Chapter 81 - I'll Be Responsible for You

Shen Ninghua turned her head to look at the guard who was galloping forward. Her eyes flickered. She had just handed the silver tickets for the medicine to Chu Junyi the day before. Today, the medicinal ingredients were already delivered here. How could it be so fast?”

Seeing Chu Junyi following behind the guard with his hands folded behind his back, Baili Jinchuan’s eyes widened in surprise. “Master Mo, the guard said that the medicinal ingredients are here. Is it you who brought the medicinal ingredients over?”

Chu Junyi shook his head with a modest expression. “I came out alone to get experience. How could I bring out so many medicinal ingredients? But when the Mo family was still active outside, they did a favor for Huajun Pharmacy. I heard that Your Highness were in urgent need of medicinal ingredients, so I thought of a way to contact the pharmacy. Unexpectedly, I really got in touch with it. In the next few days, Huajun Pharmacy will send medicinal ingredients to this place in batches. I hope this can help you solve the pressing problem. ”

Baili Jinchuan tried his best but he still failed to suppress the excitement in his eyes. “Great. Old General Xiao, Ninghua, let’s hurry up and take a look.”

The medicinal ingredients on the carriages were covered tightly. Although the rain continued, they were not wet at all.

The shopkeeper of Huajun Pharmacy was a portly middle-aged man. Seeing Baili Jinchuan running out without an umbrella, he immediately kowtowed in panic. “I’m the shopkeeper of Huajun Pharmacy, Qian Jinbao. Greetings, Your Highness.”

Baili Jinchuan bent down and helped him up. “Thank you, Shopkeeper Qian, I will definitely ask for a reward from His Majesty for Huajun Pharmacy.” With this batch of medicinal ingredients, Jiangnan would be able to hold on for a few more days.

Shen Ninghua did not care about their exchange of conventional greetings, and directly walked to a carriage loaded with the medicinal ingredients. She lifted the waterproof cloth on it to carefully examine the medicinal ingredients. A person in charge hurriedly handed Shen Ninghua a notebook containing the types of medicinal ingredients. “Your Highness, please take a look.”

Seeing the names of the medicinal ingredients written on the notebook, Shen Ninghua nodded. Then, she asked the imperial doctors to distribute the medicinal ingredients that were needed elsewhere. There were many kinds of medicinal ingredients. Although the quantity was not large, it was enough to solve the urgent problem.

Baili Jinchuan personally entertained Shopkeeper Qian. After learning at the banquet that Shopkeeper Qian would continue to deliver medicinal ingredients, his attitude became even more amiable.

Bai Ruo helped Shen Ninghua change the dirty dress and applied the Blood Stasis Removing Ointment to the bruises on her leg. “Miss, it’s enough with the imperial doctors and guards distributing the medicinal ingredients. You can just give some advice from the side. Don’t go forward and personally do everything again.”

“It’s fine. I just wanted to make sure of something.” Shen Ninghua curled her lips. Clearly she was in an extremely good mood.

“Ninghua, what are you sure about that makes you so happy?” Chu Junyi suddenly appeared at the window.

Bai Ruo’s face darkened as she hurriedly pulled the brocade quilt to cover Shen Ninghua’s calves. “You…you womanizer, don’t you know you should notify in advance?”

Chu Junyi did not expect that he would be able to see such a tempting scene. On the bright red satin fabric, the calves had a faint jade-like color, like fine white porcelain, with a faint light that made people feel dizzy. His throat tightened. “I …am sorry for being impolite.”

Shen Ninghua pulled up her snow-white pajama in the brocade quilt, and stopped angry Bai Ruo from saying more. “It’s fine. You can go down first.”

“Yes, Miss.” Bai Ruo walked out and closed the door. She couldn’t help but feel worried. Miss and Mo Junqing had only known each other for a few days, but why did they feel so familiar? That Mo Junqing didn’t pay any attention to etiquette at all. Where was his respect for Miss’s reputation? She was really anxious.

Chu Junyi entered the room through the window, and forcefully suppressed the awkwardness in his heart. He was used to meeting Shen Ninghua through the window. Who would have thought that today he would come at the right …and perfect time…?

Shen Ninghua didn’t care. Seeing that he was silent for a long time, she directly asked, “What do you want to tell me by coming here?”

Chu Junyi paused and said, “Well…Since I have ruined your innocence, I will be responsible for you. Don’t worry, I will propose to you as soon as you reach fifteen.”

Shen Ninghua frowned. She grabbed the ointment bottle and threw it at him. What nonsense was this person talking about? He wanted to marry her just because he saw her calves. He was simply daydreaming!

Chu Junyi grabbed the bottle and said, “Is this a token of affection? Although it’s a bit special, it’s suitable to keep as a memorial to what happened today…”

“Shut up!” Shen Ninghua glanced at him coldly. “I was asking about the medicinal ingredients that Shopkeeper Qian sent over. Did you prepare them in advance when you came to Jiangnan?”

Appreciating her angry expression, Chu Junyi was quite pleased. However, he knew that he could not provoke her too much. Otherwise, she would really be annoyed. “Well, the first thing I did when I came to Ping City in disguise was to buy medicinal ingredients according to the prescription you gave me. I did it in case emergencies occurred, but I didn’t expect that they would really come in handy. I’m really lucky.”

Lucky? Shen Ninghua raised her eyebrows. Perhaps the word “lucky” was not enough to explain. She had thought that her scheme was already very exquisite, but the person in front of her who had already had a plan pretended to be confused! Although she took out all her belongings this time, she also owed him a favor.

Chu Junyi chuckled and said, “Originally, I thought that if there weren’t enough medicinal ingredients, I would directly donate mine. But you are so clever that you gave me a way to earn money. Don’t worry, our agreed 50-50 profit allocation won’t change. You can just wait to collect the money.”

