Dad, don't be greedy! My brother climbed into the emperor's bed, and I became famous overn

Xiao Jue stepped across the threshold.

His gaze first swept over the silver notes on the table, then fell on Gu Mingyue's face.

"Master Gu".

Gu Mingyue took a deep breath.

They come, the security.

"Your Highness."

She stood up and gave a proper bow.

Gu Mingli stood in the corner, looking up at the roof beams, as if everything inside the house was irrelevant to him.

Xiao Jue pretended not to see him and simply sat down opposite Gu Mingyue.

He coldly swept his gaze over the group of bandits kneeling obediently outside the door.

"I heard that Master Gu was robbed by bandits? The ransom is 200,000 taels of silver."

That's a very direct question.

If Gu Mingyue doesn't answer correctly, Xiao Jue will have ample reason to suspect that the Gu family is laundering money.

The air in the hall seemed to freeze.

The general leading the group stood at the doorway, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

Yi Shi squatted against the wall, huddled together with Gu Mingli.

With half a blade of grass still dangling from his mouth, he looked at the situation before him with a conflicted expression.

Gu Mingyue remained silent for a moment.

Then she looked up and met Xiao Jue's gaze with composure.

He spoke frankly and without any fear.

"Your Highness, this money is not a ransom, but an investment."

Xiao Jue raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Invest? Invest in what?"

Gu Mingyue calmly made up a story.

"I have a new project and I'm planning to hire them as employees."

Xiao Jue glanced at the group of trembling bandits kneeling in the courtyard.

"You want to hire them... as helpers?"

"right."

"What kind of work do you do?"

Gu Mingyue gave an awkward "hehe" laugh, her mind racing.

"Mining".

The brother and sister exchanged a glance, and Gu Mingli understood immediately.

He quickly pulled the treasure map out of his leather bag and handed it to Xiao Jue with both hands.

"Your Highness, please take a look."

Xiao Jue took it.

"The immortal gave my brother a treasure map."

Xiao Jue: "..."

Regardless of whether the Prince of Qi believed her nonsense, Gu Mingyue continued speaking.

"The parchment scroll is marked with the location of a valley in the foothills of the Taihang Mountains."

Xiao Jue followed Gu Mingyue's finger and looked at the circle drawn with cinnabar on the picture.

Gu Mingyue said, "There is a special ore here that can be refined into disinfectant."

Xiao Jue asked curiously, "Disinfectant?"

This was the first time he had heard the word.

"What's the use?"

Gu Mingyue explained.

"Disinfectant can directly purify water sources, clean medical equipment, and carry out overall disinfection of epidemic areas."

"Its potency is more than ten times that of lime water."

She paused, then lowered her voice slightly.

"And the raw materials for making disinfectant are in that valley behind us."

"Natural mineral water contains a high concentration of sodium salts. Once extracted and prepared according to the formula, it can be used for epidemic prevention."

Xiao Jue remained silent.

He turned the treasure map over and looked at the back.

There is indeed an article introducing the "disinfectant manufacturing process".

The materials, processes, and steps are all clearly described.

Although he didn't quite understand some of the terminology, the overall logic was sound and it wasn't something made up.

"Where did this recipe come from?"

Gu Mingli, who was standing next to him, blurted out the answer as if by reflex.

"Given by an immortal."

This was a rhetoric he specifically used to deceive the emperor.

Tried and tried.

Xiao Jue gave him a cold glance.

Gu Mingyue coughed, bringing the topic back on track.

"Your Highness, the source of the formula is not important. What matters is whether it works and whether it's effective."

"If Your Highness does not believe us, we can wait until we produce the finished product and take it to the Imperial Hospital for Physician Xue to verify its effectiveness."

"But time is of the essence right now. Mining mineral water, setting up distillation equipment, and transporting finished products all require a lot of manpower."

She pointed again towards the bandits outside the door.

