Chapter 169

Jiang Rong had been busy for an entire day before returning to the Jiang family.

Early this morning, she had been running around for the sake of her family's industry, going to beg some people she used to have good relations with to see if they had any clues about the Sun family's raw materials.

Or if she could find a new raw material supplier; now that they had fallen out with the Sun family, even if they got ten times the compensation, they couldn't let them continue to provide it later, so finding a new supplier was crucial.

But problems followed one after another; local suppliers either said they had no stock and had already signed contracts with other families, or the suppliers were too small and couldn't provide enough silk raw materials.

Especially when she found those former suitors and wanted them to help, she was met with all kinds of helplessness and refusals.

Jiang Rong's beauty was naturally well-known in Shanghe City; back then, she was the eldest daughter of a commercial family, with a peerless face and a beautiful figure.

No matter which aspect, it could make the young men of Shanghe City yearn for her.

The number of suitors was endless.

Now it seemed as if someone was manipulating things in the dark; those former suitors—the heirs of the major families—all began to use various excuses to say they couldn't help.

Jiang Rong didn't think much of it; after all, they didn't owe her anything.

After asking around, Jiang Rong went to find the person in charge of the Chamber of Commerce next door, intending to buy raw materials at a high price; even if she earned less, it was better than suffering losses.

But the person in charge of the Chamber of Commerce next door opened his mouth like a lion; if Jiang Rong wanted to get raw materials from them, including shipping, Chamber of Commerce protection systems, etc., he wanted Jiang Rong to pay four times the price.

And even if she bought them, they could only provide a portion and couldn't provide everything the Jiang family needed.

Jiang Rong calculated that if she paid four times the price, the Jiang family would be working for nothing and wouldn't earn any money.

But the person in charge of the Chamber of Commerce next door had his reasons; this was the protection system of different Chambers of Commerce.

Jiang Rong gritted her teeth and paid the deposit first, trying to find a way to maintain the supply.

After finishing all this, it was already afternoon.

She had been running around all day and was exhausted.

Just as she was sitting in the shop drinking tea and resting, the Son of Luck, Lin Mo, appeared, bringing good news.

Lin Mo had received Jiang Rong's task yesterday afternoon and immediately went to the Sun family to investigate.

The goal was to investigate whether the raw materials the Sun family needed to provide had suffered any losses.

After raw materials were collected, they were certainly stored in a warehouse.

In order not to provide them to the Jiang family, the Sun family must have moved the raw materials away and made up some excuse for why they couldn't provide them.

The Son of Luck was truly strong; the Sun family had hidden it very well, but Lin Mo still found it.

The Sun family's raw material hiding spot was actually in the warehouse of the Chamber of Commerce President, Zhang Wanshan's Zhang family.

Lin Mo even brought back some samples of the raw materials to prove what he said was true.

To be safe, Jiang Rong followed Lin Mo to take a look at the Zhang family's warehouse, and sure enough, there were many silk raw materials; Jiang Rong couldn't have misidentified them.

Didn't everything before her eyes prove that the Sun family and the Zhang family were colluding to target the Jiang family?

At that time, Jiang Rong expressed her gratitude to Lin Mo and promised that once this incident was over, she would immediately arrange for Lin Mo to become the steward of the Jiang Fu.

Lin Mo was very happy inside, feeling that the look Jiang Rong gave him was full of appreciation, but he still calmly said, "Eldest Miss, these are small matters. If you have any needs in the future, just come to me."

Lin Mo was the type with great talent; he knew the Jiang family was currently facing a crisis.

As long as he used a few tricks, he would definitely be able to bring the Jiang family back to life.

Lin Mo still had many hidden abilities he hadn't shown yet.

The reason he could make money was actually related to the opportunities he had obtained.

The dual-cultivation technique Lin Mo practiced was found in a cave where a remnant of the previous dynasty had died.

That remnant of the previous dynasty was no ordinary person; he hid many unknown "treasures" on his person.

He had escaped from the Imperial Capital and carried many things that only existed in the palace of the previous dynasty; those things hadn't circulated among the common people.

What was used in the palace was naturally very good; Lin Mo just analyzed one so-called "treasure" slightly and found a family to invest in production, and he earned quite a bit of money.

Once he finished analyzing all the "treasures" carried by the remnant of the previous dynasty and slowly showed these things to Jiang Rong, with Jiang Rong's ability, she would naturally know how valuable these things would be after mass production.

