After ten years of accompanying me in my studies, the entire court begged me to shut up.

Yang Shen walked straight in, his face showing some excitement.

His gaze swept across the room, and upon seeing Li Jin, he clasped his hands in a respectful greeting: "The Earl of Xiangcheng is here too!"

Yang Tinghe slowly raised his head, his face grim, and asked, "Where are the things from home?"

"Sold."

Two words: crisp and clean.

Yang Tinghe clutched his chest, taking a deep breath: "Why...why are you selling off your family property?"

"I'm short of money."

"If you need money, just tell me!"

Yang Tinghe finally couldn't hold back any longer, slammed his hand on the table, and stood up.

However, the elm wood square table was not sturdy at all; it wobbled and showed signs of falling apart.

Yang Shen remained calm and explained, "The shortfall this time is huge, and I really have no other choice. I can't possibly let His Highness the Crown Prince sell the Eastern Palace, can I?"

Yang Tinghe was taken aback, his beard trembling with anger: "What...what exactly are you going to do?"

"Doing business."

At this moment, Li Jin couldn't help but interject, "You tricked my Li Chun into selling off his land just to do business?"

Yang Shen pulled out a stack of documents from his pocket and said seriously, "This is not a scam, it's joining the group. The ten thousand taels of silver from the Marquis of Xiangcheng will be considered as capital, which can be redeemed at any time. Moreover, we will receive a share of the profits every year."

Yang Tinghe, barely suppressing his anger, gritted his teeth and said, "You, right now, immediately, redeem my family's property!"

Yang Shen shook his head: "It can't be redeemed."

"What? Do you want more money?"

Yang Tinghe waved his hand weakly and said, "Adding a little more money is fine, I accept it!"

"It's not about paying more, it's that... I've already spent the money."

"it took?"

Yang Tinghe felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, his legs went weak, and he fell back into the rattan chair.

Li Jin, forgetting about her own three thousand acres of land, asked curiously, "You spent it all? What exactly did you do?"

Yang Shen pulled out a thick stack of land deeds from his pocket and spread them on the table.

"I bought a piece of land in Wuqing County from the Shouning Marquis's estate, about 200,000 mu, for a total cost of 50,000 taels of silver."

Yang Tinghe, whose eyes were already half-closed, suddenly opened them.

"...Taking away the young master?"

Yang Shen repeated, "Two hundred thousand mu, fifty thousand taels of silver."

Yang Tinghe struggled to his feet, went to the table, and picked up the land deed to examine it closely.

In the area surrounding the capital, the best fertile land could be worth three to five taels per mu, while even the lowest quality, poor land could be worth one to two taels. The Marquis of Xiangcheng's three thousand mu of land sold for ten thousand taels, which, converted to a unit price, was roughly three and three-tenths taels.

Wuqing County is not far from the capital, and land prices are slightly lower, but not by much.

This 200,000-mu plot of land cost only 50,000 taels of silver, less than one-tenth of the market price...

Yang Tinghe's eyes gradually lit up, and he exclaimed happily, "Isn't this a huge profit?"

Li Jin also came over to take a look, and after looking for a while, she suddenly exclaimed "Eh!"

Yang Tinghe sensed something was amiss and asked, "Does the Marquis of Xiangcheng have something to say?"

Li Jin said, "This looks like a huge salt flat!"

Yang Tinghe was taken aback: "What? A salt flat?"

Li Jin slapped his forehead and suddenly realized, "I remember now! The Marquis of Shouning's estate does indeed have a fiefdom in Wuqing County, 200,000 mu, but it's an unwanted saline-alkali land! Years ago, the old Marquis of Shouning tried to cultivate it and invested a lot of money, but everything he planted died and couldn't be sold, so it just lay there abandoned."

The joy on Yang Tinghe's face froze instantly.

He slowly turned his head to look at Yang Shen, his voice forced out through clenched teeth: "You sold all your possessions just to buy... a piece of saline-alkali land?"

Yang Shen remained calm and said, "Father, could you give me a few months? Once I've earned some money, I'll return all the family property I sold to you."

"Give it back? What will you give it back?"

Yang Tinghe pointed at the land deed, his hands trembling, and said through gritted teeth, "This is saline-alkali land! Saline-alkali land where no grain can grow! You...who taught you to be so wasteful? You used to be so smart, obedient and sensible, how did you become like this after becoming a study companion in the Eastern Palace?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jin's expression suddenly became somewhat strange.

He coughed lightly and said, "Yang Tinghe, are you subtly addressing me?"

Yang Tinghe, who was still angry, was taken aback upon hearing this: "What?"

Li Jin glanced at him sideways and said, "You said it yourself, your son used to be obedient and sensible, but he's become like this since he came to the Eastern Palace. It can't be because of his contact with the Crown Prince, can it? Besides the Crown Prince, the person I'm in contact with the most is my son. Aren't you implying something about me?"

