Chapter 240 New Salt on the Market
Lady Ningyuan Hou seemed to be struck by lightning. Long-forgotten memories were awakened and her eyes suddenly widened.

Looking at the emperor's face so close to her in disbelief, Lady Ningyuan Hou's voice trembled slightly: "Back then... it was you?!"

"Ah."

Just one simple word made the wife of Ningyuan Hou shake.

She let go of her hand, and Fu Zhonghai had to let go of his hand as well.

The wife of the Marquis of Ningyuan frowned as she looked at the new emperor who was half a head taller than her.

"Since it was you back then, why did you..."

"How can I marry a daughter of a general after being demoted to a commoner?"

Fu Zhonghai's words were calm but with a hint of helplessness.

The Ningyuan Marquis' wife was so excited that she blurted out, "You know I don't care about these things!"

Fu Zhonghai looked at the wife of Ningyuan Marquis steadily: "Then what? Let you follow me to kill pigs?"

"Why not?"

"You can do it, where are your parents and brothers?"

"The late emperor was so wary of the Fu family, how could I let your family be implicated?"

The wife of Ningyuan Hou shook again.

The distant past came to her mind, and she was in a state of confusion. She staggered back two steps, even forgetting to greet, and turned around and left in a hurry.

It feels like there is a dog chasing you from behind.

In the warm room of the East Palace, Fu Chenan and Xiao Yingchun leaned against the window with their heads leaning against each other to watch the excitement.

The good thing about glass windows is that you don’t have to go out to eat melons, avoiding the embarrassment of “the son watching his father make a fool of himself in front of him”.

It’s just that the emperor and the wife of the Marquis of Ningyuan spoke so softly that no one knew what they said except themselves.

Afterwards, the wife of Ningyuan Hou suddenly became excited, the two of them quarreled in a low voice, and then the wife of Ningyuan Hou ran away.

Xiao Yingchun's gossip spirit was burning, and she looked at Fu Chenan with burning eyes: "Is your father related to the wife of Ningyuan Marquis?"

Fu Chenan didn't know this, but someone knew it.

Fu Chenan glanced at Lu Daban who was watching the fun in the corridor, and asked the eunuch to invite Lu Daban in.

Seeing that the emperor was still standing in the courtyard in a daze, Lu Daban quietly entered the warm room and said, "Your Highness, you called me in..."

Fu Chenan pointed at Xiao Yingchun and said, "Miss Xiao, you want to know what happened between my father and the wife of Ningyuan Marquis."

Lu Daban: ...

Xiao Yingchun glared at Fu Chenan:!!!

You are a black-hearted person who is trying to pass on the blame!

Obviously you want to know too!
Lu Daban looked at the Emperor who was slowly walking towards the imperial study outside, thought about the scene he had just seen, and after weighing it for three seconds, he made up his mind to make it short.

"Your Majesty and the wife of the Ningyuan Marquis went to the battlefield together. They were friends who risked their lives for each other... Later, the Fu family was demoted to commoners, and the wife of the Ningyuan Marquis married the Ningyuan Marquis..."

If you ask around a bit, everyone in the capital will know about these old stories.

Lu Daban comforted himself: This is not a leak, nor is it an exaggeration. We didn't say a single word that shouldn't be said.

Having said this, Lu Daban hurriedly bowed and apologized, then ran after the emperor.

The two young men in the warm room looked at each other.

Xiao Yingchun: "What should we do?" Should we match these two middle-aged people together?

Fu Chenan: "...Let's take another look."

……

Before the Duke of Min's Mansion had time to do anything, they suddenly heard from the steward that Xiao's Grocery Store had stocked salt!

Snow-white, fine salt without any impurities!

Moreover, this salt is twice as expensive as the best fine salt on the market, selling for three hundred coins per pound.

Although it is expensive, as long as the quality is good enough, wealthy families are willing to buy it to cook, and the masters can afford it.

These were sold by Xiao's Grocery Store, in which the imperial court had a stake. Xiao Yingchun's goods were of excellent quality and had a good reputation.

At one time, a lot of people followed the trend and bought salt.

Fortunately, everyone was cautious and each family only bought one or two packs to try the taste, so it would not have much impact on Duke Minguo's salt mine in the short term.

