The Lucky Farmgirl-Chapter 1844 - 1819: Neither Side Backs Down

Manbao glanced at Changyu and said matter-of-factly, "Yeah, didn’t you know? Royalty and nobility can’t do business, not even officials." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Changyu was stunned, it seemed to be true, then she was indignant, pointing at Manbao, "Aren’t you doing business?"

Manbao immediately denied it, "I’m not, I just provided a few recipes to my niece and sister-in-law, they’re the ones doing business, I haven’t made a penny."

Changyu paused, sensing she was being sly, quite upset, "You liar, you’re all one family, when they make money, they surely let you spend it."

Manbao shrugged and said, "Yeah, but what can you do? The court only prohibits officials from engaging in commerce, not their families."

Changyu was still angry, but Mingda instantly understood Zhou Man’s point, sighing, "So you see, sister, the court regulations haven’t much bound Manbao as a minor official, let alone you as a princess."

Changyu came to realization, "So all this time you weren’t trying to provoke me, but advising me? Is it that if I make money, I’ll certainly harm others?"

Mingda said, "Third Sister never meant harm, but she ended up obstructing others, didn’t she? That was exposed by the Censorate, and who knows how many haven’t been revealed yet."

She continued, "We’re humans, not gods, even Father’s subordinates have corrupt officials, not to mention us who are bound by the inner quarters, servants have plenty of ways to deceive us."

Changyu felt that Mingda’s thinking was wrong, stepped back and carefully scrutinized her, asking, "You’re younger than me, yet why do you sound like a little old man?"

Manbao also told Mingda, "You’re thinking wrong, there are many hard things in this world, how can you have so many concerns before even doing anything?"

Mingda laughed, "I’m just being thorough, and besides, as I said, I don’t lack gold or silver, so why bother with such effort?"

Manbao felt she was right too, so she turned to look at Changyu.

Changyu hesitated awkwardly, "I, I can’t do it, although a princess has her allowances and land, I often hear Third Sister and the others privately speaking, the yield from the land is not high, they often weren’t well off when they first married."

"Especially Fifth Sister, I heard her secretly tell Third Sister that when she first arrived at Ms.Lu’s place, although she had her own princess residence, the things in the princess residence were far inferior to what Ms.Lu’s family used. When she wanted to buy something, she had to consider carefully, while her sisters-in-law could buy without blinking."

The Fifth Princess was a minor princess. The emperor had many daughters, and couldn’t take care of them all. She was married off according to the standard regulations, and the empress used her private treasury to add some items, so the dowry wasn’t much.

Although the Ministry of Public Works built her a princess residence, they were only responsible for construction, the furnishing and decorations inside had to be added or replaced by the princesses themselves.

For a neglected princess, a few stones piled together was considered a rock garden, if she wanted a good rock garden, she had to pay for it herself, let alone some decorations.

It could be said that a neglected princess residence, when just built, couldn’t even compare to some declining noble families.

Changyu still cared about appearances, feeling awkwardly embarrassed, she bluntly said, "I don’t want to be like Fifth Sister and the others. Although books and teachers say that merchants are lowly, I see Third Sister and them often send their stewards to do such things, so how are they lowly?"

Mingda sighed, "You all compete too much, silk and satin are clothes, couldn’t cotton be comfortable to wear?"

Today Mingda was wearing fine cotton clothes, perhaps because she feared the cold and disliked heat, compared to silk and satin, she herself preferred fine cotton clothes.

Changyu glanced at her and said, "Everyone has their own personality, not everyone is like you. Besides, you don’t lack these things."

She said, "Father loves you most, if you marry, it’s not just limited to ten miles of red dowry, the daily gifts won’t be few, not to mention Mother has already told Crown Prince Third Brother that half of her private assets will be given to you, with the remaining half shared between Crown Prince and Third Brother."

Mingda was curious, "How do you know, I haven’t heard of this?"

Changyu shook her leg and said, "There’s a lot you don’t know, do you know why Yunfeng wasn’t happy with you when she returned to the palace this time?"

Li Yunfeng used to be most at odds with Changyu, but this time, she was even more indifferent to Mingda.

Mingda shook her head in confusion.

Changyu said, "Because earlier the confiscated things from Royal Uncle included a batch prepared for Li Yunfeng’s dowry, among them were paintings and furnishings, Father kept them all, rumored to be saved for you."

Mingda: ...

Manbao clicked her tongue in wonder, whispered, "His Majesty really favors you, just like my dad."

This time both Changyu and Mingda fell silent.

Seeing them look at her without speaking, Manbao cleared her throat and said, "Alright, alright, let’s continue the main topic, about this issue of merchants being lowly, I’ve discussed it with my Junior Brothers before, it’s not something that can be finished in a short time. How about I pick a time for us all to sit together and discuss?"

Changyu looked confused, "Discuss what?"

"Discuss the impact of commerce on the nation, and the impact of royal kin like you, and us court officials participating in commerce."

Changyu was even more puzzled, "Why discuss this?"

Manbao said, "After discussing, we write a memorial to ask His Majesty."

She said naturally, "Since the three of us can’t convince each other, and many questions can’t be answered, why not ask His Majesty, His Majesty has the entire court of civil and military officials at his disposal. The smartest people in the world are under His Majesty, they can surely come up with answers we can’t think of?"

She said, "Then we will know if you should join my niece in doing business."

Changyu: ...

If Zhou Man wasn’t her familiar friend, she would have definitely thought she was threatening her.

Changyu exhaled a breath from her nose in anger, she just wanted to secretly join a business to earn some pocket money for cosmetics, why is it so difficult?

Mingda covered her belly laughing heartily, tears almost came out, she told Zhou Man, "That’s a good idea, you be the host, then we can discuss together."

Changyu didn’t even think and said, "No way, I don’t want to be written in a memorial to be discussed by people."

Manbao said, "When the time comes, we’ll come up with a pseudonym for you; after all, there’re plenty of royal kin involved in business, who knows if it’s you unless we say it?"

Changyu was still unwilling, others might not know, but she did.

Manbao said, "Then I’ll borrow a piece of venison from Crown Prince, and a place from Crown Princess, we’ll talk while roasting venison. Oh, Mingda, the grape wine you gave me last time, I found it delicious, I’ll find a way to get a bottle, we can drink while eating."

The already opposing Changyu instantly fell silent, swallowing, she made a request to Zhou Man, "I heard that during New Year’s Eve duty, you and Imperial Doctor Liu had steamed meat brought from home in the tearoom, it was delicious."

Mingda: ... She suspected her sister wanted to make money not for cosmetic money, but for food money.