Gu Beiyue was really afraid that Qin Min would say something that would force him to reject her face to face and break her heart.
But when he heard the words "I'll divorce you", although he was relieved, he didn't know why, but his heart was a little heavy, and there was an indescribable strange feeling.
Qin Min smiled at him. There was a bit of naughtiness in her usual natural and unrestrained smile, making him unable to tell whether she was joking or telling the truth.
Gu Beiyue didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He didn't know whether it was because she called him "Gu Beiyue" or because of her current smile, but he suddenly felt that Qin Min at this moment was the real Qin Min.
Before he could answer Qin Min's question, she waved her hand, "Goodbye, Dean!"
After saying that, she left. This time, she really left and didn't look back.
After last night, Gu Beiyue originally wanted to be cruel and coldly get rid of her feelings, but who knew that he didn't have the chance.
It wasn't until Qin Min's back disappeared in the alley that Gu Beiyue couldn't help but chuckle. However, even he didn't know what he was laughing about.
At night, Gu Beiyue left Ningzhou City. No one knew when he would come back. Perhaps, even he himself didn't know.
At the same time that Gu Beiyue left Ningzhou City, Long Fei Ye's carriage was also leaving Ningzhou City. Gu Beiyue went north to Medical City, while Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi went east to Changning Saltpan.
Something did happen to Changning Saltpan, but Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi weren't so anxious. They sent the letter to Gu Beiyue on purpose.
That day in the teahouse, neither of them suspected anything, but that afternoon, when they thought about it carefully, both of them found some clues.
Firstly, Gu Beiyue wasn't a careless person. How could he really leave Qin Min alone in Ningzhou City? He must have sent someone to secretly protect her. Miscarriage was such a serious matter, the servants would not have not reported it. Secondly, Han Yunxi recalled what she had seen in that house. There were so many medicinal forsythia flowers. It was unlikely that a normal gardener would be able to grow them. It was very likely that Qin Min had planted them herself. Thirdly, it was unreasonable for her to hide the miscarriage for three months.
Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi both felt that there was something wrong with Qin Min's stomach.
Han Yunxi wanted to get to the bottom of this. She was afraid that Gu Beiyue and Qin Min might have encountered some difficulties and kept it from her. However, Long Fei Ye insisted on not interfering in Gu Beiyue's family affairs. Han Yunxi thought about it. With Gu Beiyue's character, even if they went to ask, he would at most explain a sentence or two and not say anything.
Therefore, the two of them pretended that they didn't know anything and didn't visit. Gu Beiyue and Qin Min continued to put on an act and found an excuse to avoid them.
The sound of horse hooves accompanied the night. Rui 'er was already sleeping soundly in Long Fei Ye's arms. Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi were sleepless. They talked about the Changning salt pans.
Salt was a daily necessity. It was also a very influential thing. Its influence could even be equal to that of food. It could affect the rise and fall of a country. Han Yunxi didn't know much about salt. She only thought it was a condiment for cooking. However, she only knew how important salt was when she came to this world.
Salt was used as a preservative and preservative. However, few people could be like Long Fei Ye. For a fresh lobster, he spent more than a hundred times the price of a lobster to get a pile of ice cubes. He even ran a few horses to death to send the fresh lobster to his residence to stew for Han Yunxi!
In this world without any freezing technology, the common people could only rely on salt to preserve vegetables, meat, and fish.
Cloud Realm Continent's eastern seafood, western and central meat, and northern dairy products could all be preserved for a period of time through salt processing. Then they could be sent to different parts of Cloud Realm Continent for trade. That was how trade developed. Thus, although each household used a small amount of salt each day, the amount of salt used across Cloud Realm Continent was frighteningly high. Of course the imperial court would collect salt taxes from salt merchants! Their annual salt tax revenue was dozens of times higher than other taxes.
Duke Huan of Qi, one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, relied on Qi's salt pans to collect taxes from all the merchants in the world.
Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi were heading to the Changning salt pans, the largest in Cloud Realm Continent. If something happened to them, the entire business world would be shaken. Great Qin's national treasury's income this year would be greatly reduced as well. Moreover, the salt pans involved the Aurora Faction. There were thousands of workers and tens of thousands of people in charge of transportation. As long as the salt pans stopped working for a day, there would be tens of thousands of people with nothing to do and no money to earn.
Logically speaking, such a large salt pans should be controlled by the imperial family. If they weren't, they should at least be related to the emperor. However, the four great clans of Jiangnan all owned the place. Even if the Xiao Clan's assets were confiscated, the other three clans were still there to support them. This was their biggest money bag and something they wouldn't yield to the imperial court.
Long Fei Ye had long set his sights on the salt pans. Otherwise, if the three great clans had used them to stir up trouble, it would've been a disaster. The new tax system had just been introduced this year, so Long Fei Ye didn't want to make his move so soon.
Originally, he'd come to check on the progress of the tax reform, but yesterday afternoon Long Fei Ye received an urgent message from Yunning about the salt pans.
Someone had smuggled a huge batch of salt from the Changning salt pans to Wintercrow Country!
The three great clans controlled the salt pans, so the imperial court couldn't monopolize them. Currently, the trade of salt within the Great Qin Empire was very free. However, if they wanted to sell salt outside of the Great Qin Empire, the imperial court would have to step in. Private transactions were not allowed, and this also involved tax evasion.
