The Only Favourite Ugly Husband

Chapter 94.2 – The Ministry of Household

Zhao Jinge began to nibble the ribs again, eating several pieces before raising his head and looking at Jiang Zhen: “Jiang Zhen, why did he say Shen Anxin looked like a man just now?”

After seeing Shen Anxin today, Zhao Jinge had a vague feeling that something was wrong. What this man just said, bought this feeling to a climax.

“Because Shen Anxin is a ger.” Jiang Zhen said.

“Ger?” Zhao Jinge was startled. Shen Anxin came to do business with Jiang Zhen. He was not next to Jiang Zhen when he was exposed by the shopkeeper Zhu, and no one mentioned it to him later so he did not know that Shen Anxin was actually a ger.

“Yes, he is ger. I forgot to tell you,” Jiang Zhen said. He had always had trouble dividing a ger from a woman. After Shen Anxin dug out his cinnabar mole and wanted to be a man, he wouldn’t specifically tell anyone that he was actually a ger and not a man.

Jiang Zhen didn’t take it seriously, but Zhao Jinge was shocked.

Shen Anxin was actually a ger!

No wonder he was acting so weird before!

Zhao Jinge had a good impression of Shen Anxin, thinking that he was a very powerful and knowledgeable person. Now knowing he was actually a ger; he even admired him a little. But when he thought of what that man had just said, he couldn’t help feeling a little uncomfortable.

However, he didn’t think that a young master like Shen Anxin would try to steal Jiang Zhen from him. He also thought that Jiang Zhen had always been indifferent to Shen Anxin, so he quickly let it go.

He had been with Jiang Zhen all the time, and he knew very well that Jiang Zhen had nothing to do with that Shen Anxin. Shen Anxin and Jiang Zhen just spoke a few times politely.

But even so, Zhao Jinge subconsciously didn’t want to mention Shen Anxin and only asked Jiang Zhen, “Jiang Zhen, for what you did just now, will you be alright?”

The young master who scolded them seemed to be very powerful . . .

Jiang Zhen was a little worried; he was not familiar with the capital . . . More importantly, there was Zhao Jinge beside him, who was pregnant.

If that Wanlong Merchant Firm dealt with them like how they dealt with Shen Anxin, they will find someone to deal with Zhao Jinge . . .

Jiang Zhen’s brows furrowed from just thinking about it.

“Let’s buy something and pay a visit to the Zheng family,” Jiang Zhen said.

After Jiang Zhen left the docks and moved to live in the city, Zheng Yi also moved to live in the Zheng family house.

Two days ago, Zheng Yi even had someone approach him to ask him if he wanted to get to know some people.

He felt it was troublesome at that time, so he declined. But thinking about it at the moment . . . getting to know some more people would be good for him, and getting closer to the Zheng family would also make others not dare to do anything to him.

Jiang Zhen did so just after thinking of it so after eating, he took Zhao Jinge to buy something before going to the Zheng family house.

When they arrived at the Zheng family, Jiang Zhen gave his name and said that he was looking for Zheng Yi. Soon he was taken into Zheng Yi’s courtyard by a servant, but Zheng Yi was not there, and he needed to wait.

Zheng Yi came back shortly after, and as soon as he saw Jiang Zhen, he smiled and said, “I looked for you several times before, but you weren’t there. Why did you come here today?”

“I’m here to trouble Young Master Zheng.” Jiang Zhen was straightforward and got straight to the point.

Zheng Yi quite liked Jiang Zhen’s directness; it was a good way to talk about things. Pulling a half-dozen friendships before asking him to do something would only displease him instead. “What is it?”

Jiang Zhen thought for a moment and then told the whole story.

“Wanlong Merchant Firm?” Zheng Yi laughed when he heard those words.

“Young Master Zheng knows about them?” Jiang Zhen asked.

“I know. Tomorrow, the principal person behind Wanlong Merchant Firm will come to the Zheng family.” Zheng Yi smiled again. “Jiang Zhen, I asked you before if you wanted to get to know some people because the Ministry of Household will be making a big move soon.”

Zheng Yi spoke slowly.

It turned out that due to the increasing expenses of the royal family, the money was insufficient, so the Empress Dowager came up with a way to save money.

That method was to appoint some imperial merchants. That is, giving some merchants a certain position and then letting them be responsible for purchasing certain items for the palace . . .

