Chapter 728 - It's Not Over Yet
Long Tianba told his father everything that had happened today to him and even grumbled in a righteous manner, "It must be the people from 'Celestial World' who did this to me! They are a bunch of bullies. Not only did they take all of the valuables off of me, but they also sent people to beat me up...Father, you must support me on this!"
As soon as Long Yikui entered the capital, he made sure to ask around for some information. The person who was the best at doing business and had the most talent at making money was Princess Consort Xu. All of the merchants used the phrase: 'we can only see her dust and have no hope of catching up' to describe her.
She was in her preteens when she first entered the capital. Despite her young age, she managed to create her own business kingdom in the span of a few years. Furthermore, the businesses she made were unable to be copied by other people. If she truly wanted to, she could have expanded her ventures throughout the whole country and become the richest person in the Great Ming Dynasty. However, she also knew to stop before going too far and only developed her businesses within the capital.
When one spoke of her, one couldn't forget Imperial Prince Xu. That year, he had pretty much given all of his belongings to the Yu Family as his betrothal gift to her. Now, all of the industries in his hands had been given to his wife to manage. He was afraid this might tire her, so he also found a lot of talented subordinates from other places to assist her.
As for the entertainment facility, Celestial World, it'd be too difficult for Long Yikui to not hear about it. All of the influential officials congregated there to play. It was said that one could merely stretch out one's hand and end up hitting a few sons or grandsons of these high and mighty nobles. The wealthy and powerful could be found everywhere there. Furthermore, what made him even more cautious was the fact that this place was owned by Imperial Prince Xu. It was rumored that Princess Consort Xu had given him many ideas for this place before she married him.
His son actually daringly insulted their 'Celestial World' when he was on their turf and several times to boot! The fact that they didn't shoo him out immediately was already courteous of them. As for taking all of his valuables as a deposit, that was a very light punishment with all things considered.
How could he, a very shrewd businessman, end up with such a stupid and idiotic son? Why didn't his son think a little and realize that no matter how much money they had as merchants, there was no way for them to win against the high and noble officials? Imperial Prince Xu not only was a member of the imperial family and a close relative of the emperor, but he also was in charge of the Great Ming Empire's most elite troops. Furthermore, he was one of the most trusted and favored officials of the emperor. With his high and mighty status, could mere commoners like them afford to offend him?
If anything that his son said today got transmitted to Imperial Prince Xu, the Long Family would not only be screwed in the capital but it'd be hard to say if they could also keep their place in Jiangnan either...The more Long Yikui thought about it, the more fearful he became, and the more he felt that the worst was yet to come. That night, he went through a lot of effort and spent a lot of money to get an audience with a first-ranked official in the capital.
Although that first-ranked official was quite irritated at being disturbed during the middle of the night, he was reluctantly willing to meet them after seeing the vast amounts of valuable gifts they had given him. However, when he found out that the Long Family had offended Imperial Prince Xu, the expression on his face immediately changed. He quickly told the main steward to return all of their gifts to them and had the servants shoo them out of the residence as quickly as they could.
If Imperial Prince Xu found out that he had taken the Long Family's bribes, then it'd be hard to say if he'd even be able to keep his own official's hat anymore. Furthermore, he warned Long Yikui, "Remember, you don't know this official and have never come to this official's home. Don't you dare to drag me down to calamity after you guys provoked the dragon's wrath!"
