How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

This is true.

Sheng Yiren seemed to be thinking about something, and then suddenly asked, "Your Highness, can you reach a written contract with that Young Master Jiang?"

"That... has not happened yet." Xie Chengze shook his head. "Young Master Jiang said that he would come in person and bring silver with him. He will give it to me once the written contract is finalized."

This made Sheng Yiren instantly relieved. "It's good that the contract has not been signed yet. Your Highness has been in high places for a long time, so it's normal that he doesn't understand some of the things we merchants do. In fact, the right to undertake the project does not have to be given to one merchant. In fact, it is more appropriate to give it to multiple merchants to undertake it together. This can prevent one merchant from dominating the market, so as to avoid cutting corners and using public resources for personal gain without anyone noticing or reporting it."

Xie Chengze nodded in confusion, "So that's how it is."

"How about this, Your Highness." Sheng Yiren thought for a moment and said, "I can contact the Liaozhou Chamber of Commerce and ask them to sponsor 30,000 taels of silver for the Ice Sculpture Festival. But at the same time, I also hope that Your Highness can leave the right to host the Ice Sculpture Festival to the northern merchants, and let them bid for it every year. How do you think?"

"Of course!" Xie Chengze nodded quickly, "As for Young Master Jiang, I will explain the situation and reject his kindness."

kindness?

But forget it, the other party is clearly a wolf with ambitions and is trying to swallow an elephant with his own body!

Sheng Yiren secretly complained and despised that the young master of the Jiang family really had a good plan. Liaozhou could have made a great comeback with the Ice Sculpture Festival, but he took advantage of the situation and interfered. He had no sense of morality as a businessman and was simply shameless!

"Your Highness! If the other party embarrasses you at that time, please call me over. I will definitely help you deal with this person!"

Sheng Yiren said indignantly.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay." Xie Chengze nodded like a chick pecking at rice, but he said in his heart: I'm afraid you don't have this opportunity.

Because everything just mentioned was made up by him, the Jiang family trial and the letter from the young master were all fake. The reason why he said this was just to make the Liaozhou Chamber of Commerce actively compete for the right to host the ice sculpture festival and willingly pay 30,000 sponsorship fees.

There is a sense of crisis only when there is competition~

Although they are imaginary enemies, what’s the problem?

Looking at Sheng Yiren's leaving back, and thinking about the 30,000 sponsorship fees he had gotten for free, Xie Chengze couldn't help but smile extremely cunningly.

"Oh, by the way, Your Highness." Sheng Yiren suddenly turned around, and then saw Xie Chengze's cheek twitching violently, which made people very confused, "Your Highness you..."

"Huh? What's wrong?" Xie Chengze looked innocent, as if the twitching of his cheek just now was just an illusion.

"Uh..." Sheng Yiren thought to herself. The strong wind on the ice rink blinded her eyes. Maybe it was just an illusion. So she continued, "Someone just reported that a suspicious batch of disaster relief grain was delivered to the city gate. Lord Shen has gone over to deal with it."

"Disaster relief food...?" Thinking of something, Xie Chengze chewed on these three words on his lips, suddenly lowered his eyes and smiled, the fragmented light in his eyes made him look like a different person, strange and unpredictable.

It seemed like the other party finally couldn't hold back any longer. This was exactly what he was waiting for.

He was originally wondering why the other party hadn't taken action yet. If the other party didn't take action, he was planning to take the initiative to do something bad.

"Got it. I'll go join in the fun right away~" After saying this, Xie Chengze left the ice rink as quickly as a bird leaving its nest.

……

Tianshui City, at the city gate.

The grain carts were parked in a vertical line on the roadside. The grain officer in charge of transporting the relief grain said to Shen Yuan with certainty, "It is clearly written in the document that it is being transported to Tianshui City in Liaozhou, definitely not Yingzhou."

The document was indeed genuine, but there was something wrong with the person who wrote it. He deliberately sent the relief grain that should have been sent to Yingzhou to Liaozhou. I'm afraid that the prince, who has been waiting for the relief grain for a long time, is getting anxious and is wondering where the missing relief grain has been transported to.

