Chapter 2109: Chapter 2106: The Plan

At this moment, he finally had the time to think about Emperor Xuanming’s intentions.

It didn’t take long for him to understand.

Emperor Xuanming wanted to be a wise ruler, to gain the reputation and praise of the common people.

Therefore, he would employ wise and talented individuals.

And Ye Muyu was exactly such a person.

Since Great Chu was developing well due to the Emperor’s good governance, how could a heavenly messenger possibly emerge?

Previously, Grand Tutor Deng had foolishly insinuated something like this.

Mentioning it again now only touched Emperor Xuanming’s reverse scale.

Compared to executing a so-called heavenly messenger, which could displease the ministers and citizens, Emperor Xuanming would naturally prefer to regard Ye Muyu as an ordinary talented person.

And Ye Muyu, along with Chu Heng, was a very perceptive individual.

Each time, Chu Heng would first present his ideas to the Emperor.

Then he would open a shop to make silver on his own family’s account.

In the eyes of Emperor Xuanming, fulfilling his reputation would not obstruct the Chu family from making some silver, as it was just a small part.

Understanding this, Minister Qi realized that he must not trouble the Chu family on this matter. On the contrary, he must praise Emperor Xuanming’s wise employment of talent in public and congratulate the Chu family for having a virtuous wife at the same time.

Thinking about this, Minister Qi felt a complex mix of emotions and was quite displeased.

But compared to Chu Heng, the person he disliked even more was Grand Tutor Deng. This person was now reprimanded and put under house arrest. Presumably, once he is released, he wouldn’t dare act so arrogantly as before.

As for the Fifth Imperial Son,

Ha, at such a young age, how could he compete with our own Prince Qi?

Yet with regard to Chu Heng, Minister Qi felt increasingly apprehensive.

Meanwhile,

Chu Heng had just left the palace.

Just as he entered the yamen, he ran into Zhou Tianqi coming in from outside. Zhou Tianqi looked quite youthful, but in fact, he was ten years older than Chu Heng, already in his thirties. In order to appear more mature, he intentionally kept a beard, which indeed made him appear more rugged, and nobody thought he was too young for the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.

However, at this moment, he had an ice stick in his hand. Entering through the side door, he bumped into Chu Heng. After a moment of surprise, his instinctive reaction was to put the ice stick into his mouth, biting it with a crunching sound that made people’s teeth ache.

Chu Heng wanted to pretend he didn’t see Zhou Tianqi in such an awkward situation.

He was about to lift his foot to leave.

But Zhou Tianqi finally came to his senses and insisted on calling him.

"Hey, Lord Chu, hold on a moment."

Chu Heng stopped, turned his head to look at him, raised an eyebrow, and signaled him to speak.

Zhou Tianqi rubbed his face, feeling his mouth was full of coldness. Having been caught looking foolish, he simply decided to act frank: "I heard that a new bathhouse has opened recently at the residence?"

"Why?"

Previously, whenever Ye Muyu opened a shop, Chu Heng would not usually announce it. Of course, this was also a habit within the official circle; business activities were not typically discussed openly.

"I’ve just received a flyer. The bath in the bathhouse... is it really that comfortable? And what are these playing cards mentioned there?"

"If Lord Zhou is interested, you can try it yourself. Isn’t it starting its business tomorrow? This business is always handled by my spouse. With other businesses for comparison, there’s no need to worry about exaggerated advertising, Lord Zhou," Chu Heng said with pride, taking the opportunity to help with a bit of promotion.

He enjoyed watching Ah Yu delightfully counting money with the ledger in hand.

So he actually persuaded the Emperor to also engage in business ventures, intending to boost the freedom and status of merchants.

Although he hadn’t read the history of the Song Dynasty mentioned by Ah Yu, given that there was such a dynasty that developed over centuries.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.