To be able to obtain a large batch of salt, this matter was definitely related to the three great clans. As long as they could use this opportunity to suppress one or two clans, it wouldn't be difficult for Long Fei Ye to take back the salt pans.
Five days later, Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi arrived at the Changning salt pans. Rui 'er was brought by Xu Donglin to play, while Han Yunxi and Long Fei Ye disguised themselves. Han Yunxi dressed as a man to look like a rich young master, while Long Fei Ye was dressed in white, looking like a noble young master. Han Yunxi was delicate and pretty, while Long Fei Ye was handsome and noble. The two of them stood side by side, attracting the attention of many passersby.
They wouldn't directly go to the salt pans. They used the name of the Three-Way Black Market's East Origin Palace to send a letter of visit to the stewards of the four great clans in the Changning salt pans.
It was just a letter of visit from East Origin Palace. They didn't need to say anything, and anyone who understood would know their intentions. People from the black market naturally came to find the owner of the salt pans to buy salt and smuggle it!
Originally, it'd be difficult for Long Feiye to investigate smuggling in secret, but East Origin Hall's background made things much easier for him. Many people knew that Yunning Chamber of Commerce had power in the Three-Way Black Market, but Long Fei Ye had the most power in the Three-Way Black Market, so not many people knew about this. In any case, the three great clans of Jiangnan wouldn't know.
Long Fei Ye used the name of East Origin Palace's young master, Young Master Ye. When the stewards of the three great clans saw this letter of visit, they were all shocked.
The Zhou clan's steward was the Zhou clan's third young master, and the Murong clan's steward was Murong clan's ninth young master. The Zhou clan and Murong clan were in-laws, so they wore the same pants. Third Young Master Zhou immediately looked for Murong clan's ninth young master to discuss.
"Is he here to ask for goods from us?" Third Young Master Zhou said very cautiously, "He gave both our clans' letters of visit at the same time. Could it be that he also gave it to the Xie clan?"
"What does he want to do?" Murong clan's ninth young master asked, puzzled.
"Lower the price!" Third Young Master Zhou snorted coldly.
"Then what should we do?" Murong clan's ninth young master had always listened to Third Young Master Zhou.
Third Young Master Zhou thought for a moment and quickly said, "Rather than our three clans fighting and letting him take advantage of us, why don't we … find Xie Yujun and work together to raise the price? The Three-Way Black Market's East Origin Palace is a place with real money. If the young master comes, it will definitely be a big deal! "
Murong clan's ninth young master immediately agreed. Who knew that before they could find him, Xie Yujun came over and wanted to cooperate with them. The three of them hit it off immediately. This Xie Yujun was the eldest young master of the Xie clan. He was five or six years older than Third Young Master Zhou and Murong clan's ninth young master. He was a famous prodigal son in the three great clans. However, the Xie Clan's internal strife was very fierce. His mother clearly knew that he was a prodigal son, but still insisted that he be in charge of the Chang Ning salt pans. Although he said that he was in charge, he was actually spending a lot of money!
Xie Yujun proudly said, "I've already made some inquiries. That Young Master Ye only brought a friend over and is staying at Le Rong Winery. I heard that he booked the entire Le Rong Winery. Hehe, he's really a rich master! This young master has only booked one floor. "
"I heard my father say that the truly wealthy East Origin Palace is. Just wait and see. Once our emperor is done with his business, he will definitely clean up the Three-Way Black Market. East Origin Palace might be a target! "Murong clan's ninth young master quickly said.
"Aiyo, we have to take advantage of the time when the emperor is going to search and confiscate property to get some money from him!" Third Young Master Zhou laughed.
The three of them discussed for a while and came up with a high price. Then, they each went to see Young Master Ye and stated the price. They still refused to budge.
Long Fei Ye's move was just to test who dared to do business with the black market and smuggle salt. Who knew that the three clans would actually show up. This infuriated him quite a bit! How much money did these three fellows take away from the national treasury?
Long Fei Ye didn't negotiate the price and only said that he needed to think about it. He didn't reply to the three young masters for a whole five days. This made the three young masters very anxious.
Finally, Third Young Master Zhou couldn't sit still anymore, "How about we set up a banquet and invite him together and settle the price in person?"
Xie Yujun agreed wholeheartedly. Murong clan's ninth young master also agreed. He said, "We can't do business without wine. I'll take care of the wine."
A sly look flashed through Xie Yujun's eyes as she chuckled, "We can't do business without a woman. I'll take care of the woman! I guarantee that I'll find the best girl in Ningzhou City! "
Thus, when Long Fei Ye and Han Yunxi arrived at the banquet, they saw a girl as beautiful as a flower sitting on the side with a pipa covering half of her face.
After they sat down, Xie Yujun immediately handed over the signboard and chuckled, "Young Master Ye, let's order a song first. The girl we have today is Jiangnan's number one. Her songs … hehe, can hook one's soul! Young Master Ye, please be careful. Don't let your soul be hooked and we can't talk about business. "
As soon as she finished speaking, Han Yunxi, who was sitting on the side, chuckled and said, "This person's appearance can also hook one's soul."
As she spoke, she walked over and gently lifted the girl's chin with her folding fan.
These people in Jiangnan really made people speechless. The older ones wanted to take in a concubine for Long Fei Ye, but the younger ones were actually here to summon girls for Long Fei Ye!
Han Yunxi was angry, but the girl suddenly dodged her hand and ran toward Long Fei Ye with the pipa …
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
