lady, please calm down

March 20th, morning 5:00 p.m.

Twelve hours after the assassination of the King of Chu, the thirteen closed city gates were reopened.

However, the once bustling Niuxing Street is much quieter today.

More than half of the shops had their doors and windows closed. Even those that were open for business kept their doors ajar, as if they were prepared to deal with a riot at any time.

At 2:15 pm, Dong Tianbao, the owner of Dong's Satin Shop, heard an urgent knock on the door, but he stopped his son who was going to open the door. Then he looked through the crack in the door and saw a woman dressed as a maid standing outside, followed by several ox carts.

Dong Tianbao had a sharp eye and could tell at a glance from the maid's attire that she must be from a wealthy family.

After hesitating for a while, Dong Tianbao, who had no intention of doing business, still opened the door.

Because the knocking on the door continued for quite some time, the owner of the cosmetics shop next door, Xu, heard the sound and came over.

The shop door opened, and Shopkeeper Xu stepped into the shop first and whispered in Dong Tianbao's ear: "He brought three ox carts here, it must be a big order!"

Dong Tianbao nodded. He opened the business during this period of panic because he guessed that the other party was a big customer.

Sure enough, as soon as the maid entered the store, she asked anxiously, "Boss, do you have any plain cloth?"

Plain cloth is pure white and colorless cloth.

"Yes, it's fine plain cloth. How much does this lady want?"

Dong Tianbao did not make an offer right away. He intended to give different discounts depending on how much the other party bought. However, the other party did not ask the price at all. He directly said, "Two hundred rolls of plain cloth and one hundred kilograms of ramie. Can you prepare it in one hour?"

"!"

It turns out to be a big customer!
The sales volume of non-pigmented cloth is not very large on weekdays, and the inventory in the satin shop is less than a hundred pieces, but the other party asked for two hundred pieces!
"can!"

Dong Tianbao thought about it quickly and responded immediately.

If the store does not have enough inventory, you can go to other suppliers to get more. This is common in their industry. Just like ramie, although it can also be made into cloth, it is of the worst quality and the lowest price.

Dongji Satin Shop doesn't have this stuff, but he can also go to a store that specializes in selling ramie to get it, package it and sell it.

The wealthy family didn't care if he got involved, as long as it could save them the hassle.

The other party paid the deposit readily. Dong Tianbao asked his son to go and communicate with the friendly business, and asked his daughter Dong Ying to come out and order tea for the maid.

Dong Tianbao wanted to strike up a conversation with the other party. Who in the city of Tokyo could run a large satin shop and rely on bulk goods? They all relied on a few wealthy families and made endless money every year.

However, Dong Tianbao had been immersed in the cloth industry for a long time, and he guessed that there was a high probability that there was a funeral in the other party's house just from the other party's hasty purchase of plain cloth and ramie.

Many people are very superstitious about this kind of thing. If you are not careful, you may upset the other party and ruin the deal.

Just as I was thinking about how to ask, I saw the maid looking out the door and suddenly said, "Boss, can you send the goods to my house?"

Dong Tianbao had just seen the other party bringing a bullock cart, so he guessed that the owner wanted to pull the goods back by himself and didn't want others to know who the owner was. But at this time, the maid took the initiative to offer to deliver the goods to the door.
I wonder if she wants to be lazy or if she has other things to do?

In short, Dong Tianbao was more than happy to do so, and hurriedly said, "Of course! Madam, rest assured, I will personally drive the car to deliver the plain cloth to your house. May I ask what is your address?"

"Sui Mian Street, Chu Palace"

"!"

Dong Tianbao’s eyes suddenly widened.

'Crack.'

Dong Ying, the daughter of the Dong family, who was ordering tea nearby, also fell down on her seat, and the teapot in her hand fell to the ground and broke into pieces.

Half a minute later, the maid left first, perhaps because she had other things to do.

Shopkeeper Xu and Dong Tianbao sat quietly in the room, speechless.

In the inner room, as one of the many women rescued from Liaodong by the King of Chu, Dong Ying hugged her second sister-in-law, sobbing in a suppressed and painful voice.

