Buying someone’s mouth wasn’t difficult, but the same words spoken from the stinking mouth of a destitute beggar in the marketplace versus spoken by the sharp tongue of a learned and talented scholar in literary circles carried completely different weight.

Jiang Xuening naturally understood such simple logic.

However, buying the latter’s tongue didn’t come cheap either. Moreover, buying their tongue alone wasn’t enough—one needed to have both soft and hard cards in hand. After all, literati had soft bones. Without some “hard” methods as safeguards, how could one know they wouldn’t change their tune overnight?

When all the calculations were done, the expenses were no small sum.

After obtaining the money from Xie Wei, she immediately gave Xiao Dingfei twenty thousand taels to spend first. Although Xiao Dingfei had seen the world since arriving in the capital, seeing a young lady from an inner chamber like Jiang Xuening casually lay out twenty thousand taels with a magnanimous attitude of “just come ask me for more when you’ve spent it all” still gave him quite a shock. Naturally, he felt that this powerful patron he’d latched onto had an unfathomable depth to her, and when handling affairs for her, he worked with utmost dedication and effort.

As for Jiang Xuening herself, she began working on the matter of salt field shares.

As everything at the Ren family salt field in Shu proceeded smoothly, news continuously reached the capital, and the price of salt field shares had been climbing steadily. Three days ago, a swift horse arrived at the Shuxiang Inn, saying that the first batch of snowflake-like well salt had come out, and even brought a small bag back for the various shareholders in the capital to see. Jiang Xuening was in the palace at the time and naturally couldn’t see it. But before she entered the palace as a companion reader, the shares were one thousand two hundred wen per share. When she left the palace for her rest days, the price had already soared to one thousand five hundred wen per share, and even at that price there was demand but no supply.

Compared to the initial price of five hundred wen per share, the current share price of the Ren family salt field had already quadrupled!

Because of that incident during the ransacking of the Marquis of Yongyi’s estate, Jiang Xuening had already sold off most of the twenty thousand shares she held. Lu Xian had “taken advantage of her misfortune” to acquire quite a few, leaving only two thousand shares in her hands.

Seeing that the current price was high, it was the perfect time to sell.

According to what You Fangying had said in her previous life, doing this thing called “harvesting chives” was actually rather unscrupulous. Moreover, she was reborn and knew more information than others to begin with. Compared to other people buying and selling shares in the market, she had every advantage—it was extremely unfair. So when making this decision, Jiang Xuening wasn’t without hesitation and guilty conscience. But thinking of how well Shen Zhiyi had treated her on her birthday in the palace, how could she allow that bit of hesitation to ruin such an important matter?

So gritting her teeth, she ultimately threw out all two thousand shares directly.

When news came that someone was dumping shares on the market, You Yue was in her boudoir trying on new clothes that the embroiderers from Xianyun Workshop had just made for her.

The finest Shu brocade in a light azure color.

Several beautiful oleander branches were embroidered on the hem of the skirt. With her slender figure, when she turned slightly after putting it on, her waist gave that impression of being barely graspable, which greatly satisfied her.

The maid beside her heaped flattery to the skies: “Our young lady is truly a celestial maiden descended to earth! These clothes look absolutely stunning on you, making your complexion appear incomparably radiant. That eldest young lady from the Jiang estate, how could she possibly be as beautiful or as talented as our young lady? I heard that His Highness Prince Linzi is an elegant and refined person. That Jiang Xuehui is dull and boring—how could she possibly catch His Highness’s eye? When selection day comes, you just wear this outfit, and you’re guaranteed to leave everyone dumbstruck. The position of princess consort is yours and no one else’s!”

These past days, You Yue had truly been riding high on success.

Originally, the Earl’s estate had quite some resentment toward her over spending money to bail her out of prison. After all, what went out was real gold and silver—fifteen thousand taels. Anyone would spit blood over that amount. But after that incident occurred, it instead stirred up her temper. In a fit of anger, she took all her accumulated savings and used them to buy shares in the Ren family salt field—a full four thousand shares in hand.

Later, when Ren Weizhi sought to marry that little hussy You Fangying, fearing she would obstruct things, he slipped her two thousand taels in red envelopes before and after.

Naturally her hands became flush with money again.

At first, when the Earl and his wife learned she had been so wasteful, taking all that money to buy salt field shares, they nearly fell ill with rage and immediately wanted to sell off the shares.

Fortunately, she threatened suicide and managed to stop them.

Now that the share price of the Ren family salt field was climbing steadily, the Earl and his wife beamed with joy whenever they saw her, caring more about the rise and fall of that share price than she did. Her status in the estate naturally rose accordingly like a rising tide lifting all boats.

Moreover, the Earl’s estate initially hadn’t taken that Ren Weizhi who sought to marry You Fangying seriously—just some poor, down-and-out young man from a backwater place in Shu. They married You Fangying off to him purely for the bride price.

