Chapter 693 - 253: The Envoy Enters the Capital
Chapter 693: Chapter 253: The Envoy Enters the Capital
The whole room looked at her. "Business? What business?"
Xu Su Ying said, "Those merchants from the Western Regions brought dozens of carts of woven wool blankets with them..."
But their timing was off. The weather was growing warmer, and summer clothes would soon be worn. Who would buy winter goods now? Moreover, the price wasn’t cheap—it was enough for commoners to buy over a dozen bolts of coarse cloth.
The merchant was so worried he had blisters on his lips. When he saw that Xu Su Ying knew her goods, it was like he was looking at a living immortal. He even promised her a thirty percent discount if she was willing to buy the entire batch.
"Thirty percent off is still too expensive. I’m going to see if I can get them for half price. The only reason these goods aren’t selling is because no one is promoting them. If we just find the right person to use them on the right occasion, I guarantee they’ll sell out instantly."
By explaining all this, Xu Su Ying’s intention was clear. "Since we all came out together, everyone gets a share. Do you want to invest? Don’t worry about losing Silver. If we lose, it’s on me. If we earn, just consider it a gift from your Aunt Su Ying."
Chang Yao and the others burst into laughter. She hugged Chen Wanqing’s arm and said, "Wanqing, is Aunt Su Ying always this generous?"
Chen Wanqing smiled. "Not at all. We used to live in the countryside and were very poor. My parents made the doors and windows themselves from trees they chopped down in the mountains. My mother was very frugal back then. Whenever I wanted to eat a chicken drumstick, she would coax me by saying that chickens run around all day, so the meat on their legs is too tough. She claimed my teeth were too small and weak, and eating a drumstick would break them."
Everyone in the room laughed. Even the old madam doubled over with mirth, hugging her granddaughter tightly. However, after the laughter subsided, the old madam’s eyes reddened with sorrow. She thought about how hard life must have been if they couldn’t even bear to give a child a chicken drumstick.
Seeing her mother about to cry, Xu Su Ying hurriedly comforted the old woman.
"Don’t just listen to Qing’er’s side of the story. She was little back then; what does she remember? At the time, she went with Chen Song and me to the grand market. She swallowed a bellyful of cold wind on the way and got terrible diarrhea after coming home. The doctor took a look and said that since she was so small, there was no need for medicine—fasting for a couple of meals would cure her. We couldn’t bear to let her starve, so we cooked dough drop soup and brown sugar porridge for her every day. With no meat in her diet, of course she constantly thought about that big chicken drumstick. If I didn’t trick her into thinking the drumstick was too hard to eat, what else could I have said?"
The room erupted into laughter once more, but as they laughed, tears began to flow again. This situation was truly not what Chen Wanqing and Xu Su Ying wanted to see. Racking her brains, Chen Wanqing quickly changed the subject.
"My mother used to be poor, but she’s very rich now. If she wants to hand out some Silver as pocket money, we definitely shouldn’t be polite about it..."
In the end, the Xu family bought all the blankets from the Western Regions merchant. However, the Silver didn’t come from Xu Su Ying. The old madam had a very bulging purse, and the assets in her hands would sooner or later be distributed to the younger generation anyway. There was no difference whether she gave it to them a day earlier or a day later.
Once the blankets were in hand, the old madam distributed them like spoils of war. She sent a few to the Princess Mansion, a few to her brother’s wife at her maiden home, and gave two to each of their relatives and old family friends. No one knew who spread the rumor, but word got out that these blankets were currently the most popular trend in the Capital City. Consequently, many people went shop to shop, asking if there was any stock.
Naturally, there was no stock. The blankets brought by the Western Regions merchant were entirely in the hands of the Xu family. Xu Su Ying simply had people transport them to her shops in batches to sell. Through these transactions, they unexpectedly earned thousands of taels of Silver. Even after dividing the profits among everyone who had gone out that day, each person still received nearly a thousand or two, which was indeed a considerable amount of pocket money.
Afterward, Xu Su Ying and the old madam had someone bring their own two shares to Chen Wanqing. The excuse was ready-made: after all, she was carrying one more person in her belly than everyone else. Chen Wanqing ended up receiving two extra portions of Silver, leaving her caught between laughter and tears.
Zhao Jing had been working in the Hanlin Academy for a few days and was now mostly accustomed to its pace.
Generally speaking, there were both idle and busy posts inside. The idle posts were easy to explain—they were non-urgent tasks that no one monitored around the clock. These included inspecting archives, compiling books, revising history, and checking the academic assignments at the Imperial School and other such institutions. With no one watching over them all day, these tasks rarely went wrong, making them excellent spots for idling the days away.
However, the busy posts were another matter. Not only were they demanding, but they could also cost a person their life at any moment. These duties included, but were not limited to, serving as a lecturer to instruct Your Majesty, the Crown Prince, and Princes on the day of the Scripture Reading.
They also involved drafting official documents, such as the Decree for investing concubines, the Investiture Decree for enfeoffing kings, the sacrificial text for offering condolences to deceased ministers, as well as Monument Inscription and Blessing Words. Officials were expected to use their vast knowledge to be ready at all times to answer the Emperor’s inquiries regarding classics, histories, and institutional regulations, as well as participating in state affairs discussions.