The struggle for the throne among nine princes—I really don't want to be the crown prince.

Chapter 531 The Crown Prince's Unfamous Double Standards
Shun'an Yan's words practically screamed "scoundrel" on his face!

"Your Highness, I... I was drunk! What I said before was just rambling nonsense!"

"You can't take drunken ramblings seriously, can you?"

"If you're going to hold a grudge even about things said while drunk...aren't you being a bit too serious?"

The fourth prince, listening nearby, almost had his face twitch with embarrassment.

He couldn't stand anyone being cunning, and seeing Shun An Yan daring to be so playful, his anger flared up instantly!
Enraged, he wanted nothing more than to pick the kid up and beat him up right there and then!
Let him know what "royal rules" are!
But right now the Crown Prince is in the main seat, so it's not his turn to speak.

Furthermore, Tong Guowei was also standing behind Shun'an Yan—

That person was both his maternal great-uncle and a Grand Secretary of the current dynasty; such a status made one have to think twice.

So the fourth prince could only turn his gaze to Shen Ye, his eyes frantically trying to signal:

"Second Brother Crown Prince, are you going to do anything about this or not?!"

Unfortunately, Shen Ye didn't see the Fourth Prince's gaze at all.

After all, he was used to being stared at all times, so this amount of attention was nothing to him.

Seeing Shun An Yan's "I'm drunk, so who am I afraid of?" attitude, Shen Ye slowly and deliberately spoke:

"He said the wrong thing when he was drunk... it's not unforgivable."

“However—” he changed the subject, his tone light but sharp as a knife:

"If you want to be a reliable minister, you can't just drink yourself into a stupor all the time."

"Prime Minister Tong has been busy with state affairs all these years and has neglected to discipline you."

"Ye Keshu himself is only half-baked, so you can't expect him to take care of you."

"In order to allow Prime Minister Tong to focus on serving the court in the future, I, the Crown Prince, will do him a favor and keep a close eye on you!"

At this point, Shen Ye stood up and patted Shun An Yan's shoulder with a smile:

"From this day forward, you will serve as my halberd-bearing bodyguard and stand guard at the gate of Prince Qingqiu's residence every day."

As the saying goes, "A fine sword is forged through tempering, and the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from bitter cold!"

"Young man, endure some hardship, and your future will still be bright!"

Upon hearing this, Shun'an Yan was completely dumbfounded.

A guard with a halberd?!
Isn't that the one who leads the way with a flag when the Crown Prince goes out?!

Normally, the crown prince doesn't go out, so he has to stand guard at the gate of the mansion!

Exposed to wind and sun, battered by snow and rain, it was pure manual labor!

If this job were to fall into the hands of the Crown Prince's confidants, it would be a shortcut to success.

Who knows, one day the Crown Prince might promote him, and he'll be riding high on his success!
But what about Shun'an Yan?

My grandfather was the Grand Secretary, my father was a third-rank official, and we had so many influential relatives that they could stretch from our doorstep to the city gate.

Does he really need this shortcut of guarding the gate?!

It's obvious that the Crown Prince deliberately threw him into the role of a doorman, calling it "training"...

"The fragrance of plum blossoms comes from the bitter cold"? Pshaw! This is clearly a trap set for me!
"Your Highness, this...this..." Shun An Yan stammered, trying to refuse, but couldn't even speak properly.

After all, the Crown Prince held a high position and great power, and they still had leverage over him.

Let alone him, even if his grandfather Tong Guowei were to be present in person, he would have no choice but to swallow his pride and accept defeat in the face of the Crown Prince's "kind concern".

"I know you're touched, but we're all family, so there's no need to say thank you."

"You shall take office immediately!"

Shen Ye gave him a knowing look and then turned to instruct Zhou Bao:
"Put a guard's uniform on him, lead him to the entrance of the Imperial Household Department, and set up my ceremonial guard."

"Young people need to be tempered by being exposed to the wind and standing guard."

Shun An Yan gritted his teeth, and after a long pause, he finally managed to utter, "Thank you... for your high regard, Your Highness!"

Every word seemed to have popped out from between his teeth.

Shen Ye's smile became even more amiable:

"Don't mention it, we're all on the same side. Keep up the good work, your uncle Longkodo got through it all back in the day—"

"I think you're no worse than him!"

Shun'an Yan almost spat out a mouthful of blood:
Can this halberd-wielding guard you gave me compare to the Imperial Envoy?
That's a second-rank official!

Moreover, they only led a procession when the emperor went out; otherwise, they were extremely idle.

The key is that he has a whole bunch of people serving him!
How can I, a mere gatekeeper, be compared to my uncle?!
What kind of 'training' is this?!
But he also knew in his heart that he could not go against the Crown Prince's decision.

Want to escape this calamity?

Unless I rush home and have a good cry in front of my grandfather, I'll see if he can come up with any solutions.

After Shun An Yan left dejectedly, Narsu and the others secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The Crown Prince did not punish the Tong family severely on the spot, which was considered a courtesy to the Tong family.

As for Shun'an Yan? He's probably going to suffer for a while.

Even if it were Tong Guowei, he wouldn't dare to openly bail someone out in the short term, right?
From then on, every time the civil and military officials of the capital passed by the Crown Prince's residence, they would see Shun'an Yan standing guard at the gate. They all had to think twice: Don't mess with the Crown Prince!
The fourth prince, now in a good mood, leaned closer and smiled:
"Second Brother Crown Prince, that brat Shun'an Yan deserves to be taught a lesson!"

"If you ask me, even if Tong Guowei pleads for him, we should still make him stand guard for a few more days to toughen him up!"

Shen Ye waved his hand: "I'm already being generous by not asking Tong Guowei for payment for disciplining his children. And he still wants to plead for me?" He then changed the subject: "We've collected almost all the contracts. Let's get down to business—let's check them out one by one!"

