After eating most of the dishes and drinking a bowl of soup, Gu Yanxi signaled Yingchun to come and clean up. He helped Ah Zhi to get up and walked to the beauty couch to sit down. He also covered her legs with a blanket, and hooked a stool with his foot to sit next to the couch.
Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly remembered his grandmother's gift. He stood up and took the package that he had put aside and opened it. "This is from my grandmother."
Empress Dowager? Hua Zhi was about to get off the couch, but Gu Yanxi held her down and put the brocade box in her arms. "Sit down. It's just you and me here. No one will say you're disrespectful."
Hua Zhi thought so too. There were no outsiders around, so there was no need to be concerned about those things.
Carefully opening the brocade box, a whole set of ruby jewellery came into view. The styles were not those popular in recent years, but this kind of jewellery was very suitable for attending important occasions.
"I like it very much. I should thank the Queen Mother."
"She also wants to meet you, and she regrets that now is not the right time. However, she said that you must pay her tribute in the future, just like Shaoyao."
Hua Zhi smiled and said, "I have been delivering food to Shaoyao, it would be bad to also deliver it to the Queen Mother. I asked Fudong to make more appetizers. Fresh mushrooms are delivered every day. You can ask someone to bring a small basket every day. Eating more mushrooms is good for the body."
"Okay." Gu Yanxi took the box and put it aside. Feeling that her hand was a little cold, she quickly held it and put it under the blanket to cover it. "Today is the nineteenth day, and the one-year mourning period is almost over."
"Tomorrow I will ask the housekeeper to go to the Qin family to discuss this matter."
According to the old customs in Daqing, after the mourning period is over, the deceased must have a spirit house sent by the outside family to be burned before the mourning period can be ended. If there are thoughtful people, they will make many other things in addition to the spirit house to burn for the deceased. Over the past year, the relationship between the Qin family and the Hua family has been lukewarm. Hua Zhi does not have too many expectations for them. She just hopes that they still remember to build a spirit house.
Gu Yanxi raised an eyebrow, "The housekeeper is going?"
"The Qin family doesn't want to have much contact with the Hua family, so why should I go there and cause trouble?"
Gu Yanxi thought that was not necessarily the case. Even if the Qin family had really planned that before, they would change their attitude after the seventh part was implemented. All the positions in the capital have been filled, but the positions below are still empty. In a place like the capital, even a family as noble as Hua cannot put themselves on a high pedestal, let alone the Qin family. He didn't believe that the Qin family would look at such a big mouthful of fat meat and not want to take a bite.
However, since the Qin family has expressed their stance first, Azhi really doesn't need to rush to deliver herself to them.
Hua Zhi didn't expect this. She just felt a little regretful. "It's a pity that I can't make it back to Berlin."
"Should we let Bai Yu officiate?"
"He is the oldest brother left in the family."
Gu Yanxi knew the situation of the Hua family very well. Thinking of the dirty things that happened in each family, he became a little worried. "Bai Yu has been in charge of a lot of things during this period. If Bai Lin comes back in the future, regardless of what Bai Lin thinks, Bai Yu's state of mind may not be affected?"
"How can such a big Hua family be supported by one person alone? Each finger has its own length, and only when you clench them into a fist can you have the strength to fight against others. If they can't understand this, their abilities will be limited. If Berlin can't even suppress this, it's because he doesn't have the ability. Can he blame others?" Hua Zhi stretched out her palm, straightened her fingers one by one, and then fell down one by one and clenched them into a fist.
She has always understood that in this world where families are the unit and everyone rises and falls together, one person can't accomplish anything, and anyone from the Hua family who goes out represents the Hua family.
"It's normal for Bai Yu to have ideas. What's important is whether Berlin, as the eldest son and grandson of the Hua family, has the ability to convince him. I have confidence in him." Hua Zhi smiled. She was not completely selfless. Bai Yu was less than a year younger than Berlin, but now Berlin had gained a lot of experience outside. Even if one day Bai Yu also chose to go out to travel, he would still be one step slower than Berlin. If this was the case, Berlin would not be Bai Yu's opponent. She would decide to let Bai Yu take charge.
Obviously, Gu Yanxi also felt that Bo Lin, who was taught by Azhi, would not be so incapable, so she simply put the topic aside and asked, "Did he write to you?"
"I received a letter, and I encountered a lot of problems. After all, saying and doing are two different things. But I can't see any discouragement between the lines. Did you just skip the government and give him a place?"
"I have exercised the power of the Seventh Constellation. Even if the emperor knew about it, he would not use it to provoke me." The Seventh Constellation had been following up on this matter. Gu Yanxi knew more about some things than Hua Zhi. Now he said, "Although Berlin has not yet produced salt, the people sent there have high hopes for it. They found that some fishermen there filtered the salt themselves to save money. Although it was mixed with sand and the salt quality was not good, it tasted a bit bitter, but it was indeed salt. As long as it is handled well, the price of salt will surely drop, which will benefit the people."
After a pause, Gu Yanxi said in a deep voice: "The court no longer needs to be controlled by salt merchants."
Hua Zhi was not good at political matters, but she could see these things clearly on the surface. It was not only Daqing that was controlled by salt merchants. In all dynasties, it was these salt merchants who sucked the blood of the salt farmers and took meat from the country, and they were the fattest ones.
However, "the prerequisite is that they do not foster another group of private salt merchants who collude with officials and businessmen."
"As a lesson from the past, Qisusi has been following up on this matter."
"It's impossible to completely eliminate it." Hua Zhi shook her head and said lightly: "It's better to keep it in our own hands than to let others get the advantage."
Gu Yanxi was speechless. This was not a matter of taking advantage.
Hua Zhi smiled, "If the price of salt drops to ten cents, the profit won't be as big as before, but if the quantity is large, the profit will still be considerable, and there will still be people rushing forward to try to get the profit for themselves. Rather than letting it fall into the hands of others and become uncontrollable, it's better to let our own people plug this hole, what do you think?"
Gu Yanxi seriously considered the feasibility of this matter. It was not impossible, but "it was difficult to find the right person."
"The Sun family should be sending someone to Xiaoliu soon."
Gu Yanxi immediately understood what Azhi meant. If it was Xiaoliu who was in control of the contraband salt, and he got promoted in the future, first of all, he would have a source of funds to enrich his private treasury, and he would not be able to convict anyone, and there would be no estrangement between him and Azhi because of this matter. If he failed to get promoted... there was no possibility of this!
"Let's do it this way. The fewer people who know about this, the better. Find some time to talk to him about it."
Hua Zhi was not surprised by this result. While she was still acting with emotion, Yan Xi was always calm and knew better than her how to protect himself. In fact, they were both wary of Xiao Liu.
This is due to her identity and cannot be changed. All she can do is to care for Xiaoliu as much as possible to compensate him.