Shen Ninghua nodded and said without pretending to be modest, “Well, since you happened to be here today, write a contract for me so that we won’t have trouble settling accounts in the future.”

“Contract?” Chu Junyi was stunned.

“Of course. Did you think that I gave you one million taels of silver just to hear you promise to split the profit with me 50-50?” Shen Ninghua stared at him with wide eyes. Who knew if he would regret in the future?

Chu Junyi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Alright. It’s just a contract. How do you think should be contract be like?”

Shen Ninghua directly lifted the brocade quilt and got off bed. She put on her embroidered shoes and went to the desk to get a brush and paper.

She was only wearing a snow-white pajama, and her snow-white slender ankles could be seen during her movements. Chu Junyi’s eyes heated up and he unconsciously withdrew his gaze.

Shen Ninghua handed the brush and paper in front of him. “I gave you one million taels of silver. You have to write it down clearly. In the future, we’ll split the profit of Huajun Pharmacy 50-50. If we lose money, we will also bear the losses 50-50.”

Chu Junyi nodded and wrote according to what she said. His handwriting was extremely powerful and elegant, faintly carrying a free and arrogant aura. Shen Ninghua was attracted and unconsciously bent forward to look at it.

Chu Junyi had been writing attentively. Suddenly, he smelt a faint fragrance. The fragrance was refreshing and elegant. It was not as turbid as the popular incense, but like the first sunshine after the rain, which was very soothing. He restrained his mind and the tip of his brush became more and more powerful. He blew dry the ink on the contract and handed it to Shen Ninghua.

“Is this okay?”

Shen Ninghua read it carefully, and a smile appeared in her eyes. “Okay. You can make another copy, and I’ll sign it for your preservation. If there’s any controversy in the future, we can settle the accounts according to the contract.”

“Alright.”

After keeping the two copies of the contract, Shen Ninghua felt a bit relieved. She went back to bed and leant against the bedside holding the quilt in her arms. “With these medicinal ingredients, Jiangnan would not be in chaos. This trip is worth it.”

“Ninghua, I’ve always wanted to ask you. What happened to your identity as the Prefectural Prince?”

“His Majesty took me as his adopted daughter, so he gave me this title.”

A complicated emotion flashed through Chu Junyi’s eyes. “His Majesty wanted to use this to help you break away from the Shen family?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you still want to come to Jiangnan?”

Shen Ninghua raised her eyebrows and smiled. “If I didn’t come to Jiangnan, wouldn’t I miss a great opportunity to earn money?”

When Chu Junyi saw her obsession with money, his heart relaxed first and then felt hilarious. “You are already conferred the title of Prefectural Princess. Do you still lack money?” For some reason, he increasingly hated forcing her. Since she was pretending to be stupid, he wouldn’t dig deeper.

“Money makes the mare go. Who would hate to be richer?”

“That’s true,” Chu Junyi looked up at her. “Looks like I need to run the Huajun Pharmacy well. Otherwise, if I lost money, you would kill me.”

Shen Ninghua suddenly laughed out loud. “Why would I kill you? I will find a way to earn it back from you.”

Chu Junyi paused. Suddenly, he remembered the scene when they met that night after Shen Ninghua returned to the capital. This black girl said at that time that if he did not bring a gold ticket, she would drug him and then sell him to the brothel to make money. Her heart was really pitch-dark!

The two of them exchanged glances and laughed at the same time. Who would have thought that in less than half a year, they were calmly discussing how to make money together?

Shen Ninghua was tired and yawned. “You should go back now. In the next couple of days, the situation should ease off. I need to rest now.”

Seeing the watery haze in her eyes, Chu Junyi stood up and said, “Well, you should rest early.”

After leaving Shen Ninghua’s courtyard, Chu Junyi turned his head to look at the room in which the light was out. The jade-colored face appeared again in his mind, and he unconsciously curled his lips.

For the next five days, Huajun Pharmacy transported medicinal ingredients to Linjiang City every day. The refugees were all grateful, and the reputation of Huajun Pharmacy spread through the entire Jiangnan region at an incredible speed.

With Huajun Pharmacy as a contrast, many pharmacies that had hoarded medicinal ingredients and wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to accumulate wealth all suffered. People hated these pharmacies deeply and swore to themselves that they would not go to these pharmacies to buy anything when the disaster was over. Shen Ninghua thus achieved her goal.

Some smart pharmacy shopkeepers regretted their actions and hurriedly expressed their willingness to donate medicinal ingredients. However, unlike Chu Junyi and Shen Ninghua, they didn’t have a large sum of money, and many of them were forced out of business. This slowly laid the foundation for Huajun Pharmacy to monopolize the Jiangnan medicinal industry.

When Baili Qingcang learned that the medicinal ingredients had been delayed for four days and still hadn’t been delivered to Jiangnan, he directly gave the officials responsible for the transportation 50 strokes. Then, he called the princes to the Southern Imperial Study and smashed teacups on their heads.

‘”I don’t care how you fight for power, but whoever dares to have ill intentions in the face of a national calamity, I will directly cripple his hopes for future game! Don’t blame me for being ruthless, but blame your fate that you are princes whereas I am the emperor! It’s not easy for me to support you, but destroying you will only take a few words. Do you understand?”

The Third Prince and Fourth Prince were already scared out of their wits. Even the usually calm Crown Prince had a pale face. He realized that he had truly touched Baili Qingcang’s bottom line this time.

On the seventh day, a large ship carrying medicinal ingredients finally appeared at the dock of Linjiang City. People knelt down and cheered, shouting “Long live His Majesty!”

Shen Ninghua stood upright by the river, her eyes filled with excitement. With these medicinal ingredients, Jiangnan would be safe.