The Red Chamber: Starting from Saving Xue Baochai

Chapter 117 Being Held Like a Child
After leaving the palace, Shen Yuan went to Zuixiangju. He had already made an appointment with Gao Yue to discuss the cooperation between Baoyuan Trading Company and Tianyuan Trading Company.

When he arrived at Zuixiangju, a waiter welcomed him to an elegant room on the third floor.

"Huai Zhong." The fourth prince Gao Yue greeted Shen Yuan with a smile when he saw him.

"Your Highness." Shen Yuan bowed in greeting.

"I told Huaizhong that you and I are close friends in private, so there is no need for such formalities." Gao Yue said with a smile, "Come and sit down, and try this Gusu cuisine. I wonder if it is a taste you are familiar with?"

"Your Highness is thoughtful." Shen Yuan sat down, looked at the table full of food and wine, picked up the chopsticks, picked up two of them and tasted a few bites, smiled and praised: "Well, I haven't tasted such authentic hometown flavors for a long time."

"If Huaizhong likes it, you might as well come over and try it often, or have a few drinks with me." Gao Yue said, raising his wine cup and clinking glasses with Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan also drank the wine in the glass and then got back to the topic.

"I wonder what Your Highness thinks of the cooperation I mentioned earlier?"

Gao Yue smiled and said, "The cooperation Huaizhong mentioned only requires me to help find some female shopkeepers?"

"We may need to use Hanmozhai's tabloids to do some publicity then."

Gao Yue said: "Of course there is no problem with this. If it were just these, my Tianyuan Commercial Bank would get 50% of the profits, which would be a big advantage for Huaizhong. I would feel uneasy. The profit share can be reduced further."

Shen Yuan shook his head and said, "Your Highness, please don't refuse. You may need your help in the future."

His goal today was to tie Baoyuan Trading Company to the big ship of Tianyuan Trading Company, because Tianyuan was backed by the royal family, or the emperor.

If Shen Yuan guessed correctly, the money Tianyuan Trading Company earned every year should have gone directly into the emperor's treasury.

It was not that Emperor Yuanzhen wanted to compete with the people for profits, but that he could not fully trust the Ministry of Revenue. Although the situation was difficult, the national treasury was in deficit every year, and there might be something fishy going on.

The emperor had no good solution to this problem. Even if he replaced all the officials in the Ministry of Revenue, it would not be possible to eliminate the problem. Moreover, the collection of taxes for the national treasury involved not only the Ministry of Revenue, and it was impossible for him to replace all the officials in various places.

In this case, it would be better to borrow Tianyuan Commercial Bank to increase the income of the treasury, so that some money can be allocated at the critical moment to solve the urgent needs of the court.

"Okay then. If Baoyuan Trading Company needs anything, Huaizhong can come to me at any time." Seeing Shen Yuan's firm attitude, Gao Yue no longer refused.

What he valued was Shen Yuan's military talent, and he did not pay much attention to business cooperation at this time.

Shen Yuan was aware of this, but he had to give up the 50% profit.

Because only he knows what scale Baoyuan Trading Company will develop into in the future.

If he only earned a few thousand taels or tens of thousands of taels a year, Gao Yue would not take it seriously.

But if it is hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels, it will probably cause a lot of trouble and even the emperor might be tempted.

Rather than waiting to be coveted or suspected one day, it is better to make concessions in advance and tie down the emperor as a major shareholder.

Shen Yuan nodded and continued, "There is one more thing I would like to ask Your Highness. Are there any restrictions on the printing and selling of manuscripts in the big weekly magazine?"

"Oh? Huaizhong wants to print a book?" Gao Yue suddenly became interested and asked, "What does the manuscript cover?"

"The storybooks are nothing more than fabricated stories based on some folk legends to entertain the people."

“There aren’t too many restrictions on folk tales, but it still depends on the specific content.”

"I now have a story outline. What do you think, Your Highness?"

Shen Yuan then recounted the general plot of "The Legend of the New White Snake".

Gao Yue's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he looked obviously excited. He clapped his hands and said, "Wonderful! Very interesting! If this book is completed, it will surely be popular all over the country."

He couldn't wait to ask, "When can I submit the manuscript?"

Shen Yuan couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart. Before the manuscript was officially submitted, some people started urging him to submit his manuscript. It seemed that novel readers of any era had the same feeling.

