The fate was changed, the mistress of the Hou family was slapped in the face and made money to win

Chapter 233: Rewarded by the Imperial Edict

"As for the third reason..."

Jiang Suining kowtowed to Emperor Xiao again.

"Please forgive me, Your Majesty. The third reason is out of my selfishness. There are many dignitaries in this imperial city. Although I am quite careful in running my shop, I am also worried that I might offend someone accidentally. If I can do something for the court, even if it is just a small thing, I will feel more at ease."

"Hahahaha, you are quite honest." Emperor Xiao laughed out loud.

"I dare not be disrespectful in front of Your Majesty, but I beg Your Majesty to forgive my selfishness." Jiang Suining lowered her head and spoke, but her lowered eyes were calm, without the slightest hint of nervousness.

Rather than being righteous, it is better to show some harmless selfishness.

After all, if you don't show any selfish motives at all, it may sometimes make people feel fake and suspect that you have higher intentions.

"You did nothing wrong. Why should I forgive you?" Emperor Xiao looked gentle.

It would be abnormal if something that takes so much effort and time to research had no ulterior motive at all.

Although there are some plots, it can be seen that more of them are for the consideration of the people and the court, which is very good.

Emperor Xiao looked at the chief eunuch standing beside him and said, "Pass on my order. Jiang Suining cares about the people and is willing to offer a good ice-making recipe. I am very pleased. I will reward him with a thousand taels of silver as a reward. In addition, since the Jiang family has taught their daughter well, I will give them two jars of imperial wine."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Jiang Suining kowtowed again to express his gratitude.

Although the reward of one thousand taels of silver is not much, the two jars of imperial wine mean a lot.

Imperial wine was usually given as a reward to royal relatives, nobles and court officials, but now it was given to merchants. Once the news spread, it would inevitably cause a lot of discussion and attention.

The decree for reward had been issued and everything that needed to be said had been said. Emperor Xiao waved his hand to signal Jiang Suining to leave.

"The daughter of the people resigns."

"Your Majesty, I will take my leave." Shen Yanxi followed Jiang Suining and also bowed and left.

Emperor Xiao looked at Shen Yanxi's leaving back, thinking about something, and spoke to the eunuch chief beside him.

"Don't you think that Mr. Shen treats Miss Jiang a little differently?"

When the chief eunuch heard this, he thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, I heard that Miss Jiang was in danger before and it was Lord Shen who saved her. I think this is the reason why the two of them have some contact."

Lord Shen is the newly crowned number one scholar and is now in great favor. His future is limitless. Moreover, he was born into an official family. Although he has not yet married, it is impossible for him to marry the daughter of a merchant.

Emperor Xiao retracted his gaze, but did not continue the topic. "Forget it, tell someone to hurry and pass on the order."

"Yes, I obey."

On the other side, Jiang Suining walked on the palace road and thanked Shen Yanxi softly, "Thank you for today."

"No need." Shen Yanxi looked at Jiang Suining with a faint smile on his face, but after he finished speaking, he sighed helplessly.

Jiang Suining was puzzled, "Is there something wrong with what I just did?"

Shen Yanxi smiled and shook his head, "No, you handled it appropriately. If it were me, I might not be able to handle it more appropriately than you."

"Then why did you sigh just now?"

Shen Yanxi was silent for a moment. There were already many people who wanted to propose marriage to the Jiang family. Now that the imperial edict of commendation had been issued, he was afraid that even more people would come to the door.

Meeting Jiang Suining's gaze, Shen Yanxi swallowed the words, chuckled and shook his head, "Nothing."

Having said that, without waiting for Jiang Suining to ask further questions, he changed the subject.

"If you hand over this method, your shop will probably be closed soon."

Seeing Shen Yanxi change the subject, Jiang Suining did not insist on it, "It's okay, this was expected from the beginning."

Shen Yanxi looked at Jiang Suining curiously, "Although every reason you gave before is valid, and using this method to exchange for the emperor's reward is not a loss, but I always feel that you have done something else in this matter."

Jiang Suining stopped and looked at Shen Yanxi curiously, "Why do you say that?"

Could it be that Shen Yanxi already knew something?

Sensing Jiang Suining's doubts, Shen Yanxi explained: "Don't worry, I didn't ask anyone to monitor you, it's just... intuition."

If it were me, I would probably think of other ways to make money before handing over the ice-making method.

The emperor's commendation is certainly good, but as long as there is enough time, it may be possible to gain some other benefits on this basis.

Jiang Suining looked at Shen Yanxi without saying much, and then looked away after a moment.

"You went to the Jiang family to look for me today but couldn't find me. I think my parents have already received the news of entering the palace and may be anxious. I want to hurry back."

"Okay." Shen Yanxi responded.

Neither of them said anything more. They quickly walked through the palace road, left the palace, and left in a carriage.

When entering the palace, Jiang Suining took Shen Yanxi's carriage. The carriage that took him to the Marquis' Mansion had already been sent back to the Jiang family, so Shen Yanxi escorted Jiang Suining all the way to the outside of the Jiang family's mansion.

Jiang Suining asked Shen Yanxi, "Would you like to come into the mansion for a cup of tea?"

"I have to go back to the Imperial Academy in a while. I'll come over to ask for a cup of tea in two days when I'm not on duty." Shen Yanxi added, "It just so happens that the results of the apprenticeship examination are about to come out. It should be in the next two days. I'll bring them over when I have the news."

"Okay, thank you." Jiang Suining nodded, and when he lifted the curtain and was about to get off the carriage, he suddenly stopped.

"Is there anything else?" Shen Yanxi looked at her.

Jiang Suining curled his lips, "In fact, what you asked me in the palace just now was indeed correct. I have already bought several saltpeter mines closest to the imperial city. If the imperial city wants to purchase saltpeter in the future, they should buy it from my mines."

"Heh." Shen Yanxi raised his eyebrows and laughed, "I see."

Saltpeter ore has never been in short supply and the required quantity is not large, so if the mine owner sells it, the price will not be very high. However, the situation will soon change.

If you want to make ice, you will need a lot of saltpeter every year, and there will naturally be profits to be made.

Shen Yanxi's carriage had already left. Jiang Suining withdrew his gaze and turned back to the mansion, just in time to meet Jiang Zhitong and Qin who were walking out with joy on their faces.

It turned out that the eunuch who announced the royal decree came on horseback and had just arrived at the Jiang family and read out the decree.

No one in the Jiang family had thought that one day they would be rewarded by the emperor, especially Jiang Zhitong and Zheng, who were so overjoyed.

You have to know that this award is not just an honor, but to some extent it is also the confidence for the Jiang family in doing business in the future.

"Sui Ning, you are really the lucky star of our Jiang family. I never thought that we, a mere merchant, could actually drink the imperial wine." Zheng was very excited. She pulled Jiang Sui Ning aside and asked him a lot of questions, telling him the whole story clearly.

After listening to all of Jiang Suining's considerations, Jiang Zhitong was filled with admiration and joy from the bottom of his heart.

Jiang Suining contributed a good ice-making recipe for the benefit of the people and was commended by the emperor. The news that the Jiang family was also rewarded with imperial wine soon spread throughout the imperial city.

The people praised it highly and the merchants were even more envious.

After all, let alone the imperial city, even if you look at the entire Beiyang Kingdom, Jiang Suining and the Jiang family are probably the first merchants to be praised by the emperor.

However, when this news reached the Marquis of Changning's Mansion, it caused a cloud of gloom and sadness.