What's wrong with me, a powerful minister, supporting a few female officials?

Chapter 304 The Bride! Capturing the Commander!
After leaving the Su family's shop, Zhong Yin returned to the Ministry of War.

After finishing the last matters before his annual leave, he hurriedly returned home in a sedan chair.

Back at the mansion, to the astonishment of the servants and sedan chair bearers, he carried the heavy brocade box into the study in the inner quarters.

But she found that Zhong Lishi was already waiting for her in the study.

Madam Zhong looked suspiciously at the brocade box in Zhong Yin's hand.

My husband brought something back from outside; it's a rare sight, perhaps only seen once every ten years.

Moreover, this brocade box is clearly a gift box.

"Did you go to the shop of the Jinyiwei centurion?" Zhong Lishi had been married to Zhong Yin for many years, so she naturally didn't beat around the bush and asked directly.

Zhong Yin smiled bitterly and looked at Zhong Li Shi.

There is nothing better than a wife who knows her husband.

Although she didn't say she was going to see Su Mo, it was clear that Zhong Li had expected it.

He put down the huge, extremely eye-catching brocade box and nodded slightly.

Who knew Su Mo would pull this stunt?

He dared not take such a large brocade box to the Ministry of War, and could only place it in his sedan chair.

"What about the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?" Zhong Lishi immediately asked again.

Zhong Yin's expression changed slightly, and he couldn't help but snort and mutter, "That kid is incredibly cunning!"

Zhong Li was taken aback: "What do you mean?"

Zhong Yin said irritably, "I've fallen for this brat's trick!"

"That letter must be a trick by this lad to lure me into going there to bring honor to his shop!"

Upon hearing this, Zhong Li was also dumbfounded.

Zhong Yin angrily cursed again: "You know, this kid, he even invited Ye Wenshan and Princess Baicheng, and even His Majesty personally came, yet he still makes fun of this old man like this. It's truly hateful!"

Zhong Li's eyes widened immediately, and she exclaimed in disbelief, "What?"

"His Majesty went too?"

"And... Ip Man-shan was also present? Wasn't he imprisoned in the Dali Temple prison?"

Zhong Li almost thought she had misheard.

It's utterly unbelievable that His Majesty would personally go to support the opening of a shop run by the Imperial Guards!
Also, didn't Ip Man Shan offend His Majesty and get imprisoned in Dali Temple?
Why did you go too?

Zhong Yin sighed: "It seems that His Majesty's trust and favor towards this boy far exceeds my expectations!"

"In addition, Ye Wenshan has been released by His Majesty, but I don't know why."

He frowned, his old face showing a puzzled expression: "When His Majesty met with Ye Wenshan, it seemed as if nothing had happened, which really puzzles me!"

After a moment's thought, Lady Zhong Li asked, "Do you think Lord Ye might back down to His Majesty?"

Zhong Yin paused for a moment, then shook his head: "I don't think so?"

His tone wasn't entirely certain: "I know Ip Man Shan's temperament quite well."

"This man has an even tougher temper than I do. He's stubborn and inflexible. Even when he was in the Northern Garrison, he never bowed his head and admitted his mistakes. Now that he's imprisoned in the Dali Temple prison, he's even more stubborn."

Lady Zhong shook her head: "But it can't be that His Majesty is wrong!"

"If we release Ip Man Shan without cause, wouldn't that be admitting defeat..."

She dared not say what she was going to say next, but Zhong Yin naturally understood what she meant.

If Ye Wenshan does not admit his mistake, release him to prove that he was right when he said the Empress's ascension to the throne was not proper.

Your Majesty, how could you do this!
The two pondered for a while longer, but came up with nothing, and finally gave up on thinking about it altogether.

He's just the Minister of War, not Grand Secretary Xiao Yuan or Minister of State He Jiang, why bother with this?

Zhong Yin's gaze fell on the brocade box.

Upon opening the brocade box, one is surprised to find it filled with wool garments.

Take out the wool coats; there are four sets in total, each complete with an outer robe, inner lining, and trousers, only the styles are different.

Inside the brocade box, there was a small nanmu box about one foot square.

Zhong Yin opened the box with suspicion, then froze.

