After the milk ball arrived, the father who had no heirs had a string of good luck.

"..." I really didn't mean that!

Situ Che sighed, but finally accepted her offer: "Then... shall I promote you in rank?"

"Raise her rank?" Li Ji's eyes lit up.

The other women also put down what they were holding and looked over, their eyes gleaming.

Being stared at by so many eyes made Situ Che feel a chill run down his spine.

It seems... mentioning only one isn't quite right...

The princess said, "We must treat everyone equally!"

Situ Che coughed lightly, trying to remain calm: "That's right. After returning to the manor, Consort Li and Consort Zhang will be promoted to concubines. Consort Zhu will be promoted to secondary consort. Tomorrow, I will go to the palace to tell Father Emperor about this."

According to ancestral rules, a prince can have two concubines and four secondary consorts.

With this arrangement, he's managed to treat everyone fairly, right?

"Thank you, Your Highness..." The women were overjoyed and thanked him in unison.

Consort Gu was initially resentful, but... if she were to rise further, she would become a princess.

Qin Zhiyan treated her well, and she had sworn never to betray Qin Zhiyan, so she had no choice but to give up.

Unexpectedly, Qin Zhiyan noticed her expression and smiled as she reminded Situ Che, "Your Highness, all the other sisters have been promoted, but Sister Gu hasn't. In my opinion, why not let her go to the storeroom and find something she likes as compensation?"

Situ Che nodded: "The Princess Consort is indeed very thoughtful."

Gu Ruoxue's dissatisfaction completely dissipated, and she smiled gently: "Thank you, Your Highness, and thank you, Princess Consort."

Tang Rui looked at this and that, then put her hands on her hips and announced loudly, "Father, Mother, stepmothers, I'm so happy! There's no family in the whole capital as harmonious as ours!"

The child's innocent words made everyone in the room burst into laughter.

Yes!

Looking across the entire capital, no family could be as harmonious as the Prince Li's residence.

This is a good thing, and a fortunate thing.

"Next, we will have the last item up for auction." The shopkeeper's voice came from outside, and the smiles on the faces of the people inside vanished instantly.

Because they all knew that the so-called "Free and Easy Pill" was a poisonous pill.

The crown prince wanted to photograph the poison pill and present it to the emperor.

Sure enough, after the shopkeeper announced the base price of one thousand taels, the first person in the prince's private room spoke up: "One thousand five hundred taels."

Good heavens, that's five hundred taels in one go?

The Crown Prince is determined to win!

Situ Che had no intention of joining in the fun. He was planning to go to the palace tomorrow to tell the emperor about the Xiaoyao Pill so that he could be on guard.

However, right after the Crown Prince raised the price, Prince Rui followed suit: "Two thousand taels."

Qin Zhiyan was taken aback upon hearing this: "Prince Rui... what's going on? Didn't we tell him that the Xiaoyao Pill is a poisonous pill? Why is he still filming it?"

After all, he was his own brother. Situ Che understood immediately and smiled faintly: "He probably wants the Crown Prince to bleed money."

He guessed right.

As soon as Prince Rui spoke, Prince Xiang also slowly joined in the fun: "Two thousand five hundred taels."

First it was Princess Li, then these two…

The prince was about to explode. He pulled aside the servant who had been calling out prices and stood by the window, his words laced with gritted teeth: "Are you two trying to make trouble for me?"

King Xiang smiled and said, "What are you talking about? It's an auction, the highest bidder wins. If you want it, then just raise the bid."

It would be best to empty the Eastern Palace!

Prince Chen also asked, "Manager, what's going on with your Zhencui Pavilion? Are you forbidding others from raising their prices?"

"No, no, we at Zhencui Pavilion don't have that rule!" The manager quickly denied, and then looked righteously at the prince's private room: "My esteemed guest, if you continue to cause trouble and disrupt the auction order, I will have to have someone escort you out."

Upon hearing this, the crown prince angrily retorted, "How dare you? Do you know who I am?"

The shopkeeper said coldly, "No matter who you are, it's the same. Our Zhencui Pavilion is not one that anyone can bully."

In other words, if you think we have no one backing us, you're sorely mistaken.

The Crown Prince chuckled: "Is that so? Then I'd like to ask, who's behind your Zhencui Pavilion? You've been hiding your true colors all this time; what kind of hero are you?"

The shopkeeper's expressionless face showed no respect whatsoever: "No comment. If you don't believe me, feel free to try."

Crown Prince: "..."

good good!

He'll investigate thoroughly afterward to find out who the bastard behind Zhencui Pavilion is.

No matter how powerful he is, can he be more powerful than the royal family?

At the same time, in the Prime Minister's residence, Gu Nanyu, who was working overtime late into the night organizing account books, sneezed several times.

The emperor, who was about to fall asleep, also sneezed several times.

Emperor: "..." Who is cursing me?

Gu Nanyu: "..." Who's insulting me?

"Young master, have you caught a cold? Shall I make you a bowl of ginseng soup?" the servant who grinds ink asked.

Gu Nanyu shook his head: "Never mind, the auction at Zhencui Pavilion should be over. Go and get the account books later, and I'll organize them and give them to the Emperor."

"Yes!" The servant admired his young master.

Who would have thought that he was the most deeply hidden royalist in the Prime Minister's residence?

Oh no, it's not appropriate to call them royalists; they should be called colluding with the emperor.

Gu Nanyu had been favored by the emperor a year ago and had been secretly working for him.

It's laughable that the Crown Prince's concubine's daughter has the audacity to say that the young master can only enter officialdom by currying favor with the Crown Prince.

Laugh to death!

Isn't the emperor's thigh thicker and more magnificent than the crown prince's?

...

Zhencui Pavilion.

While maintaining its high price, the prince also raised the price.

Prince Rui and Prince Xiang knew that he was determined to get the Xiaoyao Pill, so they kept driving up the price.

Finally, even the Prince of Chen joined.

When Situ Che saw that all three of his brothers had joined, he felt a bit out of place if he didn't.

And so... the scene turned into four princes playing pranks on the crown prince.

The price of a single pill of Xiaoyao has been inflated to eight thousand taels of silver.

The prince's eyes were bloodshot as he gritted his teeth and shouted, "One thousand taels! Gold!"

The crowd erupted in uproar!

One thousand taels of gold?

That's ten thousand taels of silver!

Is this tiny pill really worth that much?

"Hahaha... Your Excellency is indeed very wealthy!" Prince Rui laughed heartily, then suddenly changed the subject: "Then I'll offer two thousand taels of gold!"

The Prince of Xiang chuckled, fanning himself with his fan: "Are you all so wealthy and powerful, and only I am poor? Shopkeeper, three thousand taels of gold, I'm taking this Xiaoyao Pill."

"Four thousand taels of gold!" Prince Chen was ruthless and didn't talk much. He roughly knew how much wealth the Crown Prince had, and this wasn't enough.

Situ Che clearly knew this too. He stroked his chin and thought for a moment, then suddenly raised the price to the maximum: "I'm also determined to get the Xiaoyao Pill. Sorry, shopkeeper, seven thousand taels of gold."

"My God, who are those people in those five private rooms upstairs? They're so rich!"

"Sigh... I can't compete!"

"This is Kyoto, a city teeming with high-ranking officials and nobles. What are we to them?"

...

The guests on the first floor were all talking at once, saying all sorts of things.

Of course, besides the princes and the crown prince, there were also many court officials who came to participate in the auction.