Seems like she"s angered him!

Hua Zhu Yu slowly replied," Though Your Highness look down on commoners, but even commoners have aspects that are better than Your Highness!"

"Where are they better than me? Speak!" Huangfu Wu Shuang said with disdain.

"Not mentioning other things but for instance: eating and dressing."

Members of n.o.ble families were usually a.s.sisted by servants when they dressed and ate so Hua Zhu Yu was not surprised but what was shocking was that these past few days Hua Zhu Yu realized that Huangfu Wu Shuang has never once dressed himself because he truly did not know how to fasten those c.u.mbersome b.u.t.tons. Even when he was using his meals he needed someone to serve him. When eating fish he needed someone to take out the bones for him. If not done thoroughly and a few small bones remained, it was enough to cause him to choke to death. If he can"t even dress and eat by himself, where does he think he"s so great compared to others. He"s simple a waste! Of course, Hua Zhu Yu did not dare to speak these thoughts aloud. Her current ident.i.ty was that of a servant, if she truly provoked Huangfu Wu Shuang, the one to suffer would only be her. However, she still had to talk some reason into him.

Huangfu Wu Shuang"s little face became enflamed as he did not expect Hua Zhu Yu to mention these things. He admitted that he did not know how to do those things but his stubborn mouth replied," Only lowly people have to do it themselves."

"Speak, today"s matters, what"s the next move!" Huangfu Wu Shuang coldly asked.

"Tonight Your Highness should instruct your skilled guards to go disturb the residences or shops of those who refused to sell. Of course, we only need to threaten them, but must definitely not hurt them. Especially the jewelry shop, the guards must be cautious not to damage any property. We"ll act in the dark and let Zhao daren force them in the open, amidst these two pressures they"re bound to go inquire news. Then at that time, Your Highness should let your confidants in court quietly leak the news out. " Hua Zhu Yu replied as her lashes slightly fluttered across her bright, tranquil eyes.

Huangfu Wu Shuang silently contemplated for a moment before asking, "And if they decide to sell!?"

"Your Highness should rest a.s.sured, the more we pressure them, the more unwilling they"ll be!" Hua Zhu Yu said as a smile crossed her lips.

"If so then good, otherwise…" Huangfu Wu Shuang intended to spit out some ruthless remarks but suddenly discovered when facing those clear bright eyes, he couldn"t utter another word.

Half a month later.

The situation was as Hua Zhu Yu predicted, those businessmen were still resolute in their decision to not sell their shops as before. Some of them even reported the matter of Hua Zhu Yu forcing them to sell to court officials they were close with yet those officials had told them they should sell their shops, and at a high price too.

This made them quite suspicious. Two days later, a news had spread through the street. It was heard that the court intended to build a port in Jingling. Jingling was a prosperous area full of people and booming business. With the addition of a port, trade by sea would develop. Many traders would arrive in Jingling by sea and business in Jingling would prosper tremendously. When they thought of Hua Zhu Yu wanting to acquire their shops, they further believed in the credibility of this news.

After this enlightenment, the wealthy businessmen of Jingling began to spend large amounts of money to acquire businesses, thinking they"ll make a fortune in the future. Moreover, it wasn"t only Jingling"s businessmen, even businessmen of neighboring towns came pouring into Jingling to acquire shops once they caught wind of the news.

This frenzy caused the price of shops to skyrocket, in the span of half a month the price had tripled, even quadrupled.

Hua Zhu Yu did not expect to achieve her desired results so quickly. When she had invited those wealthy businessmen to dinner she had long since acquire a large number of shops discretely. Of course they weren"t large shops so the prices were low. Though Huangfu Wu Shuang did not have 300,000 taels of silver, he still was able to get hold of around 20-30,000 taels.

A full half month had yet to pa.s.s yet looking at the current selling prices of shops, they definitely would be able to earn more than 300,000 taels of silver. Thus Hua zuh yu decided to sell all the shops she had on hand.

Actually, this ruse of hers was only a last resort. If there was any other way, she would never had done such things. One could imagine, in this struggle, how many innocent people would lose money. If one profited when doing business one would be happy, but what if there"s a loss? However, these businessmen acquiring shops were all wealthy, but still, to lose money for no reason how could one not feel distressed?

"Your Highness, this servant has a favor to ask!" said Hua Zhu Yu.

With bank notes in hand, Huangfu Wu Shuang was leaning back against his bamboo seat, laughing and smiling from ear to ear. Since young he was never short of money so he never experienced any money problems. It was hard to imagine that gaining some profit from doing business transactions would leave him in such high spirits. Of course, if one did not walk on battlefield, one would not know the brutality of warm if one was not a commoner, one would not know how commoners suffer, if one did not lose money, one would not know how precious it was.

"Lovely little Bao Er, you truly are this prince"s savior, speak, if it"s something this prince can do, the prince will definitely agree!" Huangfu Wu Shuang laughed till his eyes closed. Whatever Hua Zhu Yu request now, he would agree without hesitation. There was not a bit of happiness on Hua Zhu Yu"s face, she blinked her two eyes then gazed up to calmly look at Huangfu Wu Shuang . "When the funds are acquired and the debt to Xijiang Yue is repaid, the matter of losing money will be concealed. Your Highness would have gained great merits and His Majesty would definitely praise you. This servant only request Your Highness to ask His Majesty of one matter."

"What matters, speak." Huangfu Wu Shuang began to count his bank notes. He truly did not understand why Hua Zhu Yu"s face was like that, conducting business and gaining profit, was that not a good thing? Yuan Bao truly was different from ordinary people.