Inside were two extremely exquisite small porcelain bottles.

Mrs. Zhong gasped in shock: "This is... perfume?"

She looked at Zhong Yin in surprise: "I heard that a bottle of perfume costs more than two hundred taels of silver, and many officials and noblewomen go out of their way to obtain it! Why would he give you perfume?"

"Besides, these clothes aren't cheap, are they?"

"If His Majesty finds out..."

Lady Zhong knew that the Empress had always abhorred officials who accepted bribes!

Zhong Yin waved his hand: "His Majesty should know, and His Majesty accepted the gift box, but we still need to find an opportunity to return the perfume."

Zhong Lishi couldn't help but show a look of reluctance on her face, but she didn't say anything.

Zhong Yin looked at the robes again.

There were two sets each for men and women, but they were different sizes.

He couldn't help but curse under his breath!
Judging from the size of the robe, it was clearly prepared for himself, his wife, and Li's eldest son and youngest daughter.

These Imperial Guards were truly omnipresent; they knew everything about the Zhong family.

Zhong Yin immediately put on a woolen robe.

The robe feels soft to the touch, quite different from the stiff feel of wool. It feels heavy when worn, indicating that the material is of high quality. It also fits the body very well, and the size is just right.

A moment later, Zhong Yin felt his body getting slightly hot, and even beads of sweat appeared.

Immediately, someone was asked to remove the charcoal brazier from the study.

I didn't even feel much cold!

"It really keeps you warm!" Zhong Yin sighed inwardly. "I really have to admire that kid."

"Other sycophants only know how to flatter the emperor and even cause chaos in the court, but this sycophant is truly capable!"

He paused, then sighed and said, "Turning useless wool into a treasure, making it into warm clothing, is a blessing for all people and a great contribution to the world!"

Finally, Zhong Yin complained, "It's just too expensive!"

Zhong Lishi also curiously put on the wool coat.

Her wool dress has a relatively traditional style, except that the cuffs are tight. However, this makes it warmer and more convenient for daily activities.

She was wearing several thick layers of clothing to keep warm, but after a while, she felt warm all over and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "This clothing is indeed very warm."

What is its price?

Zhong Yin recalled the shop's signboard and said, "A complete set should cost ten or more taels of silver."

Zhong Li blurted out, "So cheap?"

Zhong Yin was slightly taken aback: "Ten taels for a set is considered cheap?"

"This could buy three sets of ordinary robes!"

Zhong Li glared at Zhong Yin with annoyance: "Three ordinary robes are not as warm as this wool coat!"

"Clothing made of fur is not bad, but the problem is that fur robes and cloaks are much more expensive!"

Zhong Yin was speechless for a moment.

After hearing what Zhong Li said, he finally understood why Su Mo's wool sweater shop could sell several hundred taels of silver worth of wool sweaters in an hour!
Mrs. Zhong looked at the robe she was wearing with great delight: "Ah, after wearing this wool coat, I don't need to wear bulky undergarments anymore, which makes it much easier to move around."

"It's getting a bit hot, so I'll go back to my room and take off my undergarments!"

Zhong Yin said in a deep voice, "Wait!"

"While you're at it, send these two sets of clothes to Heng'er and Yao Niang! They'll be perfect for the palace banquet tonight."

Su Mo gave him the wool sweater so he could advertise it.

The whole family wearing woolen clothes to attend the palace banquet also served to express their attitude.

The Empress will naturally take note of this.

Zhong Yin had many concubines and many children born out of wedlock.

However, one cannot bring a son born out of wedlock into the palace.

In the Great Wu Dynasty, only direct descendants of the emperor were qualified to attend palace banquets among the younger generation; this was an unwritten rule of the court.

Zhong Li nodded: "The medicine girl is already in her prime, but she has not yet found a suitable marriage partner, which is really worrying me to death."

"We can take advantage of this palace banquet to see if there are any suitable sons of officials to marry them off!"

As she spoke, she glared angrily at Zhong Yin: "You, as a father, don't you care about your children's important matters?" Upon hearing this, Zhong Yin's head immediately throbbed.

I can only blame myself for spoiling her too much. I made her study too much when she was young and even made her practice martial arts.

