leaf shadow by the pool

Chapter 11

Ye Ying finally returned to the imperial city, and saw all kinds of prosperous scenery along the way, but Ye Ying still misses Jiangnan a little bit.I heard that the women in Jiangnan are all soft and fragrant like jade leaves. Because of business matters, I didn't have time to feel it, so I hurried back to the imperial city.

Back home, Mother Ye prepared a lot of delicious food for Ye Ying. After Ye Ying returned to the room to wash up, she went to see Mother Ye directly, and gave Mother Ye the embroidery she asked her to do.

"Sure enough, she is an embroiderer from the south of the Yangtze River. She embroiders well. Take a look at the colors. Shuyi, come and take a look." Mother Ye said to Mo Shuyi, holding the embroidery.

"Well, it's really good. It's much better than the embroidery in the Imperial City. However, the Empress Dowager should have a lot of embroidery, and we have to prepare some more. If there is only this, it seems that we are not sincere. Mother, What do you think?" Mo Shuyi took the embroidery and looked at it.

"Of course. We'll go and have a look later. I'll leave this embroidery to you first."

"Yes." Mo Shuyi wrapped up the embroidery and retreated.

"Zian, I heard from your father that you encountered some difficulties in Jiangnan?" Mother Ye watched Ye Ying eat happily.

"Well, there are some troubles, but they are all resolved. Mother, you don't have to worry." Ye Ying simply said when Ye Mu asked.

"That's good, wait a minute, you go and see Xiaoxi."

Ye Ying didn't know why she wanted to see Xiaoxi, logically speaking, she should have gone to see Ye Hongxin first.But Ye Ying didn't ask and agreed casually: "Got it."

After eating, he took a nap and went to see Ye Xi.

"Xiao Xi." Ye Ying called Ye Xi.

"Second brother, I was going to look for you, why did you come?" Ye Xi immediately got up when he heard Ye Ying calling her.

"Mother said let me come and see you. Why do you have something to do? You are so anxious to find me?" Ye Ying entered the room and sat down.

"Well, there are some things, but there is no rush. Second brother, how are you doing in Jiangnan?"

"Nothing has changed, that's it. Tell me, what's the matter with you?"

"Second brother, you...do you know that Mr. He has someone he likes?" Ye Xi said after a moment of deliberation.

Ye Ying was shocked, what! ?He Linyuan has someone he likes.

"No... I don't know, how did you know?" After being shocked, Ye Ying quickly calmed down and asked Ye Xi.

"Master He said it himself. It seems that you don't know. Master He actually hides it from you. I thought you knew so that's why you persuaded me on my father's birthday. Second brother, second brother." Ye Xi was talking to himself, seeing Ye Ying's expressionless expression for a long time, he stretched out his hand and shook it in front of Ye Ying.

"Ah? Oh. Yes! How could he hide this from me?" I thought He Linyuan and I were already good friends.Ye Ying said in her heart.

"Xiao Xi, why did he tell you this for no reason?" Ye Ying asked Ye Xi suspiciously.

"It's not for no reason. I know that when he had a sweetheart, it was on my father's [-]th birthday. Master He told me about it himself, but at the time I thought it was Master He who wanted to prevaricate my words. Later, it was you who went to Jiangnan Time. Well, Mr. He often comes to the mansion to do things, so I took the opportunity to ask Mr. He, and he told me the scene of their meeting." Ye Xi thought for a while and said.

"Oh, it seems that Mr. He really likes that girl." Ye Xi said with emotion.

"Do you know who that girl is?" Ye Ying was shocked by the fact that He Linyuan had a sweetheart, and she didn't want to ask Ye Xi directly.

Ye Xi shook his head, "I don't know, Mr. He didn't tell me. But it should be the daughter of a minister."

Ye Xi saw that Ye Ying wanted to ask again, so he said directly: "They met at a banquet, it should be that daughter went with his father."

After Ye Xi finished speaking, she looked at Ye Ying, who still looked dull. "Second brother, what's wrong with you?"

"It's nothing, I'm just a little surprised. That's what you want to ask me?" Ye Ying was stunned for a moment and then returned to his original appearance.

"Yes, but you don't even know that Mr. He has a sweetheart, and it seems that you don't know who Mr. He's sweetheart is."

"Oh, yes."

Ye Ying left Ye Xi's room in a daze.Ye Ying stood on the steps and looked at the tree in the middle of the courtyard. Ye Ying stared blankly, feeling something strange on his face, raised his hand to touch his cheek, and felt a piece of ice cold.

"Really, you look like a girl." Ye Ying looked at the water marks on her fingertips and smiled bitterly.

Ten days ago, Ye Hongxin received a letter from Ye Ying, explaining what happened to Ye Ying in Jiangnan.After that, Ye Hongxin was always worried, so he met Duan Yuhao in secret.

"Ye Aiqing, what's the matter?" Duan Yuhao sat in the imperial study and looked at Ye Hongxin.

"Reporting to the emperor, Quanzi wrote a letter from home a few days ago, saying that a dozen cargo ships have arrived in the south of the Yangtze River."

"It's just a cargo ship. That won't work. The cargo is unusual?" Duan Yuhao asked Ye Hongxin suspiciously.

"The goods are common, just unusual."

"Oh? What an unusual method?" Duan Yuhao became very interested.

"Back to the emperor, it's tea."

As soon as these words came out, Duan Yuhao fell into deep thought: "Ye Aiqing, is it all tea leaves?"

"Yes."

Duan Yuhao also realized the seriousness of the matter, "If I remember correctly, this tea should be under the management of the Tea and Salt Department. This tea and salt department is under the management of Ye Aiqing, right?"