Narsu and the others immediately tensed up.

Although they were all chief stewards of the Imperial Household Department, there were just too many people vying for business this time, and they were quite worried about whether they could get their share.

Shen Ye casually flipped open the first contract:

"Niu Wanli of the Imperial Household Department is willing to offer 500,000 taels of silver to contract the gold mining business..."

He raised an eyebrow—the base price for the gold mining deal was exactly 500,000 taels, and this person hadn't raised it by a single cent!
They're either incredibly audacious or just there for the spectacle.

But before that, Shun'an Yan said that the Tong family wanted to compete for this business, who would dare to join in the fun?
Shen Ye glanced at Yue Xing'a: "What's the background of this Niu Wanli?"

Yue Xing'a quickly lowered his head:
"Your Highness, he is the head of the Accounting Department of the Imperial Household Department... His sister is the concubine of the Fifth Young Master of the Tong Family."

Upon hearing this, Shen Ye immediately understood that this was the "white glove" that the Tong family had found.

Shen Ye slammed the folded document down on Narsu.

"This cheating is disqualifying!"

Narsus's pen trembled.

I thought the Crown Prince had finished by making Shun'an Yan stand guard, but little did I know what was coming—

Kicking the Tong family out of the game is cutting off their livelihood!

But the Crown Prince's reasons were so plausible that even a mere prince like himself dared not utter a word.

Yue Xing wanted to say something on behalf of the Tong family, his lips moved, but he ultimately remained silent.

After all, the Tong family has been too arrogant this time, and the Crown Prince won't tolerate it... which might actually be a good thing for the Eighth Prince.

After dismantling each contract and tallying up the figures, Narsu couldn't help but beam with the joy of a bountiful harvest.

"Your Highness, the Sheng family has offered the highest price for the ginseng harvesting business: 650,000 taels!"

"The Cheng family is even more ruthless in selling cotton cloth from the Jiangnan textile industry, with prices soaring to 1.03 million taels!"

"And the fur and mountain goods business, the Ma family offered the highest price—180,000 taels!"

He became more and more energetic as he read, his voice even brighter: "Adding everything together, the total is seven million two hundred and fifty thousand taels!"

"It's more than enough to cover the supplies and pay for this military expedition!"

Shen Ye nodded in satisfaction: "This mission went very smoothly, and everyone deserves credit."

Zhe Luntai immediately bowed and replied, his face beaming with smiles:
"It's all thanks to the Crown Prince's strategic planning. We just run errands and talk a few words. It's no trouble at all!"

Unexpectedly, Shen Ye's gaze swept across the summary sheet and suddenly stopped on the section for leather goods sales, where he lightly tapped with his fingertip:

"Whose connections do these Ma families have?"

Narsu hurriedly replied, "It's Lord Maqi's house!"

"Although no one in his family currently works for the Imperial Household Department, his ancestors had deep ties with the Imperial Household Department and have always been considered part of it."

Shen Ye said "Oh," tapped the "180,000 taels" note with his fingertip, and then suddenly looked around with a smile:
"This leather goods business...who among you is interested in taking it on?"

Narsu and the other two exchanged bewildered glances. Accept? Who would dare accept?

Lord Maqi, is that old fox someone to be trifled with?

Besides, they've already offered this much; even if we snatch it, we won't get anything out of it and will only offend people!
Seeing that they remained silent and dared not respond to her words, Shen Ye knew in her heart:

The Ma family has been secretly smuggling with the Russian Kingdom for quite some time now; this leather trade is most likely just a front.

He immediately picked up his teacup, sighed softly, and his face was filled with concern for the country and its people.
"Ma Qi's intentions are good, and his loyalty is commendable! But his methods... are really inappropriate!"

He spoke with sincerity and sincerity:
"Think about it, he raises the price so high that he doesn't make any money at all, just to gain a good reputation for 'loyalty to the country'."

"But with such a display of loyalty, how can those who follow him expect to follow suit?"

"Today he's raising prices to show his loyalty, but tomorrow will others follow suit and lose money just to gain publicity?"

"How can the Imperial Household Department do business like this? This is called—disrupting market order!"

With a wave of his hand, he decisively made the decision:
"The Ma family's offer is void! Let the Zuo family, who offered the second-highest price, take over the fur business."

Narsu and the others nodded respectfully on the surface, but secretly they were thinking to themselves:
Your Highness, your term "disrupting the market" is so fresh and unique... You just don't want Ma Qi to get involved!

Only Your Highness could be so self-righteous and high-sounding with double standards!
But they all replied in unison, "Your Highness is wise! You have considered everything thoroughly!"

Shen Ye turned and patted the Fourth Prince's shoulder again, adopting a posture of imparting business acumen:
"Fourth brother, doing business isn't just about who offers the highest price; you have to think long-term!"

"You have to make money yourself, and you also have to make money for your partners—mutual benefit and win-win is the only way to make a business last."

"Ma Qi's approach, which only cares about his own reputation and doesn't care about the fate of his peers... is not advisable!"

The fourth prince listened in a daze, feeling that what his second brother said made a lot of sense, but at the same time, he vaguely felt that something was not quite right...

Before he could figure it out, Shen Ye had already stood up with a smile, waving the sheet of rice paper covered with numbers in his hand:
"Let's go, Father Emperor is probably waiting impatiently—let's go report our results!"

The paper wasn't covered in words, it was covered in stacks of silver! Shen Ye couldn't hide his smile, and he walked with a swagger.

Upon hearing this, the fourth prince and his companions immediately perked up—

That's right, after all this trouble, it's finally time to take credit!

　Dear readers, this is the second update for today. I'd appreciate all your support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)