readsfreenovel Chapter 150: Have money but can’t spend it?
Chapter 150: Have money but can’t spend it?
The situation took a sudden turn, and unexpectedly the price was raised the next day in order to recruit more people.
If this deal is possible, Liu Dexia can't let others get away with it. Everyone has a group of subordinates who follow him around to make a living, so he forced a smile and said, "Your Highness Prince Yi, if you need manpower, those blind people didn't come yesterday. I am willing to sacrifice my life to gather manpower for Your Highness."
"I appreciate Eunuch Liu's kindness. If you really want to do something for me, I have something to offer you. I just don't know if it will be difficult for you." Zhou Chang seemed to have just remembered something important.
Liu Dexia was put on hold by his own words: "If your Majesty has anything to say, just tell me."
"Do you smell anything?" Zhou Chang sniffed the air hard.
As soon as Liu Dexia entered the West Parade Ground, he smelled the smell of fireworks. There was also a bloody smell of snakes being killed from the east side of the parade ground, so he said, "Yes, yes, Your Highness, the servants have already moved the big incense burner for Your Highness. The bloody smell in the West Parade Ground is too strong."
"Alas, what a pity. Although Eunuch Liu said this, the incense burner and incense have not arrived yet." Zhou Chang sighed, shaking his head.
Liu Dexia turned around and glanced at the golden incense burners that were piled on the ground just now, and motioned to the two eunuchs behind him, but turned to Zhou Chang with an even wider smile: "Look at how careless I am. How could I forget this? Although this incense burner is small, it should be lit for His Royal Highness Prince Yi first, and it can also solve the urgent problem, right?"
"'Looking for spring in the crabapple garden, the sun shines red and fills the garden with fragrance.'" Zhou Chang seemed not to hear what Liu Dexia said. His eyes drifted to the sky and he suddenly chanted a line of poetry, "'No one can understand the meaning of the east wind, all the spring will be given to the crabapple.' This prince thought of the crabapple in Huilan Garden, thinking that it should still be in bloom at this time."
These two lines of poetry were not written by Zhou Chang, but suddenly popped up in the mind of Prince Yi Fengming, because the favorite flower of Prince Yi's biological mother, Concubine Lan, was the crabapple blossom. Although Prince Yi did not like reading, because it was his mother's favorite flower, he specially found two related poems and memorized them, and burned them to let his mother know when he worshipped her.
As soon as the three words "Huilan Garden" came out, Liu Dexia's heart suddenly rose.
Ever since Prince Yi's mother, Concubine Lan, passed away, no one reminded him or the Emperor forgot. Prince Yi was still a minor at the time, but no one was ever appointed to take care of him.
Prince Yi was left alone in Huilan Garden with Aunt Jing, Uncle Qiu and Skinny Monkey. It was not until he was seventeen that he was able to leave the palace and build his own residence after his own efforts.
When Prince Yi moved out of Huilan Garden, he packed up Concubine Lan's belongings and moved them out of the palace. He also built an identical courtyard in the main courtyard of the rear hall of Prince Yi's mansion to facilitate daily worship.
Since Huilan Garden was deserted, no one cared about it anymore, except Prince Yi who occasionally visited the palace and would visit Huilan Garden from time to time, but would find it already deserted.
Liu Dexia was suspicious, and the little eyes on his donkey face rolled around.
Zhou Chang retracted his gaze and changed his attitude to a gentle one: "Eunuch Liu should also know that this prince has neither the time nor the convenience to go to the harem, so I would like to ask Eunuch Liu to help me pick some crabapple flowers in Huilan Garden to get rid of the smell of snake blood."
"This..." Liu Dexia was about to refuse. For such a small matter, there was no need for him, the newly promoted deputy chief steward of the inner court, to go there in person.
