pdf-ebookys Chapter 966: Lighting Thousands of Lamps to Warm the Hearts of Thousands of Families
Chapter 966: Lighting Thousands of Lamps to Warm the Hearts of Thousands of Families
Shi Anxia was in the capital last year. During the Lantern Festival, the Furong Tower alone cost more than 100,000 taels of silver. And her nearly 500,000 taels were to illuminate the night sky of eight cities.
In every city, in addition to the main lighthouse, there are several small lighthouses.
Cen Che nodded helplessly. He had to admit that spending 500,000 taels of silver to host the Eight Cities Lantern Festival was indeed very economical in every aspect.
But then again, the border town cannot be compared with the capital, so this standard is not low.
Shi Anxia said slowly, "It is a blessing that the court can allocate enough food and medicine for disaster relief, and it is impossible to allocate more money to hold the Lantern Festival. This princess originally planned to pay the money herself, light thousands of lanterns to warm the hearts of thousands of families, and at least let the people have a bright new year."
Cen Che's Adam's apple rolled as he remembered that Lingzhou was the princess' fiefdom, and the Lantern Festival could be considered one of her outstanding political achievements.
Don't think that the Lantern Festival is just about eating, drinking and having fun. In fact, it is the most accurate mirror to measure the governance of a region. The bright lights reflect whether the people can live in peace, whether the trade routes are smooth, and whether the people are in favor of them.
Five hundred thousand taels of silver were used to hold the Lantern Festival and build lantern towers, which also served to illuminate people's hearts with light.
If there is no one willing to take the risk to fill the gap of 500,000 taels for the Lantern Festival, the princess will have to pay for it out of her own pocket.
Cen Che's forehead was throbbing with veins. So he and his elder brother personally delivered their heads to the princess, and if she didn't let him fill the hole, who else would she let?
If you don’t fill it in, you will be reviewed carefully.
They couldn't stand the scrutiny and had to bite the bullet and fill the hole. This was a dead end.
He calculated it and felt that 500,000 taels of silver was nothing compared to a gold vein.
Besides, if his identity is exposed and word gets out that the prince of Liang is acting sneakily in the northern wing, it will involve a dispute between the two countries... Father will have to kill him, right?
Thinking about it this way, Cen Che suddenly felt that it was quite a good deal, and besides, he was not the one who paid for it.
He was a man who was trying to save people, and if he was going to save someone, he had to do it in style. "The princess is kind and generous. For this Lantern Festival, Master Feng will surely be willing to donate 500,000 taels of silver to show his kindness."
Shi Anxia's eyebrows curved, "Master Xie is indeed very considerate. This princess will arrange for you to visit Master Feng. I hope you can pick him up soon."
Tsk! He is so straightforward, he doesn't even pretend! What do you mean by visiting? Isn't it just sending him to ask for money?
As soon as Cen Che left Enyi Inn, he couldn't help but complain to Xie Huai, "The princess is blackmailing me. She's simply squeezing me to death."
Xie Huai didn't think so. "I think the princess is kind-hearted and cares about the people. She is admirable."
"But she asked for a huge sum of money, five hundred thousand taels."
Xie Huai stopped and looked at him, "I would like to ask, where does Mr. Feng come from?"
Then he asked, "You said you came from a noble family in the capital. Can you tell me which family I am from? What is your name? Why have you and the princess never met in the capital?"
These questions had troubled him for several days, and every time Cen Che brushed them off. He was already suspicious, and today he wanted to get to the bottom of it.
Cen Che had just promised to invest 500,000 taels in the pit, and he was already in a bad mood.
Being questioned repeatedly, he couldn't help but get angry, "What do you mean, Master Xie? Are you destroying your bridges? You should know that if my identity is revealed to be not Xie Yu, your Xie family will be almost the same even if it is not deceiving the emperor."