"Your Majesty, I can see your sincerity. I absolutely did not do this, and I hope Your Majesty will find out." Seeing Duan Yuhao pointing at himself, Ye Hongxin quickly knelt down to express his sincerity.

"I know that Aiqing would not do such a thing, and if it was really you who did it, you would not come to tell me. Aiqing, get up." Duan Yuhao looked at Ye Hongxin amusedly.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Ye Hongxin got up after receiving the emperor's oral order.

"Then Yi Aiqing thinks who did this?" Duan Yuhao asked Ye Hongxin's opinion.

"Your Majesty, this must have been done by someone in the court, and they wanted to hide Chen Cang without anyone noticing. There has never been a mistake in the management of tea in the past, and the ministers handed over have carefully checked it. I am sure that I have never given permission. Tea merchants are trading in various places. Either this happened recently, or the people below deliberately concealed it to avoid the court." Ye Hongxin told Duan Yuhao his conjecture.

"Aiqing is right, so according to what Aiqing said, what should we do about this matter?"

"I believe that this matter is of great importance, and it is not appropriate to startle the snake, and should secretly send someone to investigate."

"Then according to what Aiqing said, is Aiqing willing to help me investigate this matter." Duan Yuhao asked Ye Hongxin solemnly.

"I will go through fire and water for your majesty, I will not hesitate to do anything, but if there is only one person, I am afraid it will be difficult to accomplish things. I also ask the emperor to appoint another person to help me."

"Sure, who does Aiqing want?" Duan Yuhao asked Ye Hongxin curiously.

"The minister wants the help of Master Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Officials."

"Oh? Why?"

"This matter is of great importance. There should be many officials involved in it. If Master Yu is on the side to assist, it will not attract too much attention from others."

"Okay, I'll write a secret order and ask Yu Ze to help you secretly." Duan Yuhao immediately agreed after hearing Ye Hongxin's reason.

"Then Ye Aiqing will hand it over to Yu Ze." Duan Yuhao wrote the letter and handed it to Ye Hongxin.

"The minister obeys the order."

After leaving the palace, Ye Hongxin went directly to the Ministry of Officials to look for Yu Ze.

"Lord Ye, what do you need from me?" Yu Ze was just about to deal with the affairs of the Ministry of Li and was about to return home when someone came to report that Ye Hongxin, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, wanted to see him.

"Yes, it's just a private matter, I hope you can talk a little bit more." Ye Hongxin looked at Yu Ze's attendants and said to Yu Ze.

"You all go down, Mr. Ye, please follow me." Yu Ze dismissed his attendants and took Ye Hongxin into a compartment.

"What's the matter, Lord Ye? They all came here in person. I don't believe it's a private matter." Yu Ze said to Ye Hongxin with a smile.

"Master Yu will know after reading this letter." Ye Hongxin took out the secret decree and handed it to Yu Ze.

Seeing Ye Hongxin's solemn expression, Yu Ze couldn't help but feel a little puzzled. When he saw Ye Hongxin handing over a letter, he took it.I saw Ningguo's unique pattern on the letter, which was the pattern of a Baize beast.

Yu Ze asked suspiciously: "Your Majesty?"

"Ah."

Yu Ze carefully read what was said in the letter, and asked Ye Hongxin, "Is this really true?"

"Yes, Zi'an wrote a letter about it ten days ago, so it should be true."

"Then I will naturally investigate this matter to the bottom. I don't know what Master Ye wants?" Yu Ze put the letter away and asked Ye Hongxin.

"I'm afraid this matter is not that simple. I hope Master Yu can secretly find out which officials in the Tea and Salt Department have close ties with the court. I am in the Ministry of Household Affairs. If I investigate the official's relationship with the DPRK and China, it will definitely attract attention."

"Okay. I'll send someone to investigate."

When Ye Hongxin finished talking to Yu Ze and returned home, he was told that Ye Ying was back. Ye Hongxin went to look for Ye Ying after changing his clothes.

Ye Ying was staying in the room, Ye Hongxin knocked on the door, and Ye Ying opened the door.

Ye Hongxin saw Ye Ying's slightly red eyes at a glance, and asked, "Zian, what's wrong with you?"

"Oh, it's okay, I choked on food just now, and coughed badly." Ye Ying lied.

Ye Hongxin had no doubts about him: "Really, I'm such a grown man, and I don't know how you managed to choke on food. I have something to do with you, and you won't let me in?"

"No, dad, what's the matter?" Ye Ying asked Ye Hongxin to enter the room while talking.

"Tell me about your stay in Jiangnan." Ye Hongxin directly explained the purpose of his visit.

"? Dad, are you talking about the dozen or so ships?" Ye Ying was confused for a moment.

"Otherwise? Tell me the details."

"There is plenty of rain this year, so the production of tea has also increased a lot. I thought the price would drop a little this year, but I didn't expect it to drop too much. I almost lost my money."

"Whoever wants to listen to this, just talk about the dozen or so boats of tea." Ye Hongxin interrupted Ye Ying's exaggerated narration.

"Just as I was about to say, I asked people to see why it fell so badly. The people below replied that more than a dozen cargo ships came from the south, and a lot of tea was transported from the ships. The tea was sold at a low price to the local tea shop, so the price dropped drastically. Dad, you don’t know that the price of tea is ridiculously low.”

"Okay. I'm too lazy to listen to your complaints. Did you ask someone to find out where the merchant ship came from?" Ye Hongxin continued to interrupt Ye Ying.

The author has something to say:

There was a tea monopoly system in ancient times, and the article has been changed a lot, which cannot stand scrutiny.I hope readers don't take it too seriously.