After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

"Heh—" Zhu Ensong laughed, "It seems my niece has misunderstood many things."

"Let's not talk about that."

Zhu Cui smiled and skipped over any misunderstandings, saying directly, "Since Second Uncle values ​​those loss-making businesses so much, and is willing to watch them drag down his assets, Cuiwei naturally shouldn't overstep her bounds..."

"No."

Zhu Ensong quickly waved his hand, lowered his eyes, and after a few breaths, looked up again with a smile and said to Zhu Cuiwei:

"My niece has misunderstood again... My second uncle has mismanaged these businesses, and they are now a hot potato. If my niece is willing to share the burden, my second uncle will be extremely grateful, as long as my niece doesn't mind." His smile was genuine and sincere.

Zhu Cuiwei's smile became genuine and warm as she said, "Second Uncle, don't worry, your niece will definitely do her best to ensure they don't continue to lose money..."

Ning Nan kept his head down and ate his rice, but his brows were tightly furrowed.

He couldn't understand what the uncle and niece were saying.

But why do I keep getting this feeling... that Cui Cui's wife is trying to steal her second uncle's business?!

and……

What about the three silk shops on Datong Street, the cloth shop outside the city, and the weaving workshop with thousands of female workers in Suzhou… Ning Nan’s eyes widened in disbelief… What did this mean? How big of an industry was this? How much silver did they make in a year? How could they possibly lose money? Are you out of your mind?!

……

……

boom! boom! boom!

"Two hundred thousand taels of silver!"

"A full two hundred thousand taels of silver!!"

"She hasn't even ascended the throne yet! And she's already demanding two hundred thousand taels of silver from me for the entire year!!"

Inside the crimson carriage adorned with dragons and phoenixes, King Qi pounded on the carriage while roaring angrily with a contorted face.

Not far from the Ning residence, the two exchanged the plain black carriage for this spacious crimson one.

Dou Yuan, the chief advisor of the Prince Qi's residence, also sighed and said with a wry smile, "Your Highness, Your Highness, please calm down..."

"Calm down?" Prince Qi's face was flushed red as he gritted his teeth and said, "If it's a good year, Sujin Pavilion's annual income can even reach 400,000 taels!! And she just asks for it! And to that pretty boy surnamed Ning, what is she trying to do?! Is she trying to be Wu Zetian? Is that Ning guy Xue Huaiyi? Or does she want to be Princess Taiping, keeping male concubines?"

Dou Yuan let out a soft breath, and after the Prince of Qi calmed down, he slowly said, "Your Highness, please calm down. Think about what we use all that money for, and who owns a stake in these shops in private."

"What are you doing?" King Qi frowned, and after thinking for a moment, his expression suddenly turned extremely gloomy.

As a wise king, it's not enough for civil officials and vassal kings to simply say a few nice words and expect them to praise him.

He wanted to hold poetry gatherings, literary gatherings, prepare fine wine, and put on song and dance performances. When local officials and princes brought him local specialties, he wanted to reciprocate with something even better.

During festivals or when he and his family celebrated their birthdays, if important officials from the Cabinet, the Censorate, and the Six Ministries sent gifts to the Prince's residence, he would naturally have to reciprocate. Sometimes, he would even have to spend a lot of money to purchase calligraphy and paintings from certain individuals.

Only when you have this kind of network of relationships will the other party help you by handing you a folded paper at the right time.

The memorials handed over are also trivial matters. For example, asking someone in the Censorate to impeach someone simply because that person's political enemy gave him a gift yesterday... The gift is not important. What is important is that the other party knows that he can do things for them. In this way, one day, he can also get the other party to do things for him.

Only by gradually weaving a large net like this can power accumulate online, so that when it matters most, everyone can lend him a helping hand.

Just like this spring, the imperial court submitted a large number of memorials, saying that Yunnan's land was barren and it was also suffering from a severe drought, and suggested that the court exempt Yunnan from taxes for three years.

This was his way of repaying the Prince Gui for speaking up for him. And all of this required money to pave the way.

"King Gui"

King Qi exhaled and gritted his teeth as he uttered two words.

Dou Yuan didn't speak, but nodded and gave a signal with his eyes.

Sujin Pavilion receives a 30% share of the profits, a promise made privately by Prince Qi. This 30% share is sent directly to the Yunnan guild hall in the capital every year.

This money bag was considered to be jointly owned by him and Prince Gui.

With that woman's actions causing such a loss, it would be virtually impossible for the Qi Prince's Mansion to acquire another profitable business to share with the Gui Prince.

"You bastard!"

Bang! King Qi slammed his fist on the wobbly carriage seat!

The carriage jolted violently!

Dou Yuan's body swayed.

A few beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead, but seeing that his boss's emotions gradually stabilized after that slam, the chief aide quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Your Highness, please don't be anxious."