"These people make a living in the mountains year-round, are familiar with the terrain, can endure hardship, and are strong."

"I hired them to work, paid them wages, and gave them food to eat. They mined for me, extracted spring water, and produced disinfectant."

Her tone was calm and her words were clear and logical. Every sentence was to the point, and she was neither humble nor arrogant.

Xiao Jue leaned back in his chair, scrutinizing Gu Mingyue.

"Oh? Hiring a hundred or so workers would cost two hundred thousand taels of silver?"

Gu Mingyue twitched the corner of her mouth.

"Of course, that's unnecessary."

"Oh?" Xiao Jue smiled at Gu Mingyue, his expression saying, "Let's see how you make this up."

"What does Master Gu intend to do with the remaining money he has here?"

Gu Mingyue glanced at the trembling bandits kneeling outside the door.

After a moment's thought.

"I want to...let them experience the formalization of travel expenses."

"As the saying goes, if you want to get rich, build roads first. Of my 200,000 taels, besides mining and producing disinfectant, I'll use the rest to build a road here."

Xiao Jue chuckled, a knowing look on his face.

"Oh? What kind of road needs repairing? It'll cost so much money?"

Gu Mingyue's gaze was deep as she said in a deep voice, "The highway to a moderately prosperous life."

"What used to take four hours to travel seventy miles now only takes one and a half hours on the highway."

"This road is flat and clear; no one except horse-drawn carriages is allowed on it."

"On this road, a carriage must not travel slower than the distance of an incense stick burning for ten miles."

"We operated a public-private partnership with the government. We contributed money and labor, and the government provided us with road construction and operating permits."

"Once the road is completed, all vehicles using the highway will have to pay tolls. We'll split the profits 50/50 with the government."

Xiao Jue: "..."

The bandits: "..."

Xiao Jue's gaze towards Gu Mingyue changed.

It shifted from initial vigilance and scrutiny to something more complex.

This girl's mind works incredibly fast.

From opening a pharmacy, building a charitable institution, and training an epidemic prevention team, to now going up the mountain to find minerals to make disinfectant, and then to the highway she mentioned.

Every idea she came up with was novel, and every step she took was interconnected.

The things that a daughter of an official did were far more methodical than those ministers in the court who were only good at bickering.

"Highway".

Xiao Jue repeated the four words, his tone full of meaning.

He stood up, walked to the door, and glanced at the group of trembling bandits in the courtyard.

"Whether they'll actually do the job is another matter. But these people are bandits after all. I've brought my troops here; I can't just ignore this."

Gu Mingyue followed her to the door.

"The prince and his men were just toll collectors, how did they become bandits?"

Upon hearing this, the group of bandits kneeling in the courtyard all looked up, their eyes filled with gratitude.

"Yeah, right! We're just a bunch of toll collectors."

Xiao Jue turned to look at Gu Mingyue.

"Who gave them permission to collect tolls? Did the government agree to it?"

The people outside the door lowered their heads again, looking timid.

Gu Mingyue smiled. "Oh, Your Highness, I'm not bringing money here. I'm just helping the workers hand over the fees they collected before to the national treasury. In the future, when we collect tolls, we will definitely set clear prices."

Xiao Jue narrowed his eyes, as if he wanted to say something.

Gu Mingyue quickly added another sentence.

"If you want to get rich, build roads first. Build roads and fill the national treasury."

Xiao Jue shut up this time.

The national treasury is indeed empty. This is a fact that everyone in the court knows, but no one is willing to admit it.

During the more than ten years of the reign of Emperor Dayong, two emperors came and went, and powerful clans and families had become deeply entrenched in various regions, controlling most of the country's wealth.

Every year when collecting taxes, the imperial court had to ask these powerful clans for the money bit by bit, begging them in a humble manner and having to be mindful of their feelings.

My elder brother has been troubled by this matter for many years.

If there really is another way...

Xiao Jue turned around.

His gaze returned to Gu Mingyue's face.