Then Jiang Rong would treat him as a savior.

The entire Jiang family would also become glorious again because of the treasures he analyzed.

By then, let alone suppression by the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce would probably be begging the Jiang family for a bite to eat.

Thinking of this, Lin Mo felt the entire Jiang family was within his grasp.

But the most urgent task now was to expose the collusion between the Sun family and the Zhang family.

Jiang Rong felt that if she went to the Chamber of Commerce to say this, the Sun family and the Zhang family would definitely deny it; the Chamber of Commerce was controlled by them.

With the Jiang family's current ability, they couldn't contend with these two families at all.

So this matter had to be blown up, reported to a higher place, and find someone with greater power to preside over it.

There were three people in Shanghe City with great power: the Prefect, the Lin Chengjian, and the City Lord.

The Prefect was responsible for city defense, the Lin Chengjian was responsible for public security, and the City Lord managed things more comprehensively; moreover, Jiang Rong felt that the City Lord, Ding Tianming, was relatively friendly.

She took Lin Mo with her to the City Lord's Mansion to inform Ding Tianming of this matter.

When Ding Tianming heard it was someone from the Jiang family, he thought it was Xie Minjun, but it turned out to be Jiang Rong and a retainer from the Jiang Fu.

He asked Jiang Rong what was the matter, and Jiang Rong told him everything Lin Mo had discovered, and also stated that she had seen it with her own eyes.

This made Ding Tianming feel a bit surprised inside, because Jiang Rong didn't know that he and Zhang Wanshan were in the same boat.

Ding Tianming thought at the time: These two guys really can't handle things; they even let a retainer find the place where they hid things. It's a good thing Jiang Rong reported it to me, otherwise it wouldn't have been easy to clean up later.

Since they were in the same boat, Ding Tianming would naturally shield the Zhang family and the Sun family; otherwise, if the two families turned on him and told the truth, wouldn't they be selling Ding Tianming out?

But Ding Tianming said verbally, "Rest assured, leave this matter to me. If the two families really did this, I will naturally return justice to you."

Jiang Rong said excitedly, "Then I'll trouble the City Lord."

Ding Tianming indicated that Jiang Rong should go back and wait; tomorrow, in the Chamber of Commerce's council hall, he would announce the results of his investigation into this matter, and even find many families to testify together, leaving the people of the Chamber of Commerce with no way to argue, and making the Zhang family and the Sun family pay the price.

Jiang Rong thanked him repeatedly and left the City Lord's Mansion with Lin Mo.

Jiang Rong felt that the matter had come to an end and she just had to wait for good news tomorrow.

Now she only needed to handle her mother's trouble, and everything would be fine.

Lin Mo, however, felt that this Ding Tianming had some problems.

Because normally, Ding Tianming should send people to handle it right now, catch them in the act, and leave the two major families with no way to argue.

Waiting until tomorrow to handle it sounded fair and just, but the variables were huge.

Seeing that Jiang Rong trusted Ding Tianming very much, Lin Mo didn't say anything for the time being; after parting ways with Jiang Rong, he returned to the place where the silk raw materials were discovered to keep watch.

Sure enough, that night, someone secretly moved the raw materials away.

Lin Mo knew that Ding Tianming must be in the same boat as the Chamber of Commerce.

Saying they would solve it at the Chamber of Commerce tomorrow was actually just an excuse.

The goal was to create a grand public occasion tomorrow to continue striking at the Jiang family and drive the Jiang family into a desperate situation.

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on the corner of Lin Mo's mouth.

He felt this result was great; the more desperate the Jiang family was and the more they were targeted, the more they would need a man's help, and in Lin Mo's view, that man was him.

Lin Mo was someone who had been mixing in Shanghe City, so he naturally knew that Zhang Shanhe's background was the Prefect.

So the only solution now was to tell the Lin Chengjian from the Imperial Capital, Lin Yue'e, this news tomorrow morning.

It was said that Lin Yue'e from the Imperial Capital was a confidante of the Emperor; someone of this level couldn't possibly be in cahoots with Ding Tianming.

So tomorrow, when Ding Tian brings the major families to pressure Jiang Rong at the Chamber of Commerce, Jiang Rong would fall into a desperate situation, and he would bring the Lin Chengjian to save the day and tell the truth.

Then, in Jiang Rong's eyes, he would be the savior.

