Green Vine Province was hailed as the most dazzling emerald in the crown of the Harlan Empire. The province's scenery was exceptionally beautiful; rivers large and small, along with delicate hills, spread throughout its territory, while forests covered more than ninety percent of the land. Its people mainly made their living growing rare tulips. During the hottest months of the tulip trade, a single premium tulip from Green Vine Province could often fetch the astronomical price of several thousand gold coins.
Thus, this province was also the richest in the Harlan Empire. Precisely because of this, Green Vine Province was the Harlan imperial family's private domain. The entire province was directly administered by the imperial family. Apart from a few insignificant minor nobles and a group of landowners with little real power, all wealth in Green Vine Province belonged to the Harlan imperial family.
Silver Snow Peak Tulip Manor was the most valuable estate in Green Vine Province. Its owner was merely an ordinary viscount, yet he held the status of a royal merchant of the Harlan Empire. Half of the manor's annual profits belonged to the Harlan imperial family.
Thanks to this unique status as a royal merchant, Viscount Silver Snow Peak held an extraordinarily distinctive position in Green Vine Province, with prestige that was nearly absolute. Thus, although the manor was named after Silver Snow Peak, the Harlan Empire's tallest mountain, where snow never melted year-round, no one had ever raised any objection.
"A royal merchant of the Harlan Empire is actually an outer vassal of the Silver Iris Family. The Silver Iris Family truly is remarkable!"
Near nightfall, Lin Qi slowly rode a skinny donkey into Silver Snow Peak City. This small city, roughly three li in both length and width, was likewise the property of Viscount