Dou Yuan smiled.

King Qi sneered, "Rest assured, sir. The friendship between me and King Gui cannot be affected by a mere tens of thousands of taels of silver this year."

"No."

Mr. Dou smiled and said,

"When I said 'Your Highness, don't be in a hurry,' I meant this property... Prince Xin is not so easy to take over."

King Qi frowned, looking at the chief advisor of his palace with a puzzled expression: "What do you mean, sir?"

*Snap!* Dou Yuan unfurled his white fan and chuckled, “Merchantment has always been considered a lowly profession, but the intricacies involved are no simpler than passing the imperial examinations. There are hundreds of successful candidates in three years, but a truly great merchant who roams the world might only appear once a year.”

King Qi frowned, subconsciously displeased that the other party had elevated the abilities and status of merchants to such a high level.

But upon closer reflection, what the other person said does make some sense.

Leaving aside others, one of his favored sons, who was born out of wedlock, had once run a restaurant.

But unexpectedly, despite its excellent location, the restaurant ended up losing money year after year because of this stupid son!

What's even more troubling is that, upon checking the accounts, it turns out that this foolish son has indeed not embezzled any money, nor has he ever spent money at a brothel.

I work diligently every day, doing everything myself, but I don't know how I ended up losing money.

The other educated staff in the Prince's mansion were similar; they were fine with managers to direct them, but if they were to take charge on their own, they would often lose money or even go out of business.

In other words, Mr. Dou, despite being a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations, was willing to engage in business and helped him revitalize the Wangfu's properties.

This gave him a seemingly endless supply of money over the years, which allowed the Qi Prince's Mansion to have divine assistance, establish connections with the Gui Prince and the Tang Prince, and gain an advantage over the Wu Prince and the Jing Prince.

I just never expected it.

The sickly and childless emperor preferred to pass the throne to his sister, allowing the Great Liang to welcome its second empress, rather than choose an heir from among their descendants... This is truly chilling.

Mr. Dou, fanning himself with a white fan, said, “Your Highness, rest assured, fortune and misfortune are intertwined. If His Highness Prince Xin entrusts the business to a seasoned businessman like Chen Ruhai, perhaps all will be well. But if Prince Xin favors this Ning Baixuan and allows this scholar to personally manage Sujin Pavilion… then… hehe… I fear not only might Sujin Pavilion return to Your Highness's hands, but Ning Baixuan himself…” The chief advisor chuckled, “will also be in danger!”

King Qi was taken aback.

Dou Yuan lifted the carriage curtain and pointed to the deep night outside the window: "Your Highness... Su Jin Pavilion is a royal merchant... and the world is almost in autumn."

King Qi's pupils immediately contracted.

"What do you mean, sir?"

"Hehe," Dou Yuan laughed, "Let's see if he can hand over so much cloth."

……

……

Ning Nan stared blankly at a box that Cui Cui's wife had placed in front of him.

Inside are land deeds, house deeds, and seals for businesses such as cloth shops and workshops. The account books will also be delivered tomorrow.

Cui Cui's wife nodded and said, "I will send someone to keep an eye on the weaving workshops in Suzhou. Tomorrow after you finish school at the private school, go and take over those three silk shops on Datong Street and let them get to know their new owners. Then go to Sujin Pavilion and let them get to know their new owners as well."

Ning Nan frowned and patted the box: "Are these really ours?"

Cui Cui's wife shook her head: "Only 30% is ours. Oh, and of that 30%, another 30% belongs to Bei Zhi. You have to manage it well."

"What about the remaining 70%?"

"Um,"

"That's how it is," said Cui Cui, nodding her chin.

"mine."

"Uh... Phew..."

Looking at the calm and confident expression on his wife's face, Ning Nan took a deep breath... He hated rich women the most.

Although he knew the other party was joking, and that the remaining 70% was probably her second uncle or someone from her maternal family, the expression on this woman's face still annoyed him... and he wanted to teach her a lesson on the spot.

My wife's family is richer than I imagined.

It was already quite astonishing that my brother-in-law owned a rather large house on Datong Street.

Fortunately, I now own a house, which gives me some confidence.

Not long after, another uncle suddenly appeared in the wife's family, who turned out to be a mysterious big businessman!

Although it seems that the business has lost money due to poor management, the cash flow alone is quite alarming for such a large operation.

To his even greater surprise, his wife, after a few words, said she wanted to share his second uncle's burdens, and then obtained the operating rights and 30% shares of this part of the business from his second uncle! He was truly dumbfounded.

What a wonderful uncle...

His wife only cooked four dishes for him? And they were all vegetarian!

"call……"

"This woman really needs to be taught a lesson..."

late at night.

After taking a thorough bath, Master Ning of the Ning family kicked open the door with a "bang" and pounced on her with all his might—to properly assert his authority as husband.