binnovel Chapter 289 contains no guarantee, yet every word is a guarantee.
Chapter 289 contains no guarantee, yet every word is a guarantee.
Chapter 289 There was no word "guarantee," but every word was a guarantee.
Hidden weapons in sleeves are now on sale.
Xia Moyao's price was five thousand taels for a mechanical box, but five thousand taels was not much money at all for those from aristocratic families.
Huangfu Qian explained the issue.
“Anyone with money can buy this kind of hidden weapon. Recently, the only ones threatened are the common people. I want to set the price at 100,000 taels each. In this way, the number of people who can actually afford it will decrease accordingly.” Huangfu Qianying stared intently at Xia Mo, as if he wanted to devour Xia Mo with his eyes.
Xia Mo nodded: "That makes sense."
"Correspondingly, in order to reduce incidents of people being harmed by hidden weapon boxes, the value of fine needles should be increased several times, to ten taels each. In this way, even if there are rich people, they will not throw money away, and it will also reduce the number of people with bad intentions who use them to kill people," Huangfu Qian added.
Xia Mo thought for a moment and nodded: "Then let's set up a file for the mechanism box to record all the buyers. Anyone who fails to report a loss will never be sold to again, how about that?"
“Okay,” Huangfu Qian knew that Xia Mo understood what he meant.
"Set another number of uses. If the number of uses is exceeded, the mechanism box will self-destruct." Although Xia Mo didn't understand whether the misuse of the mechanism box would bring her consequences, she still had to be careful.
The day before Lunar New Year's Eve—
Huangfu Qian spread the word that the mechanical boxes used to fulfill vows at the temple at the end of summer would be sold by the Jiang Prince's Mansion, and that all buyers would need to register with the Jiang Prince's Mansion, among other rules.
After the rules were announced, those who had previously wanted to buy the mechanism box also chose to wait and see for a while.
But the Li family, one of the eight great families in the capital, still came.
Young Master Li did not appear in person, but sent Steward Li instead.
The Li family's plan was to buy one, disassemble it, and then assemble it themselves for use or to sell it.
When Steward Li arrived, he was worried that the Jiang Prince's Mansion would not agree to sell the mechanical box to the Li family.
As a result, after registering at the Jiang Prince's Mansion, Steward Li paid the money and successfully obtained the mechanism box and ten fine needles.
Even though the Li family is a long-established and prestigious clan, it would still be painful for them to spend 100,010 taels of silver all at once.
* * *
The Li family —
The Li family couldn't wait to take the purchased mechanism box back to their specially set-up workshop, place it on the workbench, and carefully begin to disassemble it.
Young Master Li sat down at the workbench and, together with the Li family head, began to disassemble the switch box.
Before disassembling it, Young Master Li instructed the live streaming system to take pictures using its capabilities.
Young Master Li didn't possess any particularly impressive mechanical skills. He had already planned to have the live-streaming system take a picture every time the mechanism box was disassembled.
By then, with enough photos, would he be worried about not being able to assemble the mechanism box?
Young Master Li was filled with the thought of making Xia Mo look bad, and he began to dismantle the place.
As soon as the hidden weapon opened the mechanism box, all the parts inside scattered into a mess. If one didn't know it was a mechanism box, they would have thought it was defective from the start.
Young Master Li was dumbfounded, and so was the head of the Li family.
Manager Li was called in.
"When I was at Prince Jiang's residence, I personally tested the mechanism box, and it works perfectly with the finest needles," Butler Li dared not directly blame Prince Jiang's residence.
Young Master Li and the Li family head both wore serious expressions and said, "It seems that the person who designed the mechanism box had already anticipated this move!"
"Father, what should we do next?" Young Master Li's heart sank. If it were his deceased younger brother, he would surely have a solution to this problem by now, wouldn't he?
“We can try to assemble it ourselves. If it doesn’t work the first time, we can try again and again. We’ll eventually succeed,” said the head of the Li family, looking at the scattered parts on the table. That was all they could do.
