Troubled times: Start practicing spiritual practice by taking care of your sister-in-law.

Chapter 667: Warmth and Sentiment
As the half-face mask was removed, a pretty face as white as ice and snow came into Chen Mo's sight. Because of her extremely fair skin, she gave people a sense of tragic and cold beauty.

Her face was stern, with the corners of her mouth slightly raised, exuding a cold beauty that was unique to her. Her eyes were like deep pools, cold and gloomy.

There are too many beauties around Chen Mo, so his threshold is relatively high. Although Nalan Yiren is not a stunning beauty, she still makes Chen Mo feel a little surprised.

Before, it seemed to him that Nalan Yiren wore such a mask all day long, and perhaps the half of her face covered had some birthmark, or she was disfigured due to practicing poison skills. But it turned out that there was no such thing, and her face was very clean.

He thought of what Nalan Yiren had said before, and joked, "Could it be that Miss Nalan has taken a fancy to me?"

Then, she continued in a very conceited way: "Yes, I am young, handsome, powerful, and of high status. It is normal for you to like me. With my conditions, there is no woman in the world who would not be moved."

Hearing this, Nalan Yiren was so angry that she wanted to smash the mask on her face at Chen Mo's face, and said, "Don't flatter yourself. I let you see my true face just to thank you."

"Really? Who said before that only my husband can take off the mask from my face?"

"It's just nonsense, only a fool like you would believe it." Nalan Yiren picked up the chopsticks and smashed them on Chen Mo's face, then put on a mask and walked out of the private room.

Because Chen Mo was receiving the chopsticks thrown by Lan Yiren, he did not notice that the other party's hands were clenched into fists in anger.

……

Outside the restaurant, Nalan Yiren did not give up and go back to the palace because of this matter, and continued to stroll around.

Chen Mo followed her, and the two walked side by side. He said, "Since what Miss Nalan said before was a lie, and you are not ugly, why do you wear a mask all day long?"

As a result, Nalan Yiren threw a punch in the face. Chen Mo raised his hand to block it, but the former swung it back in mid-air and said, "All those women in your house were kidnapped by you, right?"

After saying that, Nalan Yiren quickened her pace and walked in front of Chen Mo.

Looking at Nalan Yiren's back, Chen Mo touched his nose and murmured in his heart: "No, do you really like me?"

After eating hot pot, it was already 3 p.m. The weather had turned cloudy and not as hot as before. There were many more pedestrians on the street.

There is no curfew in Xiangyang. At this time, vendors doing night business have already set up their stalls and made preparations, and the atmosphere in the city has become more lively.

Nalan Yiren bought a prayer lantern. The merchant said that she could pray for blessings and her wishes would come true after putting it in the sky. This was just a polite business remark, but Nalan Yiren believed it and wrote down her blessing wishes on the lantern.

Chen Mo glanced at him, hoping that the trip to the Western Region would go smoothly and that he could successfully avenge his grandfather.

Chen Mo knew that this matter had become a knot in the other party's heart.

He smiled and said, "Don't worry, everything will go well."

Xiangyang City is very big. After walking around for a while, it got dark. Chen Mo accompanied Nalan Yiren to the small bridge in the south of the city to release the prayer lanterns.

There were already a lot of people on the bridge, mostly young men and women, in pairs. Some were releasing flower lanterns into the river, while others were also releasing prayer lanterns.

There are people guessing riddles and making iron flowers at the bridge head, and cheers are heard from one another, creating a strong atmosphere of prosperity.

After releasing the prayer lanterns, Nalan Yiren was stunned by the scene before her.

"What's wrong?" Chen Mo bought two strings of candied haws and gave one to Nalan Yiren.

"I remember when I was a child, my grandfather took me to the capital of Baiyue. We guessed lantern riddles and watched iron flower making. In a blink of an eye, more than ten years have passed, but my grandfather is no longer here."

Chen Mo: "..."

At this time, he saw a stall making candy figures on the other side of the bridge and immediately reached out to grab Nalan Yiren's hand.

"boom"

At this moment, the innate spiritual energy that protected Chen Mo's body was suddenly aroused, and a blue scorpion of the same color as the clothes worn by Nalan Yiren crawled out from his sleeve, and the scorpion's tail stung the protective spiritual energy on Chen Mo's hand.

What surprised Chen Mo was that the poison released by the scorpion's tail actually made part of the innate spiritual energy in Chen Mo's hand become a little more transparent.

Nalan Yiren reacted, pulled her hand away, frowned and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I see you're feeling sad again, so I want to take you to see something fun." Chen Mo pointed to the candy-making stall across the bridge, then looked at the scorpion that had shrunk back into its sleeves and said, "Your scorpion is not ordinary. The toxin can actually corrode my innate spiritual energy."

