amaotonovel Chapter 170 The Secret of Jingyuan
Chapter 170 The Secret of Jingyuan
The next day, Wen Yuxia and Xia Yichen went to the Ministry of Justice to purchase properties. The Director of the Ministry of Justice, Mo Yuan, presented a property register.
Previously, Zhang Jinxuan represented Xia Yichen when selecting properties; Xia Yichen had never come to the Ministry of Justice to select properties before. This time, he came in person solely to accompany Wen Yuxia.
"Crown Prince, Princess Mu Hua, all the properties for sale this time are registered. Each property has a detailed description and a price listed. Just select the properties you like... No one else will know which properties you choose."
Mo Yuan, in a gentle voice, gave the two a detailed introduction. Xia Yichen and Wen Yuxia were both big shots, and Mo Yuan, the Director of the Criminal Justice Department, personally acted as their receptionist.
To be honest, the Department of Criminal Investigation does a good job of protecting the privacy of its guests. Once a property is selected, the staff will immediately remove the page from the brochure, so later guests have no idea what the previous guests bought.
Wen Yuxia carefully flipped through the booklet, her finger lightly tracing the descriptions of each industry. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she pointed to a tea garden, saying:
"This tea plantation looks quite nice. It's not far from my farm, and the barren hills behind it can be cultivated to grow fruit trees."
Xia Yichen looked at it, smiled and nodded: "If you like it, buy it."
Mo Yuan chimed in, "Princess Mu Hua has excellent taste. This tea garden belongs to Prince Heng. It comes with its own production workshop, and the most expensive Xishan Maofeng tea in the capital originates from here..."
The tea garden originally belonged to a merchant surnamed Huang. Princess Heng, envious of the Huang family's tea sales and prices in the capital, bought several hills behind the Huang family's tea garden to learn how to grow tea.
However, the tea tree varieties they acquired were not as good as those in the Huang family's tea garden, so the tea could not be sold at a high price. Therefore, Princess Heng used her influence to forcibly buy the Huang family's tea garden.
After reviewing the tea plantation prices, Wen Yuxia frowned. The prices were too high; she thought it better to buy the barren mountains behind the plantation.
After a moment's thought, she spoke, "These few people from the desolate mountains behind me are to be taken over by this county lord."
Having learned that Wen Yuxia had given up on the tea plantation because of its exorbitantly high prices, Mo Yuan hesitated for a long time before finally deciding to reveal another way to make money from the tea plantation.
He chuckled and said, "The princess has taken a liking to Jingyuan. I dare not hide it and can only tell you the truth. Jingyuan has two sources of income: one is tea, and the other is wild fish from the Yin River..."
Jingyuan was the name given to the tea garden by the Huang family. After Princess Heng took over the tea garden, she did not change its name and continued to call it Jingyuan.
There were no rivers near Jingyuan Garden, so the Huang family dug several wells in the tea garden to solve the water problem.
After one of the wells was dug, a group of lively fish appeared in it, and the head of the Huang family realized that this was a way to make money.
A plan was devised: the Huang clan members dug eight feet into the ground at Jingyuan Garden, creating a tunnel and a completely natural underground river for raising fish.
After Princess Heng took over Jingyuan, in order to protect the secret of the Yinhe River, she forced the head of the Huang family to sign a confidentiality agreement and ordered him to lead his clan to leave the capital and move back to their ancestral home in southern Sichuan. She also built a small house at the entrance of the eight-foot-deep passage as a cover.
Mo Yuan accidentally discovered that a small room in Jingyuan, where miscellaneous items were stored, actually contained a passage eight feet deep. Upon investigation, he learned that the passage led to an underground river. After questioning the head of Jingyuan, he learned the ins and outs of the passage.
With good tea and wild fish from the Yinhe River, Princess Heng gave up managing the remaining tea mountains. Over time, those mountains became overgrown with weeds and became barren.
"Hehe, Mu Hua, you've really struck gold! The fish in the Yin River are inexhaustible. A two-pound wild Yin River fish is worth twenty taels of silver."
