In the dead of night, the residence of the Imperial Princess Consort of Cheng. Remember the URL of 【Complete Book Website】 for mobile users to access:

Since the founding of the Wu Dynasty, the Zhou imperial family had flourished, becoming quite prosperous by this time. However, due to strict management of the imperial clan, there were many wealthy relatives, but few were truly entrusted with military or political power. Among these, the title of imperial consort was naturally the most awkward.

However, although Jiangning was home to more than one person holding the title of imperial consort, the Imperial Princess Consort of Cheng was different. Generally, although a princess's status was noble, those willing to become imperial consorts were not always the most capable. However, Kang Xian was a renowned scholar of his time, with genuine talent in literature and scholarship. More importantly, their seniority had surpassed that of the average member of the imperial family.

Normally, the emperor's daughters were called princesses, and his sisters were called grand princesses. As the emperor's aunt, the Imperial Princess of Cheng, Zhou Xuan, now held the title of Grand Imperial Princess. Both grand and long, it sounded very impressive. Few people probably knew why the talented Kang Xian had become an imperial consort, and the parties involved may have forgotten it as well. In any case, the shrewd and capable Grand Imperial Princess Zhou Xuan and the talented Imperial Consort Kang Xian, although at an age to enjoy their retirement and seemingly living leisurely lives, actually had a business empire and wealth that exceeded imagination. If it were brought to light, it would likely astonish everyone.

Of course, smart people knew how to protect themselves. In the Jiangning area, the Imperial Princess of Cheng's power was mostly detached from major events, and the various industries under her control were primarily focused on quietly amassing wealth. Because of this, many imperial relatives in the area were more willing to be close to them. This afternoon, Prince Kang, Zhou Yong, after having tea with his children and several talented scholars, also took the opportunity to visit.

By this time, dinner was over, and Zhou Yong was chatting with his imperial aunt in the courtyard. Earlier, his children and Kang Xian were also here, but Xiao Pei and Jun Wu often came here and couldn't stay still, dragging Kang Xian to the Imperial Consort's treasure room to see the good stuff. Zhou Yong didn't visit the Imperial Consort's residence often, but he was very close to his aunt, Grand Imperial Princess Zhou Xuan, when he was a child. He chatted about family matters for a long time before leaving the courtyard. He only met Kang Xian near the garden. As for the children, he didn't know where they had run off to.

Zhou Yong always respected Kang Xian. The two of them chatted as they walked towards the garden to enjoy the cool air. After some trivial matters, he casually mentioned what had happened that afternoon, "Today, while I was with Xiao Pei and Jun Wu at Xiang Nuan Tea House, socializing with some talented scholars, I saw someone, who was mentioned by Uncle Consort before..."

He recounted the entire process, including Liu Qingdi's appearance and his attitude when he spoke, "Heh, it's not easy to gain the title of the first talent. This Liu Qingdi seems open-minded, and repeatedly says that Ning Yi's talent is amazing, but in reality, he is probably jealous and wants to spread rumors. Many of these claims are untrue, but afterwards, it seems that many people know about this. As for that Ning Liheng, Uncle Consort said some time ago that I should have Xiao Pei and Jun Wu take him as their teacher. I wanted to meet him, but I don't know about the Su and Wu families' cloth merchant affairs. Does Uncle Consort know about this?"

The two sat down in the pavilion. After Zhou Yong said these words, Kang Xian laughed. In reality, Kang Xian didn't believe that Zhou Yong had been very concerned about this matter before. Kang Xian had probably done more to discipline the two children, Xiao Pei and Jun Wu. Earlier, when he said to let the two children take the first talent of Jiangning as their teacher, Zhou Yong had simply nodded. Anyway, he was the first talent, and Kang Xian said so, so it must be right. Zhou Yong's attitude was that he would be available whenever they needed to study, as for Ning Yi's abilities, Kang Xian would be the judge. But perhaps it was today's experience that made him a little more concerned.

People of the royal family, in their bones, still care about practical matters.

"Hehe, I asked Liheng about a similar issue more than a month ago. At that time, the Su and Wu families' battle for the imperial title was raging, and the dust had settled. The Su family was tricked in the end. In front of everyone, he angrily wrote the poem 'Drinking Wine with Pei Di'. I thought he was angry, and if the matter couldn't be resolved, he would have to come to me for help. I waited at home for several days, and later met him at Old Qin's house. At this time, his face was full of worries, and he was absent-minded when playing chess, but he just wouldn't ask for help, which was really annoying..."