Although she was no longer very young, she was quite beautiful, well-educated, skilled in poetry, prose, and martial arts, and also adept at needlework.

Because she was young and frail, she studied medicine on her own and is now very skilled in medicine. She is a true talent.

Zhong Yin had to admit that his youngest daughter was indeed very outstanding.

But it is precisely because of this that the younger daughter's eyes are abnormally high.

Every time I try to find her a partner, she doesn't like them.

Finally, she stated that even if her future husband was not as good as her in poetry, martial arts, or other arts, he could not be too far behind. Otherwise, she would rather remain unmarried for life and stay with her parents to serve them.

The problem is, where can Zhong Yaoniang and Zhong Yin find a young and talented person who has reached the Martial Grandmaster realm at such a young age and is proficient in both literature and martial arts?
Zhong Yin was absolutely furious with his youngest daughter.

As the legitimate daughter of the Zhong family, it is of course impossible for her to marry someone else and become a concubine!

But even if there were truly such young and brilliant talents in the world, how could they not be married by the time they were twenty?

Take that young man from the Su family, for example. He is skilled in both literature and martial arts, and has even cultivated immortal techniques. However, before he has come of age, there is already a large group of women in his household!

Ok……

But it seems that the young man is not actually married, he only has a concubine who has not yet entered into the family?
Zhong Yin became increasingly agitated the more he thought about it.

In the end, all he could do was wave goodbye and let Mrs. Zhong leave!

He pondered in his heart which minister in the court was a suitable match for his youngest daughter and who was not yet married.

……

In the study of the Su residence, Su Mo looked with delight at the day's sales figures for the two shops.

"There are quite a few wealthy people in Shenjing!"

Su Mo closed the ledger and looked at Lin Moyin: "Su's Department Store has sold a total of 5,800 taels of silver in one day!"

"A sword, a rifle, and three bicycles!"

"In addition, the ten bottles of perfume that were put on display sold out in the blink of an eye!"

Lin Moyin rolled her eyes at Su Mo: "Among the court ladies, perfume is in short supply, and they are all priced at two hundred taels of silver per bottle."

"If you sell it for one hundred and fifty taels, those noble ladies will surely come and scramble to buy it once they find out!"

"In addition, cold Su paper can sell for more than a thousand or two thousand taels of silver. I think most of it was purchased by people from the Wang family."

She paused slightly, then asked with some concern, "Lengsu paper is only nine coins a sheet, are you sure you won't lose money, sir?"

Su Mo laughed and said, "Of course not!"

"The materials for Lengsu paper are free. As for labor, just give those people on Lone Peak Mountain a meal and add a few points."

“Once an industry reaches a certain scale, costs will drop significantly, especially since my husband is using entirely new technology.”

"The Wang family would never have imagined that the cost of cold Su paper is less than two coins!"

A glint of light flashed in his eyes: "Give the Wang family as much as they want!"

"We can use his connections to drive out his own paper!"

"The paper market is only so big. Once Lengsu Paper takes over, let's see how Wang Family Paper will be able to sell its products!"

Lin Moyin nodded slightly and said, "The Wang family is not simple, especially the Second Assistant Wang Hao, who is very capable. Even Xiao Yuan is secretly wary of him."

"Young master, you must be more careful in the future and not be careless."

Su Mo laughed and said, "I have a good wife to keep an eye on the Wang family for me. I'm not afraid they'll cause trouble!"

"The key is that as long as I can earn money for His Majesty, His Majesty and Princess Baicheng will do everything in their power to ensure my safety!"

As he spoke, he glanced at the ledger of Su's Wool Sweater Shop and exclaimed in amazement once again!

"I never expected that we could sell more than three thousand taels of silver for wool sweaters. I thought that selling three hundred a day would be pretty good."

Su Mo secretly calculated: "The profit is around two thousand five hundred taels."

"His Majesty and Princess Baicheng should be satisfied when they find out."

Su Mo naturally knew that in the hearts of the Empress and Princess Baicheng, a monthly supply of 20,000 taels of military funds from the wool trade would be enough to satisfy them.

In other words, a monthly interest of over 40,000 is acceptable.

Lin Moyin was taken aback: "The surplus is so large?"

