I became a prince in a martial arts world.

After seeing everyone off, Wang Yu returned to Red Willow Garden and saw Li Yunxiu still drinking alone.

She had drunk quite a bit of alcohol tonight, but her face wasn't flushed at all. Instead, her eyes grew brighter and brighter, and she looked at Wang Yu with a half-smile.

Wang Yu asked seriously, "Finished the test? Was there no problem?"

Li Yunxiu smiled and then said to Wang Yu, "In addition, the perfume workshop purchased enough flower petals in the spring and has already started production. It is estimated that it can earn 200,000 taels of silver a year to replenish the royal treasury."

Five blast furnaces have been built in the iron smelting workshop. In addition to supplying military needs, they have begun producing iron pots, kitchen knives, and farm tools. I have instructed people to increase the mining of the Longshan iron ore mine and to continue searching for other mines.

At this point, Li Yunxiu looked at Wang Yu and suddenly asked, "Do you have any other ideas for making money?"

Wang Yu was a little stunned. "Why did we suddenly switch to this topic?"

Li Yunxiu said indifferently, "Because Meng Zixiao doesn't have much to talk about."

Wang Yu asked, "Why?"

"Because she's not naive." Li Yunxiu gave a sneer. "All her answers were too quick, as if she had prepared them in advance. She answered fluently, her eyes were straightforward, and there wasn't a single flaw in her answers."

"Even without any flaws, it won't work?" Wang Yu asked.

"The absence of any flaws is itself the biggest flaw," Li Yunxiu said calmly. "Now that I know she has ulterior motives, what's the point of talking?"

Wang Yu shook his head, "I think you're nitpicking a bit."

Li Yunxiu looked up. "Want to play a bet?"

"What are we betting on?"

"If I win, you can divorce Qianqian."

"Ahem!" Wang Yuqian chuckled twice. "Let's talk about other ways to make money. Isn't the Wang family flush with cash? Why are you thinking about making money again?"

Li Yunxiu gave Wang Yu a deep look, "It's all because of you."

Wang Yu pointed to himself, "What does this have to do with me?"

"Because you discovered Pegasus Castle, and also discovered that the Black Qiang King's marriage proposal failed."

Li Yunxiu said, "The Black Qiang King's marriage proposal to the White Qiang shows that he wants to unite with the White Qiang. Life on the grassland is not easy and cannot support too many people. His only purpose in uniting with the White Qiang is to launch a military campaign to the south."

Although the marriage proposal failed, it does not mean that the Black Qiang have given up their ambition to move south. Shi Mo, as the top expert of the Black Qiang, has two disciples, one of whom is hunting down our cavalry on the front line and the other has infiltrated the pass to prepare to disrupt the rear. This shows his wolfish ambition.

War is a matter of life and death, a road to survival or destruction; it is imperative to examine it carefully. Since the enemy has made so many preparations, it is impossible for them to remain completely still. They may already be preparing to move south.

Since that's the case, we should certainly make preparations. As the saying goes, "an army marches on its stomach," so we should also ensure that our military pay is plentiful, which can be used to boost morale, provide compensation for fallen soldiers, and even support logistics for our campaigns in the northern deserts.

The Prince's Palace now has enough money for defense but not for offense. Back then, Zhao Zheng's so-called sweeping across the northern desert only involved three thousand cavalrymen. Fifty thousand soldiers remained in the northwest, not daring to make any moves.

If we want to eliminate the threat from the Black Qiang, three thousand cavalrymen are certainly not enough. We either need to continue expanding our cavalry force, or our infantry need to penetrate deeper into the grasslands. Both of these require money.

Wang Yu blinked. "Then this is also my credit, right? Whether it's making perfume and blast furnaces, or discovering Yang Chengwu."

Li Yunxiu nodded, "Yes, it was because of you that I discovered the Black Qiang's scheme. I didn't say it wasn't your doing."

Wang Yu asked again, "I've already accomplished so much, why are you still asking me how to make money?"

"Isn't that a case of the capable doing more work?" Li Yunxiu's voice softened. "I think you still have a lot of skills you haven't shown yet. This way, you can both save the people of the Northwest and strengthen the Zhenxi Prince's Mansion. Wouldn't that be a win-win situation?"

At first, Li Yunxiu only regarded Wang Yu as a puppet, but gradually discovered his calmness, decisiveness and resourcefulness, and began to regard him as an excellent partner.

But from the moment he made perfume and blast furnace, to the moment he killed Wei Honggang with a single sword, Li Yunxiu realized that he was not only proficient in making money, but also a martial arts genius!

The more Li Yunxiu looked at Wang Yu, the more he felt that he was a treasure. Sometimes he thought that Wang Yu looked exactly like Zhao Yu, and he didn’t know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. If he were placed in the court, would he also be able to become a general or prime minister?

Looking at Wang Yu now, Li Yunxiu feels that apart from always hanging out with Qianqian and occasionally wanting to sleep with her, he has almost no flaws.

Wang Yu, of course, was unaware of Li Yunxiu's change. Seeing her tone soften, he was startled and looked at her warily, asking, "What do you want?"

Li Yunxiu rolled her eyes at Wang Yu. "I want you to make money, and I also want you to divorce Qianqian."