"If that's the case, then he is somewhat arrogant." Zhou Yong nodded, "Is Uncle Consort familiar with this Ning Yi? And... Old Qin?"

He thought of Ning Yi's appearance, barely over twenty years old, really young. He originally thought that Uncle Consort only recognized his talent, but now it sounded like the friendship was unusual.

"Hehe, we were originally chess friends, and there wasn't too much involved. However, later, Liheng did help a lot, tsk, many people benefited." Kang Xian nodded solemnly, and then laughed, "But I only found out later that it wasn't arrogance. Heh, I said to him that day, you and I have such a close relationship, do you have to be so cautious even when asking for help once? This matter involves his reputation, and the impact on the Su family is also great. I originally decided to take action once to help him settle it, who knew that he would say a word afterwards, which made it difficult for me to mention this matter again for more than a month, hehe..."

He found it interesting in his heart and smiled happily. Zhou Yong frowned, "A word?"

"Heh, 'That cloth is discolored.'"

Kang Xian shook his head, and these simple words floated lightly near the pavilion. Zhou Yong's expression seemed a little confused. For a long time, the surroundings were quiet. After a long time, he truly digested the meaning and reacted, "Ah?"

******************

While the conversation was taking place in the Imperial Consort's residence, a quarrel and discussion were taking place in the Wu family's main hall. The servants guarded the area from afar, only occasionally looking back to see the figures moving, but it was difficult to understand what was happening. At this time, in the room where the people who decided the fate of the entire Wu family were gathered, all kinds of strange atmospheres that had never existed before were floating and permeating. People's emotions were different from usual, anger, astonishment, fear, absurdity, and even occasional outbursts of hysteria.

"No matter what, a third of the business is impossible... absurd, there has never been such a thing!"

The quarrel had actually been going on for a while. After hearing Wu Qilong say these things, everyone was silent for a long time, and then began to discuss the absurdity. Even in the marketplace, which is known for greed, it is rare for such things to happen. A merchant clearly says to another merchant, give me a third of your family property. At first glance, this kind of thing is not even worth discussing. However, when the atmosphere gradually settled down, when they understood from the faces of Wu Chenghou and others that the situation was not a joke, and as time gave them space to think, these people were able to sort out their thoughts and consider the seriousness of the whole matter.

"Give them a third? And then take a third or even half of the family property to grease palms? What will my Wu family become at that time? We... even if we die, how can we be worthy of the ancestors of the Wu family, how much effort did they spend to accumulate this family property! The title of the first cloth merchant in Jiangning..." Wu Chengluo, who was in charge of affairs in the Hezhou area, shook his head, "It's just discoloration, I don't believe it will lead to confiscation! As long as we are more active and grease more palms, my Wu family may not be able to survive this!"

"When a wall falls, everyone pushes it down, Seventh Brother." Wu Chengyuan said.

On the other side, Wu Chengke's face was livid, "Give them a third, and then lose half or a third. In the future, give up market share and only do business with the imperial family. That's what the Su family is thinking. After this matter, if it's not like this, do you think the Su family will easily give up?"

"You also said that the Su family won't easily give up. Who knows if they won't secretly release information or trick us!"

"It will take time for them to digest it, not to mention... this is better for their reputation..."

"It's better for their reputation not to kill our family?" Wu Chengluo looked at Wu Chengke with some absurdity.

"At least they won't be said to have taken our family's things and forced us to death..." Wu Qilong joined the battle in a low voice.

"Whether we will be forced to death is still a question!"

"Seventh Uncle, don't say angry words..."

"I'm not saying angry words, you were scared by that scholar! Who doesn't know that those so-called talented scholars only know how to talk big!"

"But a war is really going to break out, and when a wall falls, everyone pushes it down, Seventh Uncle! Now a group of people are staring at the Su family, they haven't attacked yet, they are waiting for the Su family to fall by themselves! The Su family hasn't made any big mistakes outside. But if our family has this kind of thing, everyone can grab the handle and everyone can kick us when we're down! Does our Wu family have fewer opponents than the Su family?"

