"Miss Leng, seems that you take to Yaoting as well? Am I right?"
Shifting his look at Wandong and Leng Yuecui, Xu Wenchuan, having been around, picked up on Leng's feelings for Wandong right away.
His query almost made Wandong cry. His grandpa should rub it in in full view! He, in fact, wished if only he could have got swallowed by the floor.
Blushing forthwith, Leng Yuecui rubbed her collars out of sheer embarrassment, head downcast. Though silent, she gave her tacit consent to Xu Wenchuan.
Wandong's heart sank straight away. Though he had long seen it coming, he still felt caught off guard, not knowing what to do about it.
"Alas, that's pretty tricky..."
Feeling frustrated, Xu Wenchuan and Ning Shan scrutinized Leng Yuecui and Tang Xinyi one after the other, comparing them.
"Your royal highness, why...why the stare?"
Feeling awkward, Tang Xinyi crimsoned as well.
"Hahaha...I didn't expect my grandson is such a charming lad! Way appealing than my son!"
"Dad! Don't forget your daughter in law is with you here!"
Smiling, Ning Shan feinted a complaint. She, in fact, felt pleased to the brim with her son's popularity among girls.
"Oh God, my bad! It was my fault! I shouldn't have said that way...hahaha..."
Beaming radiantly, Xu Wenchuan responded in a playful tone.
"I...I'm heading to the palace now. Her royal highness is waiting for my report."
Tang Xinyi made a random excuse, intending to flee immediately.
"Hang on, what's the rush? I'm not done yet with my reward."
Wandong hastened to stop her.
"You just gave me two million kilos of gold."
She went confused.
"That was the expenditure for the tea saloon! Bet you and the Fengxiang Armed Escort are in desperate need of the blood steel!"
"That goes without saying! All warriors need that!" She smiled wryly, "I shall implore her royal highness to allocate one million kilos of gold from the money you gave me as the blood steel fund. I'll purchase a thousand raw stones first, from which I might get hundreds of pieces of the blood steel if I have the luck. That will suffice to produce thousands of premium weapons to boost the combat effectiveness of the Fengxiang Armed Escort to the full!"
"But the going rate of the raw stones has already doubled. You can only purchase five hundred raw stones with one million kilos of gold."
Wandong smiled.
His annoying reminder upset her loads.
"It was all your fault!" She cried in a grieved voice, "You made a great fortune out of it, while others have to suffer now. The Tianbao guys will surely balance out their loss to you by ripping them off."
"So we'd better raze it to the ground. In that case, it would no longer be able to accumulate wealth in our empire!"
"It's way easier said than done! The Tianbao Mansion, over so many years of operation here, have already bribed loads of our officers at the court. They've been hand in glove for ages! You have to rid the court of half of the officers at least if you want to achieve your goal!"
Xu Wenchuan shook his head as well. To chase the Tianbao Mansion out of the Qingyun Empire was no easy task at all.
"Nothing is impossible," Wandong smiled, "as long as you try your best. But, Commander Tang, I'd venture to ask, why are you allowing the Tianbao Mansion to cost you an arm and a leg again? I got plenty of blood steel right in here. Why go around the sun to meet the moon?"
"You only have around six hundred raw stones here. Based on the output rate, you can get only sixty pieces of the blood steel. Compounded with your own ration, there will be only a handful left for the Fengxiang Armed Escort. What is the point?"
"Commander Tang, why the mockery? However little, it's still what you need, isn't it?"
"Let's forget about it," she shook her head after thinking it over, "the pressing issue is about the current going rate of the raw stones. I'll persuade her royal highness to force the Tianbao Mansion to lower the price."