After all, she was a daughter born of a concubine—three thousand taels wasn’t a loss.

But after the situation at the Ren family salt field improved, the Earl of Qingyuan and his wife gradually began having ideas.

The Earl of Qingyuan said: “No matter what, she’s still a daughter married out from our Earl’s estate. There’s no reason that after going to Shu she should sever contact with the family. That boy surnamed Ren was able to build up the salt field largely thanks to borrowing the Earl estate’s reputation, wasn’t it? A merchant marrying an official’s daughter—he got the better end of that deal! The Ren family salt field is such a large operation and also concerns the price of the shares in Yue’er’s hands. No matter what, we can’t let them do as they please. We should pick a capable steward to send over there to properly teach them a thing or two and also keep watch over the salt field’s situation. He only issued forty thousand shares in the capital, accounting for forty percent of the salt field’s dividends, with sixty percent remaining. Surely he should take out a bit more to show filial respect to his wife’s family!”

So after the New Year, the Earl’s estate had already sent people to Shu.

A place like the Ren family salt field, once it started producing salt, that snowflake-like well salt was like snowflake-like silver—who wouldn’t be moved seeing it?

You Yue hadn’t expected that a lowborn bastard like You Fangying could encounter such good fortune.

However, she wasn’t jealous.

Anything that belonged to You Fangying, as long as she wanted it, she could snatch it away. Others prepared the wedding dress, and then she could wear it—wasn’t that a convenient thing? So You Yue had been quite relaxed these days, just fussing at home with cosmetics and clothes, preparing to shine brilliantly on the day of Prince Linzi’s consort selection.

Hearing the maid who came in from outside say that someone at the Shuxiang Inn had begun dumping shares, she froze completely for a moment, then started laughing: “The Ren family salt field’s current situation is excellent. One can imagine that this zhuotong well can continuously bring in silver. Even if others wanted to imitate it, they would need a very long time. Having shares in hand yet throwing them away this early—they’re either short on money or shortsighted!”

The maids all looked somewhat puzzled: “Then what about you, Miss?”

You Yue’s eyes rolled, but she suddenly smiled, her pupils releasing a strange gleam. Taking the key, she opened her money box, somewhat unable to contain her excitement as she said: “Others may be shortsighted, but this is a golden opportunity for this young lady! Right now I’m worrying about having nowhere to buy more shares—everywhere there’s demand but no supply! These shares, I absolutely must seize this opportunity to acquire them!”

Then taking banknotes and her seal, she headed to the Shuxiang Inn.

However, how scorching hot had the market for Ren family salt field shares been these past days?

Those two thousand dumped shares were released in four batches. When You Yue arrived, the first two batches had already been snatched up by others. Even at the high price of one thousand six hundred wen, she only managed to grab the last two batches, totaling one thousand shares.

Added to the four thousand shares she already held, she now had five thousand shares.

The other one thousand shares had actually been purchased first by people Lu Xian had sent.

Because this batch of shares was small in quantity and it was impossible to determine which side they came from, he didn’t pay it much attention.

After the shares were accounted for, he went to the Xie estate to have tea with Xie Wei.

At that time, Xie Wei was listening to Jianshu report on the situation regarding Jiang Xuening.

After hearing it, his brow furrowed tightly.

Jianshu figured that Master Lu had known his own master for many years, and they both served under the master’s employ. Lu had always been extremely attentive to matters of money, treasuring wealth like life itself. So after hesitating a moment, he asked: “Second Miss Jiang has made moves with the shares, as if she’s scheming something. Should we inform Master Lu’s side about this matter?”

At this moment, Lu Xian, dressed in a scholarly long robe, had already walked over from the corridor, strolling leisurely as if walking through his own home, his face full of spring breeze contentment.

Xie Wei lifted his eyelids and saw him.

A moment later, he withdrew his gaze, his long eyebrows lightly twitching as he actually said: “Inform him of what?”

Jianshu was immediately stunned.

Xie Wei’s expression was indifferent, showing no irregularity: “Business matters—Lu Zhaoyin knows what he’s doing himself. Is there need for you to interfere?”

Jianshu: “…”

The reasoning seemed to be so, but why did it feel like something wasn’t quite right?

Two thousand shares, of which one thousand were sold at a price of one thousand five hundred wen, and the remaining one thousand at a price of one thousand six hundred wen.

Jiang Xuening suddenly had an additional three thousand one hundred taels of silver in hand.

Having given Xiao Dingfei twenty thousand earlier, plus her own two thousand taels of private money, and adding these three thousand-plus taels from selling the shares, altogether she had thirty-three thousand taels of silver remaining in hand.

