PDLP Chapter 46 Sharing is the highest form of romance.
Chapter 46 Sharing is the highest form of romance.
Sitting in the sedan chair on the way to Qiyun Hall, Jia Rong chattered on about her ideas for opening a shop.
When you mention pastry shops, you'll naturally think of cold drink shops.
Now that poisoning has occurred at the Ningde Marquis's residence, I'm afraid these high-ranking officials and nobles will no longer dare to drink that cold beverage.
Jia Rong felt there was no need to continue operating the cold drink shop, but Xu Jiaojiao shook her head.
Just as she was about to explain her thoughts, a young man emerged from the end of the road.
Jia Rong stopped speaking abruptly and looked at the man with a slight frown.
Xu Jiaojiao was slightly taken aback and followed Jia Rong's gaze.
The man was dressed in luxurious clothes, followed by eunuchs and guards. His handsome features were exactly like those of Prince Chen and Jia Rong, so he must be a prince.
Sure enough, Jia Rong snorted, "Unfortunately, I've run into Fifth Brother here."
Xu Jiaojiao's eyelashes trembled.
The Fifth Prince Zhao Minghuai, also known as the current Prince Jin, is Prince Chen's mortal enemy!
No wonder Jia Rong's attitude was so terrible!
Jia Rong is a princess, so her attitude is bad, but it's a difficult situation for Xu Jiaojiao, a mere concubine, who is caught in a bind.
If she were to show any politeness to the Prince of Jin, given the strong sense of justice and righteousness of Jia Rong and his sister, they would likely turn against her on the spot.
But she was just a concubine after all. If she displeased the Prince of Jin, she would probably be in deep trouble.
Xu Jiaojiao had a headache and chose to play dead.
Don't ask, the answer is I don't know, I don't recognize it!
The Prince of Jin wore a faint smile, appearing amiable and seemingly unconcerned about Jia Rong's rude attitude.
Why does Jia Rong always act so aggressively whenever he sees Fifth Brother?
Jia Rong arrogantly turned her head away, ignoring him, but inwardly she cursed: "Pah, you know perfectly well what I'm asking! Just like your wicked mother, you're such a good actress!"
Although Jia Rong ignored him, Prince Jin was not angry.
He turned his gaze to Xu Jiaojiao beside Jia Rong and openly scrutinized her for a moment.
Xu Jiaojiao pretended to be stupid, and Prince Jin also pretended to be stupid: "This lady is so beautiful, I wonder which palace she is from? How come I have never seen her before?"
Jia Rong glared at Prince Jin: "What's it to you! Let's go!"
The servants responded and carried the sedan chair on their way. As Prince Jin watched Xu Jiaojiao's retreating figure, the faint smile on his lips gradually widened.
This concubine is quite shrewd to have Jia Rong so protective of her, but unfortunately she's too unruly and doesn't even know how to greet him.
However, she is indeed quite attractive; no wonder her second brother likes her.
Only when their palanquins reached the end, turned a corner, and disappeared from sight did the Prince of Jin withdraw his gaze, turn around, and stride away.
All the way back to Qiyun Palace, Jia Rong was still fuming, which made Xu Jiaojiao unable to suppress her laughter.
To stop Xiao Jiarong from being angry, Xu Jiaojiao made her a bowl of double-skin milk pudding and some peach shortbread.
The two ate while discussing the matter of opening a shop.
Xu Jiaojiao told Jiarong that taro balls and double-skin milk pudding are time-consuming and labor-intensive to make, with high labor costs, so the corresponding prices are naturally expensive, and they are only suitable for high-ranking officials and nobles.
Since these nobles dare not eat these beverages now, they can switch to tea drinks that are cheaper and easier to make, and supply them to the common people and merchants who come and go.
In other words, it moves tea drinks from the high-end market to the low-end market.
Although ordinary people's purchasing power is not as great as that of the wealthy and powerful, their large numbers make them a powerful force to be reckoned with. If one can capture the purchasing power of ordinary people, one can still make a lot of money.
However, Jia Rong still had concerns.