Dong Tianbao, who had just made a big deal, was not happy at all. Instead, his daughter's crying made his eyes wet. He couldn't help but wipe his eyes and said, "Why do good people have such short lives?"

Shopkeeper Xu was silent for a long time, and finally sighed: "The sky is about to fall."

The Chu Palace on Sui Mian Street purchased a large amount of plain cloth. Combined with the assassination of the Chu King at the Daxiangguo Temple yesterday and the subsequent reaction of the palace, people only thought that the Chu King had passed away.

At the beginning of noon, a carriage hurriedly drove out of Xincao Gate in Jingdong. About two miles out of the city, it was stopped by another carriage parked on the side of the road.

Pan Xiong, who had important matters to attend to, was about to scold someone because his carriage was blocked, but he saw the curtain of another carriage opened, revealing Pei Weishu's smiling face.

Yesterday, the two met once in the King of Chu's gatehouse.

"Master Pei, why are you stopping my carriage?"

"Haha, I guessed that Lord Pan wanted to go to the East Camp, so I am waiting here to meet Lord Pan."

Pan Xiong was shocked when he heard this, and he really had to rush to the camp in the east of the city.

Inside the car, a very low female voice immediately said, "Master, please coax him into our car first."

Pan Xiong obeyed the voice and immediately bowed to Pei Weishu from the car window and said, "Master Pei, please get in the car and have a chat."

Pei Weishu laughed and agreed, then jumped off his carriage and got on Pan Xiong's carriage.

The light in the carriage was a little dim. When Pei Wei got comfortable with the light inside the carriage, he saw that in addition to Pan Xiong, there was also a seductive woman and a fat and big-eared monk.

When Pei Weishu was looking at this strange combination, the other party was also looking at him, but the look was not kind at all. It was as if they were looking at a pig or sheep that could be slaughtered at any time.

The carriage had started off again.

Pei Weishu knew that since he had revealed that Pan Xiong was going to Dongdaying, the latter might guess that he had seen through Pan Xiong's thoughts and there was a possibility that he would be silenced.

He immediately stated that he was a friend, not an enemy, and said, "Master Pan! I can help you achieve great things!"

"Hahaha"

"hehe."

Pan Xiong and the woman laughed one after another, then suddenly leaned forward, looked at Pei Weishu with an extremely aggressive gaze, and said, "Big thing? Sir Pei, what big thing do I want to do?"

Pan Xiong was a ruthless character when he was in the prison camp. He would kill people if he said so. Pei Weishu did not dare to keep it a secret and said quickly: "Sir Pan, the King of Chu just died in the palace. Now the news has spread all over the city. If Sir Pan wants to take advantage of the situation, I can persuade the Huainan and Lin'an armies to help Sir Pan!" The three people in the car did not show any surprise at Pei Weishu's words. Instead, the woman smiled and said, "Such a big thing, how could the King of Chu's Palace leak it so easily? Did Sir Pei discuss it with the King of Chu to trick my master?"

Pei Weishu hurriedly said, "Chen Chu forced the emperor to abdicate and treated all the officials of Anfeng as grass and dogs. I have an irreconcilable relationship with this guy, so how could I be connected with him?"

After defending himself, Pei Weishu replied, "There was an assassination at Daxiangguo Temple yesterday. There were hundreds of people who witnessed it. This incident cannot be false! Afterwards, Tokyo was closed for 100 days and there was a curfew at night. If he was not seriously injured, this would not have happened! Today's incident seems chaotic. Isn't it just that the Chu Palace is leaderless?"

Then, he commented: "In order to show that he is a man who values ​​love and cherishes the past, Chen Chu still regards his first wife as his principal wife after he gained power. Zhao was originally just a poor peasant girl. How much knowledge can she have? Suddenly she lost her support. If she manages things, she will definitely make many mistakes. I dare to assert that the Chu Palace will be in even greater chaos at this time."

Pan Xiong and the woman beside him exchanged a glance. It seemed that their judgment was similar to Pei Weishu's. Then Pan Xiong said with a half-smile, "What is the big event that Lord Pei is talking about?"

