Dong Gong Mei

Chapter 660 Flower Festival

"Then..." Xu Yunjiao lowered her head and murmured, "Mother is right, I will remember."

The Eldest Princess let out a long sigh of relief, the words were finally not in vain.

It is expected that Zhao Xiwei would take advantage of her own daughter's lack of brains.

But she didn't expect Zhao Xiwei to do this.

Seizing power in public is tantamount to tearing off Xu Yunjiao's face as the mistress, throwing it on the ground and trampling it to pieces.

What annoyed her the most was the attitude of the old lady of the Zhao residence.

It seems that to make this decision for her daughter, it is not enough to suppress Zhao Xiwei.

Just at this moment, footsteps came from outside.

The eldest princess's expression tightened, and her eyes became sharp.

The old lady personally brought the ginseng soup over: "Come on, Yun Jiao, this is the black-bone chicken and white ginseng soup prescribed by Imperial Physician Liu, drink it while it's hot."

The eldest princess stretched out her left hand: "Let me do it."

The old lady was startled, but she also put the small bowl in her hand, and said: "Mother-in-law, be careful not to burn it."

The eldest princess laughed, but didn't reply, she just held the edge of the bowl, supported Xu Yunjiao's shoulder, and asked her to drink the medicine.

After feeding the medicine, the eldest princess summoned the imperial physician again, asked a lot of questions carefully, and after confirming that her precious daughter was fine, she tucked in the quilt and stood up: "Go to sleep first, I have some Talk to your mother-in-law."

Xu Yunjiao glanced at the group of people beside the bed, and there was a little pride in her eyes: "Mother, you must be the master for your daughter!"

"Understood." The eldest princess turned around, "Mother-in-law, shall we talk here, or in another place?"

The servants were guarding the porch, but they all pricked up their ears, paying attention to the movement in the house.

While everyone was concerned about this conversation, Zhao Xiwei, who was at the center of the incident, was busy with his own affairs.

The spring rain is as thin as silk, and there is a faint fragrance of flowers in the moist air.

Qiao Yunqian came over.

Busy with business for several days, she dressed much more plainly than usual. She was wearing an apricot-colored spring shirt, her jet-black hair was casually pulled into a bun, and she wore two pink camellias on her hair. She wore a pair of sapphire earrings on her ears. He was overworked and his eye sockets were slightly bruised, but even so, he couldn't stop his high spirits when talking and laughing.

Zhao Xiwei personally fried the fragrant tea, and took a plate of fresh shortbread, and placed it in front of her.

Qiao Yunqian was not polite, picked up one of the chopsticks and tasted it, and opened the topic straight to the point: "Sister Wei, there is a big business, do you want to think about it?"

Zhao Xiwei was a little curious: "What business?"

Qiao Yunqian nodded behind her, and a maid took out an account book and presented it.

She took the account book and winked mysteriously at Zhao Xiwei: "Sister Wei, if this business is completed, our teahouse will not have to worry about running out of business!"

"So amazing?" Zhao Xiwei took it over, casually flipped through the first page, and immediately focused his gaze, "Sign a contract with the farm?"

"Yes." Qiao Yunqian nodded, and explained to Zhao Xiwei: "We want to do a good job in business. We don't have to worry about a stable source of customers, but there is no guarantee for fresh ingredients. Tea, snacks Food, wine, and meals are all inseparable from stable purchases. I have already asked people, and all the restaurants and teahouses in Quanchang’an are all supplied by this Zhuangzi. Their owner is also a cheerful person, and we The Qiao family has some friendship. When I heard that I had the idea of ​​cooperation, they sent the account book overnight, saying that if they want to cooperate for a long time, he can give a [-]% discount. But I dare not make this decision without authorization, so I came to ask first Sister Wei, I don't know what your intention is?"

Zhao Xiwei didn't answer her first, but slowly flipped through the booklet.

After getting a general idea from the beginning to the end, he frowned: "Both of us have no experience in business, so it might be inappropriate to rashly sign a long-term contract with the farm."

She closed the account book and put it aside, then someone brought the abacus over, and calculated carefully with Qiao Yunqian: "One tael of silver for tea, one hundred cash for fresh vegetables, three hundred cash for seasonal fruits, five hundred cash for cow's milk, There are also chickens, ducks, fish and other meats. These seem to be not expensive, but you see, he requires daily targeted purchases, and the meat alone costs one hundred catties—"

Flicking the beads quickly with his fingers, Zhao Xiwei pushed the abacus in front of Qiao Yunqian, "Look, according to the contract, every day we just give the farm money, we get five or sixty taels. Five or sixty taels, this It doesn’t seem like a lot. Usually, a big family’s meal is about a hundred taels, and you and I have to pay 60 taels for a set of clothes and jewelry. But if you do the math again, 60 taels a day, one month, it’s 200 taels Two, after one year, it is more than 60 taels. Twenty thousand taels is not a small amount for a big family."

