767 Black-hearted Couple (4)
“She’s probably up to something again.” Shen Miao said, “She even invited me to smell the incense.” She paused for a moment before smiling. “From the looks of it, the Wang is doing not bad.”
Tasting tea and wine was within expectation, but smelling the incense was different. Some of the top-grade incense was worth thousands of gold. Shen Miao knew that the most expensive incense was the jade pear incense. A small fingernail amount of it cost ten thousand taels of gold. Once, a merchant from the Western Region paid tribute to the palace and offered a fistful of jade pear incense. At that time, all the consorts in the harem came to see it, and Shen Miao also found it very novel.
Shen Miao had always thought that the jade pear incense would be stored in the treasury. After all, it was a very precious thing. Later, on Consort Mei’s birthday, Fu Xiuyi lit the jade pear incense to make her smile. On the invitation, Shen Dongling said that she prepared peacock incense. It was not as rare as jade pear incense, but it was also expensive. Given the official rank of the Wang family, they wouldn’t be able to afford it. After all, many first-grade officials in the capital would not squander money like this. It was obvious that Shen Dongling had married into a family with a strong financial foundation. Shen Miao wondered if Shen Yue would be angry when she found out about it.
“Peacock incense is not cheap. She spent so much money definitely not just to catch up with me.”
“Do you think she’s trying to scheme against you?” Xie Jingxing raised his eyebrows and asked.
“Shen Dongling is not like Shen Yue. She is not stupid. I guess she wants me to go because she is planning something. If I go, it will only make it easier for her to execute her plan. If I don’t go, I won’t lose anything.” Shen Miao smiled. “I’m just surprised that the Wang family actually has so much money.” She looked at Xie Jingxing. When Shen Miao saw Shen Dongling at the execution ground, she noticed that Shen Dongling’s clothes and jewelry were extremely precious. No matter how much Wang Bi doted on her, he would not be happy with her squandering enormous money. Then how did the Wang family get so much money?
Xie Jingxing saw Shen Miao’s pensive gaze and said tactfully, “The Wang family is the crown prince’s people. The crown prince is secretly doing business with the salt smugglers, and Wang Bi is the middleman.”
Shen Miao was enlightened. Salt smuggling was a business with huge benefits. No wonder the Wang family was doing well. Shen Miao now understood where Shen Dongling got her confidence from. If Shen Dongling was only married to an ordinary official, she would definitely have to be careful with spending. However, now that the Wang family was extremely rich, and Wang Bi was working for the crown prince, Shen Dongling thought that if Emperor Wen Hui supported the crown prince, the world would eventually be in the crown prince’s hands. As someone who worked for the crown prince, Wang Bi’s value would naturally increase. She was Wang Bi’s first wife and would receive boundless glory. It was probably because of this that she became bold.
Life springs from sorrow and calamity; death comes from ease and pleasure. Shen Dongling couldn’t keep a clear mind all the time, especially when she was swimming in wealth, so she couldn’t see the whole situation. There were so many variables in the world, and no one could guarantee that the crown prince would definitely inherit the throne. Even if the crown prince inherited the throne, no one could guarantee that Wang Bi would continue to climb up the ladder.
“Wang Bi is the crown prince’s man.” Shen Miao thought for a moment and said, “Shen Dongling suddenly doing this must be related to Wang Bi, which means it’s related to the crown prince.” Shen Miao looked at Xie Jingxing. “My relationship with the crown prince… She is up to something about my marriage.”