“Yes,” Young Master Li lowered his head, suppressing his resentment.
* * *
Jiang Wang Mansion —
Inside Huangfu Qian's private study—
Xia Mo sat on Huangfu Qian's lap again.
Xia Mo used his divine sense to investigate the Li family's situation and shared his divine sense's vision with Huangfu Qian.
Seeing that the Li family had spent a lot of money but ended up with nothing but scrap, he smiled with satisfaction.
Huangfu Qian let Xia Mo stay in his arms, and even adjusted his position to make sure Xia Mo wasn't uncomfortable.
"By the way, you are a prince. If we want to get married, do we need the emperor's decree?" After watching the joke, Xia Mo turned around and looked at Huangfu Qian.
"The late emperor once decreed that my marriage is my own choice, and no one can make decisions for me unless I am willing."
"Wow, did the late emperor love you very much?" Xia Mo exclaimed in exaggerated surprise.
“No,” Huangfu Qian shook his head and replied, “He is old and thinks I am the brother he killed. Also, he can only feel at ease if he treats me well.”
I understand now, so Huangfu Qian is the Heavenly Dao's favorite son.
Xia Mo nodded and said, "What I want is a grand wedding, the grandest one, so that everyone knows about it and envies and is jealous. Can you do that?"
Huangfu Qian knew why Xia Mo wanted such a grand wedding, and nodded: "Alright!"
* * *
On New Year's Eve—
There was only a half-day break from court in the morning, and in the afternoon, the palace would host a grand banquet. In addition to the royal family and nobles, only officials of sufficient rank could bring their families to the banquet.
Xia's father and mother did not hold any official positions, but they also received invitations.
Clearly, this banquet was a trap for their family.
“Whether you participate or not, nothing will happen to you again,” Huangfu Qian said. There was no word “guarantee” in his words, but every word was a guarantee. His words were powerful and convincing.
"If I can avoid participating, I won't," Xia's father said immediately, his heart trembling as he recalled his memories of being imprisoned in the basement.
Xia's mother said, "I don't want to participate either."
Brother Xia, Second Brother Xia, and Third Brother Xia were curious about the palace banquet, but they still shook their heads.
"We're not going."
The Xia family all looked at Xia Mo.
As summer draws to a close, she wants to regain her good fortune, so she naturally wants to attend banquets like this where she can show off. But she doesn't know how to explain this to her parents. What should she do?
“Father, Mother, I… want to participate,” Xia Mo said hesitantly.
"Let your third brother protect you," Xia's father and mother said in unison.
Xia Mo shook her head and whispered, "I'm a master at escaping. No one can hurt me unless I want to."
"Can……"
Xia's father was still worried.
"Father, Mother..."
As summer draws to a close, the only thing left to do is to act cute and charming.
Xia's parents knew they couldn't stop Xia Mo, so they looked at Huangfu Qian.
Huangfu Qiandi bowed ninety degrees to Xia's father and mother.
Xia's father and mother were startled and quickly jumped away, not daring to accept even a half-bow.
"What does King Jiang mean?" Brother Xia had already realized what Huangfu Qian's move meant. His heart tightened and his mind went blank for a moment.
"I have my eye on Miss Xia and wish to marry her. Now that I've brought her to this banquet, may I announce this?" Huangfu Qian asked solemnly, looking at Xia's father and mother.
Xia's father and mother stared wide-eyed and gaped in astonishment, their minds blank for a moment.
Brother Xia, Second Brother Xia, and Third Brother Xia felt a tightness in their chests.
Xia Sange was the first to figure it out. Apart from Huangfu Qian, he couldn't think of anyone more worthy of his little sister. He was afraid that even if he searched the entire dynasty, he wouldn't find anyone more outstanding than Huangfu Qian.
Brother Xia and Brother Xia shielded Xia Mo behind them, looking warily at Huangfu Qian.