readytorunbook Chapter 150 Extra Money
Chapter 150 Extra Money
The war situation was still undecided and the prince returned to the capital. Anyone with a discerning eye knew that the emperor had discovered something.
Among the princes, Zhou Qinghe is the most unlucky, so good things will never happen to him.
The Fourth Prince had a congenital disease, so he always used a sedan chair to travel in public. Perhaps it was because Zhou Qinghe had cheated him out of money before, so after returning to the capital this time, he always hung around Zhou Qinghe.
"Second brother..."
Zhou Qinghe glanced over and the Fourth Prince became obedient again. But after a while, he became unwilling to give in again and called out to Zhou Qinghe in a plaintive and tactful manner.
Zhou Qinghe sighed angrily: "If you have something to say, just say it!"
You are not a grown-up girl, why do you have to act so shy?
The fourth prince hesitated for a moment and said awkwardly, "I heard... you got some cotton?"
Zhou Qinghe's waving hand froze for a moment, his eyes darkened for a moment, and his tone was so light that no emotion could be heard: "Yes, I got a batch of good stuff."
The fourth prince hesitated even more: "Then...can you...help me get a batch too?"
Zhou Qinghe looked the Fourth Prince up and down awkwardly. The Fourth Prince seldom went out and was a shy person. Now he had something to ask of Zhou Qinghe. Even though Zhou Qinghe's passionate gaze made his entire face turn red and he wanted to burrow into the ground, he did not tell the people who were carrying the carriage to go faster.
He also wanted to secretly get a batch of good cotton clothes for the soldiers to last through the winter.
He could not go to the battlefield. All he did was logistical work, preparing food, distributing food and weapons. This year's winter cotton clothes were transported to the front line. The best batch was in Longxi, the worst batch was in Zhiqu, the mediocre ones were among the other princes, and the Fourth Prince got the worst of the mediocre ones.
Although he had never been to the battlefield, he didn't want to see someone who had been with him day and night being so cold that he couldn't hold the knife in his hand, and died on the battlefield because of a cotton coat.
I heard that in previous years... there were people who froze to death in the mountains because they couldn't get any cotton clothes.
The cotton-padded clothes Zhou Qinghe was originally allocated were not good enough, but he secretly prepared a batch of good cotton-padded clothes and sent them over. Others did not know about this, but the Fourth Prince knew it best.
He had seen a personal guard who came to escort Zhou Qinghe back to the capital. The cotton coat on that man was better than the ones worn by the Third Prince's soldiers. It must be that Zhou Qinghe had some private connections.
The Fourth Prince's plan was not to win people's hearts or for any other purpose.
He just didn't want to discourage the soldiers who were guarding the border for Daliang.
But since this matter involved Zhao Fangyu, Zhou Qinghe did not agree immediately.
When we were supporting the song, the emperor was far away and the emperor was in charge. Now that we are under the emperor's nose, it is difficult to perform these small actions.
The Fourth Prince did not get the news he wanted and was visibly unhappy. The Third Prince came up and patted the Fourth Prince on the shoulder from behind. Just as he was about to say something, he was interrupted by the Fourth Prince with a snort: "Go faster! I'm anxious to see father!"
The Third Prince and Zhou Qinghe looked at each other, rubbing their fingertips in the air awkwardly, and then pointed at the Fourth Prince who suddenly left: "Did you bully a child?"
Zhou Qinghe snorted like the Fourth Prince and quickly caught up with him.
"It's not like there's no room for negotiation. It depends on how much money you have."
"I'll see you in a few days."
Zhou Qinghe was thinking about extorting some more money from Zhao Fangyu so that he could give her some new and beautiful jewelry.
He always remembered that Zhao Fangyu's coming-of-age ceremony would be in the autumn, and it would be prepared in a few days.
In the court, all the princes who were sent to the border were rewarded, regardless of whether they were on the battlefield in person.
Zhou Qinghe's reward was two thousand taels of silver and the position of Prince He.
There were also the fifth, sixth, and seventh princes, who were all granted the title of prince. For a moment, the three princes' five thousand taels and two pairs of gold and jade ruyi did not seem so conspicuous.
After Zhou Qinghe returned to Beijing, Xuanbi organized the news in secret and brought it to Zhou Qinghe.
To say it was neat and tidy actually meant putting all the small notes on a tray and placing it in front of Zhou Qinghe.
"Over at the Zhao family, the fourth young lady's good friend from Longxi came to the capital to treat his injuries. Now the two of them play together and sleep on the same bed from time to time."
"Also, when the third prince was in Longxi, the news that he was playing with foreign women was known to the Jinyiwei."
Zhou Qinghe held a freshly made meat pie from the kitchen in his mouth, drank a bowl of strong tea, and sat at the desk, flipping through the pictures one by one.
Most of these messages came from the Cao Gang. By the time I finished reading and replying to them one by one, it was already dawn.
Zhou Qinghe washed up and before he went to bed, he was reminded by Xuanbi that he had to attend the morning court today, so he went to the palace without stopping.
Zhou Qinghe: “…”
Zhou Qinghe dozed off throughout the entire court meeting. The Fourth Prince sneaked a peek at him several times, but was caught each time.
After the court session, Zhou Qinghe directly dragged the fourth child to his home.
"If you want to ask anything, wait until I wake up."
The Fourth Prince felt envious when he saw Zhou Qinghe falling asleep immediately. Unlike him, his legs and feet would ache badly when it was cloudy and rainy.
Zhou Qinghe slept so soundly that he didn't even notice that the Fourth Prince was resting next door. When he woke up, it was already dark.
Xuanbi had already cleared the people around the house. The Fourth Prince was still a little confused after waking up, but he still did not forget his original intention: "Second brother, can I use your connections to buy some cotton to make cotton clothes and send them to Qianzhou?"
Zhou Qinghe was only wearing a middle-length shirt, with the belt untied, revealing a muscular chest. Cantilever put a coat on him from behind, and Zhou Qinghe leaned half of his body on the armchair. His lazy and sleepy look had a kind of aggressiveness that others did not have.
"This is not a good path to take. I also took someone else's path."
The fourth prince pursed his lips and said, "I don't want to know whose connections Second Brother used. I just want to know how much silver he needs."
Zhou Qinghe didn't bother to be polite with the Fourth Prince: "Zhiqu's batch of cotton clothes cost me 50,000 taels."
The fourth prince lowered his head involuntarily, his voice gradually weakened: "Fifty thousand taels..."
It was a bit too much and he didn't have enough money, but when he thought of the faces of those rough men who saw him off, the Fourth Prince felt that the money was well spent.
Maybe now that I have cotton-padded clothes, I can see them again next time.
The decision was not difficult to make. The Fourth Prince agreed in the blink of an eye: "Okay, but second brother, wait for me. I will go and raise some money."
Zhou Qinghe nodded, but didn't leave any food for the Fourth Prince. Instead, he gave the Fourth Prince a message: "I'll give you a piece of advice."
"If you have nothing to do, go to the clan residence more often."
The Fourth Prince suddenly understood and went back to the palace overnight on his sedan chair.
He had to go to the clan's residence and borrow money from his mother.
Zhou Qinghe calculated that he could earn about 10,000 taels from this side job, and give her 6,000 taels as pocket money. The rest could be saved up to buy a lot of jewelry. When he went to the Maritime Customs Office and took a look around, he would definitely find some good stuff that was not available in the capital.
Zhao Fangyu had helped him a lot, and as a way of returning the favor, he could not let his coming-of-age ceremony be inferior to others.