In the original book, that person wanted to sow discord between the Crown Prince and the Second Prince. Taking advantage of the Second Prince's eagerness for quick success and profit, he would definitely withhold this wave of disaster relief grain to make things difficult for the Crown Prince, thus completely pulling the two of them to opposite sides.

Oh yes, during this period, the Second Prince and Shen Yuan had a fierce quarrel. The Second Prince was so angry that he "ran away from home" and almost froze to death in the snow!

Why weren't Wuhen and Wuji by his side at that time?

As he walked towards the city gate, Xie Chengze rubbed his chin. He vaguely remembered that Wuhen and Wuji seemed to have been severely whipped by the Second Prince and were forced to kneel in the snow in the freezing cold. That was why they did not notice that the Second Prince had secretly left in the middle of the night...

wrong……

Xie Chengze frowned slightly.

No matter how stupid the Second Prince was, he should have known that the snow disaster in Liaozhou should not be underestimated. If he secretly left in the middle of the night without any internal energy to keep out the cold, he would surely freeze to death outside.

Although the second prince in the original novel was mediocre in terms of imperial skills, he was not a fool. He valued his life so much, so how could he take such a big risk and leave the city without caring about his own safety, just to get angry with Shen Yuan?

unless……

The second prince was certain that someone would notice that he had left and would follow the trail to find him.

or……

Is there any other reason why he wants to abandon Wuhen and Wuji and go away alone...

But why? In the original novel, Wuhen and Wuji were so loyal that they were willing to die for the Second Prince. Why would the Second Prince not want to take them with him?

Could it be the former? In fact, the Second Prince just wanted to scare Shen Yuan. He was sure that Shen Yuan would come to his room to discuss the return of the relief grain, and then find out where he left, so he had the courage to leave alone?

This does seem to be more convincing, but Xie Chengze still feels like something is not right.

Since he had no intention of leaving the city, why did he walk so far and almost freeze himself to death? Is the Second Prince so stupid?

As he was thinking, he suddenly felt something hit his forehead. He looked up and found that he had walked behind Shen Yuan and hit his back.

"What are you thinking about? You're so engrossed." Shen Yuan saw that he had a heavy face and thought that he had encountered some problems. His eyes flickered on Xie Chengze's face for a few seconds, and then he joked, "You didn't even look at the road. Aren't you afraid of slipping and hurting your face?"

Xie Chengze quickly touched his face and said, "Nothing, what are you going to do with this batch of disaster relief grain?"

Shen Yuan reached out and straightened the young man's coat, covering the leaky area on his neck, "I'll listen to you."

"Oh...oh?" Xie Chengze raised his eyes and immediately met a pair of gentle and smiling eyes.

His heart moved slightly.

Why did this person suddenly speak so pretentiously?

Xie Chengze's eyes rolled around, and Shen Yuan knew what he was thinking, so he said calmly, "If you don't know how to deal with it, then I will make the decision myself."

"No, no, no, I'll do it." Xie Chengze quickly shook his head and then turned his gaze to the relief grain trucks outside the city.

"Let the grain officials deliver the relief grain directly to Yingzhou." Xie Chengze grinned, smiling mischievously, "Just say that this is our donation to the prince, not that the grain officials sent it by mistake."

In this way, he could send relief grain to Yingzhou for disaster relief, and also inform the outside world that he and the prince were still at loggerheads.

He, the second prince - he is stepping on the crown prince's face and loudly declaring that he is superior!

Shen Yuan curled his lips, and his troubled heart felt a little calmer.

It seems that Xie Chengze today is still Xie Chengze.

If it were someone else, they would certainly withhold the relief grain, wait for the prince to come in person to ask for the grain, and then waste time finding out what went wrong with the relief grain, and then use this as an excuse to accuse the prince of poor performance.

If this were to happen, the people of Yingzhou would inevitably go hungry for several days, and even someone might die.

And the "Xie Chengze" he follows will never ignore the lives of the people.