Dad, open the door. I'll bring your mistress back for you.

"It's not that I don't want to stop. Your Highness, please look, this business is run by Princess Hao and I together! Princess Hao and I each put in 50% of the capital. Now the people I arranged have led the caravan to the Western Regions to purchase goods. If we stop rashly now, we will lose a little money, but how will we explain to Princess Hao? Do we have to pay her the money ourselves?"

Xiao Yuanlang frowned as he flipped through the account books in his hand and asked, "Since both of you contributed 50% of the capital, and you were responsible for purchasing and worrying about sales, why did Princess Hao get 70% of the profits in the end?"

"Your Highness, you don't know! Prince Hao controls the passage to the Western Regions. If he doesn't give her a larger share of the profits, how can this business be successful? Besides, Your Highness, think about it, how could Prince Hao, who had always maintained a neutral attitude, so readily agree to stand on your side and support you? It's all because Princess Hao whispered in his ear!"

In fact, even Shen Jingwan herself had doubts about the fact that the usually neutral Prince Hao suddenly decided to cooperate with Xiao Yuanlang, but this did not prevent her from taking the credit for herself.

After all, it's impossible for Xiao Yuanlang to crawl to the edge of Prince Hao's bed and eavesdrop on the couple's private conversation in the middle of the night!

Moreover, the account book she presented to Xiao Yuanlang for review was the one she usually gave to Princess Hao for review.

You know, before traveling to this world, she had seen too many yin and yang account books.

What's more, all the people involved in this business, whether in purchasing or sales, were arranged by her.

She only needs to slightly increase the price of purchased items by a few percent in the account records in the previous volume, and slightly lower the price of sold goods. In this way, she can easily earn a considerable difference.

Even if 70% of the profits shown on the books were distributed to Princess Hao, the actual profit she would ultimately receive would still far exceed what the other party received.

Moreover, she did not reveal a penny of the extra silver to Xiao Yuanlang, but directly deposited it into her personal account at Hengfu Money House.

Hearing this, Xiao Yuanlang couldn't help but frown and said in a serious tone: "Withdraw money from our house to compensate Princess Hao, and tell her that this business will no longer be run from now on."

Hearing this, Shen Jingwan silently put away the account book in her hand, a hint of helplessness on her face, and replied: "Yes, I understand. Alas! If I had known that the situation would be like this today, I shouldn't have spent so much effort to manage this business. In the end, after all the hard work, it all went to others! If I had put all that money into Hengfu Bank from the beginning, it would be a foolproof and guaranteed profit!"

Xiao Yuanlang frowned slightly, and his slender fingers tapped lightly and rhythmically on the quaint wooden table in front of him.

He stared into the distance, as if lost in deep thought. The only sound echoing in the entire room was the crisp and slightly monotonous knocking sound.

After a long while, he finally broke the silence and slowly asked, "Is Hengfu Bank really that good?"

"Your Highness, if you don't trust me, do you trust Wu Desheng, who has always been loyal to you? Wu Desheng clearly stated that the owner of Hengfu Bank is one of our own!"

Hearing this, Xiao Yuanlang couldn't help but squint his eyes and began to recall carefully.

When Hengfu Money House was planning to open a branch in Beijing, wasn't it Wu Desheng who came to him and begged him?

At that time, considering that he had followed me for many years, I went to the Ministry of Revenue to ask for help to smooth things over.

Since then, Hengfu Money House has sent a lot of tributes every year.

Since he arrived in Changye, many other people stopped paying tribute to him, but the money sent to the palace by Hengfu Money House not only did not decrease, but instead showed an increasing trend year by year.

Thinking of this, Xiao Yuanlang pondered in his heart for a while and made a decisive decision: "Then take out 30% of the silver currently in the mansion and deposit it in Hengfu Bank."

At this moment, Shen Jingwan, who was standing next to her, immediately smiled like a flower and responded happily, "Yes, I obey your command."

In fact, she was already very happy in her heart, because she knew very well that the interest she could get by depositing money in Hengfu Money House would be much higher than that of others.

In this way, the huge price difference will naturally fall into her own pocket!

After finally arranging this matter, Xiao Yuanlang breathed a sigh of relief.

However, his gaze fell on Shen Jingwan again, and thinking that he still had to take the trouble to coax her, an indescribable feeling of disgust arose from the bottom of his heart.

But despite this, Xiao Yuanlang still pretended to be gentle and considerate on the surface.

He slowly extended his right hand, gently caressing Shen Jingwan's face and carefully rubbing the newly injured wound on her cheek. He said softly, "Does it hurt? It's all my fault. When I saw those memorials just now, I was so angry that I couldn't control my emotions and threw them away. I didn't expect to accidentally hurt you, my dear. Wan'er, will you blame me?"

Facing Xiao Yuanlang's hypocritical words of concern, Shen Jingwan just revealed a hint of shyness and replied softly, "How dare I blame Your Highness? Ultimately, it was my inadequate handling of the matter that led to the exposure of this matter and consequently, Your Highness being reprimanded. But rest assured, Your Highness, even if this business fails, I will definitely find other ways to earn money for Your Highness."

Hearing Shen Jingwan's words, Xiao Yuanlang's lips curled up slightly, and he gently kissed her injured cheek. Then, with a doting look on his face, he said, "I know that Wan'er is sincere to me and always thinks of me. I will apply some ointment to Wan'er's face myself. Leaving scars and disfiguring her appearance will be unsightly."

After saying that, Xiao Yuanlang took Shen Jingwan's hand and walked slowly towards the inner room.

……

In the royal garden.

Concubine Qin and her servants were collecting the snow water on the flower petals, preparing to use it to make tea.

But in a pavilion not far away, Queen Su was sitting alone.

Since Empress Su gave birth, Emperor Jing never went to Yiku Palace again.

Concubine Qin walked into the pavilion and said sarcastically, "What a coincidence! The Empress has just finished her confinement, and she's already here in the courtyard to relax. Could it be that she knows Your Majesty has been accompanying Concubine Wei to visit the Imperial Gardens lately, and she's come here to run into His Majesty by chance? How can a woman of such stature as the Empress resort to the same tactics as lower-ranking concubines?"

Su Yue'e glanced at her and said, "Unfortunately, I'm not here to wait for Your Majesty, but for you."