For example, the palace needed a lot of silk every year. They would select the silk merchant and give him the name of imperial merchant so that he would be specifically responsible for this. The merchant naturally would be able to get some rights and buy different things for the imperial family, but naturally, the price could not be higher.

The Empress Dowager had been thinking about this method for a long time and was planning to implement it soon. The person in charge of the Ministry of Household was currently Master Zheng of the Zheng family.

Before, Jiang Zhen only knew that Master Zheng was a second-grade official, but he really didn’t know that he was originally a minister from the Ministry of Household.

However, even if Jiang Zhen did not know about this, he knew something about imperial merchants.

Even if he hasn’t read the original work of Dream of red chamber (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber) he has seen the TV series. Wasn’t the Xue family the Imperial Merchants?

In the Qing Dynasty, being an imperial merchant was sure to make a person profit.

Jiang Zhen heard of an imperial merchant, but didn’t know much about it so naturally he kept his mouth shut and said nothing, saying only “If Master Zheng can become an imperial merchant, he will definitely be able to get a lot of benefits.”

“It’s already decided that I’ll be an imperial merchant.” Zheng Yi was somewhat proud of himself: “However, there are only a few chosen and some of others will be selected from the merchants. Tomorrow, the Zheng family will invite some merchants to come over. If you want, you to come and have a look, but you didn’t seem to have any intention to do so and I didn’t want to force you.”

Zheng Yi wanted Jiang Zhen to come, but Jiang Zhen didn’t want to. He thought that Jiang Zhen had not done any serious business, so he would not want to become an imperial merchant, so he didn’t ask him.

“Wanlong Merchant Firm will also come?” Jiang Zhen asked.

“That’s right. They’re on the list, but they’re just a small merchant, so it’s almost impossible for them to become imperial merchants,” Zheng Yi said and asked again “Can you come tomorrow?”

“Naturally,” Jiang Zhen agreed without hesitation.

At the same time in the Feng family.

After a bowl of winter melon soup was poured on his head by Jiang Zhen, Feng Chenglin hurriedly went home. Then he found someone to prepare water and washed himself back and forth several times before he finally felt refreshed.

“Damn this Jiang Zhen. I’ll make sure he’s good for it!” Feng Chenglin couldn’t help but curse as he let the maid wipe his hair. He made up his mind to give Jiang Zhen some trouble.

“Who do you want to mess with?” a discontented voice sounded.

Feng Chenglin looked up and saw his father, Feng Jingyuan, coming in from the outside.

“Dad . . . ,” Feng Chenglin called out.

“According to Shopkeeper Zhu, you went to mess with Shen Anxin and another merchant today?” Feng Jingyuan asked.

“Dad, Shen Anxin is really hateful—”

“No way! I told you to be nice to him and coax him into marrying you, but you have no patience at all. You are still playing with women outside, losing good food before it could reach your mouth. What did you do to offend him this time?” Feng Jingyuan interrupted his son.

“Dad, we don’t have to be afraid of him!”

“He doesn’t have to be afraid; his father left him his connection after all. If you push him too hard, aren’t you afraid he will kill you? Or send someone to beat you?” Feng Jingyuan said, “Do you know how to stay on the front line of being a man? Even if you want to swallow the Shen family, you need to boil the frog in warm water!

“I understand, Dad.” Feng Chenglin said, when he thought about it he also felt he was a little reckless before.

“And this merchant out of town, if you go finding troubles with people, are you not afraid this people will come to find troubles with you?” Feng Jingyuan asked again.

“He doesn’t have any ability—” Hearing his father mention Jiang Zhen, Feng Chenglin’s eyes flashed with disgust.

Feng Jinyuan looked at his son coldly.

“Dad, I was wrong. I won’t be so reckless next time.” Feng Chenglin began to apologize.

When his son apologized, Feng Jingyuan’s face softened. “If he has no ability, we will deal with him in a few days. But now, we must be careful.”

“Why?” Feng Chenglin was puzzled.

Feng Jingyuan explained, “Your father went to countless places to become an imperial merchant, and this is a critical moment. You can’t make any trouble for me. You have to rein in no matter what.”

As soon as the news came out that the Ministry of Household was going to choose imperial merchants, he started taking action. He already paid a lot, so he didn’t want to get in any troubles at this time.

“Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll put up with it,” Feng Chenglin said.

“That’s good. By the way, go to bed early today. We have to go to Zheng family house tomorrow,” Feng Jingyuan said.