Shipin Dalizheng

Rong Tang wanted to struggle again, "I can't dance."

Zheng Changzhi's face darkened. "Then imitate the frog jump."

Rong Tang knew there was no room for negotiation and that he had to take the blame before he died. "Anyway, I'll make the Queen Mother laugh, okay? I'm not well, but I can't bear being schemed against by a villain. Chu Chen, this insidious and cunning guy, is uneducated and unskilled, but he stole your paintings and passed them off as his own. You just let him go like that. I despise you."

"Go your way."

Zheng Changzhi rudely drove him away. After a while, he called Lao Wen in and said, "Chu Chen destroyed my painting. Go and teach him a lesson."

Old Wen was surprised, "Sir, don't you like this poem very much? It feels like you have met your lifelong confidant."

Zheng Changzhi's form failed, and his handsome face twisted. Old Wen knew that this was a sign that the young master was about to lose his temper, so he hurried out to do something.

But Zheng Changzhi didn't lose his temper. He just pounded the wheelchair with his hand and said, "Rong Tang, why is it that you understand me the best?"

(Rong Tang: Actually, I don’t understand.)

On the way back to the Bo Mansion, Rong Wanli was dejected and said, "Master, please punish me. As a guard, I cannot protect you. I deserve death."

"If I can't protect you, then I can't protect you. How many masters like Lao Wen are there?"

Besides, Old Wen is not a bad guy. He is very loyal to the underworld. I don't know how Zheng Changzhi recruited him. If he was by my side...

She looked at Rong Wanli again and thought, "Be content. It's a great blessing to have these loyal subordinates willing to follow you."

Xue Dongjia was already waiting for him and told him about the situation in prison.

"It was a coincidence that when I went there, Minister Xiao's wife had a stomachache. The Madam of the mansion had the servants run a second time and made a Four Substances Soup and sent it over. It relieved the pain a lot."

"Didn't you hire a doctor?"

Xue Dongjia sneered, "Men don't understand women's affairs, so there's no need to see a doctor."

The man Rong Tang had a dark face.

"Madam Xiao asked me to prepare something for the female members of the family. I've thought about it. New outer garments are definitely not an option, but one or two small inner garments for each person are fine. I wonder if you, Prince Rong..."

She said it subtly, but Rong Tang understood it.

"Let's get it."

Xue Dong's mother breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't sympathize with the prisoners, but after going to the prison, she realized that women were treated even less like human beings than men. As a woman herself, she just wanted the women in prison to die with dignity, even if they ultimately had to.

"How much silver do you need? Go to Steward Tao and get it."

Xue Dongjia was very pleased. What kind of man is a good man? The one who can sympathize with women is the one!

I took some time to take a shower, and Rong Zhan came back with a bag of samples.

"Master, this is the sugar those southerners brought over. They say the raw material is sugarcane, but the finished product is of very poor quality and cannot be compared with ours."

Rong Tang picked up a piece and put it in his mouth to taste it. It was sweet, but not pure. It was a bit sour and astringent, with a bitter aftertaste. The color was grayish white, and a lump was as big as an egg yolk.

Rong Wanli also took a look and said, "What? It's just not as good as ours. In the past, it was the best candy in Shangjing. You don't know, Rong Jiu used to love eating candy the most..."

Rong Zhan winked, and Rong Wanli finally shut up, knowing that he had said something he shouldn't have.

Rong Tang didn't care, "Why? What's wrong with mentioning Rong Jiu? When did she come back? Have you seen her?"

Rong Wanli said carefully: "Doesn't the master hate her?"

"I don't hate her, she just doesn't fit in with me, but that doesn't mean she doesn't fit in with your former master."

Rong Wanli said, "The former master also doesn't want someone who messed up the job. She has now been transferred out of the capital for a mission."

After all, they had been adventuring together for nearly a year, so there was still some affection between them. However, Rong Jiu made a fatal mistake and was abandoned just when he was about to complete the mission. It was a pity.

