Repudiating a Good Wife Is Out of the Question

169. A Sedan Chair

Translator: Sissy That Walk

The atmosphere in Prince Xing’s room wasn’t great when Xiao Yi walked in, but Xiao Yi ignored that and reported why he was there.

“Your Highness, Master Qi Three is here with me, he is going to donate one hundred and eighty thousand kilos of grain, please meet him.”

“Humph!” Prince Xing was in a sour mood, he just pulled a long face on hearing that, “Sure, bring him in.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Master Qi Three’s legs trembled, Xiao Yi reached out his arms and supported Master Qi Three to walk in.

Xiao Yi noticed Prince Xing kept staring at Yao Wenyuan who was idling around under the tree, then he showed a meaningful smile on his face, ‘Prince Xing and Yao Wenyuan must be bickering again’, thought Xiao Yi.

Xiao Yi cleared his throat to raise Prince Xing’s attention, “Your Highness!”

Prince Xing averted his gaze from Yao Wenyuan and asked, “How many kilos did you say?”

“One… no… two hundred and eighty thousand kilos of grain!” Master Qi Three kowtowed to Prince Xing and changed his mind. He was determined to impress Prince Xing and change his offspring’s fate, an opportunity to no longer register as a merchant, Master Qi Three swore he would grab this opportunity!

Therefore, Master Qi Three said two hundred and eighty thousand kilos last minute to secure this opportunity, for he knew no way Merchant Lin would be as committed as him if he said such an astronomical figure.

Yao Wenyuan burst into laughter as he saw the way Master Qi Three kowtowed to Prince Xing.

Prince Xing was fascinated by Yao Wenyuan’s bright smile, so he just murmured like a robot, “Master Qi Three! You deserve a reward… …”

However, Prince Xing forgot to mention what he was going to reward Master Qi Three. Xiao Yi chimed in promptly, “All the documents are here, please have a look and stamp a seal.”

“Of course!”

Prince Xing stamped his seal on the documents without taking a further look for all he could think about was Yao Wenyuan’s face at that moment.

Xiao Yi frowned slightly, but he didn’t point it out, he just showed a paper to Master Qi Three, “Look, this is yours, but I need to submit this paper to the ministry first, don’t worry, I will return it to you in no time.”

Master Qi Three’s eyes were glued on that piece of paper, it was a letter of appointment with Prince Xing’s seal stamped on it, Master Qi Three was appointed as General Secretary in Raising Army Provisions!

Master Qi Three rubbed his eyes with disbelief, “Shizi, is this a dream?”

“This is true! Prince Xing values you, don’t let him down!” Xiao Yi patted Master Qi Three’s shoulder, “You are an official from now on, this is a eight-ranking position! You need some proper attire now, and a proper sedan chair according to your title, what else? Your gates need some renovation as well, you are an official appointed by Prince Xing, you need to keep that in mind.”

Master Qi Three’s eyes got wider and wider as he listened to Xiao Yi, it sounded too good to be true. In ancient China, the social status were ranked as scholar, farmer, artisan and merchant. Merchant was looked upon by everyone else, they weren’t qualified to attend the imperial examination no matter how rich they were, that was why Master Qi Three was so thrilled.

“I owe everything to Prince Xing!” Master Qi Three wept, “I will give my all to complete this mission, it’s an honor to share Prince Xing’s worries!”

“Great! I know you are loyal!”

How Xiao Yi wished he could scream that Master Qi Three should thank Cao Mo instead of Prince Xing, it was Cao Mo’s idea all along! Cao Mo had even thought about the excuse for Prince Xing if Imperial Censor impeached him. With Cao Mo at the helm, this mission was bound to succeed! But Xiao Yi dared not to say it out loud, he couldn’t even show it on his face, how boring… …

Master Qi Three felt like he was on cloud nine as he walked to the gate, he pointed at the gatekeeper arrogantly, “Go arrange me a sedan chair, my stupid donkey is not good enough for me any more, I’m an official now!”

By law, merchants were not allowed to sit in sedan chairs, even the Imperial Merchants who were valued by the emperor were only allowed to use litters, but strictly no sedan chairs.

Merchant Lin who was scolded by Prince Xing had been waiting for Master Qi Three by the gate for a little while, he saw how Master Qi Three acted like a proud rooster so he walked towards Master Qi Three to pry for more information.

“Qi Three, have you met Prince Xing?”

Master Qi Three squinted at Merchant Lin, “You need to address me as Master from now on, no more Qi Three! I need to see a tailor soon as well, look at me, how shabby I am now! I will be representing Prince Xing from now on, I will only wear silk robes from now on!”

All the merchants in the city now seethed with excitement as they saw Master Qi Three sitting in a sedan chair, Master Qi Three was as honourable as the county magistrate!

Master Qi Three used to look at Merchant Lin with a fawning smile, but now he dared call Merchant Lin by name.

All the other merchants regretted they had visited Prince Xing earlier and donated grains like Master Qi Three.

Grain coupons!

What on earth is that!

Soon a crowd of merchants gathered around their temporary residence, but this time they were not there to make disturbances, they were all there to donate grains, and they were all very generous about the amount. Hopefully, they could also use sedan chairs like Master Qi Three.

The letter of appointment had made a big splash in the local city, every merchant now was eager to be part of it.

Cao Mo rested his head on Xiao Yi’s shoulder, “Do you think the letter of appointment is a good idea?”

“Of course! Master Qi Three is going to be our long-term business partner, with a proper title, he can help us more.” Xiao Yi explained it to Cao Mo.

“Your father is going to scold you once he finds that out, aren’t you afraid?” Cao Mo asked with concern.

“The thing is I need to do it no matter I’m afraid or not, we need to keep the goodies within the family.” Xiao Yi answered with full composure.

“Within the family! So I’m not your family, who is your family!” Xiao Yugui kicked the door open and marched in, he just heard what happened to Master Qi Three from a Shadow Guard.

“My wife is my family!” Xiao Yi showed a triumphant smile.

“But why didn’t you inform this in advance!” Xiao Yugui fumed.

“You can’t find someone like Master Qi Three, who is able to donate such a large amount of grain and who isn’t afraid of Prince Ning!” Xiao Yi countered.

“Two hundred and eighty thousand kilos of grain isn’t good enough for a letter of appointment! A letter that can change his entire family’s status and fate!”

Cao Mo chimed in before Xiao Yi could say anything, “That’s the only letter of appointment we are granting, otherwise the title will look cheap.”

Xiao Yi nodded, “You can tell Master Qi Three and other merchants that not all the merchants who have donated grains are qualified to sit in sedan chairs, there’s only one sedan chairs for merchants, you need to have what it takes to own that sedan chair!”