The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 150 - 132. Investigate Zhao Douan_2

"I wonder if the priest, or Mr. Wang... ahem, Officer Wang, would be interested in buying this recipe from me and selling it through the Heavenly Master Mansion’s shops. You’re bound to make a big profit."

Zhao Douan had two intentions with this move.

First, to make money.

The Heavenly Master Mansion had a complete sales system and, because they were in alchemy, they had access to a large amount of cheap saltpeter.

Second, to deepen the relationship with Old Wang and Jin Jian through business partnerships.

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He even thought it through, willing to make less himself so he could give more benefits to the other party in order to maintain this network of connections.

Especially since the girl before him was said to be a disciple of the Heavenly Master.

If things went well, wouldn’t it be extremely profitable to connect with the Old Heavenly Master in the future?

If a mere Mr. Wang could produce such fine goods, the legendary Heavenly Master Zhang didn’t even need to be mentioned.

Make money!

Jin Jian’s eyes lit up at once, her gaze suddenly focused, no longer sleepy.

She liked money, as had been made clear during the case with Prince Jing Mansion. She asked skeptically,

"Can saltpeter really make ice?"

Zhao Douan thumped his chest confidently,

"Guaranteed, or come find me if it doesn’t work."

Jin Jian fixated on the recipe,

"How much?"

Zhao Douan quietly calculated the potential profits in his mind, extended one index finger.

After thinking for a moment, he added his thumb, forming the character "eight," and said,

"One-time offer, ten thousand taels of silver, but I’ll give you a friendship price – eight thousand taels, and the recipe is yours."

Jin Jian shivered in fright, retreating a step, waving her hands frantically,

"I don’t have that much money!"

Huh? Is the disciple of the Heavenly Master so poor?

I’ve already made a significant concession with the profit... Zhao Douan said,

"How much do you have?"

Jin Jian lowered her head and fiddled with her coin purse, then looked up cautiously and a bit guiltily,

"Eighty taels; will that do?"

Farewell!

Zhao Douan took a deep breath to suppress the urge to turn on his heel and leave, saying,

"I have another idea, which is to take a stake with your expertise... You don’t have to pay for it now; once it sells, we can share the profit proportionally."

Hearing that she didn’t need to spend money, Jin Jian was very pleased, showing a genuine smile,

"Then it’s a deal! Don’t worry, I’ll treat you fairly; we’ll split the money fifty-fifty."

Ah... silly kid, the one-time price would have made you more, yet you’re insisting on giving me money... Zhao Douan nodded tearfully,

"Right, how can I contact you if I need to? Should I just come to your place?"

Making money was secondary; getting contact information under the pretense of business was key.

Jin Jian, unsuspecting of any ulterior motive, handed him a short stick of yellow incense,

"As long as you’re in the Capital, light this incense and I will come over. But you’d better find me at night because I need to catch up on sleep during the day, so I might be slow... yawning~"

...

Deep within the Heavenly Master Mansion, in a small courtyard,

When Jin Jian returned with a yawn, her spirits were high,

"Master, I’ve made the deal."

Under a large banyan tree, Zhang Yan Yi lay in a wicker chair, holding a fan,

"Good."

Jin Jian asked curiously,

"But why didn’t you tell him your real identity? And how did you know him? You haven’t been sneaking around behind my back to meet him, have you?"

The girl suspected that the "young friend" her master had told her about was actually Zhao Douan!

But she had no evidence, and how could a mortal martial artist say something that would appear in the ’Heavenly Book’?

It baffled her.

The tall figure with white hair and eyebrows, and a rosy-faced Old Heavenly Master smiled and said leisurely,

"The mysteries of heaven cannot be revealed."

"Tsk, never mind then."

Jin Jian’s eyelids were fighting each other in sleepiness; her yawns were constant. She had little interest in anything beyond cultivation and making money.

Zhang Yan Yi curiously asked,

"What has you so cheerful?"

Jin Jian took out the recipe, explained it, then pondered,

"Master, what do you think of partnering with my senior brother to sell ice?"

Zhang Yan Yi was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter,

"Sure, but don’t be stingy when it comes to sharing the profits."

Jin Jian was confused; she thought selling ice blocks couldn’t bring in much, and Zhao Douan dared to ask for eight thousand taels – she wasn’t going to be fooled.

...

...

That night,

News of the conflict between the Ministry of Justice and Imperial Court in the morning, and the outcomes for Marquis Xiajiang and Princess Yunyang, spread like wildfire through the Capital’s official circles.

For a time, it prompted heated discussion.

Nobody expected the Emperor to be so biased that, for the sake of a male favorite, he’d send his own aunt to a nunnery to stay with the Buddhist nuns and ancient Buddha.

As for Marquis Xiajiang, when his crimes were exposed, the public sentiment was outraged, and many secretly cursed that he got what he deserved.

However, many more people were still focused on the Royal gossip.

Zhao Douan, on the other hand, found himself with some leisure.

The matter of the rebel Branch Leader’s blood oath was known to few, and thus unknown to the general public.

Instead, it was the Empress’s series of thunderous tactics that made people feel a cold wind during the heat of summer.

But the slaughter in Jianghu was not strongly felt by the vast majority of people in the Capital.

Unknown to them was that, that same evening, another drama played out inside the residence of Zhou Cheng, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice.

"My lord, you wanted to see me?"

Inside a hall in Zhou Mansion,

Minister of Justice Hee Zheng closed the door and bowed respectfully to his superior, who sat on a rosewood Taishi Chair.

After being knocked unconscious by Zhao Douan the previous night, he woke up at dawn.

The physical injuries on his body weren’t too severe. Compared to the physical wounds, it was the public humiliation that he found harder to bear.

After skulking at home all day, he was unexpectedly summoned in the evening.

Now, this middle-aged official, clad in green robes and with a swollen face, slowly raised his head, curiously looking at the seated elder.

The 60-year-old Minister of the Ministry of Justice appeared, a square-faced man with a deeply furrowed "Sichuan" character between his eyebrows, dressed in home clothes and playing with a vase.