The struggle for the throne among nine princes—I really don't want to be the crown prince.

Chapter 163 It's all my money
Shen Ye and Tong Guowei had a casual relationship, so she naturally wouldn't care about the birthday of one of Tong Guowei's concubines.

Although Emperor Qianxi noticed that so many people were celebrating Tong Guowei's concubine's birthday, he felt it was only natural.

After all, Tong Guowei was not only his uncle, but also the Grand Secretary.

It's quite normal for civil and military officials to curry favor with a Grand Secretary or Grand Secretary if the latter has a family emergency.

If Emperor Qianxi hadn't been concerned about saving face, he might have written a birthday couplet or something.

As for the Eighth Prince Yunsi going to offer birthday wishes, he didn't take it to heart at all.

Emperor Qianxi was very fond of his young and intelligent son; otherwise, he would not have granted him a noble title at such a young age, along with his brothers.

He had always encouraged the eldest prince and the crown prince to compete, and even cultivated the third and fourth princes. But he never expected that the eighth prince, at such a young age, would have already begun his own schemes.

He never imagined that his uncle, Tong Guowei, who had always appeared loyal to him, actually had his own ideas.

Shen Ye hadn't anticipated any of this, but he didn't care.

He had long known that the Eighth Prince would rise to prominence and build a powerful force that both the Qianxi Emperor and the Fourth Prince were wary of.

There are countless open and covert attacks targeting the Crown Prince, making them impossible to defend against.

So his attitude was that he would let these restless guys do whatever they wanted, and he would just focus on living his own life!

After expressing her support for Jackie Chan, Shen Ye continued living her quiet life.

He was still observing the administration in Daxing County, so he had complete freedom to come and go from the Forbidden City.

On this day, he leisurely led Zhou Bao, Erlengtai, and several other guards to Dexing Tower, where they were still reading "The Legend of Yue Fei".

Although he had heard it almost once, Shen Ye still thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of the teahouse. Every time he went to Daxing County to observe the government, he would usually relax in the teahouse.

At that moment, the storyteller in the teahouse was talking about Gao Chong's spear-wielding of the iron cart, and the huge teahouse was almost completely silent.

Listening to the storyteller's eloquent voice, Shen Ye felt very comfortable. Just as he was leisurely drinking tea, he heard someone sighing not far away.

Normally, such sighs wouldn't attract Shen Ye's attention at all, but since most people were listening to the storytelling, the sighs became more noticeable during the breaks in the storytelling.

Although Shen Ye was curious, he ignored him and continued to attend to his own affairs.

You can control the heavens above, the earth below, the air in between, and even someone else's casual sigh?
But just then, someone said, "Old Wei, you were in high spirits just a couple of days ago, what's wrong with you today?"

"What's wrong? Did you lose money?" Old Wei grumbled irritably.

The person who had just spoken ill of Lao Wei said, "You, Lao Wei, can lose money? Everyone knows you're famous for your accurate judgment."

Old Wei sighed and said, "I really made a mistake this time. Damn it, now I've lost all the money I've earned over the past twenty years!"

"From now on, if the Crown Prince makes any more suggestions, I will not invest any money."

Upon hearing the words "Crown Prince," Shen Ye's eyes widened, while the guard standing next to him, Erengtai, took a step forward, preparing to walk towards the speaker.

As the Crown Prince's attendant, how could he ignore someone who dared to speak ill of the Crown Prince in broad daylight!
However, Shen Ye's glare at him made him stop what he was doing.

The friend who was talking to Lao Wei also realized that there was something wrong with Lao Wei's words, and hurriedly said to Lao Wei: "Lao Wei, you're asking for trouble, daring to talk nonsense here."

"Let me tell you, if you keep talking nonsense, I won't be polite."

Old Wei sighed and said, "I was so angry I lost my mind. Sigh, brother, I've really lost a lot this time."

"Did you know that the stone-paved road that the Crown Prince had repaired is now going to be operated by the Imperial Household Department?"

"Those bigwigs in the Imperial Household Department, if anything good falls into their hands, they'll lose money, won't they?"

At this point, Old Wei picked up his wine cup, took a sip, and said, "Now, the shares of Shiban Road have all dropped to one thousand taels of silver per share."

"I bought them at 1,500 taels per share." "If we sell them now, we'll lose four or five thousand taels of silver!"

Four or five thousand taels of silver is indeed not a small amount.

Old Wei was able to pay out four or five thousand taels of silver, which shows that he was quite wealthy.

Old Wei's friend said in disbelief, "The shares of Shiban Road... those were over two thousand taels per share, how could they become so cheap?"

"I do not believe!"

Old Wei said helplessly, "If someone had said this at this time yesterday, I wouldn't have believed it either."

“I would even sell my estate and land to acquire these shares.”

"But now, this news is absolutely certain!"

"Tohqi's steward has already spread the word that the reason the price is being kept at one thousand taels per share is because their Lord Tohqi couldn't bear to see everyone lose too much, so he did it this way."

"This 1,000-share price only applies to today; it will drop further tomorrow."

“I’m prepared to sell my shares after I finish this cup of tea, otherwise I’ll only lose more and more money.”

Upon hearing this, Shen Ye's expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

The more than one hundred shares of Shiban Road that he holds are almost his largest asset at present.

He's reluctant to sell it, waiting for its value to appreciate.

Now, with the stone-paved road about to open to traffic, everything is moving in a positive direction, and the shares I hold will become increasingly valuable.

Unexpectedly, Tohchi pulled this stunt.

He not only fought for the operating rights of the stone-paved road in front of Emperor Qianxi, but also sent people to acquire the shares, and the price was directly halved.

In other words, Shen Ye's wealth suddenly decreased by more than half, which made Shen Ye feel extremely angry.

He turned to Old Wei and said, "Brother, if I were you, I would never sell my shares right now."

"As long as His Majesty has not yet decided to hand over the operation of the stone-paved road to the Imperial Household Department, there is still hope."

"As long as His Majesty doesn't hand over the operation of the stone-paved road to the Imperial Household Department, the money can still be earned back."

Old Wei glanced at Shen Ye with a hint of hesitation and said, "Since the Imperial Household Department dared to make such a statement, they must be very confident!"

Shen Ye and Lao Wei were just strangers who met by chance. It was already a good intention for Lao Wei to offer some advice. Hearing Lao Wei say this, he was too lazy to explain in detail. He just casually said, "I think the Crown Prince would not let the Imperial Household Department ruin the stone slab road that he worked so hard to make."

Hearing Shen Ye's words, Old Wei was stunned for a moment, then said, "That's right, the Crown Prince is naturally intelligent, how could he just stand by and watch the Imperial Household Department ruin this stone road!"

"Haha, how come I didn't think of that!"

"Brother, thank you so much! You saved me a lot of money. I'll treat you to tea today."

Seeing Lao Wei's radiant appearance, Shen Ye smiled.

The decision I just made has become even more resolute!

Although he disliked arguing, why should the things he had painstakingly created be corrupted by those parasites in the Imperial Household Department?

What's more, it's all their own money that's being lost!
It's all my money!

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(End of this chapter)