"It may not necessarily reach that level! If we do as he says, what will happen if we reach that level..."

"Shut up!"

With a bang, a crutch slammed on the ground. After quarreling for so long, mixed with all kinds of chattering discussions around, the fifth grand uncle Wu Zhen, who was sitting above, finally lost his temper and stood up, trembling.

"Stop talking nonsense, it's not what level now. It's con!fis!ca!tion! and ex!ter!mi!na!tion!" He tapped the ground with his crutch, "Confiscation and extermination!"

The surrounding voices were quiet for a while. The old man looked around, fell back into the chair, and spoke while gasping for breath, "Don't you understand yet? It's not what level, after the mistake, it's not the difference between giving 30% or 60%. If you say the wrong thing, it's confiscation and extermination. Everyone here, inside and outside, your wives and children, will die or be exiled. At this time, you all know it, right... Stop arguing, say something useful."

"We can only... only go through some big people's connections..." Wu Chengyuan hesitated for a while and said.

Wu Chenghou, sitting above, shook his head, "Ten days, the big people in the three provinces and six ministries, no matter how much money you have, you can't get through."

Fifth Grand Uncle Wu Zhen slowed his breathing, "Actually, if the negotiation really breaks down, is it really that serious? Let's all think about this first."

"The Chen family and the Lu family are also staring at us. They used to be imperial merchants, and now they want to develop even bigger. They... have previous official connections. If our Wu family falls, and gives up market share, they will definitely be very happy..."

"It's certain that when a wall falls, everyone pushes it down..."

"And a war is really going to break out, if it were before..." Wu Qilong frowned, "Then there would probably be room for maneuver..."

"It's not certain that something will happen just because a war breaks out, what is the probability?" Wu Chengluo said.

"I don't know." Wu Qilong said frankly, and then looked around, "Uncles and Grand Uncles, what do you think? Do you... dare to take this risk?"

The matter of confiscation and extermination ultimately depends on the emperor's mood. If it's just a single matter, you might be able to take a risk. However, on the eve of the war, coupled with the possible fueling of the flames by various cloth merchants after the matter is exposed, plus the emperor's possible comprehensive reaction after hearing about this matter, no one can be in a good mood, a moment of unspeakable silence. Fifth Grand Uncle knocked his crutch, "Then what's the point of discussing this..."

"It's not necessarily without a chance." Wu Chengke thought for a long time before saying, "That Ning Liheng's statement is very simple, it's just that he wants our Wu family to buy time with money, but business can always be negotiated. We don't know how much of his words are bluffing. We now have to see how much the Wu family wants a smooth handover. If it's not smooth, how much effort will they have to spend, and who is planning and making the decision in the middle. We always have to figure out these things first..."

Wu Chenghou nodded, "It's just Su Yu, Su Tan'er, and Ning Yi these three people..."

Wu Chengyuan frowned, "I don't know what Ning Yi is like, but Su Yu and Su Tan'er are not easy to deal with. What if the negotiation breaks down after a trial?"

Wu Chenghou was silent for a moment, "It depends on how decisive and how much they want it..."

"Su Tan'er hasn't had it easy lately either." Wu Qihua raised his head and said, "Our Wu family will eventually have a chance to avoid trouble, and even if the situation is worse, we can support ourselves for a few months or even half a year... Su Tan'er must be eager to prove her ability now. If she leads the matter, I think... there will definitely be room for negotiation... The timing of the announcement of the delayed application is the most critical. If we can drag it out for the next few days, we may be able to release false information to make the market not know what to believe."

"This will only avoid some people from noticing it. As soon as the Su family releases the news, some people will definitely believe it. Randomly spreading rumors will only deceive a part of the people. We have to move around for at least one or two months..." Someone shook his head and came out, "If you want to find weaknesses, you can first think about who is in control, but I don't think this situation is being controlled by Su Tan'er."

"Su Yu has never used such methods before, it doesn't seem like it... But besides them, it can't really be that Ning Yi, can it? This kind of thing can't be done just by being smart, it can only rely on people like Su Yu and Su Tan'er, and we have checked before that he has no experience at all..."

Chatter, chatter, chatter, in the midst of the buzzing discussions, the fifth grand uncle sighed and signaled Wu Qilong, who was sitting there and silent again, "Qilong, you have the most contact with that Ning Yi, what do you say? Even if he really set up the situation, what kind of person is he exactly?"