After she threw out the shares she held, the share price at the Shuxiang Inn continued climbing by several dozen wen.

Lian’er and Tang’er, upon hearing this, both said directly that she’d sold at a loss.

Jiang Xuening remained unmoved by this, not responding at all. She only repeatedly emphasized to them that once a letter arrived from You Fangying’s side or there was new information from the Shuxiang Inn side, they needed to immediately find a way to send someone with the news to her.

The next period naturally involved entering the palace again as a companion reader.

However, February sixteenth was the day for Prince Linzi Shen Jie’s consort selection, and hearts in the palace inevitably stirred with restlessness. The date for Grand Princess Leyang Shen Zhiyi’s marriage alliance to the Tatars was also set for March twenty-first, and many people in the palace offered congratulations to Mingfeng Palace.

The pregnant Wen Zhaoyi had an even more lavish birthday celebration at the end of the first month.

Throughout the entire palace, there was an atmosphere of joy and celebration everywhere.

However, gradually, people began discovering that many rumors and gossip seemed to have emerged in the marketplace.

For instance, the envoys who came from the Tatars were fierce and tyrannical in the capital, practically treating the capital as their own horse racing grounds.

For instance, if the Marquis of Yongyi’s estate still existed, would there be any need to send a princess for a marriage alliance?

For instance, the one who advocated sending Grand Princess Leyang Shen Zhiyi for the marriage alliance was none other than the Xiao family, the maternal family of the Empress Dowager. They raised their own beautiful daughter at home in preparation for selection as Prince Linzi’s consort to live a life of fine clothes and precious food, yet sent the unfortunate Grand Princess, who as an infant had suffered a knife wound to her face from rebels, for the marriage alliance.

For instance, Grand Princess Leyang had suffered misfortune in her youth and carried malicious fate—sending her for a marriage alliance might instead bring great disaster to Great Qian.

…

When it first began, it was merely people idly spreading tales over tea and meals.

Even the civil and military officials of the court didn’t take it seriously.

After all, criticism of state affairs among the common folk occurred frequently—people just talked casually and nothing came of it. Like these speculations and rumors, after not too long, they would naturally dissipate.

But this time, things seemed different from any previous occasion.

Even as they entered the second month, these rumors and criticisms among the common folk not only didn’t subside, but instead showed signs of intensifying.

On the second day of the second month, the day of the Dragon Raising Its Head, a scholar named Weng Ang who had come to the capital for the imperial examinations even directly said during drunken revelry at a spring outing: “The Xiao family harbors the ambitions of wolves—they should send their own young lady to marry the Tatars!”

Quite a few scholars were present at that time.

Weng Ang was also a learned scholar, and these words immediately stirred up a thousand waves like a stone cast into water, spreading far and wide.

Originally, those who agreed and those who disagreed each accounted for only about half.

But unexpectedly, these words somehow, through various twists and turns, reached the ears of the Xiao family’s second young master Xiao Ye, who had finally recovered from his injuries at home. Young Master Xiao Ye had suffered a bellyful of anger from Xiao Dingfei’s bunch at the estate. Having finally gone out for once, he still had to hear these people’s criticism, and couldn’t help but feel fury rising from his heart. After inquiring about the source of these words, he directly used silver to have people secretly teach that Weng Ang a lesson, so the other party wouldn’t dare spout nonsense again.

It was this one beating that stirred up big trouble.

Weng Ang had an extremely unrestrained nature. He originally had barely any silver on him, but these past days he had somehow made friends who gave him quite a bit of money, making him even more presumptuous and willful, spending every day soaking in wine vats.

That day, having just emerged from a pleasure house, he was ambushed by a group who threw a sack over his head.

Punches and kicks, verbal abuse.

A scholar’s body couldn’t take a beating. At the time he sustained serious injuries and blood spurted from his mouth. Fortunately, people from the Embroidered Uniform Guard were on night patrol in the dark alley. The Chiliarch Zhou Yinzhi had formidable martial arts skills and stopped the thugs from their violence. He even arrested this group of hoodlums and brought them to the yamen for interrogation.

How severe were the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s torture methods?

Without using even half a shichen, this bunch of spineless wretches were crying for their fathers and mothers, completely confessing that Xiao Ye was the one behind ordering them.

The Duke’s estate naturally spent great effort bribing the interrogators to prevent the news from spreading.

But where in the world were there walls that didn’t leak?

Moreover, the one injured this time was Weng Ang, who had come to the capital for examinations and held an official degree. It was immediately like poking a hornet’s nest. The literati in the capital were indignant and spoke out for justice, practically pointing at the noses of everyone up and down in the Duke’s estate and cursing!

Originally, some people felt the marriage alliance matter had nothing much to do with the Xiao family, but Weng Ang merely spoke one drunken statement of nonsense, and the Xiao family’s second young master Xiao Ye sent people to secretly beat him to death. How could the world tolerate such bullying of the weak by the strong?

