Chapter 299 Mysterious Woman

Chapter 299 The Mysterious Woman

"I usually don't like to bother with such matters and have entrusted all management rights to Uncle Zhou, only occasionally dropping by to check the accounts when I have time."

At this point, Luo Sinian also felt immensely grateful.

If he hadn't happened to pass by today and come in for a look, Ji Yuntang and Pei Zhiyi would probably have been bullied by Ji Qingqing.

Pei Zhiyi then stood up and cupped her hands to him, saying, "Thank you very much for your help today, Prince Chen."

Luo Sinian lightly raised his hand. He genuinely admired Pei Zhiyi for being straightforward and genuine.

"It's nothing. You are a friend of my third sister-in-law, and therefore a friend of mine. Helping you is only natural."

"In the future, if there's anything you need to buy, just let Uncle Zhou know. I'll have him send it to your residence, so you won't have to make the trip again."

Pei Zhiyi cupped her hands once more in gratitude. "Then this humble daughter thanks Prince Chen in advance!"

Ji Yuntang's gaze flickered between the two.

This was the first time she had seen Luo Sinian being so courteous to a woman.

When she thought back to how he had treated her initially, he had been utterly repulsed.

Just then, Luo Sinian's words interrupted her train of thought.

He turned to look at Ji Yuntang, his deep voice carrying an unmistakable certainty.

"If I'm not mistaken, all of today's events were your doing, third sister-in-law, weren't they?"

Ji Yuntang rubbed her nose. "I really can't hide anything from you."

"A jar of Xishi Rouge costs a hundred taels of silver. Zhi Yi and I helped you drive up the price and earned ten thousand taels. How about we split it three ways?"

A "just as I expected" look appeared on Luo Sinian's handsome face.

He knew that Ji Yuntang wouldn't raise the price just for no reason.

Because she had already discussed it with Steward Zhou beforehand.

They would split the earnings 30-70, with Pei Yue Pavilion taking thirty percent and Ji Yuntang seventy.

All they had to do was put on a show.

Although this practice was quite unscrupulous, the person paying was Ji Qingqing.

With that in mind, Luo Sinian felt that ten thousand taels was still too little!

He was a businessman too, and passing up a chance to make money wasn't his style.

Therefore, Luo Sinian agreed right away. "Alright, it's settled then."

But Pei Zhiyi said, "You two can split the silver. I didn't help at all, so I don't want any."

Ji Yuntang smiled gently at her. "Who said you didn't help? You helped a lot! If you hadn't driven up the price against Ji Qingqing, she wouldn't have fallen for it so quickly and named a high price of ten thousand taels."

"So you're the one among the three of us who deserves the money the most. It's settled, Zhi Yi, don't refuse."

"Besides, this money didn't come out of our own purses. No matter how you look at it, we've made a profit."

Hearing this, Pei Zhiyi was both shocked and delighted, and also a bit speechless.

When she had caught Ji Yuntang's glance, she had known it meant something.

She hadn't expected Ji Yuntang to be so ruthless in swindling her own family, without any guilt.

However, from her interactions with Ji Qingqing, Pei Zhiyi could sense that the people of Yongning Marquis Manor treated Ji Yuntang poorly.

So, what she did to Ji Qingqing was only fair.

Pei Zhiyi thought to herself, if she had been in Ji Yuntang's shoes, she might not have done better.

After they had tea and chatted for a while, Steward Zhou brought the silver.

"Prince Chen, Princess Ye, Miss Pei, this is the silver I went to get with Second Miss Ji from the Marquis Manor. Ten thousand taels in silver notes. Please accept it, Your Highness."

Luo Sinian took the silver notes and placed them on the table, then began to divide them.

Steward Zhou turned to leave, but just as he was about to walk out the door, Ji Yuntang suddenly called him back.

"Steward Zhou, wait a moment."

Steward Zhou came over and asked, "Does Princess Ye have any other instructions?"

Ji Yuntang asked him curiously, "When you went to Yongning Marquis Manor with Ji Qingqing to fetch the silver, did they just hand over ten thousand taels to you that easily?"

Ji Yuntang felt something was off. It only took Steward Zhou about half an hour to go back and forth from here to Yongning Marquis Manor.

That meant that when he arrived at the manor, he didn't have to negotiate much at all before they gave him the silver.

Luo Sinian paused in his counting and looked confused.

"Third sister-in-law, are you saying there's something wrong with the money?"

Ji Yuntang shook her head. "It's not the money that's the problem. It's the people."

"Knowing the Yongning Marquis family as I do, they aren't that easy to deal with. They clearly knew that this silver was paid at a hundred times the cost of Xishi Rouge, yet they willingly handed it over to Steward Zhou without any haggling. That doesn't add up."

After all, that family had only given her five taels of silver as her dowry!

Wasn't ten thousand taels like taking their lives?

Luo Sinian frowned. He understood what Ji Yuntang meant—the Yongning Marquis family had paid far too smoothly.

Given their character, they wouldn't let themselves be taken advantage of so easily.

Something was wrong.

Listening to their conversation, Pei Zhiyi remarked curiously, "Could it be that Marquis Yongning knew that this Pei Yue Pavilion was Prince Chen's establishment and wanted to give him face?"

Ji Yuntang picked up a peach blossom pastry, took a bite, and said as she ate, "Absolutely not."

She said those four words very definitively.

After swallowing the pastry, she explained, "Ji Nanchuan is a member of the Crown Prince's faction. He has always wanted Ji Qingqing to marry Luo Jingshen and make her Crown Princess. That's also why they brought me back to marry in her place."

"Although our prince is paralyzed, he is still qualified to compete for that position. And the Eighth Brother is close to our prince, known to be in the Night Prince's faction. So Ji Nanchuan wouldn't bother to do him any favors."

With this explanation, Pei Zhiyi finally understood.

But she did not say anything more.

Ji Yuntang looked at Steward Zhou and asked him, "Steward Zhou, as the Princess, I just want to ask, what happened at the Yongning Hou Mansion when you went there?"

There were only two possible reasons they handed over the money so easily.

Either Ji Nanchuan had ulterior motives, or he was trying to hurry Steward Zhou out the door.

Either way, Ji Yuntang wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Steward Zhou thought carefully and did recall something.

"When I went to the Yongning Hou Mansion to collect the silver, I happened to overhear two guards at the gate talking. They said that Second Young Master Ji had brought a woman back from outside today at noon and declared that he would marry her."

"That woman was stunningly beautiful, with a face that could launch a thousand ships. Second Young Master Ji brought her straight home. When the Marquis learned of it, he was very angry and told him to send her away. But Second Young Master Ji said that if the Marquis drove away that young lady, then he would leave with her and they would wander the world together."

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