I'm a humble concubine. My acting skills are off the charts. You can check my performance.

This is what Zhao Fangyu was waiting for Cui Xueyan to say.

"What if the princess only holds shares and does not participate in anything between the noble families?"

Cui Xueyan: "...How is it possible?"

Zhao Fangyu did not miss the flash of surprise in Cui Xueyan's eyes, and the corners of his lips could not help but curl up. The top-grade peony embroidery on her clothes could not take away her beauty. Her eyes were like glass, like two crystal clear black crystals, and the black liquid flowing in them was dotted with stars-it was just the reflection of the sun, but it was also beautiful, as if the eyes were full of sunshine, and the floating light was golden.

"I can promise that the Princess will not be involved in any store affairs."

What Zhao Fangyu had promised Princess Hua Luan was only half of the profit from this big business.

This was a means to severely damage the Yang family and appease the royal family, and it was also a bait for Zhao Fangyu to negotiate with the aristocratic families.

Cui Xueyan stared straight at Zhao Fangyu's extremely beautiful eyes. Zhao Fangyu let her look at him, and even raised three fingers without thinking it was a big deal. His bright red lips were more beautiful than countless red cherries in the world. He opened and closed his mouth twice and uttered the most feared vicious oath in the world: "I, Zhao Fangyu, swear to heaven that if I say something untrue today, I will be struck by lightning and die a miserable death when I leave this door."

"If Miss Cui doesn't believe me, I can add one more thing. If I ask the princess to get involved, I will never make a penny in my life."

Zhao Fangyu's attitude was normal, but his words were extremely sincere, so sincere that Cui Xueyan couldn't help but choke.

Without her, this oath would be too poisonous.

There were thunderbolts in front and poverty behind.

Zhao Fangyu looked into Cui Xueyan's eyes, neither dodging nor avoiding, allowing her to look at him.

She just sits here. If Cui Xueyan shows any sign of guilt, she loses.

She really didn't tell a single lie, she just didn't finish telling the truth.

Furthermore, she was born under the red flag and grew up in the spring breeze. The motherland taught her from a young age to be scientific and democratic. As for gods and Buddhas, individuals can believe in them as needed.

After all, throughout history, we have not seen many historical figures being struck to death by lightning because they swore something they could not do.

Maybe, but it's not important.

If Concubine Xi is fine, she must be fine too.

Zhao Fangyu's thoughts raced through his mind. When he thought of something interesting, the smile on his face became more sincere.

This made Cui Xueyan feel a little embarrassed.

Cui Xueyan didn't want to force Zhao Fangyu to swear, but she swore so quickly and viciously that Cui Xueyan didn't know whether to accept it or not.

He simply ordered another cup of tea and gave it to Zhao Fangyu: "Princess, there is no need to be like this. Whether it is true or not is only in the heart, not on the lips and tongue."

As for gods, if you believe in them, they exist; if you don’t, they don’t exist.

There are so many people going to temples every day, but they have never seen the Buddha make everyone's wishes come true.

It can be seen that God is not always effective.

However, Zhao Fangyu's confidence must be able to withstand verification, and it should be true that the princess only distributed dividends but did not manage the business.

But now that the matter can be discussed, the rest will be much easier to do.

In order to avoid attracting the attention of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Zhao Fangyu signed the contract with the Cui family openly.

The Cui family purchased goods from the Fourteen States and Qianjinlou, and dispatched personnel from the Fourteen States to Qinghe to participate in the store management.

A group of young girls left the Fourteen States, and a new group of sales girls arrived.

In Qinghe, the dowry of several wives of the Cui family was covered with a lot of perfume.

In the past, if you wanted to buy perfume, you had to go to the capital, but now you can buy it at Cui’s shop.

The price of this thing is the same as in the capital, but the goods are shipped from nearby, so there is still a lot of profit to be made.

But these are all things for later.

After Zhao Fangyu left Cui's house, Cui Xueyan knocked on the door of Cui Zimin's study. Without waiting for Cui Zimin to speak, he pushed the door open, sat down on the armchair, and sighed.

Cui Zimin said with a smile: "Why, can't we reach an agreement?"

Cui Xueyan shook her head and lay on the table in a depressed mood. When she was sitting with Zhao Fangyu just now, she was the well-behaved and polite girl of the Cui family. But now she was pushed out by her brother to be a cabbage that was forced to grow too fast.

Cui Xueyan rolled her eyes at Cui Zimin, and then she thought of Zhao Fangyu, and couldn't get angry anymore. She could only say helplessly, "I just don't understand why she seems to have an extra brain than me."

She spoke in a roundabout way at first, sometimes talking about shark fins and bear paws, sometimes about jasmine-flavored cookies, and all kinds of metaphors. Later on, she talked about the eldest princess and the aristocratic family, which made people dizzy. In the end, she revealed her bottom line, and Zhao Fangyu agreed readily, so readily that she had the illusion that... she was being played.

