"Oh, by the way, is there any progress with the shop? Do you need me to help out?" the Prince asked again.
He had quite a few shops in his hands, and it wouldn’t be a problem to spare one for this girl.
Ye Jiu smiled, "The shop situation has been resolved, so there’s no trouble to the Prince. It’s just that, I will be leaving the capital city in a few days. Someone from my side will take over the business. We folks from the boonies tend to be more honest and might easily suffer a loss when dealing with others, so I would still need to trouble the Prince to look out for them."
"Of course, of course..." the Prince readily agreed.
"La la la... La la la..." Ye Jiu hopped and skipped back home.
Turning her head, she saw Su Ning looking at her with a strange expression. Ye Jiu’s face turned red immediately, and she coughed lightly in an attempt to cover up, asking, "Did anything happen at home while I was away?"
Su Ning shook his head and said, "Just that the injured lady has woken up, and that young master went to see her. Also, Fourth Master and Wenzheng have returned."
"Oh, then it’s nothing, you can go back to what you were doing." Ye Jiu knew that Su Ning’s "Fourth Master" referred to her fourth brother, and although there wasn’t much age difference between her fourth brother and Wenzheng, there was a generational gap in the way they should be addressed.
Ye Jiu walked a few steps further, then suddenly remembered, "Oh, Su Ning, do you know if there is an ice cellar in the residence?"
Su Ning shook his head and responded, "Although the residence previously belonged to the War King, the Prince never lived here, so there is no ice stored. However, the Royal Residence next door does have an ice cellar."
Ye Jiu nodded, calculating in her mind, then asked, "How long would it take to build an ice cellar here on the estate?"
"Ten days. If it’s just a small ice cellar, five days would be enough," replied Su Ning.
"Please arrange for it. Make the ice cellar a bit larger. As for the cost, silver is not an issue, but the speed must be quick," Ye Jiu instructed.
"Understood," Su Ning acknowledged and left to carry out the orders.
When Ye Jiu returned to the small courtyard, only Ye Wenzheng was by the pond at the entrance, catching fish.
Seeing Ye Jiu’s return, Ye Wenzheng said, "Young Aunt, there are even fish being raised in this pond. I’ve caught a few; how about we have fish for dinner tonight?"
Ye Jiu looked at the bucket next to him, already containing several brightly colored fish, and she was speechless for a moment.
"What’s wrong? You don’t want to eat fish?" Ye Wenzheng didn’t understand.
"These fish from the pond are ornamental fish kept by wealthy families. I estimate each could cost several taels of silver," Ye Jiu replied, and then had another thought, "Take them to the kitchen to be cooked. Such expensive delicacies should taste pretty good."
Anyway, she didn’t have any appetite left, as she had just finished eating with the Prince outside.
She had intended to restrain her eating, so she had ordered quite a lot, but when the Prince arrived, she had no chance to hold back and ended up eating eagerly to satisfy her craving.
As a result, she overate.
The only consolation was that the Prince had paid for the meal in the end, saving her from spending her own money.
After Ye Jiu left, Ye Wenzheng stared at the several large fish in the bucket, dumbfounded.
What? Each of these costs several taels of silver?
This... this... can people really eat such things?
Ye Wenzheng, who had struggled to catch the fish, began releasing them back into the pond, then walked away rubbing his cheek in bewilderment.
Speaking of which, he now had over a thousand taels of silver at his disposal, but having been accustomed to tough times, he’d save whenever possible, except for some necessary expenses.
Fish costing several taels each were beyond his comprehension, not something ordinary people would eat.
"Oh, by the way, where’s your fourth uncle?" Ye Jiu remembered, just as she reached the door, she realized she hadn’t seen her fourth brother.