"The submission date is still under discussion. Today I just want to confirm whether this book can be published."

"It's just a folk legend, there shouldn't be any problem." Gao Yue said, "Huai Zhong will give this book to Han Mo Zhai to print and sell. How about we split the profits 50-50?"

Obviously, this profit sharing ratio was extremely generous. Shen Yuan thought about it and nodded in agreement.

Hanmo Zhai has absolute advantages in publishing manuscripts and can avoid a lot of unnecessary reviews. Therefore, Shen Yuan gave up the idea of ​​setting up his own study.

After discussing cooperation matters with Gao Yue and having dinner, Shen Yuan returned to the Shen Mansion when it was almost dusk.

Not seeing Baochai and Ying'er in the backyard, she went to Baochai's room, and seeing that the door was closed, she went forward and knocked gently.

"Sister Xue?"

At this time, Baochai was being helped by Ying'er to take a bath. Suddenly, she heard Shen Yuan's voice and was slightly startled. "Mr. Shen, I'm taking a bath."

"That's great. Let me cleanse my sister's body." Shen Yuan held back a smile.

Getting up early to draw eyebrows and bathing in the evening can help to enhance the relationship between husband and wife.

Baochai:"."

Seeing that the girl blushed and forgot to respond for a moment, Ying'er took small steps to open the door for her son-in-law. After all, it was not the first time that her son-in-law helped the girl bathe.

With a creak, the door was opened. Shen Yuan saw a delicate and lovely oval face. He smiled and rubbed it with his hand, then walked behind the screen.

Ying'er felt the doting of her son-in-law, and her heart was filled with shyness and joy. After closing the door, she followed him.

Coming behind the screen, Shen Yuan saw Baochai sitting in the bathtub amidst the hot steam, her jade-like back exposed, her round shoulders still sparkling with the crystal light of the water.

Since you can enter the water, it means your menstrual period is over.

Shen Yuan picked up a towel and started to wipe his wife's back.

"Sister, are you still feeling tired today?"

Baochai felt her husband wiping her gently and replied softly, "No."

"You can sleep later tonight."

Baochai:"."

She naturally understood what Shen Yuan meant. Her husband must be missing her.

Sure enough, after a while, the boy's hand that was rubbing her back moved around to the front of her body, making her suddenly feel a tingling sensation.

"Shen Lang, I want to meet those female shopkeepers tomorrow."

Shen Yuan held Yue in his arms in the water, and she seemed to feel her softer and smoother than before. He said, "Well, sister, choose the right one. It's better to have nothing than to have something less than perfect. Don't be too anxious."

As he spoke, he looked at Ying'er standing beside him and said, "Give me the soapberry."

"Oh." Ying'er responded and took the soapberry and handed it to Shen Yuan.

When the young girl saw her brother-in-law bathing her seriously, her pretty face turned red with embarrassment.

Shen Yuan took it, and while gently rubbing, rubbing and picking, he used the soap bean to stroke every inch of his skin.

After all, the soapberries of this era were not as easy to use as those of later generations, and were a bit rough.

Thinking of this, another business idea flashed through Shen Yuan's mind.

After a little thought, it was clear that I had reached the bottom.

Baochai's face, as crystal clear as snow, showed an unspeakable shyness. She bit her pink lips with her cherry teeth, raised her head, and glanced at her husband with shyness and anger.

"Shen Lang, I should finish washing."

"Hmm." Shen Yuan wiped it again, and then he withdrew his hand as if he had realized something. He said, "I'll take a bath too. Ying'er, help me undress."

"Shen Lang."

Baochai wanted to go to the inner room, but after thinking for a moment, she lowered her eyes and remained silent in shame.

It’s more convenient here than getting sweaty and wet and messing up the quilt later.

After a moment of stunned silence, Ying'er blushed and went forward to help her brother-in-law untie the belt.

Amidst the rustling sounds, the clothes were already scattered on the ground.

During the process, the girl accidentally touched somewhere and clearly felt it move a few times, which made her heart tremble.

Shen Yuan looked at Ying'er with gentle eyes, smiled, and stroked her smooth, rosy face.

Then, he entered the bathtub, creating ripples.

Baochai glanced at her husband, and an unspeakable memory emerged in her mind.

The beauty was about to get up, leaning back to hold onto the bucket as she usually did, but suddenly she felt something empty underneath her.

(End of this chapter)