It was as if Zhao Fangyu had already seen through everything. In Zhao Fangyu's eyes, her bottom line and persistence were as conspicuous as a fire in the dark night.

Cui Zimin came over and knocked Cui Xueyan's head. The tender white skin immediately turned red. Cui Xueyan was very annoyed. He leaned over the table and punched Cui Zimin's waist. He pretended to be nothing and turned sideways and said, "How do you think her Fourteen States opened up?"

The custom of lavish dowries is prevalent in Daliang, but when a young lady gets married, doesn't she have a dowry of dozens or hundreds of taizi?

Who doesn’t have a few shops and farms?

But among these thousands and thousands of young ladies, how many can create fourteen states like Zhao Fangyu?

She had many shops in Beijing as a dowry, and none of them was losing money.

One of the fourteen states can be said to be lucky, and if everyone is profitable, that is real ability.

"You're still young, it's okay."

He returned to the table and put the letter he had just written into the envelope.

The Cui family had already made a decision on whether to participate in Zhao Fangyu's business.

This negotiation was just an opportunity for Cui Xueyan to gain experience in negotiation.

There are very few people like Zhao Fangyu. Girls are not like boys who can travel and meet all kinds of people and things. If you can meet someone like Zhao Fangyu and have a conversation with him, you can also benefit from it.

Cui Xueyan is still young, but her marriage has been arranged with the eldest son of the Lu family. She will be the headmistress of the Lu family in the future, so naturally she cannot be locked up in the boudoir like an ordinary young lady.

In the future, the people she will deal with will all be clan women, all of whom are shrewd. Let her go alone against someone like Zhao Fangyu who is as cunning as a lotus pod. This will give her an idea of how to act in the future.

In order to avoid being taught a lesson in front of outsiders and having people talk about her behind her back, she is still unmarried and even if she does something wrong, her family will help her cover it and nothing serious will happen.

On this side, Zhao Fangyu will not dig a big trap to harm others. In the future, when Cui Zimin and Shisiniang succeed, the two families can still be considered brothers-in-law.

Cui Zimin thought Zhao Fangyu's way of dealing with people was a little too roundabout, but the circumstances were different. Zhao Fangyu's actions were already the best among women.

“What can you learn today?”

Cui Xueyan tilted her head, thought for a moment and said, "Don't reveal your cards too early."

But then she thought about it and it didn't make sense. Every word Zhao Fangyu said was guiding her, guiding her to say that the aristocratic families and the royal family could not coexist.

"That's not right. Her mother is from the Li family. She knows what the bottom line of the family is."

She knew since she arrived that the Cui family would never allow the eldest princess to interfere in the management of the business.

The outcome of this negotiation was determined from the very beginning.

The Cui family was in the open, while Zhao Fangyu was in the dark. She was the passive one and was naturally restricted everywhere.

Seeing that she had figured this out, Cui Zimin finally nodded and said, "Have you thought about what to do next time you see her?"

Cui Xueyan lowered her head and thought for a moment: "We are the first to enter the game, we should get 30% of the profit."

Zhao Fangyu intended to drag the Five Surnames and Seven Famous People into the water. The eldest princess accounted for half a point. How much did the Five Surnames and Seven Famous People account for? One point? One point is considered a lot.

Zhao Fangyu is a businessman and he won’t be so kind.

But now, apart from the Cui family, no one else has joined the game, so they are asking for more, and what they want is Zhao Fangyu's profit.

The amount of profit that Zhao Fangyu would give to the five surnames and seven families must have been already decided. Her Cui family was the first to enter the game, so naturally they should get the first share. She didn't care how much other families got, as their family should get the most.

It was obvious that Zhao Fangyu wanted something from the Cui family, but under Zhao Fangyu's manipulation, it became like Zhao Fangyu had a treasure in his hands, waiting to be sold at a price, and the Cui family took the initiative to join the game to compete for it.

The initiative immediately fell into Zhao Fangyu's hands, and she was so distracted that she forgot to discuss the matter.

Cui Xueyan went over today's events in her mind again, and looking back, she realized that something was wrong.

Father, like son.

Seeing that Cui Xueyan did not need his guidance, Cui Zimin sent her back and turned around to write another letter to Zhou Qinghe.

·

After Zhao Fangyu left the Cui family, he remained silent and lived in the palace all day, playing with Shu Jie'er. The owner of the embroidery shop came to the house every now and then, either to make clothes for Shu Jie'er and her, or to make jewelry for them.

Everyone was watching the show, thinking that Zhao Fangyu was just pretending to be strong.

People all say that Zhao Fangyu stays alone in his empty room every day, feeling lonely, helpless, and worried.

In fact, Zhao Fangyu lived like a god every day.

Not long after the rumor spread, news of its refutation came from afar.

A month later, the rice and grain shop of the Shen family in Shuobei started selling various kinds of fragrant dews, including self-developed ones from the Fourteen Prefectures and the special ones from Nanzhao produced by Qianjinlou.

Countless people in the capital who were waiting to see the joke looked at each other in bewilderment.