By then, his relationship with Jiang Rong would be one step closer.

It would only take another period of effort for the two of them to establish a relationship.

This period would be long—perhaps half a year, perhaps several years.

But for Jiang Rong, he was willing to wait.

Because Lin Mo knew that Jiang Rong wasn't that kind of casual woman. Even if she had a good impression, she wouldn't just give it away for free.

Picking up girls, after all, had to be done slowly; you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry.

Lin Mo sometimes felt his luck was truly heaven-defying; no matter what crisis, there was a solution, and he could always turn bad luck into good.

As long as he helped the Jiang family, there would definitely be no problem with the Jiang family.

After preparing all this, Lin Mo returned to his resting place, his mind beginning to recall Jiang Rong's appearance, and he started having unrealistic fantasies.

And at this moment, Lin Mo clearly didn't know what kind of encounter the person he dreamed of was facing.

After parting ways with Lin Mo, Jiang Rong returned to the Jiang family.

But just as she returned, Xie Minjun, who was waiting near the entrance, grabbed Jiang Rong's hand.

Jiang Rong thought her mother was worried about her and said, "It's okay, Mother, I've already solved the Chamber of Commerce matter."

The beautiful woman Xie Minjun could now understand why Jiang Ningyue didn't care at all when she talked about the various troubles of the Jiang family—it turned out this was the feeling.

Matters like the Chamber of Commerce were only things that people at their level were relatively afraid of and worried about.

!

But what level was Li Chen at?

He could be said to be truly in a league of his own in the May Tian Ce Dynasty.

As long as Li Chen was served well, there was no need to worry about this.

Li Chen was undoubtedly the most powerful and sturdy backer in this country.

The beautiful woman Xie Minjun held her daughter's hand and said earnestly, "Daughter, let's not talk about this first. The Emperor is a guest at our Jiang residence; go change into a nice dress to meet the Emperor."

This sudden remark left Jiang Rong astonished.

What? The Emperor was actually in her own house!

It turned out that the guest from the Imperial Capital was the current Emperor.

Jiang Rong's aunt and her mother, in order to let Li Chen see Jiang Rong, had specially arranged this opportunity; otherwise, she really wouldn't have been able to see him.

Jiang Rong had never seen the Emperor, so she naturally listened to the rumors in the streets—the Emperor's various negative news—and had an unbearable image of the Emperor in her mind.

But since he was the Emperor, it was only right for her to dress more formally.

While changing clothes, Jiang Rong couldn't understand why her mother was having her wear these clothes; wasn't the fabric too little?

Even prostitutes didn't dress this exaggeratedly!

Xie Minjun indicated that you are still young and don't understand many things; this is the best outfit for meeting the Emperor.

Jiang Rong still listened to her mother relatively well, and since it was in her own house, she just wore it and walked out.

Arriving at the hall and looking around, she was at a loss for what to do for a moment.

Where was the Emperor?

Wait a minute, could the Emperor be this young man who was about her age but ridiculously handsome?

Seeing her daughter still standing there foolishly, Xie Minjun said anxiously, "Your Majesty, please don't blame her; my daughter is a country girl and hasn't seen the world."

Under her mother's prompt, Jiang Rong finally knew that the person sitting in the main seat of the hall was the Emperor, so she immediately knelt and paid respects to the Emperor.

Li Chen had also only seen Jiang Rong, who had been recommended by the other women, on the fourth day of coming to the Jiang family.

Especially from this morning to the afternoon, Jiang Rong's mother had been whispering in Li Chen's ear about how good her daughter was.

No matter what, she had to let Li Chen see her daughter.

Hearing the name Jiang Rong and seeing her person, Li Chen felt it lived up to its name.

Li Chen thought it was the "Rong" for capacity, but it was all the same; she indeed had a certain capacity.

And Jiang Rong had also inherited her mother's excellent genes—that is, she was big.

If the other three women of the Jiang family hadn't kept emphasizing to Li Chen that Jiang Rong was still a virgin, Li Chen might not have thought so at first glance.

It seems the Jiang family is also a place of good geomancy.

Seeing Jiang Rong's appearance and figure, Li Chen was also looking forward to what her younger sister, Jiang Mo, would look like.

This wasn't Li Chen eating from the bowl while looking at the pot; the problem was that the women of your Jiang family were recommending her like this, so it was truly hard to refuse such kindness.

