Chapter 492

Many households in Jingcheng heard that the eldest son of the Xie San family had personally led servants out to sea and brought back a ship full of Nanyang specialties, so they all sent people to deliver visiting cards.

For a time, the Xie Family Third Branch had a constant stream of visitors.

Every day, masters and mistresses from prominent, wealthy families arrived with generous gifts.

Male guests were received by Xie San and his son; female guests were entertained by the Third Mistress and her daughters.

Her daughter-in-law was about to give birth, so for fear of any mishaps, she decided not to put herself through the trouble.

These visiting wealthy families, besides bringing generous gifts, also brought gold and silver notes, hoping to exchange them for Nanyang specialties that could not be bought in Jingcheng.

The Xie Family Third Branch was, of course, happy to oblige.

Spending time and energy, risking life and limb to haul a ship of goods all the way back from Nanyang—wasn't that exactly for this moment?

It was just that they hadn't expected everyone to be so enthusiastic, coming directly to their door with gold and silver notes to buy.

They had originally planned to clear out one of the shops they received during the family division to sell these Nanyang specialties.

However, since they intended to do this business long-term, they still needed a shop, and the family had already discussed the name—"Nanyang Grocery".

Hmm, self-explanatory.

It lets people know at a glance what is sold in the shop.

Xie Yang listened to her family discussing the shop name with high spirits, touched her little chin that had grown a circle chubbier since returning home, and wondered what they would do if they had Dongyang Goods or Xiyang Goods in the future? Would they change the name again?

"Haha!" Xie San laughed heartily, "Then we'll just lease the shops on both sides and open a Dongyang Grocery and a Xiyang Grocery."

"Are there no groceries in Beiyang?" Xie Yu asked curiously, cutting in.

"There definitely are!" Xie Jue shook his little head as if it were a serious matter.

Xie Yang: "..."

After the Nanyang Grocery opened, the Third Mistress of the Xie family was no longer as lazy as before.

In fact, she had rarely been lazy since the family division; after all, she was the mistress of this household, raising so many children, and as they grew day by day, she had to plan for them.

Especially the three legitimate sons—there were more of them than in the First or Second Branches, and who knew how much money it would take to marry them off later.

She couldn't wrong her daughters either; their dowries had to be generous.

Her husband had neither inherited a title nor bought an official post, yet their family lived more comfortably than the First and Second Branches, all thanks to their daughter!

If their daughter hadn't been taken as a disciple by the Holy Aunt back then, the Third Branch wouldn't have its current fortune!

The Third Mistress might be lazy, but she thought very clearly.

Now that she was the mistress of the house, she had to save up more dowry for her daughter, the great contributor.

Xie Yang went to the grocery store with her once and didn't want to go again.

There were too many people!

The rich were picking out goods, the poor were watching the excitement, and the small shop was packed tight.

It was better to follow her father to the teahouse to brag; she could also indirectly learn about the situation in Jingcheng.

And let's not even mention it, the teahouse really was a great place to eat melons.

Between truth and falsehood, one could always hear some gossip about things happening in Jingcheng, and occasionally even hear some news from the imperial court.

"I heard the Hu people are invading our Daye again; I wonder if Beiguan can hold."

"Invading again? These Hu people really deserve to die! Can't they just live their own lives? When Shengzu was still alive, didn't they sign a non-aggression treaty?"

"I heard the Hu people changed leaders; the current leader is fierce and cruel, fond of killing and plundering."

"What are you panicking about! With the Zhenbei Army there, they won't let them break through Beiguan."

"No wonder there have been many merchant caravans from Beiguan recently; they are probably afraid of fighting and have all come south."

These were the pieces of news Xie Yang heard at the teahouse.

Not sure if they were true, she spent some points to have the Main System check the trends in the imperial court.

【Host, there is a huge melon!】

【The Emperor originally intended to lead the army in a personal expedition, but was fed a fake-illness pill by your cousin that causes body temperature to rise and limbs to become weak and powerless; now the one going on the expedition is the Fourth Prince, born to the late Empress.】

Xie Yang: "..."

A little thought made it clear: Xie Ping had given birth to two princes and her ambition had swelled; she used both the pill and pillow talk to make the Fourth Prince go on the expedition in his father's stead, hoping he would never return, so as to clear the obstacles for her sons.

Speaking of which, why didn't the pills produced by the "Palace Struggle System" come with a restriction of "only for use in the inner palace to compete for favor and secure status"?

The Main System remained silent.

Xie Yang: It seems this is the reason for reclaiming this Sub-system.

Come to think of it, the Emperor actually had quite a few sons; before Xie Ping's two sons were born, there were already eight princes who had survived childhood.

It was just that the First Prince liked traveling and painting, the Second Prince had an accident in his youth that left his fingers defective, the Third Prince was addicted to pleasure, the Fifth Prince had been sickly since childhood and raised among the commoners, and the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Princes were still young.

Only the Fourth Prince, besides the advantage of a noble birth, was also both scholarly and martial, brave and skilled in battle; although he was only sixteen, he had already been on the battlefield twice, winning the hearts of many officials who supported him, and the calls to name him Crown Prince had always been high.

No wonder he was seen by Xie Ping as an obstacle on the path to success for her two sons.

It is easy for someone too excellent to be envied.

Xie Yang had the Main System perform a background check on the Fourth Prince and found that he was not only excellent but also decisive in action and open-minded; he was a rare prince in the royal family who was both scholarly and martial. For now, he seemed to have the appearance of an enlightened ruler.

If he were to die on the battlefield, would the heir to the throne really be chosen between Xie Ping's two sons?

From the fact that she used a system-produced pill to make the Emperor fall ill and then used pillow talk to make the Fourth Prince go on the expedition in his father's stead just to pave the way for her sons, one could see she was not a kind person.

Xie Yang dared not bet on whether a son born to such a person would be an enlightened ruler.

"Father." On the carriage ride home, Xie Yang tilted her head and asked, "Are the Hu people fierce?"

"Of course they are fierce! There is nothing fiercer."

Xie San mentioned the Hu people with a look of dread:

"I heard they eat raw meat, and when there is no meat, they even eat people. They basically don't carry dry rations when they go to war; they rob wherever they go, and they are cruel by nature."

"Are they more cruel than pirates?"

Pay-to-Win Palace Struggle System (27)

"Pirates?"

Xie San was stunned; pirates were, of course, brutal.

It was only after his son returned in glory that he heard a merchant shopkeeper mention that pirates were running rampant in the Nanyang region, and that if they had known earlier that the Xie Family Third Branch was sending the eldest young master to lead a fleet out to sea, they would have tried to persuade him against it no matter what.

Fortunately, he heard this only after his son had returned, otherwise he would have been on edge, worrying day and night about his son and daughter who were away.

It was also fortunate that there were Hand Grenades.

According to his son, two Hand Grenades were enough to send a ship of pirates away.

"Father, if our family's Hand Grenades can send pirates away, can they also send the Hu people away?"

"!!!"

That night, Xie San sat in his study until dawn.

The army was about to set out, and there was no time for him to hesitate or struggle.

Gritting his teeth, Xie San took several trusted aides and delivered five crates of Hand Grenades and two crates of refined Niter hidden at his wife's dowry Farm to the Fourth Prince's residence.

Accompanying these items was an anonymous letter.

The letter clearly stated the origin and refining method of the Niter, as well as the ratio of one part Niter, two parts Sulfur, and three parts Charcoal that could be used to create Hand Grenades capable of making thieves and bandits wet their pants in terror.