Chapter 357 Meeting the Beauty Again
After Xiao Xia left the palace, he went to the metropolitan city first.

His Xihai Trading Company has been operating normally. Although it was previously banned by Emperor Yang Yong, they did not actually stop. Instead, they switched from open operations to covert operations and continued their operations in a different location. Now they are fully open for business.

The chief steward Ma Yue reported the recent plan to Xiao Xia, “We plan to buy a piece of land on the south bank of Caohe River to build our own warehouse. We are also considering purchasing a large transit warehouse in Sanmenxia.”

Sanmenxia can only accommodate small boats, not large grain ships. In order to solve this problem, the imperial court had to build a large transit warehouse on the south bank of the Yellow River in Sanmenxia, ​​bypass Sanmenxia by land, and then board a ship to Chang’an.

Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, “Adding warehouses is fine, but I want to remind you to increase investment in Luoyang.”

Ma Yue’s eyes lit up. “Does the court want to strengthen Luoyang’s position?”

Xiao Xia nodded. “The emperor values ​​Luoyang very much. Once Chang’an is stable, he will make an eastern tour to Luoyang. I will return all the copper coins to the merchant company and use them to purchase shops in Luoyang.”

“I understand. Thank you for your reminder, Your Highness!”

Xiao Xia asked some more details and then rode to his mansion. His mansion was under construction. It was expanding to fifty acres to include more than twenty households and the City God Temple on the south side, and a door was opened directly outside the wall. This was in line with the standards of the Prince of Chu’s mansion.

Hundreds of craftsmen are working at full capacity on the construction, and it is estimated that the project will be completed in about three months. Xiao Xia will leave for Hexi at the end of this month, so he will not be able to live in the new house in time.

Xiao Xia entered the house and took a look. His mansion was not moved for the time being. He would first build the next door, and then demolish the wall, and then integrate the entire mansion into one.

The only people left in his mansion were the old Tian couple who were looking after the house. All the furniture had been taken away, and the entire mansion was empty.

Seeing that it was getting late, Xiao Xia left the mansion and rode towards Pingkangfang. As soon as he arrived at Wencui Restaurant, he saw the Cui family’s carriage. There were several female guards on horseback beside it. They were Li Luming and her men.

I saw a maid helping Cui Yu get off the carriage, and Cui Mei behind her jumped off the carriage directly without any help.

“Xiao Mei!” Xiao Xia shouted from afar.

Cui Mei turned around and saw Xiao Xia, and shouted happily, “Sister, Brother Xiao is there!”

Cui Yu pursed her lips and chuckled, her beautiful eyes full of affection.

Xiao Xia got off the horse and stepped forward, apologetically saying, “I just went to the metropolitan city and am late.”

“Brother, are Sister Xiaoqing and Achu back?” Xiaomei asked.

“Not yet?”

Xiao Xia smiled and said, “They are on their way back. They should have passed Luoyang by now.”

“That’s a pity, I still want to play with them!”

“No problem. When they come back, you can come and play with them. They will probably be staying at my eldest brother’s mansion. It’s already vacant and the furniture has been moved over.”

Cui Mei clapped her hands with joy.

Xiao Xia walked up to Cui Yu again and asked with concern: “No one is causing trouble for you, right?”

Cui Yu said softly: “Someone wanted to cause trouble for us, but we are protected by the eldest princess. Don’t worry, we are safe!”

“who is it?”

Cui Yu smiled and said, “Let’s go upstairs first! We can talk slowly after we sit down.”

The two maids had been waiting for a long time. They led the way in front, taking the three people upstairs and into the elegant room of Baiyutang. Since the beginning of the year, this elegant room has completely stopped receiving outside guests and was reserved exclusively for Xiao Xia’s family.

The three of them took off their coats and sat down. Xiao Xia smiled and said, “It’s only been a few months and everything has changed. I originally thought it would take at least one or two years.”

Cui Yu smiled and said, “I heard from my father that the previous emperor made the wrong choice of people, suffered a series of disastrous defeats, and eventually collapsed.”

Xiao Xia nodded, “That’s about the reason. Yang Jun is equivalent to Zhao Kuo. He is no match for Yuwen Shu. Hundreds of thousands of troops were lost in his hands. Then the emperor used He Ruobi. As a result, He Ruodong killed Yang Jun, which forced He Ruobi to surrender. After these two disastrous defeats, the court was basically powerless to recover. In the final analysis, it was the fault of the previous emperor himself.”

At this point, Xiao Xia asked again: “You haven’t said anything yet? Who wants to embarrass you?”

“Prince Yang Yan, at the last minute, they were arresting people everywhere. The Cui family refused to publicly sever ties with your father, so the entire Cui family was placed under house arrest. Yang Yan also came to my house to harass me and wanted to arrest me. I guess he wanted to take revenge on you, but we went to the Princess’s Mansion a few days in advance.”

Xiao Xia nodded, “Don’t touch them for the time being, I’ll deal with them in two years!”

Cui Yu waved his hands quickly, “Don’t say such spoiling words, will Xia Lang always stay in Chang’an in the future?”

Xiao Xia shook his head. “I might be in charge of Hexi, Longyou and Shuofang.”

