bookrebus Chapter 281 No Money, No Good
Chapter 281 No Money, No Good
Xiao Mo wiped out all of Consort Dehui's private soldiers in Nanping City, but due to lack of information, the news did not reach the capital for a while.
Far away in the capital, Imperial Noble Consort Dehui was still desperately investigating the disappearance of the treasury and the Snake Cliff Incense.
After her careful investigation, she finally found out that when Ye Jintang and Xiao Mo went to the palace to say goodbye on the day they left the capital, Ye Jintang went to change clothes twice.
If this happened under normal circumstances, Imperial Noble Consort Dehui would definitely not care too much about it, but her vault happened to be robbed that day, and Ye Jintang's behavior also caught her attention.
Later she found out that Ye Jintang had a very large white cat. The white cat was very fat and looked like a little tiger from a distance.
That day, the treasury was discovered to have been robbed, and a eunuch saw several claw marks of ferocious beasts on the rockery.
At that time, they only thought it was a large beast and did not think it was a big white cat. Now thinking back, the big white cat's paw prints were not small, so it is possible that they were mistaken for the paw prints of a beast.
Imperial Noble Consort Dehui also heard that big white cats like to eat snakes. Adding all these things together, it was hard for her not to suspect Ye Jintang.
But it was just a suspicion, and she could not produce any evidence to prove that the vault was stolen by Ye Jintang.
After all, if Ye Jintang was the only woman, even if she had a thousand abilities, it would be impossible for her to empty the vault in such a short time.
As for Xiao Mo, that was even more impossible. She had placed countless spies around Xiao Mo. If there was any big move on his side, she would have heard about it long ago.
The inability to produce evidence did not affect Imperial Noble Consort Dehui's hatred for Ye Jintang.
The more Imperial Noble Consort Dehui thought about it, the more disheartened she became. She was a very suspicious person and would rather kill a thousand people by mistake than let one go.
She immediately gave an order to Zhou Quankun, asking him to do everything possible to kill Ye Jintang and Xiao Mo on the way and never let them go to Ningchuan Prefecture.
If the gold and silver in the vault were really stolen by Ye Jintang, then letting them go to Ningchuan Prefecture would undoubtedly be like letting a tiger return to the mountains.
That's tens of millions of taels of silver. With so much silver, it's possible to immediately mobilize troops for rebellion.
Noble Consort Dehui, who had no money, lived a very tight life. At first, she felt sorry for Xiao Yi and was worried that he had no money to spend.
As a result, on the day of the little prince's hundred-day banquet, Xiao Yi held a grand banquet at the Prince of Qi's Mansion.
When Imperial Noble Consort Dehui came to attend the banquet, she felt her eyelids twitching when she saw such a lavish Hundred Days Banquet.
"Fourth Brother, where did you get the money to hold a grandson's hundred-day banquet? Didn't mother tell you a long time ago to be more frugal and not spend money recklessly?"
"I earned my own money, so it's no big deal to hold a banquet for the little grandson."
Xiao Yi looked very proud. In the past, he had no ability and could only rely on Imperial Noble Consort Dehui. All his expenses depended on Imperial Noble Consort Dehui. Now, he finally had his own way to make money. He suddenly felt that he was very powerful and no one could match him.
"The money you earned? How did you earn it?"
Imperial Noble Consort Dehui knew her son's character very well. He ate, drank and had fun on weekdays, and was worth ten people. If he really made money, I'm afraid that ten people combined would not be as good as Ye Jintang.
Xiao Yi did not hide it from Imperial Noble Consort Dehui. He just smiled, took a few steps forward and said in a low voice, "Mother, I am telling you this in secret. Please don't spread it."
The simple-minded Xiao Yi told all about his affair of buying and selling official positions to Imperial Noble Consort Dehui.
Looking at Xiao Yi's smug look, Imperial Noble Consort Dehui felt her head buzzing and she wanted to raise her hand and slap him.
She said with a slightly trembling voice, "Old Four, do you know that buying and selling official positions is a capital crime?"
"I don't like to hear that. I didn't ask them to buy my position. They wanted to be promoted, so they came to me with money to ask me to help them smooth things over. How can this be considered buying and selling an official position? Mother, please don't accuse me of that."
"Besides, if I don't earn money myself and my mother doesn't give me money, I can't let so many people under my command starve."
Xiao Yi's righteous words gave Imperial Noble Consort Dehui a headache. She opened her mouth but couldn't say a word.
"Okay, very good. Since you are fearless, you will have to pay for the food and drink expenses of those people in Nanping City. Mother doesn't have that much money to pay for it."
Ever since the treasury was emptied, Imperial Noble Consort Dehui has let it go. Her children and grandchildren have their own destiny. If Xiao Yi is really a hopeless case, she will not force him.
When that day really comes, there will be nothing wrong with her supporting the ninth prince to ascend the throne and becoming the empress dowager who rules the country from behind the scenes.
As for whether Xiao Yi's selling of official positions would be discovered in the future, and whether she would be blamed, she was not afraid for a single day.
"That's easy to say. Those people only eat steamed buns every day. How much can they spend in a month?"
"The leader over there just sent a letter back a few days ago, saying that he needs 5 taels of silver to buy winter supplies. In that case, you will pay for it."
When Xiao Yi heard the 5 taels of silver, his eyes widened in disbelief.
"How can those poor people who only eat steamed buns eat 5 taels of silver? Mother, have you been deceived?"
"5 taels of silver is already a relatively small amount to spend. When mother was well-off before, she would spend at least 20 taels a year."
Xiao Yi was a little dumbfounded. He never expected that it would cost so much money in a year to support only more than 1 private soldiers.
No wonder the Ministry of War always complains about being poor. If they hire a few more soldiers, the money in the national treasury will probably flow out like water.
"I only make a little money, how can I afford to give so much money to Nanping City? Why don't you help me take it first, mother?"
"These are all your people, not mother's. In the past, you made little money, so mother temporarily helped you to support them. Now that you have the ability and can earn money, mother can't help you to manage them all the time. You will need to do these things by yourself in the future."
The mother and son pushed each other away because of the 5 taels of silver, and neither of them wanted to pay the money.
When Imperial Noble Consort Dehui left, she had a dark face. When she gave money to Xiao Yi, he always took it as a matter of course. Now asking him to take the money out was like asking for his life.
The relationship between mother and son was broken because of 50,000 taels of silver. Ye Yanran took the opportunity to persuade Xiao Yi and asked him to keep an eye on the silver and never give it to Imperial Noble Consort Dehui.
Ye Yanran was very envious of the power of Imperial Noble Consort Dehui. If she could use her power, the money Xiao Yi could earn would definitely double.
"In fact, Your Majesty can spread some news and say that if you want mother to help you with a little bit, that's fine."
As soon as Ye Yanran said this, Xiao Yi immediately understood what she meant.
He smiled and said, "Yanran, you are still smart. How could I forget this? It will be easier for us to act under the banner of our mother."
"This matter involves my mother and I must not let any mistakes slip through, otherwise we will be in trouble."
“I understand the stakes.”
Xiao Yi is not capable of making money in an honest way, but he is somewhat capable of doing so through unorthodox means.
People who came to him for help would definitely not gossip about them in front of Imperial Noble Consort Dehui, and Emperor Jing was obsessed with the harem and didn't care much about trivial matters in the court.
Under such circumstances, Xiao Yi lived an extremely carefree life, and money flowed into his pocket like water.