Zhou Chang's eyebrows curved, and the corners of his mouth curled up a little: "Eunuch Liu, you don't know, my biological mother loved crabapple flowers when she was alive, and she also treasured crabapple flowers the most. Ordinary people were not allowed to touch them easily. Those lowly people are not worthy of doing this, but Eunuch Liu is different from others, and his status is much different now. I'm sure my mother in heaven won't mind if you pick a few flowers."
Liu Dexia looked at the skinny monkey.
"If Eunuch Liu is unwilling, then forget it. It seems that I can't persuade him." Zhou Chang leisurely took out a silver note of 100 taels from his sleeve and said to the skinny monkey behind him, "If you are still not capable, you have been out of the palace with me for many years and you don't even have anyone you know in the palace. Even if I prepare the silver note, it will be useless."
"Yes, yes, it's my incompetence." The skinny monkey admitted honestly.
After Zhou Chang finished speaking, he slammed the banknote on the table.
This silver note of one hundred taels was one of the one thousand taels that I had "robbed" from Qian Liang, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue yesterday.
Liu Dexia's eyes lit up when he saw the banknotes, which confirmed some rumors he had heard about Prince Yi before, such as Prince Yi made friends with the Yuan family and is now very rich. Another example is that Prince Yi has been lucky recently, and the Emperor did not pursue several things that happened to him, and even allowed him to sell things out of the palace and make a lot of money.
"Your Highness, are you kidding? Going to pick up a few flowers, such a small thing, is worth a hundred taels of silver?" Liu Dexia has always been greedy for money and flattering the powerful, but to have reached his current position, it is impossible for him to be completely careless.
Zhou Chang's expression remained unchanged. He took out a stack of banknotes from his bosom and flipped through them in his hands: "I need it urgently, and I am not short of money. It would be best if you can bring it back within an incense stick of time."
Liu Dexia was blinded by money and his donkey face stretched even longer.
At this time, Qian Liang, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, came up to the stands again, holding a large-denomination bill in his hand, and presented it with both hands: "Your Highness Prince Yi, this is the balance of 10,000 taels of money for the medicinal materials that His Majesty allocated for you just now."
"Have you checked all the medicinal materials? Is there any problem with the bottle?" Zhou Chang asked a few questions and motioned the skinny monkey to take the bill of exchange.
"Yes, no problem." Qian Liang didn't want to struggle at all now.
Just now he actually went to ask Shi Song, the general manager of the Imperial Pharmacy, about this.
Shi Song’s answer was that it was worth whatever His Royal Highness Prince Yi said it was worth.
It’s not that Shi Song had accepted benefits from Prince Yi in advance, he just simply didn’t want to cause trouble for either party.
Liu Dexia's eyes widened when he saw the silver note worth ten thousand taels.
It seems that the rumors are true, Prince Yi really makes a lot of money.
"Alas..." Zhou Chang took the bill of exchange from the thin monkey and sighed, "I didn't expect it. I didn't expect that now that I have money, I can't spend it even if I want to."
Zhou Chang stopped looking at Liu Dexia, put the bill of exchange for 10,000 taels into his arms, looked around, and said impatiently: "Why haven't the big incense burner and incense arrived yet? If they are not delivered in another stick of incense, I will go to my father to ask for them myself."
"Your Highness, how about I think of another way? If other people don't want the hundred taels of silver, you can give it to me, and I will find a way." The skinny monkey was drooling.
Seeing this, Liu Dexia was unwilling to miss the opportunity: "Since Your Highness Prince Yi is so anxious, I am willing to run a trip for Your Highness."
"Oh? Really?" Zhou Chang put on airs, "I'm sorry to trouble you, Eunuch Liu."
"It's not a bother, it's not a bother. It's my duty to serve Your Highness," Liu Dexia bowed repeatedly. "But, please forgive me for asking one more question. Your Highness, are there really any crabapple flowers in Huilan Garden?"
No one has been able to rise through the ranks in the harem for so many years without any effort. "Between working hard and playing badly, I chose to work hard and play badly;"