Jingyuan Garden has wild fish from the Yinhe River. Logically, Moyuan should report this to the Emperor, and only register it if the Emperor does not intend to keep Jingyuan Garden.
Unfortunately, Mo Yuan had taken a fancy to Jingyuan and didn't report the matter, which benefited Wen Yuxia. Xia Yichen thought to himself that Wen Yuxia's luck was unbelievable; she had encountered such good fortune.
The Yin River is an underground river, and the fish in it are delicious. In her previous life, Wen Yuxia was fortunate enough to eat fine-scaled fish that the villagers hooked from natural caves. The fish meat was particularly firm, and after tasting it, a slightly sweet aftertaste lingered in her mouth.
In her past life, she caught fine-scaled fish from an underground river, which cost 180 yuan per jin (500 grams). Her monthly salary could only buy 20 jin of these fish. In this life, she owns an underground river, and she can enjoy all kinds of fish from it for free.
Wen Yuxia was overjoyed. She quickly ticked a box on the page with her pen and said with a smile, "Thank you for your explanation, Director Mo. I'll take both Jingyuan and Huangshan. I'll have someone send you a few Yinhe fish as a thank you gift."
Turning to Xia Yichen with a smile, she told him that if he wanted to eat wild fish from the Yinhe River, he should go to Jingyuan to catch them. She would deliver them to him for free. Xia Yichen chuckled and said, "Thank you!"
Mo Yuan took down the page and wrote the words "Mu Hua" on it, indicating that the tea garden and barren mountain depicted on the page belonged to Wen Yuxia.
Jingyuan gave Wen Yuxia a huge surprise; she abandoned her previous plan and did not invest all her cash in real estate.
Next, Wen Yuxia requested a four-courtyard house, four shops, and two farms. Just as she was about to put down her charcoal pencil, she also selected sixty acres of farmland.
The house and farm were chosen for Wen Yunhong; the four shops were to be divided equally between the siblings; and she planned to cultivate the sixty mu of land herself first, and then resell it to Yang Shi, Wen Zibai, and Wen Zihua when they had the purchasing power.
"Brother, I've finished choosing. Have you decided what you want?" Wen Yuxia handed the charcoal pencil to Xia Yichen. She had finished choosing, but Xia Yichen hadn't chosen anything yet.
Xia Yichen smiled faintly as he took the pen, opened the sketchbook, and marked all the shops, farms, and fields that he had his eye on. He then whispered to Wen Yuxia, "I only need a small portion of these properties; the rest are for Jinxuan and the others."
Mo Yuan wrote down the properties the two had chosen on two separate pieces of paper, stamped them with the seal of the Ministry of Justice, and said gently, "Crown Prince, Princess Mu Hua, take these to the yamen to complete the transfer procedures..."
After paying the silver and receiving the property registered by Mo Yuan, Xia Yichen and Wen Yuxia prepared to go directly to the yamen to complete the transfer procedures. Xia Yichen instructed An Yi to go to Yunyi Tower to find Li Jiating and Zhang Jinxuan, and instructed An Er to find Meng Xiaoyi, An Chiyu, and Lu Mubai.
"Mu Hua, Yun Hong is your younger brother. The Emperor is about to bestow a marriage between you and Jia Rui. When I was selecting assets, I didn't consider them. Is it alright if their share comes from yours?" Xia Yichen said with a faint smile.
Wen Yuxia was stunned for a moment upon hearing this. Why didn't Li Jiarui say earlier that his share would be allocated from the industries she had chosen? Could she go back to Mo Yuan now and buy some more industries?
As if sensing Wen Yuxia's thoughts, Xia Yichen said cheerfully, "Going back to find Mo Yuan now is useless. Once we're outside the prison gates, the transaction is complete."
Wen Yuxia said irritably, "We can only give Li Jiarui one shop and one farm, that's all."
After a slight pause, Wen Yuxia continued, "Brother, I don't want an arranged marriage. How about we arrange the marriage after I've truly fallen in love with Li Jiarui?"
"Alright, as you wish. Before the imperial decree is issued, the marriage agreement is null and void. Mu Hua, if you have someone you like, you can tell me, and I will make the decision for you," Xia Yichen said indulgently.