Even what was completely reasonable became unreasonable!

The warm southern wind had just blown the treetops green by one measure, yet overnight, the streets and alleyways of the capital were filled with the message that “the Xiao family had a guilty conscience and wanted to silence Weng Ang.” Whether true or false no longer mattered. What mattered was that the Xiao family’s behavior had already provoked public outrage. All sorts of spearheads immediately turned around, all aiming together at this once noble family!

For a time, both the court and the civil and military officials were shocked, never having expected such a development.

With such a commotion outside, naturally the palace couldn’t remain peaceful.

Various bits of news would trickle in.

Jiang Xuening watched the show with an air of calm detachment.

Others acted as if the matter didn’t concern them.

Only Xiao Shu, having received news from outside over consecutive days, grew increasingly oppressed inside. Occasionally when among others, she would have emotional outbursts over trivial matters, clearly influenced by those rumors circulating in the capital.

Others might think all these events were coincidences.

But to Xiao Shu’s eyes, everything that had happened these past days seemed carefully orchestrated. Otherwise, how could one thing after another be such a coincidence? How would those typically spineless literati dare create such a huge incident before the spring examinations?

It was as if an invisible hand was manipulating things from the shadows.

She only felt that every single incident was aimed at her!

On the seventh day of the second month, the day of leaving the palace, Xiao Shu didn’t even bother with Chen Shuyi. She directly boarded a carriage and left the palace, heading straight back to the Duke’s estate to personally handle this matter.

Jiang Xuening, however, took her time.

She and the others all followed behind. Watching the Xiao family’s carriage that came to fetch people raise rolling clouds of dust as it departed, a smile hung on the corners of her lips.

In another eight days would be Prince Linzi’s consort selection, and with the weather beginning to warm, these companion reading young ladies from official households in Yangzhi Studio had mostly changed into new clothes.

You Yue was especially dressed like a flower-bedecked branch.

After Jiang Xuening withdrew from Prince Linzi’s consort selection, she became increasingly low-key in the palace, not showing her abilities, and that Prince Consort Dingfei had also stopped coming to pay court. This made You Yue feel again that Jiang Xuening was nothing special after all.

When walking out of Shunzhen Gate, she deliberately stepped one pace ahead of Jiang Xuening and bumped into her.

Jiang Xuening raised her eyebrows and looked at her.

You Yue lightly covered her lips, looking somewhat embarrassed, and smiled: “My sincere apologies. Second Miss Jiang has been so listless and wilted lately, barely speaking a few words, always making me feel as if you’re not even there. When I carelessly walked forward just now, I thought there was no one in front of me, so didn’t I just bump into and step on you?”

Jiang Xuening sized her up but surprisingly didn’t get angry. Instead, she said thoughtfully: “Miss You seems to have changed recently.”

You Yue froze: “What?”

Jiang Xuening pulled up the corners of her lips with a meaningful smile: “You’ve gotten a bit fatter.”

Great Qian ultimately still valued slenderness as beautiful.

Upon hearing these words, You Yue’s expression immediately changed. She instinctively raised her hand to touch her cheek, thinking to herself that these past days, in preparation for Prince Linzi’s consort selection, she had made many preparations. Her skin had improved considerably, and she’d been careful not to eat overly greasy foods—there was no way she could have gotten fat.

So she sneered coldly: “Making conversation for no reason!”

Having said that, she swept her sleeves and left Jiang Xuening behind, heading toward the carriage the Earl of Qingyuan’s estate had sent to fetch her.

However, having just walked close, her heart suddenly lurched.

Because the maid who usually served her in the estate was now standing beside the carriage with a face full of panic and helplessness, looking frightened and alarmed. Upon seeing her, the maid called out “Miss,” and tears rolled down her face.

A surge of intense unease welled up in You Yue’s heart: “What happened?”

That maid was terrified, trembling as she said: “Shu region, salt field, the salt field caught fire, burned a whole area, the share price…”

You Yue’s head immediately exploded with a “boom.”

Her expression instantly became twisted and ferocious. She seized that maid’s arm in one grasp and shouted harshly: “What nonsense are you spouting? How could something go wrong when everything was perfectly fine?!”

The voice was rather loud, audible even standing at the palace gate.

Everyone’s curious gazes all turned over.

Jiang Xuening stood to the side, her gaze leisurely sweeping past You Yue before stretching distantly toward the vast expanse beyond: under the clear azure sky, there were already shadows of a few birds. The ice that had formed on the rivers and lakes outside the city should be nearly melted by now. In another month or so, when mountain flowers bloomed everywhere, it would be a fine season for spring outings and sightseeing. At that time, coaxing Shen Zhiyi to go along would probably be quite nice.