Yang Tinghe then realized what was happening and hurriedly waved his hand, saying, "Lord Xiangcheng, you've misunderstood! I really didn't mean that. I was just angry and spoke without thinking..."

Li Jin waved his hand: "I don't care! You owe me ten thousand taels of silver! You have to give me an explanation today! Or... you can write me an IOU!"

Yang Tinghe also got anxious: "I didn't lend you any money, why would I give you an IOU?"

As the two were arguing, Yang Shen pulled out another piece of paper from his pocket and spread it on the table.

"Lord Xiangcheng, rest assured, I have an agreement regarding Li Chun's ten thousand taels of silver."

Li Jin looked closely for a long time, her expression changing repeatedly.

This document is a shareholding structure document, which clearly states that the initial capital is 100,000 taels, with Yang Shen contributing 50,000 taels, holding 50% of the shares; the Crown Prince's Mansion contributing 40,000 taels, holding 40% of the shares; and the Earl of Xiangcheng's Mansion contributing 10,000 taels, holding 10% of the shares.

Below are Zhu Houzhao's crooked signature and the seal of the Eastern Palace.

With the Crown Prince involved, the nature of this matter changes.

Although he was still unwilling, he dared not say anything more, only muttering, "Why is the Crown Prince joining in this nonsense..."

"This isn't nonsense, it's a legitimate business."

Yang Shen carefully put the agreement away and then said, "If the Earl of Xiangcheng doesn't believe me, we'll see when the year-end bonuses are distributed."

Li Jin then asked, "You said you raised 100,000 taels. Even if you spent 50,000 taels on the land, where's the remaining 50,000 taels?"

Yang Shen said, "Buying land is only the first step. Next, we need to purchase supplies, acquire a large number of tools, and hire workers. There are many places where we need to spend money!"

Li Jin sighed and waved his hand, saying, "Forget it, the land deed has been sold and the money has been spent. I'll just wait and see what kind of gold grows in this saline-alkali land!"

After saying this, he called to his servants and left dejectedly.

Only Yang Tinghe and his son, along with a bewildered Laifu, remained in the main room.

After a long silence, Yang Tinghe sighed deeply and asked in a weary voice, "Tell me honestly, what exactly do you want to do?"

Yang Shen helped his father sit down before slowly saying, "Father, don't be in a hurry. My business will start with a brick kiln."

Yang Tinghe frowned: "Brick kiln? Putting aside whether this business can make money, let me ask you first, can bricks be fired from saline-alkali soil?"

Yang Shen said, "Ordinary methods certainly won't work, but saline-alkali soil can still be used after processing. Moreover, by removing the top layer of saline-alkali soil and covering it with new soil, 200,000 mu of saline-alkali land can be transformed into 200,000 mu of fertile land."

Yang Tinghe asked skeptically, "Where did you hear about this method?"

Yang Shen smiled but did not answer directly. He simply said, "Father, do you know that the capital is expanding and biogas digesters are being built, which greatly increases the demand for blue bricks? But making bricks requires good soil, and good soil is mostly farmland. The imperial court has explicitly prohibited the unauthorized excavation of fertile land to extract soil. Therefore, the price of bricks has been rising every year, and now a single blue brick costs three copper coins."

Yang Tinghe, as the Junior Grand Master of Ceremonies, had some understanding of people's livelihood and economy. Upon hearing this, he nodded: "That's true! But can bricks made from saline-alkali soil really be made?"

"Not only can it be done, but the cost is extremely low. No one cultivates the saline-alkali land, so there are no concerns about extracting soil. How much soil can be extracted from 200,000 mu of land? Furthermore, Wuqing County is located by the river, making transportation convenient. The bricks produced can be transported to the capital by waterway, which is much cheaper than by land."

Yang Tinghe was silent for a moment, then asked, "I still don't understand. Why are you suddenly going into business? Our family isn't short of money! Besides, you should focus on your studies; you're going to take the imperial examinations in the future!"

Yang Shen said, "We definitely need to do business. Why don't we have Laifu come and help?"

Laifu stood to the side, and when he heard the young master call his name, he was incredulous.

He had no intention of starting a business, especially one involving the Crown Prince's residence, so he was unsure of his chances.

Yang Tinghe thought about it and realized that since things had come to this point and the money was gone, he might as well let him do whatever he wanted.

If we put Laifu next to him, at least we can keep an eye on him.

"Laifu, go and help the young master manage the business!"

"Yes……"

Just then, a voice came from outside.

"Holy crap!"

Yang Tingyi walked into the front hall with a shocked expression.

Looking at the old furniture filling the room, his eyes were filled with disbelief.

"Brother, has the house been broken into?"

Yang Tinghe didn't want to speak, he just waved his hand and sighed.

Yang Tingyi's expression grew even more grim, and he asked cautiously, "Brother,...something happened to you?"

"What did you say?"

"Then... how did our house get raided?"