CH 78

Xia Zuoyi handed Boris a stack of paper, “Please, do me a favor.”

Boris took it and looked through a few sheets and found that each piece of paper had the same pattern and handwriting. He asked, “These are…?”

Xia Zuoyi: “Leaflets.” 

“The Nagabi Chamber of Commerce has a good reputation in the Anas Empire. I want you, in the name of Nagabi, to send some people to the nobles’ residences of the empire and give them these leaflets.”

“Of course, I won’t let you work in vain. How much do you want?” 

The beautiful young boy raised his eyebrows at Boris, and finally jokingly said, “Is a gold coin enough?”

Boris’s deep lake-green eyes were filled with a smile, “Lord, don’t be so stingy. I need at least two gold coins.”

Xia Zuoyi said he’s very stingy.

After kidding around, Boris said sternly, “Did you see Tosi Cavendish at the port?”

Xia Zuoyi tilted his head in doubt.

It took him a long time to remember the person Boris was talking about, and that should be the man who almost fell to the ground because he got scared of Egg Yolk. Then he asked Grand Duke Orville and was told not to care.

“Isn’t Cavendish the king’s surname?”

Is there a prince besides a royal grand duke who came to the port to receive him?

Boris naturally heard what happened at the port.

Whether it’s the large fleet of ships breaking through the water one after another, or the amazing and frightening beasts…

Until now, the discussion of Desinia hasn’t stopped in the royal city. Everyone is happily talking about the fleet that almost fills the port and the soldiers guarding the ships…

Boris remembered the final result—Little Zuoyi was picked up by Grand Duke Archiayoli, and his emotions were a little subtle.

He entrusted the grand duke to take care of him for the sake of living in Little Zuoyi’s castle before, but he didn’t expect that Little Zuoyi would be taken into the other’s mansion as soon as he arrived in the empire…

“Tosi Cavendish is the illegitimate son of the king, a marquis.” Boris said, “His majesty sent him to meet you, not Grand Duke Archiayoli.”

Xia Zuoyi was a little surprised, “Oh, no wonder this marquis wanted to stop me at that time.”

He also wondered if there was anything wrong with the other party.

Boris: “Be careful of that person.”

“The letter I passed to you half a month ago didn’t say clearly that the reason you received the invitation to the Queen’s birthday dinner was that Tosi entered the palace.”

“He really wants to get the secret sugar recipe in your hands.”

The king of the Anas Empire didn’t pay much attention to the queen.

Otherwise, there won’t be many lovers, and blatantly and openly put his illegitimate children on the table, regardless of the queen’s dignity and thoughts.

The royal family of the Anas Empire often criticized the king’s behavior, but they were often avoided by the king for some inappropriate reasons.

When the king’s romance became a joke of the empire and there were more and more mistresses, even the queen ignored it, so the members of the royal family gradually gave up talking about it.

Boris didn’t know what to think of, his lake-green eyes became deeper and deeper, and even the faint smile at the corner of his lips was gone, and the pressure of his whole body dropped a lot.

Xia Zuoyi: “Thank you, Boris.”

Boris sighed, “I have warned you in advance. Why did you still come to the empire?”

“Do you know how many wolves, tigers, and leopards here are waiting to carve up everything you have? It may also affect your territory.”

Xia Zuoyi: “But I had to come.”

“The benefits of sugar are too great. There will always be such a day, Boris, I have to face it.”

“Then are you ready?”

Xia Zuoy’s beautiful eyebrows and eyes were bent into crescents, “What do you think?”

As the largest chamber of commerce in the Anas Empire, the Nagabi Chamber of Commerce controls the economic lifeline of the empire to a certain extent and has many connections with the upper-class nobles.

The status of the leader of the chamber of commerce is comparable to that of a marquis and was treated with courtesy among the nobles.

Therefore, when the Nagarbi Chamber of Commerce clerk handed a piece of paper that was said to be a leaflet to the noble’s attendant, the attendant didn’t dare throw it away at will but chose to bring it to the nobleman. It will be up to the nobleman to decide.

It introduced in detail the delicious food made from sugar, fashionable clothes, etc., listed the names and depicted them and brightly colored specific patterns next to them are printed, which instantly attracted the attention of the nobles.     

They almost wanted to throw it away, but now they took it in their hands and carefully looked through it—lemon candies, rose jams, sugar paintings… The new clothes and attires from Desinian Territory… 

The promotion worked.     

The interests of the nobility were successfully aroused.    

And the place where these things were sold was at one of the ports in the royal city. The powerful nobles couldn’t wait to call in a carriage to take a look in person.     

After all, they have also heard about the reasons why His Majesty the King held a grand birthday dinner for the queen.     

This is sugar!     

Who wasn’t excited about this, and doesn’t want to take it for himself?     

A foreign little lord actually holds the secret recipe for making a large amount of sugar in his hands, how can he not attract people to watch?    

Even if they can’t get it, the secret recipe of sugar should be owned by the empire!     

Now Desinia has the audacity to sell food made of sugar without concealment.     

For a time, when the leaflets were distributed, more carriages rushed to the port.

And humans have a herd mentality. When they see surprising scenes, they can’t help but curiously follow the crowd to see the excitement or what’s happening.

Therefore, even if the port is in a remote part of the royal city after the news spreads from ten people to hundreds… Not long later, it will gradually become overcrowded.

The market in the empire was opened.

The port is divided into a food area and a clothing area.

Almost all the women walking around the clothing area can’t resist the charm of these beautiful new long skirts.

Clothes sold in the clothing area are not allowed to be tried on.

But the styles and sizes are complete. If you like it, you can buy it. If the size is wrong, you can choose to modify it to a tailor.