Cui Yu’s eyes dimmed, and he blinked his eyes and asked obediently, “Will I not see Brother Cui for several years?” Xiao Xia smiled and shook her head, “How could that be?”

Xiao Xia gave Cui Mei a hint, and Cui Mei immediately went to the bathroom.

Cui Yu held her lover’s hand and summoned her courage to ask, “Xia Lang is going to Hexi, so when can he marry me?”

Xiao Xia hugged her waist and said softly, “I will marry you before I leave and take you to Hexi. I am just worried that you can’t adapt to the climate in Hexi!”

Cui Yu rested his head on Xiao Xia’s shoulder and sighed happily: “You know I miss you and look forward to your return every day. As long as I can be with you, I don’t care where I live!”

Xiao Xia glanced at the two maids, and the two maids hurried to the outer room. Xiao Xia turned her head and kissed Cui Yu, who lightly closed her beautiful eyes and responded gently.

After a long while, Cui Mei shouted from behind the screen, “Are you guys done?”

The two of them quickly separated, and Xiao Xia smiled and said, “Come here!”

Cui Mei came out with a smile and waved her hand, saying, “You can serve the food now!”

Two maids came in with plates and began to place plates of cold and hot dishes on the table.

After lunch, Xiao Xia sent the Cui sisters back to the mansion. Unexpectedly, she met Cui Yu’s mother, who was waiting for her two daughters to come back at the door.

Xiao Xia hurriedly stepped forward to greet her, “Junior greets auntie!”

The mother of the Cui sisters was surnamed Zheng and was from the Zheng family of Xingyang. She was well-educated and open-minded. The reason why Cui Yu was relatively free was because she had her mother’s support behind her.

Zheng smiled slightly and said, “Yu’er, take your sister back to the room first. I want to talk to Master Xiao for a few words.”

Cui Yu glanced at Xiao Xia and gave him an encouraging look before taking Cui Mei back to the inner house.

Zheng invited Xiao Xia to sit in the VIP hall. She apologized, “You are His Royal Highness the King of Chu. Your status is very ordinary. It is actually very rude of me to speak to you like this. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No way. Whether it’s a title or a position, it’s all for external use. But my aunt is an elder, she’s one of us, there’s no need to be so distant with her.”

Zheng smiled approvingly and said, “I’m glad you said that. Ayu is already seventeen years old. Let’s see if you can get married this year. I can also put a big worry aside.”

Xiao Xia nodded, “My father said the same thing this morning. My eldest brother will come to deliver the betrothal gifts soon and discuss a specific date for the wedding.”

Zheng thought for a moment and said, “Another question is the format of the wedding. We are all a little confused now. The prince is a prince, so we should follow the palace rules. But now we are holding a wedding like ordinary people. We are still confused about what to do.”

Xiao Xia smiled bitterly and said, “I don’t know now. My eldest brother will come to deliver the betrothal gifts tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. You can talk to him.”

Zheng nodded, “I understand, I’ll talk to your brother later!”

Xiao Xia said goodbye and left. Not long after he left, Cui Hongzhou came back. He walked into the inner study, took off his outer robe and asked his wife, “Are there any guests today?”

Madam Lu smiled and said, “Xiao Xia sent Yu’er and Xiao Mei back, and I talked to him!”

Cui Hongzhou’s eyes lit up and he asked quickly, “What do you mean? When will you come to deliver the betrothal gifts?”

“He said his elder brother will come to give the betrothal gift tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”

“Ah! His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is coming to our Cui Mansion?”

Zheng was stunned for a moment, and said, “Look, I’m really confused. Isn’t his elder brother the Crown Prince? I didn’t even react. Master, should we get ready?”

“No need to prepare anything special. According to tradition, we only need to prepare a set of fine clothes and accessories for the future son-in-law. The key is that we have to prepare a dowry for Xiaoyu.”

“Didn’t the master say that he would give her 10,000 strings of cash as a dowry?”

Cui Hongzhou smiled bitterly and said, “If she marries into a noble family, 10,000 strings of cash will be just right as a dowry, but the other party is the King of Chu! Do you know that Xiaoyu has a night-shining pearl? You have seen it, right?”

Zheng nodded. “I have seen it. It is a very beautiful bead. It will flash white light at night. Is it expensive?”

“That was given to Xiao Yu by Xiao Xia. I have inquired about it. That bead is a priceless treasure. If you must give a price, it must be worth at least hundreds of thousands of strings of cash. And the ruby ​​bracelet on Xiao Mei’s hand. A few days ago, I saw a bracelet worth eight thousand strings of cash, which was far less good than this one. So Xiao Mei’s bracelet must be worth at least ten thousand strings of cash. Your Highness the King of Chu is so generous. Is it a bit too shabby for me to prepare a dowry of ten thousand strings of cash?”

Zheng shook her head. “These are two different things. We can only afford a dowry of 10,000 strings of cash at most. This is a gift from a father to his daughter. They won’t laugh at us.”

“Okay! Let’s do as we agreed before. Give her a dowry of 10,000 strings of cash, and give all the gifts they gave to Ayu as part of her dowry.”

(End of this chapter)