"Rise." Li Chen's voice was very steady, which made Jiang Rong a bit afraid.

Her appearance was even more nervous than when Chu Ruoyan first saw Li Chen.

Chu Ruoyan was at least from the Imperial Capital and had seen many high officials; where had Jiang Rong seen any high officials? To her, the Emperor was still just a legend.

"Don't be nervous. My visit to Shanghe City this time is just an incognito inspection, following in the footsteps of the late Emperor." Li Chen casually pulled up a topic.

"Your Majesty's visit to our Jiang family is also our Jiang family's honor." Jiang Rong also said some humble topics.

But gradually, she noticed that the other women in the hall had all excused themselves, leaving only her and Li Chen here.

In fact, it was the other women giving her and Li Chen the opportunity to be alone and show herself.

Facing this kind of young woman, Li Chen still used his old method, asking about some of her hobbies and the like.

If it were someone else, Jiang Rong would definitely say, what hobbies could I have? I'm busy managing the family business.

Ever since her father passed away, the burden on her was very heavy; where would she have the mood to talk about hobbies?

But since Li Chen said so, Jiang Rong slightly put down her burden and began to talk about how she liked musical instruments; she still had quite a few musical instruments in her room now.

Especially when mentioning the "luxury supercar" Sheng Hu, Jiang Rong really wanted to sit on it and try it out, and said, "Your Majesty, my younger sister really likes powerful spirit pets, especially mounts."

Li Chen nodded after hearing this; it was indeed useful intelligence. When your sister comes, I'll try it out like that.

Sheng Hu never expected that even a holy beast as strong as him was just Li Chen's tool for picking up girls.

Time was about up, so Li Chen went back to rest first.

Jiang Rong also respectfully sent Li Chen away, and this time it was only so heartfelt.

In her view, this Emperor who was in her age group was indeed not as hard to get along with as she had imagined, and it was especially happy to chat with him.

At first, when the other female family members left and she was alone with Li Chen, she was still a bit afraid and wanted to escape quickly.

Now it seemed she still wanted to stay with Li Chen for a while longer.

Most importantly, Li Chen was truly handsome!

That look, that temperament—Jiang Rong was even drooling a little.

After Jiang Rong returned to her room, Xie Minjun walked in.

"Mother, let me tell you, the Emperor is really so capable..."

Jiang Rong talked about many topics regarding Li Chen, all of which were mentioned when Li Chen was chatting with her just now.

Xie Minjun gently stroked her daughter's head; looking at her daughter's appearance, she mostly had a good impression of the Emperor.

As someone who had been through it, or even as a woman, Xie Minjun understood very well.

Because with Li Chen's conditions, which woman wouldn't be moved?

Xie Minjun had been so proactive in serving today because she liked him too.

The mother and daughter chatted for a while, and Xie Minjun suddenly changed the subject and said, "Daughter, do you want to be an Imperial Consort?"

One sentence made Jiang Rong's face turn red; this topic changed too fast, and she didn't know how to answer for a moment.

After being silent for a while, Jiang Rong squeezed out one sentence: "Mother, this is only the first time I've met the Emperor."

Xie Minjun said earnestly, "How many more times do you want to see him? Is the Emperor someone you can see whenever you want? He just has business in our Shanghe City and is staying at our Jiang residence temporarily; he might leave tomorrow. Once he returns to the Imperial Capital, you'll have no chance."

Jiang Rong's mother was telling Jiang Rong to figure out the status and position between herself and Li Chen.

"But..."

"But what? He is the Emperor; do you know how many people can't wait for an opportunity?"

Xie Minjun was anxious; daughter, you don't know how hard your mother worked today to win this opportunity for you to serve in the bedchamber.

If you are truly favored by the Emperor, then you will be soaring in prosperity in the future.

Seeing her daughter hesitant, Xie Minjun tried to persuade her earnestly: the reserve I taught you in the past was for ordinary men to see; this is the Emperor, not some ordinary person.

Look at how handsome the Emperor is, how high his status is, and the Emperor's temperament—you should feel honored that he can look at you once. Now that you have an opportunity, you don't cherish it; if you miss this village, you won't find this shop.

Your second aunt was favored by the late Emperor and enjoyed endless glory and wealth.

Now you have to inherit our family's fine traditions.

Just imagine, at your age, have you ever seen a man more excellent than the Emperor?

These words kept making Jiang Rong's mind "clear"!

(End of chapter)