The Flourishing Era of Female Merchants

Emperor Mingde frowned, his gaze towards Yan Bing shifting. "What? Don't you like the Fifth Prince?"

"I like it!" Yan Bing blurted out hastily, but then realized something and blushed slightly. Then, remembering her concerns, her expression became complicated. "This is... I don't know what the King of Qin thinks about this marriage. Marriage is a matter between two people, and I don't want to force anyone!"

Everyone was taken aback. It was clear that the young lady of the Marquis of Jin's mansion had feelings for the Prince of Qin. So, was she worried that the Prince of Qin wouldn't like her?

"Haha, he has no choice but to obey my decree. Besides, you two were childhood sweethearts, so this marriage will certainly not be forced!" Emperor Mingde laughed heartily, becoming increasingly fond of the marriage.

Upon hearing this, Yan Bing had some concerns, but she also hoped that the marriage could be arranged. Thinking of the person in her heart, Yan Bing was filled with mixed feelings. Was the Emperor going to summon him to the palace?

Thinking back to her previous meeting with him at Lingfeng Pass, Yan Bing's eyes darkened, and no one knew what she was thinking.

Empress Feng watched all this silently, her thoughts gradually drifting away. Suddenly, she saw several figures approaching. Empress Feng's eyes flickered, her emotions extremely complex, a mixture of expectation and sharpness.

However, these emotions were eventually suppressed, replaced by a dignified smile. "Your Majesty, I recently acquired some interesting items, and I was thinking that since so many people are here today, why don't we all appreciate them together!"

"Oh? The Empress has such leisure time? Since you are so willing, then the Empress may enjoy herself!" Emperor Mingde's attitude became noticeably more indifferent after saying this.

Empress Feng saw this and felt a pang of bitterness in her heart, but she held it in. When she saw several palace maids escorting her forward, she regained her smile.

Several palace maids, each carrying a tray covered with brocade cloth, moved gracefully closer and closer to Emperor Mingde and Empress Feng, and bowed in unison.

When everyone saw one of the palace maids, a look of amazement flashed across their eyes. She seemed somewhat familiar. Only An Mi and Bai Yi's eyes narrowed when they saw her. The woman had dark eyebrows and bright eyes. Her features were so beautiful that she seemed otherworldly. Who else could it be but Yun Xiu?

Why did she suddenly appear at this event?

An Mi was immediately filled with doubt. She hadn't seen Yun Xiu in the palace for quite some time. Her sudden appearance must mean something was amiss!

An Mi became wary, thinking to herself, "Sure enough, this trip to the palace won't be without incident."

"Your Majesty, these are the things I acquired some time ago. You all must take good care of them. These things are all very valuable; any one of them could cost you your lives, understand?" Empress Feng said solemnly. Not only did the palace maids feel uneasy hearing this, but even the noble ladies felt uneasy.

Anmi felt increasingly uneasy and silently observed everything before her.

"Yes, Your Majesty," the palace maids replied in unison.

After saying this, each person held a tray and stood in a row. Empress Feng gave an order, and then the palace maids lifted the brocade handkerchiefs, revealing all the items that had been covered to everyone. Jade ruyi, jade trees, jade cabbages, and various jade ornaments—just one look was enough to tell that they were all priceless treasures. Everyone looked at them and couldn't help but marvel. They had never seen these things before at a glance!

Empress Feng is indeed Empress Feng; she really has a grand air about her by giving these things to them for their appraisal!

Even An Mi was surprised by the value of these things, and she was filled with curiosity about Empress Feng's intentions. What exactly did this Empress Feng want to do?

"Your Majesty," Empress Feng said slowly, her words full of flattery, though inwardly she felt a pang of heartache. "These things were brought by my father from the Bohai region. He originally intended to present them to Your Majesty personally, but these days he has fallen quite ill and has difficulty even getting out of bed. So, he asked me to bring them to the palace so I could present them to Your Majesty." She had only seen these items once before her marriage; they were all treasures of the Feng family, incredibly precious. This time, her father had gone to great lengths for the Feng family, even offering a third of his treasures to please the Emperor. Moreover…

Remembering Old Master Feng's instructions, Empress Feng glanced at Yunxiu without leaving a trace, but it was only a glance before her eyes were filled with a smile again. "Present them to the Emperor one by one and let him appreciate them."

"Yes." After saying this, the palace maids carried the items and walked one by one to Emperor Mingde.

Emperor Mingde's gaze swept quickly over those things, the corners of his mouth still slightly upturned, but his deep eyes revealed no emotion whatsoever. Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and the whole world seemed to fall silent. Everyone looked in the direction from which the sound came, and almost everyone broke out in a cold sweat.

The sound just now was none other than a jade ruyi falling squarely to the ground. The once perfect jade was instantly reduced to a pile of fragments. As the crowd followed the shattered jade fragments upwards, they were slightly taken aback when they saw the person who had been holding the jade ruyi. Wasn't that the beautiful palace maid?

Yunxiu? An Mi's eyes narrowed, as if she was thinking about something. It was Yunxiu who broke this valuable jade ruyi. What... what's going on?

No matter what reason she was given, she would not believe that Yunxiu would be so reckless as to not even be able to hold a jade ruyi properly and actually drop it in front of the Emperor and Empress.

And Yunxiu? Perhaps because of shock, or perhaps because of fear, she stood there dumbfounded, as if petrified.

"Oh dear, this...this..." Empress Feng looked at the shards scattered on the ground, seemingly at a loss for what to do. As if she had found her target, she glanced at Yunxiu and slapped her without hesitation. With a crisp sound, it was comparable to the sound of the jade ruyi shattering earlier.

The slap snapped Yunxiu out of her daze. A burning pain shot through her face, but she couldn't care less at that moment. She hastily knelt on the ground, stammering, "This servant...this servant..."

She wanted to beg for mercy, but perhaps she was too flustered and even more at a loss. However, with that beautiful face, she looked even more charming and lovely.

When Emperor Mingde saw this, he couldn't help but frown. He naturally recognized the woman; she was the one that Old Master Feng had sent to the palace!

Almost subconsciously, his guardedness surfaced, and his eyes grew increasingly cold.

Empress Feng seemed furious and ignored her completely, slapping her again. "How could you do such a thing? You can't even hold a jade ruyi properly. Now that it's broken, even taking your life wouldn't be enough to make up for it!"