"Master Pan still doesn't trust me." The atmosphere in the car gradually eased. Pei Weishu smiled complacently and said, "The princess is kind but weak. Now she and the prince are being coerced in the mansion by Concubine Cai. Master Pan is the right-hand man of the King of Chu. At this critical moment, you should lead the army into the city to rescue the princess!"

Pan Xiong subconsciously turned his head to glance at the woman beside him, and suddenly burst into laughter. Then he put his arm around the woman's waist and said with a smile: "Yu'er, look, Lord Pei actually has the same idea as you, hahahaha"

Pei Weishu's words just now were not only spoken to Pan Xiong, but also gave Pan Xiong some advice on how to explain to the outside world that Pan Xiong was leaving the city to the east in order to transfer his prison troops into the city. For such a thing, he had to have an explanation to the outside world.

And 'The King of Chu has passed away, support the Queen and the Crown Prince, and punish the Cai family' became a very suitable slogan.

After all, apart from the Huaibei high-ranking officials, the world was not clear about the dynamics among the royal family members in the palace, and the general impression people had of the palace's harem was that the princess was kind-hearted and the Cai family was strong and domineering.

The princess was close to the people and did many good deeds in Huaibei, which made her very popular among the people.

If Pei Weishu's words were spread, it would really encourage many low-level soldiers who are unaware of the truth.

However, judging from what Pan Xiong said, the woman named Yu'er beside him seemed to have already made this plan for him.

Yu'er couldn't help but look at Pei Weishu because he had the same idea as her, and then chuckled and said, "Master Pei, if everything goes well and my master leads the army into the palace, what should we do next?"

"Is this lady testing me?" Pei Weishu smiled and said, "If everything goes well, when Lord Pan enters the palace, he will naturally kill the princess and the prince first! Then, he will help Chen and her illegitimate son ascend the throne!"

It seems that Pei Weishu also knows that even if Pan Xiong can take advantage of the temporary chaos to gain power, he will not be able to control the many powerful generals in Huaibei, so he has to leave Chen Jinyu and Nian'er as puppets.

The woman continued, "Master Pei, are you so sure that the Chen family will cooperate?"

"Haha, the Yingchuan Chen family has no roots in the army. Lord Pan holds their mother and son hostage, so the Chen family has no say in their actions! In order to avoid being liquidated by the Huaibei generals, their family must cling to Lord Pan!"

"But the Chen brothers have always been loyal to Chen Chu."

"Hahaha, this is ridiculous. These descendants of aristocratic families will only be loyal to their own family. No matter what dynasty, the emperor is just a tool for them to rely on."

These words were very sharp in criticizing the aristocratic families, and Yu'er actually frowned slightly, showing a hint of displeasure.

Pan Xiong patted Yu'er on the buttocks to comfort her, and then said to Pei Weishu: "Master Pei just said that he could persuade Huainan and Lin'an to help me? When is Master Pei going to find Zhang Duofu, Wu Gong and Pan to meet?"

Pei Weishu, who had been eloquent all the time, showed a trace of embarrassment when he heard this, and said with a lack of confidence: "Zhang and Wu are both opportunists. Once Lord Pan controls the palace, I will be sure to let them help Lord Pan achieve great things."

"." Before Pan Xiong could say anything, Yu'er suddenly sat up straight and started to scold: "Are you here to tease my master? When the master controls the palace, what use will he have for them? You are already old, why are you still messing around like this?"

Pei Weishu subconsciously raised his eyes to look at Yu'er. This girl might be very angry and cursed in her hometown dialect.

"搞七弄三" is a dialect from eastern Zhejiang.
Pan Xiong is from Hebei, but he has a girl from Jiangnan by his side
Thinking back to yesterday evening when Pan Xiong disregarded propriety and made a scene outside the palace, Pei Weishu was just wondering why Pan Xiong was so anxious to determine Chen Chu's injury. But now, because of Yu'er's words in her hometown dialect, Pei Weishu seemed to understand something.

If the other party is indeed one of the big bosses in Jiangnan, it would not be difficult for him to secretly place a woman next to Pan Xiong and then influence and encourage him to do something.

I guess there must be another story that Pei Weishu doesn't know.

Pei Weishu calmly organized his words and said, "Master Pan, this time Chen Chu was assassinated, and later, rumors about the Chen family's connection with Xin Qiji spread quickly in the city. Isn't it a coincidence?"

