Chapter 1156: Free time, Ning Mansion banquet

Rongguo Mansion, Lady Jia’s backyard, and the green gauze cabinet.

Zijuan saw a tall figure rushing in and shouted into the house:
"Girl, Master Bao is here!"

"He comes so he comes! What's so special about it?"

Lin Daiyu was wearing a very plain long skirt today, which perfectly outlined her graceful figure, especially her slender waist that was so thin that one could hold it in one hand. One look at it made people want to reach out and pinch it.

Su Mingzhe took a deep breath, calmed down his emotions, came behind Lin Daiyu, watched her write two words, and then smiled:
"Yu'er's handwriting has a bit more power than the previous few days, but it has lost its roundness. Let me write two for Yu'er as a model!"

"Don't make trouble!"

When Lin Daiyu heard the man talking in her ear, she knew something was wrong and tried to get up and avoid him, but she felt her shoulder sink and the man shamelessly put his head against hers.

"Yu'er, you must concentrate on writing!"

Su Mingzhe was serious. He reached out and grabbed Lin Daiyu's hand, holding it tightly. He wrote two lines of wonderful sentences on the snow-white rice paper:

'The sea is boundless and the sky is the shore; I am the peak when I climb to the top of the mountain'!
"What a loud tone!"

Sister Lin felt relaxed all over, half leaning against the man, and suddenly she hummed softly:
"As expected, he is someone who has passed the county exam. He is so arrogant. No wonder he looks down on us common people!"

Su Mingzhe was already prepared for Lin Daiyu's Yin-Yang literature, and immediately said with a smile:
"If Yu'er is a vulgar person, then is there still highbrow culture in this world?"

Su Mingzhe said without giving Lin Daiyu a chance to speak, and smiled:
"Okay, Yu'er, let me tell you something serious!"

"..."

Lin Daiyu stopped talking, but just glanced at the man with her beautiful and bright eyes, as if she would continue to pester him if he didn't tell her the truth.

Su Mingzhe did not hide anything and said with a smile:
"Last year, Yu'er, you said you wanted to send some Peiyuan Pills to your uncle. Later, I kept thinking about it and thought that although your uncle was sick a lot, it was not because of his foundation, but because of fatigue. Taking a few Peiyuan Pills can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause."

"It just so happens that Prince Zhongshun sent a lot of good medicinal materials, so I thought about the effect of a 'Qi-boosting pill' that might be useful to my uncle. I plan to try to refine a furnace in the next few days to see how it works! If the effect is good, I will send someone to deliver it to my uncle. Yu'er, do you think it's okay?"

When Lin Daiyu heard the serious matter the man was talking about, which turned out to be refining an elixir for her father, she was delighted and looked at the man with a gentler look:

"Do you need me to do anything, brother?"

Seeing that Lin Meimei had become obedient, Su Mingzhe's mouth curled up:

"I don't need Sister Lin to do anything, but your place is great, with abundant natural resources and outstanding people. If I run out of inspiration and need to sit here for a while, you can't chase me away again!"

When Lin Daiyu heard this, she knew what the man was up to. Although she was happy in her heart, she was still unforgiving in her words:

"Don't worry, second brother. If you come here to find inspiration, I will never chase you away. I will even take Zijuan and the others away with me. I will never disturb you!"

"Good Yu'er, I was wrong!"

Su Mingzhe knew that Lin Daiyu was sharp-tongued. If he continued talking to her like this, he would not be able to win the argument even after a day and a night.

Seeing that the man couldn't win the argument and was about to make a move on her, Lin Daiyu wanted to avoid him, but the man leaned over and whispered softly in her ear, which was particularly pleasant to the ear, and this made her move slower.

When she came to her senses and escaped from the man's sweet words, she found that the two of them had been lying on the bed again, sharing the same pillow, without her knowing when.

This bad guy only knows how to bully me.

The next few days.

Su Mingzhe's life is extremely sweet.

During the day, she accompanied Lin Daiyu around the courtyard, and at night, she returned to her own residence, where eight maids took turns sleeping with her.

Occasionally, when Jia Zheng called him and asked him about his homework, Su Mingzhe would answer with ease.

This day, it’s the end of the month.

Jia Rong hosted a party and invited Xue Pan, Jia Lian, Jia Qiang, Jia Cong and others, and also sent someone to deliver an invitation to Su Mingzhe.

Su Mingzhe couldn't refuse, so he had to go.

"Uncle Bao is here!"

As a junior, Jia Rong got the news and came to the door to greet them in advance.

