In the evening, the Zhou family had a lively hotpot meal. If they hadn’t remembered to be frugal, the side dishes would have been more complete. Fortunately, there were more vegetables now, so it was also a good hotpot.
The dark cloud that had been weighing on the Marquis' Mansion finally dissipated, and the news spread throughout the capital. Many people secretly cursed the Zhou family for their good luck.
After eating hotpot, Zhulan was in a good mood and walked around the garden with Shuren. After their bloated stomachs felt better, they went back to take a shower and wanted to chat for a while, but they both fell asleep as soon as they touched the pillows.
Zhou Shuren slept until dawn and almost didn't get up. He was still dazed when he woke up. He washed his face and went to the morning court in a good mood.
Zhou Shuren smiled at everyone he met, and all the adults congratulated him.
After the morning court session, Zhou Shuren looked at Lord Qi. Lord Qi felt uncomfortable being stared at. "Why is Lord Zhou staring at me?"
"I think the way Lord Qi laughs is very pleasing to the eye, and I want to take a look at it."
Mr. Qi, "..."
Zhou Shuren, "Master Qi has been smiling every day these days, why didn't you smile today? I'm not used to not hearing you at the morning court. Smile again?"
Lord Qi had a gloomy face. He was happy a few days ago, but it was a smile of gloating. His youngest son sent letters back every day wanting to return to Beijing. There was nothing in the reclaimed land, and they lived in tents and the food was not good. His youngest son had never suffered such hardship. He hated Zhou Shuren, and the worse the Zhou family was, the happier he was.
Zhou Shuren took another step forward, "Master Qi, I am waiting for you!"
Old Master Wen, "Why did the Marquis force Master Qi to laugh?"
"What did I say? Did I threaten Master Qi? No, how could my normal questioning be considered as forcing Master Qi to laugh? The old man laughed, but Master Qi is not a joker. How can I control Master Qi to laugh?"
Lord Qi's face darkened, "Zhou Shuren, don't go too far."
Zhou Shuren shook his sleeves with a cold face, "Ha, Lord Qi still knows the word excessive. I thought Lord Qi had long forgotten how to write excessive."
Lord Qi: "You."
Zhou Shuren interrupted, "If you really want to argue, I am willing to accompany you. Since we want to argue, let's start from the beginning. What do you think? I just need to report to the emperor. Can you two join me?"
Old Master Wen knew clearly that they were in the wrong, and the Emperor would only side with Zhou Shuren. Moreover, he was aware of the importance the retired Emperor attached to the Rong family, and he did not want to be noticed by the retired Emperor.
Lord Qi would be a fool to go along. Zhou Shuren is a foul-mouthed person, and who knows how he will complain.
Zhou Shuren looked coldly at the two people who left with a wave of his sleeves. He had endured it a few days ago because he was worried about his grandson. He remembered that his grandson was fine.
In the Zheng Palace, the Emperor and the Crown Prince were aware of the conflict after the court session. The Emperor signaled the eunuch to leave. "Zhou Shuren is a man who holds grudges. He has endured it for so many days, and he must vent his anger."
The prince thought that the Qi family had indeed gone too far, and "Grandpa Emperor was also very dissatisfied."
Your Majesty, "As long as it is not excessive, just pretend you don't know."
The prince thought to himself that his grandfather and father were partial to the Zhou family, and his father had always been dissatisfied with the Qi family. Not only would he not side with the Qi family, he would also fan the flames of Marquis Zhou.
The emperor reviewed the memorial. A quarter of an hour later, Zhou Shuren came in, put down the memorial, and motioned for Eunuch Zhang to take the account book. "Shuren, sit down."
Zhou Shuren didn't hesitate. He waited for the emperor to finish looking through the account books.
The emperor quickly flipped through it, "Are the expenses in the past seven days too much?"
Zhou Shuren looked at him dimly, "I said I have no money, but the Emperor always approved it and asked me to try to move some money out. What can I do?"