If you’re an aristocrat, there’s no shortage of dressmakers at home.

Customers who want to buy only need to report to the couturier their shoulder width, waist circumference, and other measurements to get the appropriate clothing size recommended by the tailor.

The long skirts and accessories brought by Xia Zuoyi are very complete, almost occupying the entire cargo volume of the whole cabin.

The clothes are divided into high-end and low-cost.

The styles and versions of high-end clothing rarely have the same copy, and changes are made in the details.

Affordable women’s skirts have many identical styles in terms of design, colors, and variety. It’s also large in quantity and has a lot of sizes to choose from. Exquisite ornaments, hats, or scarves are placed around them to match the new style of long dresses.

After all, women are shy to report waist circumference data and so on.

Therefore, in the clothing area, soldiers also built a closed cloakroom, with curtains drawn around it. Noble ladies could let their maids follow them to take their waist measurement and other statistics, and then whisper to the tailor’s ear after coming out.

Civilian women don’t have so many concerns and can be measured by themselves or their female companions.

Some bold women even took measurements immediately in front of the booth, showing off their beautiful figures generously.

The clothing area is constantly unloading goods.

The soldiers took boxes down from the ship and put the empty boxes back into the cabin. A few more pages were added to the records in the ledger.

Instead of staying in Orville’s mansion all the time, Xia Zuoyi will return to the ship to watch the scene below. After confirming that the clothing area was progressing very well, he found a suitable place to stare at the food area.

The number of people here is much smaller, and most of them are dressed in wealthy and rigorous clothing.

The air in the food area was so sweet that people stopped in front of the stalls to watch.

Tosi stood in front of a booth making lemon candies.

He watched the three guys pour the boiled syrup from the big pot onto the iron edged-plate. When it’s half cooled, add a proper amount of lemon juice, then put on clean and soft gloves, and with both hands, knead and mix it…

The production process alone can attract the crowd to stare at it intently. The price of a lemon candy is written on the wooden board standing next to it, a knuckle-sized lemon candy costs five gold coins.

Tosi stared pointedly, “Isn’t the price of a lemon candy a gold coin?”

The steward in charge of maintaining regional public order smiled, “Sir, you don’t know that that price is only in Desinian Territory.”

“Our lord specially brought sugar from his territory to the empire. The hard labor, protection, and transportation costs along the way… are all included in these five gold coins. It’s already very cheap.”

“In order to let the citizens of the empire also taste the food made of sugar, our lord came with great sincerity.”

“These five gold coins must be a small amount for you. If you buy a box directly, it can be cheaper… “

The steward tried his best to promote sales according to the lord’s instruction, “Just now, a marquis bought two boxes of lemon candy. Oh, the marquis is right next to the rose jam booth now…”

Tosi had a cold face, fixedly staring at the steward.

However, the steward smiled decently, and the expression on his face remained unchanged.

The location of this port has been completely leased by the lord from the Nagarbi Chamber of Commerce. Soldiers guard every place, especially around the stalls in the food area.

They are guests from afar, it’s not yet to the point of tearing their faces1. Even if they’re dissatisfied, the nobles of these empires wouldn’t make trouble.

So the steward is very calm.

“It seems that His Majesty hasn’t given you enough money. If you can’t afford it, please get out of the way, don’t obstruct traffic.” At this time, a deep male voice sounded.

Tosi’s face instantly darkened. He turned around.

Behind him stood a man with a small beard and curled blond hair on his head. He looked handsome, and about to be in his 30’s.

He’s also a marquis like Tosi Cavendish.

But the difference is that Tosi obtained the title in the name of the king’s illegitimate son, without any real power. This man named Darnell is the respectable heir of the family and serves as the financial councilor of the royal city.

Darnell had always looked down on Tosi.

The hostility between the two is something everyone in the city knows.

Tosi just wanted to taunt back, but his gaze fell on the jar of rose jam in Darnell’s hand—the jar is made of colored glass, cylindrical in shape, and only half the size of a palm. The jar’s body is affixed with a beautiful patterned logo, on which the name and provenance are written in flowery script.

Tosi didn’t take a close look. He was attracted by the rose jam inside, which was a more crimson color than roses. With sugar stains around it, it’s really tempting.

Darnell noticed his gaze. Smirking, he said, “This small jar of rose jam is really not expensive. It’s only thirty gold coins. If the Marquis likes it, he can also buy one.”

He had bought lemon candies before and was going to buy two more boxes.

Tosi’s forehead twitches uncontrollably. Maintaining the expression on his face, he slightly raised his chin, “Don’t worry, I haven’t bought any lemon candies yet.”

Darnell made a gesture, please.

In the end, Tosi reluctantly spent 100 gold coins to buy a whole box of lemon candy, and then went to the booth selling rose jams.

Darnell stepped forward, but suddenly raised his hand to take off his hat, and motioned to Xia Zuoyi who’s against the side of the boat in the distance.

Xia Zuoyi was a little confused but still nodded.

He watched the man who had just been talking to Tosi buy two more boxes of lemon candy, then turned and left, planning to go back to the grand duke’s mansion to inquire about it later.

Xia Zuoyi whispered, “How’s the rose perfume going along?”

Udit: “Ten vials have been made, but they haven’t been tested on people. I don’t know how long the fragrance can last…”

“Let someone bring me a bottle…”

Xia Zuoyi paused, “I’ll try it first.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Translator’s Notes:

Sorry for the late update, I just got my first dose of vaccine yesterday and my grandma forbade me to use gadgets so she can monitor me if I get any side effects. Also, I have a new story titled Infrastructure Frenzy~ You can check that one out on the menu~ I swear it’s another gem like this one.