Huangfu Wu Shuang's dagger-like eyes landed on E Gui. He let out an aggressive cough like he was waiting for E Gui to come and pay his respects. After a while, he slowly walked forward and slammed the missive on the table.
Hua Zhu Yu frowned without saying anything. Did this little brat think this was the palace, they were here to ask for help, did he still want to borrow money? With such aggressive behavior would the opposing people be willing to lend them money? In those group of people giving missive, there was no lack of powerful people but they were still humble when delivering their missive.
Luckily, E Gui did not pay attention and appeared as usual as he calmly picked up the missive from the table. He casually glanced over it with a pair of placid eyes and calmly said," This missive, this old servant cannot receive, the amount of silver is too high, please forgive us but we cannot help!"
"I knew you people didn't have that much silver!" Huangfu Wu Shuang face darkened as he let out a cold harrumph.
Hua Zhu Yu frowned, thinking when will Huangfu Wu Shuang not make people worry anymore!?
But to tell him to beg others for silver was indeed a bit difficult. Imagine his pride as the crown prince. He obviously has never had to borrow money before and now it was his first time so naturally he was reluctant to do so.
Hua Zhu Yu stepped forward, her robe gentle stirring with her movement. With a pair of bright, glistening eyes, she flashed a gentle smile like that of a spring breeze.
"We truly have urgent matters to resolve to require this much silver. If you can let us borrow the silver, we will definitely repay it completely in 2 months and even with a high interest that can't be compared elsewhere. If you cannot make the decision, perhaps you can bring this matter to your master and let him decide. We will wait here for the news!"
E Gui quietly pondered for a moment before replying," If that's the case, this old servant will hold on to this missive. Please wait and later this old servant will tell someone to deliver a letter. Now this servant asks that you please go wait outside for the news."
Done talking, E Gui then motioned them outside with his hand.
The expression on HuangFu Wu Shuang's face relaxed a bit but he still coldly advised, "It's best if you reply quickly!" Crossing his arms, he then followed a servant outside.
Hua Zhu Yu expressed her thanks and followed suit.
Behind them were a quite a few people still waiting to deliver missives.
They were led by the servant to a room on the first floor where they waited for quite a while. Glancing out the window of Xijiang Yue, they could see that the moon, arched like a maiden's brow and as vibrant as a pair of beaming eyes, had already ascended to rest in the night sky.
However, their wait was not in vain as a servant came to deliver exciting news after 2 hours had pa.s.sed. The owner of Xijiang Yue had agreed to let them borrow 300,000 taels of silver. Furthermore, they did not have to pay interest, they only had to repay in full by 2 months' time. If they didn't, they would have to repay in double, from 300,000 to 600,000 taels of silver. Furthermore, Huangfu Wu Shuang had to sign a loan note with his true ident.i.ty so that each party would have a copy.
In actuality, these conditions were not over the top. After all, to borrow so much silver, one had to have a loan note. However, using Huangfu Wu Shuang's ident.i.ty was a tad difficult.
"Our Master said that to come and borrow 300,000 taels of silver now, it is not hard to guess who it is, therefore gongzi does not have to hide your ident.i.ty!" the servant from Xijiang Yue slowly said.
Huangfu Wu Shuang furrowed his brows, his pair of ink black eyes devoid of any radiance. Without bursting out in anger, he tightly clenched his lips together and received the brush from the servant and signed his name on the loan note.
Hua Zhu Yu was thinking of stopping him, but considering this was their last resort, she decided not to say anything. If the other had already realized it was Huangfu Wu Shuang then it was useless to conceal this fact.
Afterwards, the set off to Jiangbei once again but this time everything went a lot smoother. After 5 days had pa.s.sed, they had arrived in Jiangbei where they saw hordes of refugees lined up in long queues up ahead. At first, Hua Zhu Yu was alarmed, thinking these refugees were rioting due to hunger but soon found out that someone had set up a place to distribute porridge.
Along the way, Hua Zhu Yu saw many refugees but very few people dying from hunger. The situation was a lot better than she had expected and someone was even distributing porridge.
Hua Zhu Yu inquired an elderly man standing in queue and the elder let out a long sigh before replying, "This is Jisheng Tang porridge. I heard there was still enough food in officials' and grain traders' warehouses so there shouldn't be any famine. But these officials and grain traders here have no concern for the people. The price of grain continuously rise with each pa.s.sing day, at first it was only 50 coins per sack but now it's risen to 300. Don't even mention the quality of the grain, but even if it rises from 5 to 50, how can the people afford to buy it, if not for Jisheng Tang distributing porridge and the previous situation continued, don't know how many people would've starved to death!"
"Jisheng Tang?" this was the first Hua Zhu Yu heard of this Jisheng Tang, " Do you perhaps know how Jisheng Tang has so much silver? Who opened it?"
"These things, I'm not too clear. It's also my first time hearing Jisheng Tang but it must’ve been opened by a wealthy man with a magnanimous soul!" said the old man as he dabbed the sweat on his forehead.
Hua Zhu Yu rode towards the front and saw tents set up and many pots brewing porridge. Furthermore, there were even people there to maintain order. They appeared to have decent martial art skills; perhaps they feared the people would turn violent due to hunger.
But such tents, there wasn’t just one.
On the second day, those tents were gone, but luckily the 300,000 taels of relief funds had arrived just in time.
The journey to Jiangbei this time had gone by a lot smoother than she had expected, of course that’s if she wasn’t taking the lost money into account.
Half a month later, they set off back to the capital.
Of course, Hua Zhu Yu and Huangfu Wu Shuang still felt uneasy at heart, like there were dark clouds overcast, as there was still no news of the 300,000 taels of silver.
The closest town to Jiangbei was Jingling, filled with people and wealthy individuals.
That night, their entourage decided to reside in the largest inn in Jingling, Ke Xilai. Because they were no longer escorting the funds, the soldiers had went back to the capital first, those remaining were all Huangfu Wu Shuang’s personal guards.
How to find 300,000 taels of silver in such a short time frame?
That night at the inn, Hua Zhu Yu gazed at the various residences in Jingling and narrowed her eyes.