Xie Huai felt that his life was in danger, so he had to soften his voice, "I didn't mean that. I just wanted to get to know you well, so that I can have a better idea of what's going on. After all, you are acting under the name of my Xie family, and if anything happens to you, I will..."
"You want to push me out to die and wipe out the Xie family?" Cen Che glared at Xie Huai. "That's not how you should behave. At the beginning, your Xie family had nowhere to turn to. Not to mention seeing the princess, even the princess's subordinates couldn't see them. Now you and the princess are having a good chat. Could you have predicted this? Isn't it my credit?"
Xie Huai picked out two words accurately from this long paragraph of crackling words, "Chen Che?"
Is there any noble family with the surname Chen in the capital? The only one he knew of was a businessman named Chen who was awarded the title of Baron of Fuguo for his contribution to the disaster relief in Yucheng.
Didn't I hear that the family that was sealed at the beginning was beheaded? Could this be the later rich country baron?
Xie Huai was very envious, "Your Chen family is so lucky."
Cen Che: “???”
I don't understand what you are talking about!
Xie Huai didn't need him to understand, knowing that as a baron from a wealthy country in the capital, he really couldn't see the high and mighty princess.
With this thought, everything made sense. He said earnestly, "My Xie family thanks you for your matchmaking, and I also regard you as a confidant. I just hope that if you act in the name of the Xie family in the future, you can think more about my Xie family. After all, I..."
"Alright, alright, I got it." Cen Che didn't want to talk any more, especially not about the so-called "Master Feng". He left quickly, "I'll go ask Master Feng for some silver, and quickly give it to the princess who asked for so much."
Xie Huai nodded, still worried, "Then you should avoid associating with people who can't stand scrutiny in the future, and don't bring trouble to my Xie family."
Cen Che: “!!!”
Xie family, Xie family, Xie family! I only know the Xie family! That’s my brother who wants to kill me at any time. How can I not associate with him?
He responded sullenly, "I know."
Cen Che took the princess's seal to the prison to pick up the person and told Cen Ji the whole story.
Cen Ji was furious, his eyes almost popped out, "Five hundred thousand taels of silver? This is robbery!"
"It's okay if you don't want to give it to me. Just stay in jail. I've tried my best anyway." Cen Che looked like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water.
Cen Ji was so angry that he saw black. He felt that ever since he set foot in the Northern Wing, he had been having trouble adapting to the climate and everything was going wrong.
He grabbed Cen Che's sleeve and lowered his voice to a very low voice, "Tell me the truth, these five hundred thousand taels..." His throat rolled twice, "Did you get any profit from it?"
Cen Che was stunned by the question, and then became furious, "Am I that kind of person?"
Cen Ji sneered, "Aren't you that kind of person?"
Cen Che approached and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "If I wasn't afraid that people would torture you and you couldn't stand the scrutiny, I wouldn't bother to rescue you."
I wish you were dead!
Cen Ji calmed down and knew that the other party was right. If he was not worried about exposing his identity, his brother would definitely hope that he would die in the North Wing Prison.
Ha! He sneered, and murderous intent suddenly rose in his heart. Once he got the upper hand, he would kill this guy immediately!
Cen Che did not ignore the flash of murderous intent, and was terrified. Suddenly, he became determined that he must not let this boy ascend to the throne!
If he kills someone in the North Wing...
The two of them each had their own ulterior motives.
The iron chains in the prison rattled, and the jailer's water and fire sticks banged on the wooden bars. "Have you reached an agreement? The princess has ordered that the prisoner be released as soon as the banknotes are in hand."
Cen Che quickly put on a smile and took out a purse from his sleeve and stuffed it into his pocket. "Brother, let's discuss this. After all, 500,000 taels of silver is not a small amount. Let's see which bank would be more convenient to withdraw from."
"Don't try that on me!" The jailer weighed his purse, put it in his arms, and turned away. He was humming a Lingzhou tune, "Who is this fool who doesn't turn back even after hitting the wall..."