Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

After Shen Jingheng left, the Imperial Concubine began to throw a tantrum at the Emperor.

"Your Majesty, what did you mean just now? Why did you disagree with my proposal?"

Seeing the disgruntled concubine, the Emperor was not angry at all; instead, he comforted her.

"Zhen'er, don't be angry, listen to me."

"Well, go ahead and tell me. I just want to know why my niece isn't good enough for Lord Shen?"

“Zhen’er, although Minister Shen’s family is a collateral branch of the Shen family, the head of the direct line of the Shen family values ​​him highly. Moreover, Minister Shen is now a second-rank official in the court. It is indeed inappropriate to betroth your niece, a concubine’s daughter, to him. I’m not saying your niece is bad, but she’s not suitable for Minister Shen.” Hearing the Emperor’s words, Consort Jiang knew that it was impossible to betroth her niece to Shen Jingheng. However, she was unwilling to give up. Although Minister Shen had long since pledged allegiance to her, she still felt uneasy without any ties between them.

The Emperor looked at the Consort, who was lost in thought, and sighed inwardly. For her sake, at thirty-five years old, he only had seven princesses and not a single prince. He wasn't unaware of why none of his princes had grown up safely, but what could he do? He feared upsetting the Consort; as long as she was happy, he could pretend he knew nothing. However, in the past two years, he felt his health was declining, and thinking of the fate of the nation, he began to feel anxious.

Stroking Consort Jiang's still-flat belly, the Emperor hoped it was a prince, not a princess, so he wouldn't be in a difficult position.

"Zhen'er, why didn't you bring Yueyue over? I haven't seen her for two days."

"She was asleep when I arrived, but she might be awake now. Would Your Majesty like to come with me to check on her?"

"Haha, alright. Is it because you wanted her to come to your palace to keep you company that you deliberately didn't bring the princess?" The Emperor reached out and pinched the Consort's cheek, asking with a smile.

"Hmph, you know it, why do you have to say it out loud?" Consort Jiang said, glancing at the Emperor. Seeing her like this, the Emperor was not angry. He carefully put his arm around the Consort's waist and walked towards Consort Jiang's Aizhen Palace surrounded by palace servants.

Since entering the palace, Consort Jiang had enjoyed the Emperor's exclusive favor for over a decade. The Emperor neglected the harem for her sake, and even the Empress would give her a wide berth. Everyone called Consort Jiang a bewitching concubine, a seductress who bewitched the Emperor. But where was the seduction? It was simply the Emperor's rare and genuine love.

Because of an imperial edict, the sales of watermelons transported from Zhangjia Village suddenly skyrocketed at the Shen family's shop.

However, yesterday, when the watermelons were unloaded from the ship, they were met with a lot of ridicule. The mockery only intensified when the watermelons were transported to the Shen family's shop.

"Shopkeeper Shen, your husband is really something. This year, which family in the capital hasn't grown a few watermelons? You've transported so many from all this way. I'm afraid they're going to be a burden this year. But if you sell them at a lower price, you might be able to recoup the transportation costs."

Hearing what the visitor said, Manager Shen, who was good-natured, was not angry. He knew that the master and mistress would never do anything meaningless.

After closing the shop that evening, Manager Shen cut open a watermelon and let the shop assistants taste it.

With just one bite, everyone understood why the master had ordered so many watermelons to be brought over; these were much sweeter than the watermelons sold in the capital.

"Manager Shen, Madam said we should price our goods according to the market. What do you think is a suitable price?" one of the young shop assistants asked.

"How much did you buy yesterday?" Manager Shen asked after thinking for a moment.

"Fifty coins a pound," the shopkeeper said.

"This is much cheaper than what we sold it for last year!" another shop assistant said.

"Yes, they're much cheaper than what we sell. A lot of them are grown on the estates of wealthy families. There's too much of it, they can't eat it all, so they sell it. But the taste can't compare to ours, and they're not as big as the ones in our shop. But quite a few people buy them," the young shop assistant said.

"Last year, all those watermelons were bought up by wealthy families; many ordinary people never even got to eat them. Now they're available for sale, and at a cheaper price, so there's sure to be a lot of buyers," the shop's accountant said slowly, wiping watermelon juice from his goatee.

"We'll sell it for eighty coins a catty this year," Manager Shen said after thinking for a while.

"Eighty coins a pound? That's too expensive!" Several people present couldn't help but ask.

"At this price, our watermelons aren't for ordinary people." Manager Shen already had a plan in mind.

The next day, as soon as the shop opened, the shopkeeper had someone bring out a table with several watermelons on it and a sign next to it that read the price of the watermelons: eighty coins per pound.

Seeing the crowd, people quickly gathered around, and after seeing the prices on the sign, they began to discuss them animatedly.

"Everyone else sells it for fifty coins a pound, but his shop sells it for eighty coins a pound. Isn't that blatant cheating?"

"Yes, they're all watermelons, yet they're so much more expensive. What a rip-off."

Manager Shen ignored the murmurs among the crowd and let them talk. Before long, someone even brought a cart full of watermelons and set up a stall next to Shen's shop to sell them.

"Watermelon, big watermelon, fifty cents a pound. If it's not sweet, you don't have to pay!"

As a result, even more people gathered around. Many of them were angry that the watermelons at the Shen residence were so expensive that they went specifically to the watermelon stall to buy one, and even had it cut open on the spot so they could eat it right there in front of the Shen residence.

"Manager Shen, look at those people outside! It's outrageous!" The young waiter standing at the door, seeing what was happening in front of the door, said angrily to Manager Shen.

"It's alright, don't worry about it," Manager Shen said calmly, showing no concern whatsoever.

People always love a crowd, and once they saw a group gathered, more and more people would come. Seeing that it turned out to be a watermelon vendors having a competition, the onlookers were even more reluctant to leave, wanting to see what the vendors would do.

Once the first person bought a watermelon for fifty coins a pound and stood in front of the Shen family's shop to eat it, a second and a third followed.

The watermelon seller was even more ingenious. He noticed that while many people were buying watermelons and eating them in front of his stall, some weren't. He realized that those people probably didn't have much money. So, he started selling the watermelons in slices. This created a unique scene in front of the Shen family's stall.

Everyone was holding a slice of watermelon and munching on it, protesting that the watermelons sold at Shenfu Shop were too expensive. As for who would be so idle, the main group in the crowd were those good-for-nothing playboys who did nothing all day long; to put it bluntly, they were a bunch of people who loved to watch the drama unfold.