"Adding labor and other miscellaneous expenses, we have to earn 3 taels a year to barely keep our capital. But both of us are doing business for the first time, and we don't know how much money we can make. If the teahouse It’s okay to say that if it doesn’t work, it’s not like going in with the left hand and going out with the right hand, and I’ve been busy working for the farm this year.”

"Ah..." After all the calculations, Qiao Yunqian was dumbfounded.

She is used to being a rich lady, and the Qiao family is very rich. She has been used to luxury and luxury since she was a child. She never thought that 1 taels of silver came so easily.

Being reminded by Zhao Xiwei, he couldn't help being a little frustrated: "In this case, then I'll go back to him."

"There's no need to be in such a hurry." Zhao Xiwei reopened the ledger, pointed to one of the items, and said with a smile, "I think we can buy this first."

Qiao Yunqian looked at her fingertips, her face full of shock: "Taolin."

"Yeah." Zhao Xi nodded slightly, with a bright smile: "Have you ever eaten peach cake with cheese?"

Qiao Yunqian shook her head like a rattle: "I've only heard of Baihua Cake..." Suddenly understood, "Sister wants to use peach blossoms to make cakes?"

"The Huachao Festival is about to come. Let the farm pick fresh peach blossoms every day and send them to the pastry made of cheese and glutinous rice flour. The glutinous rice skin is soft on the outside and sweet and sour cheese is inside. As for the cost, it is controlled at 100 taels Within the amount of money, if you lose money, take it as a lesson, if you make money, we will follow this model in the future, accumulate enough experience little by little, and then consider whether to sign a long-term contract, what do you think?"

"Well, what my sister said makes sense." Qiao Yunqian couldn't help nodding, "Be careful sailing for thousands of years. This is our first time doing business. We have to take it step by step. Don't be too anxious."

"Yes." Zhao Xi smiled, "Although we are not short of money for the time being, we still need to be cautious if we want to continue the business for a long time."

After the two discussed this issue, Qiao Yunqian thought of something again: "After talking so much, the name of the teahouse has not yet been decided! I have thought about it several times, but I don't think it is very good. Sister Wei, please pick one up." .”

"Just use the original one?" Zhao Xiwei didn't pay too much attention to this. The teahouse has been open for a while, and now it's suddenly called a name, which will inevitably make the diners feel strange.

"Not good!" Qiao Yunqian insisted on this matter, "The original name is too common!" She looked disgusted, "You have been there several times, do you remember what it was called? "

Zhao Xi thought for a while, then asked doubtfully, "Eight Immortal Tower?"

"Look, how ugly it is!" Qiao Yunqian shook his head again and again, "It sounds like a place where old men listen to books! I don't want my store to be full of old men!"

Zhao Xiwei didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "In business, whoever comes is not a customer, as long as it can make you money, you don't care if he is an old man or an old lady."

Qiao Yunqian insisted even more: "If it's all uncles and aunts, those scented teas and desserts will be hard to sell."

Zhao Xiwei was right after thinking about it, so he asked, "Then what do you want?"

"I..." Qiao Yun smiled lightly, "I want this teahouse to be different from others, not for storytellers, nor for musicians playing the piano, but just a place for young masters and ladies to drink tea quietly. "

She rested her chin in one hand, and looked forward to it: "Isn't it the most pleasant to meet some friends here, drink two cups of fragrant tea, and eat two pastries?"

The idea is very good, but Zhao Xiwei always feels that it is not realistic.

Although the folk customs in Chang'an are open, it is common for women to play together, ride horses and shoot and hunt.

But which of the young ladies from the family is not raised in a deep boudoir, how many of them can have fun outside every day?
But thinking that the two of them are both inexperienced and are slowly groping, there is no objection, and they just smiled: "Since this is the case, then we really need to choose a more elegant name."

She thought for a while, her eyes fell on the screen of hundreds of flowers, and she suddenly read a sentence: "Yun Xiang's clothes are Hua Xiangrong, so I'm called Hua Xiangrong, how about it?"

"Hua Xiangrong?" Qiao Yunqian's eyes lit up, "This is not bad, it's new and unique!"

After finalizing the name, and asking Zhao Xiweihua to meet at the teahouse, Qiao Yunqian left.

However, on the day of Huachao Festival, Zhao Xiwei missed the appointment.

Because this day is exactly the day when Li Xuanye is going on an expedition.

Zhao Xiwei got up early in the morning, still dressed as usual, changed into a peach red skirt, matched it with a bean green shawl, and was about to put a hairpin on his head, when he suddenly heard the ceremonies and music outside .

