Princess Promotion

Chapter 126 Sweet pastry

Yao Chuguang looked at the little kid in front of him who was in a daze again and felt a little worried.

It is definitely not okay for a child of this age to eat and sleep every day. She was not so lucky back then, so how could Zhou Mingrui live better than her.

Yao Chuguang walked up to Zhou Mingrui and asked, "Can you read?"

Zhou Mingrui's empty eyes showed no reaction, like a puppet.

If Zhou Mingrui could not still eat, sleep and walk, Yao Chuguang would have thought that Zhou Mingrui was a vegetable.

Yao Chuguang was not clear about Zhou Mingrui's condition. It looked a bit like autism symptoms, but she didn't know what type it was.

But no matter what the symptoms are, it’s not good to always look like you’ve lost all hope in life.

Yao Chuguang tried hard to search for the knowledge about this aspect from his previous life in his mind.

Then she realized that her understanding of this disease was limited to the genius autistic male protagonists in novels.

I heard that these autistic children are geniuses in certain fields. I wonder what Zhou Mingrui will be good at?

Yao Chuguang did it right away. He first called the musicians in the palace and played all the instruments in front of Zhou Mingrui, but found that Zhou Mingrui had no reaction.

It seems that this child has no musical talent, Yao Chuguang thought to himself.

Then he hired painters to paint, carpenters to carve, dancers to dance, and played musical instruments and sang all day long. Yao Chuguang finally determined that the child was not interested in art.

Yao Chuguang thought that this child was not interested in emotional things, so he might be a rational person. What subject best represents rationality? It must be "mathematics"!

Yao Chuguang found a piece of rice paper, wrote numbers on it, and tried to start teaching addition and subtraction.

The moon is above the branches, the night is as dark as water, and the imperial study is filled with the faint scent of ink.

Yao Chuguang pointed at the rice paper and asked, "What is one plus one?"

A little firelight seemed to shine in his pupils, which had been calm all the time. It seemed that he had not spoken for so long that even making a sound was a little difficult. Zhou Mingrui finally opened his mouth with difficulty.

"Two!" Zhou Mingrui seemed to spit out a word from his throat, and then immediately shut up.

This word, like a drop of water falling into a calm lake, caused ripples.

Yao Chuguang breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that this child would be able to have a skill to make a living in the future.

At this time, Eunuch Feng came in and reported: "Your Majesty! General Fu requests an audience."

Yao Chuguang picked up a new piece of rice paper and began to give Zhou Mingrui a question without even looking up. "Hmm!"

After receiving the order, Eunuch Feng stepped back and led Fu Hongxuan in.

As soon as Fu Hongxuan came in, Yao Chuguang asked, "Did you find the person?"

Fu Hongxuan bowed and said, "I am incompetent and have not found it yet."

Suddenly hearing Fu Hongxuan's humble words, Yao Chuguang stopped writing and looked up at Fu Hongxuan twice before lowering her head to continue what she was doing. "Bring a few palace maids from the palace to assist. All girls aged eleven or twelve need to have their bodies checked."

Fu Hongxuan immediately realized, "Your Majesty, are you saying that Zhou Chengxi is very likely to be dressed as a woman?"

Yao Chuguang: "There's probably a 90% chance that he's a man dressed as a woman. Zhou Chengxi has been pampered since he was a child, so it would be easy for him to be exposed if he were to dress up as a beggar or a child from a commoner's family."

Moreover, Zhou Chengxi is at an age when it is difficult to tell whether he is a man or a girl. As long as he has a good-looking appearance and wears women's clothes, he can basically get away with it.

Just look at Zhou Mingrui's delicate facial features, like those of a porcelain doll, and you will know that his brother Zhou Chengxi is definitely not ugly.

After hearing this, Fu Hongxuan had an expression of sudden enlightenment on his face and flattered: "It is I who am stupid. Your Majesty is truly brilliant."