Seeing that he was so imposing and high-spirited, Su Mingzhe couldn't help but smile and said:
"Brother Rong, I haven't seen you for a few days. You look radiant. Is there something good going on?"

"Thanks to my second uncle, I made a little money. I wanted to invite him over for a gathering!" Jia Rong said, inviting Su Mingzhe to come in and take a seat.

Among the people in the room, Jia Lian, the heir to the title of Rongguo Mansion, sat in the first seat, Su Mingzhe sat in the second seat, Xue Pan, as a guest, sat in the third seat, and Jia Rong sat in the fourth seat.

Among others, for example, Jia Cong, even though he was older than Jia Rong, he could only sit below Jia Rong because of his status as a bastard.

Everyone took their seats again.

Originally, everyone was chatting and laughing, talking about all kinds of romantic things, such as romance and gossip.

Only Xue Pan, the big fool, opened his mouth and said to Su Mingzhe:

"Brother Baoyu, why haven't you been to Lixiang Garden recently? My mother and sister haven't seen you for a few days and miss you so much!"

After hearing this, Jia Lian and others burst into laughter.

Su Mingzhe was somewhat speechless, but he could only explain:
"Why didn't I go? I only went twice, but you weren't there, Brother Pan. I felt uncomfortable eating and drinking with Aunt Xue and Sister Bao, so I went less often!"

Xue Pan heard this and immediately said:
"In that case, I'll invite you next time when I'm here, and you mustn't refuse!"

"That's natural!"

As Su Mingzhe spoke, he raised his glass and toasted Xue Pan, thus making this an agreed deal.

After putting down the wine glass, Su Mingzhe was afraid that Xue Dasha would talk nonsense again, so he asked Jia Rong:

"Brother Rong, you just said that you made a little money recently, but is there any way to make more money?"

When it comes to making money, everyone suddenly becomes quiet.

Jia Rong invited everyone here for this matter.

Seeing Su Mingzhe asking, Jia Rong's face became more excited:
"Do you know that the price of medicinal materials in Chang'an City has skyrocketed recently?"

The others were relatively ignorant about these things and looked confused.

Only Xue Pan, who was chewing a piece of meat, nodded immediately after hearing this:
"I have heard from several friends that the prices of ginseng, ganoderma lucidum, and polygonum multiflorum have skyrocketed by two or three times compared to previous years."

Jia Rong quickly continued:
"Don't we have several farms outside the Fortress of Rongning? In previous years, my family would purchase some medicinal materials every year because my grandfather wanted to make pills. This year, we took advantage of the skyrocketing prices and sold them. We made a total of more than 40,000 taels!"

"For such a good thing, we should really treat you!"

Although everyone was envious after hearing this, they also did not forget to congratulate.

I drank like this for a few rounds.

Jia Rong then told his plan:
"Now that the price of medicinal materials continues to rise, our Ning Mansion intends to send more people to the outside of the pass to collect medicine. Do you want to join in?"

Xue Pan was rich and powerful, so he immediately said with a smile:
"Thank you, Rong Ge'er, for thinking of us. I'll invest 20,000 strings of cash!"

Jia Lian heard this and immediately laughed:

"In that case, our family will also donate 20,000 strings of cash, and I will personally donate another 2,000 strings of cash!"

Although Su Mingzhe had no shortage of pocket money, since everyone had come, he just followed the trend and invested two thousand strings of cash.

Jia Cong, Jia Qiang and others did not have that much savings, so they had to pool together and invest two thousand strings of cash.

In the end, Xue Pan personally contributed 4,000 strings of cash, plus the 20,000 strings of cash from the Ning Mansion, for a total of 70,000 strings of cash.

A transaction of 70,000 strings of cash was considered very high in that era.

What's more, the purchase price of medicinal materials outside the Great Wall is not high. The main reason why it is sold at a high price in Chang'an is because of the long journey and the various expenses for food and horses along the way.

The Rong and Ning mansions have the support of the retired emperor, and with Wang Ziteng as their strong backer, it can be said that doing business in medicinal materials outside the Great Wall is naturally more convenient for them than for others.

When Jia Rong saw that the shareholding matter had been settled, he clapped his hands. A dozen beautiful concubines and maids came in, ready to celebrate with everyone.

When Su Mingzhe and several other women came over, they discovered that these beauties were not other people but maids in Huifang Garden and Dengxian Pavilion.

Among them, Peifeng, Xieluan and Wenhua were all Jia Zhen's concubines.

At this point, Su Mingzhe suddenly understood that although today's banquet was said to be organized by Jia Rong, it was actually manipulated by Jia Zhen behind the scenes.

(End of this chapter)