The Little Lucky Girl

Whenever the Ministry of Revenue was particularly short of silver, it would ask the Sixth Prince for help in this way.

I don’t know whether the shops given by the late emperor were good in the first place, or whether the Sixth Prince was born with a fortune of wealth. Although he didn’t care much about the properties under his name, those shops were extremely profitable. There were even rumors that half of Chang’an’s wealth was in the hands of the Sixth Prince.

But the Sixth Prince made such a high-profile move, yet quietly supported the court with the money, or gave it to people like Pei Shanchang whom His Majesty was willing to support.

When the butler of the palace saw Master Pei, he immediately smiled and greeted him, saying, "The prince has been waiting for you since early morning."

After sending the person to the study, he left, taking all the servants out with him.

The Sixth Prince glanced at the gifts on the table and asked with a smile, "Why didn't you bring me your mountain products?"

Pei Shanzhang found a comfortable position and sat down, shaking his head and saying, "You don't need it."

The Sixth Prince snorted, "You are making it too easy for me to cheat you. You don't even want to pay for it."

He opened the two paintings in the box, was silent for a moment and said, "Since you want to use Master Gu's name, you should at least be more like him in terms of painting style. He is known for his meticulousness and elegance, but you paint so boldly that I am embarrassed to show you your paintings when I hold an appreciation meeting."

Principal Pei said nonchalantly, "Your reputation is already solid now. You don't have to bother showing off every time. Just let your servants spread the word. Okay, pay the money."

The Sixth Prince smiled and pushed a box over. "It's already been prepared. It's 10% more than the price you asked. How about that? I think we're being generous."

Pei Shanzhang looked at him warily, "What do you want to do?"

The man opposite took out a stack of papers from his pocket in a somewhat awkward manner and said, "I heard that you have a close relationship with that Sanjing Sanren. I wrote something recently and I think it's pretty good. I want to ask for your help and corrections. I'll also publish a book for fun. Don't worry, I will definitely pay you for it."

Pei Shanchang took it and flipped through it, then stroked his forehead and said, "You actually wrote about a story in a brothel."

"Yes, didn't you say before that novices should start from things they are familiar with?" The Sixth Prince spread out the manuscript with his hand, looking at it as if it was a treasure. "Although this place is a bit vulgar, the things that happened in it are extremely exciting, not inferior to the anecdotes told in teahouses nowadays."

Principal Pei was speechless for a long while. "You also know that it is indecent. Aren't you afraid that it will be harmful to your reputation if it gets out?"

The Sixth Prince grinned, "What kind of reputation do I have now?"

"I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about the future. If this book is really published, it will surely be passed down because of your reputation. When people see it, they will only think that you are an old hand at romance." Pei Shan sighed.

"You've been a playboy for so long, do you really think you are a playboy? Some things can't be explained now, but they may not be explained in the future. Why do you need to leave this handle?"

The Sixth Prince paused for a moment and continued, "I sincerely think that what I wrote is pretty good. How about printing it under a different pen name?"

Pei Shanzhang immediately moved away from him and leaned back. After a while, he sat back and whispered, "After so many years, His Majesty has understood your feelings. You don't have to stay in the capital. If you don't want to go back to your fiefdom, it's not bad to go out and travel around. Don't let the brothels and brothels wear down your will."

The Sixth Prince stopped laughing and lowered his eyes, saying, "I'm used to it. The capital is prosperous and life is pretty good."

Principal Pei looked at him for a moment and sighed, "I won't take care of your business, but what about your Dalang? He has been smart since he was young, but he has learned from you and does nothing all day long. It would be better if I could take him to the academy and discipline him for a few years."

The Sixth Prince's eyes lit up, and he was obviously very tempted by this proposal, but after thinking for a while, he said, "Forget it. You don't know that the spies from Qi and Liang have made little progress with me in recent years, and they have begun to reach out to Dalang. That child is inexperienced in dealing with people, so I feel more at ease keeping him by my side to avoid being taken advantage of."

Pei Shanzhang was surprised and asked, "Why, your palace is not safe now?"

The Sixth Prince chuckled, "It's generally OK, but it's okay to have some omissions. I'm not safe here, so you princes are safe."

Pei Shanchang was silent for a while, "Your Majesty, do you want me to go and talk to you?"

The Sixth Prince shook his head. "No need. It's not a big deal. My brother is already tired enough. It's better not to bother him with these trivial matters."

He looked at Principal Pei and his tone became playful again, "I told you to be more careful when you fake it next time so that I can sell it to those people in Qi Liang. Humph, they dared to plot against my father and son, they deserve to bleed."

When Principal Pei left the palace, he eventually took the manuscript with him. Although the manuscript could not be shown directly to the children, he could select a few good short stories from it, hide the background, and let them comment on them, thus fulfilling the six princes' wish.

He passed by a teahouse and heard various speculations about the Sanjing Sanren. After thinking for a while, he went to the bookstore and bought a few new travelogues. He planned to write letters to his children to tell them to make the narrative locations of the next volume more extensive so that it would be more difficult for people to judge.

Magistrate Tao also summoned several people to the county government office and told them that there was now a group of researchers in the capital who specialized in studying their calligraphy works, and they were eager to dig out some hidden secrets from each of their books.

Because their subsequent books were very directional and there was little point in further exploration, many people focused on their first book about Zheng Huan's stepmother.

Magistrate Tao said, "Now Jia has become the focus of everyone's discussion again. Even her family resents her for her vicious mind. Not only did she take away your title of Crown Prince, but she also adopted him out. This has caused the entire Jia family to be criticized. We should simply cut off contact with her."

"What is Duke Zheng's attitude?" Lu Tai and Feng Xu asked hurriedly.

"Duke Zheng said that he was fooled and believed the woman's words. He was so angry that he almost wrote a letter of divorce. In the end, it was his son who knelt down and begged for mercy, so he stopped detaining Jia in the Buddhist temple."

Zheng Huan sneered, "He cleared himself of all blame."

He understood his biological father's character. Whether it was his biological mother or Jia, his attitude towards their love was not as important as his own interests.

When he first proposed to adopt himself out, it was only because he felt that he had brought discredit on him and was worried that it would affect his position as Duke.

Magistrate Tao looked at Zheng Huan and said, "Perhaps the Duke's Mansion will send someone to look for you soon. You should be mentally prepared in advance."

"What do you want to see me for?" Zheng Huan asked sarcastically, "Do you want to recognize me as your own?"

Seeing that Magistrate Tao did not deny it, Feng Xu was surprised and asked, "What is the Duke's Mansion thinking? Aren't they afraid of being slapped in the face?"