Tang Dynasty: After living together with Chang Le, Li and his companion were dumbfounded.

Li Shimin leaned forward slightly.

Empress Zhangsun's illness was the heaviest burden on his heart.

The people at the Imperial Medical Academy kept repeating the same few sentences: "Her Majesty is weak and needs to rest."

After two years of rest and recuperation, my condition has only gotten worse.

Now Zhang Anan tells him that he has seen a significant improvement in half a month?

Are you sure?

"Absolutely true." Zhang Anan said with certainty, "This servant asked four palace maids in the Lizheng Hall to verify, and their accounts were consistent. Her Majesty is a completely different person half a month ago compared to now."

Li Shimin tapped his fingers twice slowly on the imperial desk.

"Continue. We'll discuss the medicine later. What about the sugar?"

"The white sugar was also brought into the palace by Princess Chang Le."

Zhang Anan flipped through the note.

"According to my investigation, Her Majesty the Empress used this white sugar to make sugar cube gift boxes, which she presented to Consort Wei, Consort Yin, and Consort Yang under the name of 'new tribute from the Western Regions' for their appreciation."

"The three empresses reacted extremely strongly after tasting it, and all of them sent people to inquire about the source and price of the product from the Empress on the same day."

"After that, Her Majesty the Empress sold dozens of boxes of sugar cubes at high prices to the inner palace and some noblewomen outside the palace, and the silver obtained was—"

Zhang Anan swallowed hard.

"A total of 3,700 taels of silver and 42 taels of gold."

The hall fell silent for a moment.

Li Shimin's fingers stopped.

"How many?"

"Three thousand seven hundred taels of silver and forty-two taels of gold."

Zhang Anan repeated it.

"Half a month."

Three thousand seven hundred taels of silver.

Forty-two taels of gold.

half a month.

Li Shimin did some mental calculations.

The Ministry of Revenue's annual revenue from salt and iron was only around 100,000 taels.

Empress Zhangsun earned nearly four thousand taels of silver in half a month using just a few boxes of sugar.

If this pace continues, a year will be—

Li Shimin's breathing rhythm changed.

He suddenly stood up.

The chair leg scraped against the floor tiles with a screeching sound.

Zhang Anan was startled, thinking that His Majesty was angry.

But Li Shimin did not get angry.

He stood there.

His facial expression was complex.

I was surprised.

There is vibration.

There was a slight unpleasant feeling of being kept in the dark.

But most of all, it was an irrepressible smile.

"OK--"

He slammed his hand on the imperial desk.

The ambergris incense burner trembled slightly.

"OK!"

"This mother and daughter! They've started a business behind my back!"

Zhang Anan shrank his neck.

But he noticed that His Majesty's tone was not angry.

It is joy.

It's that kind of bittersweet feeling where you're kept in the dark for half a month by your wife and daughter, only to find out they made a fortune, and you're torn between being angry and not being angry.

Li Shimin paced back and forth a few times.

"I was wondering why Guanyinbi's complexion had improved so much these past few days... I thought it was because the medicine from the Imperial Hospital was finally working."

"So it was Lizhi who was behind all this."

He stopped in his tracks.

"That itinerant doctor..."

He smacked his lips.

"What kind of itinerant doctor could make this kind of candy?"

Zhang Anan wisely refrained from responding.

Li Shimin shook his head.

"Never mind, let's not investigate this for now."

He sat back on the dragon throne.

However, there is no folding.

He picked up the empty bowl and dipped the contents into the bottom of the bowl.

There was hardly any white powder left on my fingertips.

Put it in your mouth.

Just a tiny bit.

The sweetness is still amazing.

Li Shimin closed his eyes briefly.

"Zhang Anan".

"This servant is here."

"Go to the Hall of State Administration."

"Should we summon the Empress?" Zhang Anan asked tentatively.

"No."

Li Shimin stood up.

"I will go myself."

He took two steps and then stopped.

He turned and glanced at Zhang Anan.

Her eyes were smiling.

That kind of laughter was the laughter of General Tian Ce.

It was the kind of smile the King of Qin gave when he surveyed the battlefield before a battle he was certain to win.

"Tell the Queen—"

"I also want to take one-tenth."

---

Lizheng Hall.

When Li Shimin arrived, Empress Zhangsun was drinking a bowl of hot soup.

