Zhou Liru found a box, hugged it and ran to find Man Bao, "Sister, this is what you are looking for."
Man Bao happily took it, opened it for them to see, "Look."
Both Mingda and Changyu couldn't hold back the "wow", and looked at the gemstones in the box with bright eyes. They were two very large gemstones, much larger than what they contained in the box.
Changyu picked up a red one, and said in amazement: "You can play the phoenix crown now."
Man Bao nodded again and again, "That's right! That's what I thought when I saw them. When you get married, they can be inlaid on the phoenix crown."
Changyu: "Are you giving us a gift? Forget it, you love money so much and are poorer than us, how can you ask for your things?"
She said generously, "I bought it according to the price you paid when you bought it."
Man Bao smiled and said, "That's precious. I asked the merchants in the Western Regions, and they said that such a piece of brocade would cost at least a hundred bolts."
Not to mention Chang Yu, Ming Da's mouth was wide open.
Changyu put it down reluctantly, and said regretfully, "Forget it, I can't buy it for the time being."
The princess is also poor.
Man Bao stuffed the ruby into her hand, and stuffed the other blue one into Mingda, and said with a smile: "For you, I found these two gems from the bandit's lair. , Duan Cishi is not familiar with these, so he followed me to choose first."
Holding the gemstone, Changyu couldn't help asking, "Don't you want to get married? Why don't you keep it for yourself?"
Man Bao said: "Such a big gem needs many luxurious crowns to match it, I can't wear it."
Mingda couldn't help but burst out laughing, and asked after collecting the gems, "What else did you take from the den of thieves?"
"That's too much," Man Bao said excitedly, "On this trip, my assets have tripled, not counting that I brought some things to the Western Regions to make money."
Changyu sighed, "No wonder so many people like to run to the Western Regions, even if there are many thieves there, they can't stop them."
Man Bao thought for a while and said: "There are not many people. We ran into a caravan along the way, surnamed You. It was very poor. It was robbed by horse thieves halfway. The things we got after the bandits were sent to Shazhou If you sell it, it will be enough for travel expenses and pensions for the comrades who died in battle, so it’s not a loss.”
Mingda said in a soft voice: "It's a great fortune to be able to survive such an accident."
"We all thought he was very lucky, but unfortunately he had already left when we returned to Shazhou, otherwise we would still be able to enjoy his joy when we came back the same way."
Man Bao also took them to see her collection and the goods they brought back from the Western Regions. She took them to her room first, took out big boxes and opened them for them to see, "I picked them out and thought I liked them. Yes, I want to keep it to make jewelry myself, or keep it for my children and grandchildren, or give it to others in the future.”
Ming Dale, "Have you thought so far?"
"Of course," Man Bao said cheerfully, "It makes people worry about the near future without thinking too far, and if they think farther away, they won't even worry about the long-term."
Then he led them to the storeroom to look at the boxes piled up inside. When they saw the contents, Mingda and Changyu were speechless, "So many precious stones and spices?"
Man Bao nodded, "Da Bolu and Xiao Bolu are at war, and there are rumors in the Western Regions that our Great Jin is not good, so the trade roads were cut off immediately, and there were many bandits on the roads, and many merchants from the Western Regions were stranded. Xizhou, I can’t go back, and I can’t leave.”
"We brought a lot of cloth at that time, and we basically exchanged things with them," Man Bao said, "There are also jade and gemstones in the Xizhou Kucha area, which are even cheaper. As long as you have gold and silver, you can buy them, let alone We also brought some tea and cloth with us at the time, and I didn’t know until this trip that in the Western Regions, tea and cloth are more valuable than gold and silver.”
She said: "You may not be able to buy things with gold and silver, but you can definitely buy things with tea leaves and beautiful silk brocades."
Changyu's eyes sparkled when he heard this, and he asked, "Is your family really not going to take the road of the Western Regions?"
Man Bao shook his head, "The Western Regions are too far away. It takes a year to go back and forth. Even if the commercial roads are established now, it is very dangerous. Besides, my fourth brother is not familiar with the business on the grassland. How could he go to the Western Regions?"
Changyu wondered, "You can go, why can't he be a big man? Is it because he doesn't have enough money? It doesn't matter, I have it."
Mingda said: "Sister, if you say it might be about money before, but now do you think Manbao is still short of money?"
Changyu followed her gaze to look at the things in the warehouse. The value of the things here is actually far less than the things in their private warehouses, but these are all commodities, which can be realized, and it is a big deal to turn them into gold and silver. Pen, so Manbao and the others are really not short of money.
When it comes to gold and silver, Man Bao might be richer than Chang Yu.
Chang Yu could only look at Man Bao quietly, with sadness in his eyes.
Man Bao smiled and said, "You have to eat every bite, and you have to walk step by step. Your business is not like I go to the Western Regions on business. Not only do I have Nie Canjun and soldiers to protect me, but I also have officials to take care of me along the way. The bandits can still ask the governor to come forward to suppress the bandits, the caravan is much more dangerous on the road, even if you want to go to the Western Regions, you have to go step by step, wait until my fourth brother is familiar with the way."
Hearing her softening tone, Changyu quickly asked: "You promised me to conspire with your fourth brother, bah, did you cooperate?"
Man Bao and Ming Da couldn't help being happy, Man Bao nodded and said: "I agree, but when will you marry and start a family?"
Changyu calculated the time, "The winter solstice will be over at the earliest."
Always show filial piety.
In this way, there are still ten months.
However, it takes such a long time to get married, but in private, you can talk about the relationship first and prepare things.
The three of them gathered together in the room and whispered to each other. At noon, the kitchen prepared a particularly sumptuous banquet, which was directly placed in the open room in the back garden.
After setting up four tables, Man Bao and the others invited the princess to sit at a table alone, which would be more comfortable.
Bai Shan ran to the table with Mrs. Liu and the others, and after muttering for a while, he ran back and said to Man Bao, "I have discussed with my grandmother, Uncle Zhou, to arrange the banquet at home in April."
"Huh?" Man Bao looked up suspiciously.
Bai Shan then explained: "I'm about to take the exams for the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials, and there's no rush to entertain my relatives and friends together after I pass the exams."
Only then did Man Bao understand, and nodded without any opinion.
Although entertaining relatives and friends is lively, it is also very tiring, and the meals at the banquet may not be as good as usual, so she does not have much expectation for entertaining relatives and friends.
But Bai Shan added two points of anticipation, because Mrs. Liu said on the table just now, "It's okay, after he has passed the examination of the Ministry of Officials, he will also mention the marriage of the two children with his in-laws." , when the time comes, I will just tell my relatives and friends that I have chosen a good day to invite them to a wedding banquet."