Zhu Lan, "Well, he went to the Xu family to learn a foreign language recently. Every time he learned something new, he would come back and show it off to me. This kid is quite gifted in languages and speaks quite well, although I didn't understand what he said."
Zhou Shuren was amused, "You don't understand?"
Zhu Lan glared, "At first, I only knew English, not other foreign languages. Changli is now learning some daily expressions from nearby countries. It's normal that I don't understand."
Zhou Shuren stopped laughing, coughed and changed the subject, "It seems that it was right to let Changli go."
"Um."
In the following days, the Ministry of Revenue's actions were not concealed, and everyone soon knew what the Ministry was going to do. Not to mention, it was the first time to deal with antique calligraphy and paintings in this way, and they were quite looking forward to it.
Zhou Shuren has already sent away several waves of friends who came to inquire about him, and even Zhulan, who is at home, has received several waves of visitors.
The Ministry of Revenue did not specify the specific date, which whetted everyone's appetite. The hottest topic in the capital right now is to see who has better luck.
Zhou Shuren was blatantly operating behind the scenes, and Zhang Jinghong was watching from the side, admiring him to the core.
Zhou Shuren was not afraid of Zhang Jinghong informing on him, as he knew very well that Zhang Jinghong had watched the whole process and would not dare to say a word.
Inside the palace, the emperor soon learned of Zhou Shuren's actions. He was speechless for a long time, but finally pretended not to know. He comforted himself in his heart that it was a reward from the Zhou family.
After hearing this, the prince became interested. It would be a fool not to take advantage of the opportunity. He thought that he could leave the palace early and have a chat with Zhou Shuren.
In the following two days, the Ministry of Revenue booked a teahouse near the ministry, made all the arrangements inside, and set a date. There were no restrictions and anyone could come to participate.
Zhulan couldn't go in herself, so she asked Shenxing to go. She told Shenxing all the signs and told him to spend the 20,000 taels of silver.
Since I can take it home and unpack it, there's really nothing to worry about.
Inside the teahouse, Zhou Shuren stood upstairs, looking at the visitors. Several princes had arrived, but the crown prince arrived a little late.
Not many officials came, and today is not a day off. Even if it is a day off, all officials will not take a day off. Most of the officials who came today are sons of officials, and they all came with missions.
Some of them are merchants. Merchants have money, so there is no threshold set.
Zhou Shuren is so mean. The boxes are divided into different levels. The cheaper ones have a lower chance of getting good stuff. The more expensive the box, the higher the chance of getting good stuff.
Therefore, as long as one has money, they will set their sights on the expensive boxes.
The ones Zhou Shuren marked are all in the medium and low-level categories, which are safer and there is no need to fight for the expensive boxes.
Qiu Yan stood beside Zhou Shuren and looked at him with a complicated expression, "It seems that the boxes prepared today are not enough."
Zhou Shuren didn't care, "It's only the first day anyway, there are still two days."
But most of the really good stuff is put on the first day.
This event does not require Zhou Shuren to host it, he just needs to be in charge of registering and collecting money.
The prince was standing in a good position. He could see Zhou Shuren as soon as he looked up. Thinking of the conversation they had two nights ago, the prince was in a good mood, especially when he saw his several annoying younger brothers staring at the most expensive one.
Soon the gong was struck and the activity began.
The second prince stood still, "Brother Crown Prince, you are the oldest, why don't you choose one first?"
Prince, "I'm just joining in the fun, you choose."
He never thought of doing it himself. He had already arranged people. He was not stupid and it would be better for him to just sit back and make money.
When the Second Prince saw that the Crown Prince really had no intention of taking action, he took a step forward and was about to point at one of the boxes, but someone was too nervous to hold the box down first.
The fourth prince Zhang Jingxi said, "First come, first served. Second brother, I will give way to you."
The second prince was so angry. This bastard clearly looked at his hand and tried to snatch it on purpose. After glaring at him, he turned around and was about to take the one next to him, but it was snatched away by the third prince Zhang Jingshi.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince curled his lips. He had expected this to happen. Rather than letting a few stupid brothers unite to trick him, it would be better to watch the show.
Zhang Yang didn't know whether to go forward or backward, but he also wanted to get rich. Ever since his elder brother the Crown Prince gave him a sum of money and his mother the Queen Mother gave him another sum, he had no income.
He had been trying to win over Shi Qing for a while, and he had already spent a lot of money, so he wanted to take a gamble today.
The prince looked at Zhang Yang, "You don't want to choose?"
Zhang Yang gritted his teeth and said, "Choose. This is an opportunity." Although he didn't find out how Lord Zhou packed the box, he knew that Lord Zhou would not lie if he dared to lay out the rules. "Choose."
As he spoke, Zhang Yang picked one he liked.
Zhou Shuren glanced at the box for a few seconds, then exchanged a glance with Lord Xiao. Zhou Shuren did not intend to hide his actions from Lord Xiao. Xiao Qing was also an insider and was involved in the secret operation.
Zhou Shuren had already seen Shen Xing, who was accompanied by two servants. Shen Xing was skilled in martial arts and had a good brain, so he quickly selected the boxes he wanted. There were not many people choosing mid- to low-end boxes, and they all gathered in the high-end areas.
Zhou Shuren stroked his beard, thinking, "You're really afraid that the emperor doesn't know that you all have money. Look how generous you are. A high-end box costs three thousand taels each. Hey, except for a few princes, many people have already selected five or six."
Shen Xing had already transported the boxes out. He paid the silver and took them away, feeling very happy.
Of course, there are also people who open the boxes after making their choices, such as several princes. Today, the fourth prince had very bad luck. He chose five boxes, but none of them contained a surprise.
The third prince was better off. He had four boxes, one of which contained a surprise, a rare copy, and the other boxes contained antiques, so he did make some money.
The second prince was extremely lucky. He gritted his teeth and chose three boxes. There was a surprise in each box, and he let out all his anger in one breath.
The second prince Zhang Jingyang smiled and said, "Brother, I just realized how much the brothers love me. Look, there are surprises in every box."
The third prince's back teeth were aching. The antiques in the box were not precious, and just looking at them made his heart ache.
Zhang Yang didn’t have much money, so he chose two and had no intention of opening the boxes.
Zhang Jingxi refused to accept it, "Old Five, why don't you open the box?"
Zhang Yang couldn't afford to offend anyone, so he opened the box anyway. The first box contained a surprise. "Haha, I'm so lucky."
He had long forgotten to restrain himself, even though the other princes looked unhappy.
Zhang Yang made no profit or loss on the last box, and he was already very satisfied.
There are fourteen boxes, and five of them contain surprises. The probability is extremely high, and the onlookers are all excited.
Zhou Shuren said quietly: "The Second Prince is really lucky."
He arranged it, how could he not know the probability was so high? At that time, he arranged the probability to be one in five, how could there be so many treasures!
Because of the princes’ publicity, some people later revealed surprises on the spot. Great, everyone’s enthusiasm was ignited, and blind guesses were still very high. The activity that we thought would be over by noon was finished in just one hour.
Xiao Qing said meaningfully: "They are all wealthy people."
Zhou Shuren doesn’t care about this. He cares about how much his family earns and just wants to go home to see!