Fourth Master Leng was actually originally named Leng Si.
He has had many names in his life. In the past, he would change his name as he worked in a certain profession. However, he is best known as Leng. He has a huge fortune and is respectfully called Fourth Master.
Many people think Mr. Si is stupid for having too much money. But those who have done business with him know that he is as shrewd as a fox.
In the business world, he will not give up a penny, and the price will be whatever it is.
It's just that he is also very principled. When doing business, he will never violate his own principles. Just like Lenglangmen, he sticks to those few rules and would rather pay thousands of dollars.
Because of this, many people like to do business with him, because he does not lie, has the shrewdness of a businessman, but does not have the philistine calculations of a businessman.
Fourth Master is very stupid in life. He is willing to pay money for people and things that make him happy, but only for material things. Because he can afford these things, and he doesn't really care.
But if anything else, he would be very stingy.
For example, emotions.
He doesn't like someone easily. He likes Yuan Qingling very much now, but before, Yuan Qingling was just a pile of briquettes in his eyes, and he looked down upon her.
If she hadn't seen hundreds of lives snatched away from her on Leprosy Mountain, I'd probably still have the thought of killing her to this day.
Therefore, when he likes someone, he treats that person wholeheartedly and wholeheartedly.
In order to save Yuan Qingling's life, he gave her his only apprenticeship.
The fourth master is indeed a cold-faced and warm-hearted person.
What Fourth Master wants most in his life is a snow wolf that belongs to him.
When a person reaches a certain age, his material life has reached a certain level, and his pursuits will reach a higher level, from material to spiritual.
Snow Wolf is his spiritual pursuit. Many people don't know why he is so persistent, including people from the Lenglang Sect. They think he wants the Snow Wolf just to make the Lenglang Sect more worthy of its name.
But it’s not!
At noon that day, he sat in front of the porch, holding the gray wolf in his hand. He looked at the silhouette of the snow wolf flashing outside the yard, and predators flashed from his eyes, but he had to listen to Rong Yue's words, "I heard that this is
Your Majesty wants you to marry Princess Yu Wenling."
The fourth master held the gray wolf in his arms and stroked its head. The wolf was originally unruly, but was tamed by the fourth master and became as obedient as a dog. He let his big hand suddenly cover it and said, "What to do?"
!”
"Your Majesty may have ulterior motives!" Rong Yue reminded.
"I can marry a princess to a businessman, but I don't believe it even if you say he has no intentions." The fourth master's eyes were deep.
"Then do you really want to agree?" Rong Yue felt a little risky.
"Promise!" Fourth Master let go of the gray wolf and let it run out, then turned around and entered the house, "You ask someone to make preparations and choose a good and auspicious day to celebrate the ceremony!"
Since the founding of the Northern Tang Dynasty, no princess has ever married a merchant.
Emperor Ming Yuan's move brought out a big message, that is, the court began to attach importance to businessmen and the economy.
Since the founding of the Great Ancestor, the Northern Tang Dynasty has always had a policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business. By the time of the Taishang Dynasty, the status of merchants was slowly improved, and some pro-business policies were introduced. Only then did people like Fourth Master Leng appear.
Such a giant businessman.
Now, the imperial court has opened up trade with the Zhou Dynasty and married the princess to a merchant family. It seems that the imperial court is going to develop business on a large scale.
Emperor Ming Yuan stood by the window late at night, thinking that if the economy prospered and taxes and money continued to flow to the treasury, he would finally bid farewell to the title of pauper emperor!
Concubine Xian's condition was already very serious, so Emperor Ming Yuan decided to arrange the princess's marriage as soon as possible, preferably in the first month of the year. This would kill the people of the Ministry of Etiquette.
Fortunately, the efficiency of doing things is linked to whether you have money or not. If the fourth master has money, there will naturally be more people doing things, and the efficiency of doing things will naturally increase.
The wedding date was set on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, which was very hasty, but there were a lot of things that should have been done, and it was even very grand.
On that day, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs sorted out the dowry list for the princess's wedding and handed it over to Emperor Ming Yuan for review.
After Emperor Ming Yuan saw it, he frowned and asked, "Why is it so shabby?"
The chief steward of the inner palace spread his hands and said helplessly: "It's hard for a clever woman to make a living without rice. Your Majesty, now this year, money has to be spent everywhere. The ladies of each palace have to spend money every year, including cloth, silk and satin, jewelry, rouge, gouache, lamp oil and fire wax.
There are also the necessary expenses for the New Year’s Eve palace banquet, which is a big expense.”
Emperor Ming Yuan actually tried his best to give the princess the best, but he was short of money and had no choice.
After thinking for a while, he said: "Okay, let's leave it like this for the time being. I'll think of something else."
The next day, all the princes were summoned to the palace.
Emperor Ming Yuan's words are also very simple. Your sister is getting married, and you brothers must add makeup to her.
Yu Wenhao is not stingy, because Yuan Qingling had thought of this before. The emperor was already very shabby when he was organizing the wedding for King Huai. Now that the princess is getting married, it is the end of the year, and there is really not much money to spare.
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So, when the emperor summoned them to the palace today, he knew that it was because of the dowry, so he told Yu Wenhao to give the princess one hundred thousand taels to add to the dowry.
Yu Wenhao threw out one hundred thousand taels, and King Huai immediately said he would give him one hundred thousand taels.
King Ji and King An glared at King Huai fiercely. This freeloader would surely be able to take out a hundred thousand taels casually, but if they gave him less, wouldn't they make their father unhappy?
But one hundred thousand taels is not something that can be taken out casually. Even if it can be taken out, it will be distressing.
The two of them finally agreed to take 20,000 taels.
Emperor Ming Yuan sighed deeply, looking at his sons, he felt so many emotions in his heart.
As a king's father, he couldn't just take out a hundred thousand taels casually, so they took it out casually.
Just wait a little longer. As long as the treasury is full, he will decree that the amount of money allocated to the internal affairs will be doubled every year. Then things will be better.
Emperor Ming Yuan asked Eunuch Mu Ru to record that the money must be in place before New Year's Eve.
The Supreme Emperor also gave him one hundred thousand taels of silver, so it would not be considered rude to give the princess a dowry.
The inner palace took the silver to prepare the dowry and carried the boxes to the palace. Just waiting for the day when the princess got married, they would then transport the boxes to the princess's house.
The 29th day of the twelfth lunar month is the Chinese New Year, and starting from the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, holidays and palace closures begin.
New Year's Eve had to be celebrated in the palace. The palace banquet was very grand, and naturally all the concubines attended, except for the "seriously ill" concubine Xian.
It was said that Concubine Xian's condition was getting worse, and she would always hear shrill screams in the middle of the night. No one in the harem knew what kind of disease Concubine Xian had. They just thought that the disease was so terrible that she always fell ill late at night.
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Yu Wenhao brought his family members to the palace for a dinner party, and then went to Qingyu Palace to pay his respects.
Concubine Xian was sitting in the palace with disheveled hair. She looked at him with angry eyes and cursed loudly, "You are so heartless. Your concubine gave birth to you and raised you, but you didn't care about your concubine?"