Her hair was cloud-like and beautiful! She opened her eyes and found herself back in the third year

Qin Yizhen was indeed not asleep yet. After hearing Lü Qiao's report, she got up and asked Lü Qiao to style her hair. She then changed into a set of clothes suitable for receiving guests and left Chunxie Courtyard.

Steward Zhou had been waiting for a long time. When he saw her come out, he hurriedly bowed and said, "Greetings, Princess."

"No need for formalities, let's go." Qin Yizhen nodded and followed Butler Zhou to the outer courtyard.

Tonight, the moon shines brightly, and the stars are hidden.

A cool breeze blew, bringing a chill. Qin Yizhen pulled her sleeves tighter, looked at the bluestone slabs under her feet, and asked Steward Zhou, "The Marquis summoned me to his study. Is something the matter?"

"Well... the princess will know when she gets there." Butler Zhou stammered, seemingly embarrassed, as if he found it difficult to speak.

Now, Qin Yizhen was even more curious.

However, she was always patient. Seeing that Steward Zhou didn't seem to be in a hurry, she knew that nothing particularly serious had happened, so she smiled and said, "Then I will see what has happened."

The group walked through the garden and exited through the second gate. Steward Zhou led her towards Qinghui Garden.

Qinghui Garden was originally a courtyard next to the main outer courtyard, used as the owner's study.

Since Cheng Yan and Qin Yizhen parted ways on bad terms three years ago, Cheng Yan has moved here, and Qinghui Garden has become his residence.

The courtyard was just a single-entrance courtyard. The central courtyard was very large and planted with evergreen pine and cypress trees. There were three main rooms and three rooms each in the east, west, and south wings. The three main rooms were used as a study on weekdays, and Cheng Yan would also meet with his subordinates and staff here. The east wing was his residence.

As soon as Qin Yizhen stepped into the courtyard, she saw that the main house was brightly lit.

When the guards waiting in the courtyard saw Qin Yizhen arrive, they bowed and said, "Greetings, Princess."

"No need for formalities." Qin Yizhen nodded, but before she could take a step forward, she saw the door to the main room open, and Cheng Yan appeared in the doorway, walking towards her.

"Come with me." Cheng Yan walked over, took her hand, and led her into the house.

Green Qiao and Granny Gui wanted to follow, but Steward Zhou stopped them: "You two should wait in the courtyard and not go in."

Green Qiao and Granny Gui exchanged a glance. Although they were worried, they ultimately did not dare to say that they wanted to go in together.

Once inside, Cheng Yan and I sat down at the head table behind the low table, and all the subordinates and staff bowed in greeting.

"Greetings, Princess. May you be blessed with good fortune."

"You've all worked hard, no need for formalities, please have a seat." Qin Yizhen looked ahead, her expression gentle yet dignified as she greeted everyone, "Is everything alright at your homes?"

"All is well, Princess Xie."

Qin Yizhen said, "It would be best if everything were well. If there are any difficulties at home and the Marquis is not available, you may send your wives to visit. I will do my best to help."

"Thank you, Princess." The group thanked her again.

Song Nian said with a grin, "Princess, we are all well, but the Marquis is not. There is something I would like to ask for your help with."

Cheng Yan glared at him and lowered his voice to scold, "Is this just my problem? It's clearly your incompetence! Even if things aren't going well, it's all our problem."

Why is he the only one who embarrassed himself?

We'll embarrass ourselves together!

One by one, none of you are going to escape!

Song Nian immediately added, "Yes, yes, it's our fault for being useless. This is not the fault of the Marquis or the Princess. It's definitely not because the Marquis is incompetent."

Qin Yizhen was puzzled: "Tell me what exactly happened?"

Cheng Yan clenched his fist, coughed, and looked away slightly, seemingly finding it difficult to speak and feeling uneasy.

Cheng Yan was concerned about his reputation, but Song Nian was shameless. He said, "If Your Excellency cannot speak up, then I will. We would like to borrow some money from the Princess."

Ok?

Uh-huh?

Qin Yizhen doubted that she had heard correctly.

"Borrow money?"

“Exactly.” Cheng Yan was now completely disillusioned and said bluntly, “I saw the letter you wrote to Huizhen earlier. I think that business of making velvet flowers is indeed quite good. You can give it a try.”

"I have only been the Marquis of Pingxi for three years. During these three years, Dongqin has been plagued by internal and external troubles and has been frequently at war. The military supplies issued by the Ministry of Revenue are not enough, so the Marquis of Pingxi's mansion has to make up for it themselves, which is why we are also a little short of money."

In reality, most of the money for war comes from the national treasury, and the amount subsidized by the Marquis of Pingxi's mansion is not much, and most of it is used for compensation for wounded and injured soldiers.

However, spending seven or eight thousand, or even more than ten thousand taels of silver at a time put considerable pressure on the newly established Pingxi Marquis's mansion. Coupled with other expenses, the company's accounts remained sluggish.

Qin Yizhen was stunned: "You want to do this?"

Mr. Deng stood up and bowed, then said, "The Marquis discussed this with us before, and we all thought it was profitable and worth doing."

"It's not that we are greedy for money and want to compete with the people for profit. It's just that fighting is the hardest thing. We just want to get more money so that the soldiers can have a better life and also give more subsidies to the wounded soldiers."

“These are originally matters of the court, but as you know, Your Majesty ascended the throne at a young age. Although the Empress Dowager and the Marquis have suppressed him, many of the vassal kings have rebellious intentions. Other countries also want to take advantage of our young monarch. The court has many places where money is needed, and there is only so much that can be allocated.”

"War is a matter of life and death, so it cannot be spared. But the matter of compensation and relief is also something that cannot be neglected."

Therefore, in the past two or three years, the Pingxi Marquis's mansion has been subsidizing any shortfalls.

Qin Yizhen felt very sad when she heard this. She said, "If you were short of money, you should have told me long ago. I still have some money on hand. I will have Lü Qiao fetch it for you right away."

Qin Yizhen was not someone who was unaware of human suffering or who regarded money as something external, but if this money was used to compensate the wounded and injured soldiers, she was willing to do her best.

"Thank you in advance, Princess." Mr. Deng thanked her first, and then said, "However, even with the Princess's help, it is not a long-term solution. The Marquis of Pingxi's mansion cannot ask the Princess for money every time. Therefore, we think it is worthwhile to do the velvet flower business."

"I don't ask for much. Five or six thousand taels of silver a year would be enough."

Cheng Yan also said, "After we discussed it and did the math, we realized that if we were to start this business, we would need a sum of money. The three thousand taels of silver we have on hand are not enough, so we thought we'd ask you to lend us some first."

"In recent years, the palace has given us many rewards, all of which are treasures, but they are not easy to sell for money."

So, you can choose some things as payment. If you make money in the future, the things are yours, and you can return the money. If you don't make money, this will settle the loan.

Seeing that they already had a plan and were unwilling to take her money for nothing, Qin Yizhen had no objections and asked, "How much do you want?"

Cheng Yan looked up at Mr. Deng.

Mr. Deng replied, "Your Highness, I have calculated it, and three thousand taels is sufficient."

"Then let Lü Qiao bring three thousand taels of silver."