“This sentiment alone isn’t enough! My sister is… well, she’s very capable, more than qualified to be your legal wife.” Jiang Chenyue emphasized her point of view again.
Jiang Wuyou frowned and scolded, "Chen Yue! Don't talk nonsense!"
"Wuyou, let her speak. Don't make things difficult for the child." He Yunxiao put himself in the position of Jiang Chenyue's brother-in-law and played the good cop.
Jiang Chenyue asked somewhat uncertainly, "Young Master He, you're twenty this year, right?"
He Yunxiao agreed, "Yes."
Jiang Chenyue said, "I'm twenty-one this year, how can I be a child?"
“Although I’m younger than you, I’m your brother-in-law,” He Yunxiao said matter-of-factly.
Jiang Chenyue was so angry at He Yunxiao's words that she almost burst into tears. "You!"
Even Jiang Wuyou couldn't stand the joke.
"Yunxiao, this is just a redemption; there's no further story."
He Yunxiao knew about Sister Jiang's feelings for him, after all, Sister Jiang was the only female character who liked him from the very beginning.
He Yunxiao didn't believe Jiang Wuyou didn't want to get married. Twenty-five years old was considered old for an unmarried woman in Qi. Most Qi girls were betrothed by sixteen or seventeen, or even seventeen or eighteen. Some were already married by then.
For a 25-year-old woman, without power or property, the pressure to get married is still very high.
"Okay, let's redeem her first, and we'll talk about other things later." He Yunxiao followed Sister Jiang's lead.
Jiang Chenyue protested, "My sister is mine, you are not allowed to redeem her!"
Jiang Wuyou knew what her adopted sister was thinking; she simply wanted to spend time with her and be affectionate. Even sisters eventually get married. Since a hard approach wasn't working, Jiang Wuyou tried a softer one: "Chenyue, how about you come visit your sister more often in the future?"
Jiang Chenyue was about to agree when she realized what she was doing and immediately changed her mind: "No! He won't give you a legal wife, so you can't agree to buy your freedom!"
He Yunxiao said, "Here you go."
"Yunxiao." Jiang Wuyou angrily slapped He Yunxiao's arm. "Didn't you just understand what I said?"
He Yunxiao said, "I know, my sister's concern is that her current status is not worthy of the position of the Marquis's wife. I have a solution. Find a poor family, spend some money to have them adopt a goddaughter, and then my sister will have a proper status."
Jiang Wuyou was taken aback. After hearing He Yunxiao's explanation, this method seemed to be feasible...
Jiang Chenyue couldn't stand the possibility of redeeming herself and immediately questioned He Yunxiao's method, "Even if you find a poor family, it will cost a lot of money to get them to cooperate with your act, right? At least five thousand taels."
He Yunxiao laughed and said, "Spend ten thousand taels to find someone from a higher social class."
Jiang Chenyue said, "I know the Marquis's mansion is wealthy, but that's only after you become a Marquis. What about now? You idle away your days, without even an official position. It costs 10,000 taels to buy your identity, and it would cost another 10,000 taels to redeem my sister. Can you come up with 20,000 taels of silver?"
He Yunxiao told the truth: "I can't produce it today."
Jiang Chenyue seized the rare opportunity, "Sister! Look at him, he's putting on a brave face! He's not sincere at all! Don't go with him."
Jiang Wuyou stared at Jiang Chenyue resentfully and said, "If Yunxiao can't come up with the money, I'll just elope with him."
"Huh? Sister, eloping and getting caught means being beheaded. Please don't do anything reckless!" Jiang Chenyue's expression turned pale when she heard the word "eloping."
The academy allows mistakes, laziness, and even disobedience. However, running away or eloping is absolutely forbidden. If it happens, the person will be hunted down and brought back, then beheaded as a warning to others. Every year, female students who try to escape are caught and brought back, used as examples to deter future students.
He Yunxiao laughed and said, "The laws of the Great Qi do not punish 'eloping,' they only punish 'breaking one's promise.' Moreover, the punishment varies depending on the circumstances, and the most severe punishment is not even beheading."
Seeing that Jiang Chenyue almost gave herself away again, Jiang Wuyou gave her a warning look, and then covered for her, saying, "Chenyue never thinks before she speaks, so don't take it to heart."
He Yunxiao smiled and said, "It's alright, we're all family."
These natural-sounding words made Jiang Wuyou a little embarrassed. As for Jiang Chenyue, she felt like she was being slapped in the face with a cold, unfiltered display of affection.
He Yunxiao hadn't forgotten his main purpose. He came to Chunfeng Tower to leverage its influence and increase the visibility of the gold and silver vouchers. He also wanted to promote Yaohui's new porcelain and the other partner shops.
Since Jiang Chenyue mentioned 20,000 taels of silver, He Yunxiao simply brought the topic back.
“Chenyue, although I can’t come up with 20,000 taels of silver today, I can probably do it tomorrow. And by the day after tomorrow, I can come up with 30,000 taels, let alone 20,000 taels.”
As a courtesan, Jiang Chenyue frequented the circles of young master Yin Jing and other high-ranking figures, so she was naturally well-informed and could not be fooled by ordinary boasting. However, she had never even heard of someone like He Yunxiao earning ten thousand taels of silver a day.
Seeing his sister-in-law's shocked expression, He Yunxiao, who had successfully shown off, felt completely satisfied.
Feels good.
Isn't this the moment we're all making money for?
Jiang Chenyue said with a hint of disbelief, "You're lying, aren't you? Even if you have connections with the Marquis's mansion, relying on your status as the eldest son of the Marquis's family, ten thousand taels a day is still..."
Jiang Wuyou also looked at He Yunxiao with concern. She knew more than her sister, but it was precisely because she knew more that she understood even less. Ninety-nine taels in revenue, one hundred taels out. How could this kind of business possibly make money?
However, even if Sister Jiang had her doubts, saving face for He Yunxiao was the most important thing to her. Anything else, any arguments, had to wait until the outsiders left and they could talk it out behind closed doors.
He Yunxiao took out a stack of gold and silver certificates from his pocket and placed them on the table.
"Look, these are the gold and silver certificates. I make ten thousand taels a day by selling them."
Jiang Chenyue stared at the object; apart from a few different patterns and words, it was almost identical to a silver note.
“Young Master He, your banknotes don’t even have the Ministry of Revenue’s stamp, so they’re useless.”
He Yunxiao then opened the gift he had brought for Sister Jiang: a set of celadon tea set and gold and jade jewelry.
Such items were not uncommon for a courtesan; what was unusual was that He Yunxiao dumped them on the table like garbage, seemingly unconcerned about whether these expensive items would be damaged.
“These were purchased with gold and silver vouchers,” He Yunxiao explained. “However, there aren’t many shops cooperating with our Daqi Bank yet, so the variety of goods available is limited. Once more shops cooperate, these gold and silver vouchers will be almost equivalent to banknotes.”
Jiang Chenyue stared wide-eyed, at a loss for words. The fact that the gold and silver certificates didn't require the Ministry of Personnel's stamp meant they weren't subject to imperial oversight. It meant He Yunxiao could print money whenever he wanted. What it meant to be able to print money himself was self-evident; no one else needed to explain it.
He Yunxiao once again enjoyed his sister-in-law's newfound respect and felt quite pleased with himself.
However, what surprised He Yunxiao was that Sister Jiang didn't show any surprise.
"Have you heard of gold and silver certificates before, sister?"
Jiang Wuyou smiled and said, "Yes, I've heard Ya Hu mention it to me."
He Yunxiao nodded, not taking it to heart.
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