Very soon, the person who was inquiring about Lu Zhaozhao sent a message to Cai Ming.
Cai Ming knelt in front of Princess Ming Yue and reported the situation of Lu Zhaozhao to her in detail.
"The daughter of the Imperial Merchant Lu Family from Ning City. You also know her brother, the Champion Scholar Lu Zhaoyang from three years ago," Cai Ming said. "That young lady from the Lu Family is completely tainted with the smell of money. It’s said she opened the largest rouge shop on West Market Street in Shengjing and even stood there personally to sell rouge and powders to customers at the beginning."
"How can a merchant’s daughter so fixated on money be worthy of a student from the Imperial College?"
Cai Ming held a rather disdainful view of Lu Zhaozhao’s behavior.
"The young lady of the Lu Family."
The Imperial Merchant Lu Family from Ning City.
Princess Ming Yue did not regard the Lu Family highly at all.
She was convinced that Gu Jingzhe married Lu Zhaozhao out of greed for the Lu Family’s money.
Otherwise, she found it hard to understand why someone like Gu Jingzhe, with his looks and the title of a scholar, would choose to marry a merchant’s daughter.
If he could be greedy for the Lu Family’s money, he could be greedy for Prince Yu Mansion’s power.
What of being an Imperial Merchant, their family is just somewhat richer, that’s all.
To the Royal Family, crushing a merchant is like crushing an ant. The old master of the Lu Family used to curry favor with her father to get business from the Imperial Palace.
Even though now the Lu Family produced someone like Lu Zhaoyang, they are still not fully established. Compared to the Shengjing family, their foundation is too shallow, and climbing up would require effort. They cannot become a strong support for Gu Jingzhe in his official career in the future.
After analyzing it in her mind, Princess Ming Yue felt she had a great chance of winning.
"What Gu Jingzhe claims to be righteous is just to avoid carrying the reputation of failing his first wife while wanting a respectable title as Prince Consort. It’s nothing but wanting both," Cai Ming surmised Princess Ming Yue’s thoughts and said, "Princess, he hasn’t interacted with you much, so he doesn’t know your value yet. Moreover, with his mother and sister causing a scene with you at Jinluan Palace last time, he naturally cannot agree to anything with you. I think you shouldn’t push him too hard just yet."
Princess Ming Yue asked, "Then what should I do?"
Princess Ming Yue felt a wave of irritation.
Although she believed Gu Jingzhe would eventually compromise, the current cold attitude of Gu Jingzhe towards her was bothersome.
Additionally, she was about to set off for Longhua Temple, where she would stay for three months. During this period, if that first wife keeps bewitching Gu Jingzhe, she would have to spend more effort convincing him.
Impossible, she could not go to Longhua Temple. Thinking of this, Princess Ming Yue stood up, wanting to request Prince Yu not to go to Longhua Temple.
Cai Ming saw that Princess Ming Yue had a new idea and quickly said, "Princess, you just asked me what to do. Would it work like this? Gu Jingzhe is just worried about the reputation of abandoning his original wife. What if Miss Lu left him voluntarily?"
Princess Ming Yue’s frowned brow smoothed out.
She wanted to meet Gu Jingzhe’s first wife to see what kind of person that woman entangled with the smell of money was, enough to make the promising Gu Jingzhe marry early.
...
Two days later, the Old Emperor held a grand welcoming banquet for the Crown Grandson at the Imperial Palace.
Tong Huaqiong and the Gu Family were invited.
Gu Jingzhe was going to study at the Imperial College, and as Lu Zhaozhao was pregnant, she naturally didn’t want to go to the palace to suffer. Gu Taohua stayed at home with Lu Zhaozhao.
Tong Huaqiong brought along Chen Sufen, Liu Yueer, and Mrs. Zhao and others to join the banquet in the palace.
Gu Jingzhe went to the Imperial College, leaving only Lu Zhaozhao and Gu Taohua at home.
Ever since taking over some of Lu Family’s businesses, Lu Zhaozhao had to inspect various shops every three to five days.
Since she was diagnosed with pregnancy, she rarely went to inspect the shops, instead, each shop’s shopkeeper would bring the accounts to her every seven days to report their operations.