Nowadays, tea shops have sprung up on all four main streets of Kyoto. Without a special skill, it would be difficult to steal customers from these shops.
Xu Jiaojiao smiled mysteriously and told Jia Rong to focus on opening the shop, while she would take care of the tea drinks.
It was probably because Xu Jiaojiao's skills were truly amazing to Jia Rong that, seeing how confident Xu Jiaojiao was, Jia Rong went all out and began to take care of the preparations.
After agreeing on the tea shop, Xu Jiaojiao wrote down several pastry recipes and gave them to Jiarong, intending to test the waters with these pastries at the shop first.
One person contributed money, and the other contributed skills; the shop's revenue was then split 50/50.
The shop manager will be temporarily managed by the manager of other shops under Jia Rong's command, and will be replaced once a suitable candidate is found.
By the time these discussions were finished, it was already dark.
Looking at the bright moon on the palace wall, Xu Jiaojiao felt a unique feeling.
In her previous life, let alone the bright moon over the palace walls, she would scrub the chamber pot before dawn and wash dirty clothes after dark every day. She had neither the time nor the mood to look at the bright moon.
Now that Prince Chen is enjoying great favor, she must try her best to extract some benefits from him so that she can gain a foothold in this era and at least avoid suffering.
Thinking this way, Xu Jiaojiao's "love" for Zhao Yunzheng grew even stronger.
She turned and went back inside, picked up a pen and wrote a letter, asking Jia Rong to have her bodyguards deliver it to Prince Chen's residence.
Jia Rong's teeth fell out from the sourness, and he grimaced in disgust.
Xu Jiaojiao smiled but remained silent.
Today is her first time leaving the Prince Chen's residence, and going to the treacherous imperial palace. As a weak and helpless woman, she naturally feels both fear and curiosity, and has so much to say to her beloved.
Sharing is the highest form of romance.
Now that she and Prince Chen are deeply in love, she wants to take advantage of this time to gradually infiltrate Prince Chen's life and become a habit for him, a habit that he can't break even if he wants to.
When the letter arrived at Prince Chen's residence, Zhao Yunzheng was reviewing official documents.
He was slightly surprised to hear that the letter was written to him by Xu Jiaojiao.
Could it be that Jiaojiao encountered some difficulties in the palace, which is why she is writing to him so late at night?
With this in mind, Zhao Yunzheng put down the official document in his hand and immediately opened the letter.
The letter didn't contain anything particularly important; it was just about what Xu Jiaojiao saw, ate, and met in the palace.
The letter writer's handwriting was extremely ugly, but Zhao Yunzheng could feel the pure love of the writer.
Although Xu Jiaojiao didn't mention missing anyone at all, every word she uttered revealed her longing.
Zhao Yunzheng couldn't help but look at the summer-cooling fragrance bead on his wrist. The character "Chen" engraved on the bead was just as ugly as the handwriting on the letter, leaving one speechless.
But Zhao Yunzheng's gaze softened, a faint smile appearing on his lips. He couldn't help but think: He must find time to have Jiaojiao learn to write; her handwriting is truly too ugly.
The moonlight is getting darker.
The two people, one inside and one outside the palace walls, silently longed for each other under the same moon.
One longs for a person, the other for money.
That night, Xu Jiaojiao had a dream.
She dreamt that Prince Chen had turned into an enormous gold ingot, which made her wake up laughing.
The next morning at dawn, Zhao Yunzheng came to Qiyun Hall to pick up the person after the morning court session.
Just as Zhao Yunzheng arrived at Qiyun Palace, a servant came to report that the Empress had summoned him and wanted Zhao Yunzheng and Xu Jiaojiao to go together.
The fact that the servant specifically mentioned Xu Jiaojiao shows that the Empress's main purpose in summoning her was to see Xu Jiaojiao.
The latter was somewhat surprised, but quickly calmed down.
The Empress is Zhao Yunzheng's biological mother, and thus her mother-in-law.
The relationship between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law has always been delicate.
She didn't really know much about her mother-in-law, and didn't know where to start if she wanted to please her.
But it's okay, she has a way!