Yu'er, who was looking unhappy, changed her expression slightly, but she kept silent. Pan Xiong pretended to be serious and said, "Oh? Could it be that Master Pei had already secretly planned all this?"

“Hahaha,” Pei Weishu laughed, “I don’t have such means to make an assassin die for his master, and be happy about it.”

"Then who does Lord Pei think is behind this?" Pan Xiong said with a smile.

Pei Weishu said, "It doesn't matter which master is playing chess, but since they have set up the chessboard, I am willing to be the chess piece."

"Oh?"

"Haha, there are many people in this world who want Chen Chu to die. This guy bullied the king. I don't know how many righteous men in Huainan want to sleep on his skin and eat his flesh! He spoke for the Cai family and allowed the Cai family to swallow up the fertile land of the gentry in Kaifeng Prefecture."

At this point, Pei Weishu suddenly looked at the monk who had remained silent from beginning to end, and said with a smile: "In the eleventh year of Fuchang, Daxiangguo Temple had at least 10,000 hectares of fertile land in Kaifeng Prefecture, Zheng, Jun, Sui, and Xu. How much is left now?"

The monk was unable to react for a moment when he saw Pei Weishu suddenly talking to him.

Pei Weishu continued, "It's a coincidence that the Xu family came to Beijing and happened to stay at Daxiangguo Temple. Chen Chu was assassinated at Daxiangguo Temple. The palace is in chaos now, so there is no time to investigate the matter. But if the palace is stable, Daxiangguo Temple may be in trouble."

As he was talking, Pei Weishu approached the monk and said, "I guess the monks in Daxiangguo Temple are having trouble sleeping and eating right now. I wonder where this master became a monk?"

"Amitabha." The monk chanted the Buddha's name repeatedly but refused to answer Pei Weishu's question.

By teasing the monk, Pei Weishu expressed his attitude: "I know I am a chess piece, even the monk and everyone in the car are chess pieces, but it doesn't matter, because he, Pei Weishu, also wants Chen Chu to die and wants to get a piece of the pie in this matter."

Pan Xiong understood, but did not respond. Instead, he looked at Yu'er, who slowly sat up and stared at Pei Weishu for a long time before asking, "What do you want?"

"If this is accomplished, Pei is willing to be the new emperor's finance minister and serve as Master Pan's running dog."

After saying this, Pei Weishu actually kowtowed to Pan Xiong in the bumpy carriage. On the surface, he was showing his loyalty to Pan Xiong, but in reality, he was showing his loyalty to the 'man playing chess'.

Yu'er was silent for a few breaths, then suddenly chuckled and said, "Before I left, I had anticipated the dangers of this trip. I didn't expect that Lord Pei would have more confidence than me and my master."

Pei Weishu stood up and said with a smile: "Madam, since ancient times, there have been many brave generals in troubled times, but how many of them can rule the world? In the end, the country will still fall into the hands of poets and scholars. Warriors only have brute force, but my generation relies on him."

Pei Weishu pointed at his head.

Hearing him mention "a family of scholars", Yu'er knew that Pei Weishu had guessed who her master was, and could not help but say, "Master Pei is so smart that he wants to reveal everything. This may not be a good thing for you."

Pei Weishu, however, laughed like a gambler, "It's just a big gamble. How many people don't even have this chance to sit at the gambling table. Now that you're at the gambling table, there's no need to look back. What Chen Chu could do back then, Lord Pan can do too! If Lord Pan succeeds, you and I might be able to write a good story of monarch and minister, just like Chen Chu and Chen Jing'an."

Pan Xiong, who had been feeling uneasy since he left the house, was soothed by Pei Weishu's words that he couldn't help but reach out and pinch Yu'er's cheek, saying with a smile: "Then I'll let you be my princess for once, hahahaha!"

"Master, you must keep your word! Then, Master will be crowned the King of Chu."

"Why? There are so many titles, why do you have to use a dead person's title?"

"Because the Princess of Chu has a good reputation, she also wants to try to be worshipped by the people."

"Okay, okay, hahahaha, all up to you." (End of this chapter)