RPAGF Chapter 92: How could I possibly afford to repay you?
Chapter 92: How could I possibly afford to repay you?
There's always trouble around a widow's door. One can only imagine how much hardship and harassment a widowed mother endures raising her young child with great difficulty.
Ni Er was incredibly strong. Once he grew into a young man, he would fight anyone who dared to bully his family.
At first, they couldn't win and were often beaten bloody.
But Ni Er had a ruthless streak; even if he knew he couldn't win, he would still fight. If someone punched him twice, he would at least kick them back.
Gradually, he figured out the fighting techniques of street thugs.
When he gets a year or two older, others will gradually be unable to beat him.
By the time he grew into adulthood, even seven or eight people could not get close to him.
From then on, fortunes changed, and no one dared to bully their family anymore; instead, it became them who bullied others.
Gradually, a group of street thugs began to attach themselves to Ni Er.
They pooled their resources and started a loan business, which made them quite comfortable.
Although Ni Er was a street urchin, he was a filial son. As his life improved, he hired maids to serve his elderly mother.
Unfortunately, this old lady was unlucky. Just when she was finally able to live a good life, her eyesight was ruined and she could no longer see.
Ni Er sought medical help and medicine everywhere, but to no avail.
Ni Er then announced that he would reward anyone who could cure his elderly mother's eye disease with a hundred taels of silver.
Although Ni Er was a street thug, he had his own rules.
The thugs who followed him were forbidden from bullying the old and young, from bullying women, and from harming loyal ministers and filial sons.
After reading the news, Xia Chengzong nodded slightly.
This Ni Er is usable.
Such scoundrels, having experienced the harsh realities of life since childhood and having roamed the streets, are not easy to win over.
Xia Chengzong pondered that he might start by addressing his elderly mother's eye ailment.
Xia Chengzong summoned Xia Bei to inquire about the condition of Ni Erlao's mother's eye disease.
Xia Bei recounted the story in detail.
Xia Chengzong nodded slightly. Xia Bei was indeed meticulous and attentive in his work, and he had not overlooked these details.
Based on Xia Bei's description, Xia Chengzong judged that the eye disease suffered by Ni Erlao's mother should be cataracts.
In later generations, surgical treatment techniques for this eye disease have become very advanced, and the surgery is very simple, just a minor procedure, with recovery taking about six or seven days.
In ancient times, it was not considered a terminal illness.
The Tang Dynasty book "Waitai Miyao" describes in detail the method of treating internal eye diseases with a golden comb, while the Song Dynasty book "Taiping Shenghui Fang" calls it "opening the eyes of internal eye diseases".
However, at that time there was no concept of disinfection, and the tools were not precise enough, which could easily cause intraocular infections, bleeding, or even retinal detachment.
Even if successful, the improvement in vision will be limited, and there is a high risk of repositioning.
Xia Chengzong remembered that the system shop had the skill of "Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine".
I can just exchange one.
It just so happens that Lin Daiyu has been frail and sickly since childhood, and by exchanging for the legendary doctor Qihuang, he can help her take care of her health in the future.
At the same time, it can also treat the eye disease of Ni Erlao's mother, which can be described as the best of both worlds.
At this time, inside the palace, the Empress invited several senior imperial consorts to the palace to chat and relieve their boredom.
Before their departure, the Queen gave each of them several bottles of perfume.
In the capital, the Imperial Guards were mobilized to arrest those who slandered the perfume.
For a time, the entire capital was filled with an atmosphere of panic and unease.
Talkative women dare not speak nonsense, petty thieves dare not steal, and thugs and hooligans stay at home and dare not go out.
For a time, this improved the security situation in the capital city considerably.
The Dianjiangchun Fragrance Powder Shop, a prime location on the main street of the East Market, was also a shop belonging to the Prince of Ping'an's residence.
At this time, the shop was already adorned with an imperial plaque proclaiming it as the most fragrant in the world.