"Did Qianqian upset you again?" Wang Yu asked with a smile.

"Has she offended me enough?" Li Yunxiu took a deep breath. "I don't know what she's up to lately, suddenly wanting to interfere in the affairs of the Prince's Mansion."

Li Yunxiu shook her head and said, "This is not in line with her personality. Logically speaking, she should rely on you wholeheartedly and then depend on you to order me to be kicked out, instead of settling for second best and fighting with me."

This is attacking the enemy's strength with one's own weakness. Although Qianqian is incompetent, she's not completely brainless. I wonder if some cunning but foolish person has bewitched her.

Wang Yu's lips twitched, and he reminded her, "Cunning and stupid are antonyms."

Li Yunxiu snorted, "Short-sighted, opportunistic people who only know how to play petty tricks are indeed quite a match for Qianqian, who is scheming and two-faced."

Wang Yu smiled and politely took his leave.

……

"Brother Yu, Li Yunxiu said we're a perfect match. Why don't you divorce her? That way, she can give us both a chance."

As soon as Wang Yu left the Red Willow Garden, Qianqian appeared beside him like a ghost, took his arm, shook it gently, and said coquettishly, "Then we can live happily ever after!"

"You heard everything?" Wang Yu asked.

Qianqian nodded, "Brother Yu, don't worry, I won't take the words of that old woman Li Yunxiu, who's all about scheming and betraying her own people, to heart."

"When she's no longer useful to the Prince of Zhenxi's mansion, and you've gotten tired of her, I'll kill her."

Wang Yu, "..."

She's only three years older than you.

"She's actually three years older than me?"

Feeling a bit exhausted, Wang Yu changed the subject, "Have you found 'All Streams Return to Their Source'? If you have, could I take a look?"

"No." Qianqian shook her head. "I've searched almost the entire main courtyard, but I haven't found any secret rooms or hidden compartments. I'm practically digging three feet into the ground."

"Didn't he put the secret manual in the main courtyard?" Wang Yu asked.

"I've searched the front and back halls and the east and west studies, but I couldn't find it." Qianqian looked at Wang Yu. "When you interrogated Zhao Yu, didn't you ask him about any special relationship between him and his father?"

Instead of answering, Wang Yu asked, "When you entered the manor, my father was still alive. Why didn't you ask him?"

"He didn't even tell Zhao Rong about 'All Streams Return to Their Source,' so how could he tell me?"

Qianqian chuckled, "Besides, he's a Grandmaster of the Innate Realm, so getting him into the manor is already the limit. If we were to ask him about 'The Return of All Streams to the Source,' wouldn't that be as obvious as a louse on a monk's head?"

"Then what do we do?" Wang Yu shrugged. "Are we really going to dig up the entire palace?"

"Forget it, let's take our time looking." Qianqian shook her head, then raised her eyebrows and smiled, "If you want to see it after I find it, you'll have to divorce Li Yunxiu first!"

Wang Yu was speechless. "I just rejected her."

Qianqian nodded and chuckled, "You're lucky you didn't agree to her request, otherwise you would have definitely lost."

"You also think that the absence of flaws is a flaw?" Wang Yu asked.

"No, I think she's too good-natured." Qianqian's lips curled into a sneer. "I was just teasing her like that, bringing up a woman's reputation, and not only did she not refute me, she even took the opportunity to curry favor!"

"Based on her performance just now, she is either a magnanimous and unrestrained person, or a scheming woman with superb acting skills."

Qianqian looked at Wang Yu, "Do you believe there are women in this world who are broad-minded, generous, and unrestrained?"

Wang Yu, "..."

He couldn't answer that, so Qianqian answered for him, "There are no magnanimous women in this world, just as there are no men who aren't attracted to women."

Wang Yu said seriously, "Thank you for your understanding."

"So everything she did was an act, and a terrible one at that," Qianqian sneered.

Wang Yu couldn't help but sigh for Meng Zixiao.

To be honest, he really didn't see anything wrong with Meng Zixiao. Firstly, their rescue of Meng Zixiao was purely accidental; if they hadn't appeared, Meng Zixiao would have been stripped naked in the street. Secondly, Meng Zixiao was genuinely poisoned and injured; it wasn't fake.

Women can easily deceive men, but they can never deceive other women, especially a meticulous female scholar and a demonic cult member with exceptional acting skills.

Wang Yu now believes that Meng Zixiao is not as straightforward and naive as she appears, but he also finds it hard to believe that she deliberately approached him.

"Could it be that her poisoning and injury were intentional?" Wang Yu asked. "What if Xu Hao hadn't produced the elixir?"

"Cartilage-softening powder isn't some deadly poison that kills instantly. Just see a doctor or rest for a while and you'll be fine." Qianqian scoffed. "Did her legs crush your brain? You're actually defending her?"

"No, I didn't, don't talk nonsense!" Wang Yu denied it decisively.

Qianqian smiled and said, "How about we make a bet?"

"What are we betting on?"

"If I win, you'll have Li Yunxiu serve me tea and water, and act all humble and subservient."

"Why are you all so addicted to gambling?" Wang Yu gently freed himself from Qianqian's arm, then strolled towards the main house. "I'll continue searching for 'The Source of All Streams'."

Qianqian snorted, retreated, and drifted away.