Solemn and solemn, with a murderous spirit, accompanied by the rapid drumbeat, like a thousand troops, stepping through the sky.

Zhao Xiwei's raised arm froze.

She was more impressed by this song than anyone else.

This is the "Tiger Roar" that she once played.

This is national music, and it cannot be played because it is not a military event.And such a huge scene can only be...

Zhao Xiwei only listened for a while before realizing what was going on outside.

Li Xuanye said that he would go to Xiliang at the end of February.

At that time he asked her if she would go see him off. She hesitated for a long time, and finally he said forget it and asked her to stay at home. She thought about the relationship between the two of them now, so she didn't say anything.

She is not an indecisive person, nor does she like to indulge in love, the past is the past, she doesn't want to go around thinking about him all the time.

In fact, these days, she is really doing well.

Every morning, after getting up and finishing her dressing, she listened to the reports from the mothers in charge of the big and small affairs of the mansion, and she made the final decision on each and every one of them.

He seems to be the head of the Zhao family.

Busy but very fulfilling, and without Xu Yunjiao and the others dancing in front of her eyes, she concentrated her energy on taking care of her affairs, and had no time to think about what she had.

Zhao Ziyi approached her once during this period.

Zhao Xiwei thought he would say something, after all, she took Xu Yunjiao's power, which caused the eldest princess to come to the door, and the old lady made a lot of money in the middle.

But unexpectedly, Zhao Ziyi didn't mention this matter, only thinking about her and Li Xuanye's affairs: "Wei'er, you really don't want to go back to the East Palace?"

Zhao Xi took a sip of tea lightly, and asked back: "It's all like this, does Daddy still want me to go back?"

Zhao Ziyi was startled.

These words were so calm that there was no wave, but in his heart, he still vaguely felt the pain of being stabbed.

His eyes darkened slightly, and he repeated the explanation: "Wei'er, Dad is asking you if you want to go back." As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly raised his eyes, only to see that her face was covered with frost.

A trace of bewilderment flashed across Zhao Ziyi's eyes.

For a moment, he felt that he might have been wrong in the first place.

He worked so hard to do so much, and he didn't hesitate to suffer such a great sin, just to fulfill the glory of her life.

But in the end, she didn't feel grateful at all, but instead resented herself?

"Miss Wei." Zhao Ziyi endured the emotion in her heart, and reminded her solemnly: "Father is discussing important matters with you, don't say such angry words, if you want to go back, father has plenty of ways to get you back, father promises, you will return." It will be the princess—”

Before he could finish speaking, Zhao Xiwei interrupted him.

She sneered, looked directly at the man in the wheelchair in front of her, and the words she said were like ice knives, piercing his heart with cold and pain——

"Father, in your eyes, is the position of the crown princess that important? Do you really want to put me next to him? If so, why didn't you stand up and object when he abolished my position back then?" What did I do wrong, send me into the palace when I said I was sent to the palace, and kicked out of the palace when I said I was kicked out of the palace? Can you tell me why?"

Zhao Ziyi's complexion changed, and she quickly pressed the edge of the table: "Wei'er, Dad is asking if you want to..."

"So what if I think? What if I don't want to?" Zhao Xi smiled silently, with a hint of sarcasm on the corner of his mouth, "Father, I'm sorry to say bluntly, you, like His Royal Highness, think that you are doing it for my own good, but when you really make a decision , but never considered my feelings, only considered my own interests. You keep saying that you can guarantee me this and that, but in the end, who gave me an explanation?"

She put down her teacup and got up abruptly: "I'm a human being, not a grass or a stone. I have my own dignity. I can't be like a chess piece, let you move it around, and let you arrange and control it!"

Zhao Ziyi looked at her back and fell silent.

After such a meeting, Zhao Xiwei became more certain about one thing, that is, she didn't want to go back, and she didn't even want to meet him again.

It's just that now that this day has really come, she can't sit still...

Sitting in front of the bronze mirror in a daze, Jinxiu walked in quickly: "Miss, Yuan Ce sent a letter asking you to go to the Vermilion Bird Gate."

"Suzakumen? What's the matter?" Zhao Xiwei opened the makeup box, slid his finger over the jewelry, and stopped suddenly.

The golden thread is shining, the pearls and jade are shiny, densely woven, it is the sachet.

This is a gift she did not send, and one tassel is missing.

On the day she moved out of the East Palace, she had thrown it in the sewing basket, but in the end she turned back, picked it up again, put it in a box, and brought it out of the East Palace.

The expedition ceremony was at Danfengmen, but Yuan Ce asked her to go to Suzakumen. What's the matter?

(End of this chapter)