Marry the villain and the whole court kneels down and calls her the queen

In Hua Manlou, Lu Yunyang listened to Nichang's report with a serious face.

Nichang answered hesitantly and tremblingly this time.

"Master, I have already investigated. Most of Yiye Guzhou's real estate is currently in the hands of Miss Jiang Jiu. In addition to the property in Sucheng, Yiye Guzhou also has properties in Jinling, Qiantang, Yangzhou, etc."

Lu Ming added, "You wouldn't know it if you didn't check. It turns out Yiye Guzhou's former boss is so rich. Besides buying shops, often covering entire streets, she also likes buying land. She owns land on the outskirts of every city, and in some cases, entire villages are her tenants."

Nichang also wanted to favor Jiang Jiu more, but she had too many assets and could not deceive the prince at all.

"Besides that, there's also the money house. The money that Yiye Guzhou has saved up over the past ten years is not a small sum. However, I don't know what kind of agreement the money house has reached with Yiye Guzhou's former employer. I only know that the money is a large amount, and no one can take it away except Miss Jiang Jiu. There has been no compromise on anything else."

The more Lu Yunyang listened, the more shocked he became. "Great, great, no wonder he's called the richest man in Jiangnan. His combined assets are richer than even a Ninth Prince like me. I didn't investigate further and thought it was just because of the high profits from his business ventures. I didn't expect he had so much hidden behind the scenes."

Lu Ming heard that Lu Yunyang's tone was not very good, so he looked at Nishang and tested her cautiously.

"Master, what are you going to do? The monthly rent for these shops is indeed quite high, but if we buy them, it will also cost a lot of money, which we can't afford. Besides, Miss Jiang also promised to give you 60% of the profits from the business."

Lu Yunyang squinted his eyes and glanced at Lu Ming coldly.

"You're speaking for her so quickly..."

Lu Ming and Ni Chang's hearts skipped a beat, and they quickly knelt on the ground in fear: "We dare not."

Lu Yunyang narrowed his eyes slightly, and there was a chill in his peach blossom eyes, which took a long time to dissipate a little bit.

"Don't worry, I won't do anything to her. After all, the world belongs to my brother now. Even if I am as rich as a country, if I kill her, the money won't go into my pocket."

"It can only be considered truly useful if it can be used by this king."

Lu Ming finally put his heart at ease, exchanged a glance with Nishang secretly, and slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Master, what are you going to do next?"

Lu Yunyang stood up and paced back and forth. "According to her suggestion, let the salt business be under the control of the court. In this way, the salt fields on the coast will become my territory. And wait, 60% of the tax revenue from the salt business will be given to the court, and we can get the remaining 40%."

"I will write a letter to my brother. This way, my brother can dispel his suspicions about me and buy some time to recruit troops."

Lu Ming replied: "Yes."

At this moment, the secret guard came to report: "Master, Mr. Gu wants to see you."

Gu Chengyan hurried into the secret room. Lu Yunyang looked at his sweaty forehead and frowned, "Why are you in such a hurry?"

Gu Chengyan took out a land deed from his sleeve pocket.

"Your Highness, here is the title deed to the saltworks by the sea. Miss Jiang gave it to Your Highness, along with the saltworks, and said that the salt trade would become the court's business, and she would no longer have the right to manage it. Consider it Your Highness's first year's dividend."

Lu Yunyang looked carefully and found that most of the salt in the Jiangnan area was bought from Yiyeguzhou. She was willing to give the salt field to him, which showed that Jiang Jiu still had him in her heart.

Before Lu Yunyang could be happy, Gu Chengyan said, "Now the rumors on the street are that Miss Jiang is the prince's concubine, and the book "Foodie Skills" compiled by Miss Jiang was actually compiled by the prince himself."

"Now everyone says that although the prince may look frail, he actually cares about the common people. He cares about their basic needs and teaches them these basic eating and drinking skills."

"They also say Yiye Pingzhou is a profiteer who has made so much money from the common people. Now, we can make firewood, rice, oil, salt and other necessities ourselves, so we don't have to spend money to buy them anymore."

The reputation of the ninth prince, King Qi, soared to the sky, and for a time he was admired by all the people.

But in Lu Yunyang's opinion, the reputation is too good and attracts attention.

"Any more?"

Gu Chengyan nodded. "Since this book came out, many shops have opened up. It's said that Miss Jiang disbanded Yiye Guzhou. Except for the workshop, the other shop owners can stay if they want. If they don't want to stay, they can give them a sum of money and open their own shops."

"The government has indeed seen dozens of new businesses apply to open over the past few days. Miss Jiang changed her own shop's name to 'six plus three,' and some of the fake One Leaf Boat shops were exposed."

Lu Yunyang naturally knew this, because Jiang Jiu had explained all the consequences to him.

"She's done a great job of cutting off the source of income. Don't worry about them. The Chamber of Commerce will handle any turmoil in the business community. As long as the taxes are paid on time, that's all that matters."

"Take some time to look at the saltworks she gave you. After you take over, take good care of it."

After finishing the report, Gu Chengyan did not forget to praise Jiang Jiu.

"Miss Jiang is truly extremely intelligent. I originally thought that at her young age, she couldn't handle those treacherous people like Manager Cheng. I never thought she would use such a trick. Not only did she break the monopoly of Yiye Pianzhou, but she also helped the prince gain both fame and fortune. It's truly rare."

Lu Yunyang appeared calm and composed on the surface, but he was already very proud in his heart. In fact, Jiang Jiu still cared about him a lot.

Just as he finished assigning tasks to his subordinates and returned to the room, the secret guard responsible for tracking came to report.

"My Lord, Miss Jiang went to worship Guanyin. On the way, she met a young man wearing a mask. Miss Jiang said she would not be back tonight. She wanted to meditate and worship Buddha in the Guanyin Temple."

"Worship Guanyin? What day is it today? Why worship Guanyin?" Lu Yunyang muttered unhappily.

The maidservant who served him reported back, "The young lady had told the prince about this early in the morning, and he had agreed. Today is the eighth day of the ninth lunar month, and tomorrow is Miss Jiang's birthday. According to Madam Qian, Miss Jiang's birthdays were always celebrated in the temple in previous years."

Jiang Jiu is going to have his birthday?

Since both her parents were no longer around, she naturally went to the temple to worship on her birthday.

How could he meet a masked man on the way to the Guanyin Temple? Lu Yunyang immediately stood up and said, "Pack up and go to the Guanyin Temple."

Speaking of Jiang Jiu, she has been busy for so many days. Because it is her birthday, she has to stay in the temple for three days as in previous years.

Nanny Qian had arranged it long ago.

Jiang Jiu had told Lu Yunyang about it early in the morning, but she didn't know whether he took it to heart or not.

In the past few days, Princess Qiyang came to Lu Yunyang every day to drink and reminisce about the past. Lu Yunyang had to deal with her while also busy with official business, which was really tiring.

In a light carriage, Jiang Jiu took Nanny Qian, and the two of them went to the Guanyin Temple.

Because it was not Chinese New Year or any other festival, there were not many people in the Guanyin Temple.

After all, they were in Su City, and the road was very flat. When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Jiang Jiu took Nanny Qian up the stairs.

As he was walking up, Jiang Jiu suddenly discovered that there was a man lying beside the bamboo forest in front of the temple.

Wearing a black tights and holding a long sword in his hand, Jiang Jiu originally liked to meddle in other people's affairs, but he was wearing a mask on his face.

This mask is the one Jiang Jiu wore when he was rescued.