The ladies who were chatting all saluted when they saw the fifth prince and concubine suddenly coming over, while Hua Yanxi looked approachable.
"Mrs. Cao's headdress is also very exquisite. It looks more delicate than the palace-made ones. I don't know where she bought them. I also want to order a few pieces."
"The fifth princess has really good eyesight. We are also talking about Mrs. Cao's body. She is really gorgeous today."
Mrs. Cao was so flattered by the compliments of several people that she looked a little complacent on her face: "Hey, it's nothing, these are what I wear on a daily basis, but the fifth prince and the other ladies have disgraced me."
Naturally, Hua Yanxi spared no effort to continue to flatter her. When Mrs. Cao saw that Hua Yanxi had no royal airs, she naturally started chatting with her more and more, not realizing that she had revealed anything in her words.
Because it was a banquet for women's families, there was less worry about each other, and everyone was arranged to sit together.
Hua Yanxi even arranged for Mrs. Cao to sit next to her, which made Mrs. Cao more decent. Her back was straight and her eyes swept over the others, giving her a sudden sense of superiority.
After having a meal together, Hua Yanxi also arranged a play. The troupe was specially recruited from outside. It has become very famous in Beijing recently, and these ladies also like it very much.
While everyone was only paying attention to the drama on the stage, Hua Yanxi turned her head and smiled and said to Madam Cao: "Mrs. Cao is really lucky. Mr. Cao is an important minister of the imperial court and is in charge of such an important vacancy in the household department. There must be many vacancies.
Few people want to build relationships with him."
Mrs. Cao was so absorbed in watching the show in front of her that she didn't pay attention to what Hua Yanxi said. She only roughly judged that it was a good thing and followed her words.
"No, these days, the people who come to our house are almost crossing the threshold. They are all begging our master to do something."
"Oh? Mr. Cao may have been promoted recently. Those people heard the news and rushed to sell it."
"It's not easy to get promoted in the household department. It would be good if you can sit firmly, but..." Mrs. Cao said in a crackling voice.
When Hua Yanxi heard this, she immediately had an idea in her mind.
However, as for the details of the relationship between Mr. Cao and Hua Shao, it is naturally impossible for Mrs. Cao, a female prostitute, to know, but Hua Yanxi has already roughly guessed it.
It's just that the emperor wanted to find more businessmen to cooperate to prevent one company from becoming dominant, but the man from Hua Shao was so courageous that he even wanted to monopolize it by one person.
Therefore, he colluded with Mr. Cao and named many businessmen, but in fact they were all from Hua Shao.
If it was really monopolized by Hua Shao alone, Hua Shao might not only be the richest man in Luoyang, but also the richest man in the country. How could she allow him to have this opportunity?
The corners of Hua Yanxi's lips curled up slightly, and she noticed something in her heart.
After the banquet, Hua Yanxi personally sent the women out, and no one gave them a gift. She even personally delivered the gift to Mrs. Cao, and knocked on the box in Mrs. Cao's hand: "Mrs. Cao.
If you like these snacks of mine, you might as well tell me and I will send them to you. My wife and I are very attached to each other."
When Mrs. Cao heard that it was just a snack, she didn't take it to heart and nodded casually.
She was thinking even more disdainfully that a princess who was not favored, and the gifts she gave her were shabby, and she thought it would be extraordinary to decorate her house in such a grand manner. It seemed that the young man was a little angry after all, and he really took her seriously.
The kind of person you can make friends with just by giving some small favors?
Beautiful thought.
When he took it, he only let the boy carry it, and then got on the carriage without looking back.
Back at the house, Mrs. Cao's two children ran up to her, one on the left and the other on the right. The two children were making a lot of noise, which was annoying.
"Mom, Mom, I want to eat some snacks, I want to eat some snacks." The younger child immediately started shouting and acting up in all kinds of ways.
Mrs. Cao had been socializing all day, and the jewelry on her head was about to break her neck. She waved her hand: "There is it in the box, you can take it yourself."
Saying that, he was about to go to his room.
"Madam! Look!" The boy was panicked.
Mrs. Cao turned her head impatiently: "Why, those snacks are not good, just throw them away..."
For the rest, I was stunned when I saw the golden thing inside.
What kind of snacks are there? It's clearly a box of gold bars.
The snack box is not big, with only about twenty sticks in it, but it is still surprising enough.
"Go buy some snacks, go buy some snacks!" The two children were so happy that they grabbed two sticks each and wanted to run out.
Mrs. Cao rushed forward, snatched the gold bars from the hands of the two children, put them into the box, and quickly closed it.
The things in the hands of the two children were suddenly snatched away. They were stunned for a moment and then burst into tears.
But Mrs. Cao didn't care about coaxing the child at this moment, but looked at the servant aside: "Is the master back?"
"I'm back. I'm in the study."
Mrs. Cao walked toward the study with a box of gold bars in her arms. Her steps were fast, as if someone was chasing her from behind.
Although she loves money, because her husband works in the household department, she has always been cautious about the money that suddenly comes to her door and dare not keep it secretly.
When she arrived at the study, Mrs. Cao put the box on the desk and then opened the lid.
Mr. Cao was handling official business and didn't even raise his eyes when he saw her coming in. When he heard the sound of lifting the lid, he only glanced at her from the corner of his eye, and then couldn't move away.
The couple suddenly saw that the gold looked exactly the same.
"Here, where did this come from?" Shangshu jumped up and threw the brush in his hand.
It's not that he has short-sighted eyes and has never seen money. He is the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, not to mention that he is in charge of the tax money of the national treasury. Even the wealth he has received in these years is unknown.
Most of the things sent by others are inconspicuous things like banknotes. It would be too bold to just stuff gold bars into them.
Mrs. Cao's expression was complex and she said: "The fifth prince's concubine gave it to me. She said this is a snack."
dessert?
There is a follow-up to this.
Mr. Cao swallowed his saliva and looked at her: "What else did she say?"
"She said she fell in love with me. She also said that if you like these snacks, she will send them to you."
She didn't think it was anything before, but now looking at these "snacks", Mrs. Cao only felt her heart burning.
Mr. Cao lowered his head and thought for a while, then said: "You can send her a message tomorrow and invite her to come and sit at home."
Mrs. Cao was confused: "What does she mean?"
Mr. Cao shook his head but did not say it out loud, but he already had a rough idea in his mind.
The father talked to him about cooperation, and his daughter followed suit by giving him these things. Moreover, I heard that the relationship between the two did not seem to be good. Although I couldn't guess what they were going to do, they were still inseparable.