Want Any Glutinous Rice?

Zhao Ruxi took the invitation and glanced at it, her brows furrowing slightly, but she didn't say anything, only saying, "I understand."

Grand Princess Shangde, now serving as the headmistress of the Capital Women's Academy, no longer resides at the estate in Beining, but has returned to her residence in the capital.

She is now extremely well-informed about news in the capital.

There were some things she shouldn't have said. But she liked Zhao Ruxi so much that she couldn't bear to see her suffer even the slightest grievance.

She held back for a long time, but finally couldn't help but say before taking her leave, "That Madam Tao, some time ago she brought her daughter Tao Tao to see Noble Consort Cen, hoping that Tao Tao would become your Prince of Qi's concubine, but Prince of Qi refused. I don't know what she's up to today, you'd better be careful, don't be fooled."

She knew Zhao Ruxi was smart; she had never seen her suffer a loss or be deceived.

However, Zhao Ruxi was still a young woman in her teens with little experience. She worried that if Madam Tao coaxed her and Tao Tao sweetly called her "sister" a few more times, Zhao Ruxi would treat Tao Tao like a younger sister and let her come and go from the Prince of Qi's Residence all day long.

That's practically inviting a wolf into the house.

Zhao Ruxi smiled gratefully, "Thank you, Aunt. I know about what you said, don't worry, you can't fool me."

After the marriage, Grand Princess Shangde forbade her to call her "Your Highness" anymore, and instead she had to call her "Aunt".

Seeing that Zhao Ruxi was aware of the situation, Grand Princess Shangde left with peace of mind.

As expected, Madam Tao arrived in the afternoon. However, to Zhao Ruxi's surprise, she did not bring her daughter, Tao Tao.

Zhao Ruxi had someone invite her to sit down in the inner hall and serve her tea and snacks.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, seeing that Madam Tao hadn't gotten to the main topic, Zhao Ruxi said apologetically, "I still have matters to attend to at the Ministry of Works, and I really don't have much time to chat with you, Madam. So I can only ask, what brings you here, Madam?"

Although Madam Tao was not from a prominent family, she was an extremely capable woman. Her husband was able to enter the Ministry of War after being injured, and now he has been promoted to Ministry of War, which is partly due to her efforts.

She wasn't being tactless; she wasn't just trying to chat with Zhao Ruxi. She was testing Zhao Ruxi.

If Zhao Ruxi, despite her obvious impatience, patiently chatted with her, it shows that Zhao Ruxi still values fame and fortune. Since she values fame and fortune, the rest will be much easier.

But Zhao Ruxi clearly didn't like her and didn't even give her face, directly stating that she didn't have time to talk.

It should be understood that prominent families value their reputation above all else. Even if they are extremely impatient, they would not simply kick someone out like that.

They would give their trusted maids meaningful glances. The maids would then go out again and return saying that there were matters at home that required their mistresses' attention. In this way, without the master saying a word, the guests would tactfully take their leave.

She had heard that when Zhao Ruxi was an official in Nanyang, he was both ruthless and tactful, managing to subdue those seasoned officials. She didn't believe Zhao Ruxi wouldn't know such a subtle way of getting rid of people.

Since you're willing to do that, does that mean you're not even going to bother saving face for her?

It seems that Consort of the Prince of Qi knew the purpose of her taking Tao Tao to visit Noble Consort Cen.

Madam Tao secretly rejoiced that she had made it this far.

Her expression remained unchanged, still bearing a kind smile, "I'm not here today to take up Your Highness's time, but rather to discuss important matters. The Nanyang Yu Clan, I suppose Your Highness heard of them when you were serving in Nanyang?"

Zhao Ruxi's eyes flashed, and she nodded, saying, "Of course I know."

The Nanyang Yu Clan is a large clan that has lived in Nanyang for generations. One-sixth of the farmland in the vicinity of Nanyang belongs to the Yu Clan. It is said that the Yu Clan also had a hand in the salt administration that Cai Yaozong was in charge of.

After the crown prince's downfall, Cai Yaozong was not demoted, but promotion was out of the question. Now he stays in Nanyang, behaving like a quail, keeping a low profile.

Seeing that Zhao Ruxi was sparing with her words and seemed completely uninterested, Madam Tao didn't respond to her at all.

She had no choice but to continue, "My elder sister married into the Yu Clan and is now the matriarch of the Yu Clan. Your Majesty's sealed jar wine is extremely famous now; I've heard that it's in high demand and short supply, and many people want to buy it but there's no stock left."

"After hearing about this, my elder sister sent a letter to me, asking me to inquire whether Your Majesty needs glutinous rice. The Yu Clan family grows a lot of glutinous rice every year, and usually sells it in their family rice shop and rice shops in the capital. If Your Majesty needs it, they won't have to go through all that trouble; they can sell it to Your Majesty at a 20% discount."

Zhao Ruxi was taken aback.

She hadn't expected that this was the topic Madam Tao wanted to discuss with her.

She gave Madam Tao a deep look.

The Yu Clan was a large clan, so naturally they would carefully cultivate their children to become successful. Several members of the Yu Clan held official positions in the capital, and although their official ranks were not high, they were still legitimate government officials.

The fact that the Yu Clan is now abandoning their own perfectly good men and instead sending Madam Tao, who has taken a roundabout route, to negotiate this deal with her is truly something to ponder.

"Thank you for thinking of me, Madam Tao," Zhao Ruxi said with a smile. "It's just that brewing my wine is quite troublesome. I only have so many people, and the annual output is not large. They can only brew enough glutinous rice produced on my estate. I don't plan to buy glutinous rice from outside to brew wine."

"So I'm sorry to trouble you to pass on a message to Madam Yu: please let her sell her glutinous rice in shops in the capital and Nanyang. There's no need to sell it to me at a low price. Nanyang glutinous rice is good, but the yield is not high. In addition, I don't sell the glutinous rice from my estate outside the area, so I imagine the demand for Nanyang glutinous rice is far from meeting the supply. How could I feel at ease if I sold it to me at a low price and the Yu Clan lost money? So please don't mention this again in the future."

Zhao Ruxi had originally bought two estates in Nanyang. Later, he reclaimed land, and although the soil was barren and it would take several years for the yield to increase, Zhao Ruxi did not seek immediate profits, so he bought quite a few more.

In addition, Xiao Ge confiscated some land from aristocratic families and specially reserved the manor in Nanyang as a reward for her. She now owns a lot of land in Nanyang. Xiao Ge also gave her special permission to grow glutinous rice on all of it.

Zhao Ruxi plans to pursue a premium strategy and employ scarcity marketing with her sealed-jar wine. She sets extremely high prices and sells very few bottles each year, ceasing production once three thousand bottles are sold. Therefore, her wine has been brewing for two years, and apart from the first year, she hasn't bought any glutinous rice from outside sources. She also has no plans to increase production.

Madam Tao had done her research beforehand and naturally knew about Zhao Ruxi's land situation.

She saw that the sealed jar wine was currently in high demand and short supply, and thought she had found an opportunity. Zhao Ruxi urgently needed glutinous rice, so she quickly sent someone to communicate with the Yu Clan.

She was the wife of the Ministry of War, Yu Clan dared not offend her, so they swallowed their anger and agreed to her request.

Unexpectedly, when she tried to do Zhao Ruxi a favor, Zhao Ruxi remained unmoved and completely ignored her.