"The blue scorpion is a poisonous creature that lives in the poisonous swamp unique to the Poison King Valley. It has mutated itself, and the one in my hand grew up in the poison skills I practiced. You are a top-third grade creature. If you were a middle- or lower-grade warrior, you would be foaming at the mouth by now." Nalan Yiren raised her hand, and the blue scorpion came out from her sleeve and stood on the palm of her hand, guarding against Chen Mo like a loyal guard.

"This little thing is quite protective of its master." Chen Mo stretched out his finger to poke it, and when it stung him, he quickly pulled his finger away.

"Don't touch me so suddenly next time."

Nalan Yiren said something, put away the scorpion, and walked towards the stall selling candy figures.

Chen Mo smiled and shook his head.

"Whatever the customers want, monkeys, big insects or even people, I can make it all." The vendor said enthusiastically when he saw the customers coming.

"Can he do it?" Nalan Yiren pointed at Chen Mo.

Boss: “What?”

"Make me a sugar man like him." said Nalan Yiren.

"It's easy to make a human figure, but if you want to make the face and the mask on it similar, you'll have to pay extra money," said the boss.

Nalan Yiren glanced at Chen Mo.

Chen Mo took out the money obediently: "Just do as she says."

"Okay." After receiving the money, the boss smiled and immediately got busy.

While blowing the shape, Nalan Yiren suddenly called the boss and said, "Can we blow it ourselves?"

When Nalan Yiren was a child, she bought a candy man and it tasted like wild vegetables.

The boss was stunned. After doing business for several years, there were very few people who took the initiative to ask him to blow the trumpet. However, this was not a difficult thing to do. He said, "Of course."

Having said that, he handed the mouthpiece to Nalan Yiren.

Nalan Yiren looked at Chen Mo and said, "Come here."

After saying that, he added: "I won't eat it."

Chen Mo did as he was told.

The boss is a craftsman and he finished it in a short time. However, it took some time to carve the shape, and he used special carving tools.

Soon, a miniature sugar man of Chen Mo wearing a half-face mask was held in Nalan Yiren's hand.

As for Chen Mo, he asked the boss to casually pinch a scorpion and let the boss blow it himself.

Well, he doesn't eat this anyway.

On the way back, Chen Mo met a middle-aged man and woman with two children. Chen Mo gave the sugar scorpion in his hand to one of the girls.

The remaining boy looked at the girl eagerly.

Seeing this, Chen Mo said to Nalan Yiren: "The weather is so hot, and you don't want to eat. Why don't you let it melt when you get home?"

Before she finished speaking, Nalan Yiren bit the head of the sugar man Chen Mo and said, "So sweet."

Chen Mo: "..."

The boy’s parents: “…”

"Niuniu, why don't you thank your brother quickly?" The boy and girl's parents reacted and asked the girl to say thank you.

"Thank you, brother."

"You're welcome."

"Goodbye, brother." The girl waved. "Goodbye."

The family of four had not walked far when the girl wanted to eat something. The mother took it away and threw it on the ground, saying, "What did your mother teach you? Don't eat anything given by strangers."

Chen Mo did not see this scene. Even if he did, he would not be angry because he would throw it away later anyway.

On the contrary, what the mother did was correct.

"Didn't you say you didn't want to eat?"

On the way, Chen Mo asked.

"What do you care about me?" Nalan Yiren bit off the hand of the sugar man Chen Mo again.

"That boy is probably talking about you in his heart." Chen Mo said.

"Why are you blaming me? If you want to eat it, just buy it yourself. Besides, it's not good for children to eat too much sweets. I'm doing this for his own good." As she said this, Nalan Yiren bit off the other hand of the sugar man Chen Mo. Her behavior was very deliberate.

"Did I provoke you?"

"you guess."

"I won't guess." As he said that, Chen Mo bit off the uneaten candy figure in Nalan Yiren's hand, then ran away.

Nalan Yiren was stunned for a while, then her face turned red, and she chased after him: "Don't run, stop, you gave your own things to others, and now you are eating mine, aren't you annoying?"

"Only a fool would stand still. If you have the guts, come and chase me."

"Don't run."

The two of them were chasing each other. An old couple on the road saw this scene and smiled warmly on their faces, as if they were thinking of their own youth.

The two ran all the way to the front of the palace, and they stopped in tacit understanding. Nalan Yiren's smile faded and she said, "You are so old, aren't you childish?"

"Then keep chasing her." Chen Mo replied.