But in the long run, once this salt is recognized by the aristocratic families, people with slightly better conditions will no longer choose fine salt with impurities.

"How about this salt?" Duke Min looked at the steward with a sharp gaze. The steward did not describe it, but silently took out a bag of salt, poured it into a bowl and handed it over.

Duke Min's heart sank when he looked at the salt as white as snow.

He pursed his lips and picked up a small handful with his hands. He rubbed it first, then tasted it with his tongue. Then he asked someone to bring a glass of water and threw some into the water...

Same amount of salt and water, but this time the water is saltier.

It can be seen that this kind of salt is more refined and can be used in more economical quantities than salt from one's own salt mines, which is equivalent to saving money.

What’s even more terrifying is that apart from being salty, there is no other strange smell in the water.

The salt produced from one's own salt mine, even the best official salt, will have a slight bitter taste.

But this salt doesn’t have it!

There is no peculiar smell at all!
Duke Min's face turned completely dark.

He looked outside. The sun had just climbed up the window lattice. "Go to Zheng's Grocery Store and deliver the salt. Be careful..."

"Yes!" The steward agreed, picked up the bowl and left.

Soon, Fu Zhonghai got the news.

"Zheng's Grocery Store?"

"Yes. The owner of Zheng's Grocery Store is the King of Nanming. The wife of the King of Nanming's attendant is named Zheng."

Fu Zhonghai's face was as gloomy as water.

King Nanming——When the Ao family army and the Fu family army switched positions, the Fu family army went to the fiefdom of King Donghu, the closest brother of King Nanming...

Is this a coincidence? Or is there really an intrinsic connection?

Fu Zhonghai, who has experienced many ups and downs in his life, does not believe in coincidence and prefers to believe that it is man-made.

"Investigate!" Fu Zhonghai gave the order calmly, but his face was terribly dark.

Lu Daban agreed and quickly gave the order.

In Zheng's grocery store, a man dressed as a clerk left the capital in a donkey cart. Three miles out of the city, he immediately changed horses and galloped towards the fiefdom of the King of Nanming.

He thought he was being stealthy, but he didn't know that someone was watching him with a telescope in a big tree in the distance.

Watching the person leave his sight, the person in the tree slowly pressed the button on the walkie-talkie.

"Number two, number two, the target is already heading your way..."

Three miles behind, several horses were running slowly forward.

The men on horseback all have one thing in common: dark complexion, ordinary appearance, thin body, and a cloth bag across their chest, with the outline of a small walkie-talkie visible inside...

Every time they ran a distance, one person would find a tree to climb up, and the rest would continue running forward.

Tracking, we have binoculars and walkie-talkies, we don't need to follow closely...

The windows of the weaving department were completed, and Boss Zhao came to Xiao Yingchun to deliver the goods, and told Xiao Yingchun by the way: the warehouse will be closed tomorrow.

Xiao Yingchun breathed a sigh of relief: Starting tomorrow, I won’t have to go to Feng Xiangning’s warehouse to receive the goods.

After settling the bill and sending Boss Zhao away, Xiao Yingchun handed the window over to Fu Chenan, who was collecting goods at the Tianwu Palace.

Fu Chenan stood there, watching the piles of windows being placed in front, behind, and on both sides of him, standing still as a mountain.

The guards beside him were all very nervous.

Any piece of glass window weighs hundreds of pounds. If one of them falls on the Crown Prince's head...

Your Highness, this job is very dangerous and it is easy to die young.

For the safety of His Royal Highness, the guards could only move the things away as quickly as possible to make room for the things behind...

After delivering the items, Xiao Yingchun discovered that there was a missed call on her phone.

It turned out that it was her uncle Xiao Qigui who wanted to come and see her.

Xiao Yingchun went to the back mountain to find his uncle.

The uncle rubbed his hands in embarrassment and said, "Yingchun, your warehouse will be completed tomorrow. I see there is a guardhouse at the door of the warehouse?"

Xiao Yingchun nodded: "Well, sometimes I'm not at home, and I need someone to help guard the warehouse and receive things."

"Have you found someone to guard the warehouse?"

Xiao Yingchun: "Not yet..." She probably guessed what her uncle wanted to do.

(End of this chapter)