The emperor looked a little weak, "Alas, I can't do anything. You see, all the petitions on the table require silver. I have already chosen to give the silver urgently."
Zhou Shuren also had a headache, "Your Majesty, there really isn't much money left in the treasury."
The emperor was silent. If Zhou Shuren had cried poor and said he had no money, he would definitely not believe it. Zhou Shuren honestly said he didn't have much silver, so he believed it. "Why not use the gold we mined?"
Zhou Shuren had an expression that was hard to describe.
The Emperor: “… … ”
Zhou Shuren took out a memorial from his pocket and said, "This is the solution I came up with."
Well, this was the advice his wife gave him. When the memorial was written, Ming Teng had not been in trouble yet. He wanted to choose a time to hand it in, but he didn't expect Ming Teng to be in trouble, so the memorial has been put aside.
The emperor took it with doubt and squinted his eyes, "Shu Ren wants to open a pharmacy in the name of the court?"
"Yes, I looked at the most exported items this year, and fabrics and medicinal materials topped the list. This is because the export volume is controlled, otherwise it would be much higher."
If grain exports were allowed, grain would be the largest export item. Fortunately, a ban on grain exports was issued early on. The imperial court also bought grain from neighboring countries. Some countries wanted to sell, but unfortunately they had no grain, and some countries had grain but refused to sell it.
The emperor saw more in the memorial, not just for export. "You want the court to control the medicinal materials?"
"The court already controls all the doctors in the country, and the medicinal materials are just right, so medicine and pharmacy are one."
As the Ministry of Medicine gradually improved, only doctors registered with the court could practice medicine, and the court had already tasted enough sweetness.
Zhou Shuren continued: "The imperial court controls the medicinal materials, and can maximize the exchange for the materials that the imperial court lacks."
In ancient times, Chinese medicine was prevalent throughout the world, but the level of Chinese medicine abroad was still based on bloodletting. With the development of maritime trade, more and more people believe in Chinese medicine and pay high prices to hire doctors abroad. Unfortunately, few doctors want to leave their hometowns and go to foreign countries.
This also resulted in some of the Chinese medicine pills from the Imperial Medical Bureau being particularly popular, and envoys from various countries would want to get more pills to take back every time they came.
The emperor looked through the memorial again and said, "From the several types of ready-made pills in the Imperial Hospital, choose the ones with the lowest cost."
The emperor agreed. He was actually quite regretful. He had thought over and over again and decided not to touch silk weaving. Jiangnan was too complicated and some things could not be touched. Unlike medicine, the court already controlled the doctors, so it was natural to add medicine.
In Zhoujia Village, when Mr. Zhou received the news of Mr. Dong's death, he rushed to see his niece. As soon as he arrived at the gate, he saw a servant. The servant greeted him and said, "I greet the young master."
Boss Zhou hummed, then entered the yard. Seeing that his niece had changed her clothes, he frowned and asked, "Where's Mu Fan?"
"Uncle, I'm not back now."
Jiang Miao did not cry because of the death of Mr. Dong. She would only go to the Dong family during holidays, sit for a while and then leave. She had no feelings. When the old man died, she couldn't even cry if she wanted to.
Boss Zhou turned around and saw Mu Fan and Jiang Ming coming back together. Boss Zhou said, "I won't go over today. I'll leave the carriage behind and you can take it."
The carriage in the marquis's mansion was very spacious and the interior was comfortably furnished. He felt sorry for his pregnant niece, whom he had raised as his own daughter.
Dong Yiyi, "Thank you, Prince."
For the sake of her future grandchildren, she shamelessly agreed.
Boss Zhou said to his niece, "There must be a lot of people here today, so it's hard to say for sure. Don't leave anyone around you, and be more careful."
Jiang Miao understood that there would be some trouble in the Dong family today.
Boss Zhou looked at Mu Fan again, and Mu Fan said hurriedly: "Uncle, I will take good care of my wife."
"Um."