Chapter 1 Some Matters Should Be Made Clear

Ye Tao, Min Yue, and Peng Detian exited Xunfeng Pavilion together, the sky already darkening. Min Yue and Peng Detian were still relentlessly pressing Ye Tao about his favoritism towards the princess, and how he had gained her favor, seemingly determined to get to the bottom of it.

"Let's go to Nongcui Tower. We can drink and figure this out," Min Yue said magnanimously, patting his rumbling stomach.

"...Lord Min, Ye Tao is here. Are you still planning to go to Nongcui Tower?" Peng Detian clicked his tongue. The food at Nongcui Tower was indeed unique, but taking a child to a brothel to drink and eat? Wouldn't that be a bit much?

"Ye Tao designed Nongcui Tower's garden. He goes there more often than I do," Min Yue said dismissively, settling the matter. "Today, Ye Tao is paying, and he caused this whole thing to begin with."

Ye Tao protested, "Lord Min, what 'whole thing'? I didn't know that was Princess Zhaohua."

"Precisely because you didn't know it was Princess Zhaohua, it makes you look like you value beauty over friendship. Knowing it's the princess is a different matter." Although he was always polite in front of the princess, Min Yue and Ye Tao actually had a very good relationship in private, often inviting each other out for meals and drinks. If they had any interesting new gadgets, they would often share them.

The owner of Nongcui Tower was clearly very familiar with this kind of situation: purely for eating, with no interest in the girls. This was the only one of the dozen or so brothels in Yicheng where this sort of thing would happen. It was hard to say whether the owner was proud or found it laughable.

After a table full of dishes was laid out, Min Yue drained a cup and said, "Ye Tao, tell me, all things considered, Princess Zhaohua has known you for half a day, tops, right? And you? You were willing to let Miss Zhuo go to your workshop after knowing her for only an hour. What's the reasoning behind that?"

Ye Tao said awkwardly, "I was chatting with the princess about the tricks in the Yizhan Tower, and we got along very well. I casually mentioned some other things, and the princess said she wanted to take a look, so I casually agreed."

Min Yue chuckled, carefully examining the cup in his hand. "Old friends are like new, but acquaintances are old... old friends are like new, but acquaintances are old..." He drained another cup and said, "I was originally worried that if you expanded the Ye family business to the capital, my Min family wouldn't be able to protect you, and those brats would be hitting us up for favors all day long. Now, having Princess Zhaohua on your side is better than anything."

"Even for the princess, these things aren't easy to manage, right? The pond in the capital is so deep. Does Princess Zhaohua's word carry that much weight?" Ye Tao asked curiously.

Min Yue looked at Ye Tao and said, "I'm afraid Princess Zhaohua's words are more effective than the crown prince's." Min Yue's pronouncement startled Peng Detian. Min Yue asked in return, "Ye Tao, you know a bit about Princess Zhaohua, right? Tell us, what do you know?"

Ye Tao lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said, "I can't be sure about the truth of other small matters, but two things have spread so widely that they must be true. One is that three years ago, the ruler was assassinated, and Princess Zhaohua used her body to shield her younger brother, the current crown prince, from an assassin's palm, saving her brother, but she has been bedridden ever since. The other is that the princess hates bombastic and useless Confucian scholars, and she has driven away more than a dozen great scholars invited by the ruler."

Min Yue nodded and said, "Those great scholars can only talk, they can't do anything. It's merciful of the princess that none of them were angered to death. As for the princess being bedridden, it didn't start three years ago. Princess Zhaohua has had a weak constitution since she was a child, and has always needed a lot of medicine to regulate her body, but she still gets sick frequently. The assassination three years ago wasn't from taking a direct hit from a palm, but rather being grazed by the palm force. Otherwise, with the princess's constitution, there would have been no chance of survival. But her courage in sacrificing herself to save her brother is genuine. But these are just matters of character. The reason why the princess's words carry weight is because of her talent, and the matters she can now intervene in."