"Wouldn't that amount to seventy or eighty thousand taels in a month?"

Su Mo shook her head: "That's hard to say."

"Today's sale is 10% off, and quite a few customers are taking advantage of the low price. We won't have as many in the future."

"Hmm...it depends on how well the reputation of the wool sweaters develops, and whether those new styles can be accepted by people."

Lin Moyin's expression suddenly turned resentful: "I don't understand matters of trade, my lord, you can handle it yourself."

"However, Liu Siyun is capable and can help you a lot."

"I can't help you, my lord; instead, I've caused you a lot of trouble..."

Su Mo's eyes darted around: "How could Madam belittle herself like this!"

"How could you not help your husband!"

"Putting everything else aside... I've worked myself to the bone today trying to earn a few coins, so my wife needs to help me take a nice hot bath to relieve my fatigue!"

Lin Moyin's pretty face immediately turned red, and she finally said in a low voice with a blushing face, "We haven't even had dinner yet, my lord, please don't talk nonsense! People will laugh at us!"

Su Mo chuckled: "Without my permission, who would dare to eavesdrop in my study!"

Lin Moyin blushed and said softly, "It seems like this isn't the first or second time I've been eavesdropped on..."

Su Mo was instantly enraged: "You dare to talk back, Commander! I'll teach you a lesson today!"

As he spoke, he reached out and swept the commander into his arms.

Lord Qianhu was startled and was about to resist.

Suddenly, Su Mo leaned close to her ear and said smugly, "My lady has been gone for days. Don't you want to test how well your husband has improved?"

Su Mo became even more smug: "I have advanced to the Divine Realm! I can now formally remove the Yin-cold evil energy from my wife!"

When Su Mo blew hot breath onto his earlobe, the commander's face instantly turned as red as if it were about to bleed.

Feeling weak all over, he had no strength left to resist Su Mo's clutches!
Su Mo carried Lin Moyin directly to the bathing room, laughing as he said, "If my wife obediently bathes me, I will reward you with a supreme immortal technique!"

Lin Moyin was immediately taken aback: "What supreme immortal technique?"

"The Tao Te Ching!" Seeing Lin Moyin's blank expression, Su Mo explained, "Madam, don't underestimate the Tao Te Ching."

"His Majesty read the Morality Sutra and immediately had an epiphany, his cultivation level soared, and Nangong Sheyue also instantly advanced from the mid-stage of the Returning to the Origin realm to the late-stage!"

Lord Qianhu stared at Su Mo in disbelief, dumbfounded!

She was still in a daze when Su Mo carried her into the bathroom...

Not long after, a pleading whisper suddenly came from the bathhouse: "Husband, please...please don't cultivate here..."

"I will obey my wife!"

Then, the bedroom became a training ground!

"Listen carefully, my lady! I will now impart to you the supreme immortal techniques!"

"The Tao that can be told, the name that can be named..."

In order to expel the cold from his body, he had to endure the excruciating pain and circulate the Heavenly Serpent Yin Sha Technique in conjunction with Su Mo!

Finally, Su Mo's pure Yang magic power merged with Lord Qianhu's Heavenly Serpent Yin Sha Technique.

There was a loud bang!
Su Mo felt a surge of heat throughout her body, as if she were soaking in a hot spring, feeling incredibly comfortable!
His cultivation level has broken through again.

Unfortunately... it was just an illusion!

Is it still in the early stage of the Divine Realm?

However, Lord Chiju is no longer the Lord Chiju of the past.

Bride!

Sumatran Bride!

Su Mo was preparing to cultivate for the second time to thoroughly consolidate his cultivation results, so as to prevent the cold and evil aura of Lord Qianhu from not being completely eliminated.

Lord Qianhu was immediately terrified.

Fortunately, at that moment, Liu Siyun's voice suddenly came from outside the door: "My lord! There is an imperial decree!"

Liu Siyun knew that Su Mo and Lord Qianhu were cultivating, so she dared not disturb Su Mo at this critical moment, but what she had received was a royal decree!
　Godfather, Lord Qianhu is getting married. Shouldn't I send a monthly pass to congratulate him?
　　
　
(End of this chapter)