arrows at them.
Five thousand crossbows fired simultaneously, catching the enemy soldiers off guard. More than a thousand were killed instantly, and only a few hundred survived because they ran fast.
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