"Who told you to eat my food?"

“That’s what I paid for.”

The two of them bickered as they came to the gate of the palace. Sun Meng came over and said, "Your Majesty, there is a letter from General Wu."

"Wu Changlin?" Chen Mo said.

Sun Meng nodded.

Nalan Yiren disturbed him and went into the mansion alone.

After reading the contents of the letter, Chen Mo asked, "When did this letter arrive?"

"Not long after you left. Since it was not an urgent matter, I did not disturb you, Your Highness." Sun Meng said.

Chen Mo nodded: "Quickly call Lord Wei, General Shao, and President Qin of the Linzhou Chamber of Commerce to come to my house to see me."

"promise."

……

Wei Linchun, Shao Jinneng, and Qin Hao learned that King Wei wanted to see them so late at night. They thought something big had happened, so they hurried to the palace without even changing their clothes, all of them sweating profusely.

In the study.

"Your humble servant/commander, I greet the prince." The three of them bowed respectfully.

"Everyone is here, please sit down. Someone, bring the tea." Chen Mo smiled kindly.

Seeing this, the three of them breathed a sigh of relief.

After the three of them sat down and the tea was served, Chen Mo said to Qin Hao: "The Maritime Customs in Chuanhai has been restored, and the fleet is ready. Now we are waiting for our goods to be shipped over and loaded on board.

This is the list of goods that Chuanhai wants. Your Chamber of Commerce should prepare it as soon as possible."

Qin Hao stood up and walked forward, took the list, and after checking it, he was slightly surprised.

The goods requested are quite simple.

Tea, silk, porcelain, bronze and other items that were common in the Song Dynasty.

What surprised Qin Hao was that the quantity required was too large.

"Your Highness, can overseas countries consume so many things?" Qin Hao couldn't help but ask. After all, the Chamber of Commerce must have paid for the purchase of these goods in the early stages.

"Don't worry, this is provided by the Nangong family of Chuanhai. There will be no fraud. Besides, there are many overseas countries, and it's not just one country that needs these things. Don't forget that during the reign of Emperor Ling, the income from going out to sea that year alone was more than 10 million taels." Chen Mo said.

After getting Chen Mo's assurance, Qin Hao felt relieved, and then became a little excited.

You know, the Qin family is in the silk business. The quantity on the list is so large that they can easily consume all the stock in the warehouse, and it is still far from enough.

The most important thing is that when King Wei gave him the list, he gave him the purchasing rights.

With such a big business, those tea merchants and porcelain merchants will have to curry favor with me.

Just this one transfer is enough for him to make a fortune.

However, as soon as this thought came to his mind, he dispelled it by shaking his head.

Since the King of Wei gave him this power, how could he not think of this?

Moreover, before the Chamber of Commerce was established, it was agreed that King Wei would have the right of supervision.

If this little trick of mine is discovered, I will definitely be the one who suffers.

"Your Highness, I will go down and prepare now." Qin Hao said excitedly.

Chen Mo nodded, turned his gaze to Wei Linchun, and said, "Sir Wei, the king will leave Xiangyang tomorrow, and this matter will be handed over to you and President Qin to coordinate."

"Yes." Wei Linchun said.

"General Shao, the goods are ready. The escort work to Chuanhai will be handed over to your Cavalry Guards." Chen Mo ordered.

"promise."

……

Chuanhai, Chaoping County.

Nangong family.

Zhang Feng, however, was distracted at home and sighed for a long time.

He looked at Nangong Jin who was leisurely drinking tea and said, "Brother-in-law, are you really willing to hand over the maritime business to the City Boat Company? They can make a fortune every day."

Nangong Jin put down his teacup and said, "What can you do if you are unwilling? Why go against the court? Are you a match for the King of Wei? Do you know who Wu Changlin is? He is the brother of the King of Wei's wife. The King of Wei sent him to be the prefect of Chuanhai and rebuild the Maritime Customs, which shows the importance the King of Wei attaches to maritime trade.

Besides, the King of Wei already knows about our private port construction. The imperial court just couldn't do anything about it before. Now if the King of Wei uses this as an excuse, he can not only seal off our port, but also make the Nangong family pay for it. If you don't give it to them, they will come to take it themselves."

"But, without business at sea, how can we support so many people?" Zhang Feng said worriedly.

"Although we have handed over our maritime business to the Maritime Customs, it does not mean that we cannot engage in maritime trade. We just can't make as much money as before. The most urgent task now is to enter the fairy island and get more fairy fruits. Only when we are strong enough can we have the capital to compete." Nangong Jin said.

(End of this chapter)