Chapter 37

A thousand miles east of the East Sea, on a vast plain at the bottom of the ocean, there stands a magnificent city. The city, which spans ten miles, is completely enclosed by a dome, and there is not a drop of water inside. However, the city is filled with a rich aura of water spirit, allowing the sea creatures to live without a care in the world.

The city is as bright as daylight, with a throng of visitors. However, these "people" are quite peculiar: two-legged walking sea turtles, three-zhang-tall night-fork patrollers, pearl-topped clams, mermaids with fish tails, and jellyfish with only one head that seem to drift like ghosts...

In short, they are all kinds of strange.

In the center of the city stands a golden and splendid palace, covering about three miles, with the words "Yingzhou East Sea Dragon King Palace" inscribed above it.

At the entrance of the Dragon King Palace, a graceful mermaid girl kept wagging her tail, jumping back and forth. "Why hasn't he come back yet? Why hasn't he come back yet? The princess is getting anxious. Wei Zhe has never been late before; this time he's already an hour late. Could something have happened?"

Just as the mermaid girl was getting anxious, a cacophony of footsteps came from the distance, and then Wei Zhe appeared, leading a group of clumsy shrimp soldiers and crab soldiers.

"So many boxes?" the mermaid girl exclaimed. "1, 2, 3... 1,421 boxes! How can there be so many? Wei Zhe, did you rob that Li Xian?"

Wei Zhe smiled and said, "Zhu'er, you're joking. How could we dare to rob on land? These are all the New Year's gifts Li Xian sent to the princess."

"Gifts? Then quickly bring them to the main hall; the princess is getting anxious." Zhu'er swam into the Dragon King Palace, wagging her tail.

Wei Zhe led the way, and the shrimp soldiers and crab soldiers laboriously carried the 1,421 boxes and five three-zhang-long tridents inside.

They didn't walk far before reaching the front hall, where Princess Ao Qingsnow was already pacing anxiously. After the previous transaction with Li Xian, the princess had tasted the benefits. However, the previous transaction was just a small one; this time, it involved 1 million catties of stainless steel weapons!

"Princess, Princess, Li Xian has sent you New Year's gifts," Zhu'er hopped and skipped to Ao Qingsnow—apparently, with only one fish tail, she couldn't help but hop and skip.

"Wow, what did he send?"

Wei Zhe had already arrived. "Princess, Li Xian sends his greetings. Additionally, he has sent a large number of New Year's gifts."

Then Wei Zhe waved his hand, and the shrimp soldiers and crab soldiers hurriedly opened the boxes. Inside were exquisite mirrors of various styles, crystal-clear glassware in many bright colors, and glass balls a meter in size, which immediately caught the attention of all the sea creatures in the front hall.

When the stainless steel weapons, which were even more lustrous than the mirrors, were displayed, many of the guards couldn't take their eyes off them.

"Wow, so many treasures!"

A cry of surprise came from the back hall, and a blue dragon flew in, casting a spell over all the items on the ground.

"How dare you!" Ao Qingsnow was furious. With a wave of her hand, a water cloud sleeve flew out and pulled the blue dragon down from the sky.

"Big sister, beautiful big sister, pretty big sister, generous big sister, please have mercy on your little brother. My place is so poor that we only have rusty scrap iron."

"Xiao Han, be good. Father said that boys should be raised in poverty to become great heroes," Ao Qingsnow tapped the blue dragon's forehead and bound him, throwing him to the side.

"I don't want to."

"You're a boy; how can you be so unambitious? How about this: I have a few broken mirrors that I can give you. Isn't that generous enough?"

"Big sister, you are really too generous, I am so moved. But..."

"There's no 'but.' Go, go," Ao Qingsnow threw the blue dragon to the side, regained her serious expression, and looked at a night-fork patroller beside her. "Yeli, try out that trident."

"Yes!" Yeli's eyes were already gleaming. He grabbed the trident and tried to swing it wildly, but it slipped out of his hand with a whoosh!

Splash! The trident flew dozens of feet and embedded itself in the city wall, causing the entire wall to shake.

Wei Zhe's face turned pale, and his soul almost left his body. The trident had just flown over his head.

"Your Highness, I have sinned!" Yeli trembled and knelt down, grateful that it hadn't flown toward the princess.

Ao Qingsnow, being a princess, suppressed her anger. "Why?!"

"Too... too... slippery... couldn't hold it."

The trident was already as smooth as a mirror, and in the water, a layer of fine, almost imperceptible water droplets formed on its surface, making it even more slippery.

Ao Qingsnow stepped forward to examine the trident, her beautiful brows furrowed, but her lips curled up. It was unclear whether she was angry or amused. "Wei Zhe, the handles of the knives and swords are engraved with patterns. Why isn't the trident engraved?"

Wei Zhe was still trembling. "Princess... Princess... Li Xian said he didn't know the habits of the night-fork patrollers, so he didn't engrave the trident."

——

While the sea creatures were making a fuss, the capital of the Great Xia Empire was also not peaceful. It was the New Year, and officials and princes had to return, ostensibly to report on their duties. One can imagine how lively the capital was.

People were running around, quarreling, fighting, and reporting on each other, one after another.

The two most serious incidents were: one that had no direct connection to Li Xian but had a significant impact, and one that Li Xian personally orchestrated.

The first incident was that the Emperor of the Great Xia, due to his favor for the Empress Hua, decided to make her ten-year-old son the Crown Prince, replacing the current Crown Prince. This was a typical case of replacing the elder with the younger, which could lead to political turmoil. Each time such a decision was made, it could lead to the downfall of a nation. This time, it naturally caused a major political upheaval in the Great Xia.

Li Xian's second brother, Li Wei, was a general in the service of the First Prince, who was the current Crown Prince, whose position was now precarious.

To be precise, Li Yulong supported the current Crown Prince. Therefore, although this matter had no direct connection to Li Xian, it had a very serious impact.

The second incident was about the fabric.

After Li Xian adopted the concept of scarcity marketing, he was certainly pleased. However, the consequences were also severe!

The Caiyi Fabric Shop, a subsidiary of the Brilliant Starlight Trading Company, sold over a thousand bolts of fabric at a low price every day, and this continued daily. This led to a phenomenon where the common people preferred to queue up at the Caiyi Fabric Shop rather than buy fabric from other shops.

As a result, other fabric shops almost couldn't sell any fabric, whether it was the Wang family's fabric shop or others, all suffered a severe impact.

This inevitably affected the livelihood, commerce, and stability of the capital. The Wang family finally took action, joining forces with many fabric merchants to submit a joint petition, demanding that the Emperor punish the Caiyi Fabric Shop for disrupting the livelihood and requiring an investigation into the low fabric prices.

The Chancellor, Ouyang Wubing, also strongly agreed with the Wang family's proposal, even taking the initiative to submit a petition stating that an investigation was necessary.

However, the Li family, Yuan family, Shangguan family, Zhang family, and related parties made a sharp counterattack—this was called benefiting the people.

For a time, everyone was in a heated debate. The Emperor ordered, "Stop arguing. All officials, come to the imperial court for a discussion."

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