Wu Qilong glanced at him, hesitating, "I, I have some ideas, but..." He shook his head, "These are hard to say..."

In the business world, you can always grasp the outline of your opponent before you can really start making a fuss. If you want to formulate a strategy and get rid of the crisis, it is also the same. If the opponent has set up a seemingly perfect situation, then you can only look for weaknesses in the other person's character and guess what things the other person can't grasp. The Su family and the Xue family have been fighting for many years, and the Wu family has been watching from the sidelines, but as for this Ning Liheng, until now, no one can really understand him. Perhaps only Wu Qilong, who has had the longest contact with him, can barely piece together some outlines at this time.

"Actually, now that I think about it, there is one thing that we have all overlooked..." After a moment, he sighed and finally began to speak, "Everyone already knows something about Su Tan'er's character. Two and a half months ago, Su Boyong was assassinated, and she suddenly fell ill. We thought she was really under too much pressure - she was really under a lot of pressure at the time, we inquired, it was true, so we didn't doubt it, but later, there was actually a problem."

As soon as he said this, someone next to him reacted, and Wu Qihua said, "She didn't appear for a month..."

"Yes." Wu Qilong nodded, "With Su Tan'er's character, after the first few days of the cold, when the fever subsided, it was impossible for her to stay in bed for so long under those circumstances. But at that time, Ning Yi accepted it, which was a bit funny, but behind the scenes, the Su family has been promoting yellow cloth in a high-profile manner, and the steps have not fallen. We all think that Su Tan'er is unable to handle detailed matters, so she has grasped the overall situation, and because of this, after Ning Yi performed a few times, we think that even if he grasps the overall situation well, there will always be loopholes to exploit in the details..."

"Maybe it's hindsight now, but, with Su Tan'er's character, at that time, how could she stay at home, Ning Yi doesn't understand, but she must understand... A few days later, Ning Yi told me those things, and I realized it. He said that Su Tan'er fell because of the discoloration of the yellow cloth at that time... Such a woman, Su Boyong was assassinated, and at that time, the Su family had internal and external troubles. It was impossible for her to lie down for a month just because of these things. We neglected these things, but looking back, the Su family's big house had no backbone at the time, and it was impossible for her to make such calculations in her state at that time. It must have been during this time that Ning Yi made a plan, so a few days later, she did not get out of bed after her fever subsided, and the old man of the Su family did not interfere..."

"Then everyone entered this situation. At that time, it seemed that this Ning Yi didn't do anything, but now that I think about it, we didn't even feel a bit of impropriety at the time, and we didn't even think about it in our minds. Even a month after the imperial merchants were decided, Ning Yi directly abandoned this matter. We calculated several times in retrospect, and there was not a bit of doubt... Uncles and Grand Uncles, all things are just right. Such a person, if you want me to say what kind of opponent he is, then it's just... just..."

He frowned, his expression hesitant for a long time, and he couldn't find the words to weigh. However, the people around him could all roughly see the outline that was outlined...

*****************

"...Actually, to put it bluntly, it's just a simple matter of borrowing flowers to offer to the Buddha. If you say it verbally, maybe many people can think of it. But to really implement it, the difficulty is really too high. You have to induce people to have ideas, but you can't be too deliberate. Every link must be just right. Otherwise, the Wu family is also an old hand in the marketplace. After groping and fighting for so many years, even a small problem will allow people to catch loopholes..."

In the pavilion of the Imperial Consort's residence, Kang Xian shook his head with a smile.

"At that time, the Su family had an internal traitor. It was impossible for Ning Yi to run to teach anyone how to act. He was also a son-in-law. To control the overall situation, how easy is it? But he just hooked up people's minds little by little. It seemed that no one noticed anything. The Wu family thought they deliberately stole the Su family's formula, completely unaware of how much Ning Yi **** drew the line behind it. At that time, I also asked people to stare at the Su family, hehe, and there was no feeling at all. After he said that sentence that day, I was stunned for a while, just like you. After thinking clearly, my head was numb... Amazing..."

"He made this game with ease... Many things seem magical, and the ideas may be simple, but what determines success or failure may be in these details that others can't see or detect. Similar things, maybe only Old Qin... cough..."