Half a month later, all the shops of the Li family in Longxi put the fragrant dew of Qianjinlou and Shisizhou on the shelves.

Longxi, Qinghe, Shuobei, and another one is Zhou Lingrou's fiefdom, which also opened two branches in the Fourteen States.

The fragrant dew business in the Fourteen States was flourishing everywhere. Zhao Fangyu bought a lot of good things from various small countries and stored them on the border, and then secretly transported them from abroad to Shuobei.

When the first batch of goods set off, Zhou Qinghe finally arrived at the military camp slowly and started writing documents for others.

Zhao Fangyu sent many people to him. After sending Zhou Qinghe there, these people did not leave. Except for a few people who followed him in, the rest directly rented a large house with three entrances and exits near the military camp.

Because it is close, Zhou Qinghe can come out for a bite to eat when he has nothing to do.

As a clerk, the enemy would never see him unless they broke into the city.

If you really want to kill him, you can only resort to poisoning or assassination.

But no matter which one, the third prince will not be able to get away with it.

If he died, even without anyone secretly pushing him, the officials in the court would put the blame on the third prince. But it might not be the third prince's fault, it might be that this idiot really did it.

Zhou Qinghe was extremely cautious about his diet. He had been living peacefully in the army for less than two months when he heard that the Fourteen States were approaching his vicinity.

Xuanbi felt relieved. He didn't know why, but he just felt a lot more at ease.

Zhou Qinghe would occasionally use the channels of the Fourteen States to send some letters out. Some of these letters went to Jiangnan, some to Zhiqu, and some even went to Xuanbi without a clue of where they were going.

The two were thousands of miles apart, each busy with their own things, and neither of them missed out on what they should do.

Zhao Fangyu was so quiet that he seemed non-existent, but with the news that kept coming in, everyone seemed to have seen that countless amounts of silver had grown legs and were lining up one after another to jump into Zhao Fangyu's house!

Yang Xiaofei was so angry that she smashed cups and bowls at home. The crisp sounds continued to be heard, and the exquisite porcelain turned into pieces in an instant. The prosperity was like a dream and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Qiao'er was crying with fear on the side. Yang Xiaofei didn't care about Qiao'er and threw the cup in her hand at the maid's feet. The broken porcelain pieces flew everywhere, scaring the little maid to kneel down with a thud!

Blood dyed the cloth red, Qiao'er cried heartbreakingly, Yang Xiaofei became more and more agitated: "Are they all dead? Why don't you take the young master away!"

The little maid held back her tears, stood up while holding Qiao'er, and walked out of the house following her bloody footprints.

The third prince sat aside and watched, his eyes filled with gloom as he saw Yang Xiaofei going crazy.

The job that was originally arranged for him was gone, and now he was imprisoned at home like a useless person.

People will go crazy if they are locked up for too long.

It was obvious that Yang Xiaofei was going crazy.

"Ahhhh!"

Yang Xiaofei was so angry that she shouted wildly. She couldn't suppress the anger in her heart at all. She smashed everything she saw. The precious porcelain turned into pieces in an instant. But no matter how she smashed the pots and bowls, she couldn't ease her resentment that her dowry was taken away by Zhao Fangyu!

Yang Xiaofei's voice was sharp and piercing, like cat nails scratching on a mirror, hurting people's ears.

The third prince had been watching coldly, but now he couldn't stand it anymore, so he stood up and slapped Yang Xiaofei hard in the face!

Yang Xiaofei was caught off guard and was almost blown away. Her mind went blank for a moment and there seemed to be something buzzing in her ears, but she could not hear anything clearly. Only the sharp tinnitus was roaring in her mind.

There was a huge difference between the sound of the slap and the sound of porcelain breaking. The maids didn't even dare to raise their heads. The moment the slap sounded, they all fell to their knees.

The ground was covered with broken porcelain pieces that Yang Xiaofei had smashed and were scattered everywhere. The maids had to kneel down despite the pain, fearing that they would kneel too slowly and Yang Xiaofei would hold a grudge against them.

How could Yang Xiaofei care about the maid?

She held one side of her face in her hands in a daze. This half of her face had lost feeling, as if it was numb, but she could feel in her palm that this half of her face was burning hot and had begun to swell.

She looked at the Third Prince in disbelief, and when she saw the Third Prince's vicious eyes, she couldn't help but shudder.

The third prince's eyes didn't seem like he was looking at his wife, but at a dead person.

When the Third Prince saw that she had finally calmed down, the anger in his heart seemed to have found an outlet.

"Be quiet and stop acting like a lunatic."

The third prince couldn't stand seeing Yang Xiaofei's cowardly look. He was already annoyed when he saw Yang Xiaofei, and now he disliked her even more.

Comparing people with others will lead to death, and comparing goods with goods will lead to throwing away.

The third prince couldn't figure out whether the emperor had already seen through his disguise, otherwise why would he give him such an incompetent princess?

Compared to Zhao Fangyu, Yang Xiaofei is far inferior.

He also doesn't need a lunatic to be his wife.