It wasn't a medicinal decoction from the Imperial Medical Academy.

It was rock sugar pear soup sent from Lu Chen's side.

Today, I added a few more red dates to the pear soup, making the soup a bit darker and the sweetness more mellow.

Seeing Li Shimin stride in, Empress Zhangsun calmly put down her bowl.

He gently wiped the corners of his mouth with a handkerchief.

"Why has Your Majesty come?"

Li Shimin stared at the bowl of soup beside her.

He then looked at Empress Zhangsun's face.

I have to admit—

All right.

It's really healed.

When he visited her two weeks ago, his complexion was sallow, his lips were chapped, and he would cough after saying just a few words.

Now his face has regained its color.

My lips are moist.

His eyes lit up.

He looked like a tender leaf had sprouted from a withered branch.

A complex mix of emotions welled up in Li Shimin's heart.

Glad.

Sour and astringent.

There's still a bit of resentment.

A disease that had plagued dozens of doctors in the Imperial Medical Academy for two years without success was cured in just half a month by a wandering doctor of unknown origin.

Where does this leave him, the emperor, with his face?

But relief still overshadowed everything.

"Guanyinbi".

Li Shimin sat down by the bed and took Empress Zhangsun's hand.

"You look much better."

"I've been taking the medicine well lately and I'm feeling a bit better," Empress Zhangsun said with a gentle smile.

"Medicine?" Li Shimin raised an eyebrow.

"The medicine was prescribed by the Imperial Medical Academy."

"Could the medicine from the Imperial Medical Academy have made you like this?"

Li Shimin's tone was calm.

But Empress Zhangsun understood the implied meaning.

She glanced at Li Shimin.

Li Shimin was also looking at her.

Eyes facing each other.

There was a three-second silence.

Empress Zhangsun was the first to sigh.

"Zhang Anan?"

"Zhang Anan." Li Shimin nodded.

"That old servant..." Empress Zhangsun shook her head helplessly, "I knew I couldn't hide it from His Majesty for long."

"You've kept it from me for half a month and you call that 'not long'?" Li Shimin snorted, but there was no anger in his tone.

"Guanyinbi, I know about the sugar incident."

"Three thousand seven hundred taels of silver, forty-two taels of gold. Half a month."

He held up one finger.

"I'll just ask you one question. Why didn't you tell me?"

Empress Zhangsun did not rush to answer.

She picked up the bowl of rock sugar pear soup and took another sip.

Put down the bowl.

He said slowly and deliberately:

"Your Majesty, I have a question for you."

"Go ahead and ask."

"If I had told Your Majesty half a month ago that there was a sweet treat that had never existed before and could fetch an astronomical price—"

"What was His Majesty's first reaction?"

Li Shimin opened his mouth.

"I……"

He paused for a moment.

To be honest, "I would probably summon the Ministry of Revenue immediately to discuss this."

"and then?"

"Then let them set the prices, distribute the goods, and sell them all over Chang'an."

"And then what?"

Li Shimin did not respond.

Because he had already thought of it.

Empress Zhangsun spoke for him.

"Then the five surnames and seven clans will know."

"Those people in the Ministry of Revenue have mouths that are worse than sieves. After today's discussion, the Cui family of Boling and the Zheng family of Xingyang will receive the news tomorrow."

"What will they do? Block supply sources, drive down prices, and seize distribution channels. They've been doing this for hundreds of years; they're a hundred times more skilled than the imperial court."

"In the end, they hadn't even sold a few boxes of white sugar before they had eaten up all the profits."

Li Shimin remained silent.

Because she is right.

He knew all too well the business acumen and methods of the Five Surnames and Seven Families.

The imperial court has less than a 30% chance of winning in a business war against these established aristocratic families.

"That's why I acted first and reported later."

Empress Zhangsun's tone was neither humble nor arrogant.

"First, use the connections within the harem to distribute the first batch of goods. Let the Wei, Yin, and Yang families taste the sweetness of success and get them on our side. Once they've paid their money and secured their connections, it will be too late for the Five Clans and Seven Noble Families to rob us."

"We'll tell His Majesty once the deed is done."

She looked at Li Shimin with an open and honest gaze.

"I'm not hiding it from Your Majesty; I'm just paving the way for you."