He stopped here, sighed slightly. Zhou Yong frowned: "Uncle Consort said Qin Gong, could it be referring to..."

Kang Xian shook his head. In fact, this matter he mentioned is no longer a very strict secret at the moment, but it is still not good to mention it randomly: "Liheng's actions this time are really admirable. I think the time is almost up, and it will be time to really see the difference, hehe. At that time, let you and I see the dumbfounded expressions of those people... It is also a fortunate thing for Xiao Pei and Jun Wu to be able to take him as their teacher. Defang must not neglect it."

"This matter is natural, I dare not neglect it." Zhou Yong respectfully saluted, expressing his current appreciation for that Ning Yi, "But I heard that he is unwilling to be a guest minister of the Prince's Mansion, I wonder why." He heard about this matter some time ago, and he forgot about it, and then he thought about it again at this time.

"Hehe, Liheng's personality is different from others. After a long time, you will understand that it is not that he has any opinions on the Prince's Mansion. Defang may know that although he spoke casually about business matters that day, he was still a little absent-minded when playing chess, what was it for?"

"Could it be that he encountered some trouble?" Zhou Yong asked with a frown, determined to write this down.

Kang Xian smiled interestingly: "Not really... Oh, but it can be said that it is also a trouble, but it is not something that others can solve. At that time, he had solved the life and death of the Su and Wu families lightly, but there were still difficult things. Old Qin and I were also a little curious, who knew that after he said it, hehe, we really found it interesting. It turned out that a woman confessed her heart to him that day, he was originally the son-in-law of the Su Mansion, so he was hesitant about how to arrange the future..."

Zhou Yong blinked his eyes, and then laughed dumbly: "It's just such a small matter, a man has three wives and four... uh..." He originally planned to say it very boldly, but considering that the uncle consort in front of him only had one wife, although he had a deep relationship with his aunt, he finally stopped this paragraph and changed his words: "Cough, this person is indeed affectionate..."

"Hehe, speaking of which, Old Qin and I also know that woman, she is indeed good. She was originally a person in the dust, but she has always cherished herself, and later redeemed herself..."

*******************

In the quiet night, by the corridor on the second floor of the Su Mansion's small courtyard, Ning Yi and Su Tan'er were looking at the round moon in the sky, eating, blowing the wind, and talking.

Today, the two of them were boringly gnawing on uninspired food, flatbread.

"When negotiating with the Wu family, you have to speak domineeringly."

"Um... but how should I speak domineeringly?"

"Uh, for example... don't be sad, after all, people are alive..."

"Husband will kill people with anger."

"No, they are all business elites... um, the moon on the fourteenth is also very round..."

"Unfortunately, it's not the fifteenth of August..."

"Why did you suddenly think of the fifteenth of August? I couldn't go to the poetry meeting this year, is it a pity?"

"No, I suddenly thought that the reason why my husband couldn't go that day was that I couldn't see my husband write another poem about the moon to make those talented scholars have no poems to write."

"It's not that exaggerated..."

"Why doesn't my husband write another one today to celebrate the Wu family's demise."

"Okay."

"Eh, really write?"

"Hehe, talented scholars, of course, writing poems is easy to do..."

"..." Waiting with bated breath.

"...Oh sea, you are all water!"

"Um..."

"Oh horse, you have four legs!"

"..." Her face began to twitch.

"Oh moon, you are so round!" Here, the expression is calm.

"..." Her head has been lowered, desperately stuffing flatbread into her mouth, stopping her body from shaking.

"Done, look, praise the moon, praise the Wu family's demise."

"Um... uh... cough cough... uh..."

"What's wrong with you?"

"Uh uh uh..."

"Do you want to strangle yourself..."

Under the moonlight, Ning Yi began to pat his wife's back with a huff. Looking at it this way, Su Tan'er's figure is really a bit thin.

She seems to be almost choked to death, and started hitting Ning Yi's chest with her head.

This is probably the year I've laughed the most...

In this almost never done unladylike action, she thought so...

**********

I wanted to update last night to tell everyone to have a happy Mooncake Festival, but as I wrote, it was almost 7,000 words, cough, I wish everyone happiness after the Mooncake Festival, as happy as Tan'er ^_^……(To be continued, if you want to know what happened next, please log in, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)

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