"Oh?" Ye Tao was intrigued and asked playfully, "The princess is only 14 years old?"

"You're only 14 years old yourself. What are you pretending for?" Min Yue glared at Ye Tao and said, "Do you know what matters the princess is in charge of now?"

"No idea!" Ye Tao replied simply. It would be a miracle if he knew the answer to this question.

"The princess has been fully in charge of the royal treasury for the past two years. All the expenses of the palace, the construction and repairs of the palace buildings, and even the expenses of the Imperial Guards, all have to go through her hands. And the entire harem, the Queen has long stopped managing it. Now, the one in charge of the ruler's harem is Princess Zhaohua."

"What?!" Hearing this was simply like a fantasy. Peng Detian almost jumped up.

"In the beginning, I also thought it was unbelievable, until the ruler gradually revealed some things, praising this daughter constantly, and everyone gradually believed it. This princess is not simple. The ruler often laments that if Princess Zhaohua was a healthy man, she would surely become a great ruler." Min Yue shook his head and sighed.

Such an evaluation was even more unbelievable than saying that Princess Zhaohua was in charge of the inner treasury and the harem. But Ye Tao remained silent, pretending to be too surprised to speak. He believed it, truly believed it. Talent and knowledge both need to be cultivated over time, and the princess, who came from the same era as him, obviously had sufficient qualifications. And she had shown her talents in various ways.

"Let me tell you something," Min Yue drained another cup and slammed it heavily on the table. "That should be when the princess first demonstrated her financial management skills. You should know that although our country is rich, the expenses within the palace have always been very generous, but the spending of the princes and princesses is strictly controlled. About four years ago, the ruler once summoned the princes and princesses and asked them about their usual expenses, asking them to say how much money they had left. As a result, Princess Zhaohua calculated for a long time in front of the ruler and said that she had 40,000 taels of property and 2,300 taels of silver in cash. At that time, the ruler was stunned. According to Princess Zhaohua's monthly allowance, all the money she had from the age of three to the age of ten added up to only 11,000 taels. The ruler asked where her money came from. The princess said that she usually didn't have any other hobbies, she just liked to read books, write, and play the zither. As for reading, the inner palace had tens of thousands of volumes of books. If she liked to write, the cost was only paper, ink, brush, and inkstone. There were piles and piles of them in the small storeroom next to the Imperial Study, only afraid that the princes and princesses would not use them. Playing the zither? All she needed was a quiet room and a few zither scores. She couldn't spend all her usual money. When she was seven years old, the family of a guard wanted to do business but didn't have the capital. She happened to find out, so she took out her savings and lent it to the guard. Three months later, the merchant made a good profit and returned the loan as per the contract. Including interest, she profited 30%. Although she couldn't spend all her money, it wouldn't hurt to have a little more. She felt that doing business was more profitable, so she simply took over an inn, which is now the most luxurious and comfortable Hongyun Tower in the capital. Of course, she took it over under someone else's name, without revealing her royal identity. After making some improvements and setting more detailed rules, Hongyun Tower alone made tens of thousands of taels in profit every year. Calculating the value of Hongyun Tower at three times the annual profit is quite reasonable. After that, the princess also successively took over a carriage and horse shop and a ready-made clothing store. Although the profits were not so great, she definitely didn't lose money. By the time the princess was 10 years old, this 40,000 taels of property was probably still a considerable understatement."

Min Yue sighed, "The ruler was also extremely surprised at the time. After sending guards and accountants to verify it, he also felt that the princess really had a unique talent for managing finances, so he simply gave her 100,000 taels of capital. A year later, before the ruler was assassinated, it had already doubled. And not only that, the various rules and regulations that the princess set for the industries she was involved in were detailed and comprehensive, which fully demonstrated the princess's talent. If it hadn't been for the assassination that forced the princess to recuperate in bed for almost half a year, she would probably have started managing the inner treasury at that time. As for managing the harem, although there are no explicit rules and regulations, and nominally the Queen is still in charge, all the officials in the capital have long known who has more say."