The perfume shop displayed a banner outside that read "The same perfume exclusively supplied to the royal family."
These events all occurred on the same day.
Ordinary people and peddlers cared nothing about this.
However, when these events occurred to aristocratic families, wealthy clans, high-ranking officials, and noble households, they were all connected by a single thread, and each family interpreted them differently.
This incident can be seen as a minor clash in the struggle for the throne.
The princes, disregarding their status, bullied the younger prince by joining forces to harass the most favored grandson of the emperor.
This grandson of the emperor was no pushover either; he eagerly went to the palace and filed a scathing complaint against several of his uncles.
The emperor clearly favored his grandson, slapping him hard several times as a warning not to go too far.
The plaque inscribed with "The Most Fragrance Under Heaven" by the Emperor himself was a talisman given to his grandson.
The Emperor had already chosen sides, and perfume became a tribute. On the Empress's side, perfume was also bestowed upon those of the highest rank.
Even though the Emperor and Empress personally endorsed that little guy, what could they do?
They had no choice but to send someone to the Dianjiangchun perfume shop to buy perfume.
If someone doesn't buy it, wouldn't they be going against the Emperor and Empress?
As a result, the perfume shop's business boomed.
Xia Chengzong also garnered a wave of emotional points.
Both positive and negative sentiment values are present, but there are more positive sentiment values.
However, there are many large values for negative emotion scores.
Loyal Prince's negative emotion value +10 +10 +10
Prince Zhongxin's negative emotion value +10 +10 +10
Prince Chungkang's negative emotion value +10 +10 +10
……
In one day, he reaped several thousand emotional points.
In less than two days, he will have accumulated 10,000 emotion points again.
You still need to do things to reap enough emotional rewards.
……
These past two days, the perfume business has been booming, and Prince Zhongshun is lying down counting his silver, very happy.
He hosted a celebratory banquet for Xia Chengzong at the Prince's Palace.
At the banquet, Prince Zhongshun drank fine wine, while Xia Chengzong drank deer milk.
The uncle and nephew drank and listened to music, and were quite happy.
Prince Zhongshun said, "Zong-ge'er, you're really something! You can make a fortune just by tinkering with something! Come on, let's have a drink!"
He raised his glass and clinked it with Xia Chengzong's, then downed the glass in one gulp.
Seeing that Xia Chengzong had only taken a small sip, he immediately said with displeasure, "Brother Zong, are you raising fish? Finish it up, finish it up!"
Xia Chengzong said speechlessly, "Fifth Uncle, you drink one cup, I drink one bowl, how can I possibly keep up with you? You can drink as much as you want, this one bowl is enough for me."
Prince Chungshun burst into laughter: "Zong-ge'er, grow up quickly! What's the point of drinking milk? A real man should drink!"
"You're such a clever rascal, you even thought of getting Father and Mother to back you up! This time, let's join forces and make a fortune."
"If we hire more people and ramp up production, we can earn several million taels of silver a year, and then we, uncle and nephew, will be rich!"
"Come on, let's have a drink!"
Xia Chengzong picked up the bowl, took a sip of deer milk, and laughed, "Fifth Uncle, from now on, we'll limit sales. We'll sell a maximum of thirty bottles of this perfume per day!"
Upon hearing this, Prince Zhongshun asked in confusion, "Zong-ge'er, why is that? I know you are cautious in your actions, but now that Father and Mother are backing you, why is there any need for such measures?"
Xia Chengzong shook his head and said, "Fifth Uncle, although we have the Emperor and Empress protecting us, they certainly wouldn't dare to do anything openly."
"But what if they sabotage us behind the scenes? For one thing, what if they monopolize the flower petals and make it impossible for us to buy them?"
"Right now, we're still supplying the palace with supplies! What if we can't even supply the palace with supplies by then?"
"While my grandfather and grandmother won't blame me, I'll still be labeled as someone who failed in their duties."
"Unless we have our own flower nursery or can find a sufficient supply of flowers, it's better to take a slow and steady approach."