In addition, Rong Jiu is no longer called Rong Jiu. She and they are now people on different paths.

Rong Tang said, "Brother Wanli is right. Their sugar-making process is crude, resulting in poor quality of the finished product. But sugarcane sugar is the mainstream. Unfortunately, that crop can only grow in the south. But it doesn't matter. We can reprocess it and turn it into high-quality cane sugar."

Rong Wanli was surprised and delighted, "Can it be processed further?"

"Of course! You've forgotten that when we first started making wine, we also took other people's inferior wine and processed it. The principle is actually similar to distilling wine, both of which are filtered and purified. The purification process is similar to boiling sorghum sugar."

Rong Wanli almost jumped up, "I'm going to inform Uncle Rong Xian that the sugar sorghum fields, minus the one hundred acres reserved for seed, are almost finished. He's worried that the brothers will have no work to do."

Rong Tang was amused and sad at the same time. "Don't be nervous. Wait until I get this batch of goods. Let them take a break before they continue working."

In the evening, they showed up at the inn rented by the southern merchants. After some bargaining, they got more than what the Liang family offered, but there was no huge profit either. It was roughly equivalent to a 30% profit.

The leader sighed, "This business is not easy to do. Going north is full of difficulties and dangers, and the profit is only 30%."

As Rong Tang offered them tea, he said, "Isn't 30% profit too little? If you do this regularly, with three or four trips a year, your capital will double. What else can you be dissatisfied with?"

The man smiled bitterly, "There's no future for us. We gave you this batch of goods without telling the Liang family, which means we've offended the Liang family. You won't dare come here again in the future."

Rong Tang just smiled and said, "Perhaps when you come next time, the Liang family will no longer exist in Shangjing?"

Those people were very surprised, but they didn't dare to offend anyone when they were away from home. After selling this batch of goods, they originally planned to check out and return to Jiangnan.

"Thank you for your good words. If I can really make three or four trips a year, or even just two or three, this business can still be done."

"Just come, no matter who you are, as long as it's sugar shipped from the south, I can eat any amount."

His words finally encouraged a few merchants, who agreed to make another trip before the New Year. The next step was to unload the dozens of carts of sugar at the Bo Mansion's large warehouse; leaving it outside was unsafe.

Butler Tao was very happy and turned around and asked, "Sir, is this the goods for our new shop?"

Rong Tang was going to be in the sugar reselling business for a long time, but it was not for the new shop. But for some reason, Rong An, who had gone out to discuss business, had not returned until it was completely dark, so he ordered Rong Zhan to go and greet him.

He said to Butler Tao, "Over at the pen and ink shop, take your men and clean up the goods. Move the goods from the four rooms into two, and put away the ones that can't be put away. Also, hire a manager and assistants as soon as possible."

The business was planning to reopen, so Butler Tao hurried to write a business invitation.

Rong An didn't return to the Bo's residence until midnight, and he brought back a man, Gao Zhiyuan from the grocery store. This guy had his face covered with a cloth, leaving only his eyeballs exposed, which was as funny as it could be.

Rong Wanli could recognize him from his figure, and he didn't understand why he had to hide when they met even though they were already acquaintances.

He reached out to pull Gao Zhiyuan's towel, "Brother Gao, I recognize you. Take it off. Aren't you hot?"

Gao Zhiyuan tilted his head and said, "Don't make a fuss. This is the rule. You have to hide your tracks when you leave the grocery store."

"Are you acting as a grocery store owner, or as a black market expert? Are you also hiding this when you go out to buy groceries or attend a banquet?"

Gao Zhiyuan's eyes were dazed for a moment. "Buying groceries, of course... I never go on dates outside. If someone invites me for a drink, I always ask them to pay in cash. After a while, no one invites me anymore."

"Oh my god, that's awesome!"

Rong Wanli was shocked, pointing at him and asked Rong An, "You are like this when you see him?"

Rong An said, "Not in the shop, but when you go out you have to cover your face."