Yao Chuguang finally couldn't write any more. He stopped writing and looked up at Fu Hongxuan. "Don't tell me you didn't think of such an obvious loophole. Zhou Chengxi is just a twelve-year-old with obvious characteristics. He has no other choice but to pretend to be a beggar and a little girl."

Even if Fu Hongxuan had no experience in arresting people, he was a military commander after all. How could he not have this common sense?

What's more, Fu Hongxuan is not a careless person. There must be a reason why he suddenly behaved so abnormally today.

Yao Chuguang looked him up and down, confirming it was Fu Hongxuan, and said, "If you have something to say, say it. If not, arrest him."

Fu Hongxuan said solemnly with a serious expression, "We are short of money."

"You! Why are you short of money again? Ahem..." Yao Chuguang was shocked by the answer and was so anxious that he couldn't breathe.

The corner of Fu Hongxuan's eye twitched, and his expression changed from serious to unnatural and even extremely unnatural.

Then just keep pretending, I want to see how long you can keep pretending.

Yao Chuguang was choked and speechless for a moment.

Yao Chuguang had guessed that the Yun family would dispose of some of the Fu family's assets to fill the hole in the Yun family.

But now seeing that Fu Hongxuan, who is so poor, has to ask her for money, it seems that he has been cheated a lot.

Could it be that the 300,000 taels of silver that Yun brought over yesterday were all taken from the Fu family?

Yao Chuguang asked doubtfully, "How much did the Yun Clan cheat you out of?"

Fu Hongxuan said with a serious face: "All of them."

Yao Chuguang was even more confused. Weren't Madam Liu and Fu Yuanyuan there watching her ransom the Yun family last night? They hadn't shown any suspicion at all. She asked in confusion, "Didn't Fu Yuanyuan look for you after she went home last night?"

Fu Hongxuan sighed, "Last night, my grandmother collapsed in anger after she returned home. Yuanyuan was busy taking care of her, so she sent someone to look for me. I didn't expect to miss her."

In fact, if Madam Liu and Fu Yuanyuan had been ruthless enough last night and ordered people to control Yun as soon as they left the palace, and retrieve the house deeds, land deeds and shops as soon as possible, some of these things could have been saved.

But both Old Lady Liu and Fu Yuanyuan had what Yao Chuguang said was a common problem among the ladies and wives of wealthy families: they didn't care much about money.

He values character more than money, and because of the years of getting along, he subconsciously feels that the Yun family will never do anything extreme.

But now it's a bit embarrassing. It seems that the silver that Yun brought yesterday was taken from Fu Hongxuan.

Moreover, long before Yao Chuguang allowed Yun to enter the palace, she had already informed An Tian and asked him to prepare the money and to lower the price as much as possible if Yun wanted to sell her property.

There is absolutely no other family in Yundu City that can come up with a large amount of money in such a short time to help the Yun family fill this hole.

But this was the money Yao Chu had earned through her own ability, so it was absolutely impossible for her to spit it out. "So what do you want?"

Fu Hongxuan didn't expect Yao Chuguang to return the silver to him. It was indeed because he was soft-hearted towards the Yun family that the Yun family had the opportunity to take advantage of him. He lost and there was nothing to say.

Fu Hongxuan was not polite and asked directly, "How much is the ransom for Zhou Chengxi?"

Yao Chuguang leaned back and said calmly, "Five hundred thousand taels of silver."

Fu Hongxuan raised his eyebrows. He felt that Yao Chuguang must have underestimated the amount. Concubine Li had 100,000 taels, so Zhou Chengxi should have at least 800,000 taels.

But Fu Hongxuan did not expose Yao Chuguang's lie. Instead, he said, "Then if you capture Zhou Chengxi, could you please give me a reward, maybe just one percent of Zhou Chengxi's ransom?"

Yao Chuguang nodded in agreement without even thinking: "Okay!"

Fu Hongxuan continued, "If I capture other members of the Yun family, can I take a 1% commission of the ransom?"

Yao Chuguang said in a big voice: "Deal!"

From this moment on, the Yun family became the favorites of the military generals.