Now, four months pregnant, Lu Zhaozhao felt physically unresponsive and had not been to the shop for two months, she decided to personally go to the Rouge Shop to inspect and get some fresh air.
Gu Taohua, upon hearing Lu Zhaozhao was going to inspect the shop, naturally wanted to accompany her.
Since knowing Princess Ming Yue harbored ill intentions towards Gu Jingzhe, Gu Taohua was quite anxious, always feeling that some villain outside would turn love into hate and hurt Lu Zhaozhao.
Lu Zhaozhao said she was worrying too much, but Gu Taohua touched Lu Zhaozhao’s belly and insisted they must not be careless.
The two of them, accompanied by maidservants, took a carriage to the Rouge Shop on West Market Street.
As usual, the business in the shop was booming.
Lu Zhaozhao and Gu Taohua entered the shop, first checking around, then went upstairs to verify the accounts.
The operation and revenue of the shop made Lu Zhaozhao very satisfied.
Princess Ming Yue’s carriage stopped in front of the largest Rouge Shop on West Market Street.
Originally, Prince Yu had petitioned the Emperor, and after attending the welcome banquet for the Crown Grandson, Princess Ming Yue was to go to Longhua Temple to pray for blessings.
But before entering the palace in the morning, Princess Ming Yue expressed that she had lost face at Taohua Dessert recently and did not want to be laughed at during the banquet in the palace.
She wanted to stay home to prepare for the trip to Longhua Temple.
As soon as Prince Yu and Princess Consort Yu left the Prince Mansion, Princess Ming Yue immediately headed for West Market Street.
At this moment, Princess Ming Yue was staring at the Rouge Shop with a gloomy expression, as if someone had desecrated the Zhao Family’s ancestral graves.
In her imagination, the merchant’s daughter tainted with money would certainly be a coarse, ugly, and unpresentable person.
But just now, the woman referred to as the owner, though she only saw her back, already conveyed an impression that was quite impactful.
Originally, she was unwilling to believe that the intriguing back she saw was Gu Jingzhe’s first wife, but she recognized Gu Taohua.
Gu Taohua was holding that woman’s arm affectionately, calling her Third Sister-in-law.
But soon Princess Ming Yue reverted to her disdain for Lu Zhaozhao.
No matter how much elegance and nobility she might have, she was still a merchant’s daughter.
Moreover, this merchant daughter knows Gu Jingzhe is a scholar, yet disregards his dignity and personally flaunts herself in business.
How could someone so consumed by money assist Gu Jingzhe in climbing the official ladder or become a competent imperial decree wife they could be?
Shengjing is not short of wealthy people nor of powerful ones. The Lu Family’s money does not necessarily pave a brilliant future for Gu Jingzhe, but her family’s power certainly can.
If Gu Jingzhe were smart, he should know that being closer to the power center like Prince Yu Mansion would easily lift him to a position unreachable by money alone.
Princess Ming Yue got off her carriage and walked into the Rouge Shop.
To overpower Lu Zhaozhao in terms of presence, Princess Ming Yue dressed meticulously.
The shop’s clerk, with sharp eyes, recognized that from Princess Ming Yue’s attire, this customer was someone with significant status.
Shengjing has many dignitaries, and you could easily offend someone by accident.
The clerk warmly greeted her.
Princess Ming Yue disdained dealing with clerks. Cai Ming spoke to the clerk, "This is Princess Ming Yue. Is your owner here? Let your owner come to serve."
The clerk, frightened, hurried to greet Princess Ming Yue with respect.
The shopkeeper recognized Princess Ming Yue and hastily came to personally attend to her.
But Princess Ming Yue wore a haughty expression, and Cai Ming insisted they wanted to be served by the owner.
Everyone in Shengjing knows Princess Ming Yue as someone troublesome wherever she goes. Added to that, the incident at Taohua Dessert a few days ago was spread across the city, and the shopkeeper thought Princess Ming Yue was here to cause trouble at the Rouge Shop.
After all, the owner had an inseparable relationship with Taohua Dessert.
The shopkeeper quickly hurried to the second floor.
"Owner, Princess Ming Yue is here."