My uncle is Zhu Di

Chapter 23 Zhu Gaochi's Shock
When Zhu Gaochi heard that Xu's cloth was selling well, he was very depressed and immediately asked the Crown Princess for ten thousand taels.

The Crown Princess said no!

It's no wonder that the Crown Princess said she had nothing. The Eastern Palace didn't have much money. It relied on the salary of Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi and the rewards from Zhu Di. There was really not much money.

Zhu Gaochi had many women and many children.

In addition, the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were very low, and Zhu Gaochi would reward the officials of the Eastern Palace from time to time. Therefore, not much money could be saved every year.

It’s not that she couldn’t afford 10,000 taels, but the Crown Princess was reluctant to do so. There were less than 30,000 taels of silver in the family. How could Crown Princess Zhang be willing to let Zhu Gaochi take away 10,000 taels at once?

"Oh, please give it to me quickly! I regret it so much! Before, Sakya Bao asked me to invest money in the partnership, but I didn't believe him! Please give me ten thousand taels now, and I will go find Sakya Bao!" Zhu Gaochi stood there and said anxiously.

"Hey, you, if you take the money now, will Shakya Bao agree to be in partnership with you? The fabric is already ready! Do they still need your money?" Zhang heard this, stood up, and looked at Zhu Gaochi in shock.

"Don't worry, I will! But maybe not as much as before. My uncle is very smart!" Zhu Gaochi said as he stretched out his hand for money.

Zhang hit Zhu Gaochi's hand and said contemptuously, "You don't do things like this. You were asked to go, but you didn't go. Now you go to do a business that's too difficult to get, will they agree to it?"

That being said, I still went to get the money.

Zhu Gaochi followed behind and arrived at a bedroom. He wanted to go in, but Zhang closed the door and wouldn't let him in.

Zhu Gaochi smiled helplessly and said, "I still don't know how much money the family has?"

"No! Once the money is in your hands, you can spend it all. If you don't consider Zhanji and others, I still have to consider them!" Zhang glared at Zhu Gaochi and said.

Their eldest son, Zhu Zhanji, is nine years old this year and is deeply loved by Zhu Di.

"Okay, okay, you think about it!" Zhu Gaochi still said with a smile and did not argue with Zhang.

Soon, Zhang came out and handed Zhu Gaochi a few banknotes, complaining, "Look, the East Palace is so big, but there's not even a banknote of five thousand taels. And he's the crown prince. Aren't you afraid of being laughed at if you tell others about it?"

"Oh, don't worry, it will be here soon. I'm going to my uncle's house to have a meal. You guys eat first and don't worry about me!" Zhu Gaochi took the money and left quickly.

"Virtuous, you are so good at doing things after the fact. It's strange that Shakya Bao will pay attention to you!" Zhang shouted from behind.

Zhu Gaochi waved his hand behind him. Didn't he know what his wife was like? She had a sharp tongue but a soft heart. She was never confused about important matters!
Soon, Zhu Gaochi arrived at Xu Qin's residence. Xu Qin had just returned and was waiting for dinner.

The gatekeeper saw the prince coming but did not stop him. This is the difference. When Zhao Wang Zhu Gaoxu came, the gate was closed and bolted. When the prince came, the gate was opened and he came in first and then reported.

Zhu Gaochi walked towards the living room, and just as he arrived there, he saw Xu Huizu coming out of the study.

"Meet uncle!"

"Gao Chi is here? Haven't eaten yet? Have lunch at your house at noon!" Xu Huizu saw Zhu Gaochi and greeted him with a smile. He didn't even call him the crown prince. He didn't even recognize Zhu Di, so how could he recognize Zhu Di's crown prince?

"Well, where is Sakya Bao? I have something to talk to him about!" Zhu Gaochi nodded and said with a smile.

"Someone, go and see if Baoer is at home. If he is, tell him that his cousin is here!" Xu Huizu said to the servant in the living room.

Then he asked Zhu Gaochi to sit down, and a male servant brought him tea.

"Uncle, where is the maid in your house?" Zhu Gaochi was a little surprised when he saw that it was a male servant serving tea.

"They all went to spin. Our family is spinning and weaving now, and we need a large number of female workers. We don't have much to do in our house, so we let the maids go to spin. They will be given more money by the family for spinning every day!" Xu Huizu said as he sat down.

"Uncle, I heard that the Xu family's dyed cloth is not enough to sell?" Zhu Gaochi leaned over and asked Xu Huizu in a low voice.

"Well, do you want to be a partner?" Xu Huizu asked with a smile.

"But...is it possible?" Zhu Gaochi asked excitedly when he heard it.

"Of course!" Xu Huizu stroked his beard and nodded.

Xu Huizu was not stupid, on the contrary he was very shrewd. In fact, Xu Huizu was optimistic about Zhu Gaochi from the beginning. As for Zhu Gaoxu, Xu Huizu looked down on him and thought he was a reckless man!

Of course, Xu Huizu also knew that although Prince of Han Zhu Gaoxu was now in Beijing, he had been competing with Zhu Gaochi for the position of Eastern Palace.

If you want to fight for the throne, you can't do it without money.

Moreover, the conflict between Xu Huizu and Prince of Han Zhu Gaoxu was irreconcilable. If Prince of Han became emperor, he would not hesitate to target his own family and kill the whole family.

Besides, Zhu Gaochi was deeply loved and supported by his eldest sister.

How could Xu Huizu not support it?

Zhu Gaochi immediately took out the 10,000 taels of silver note, placed it on the table, and said, "Uncle, I only have 10,000 taels, just give me some of your share!"

"Twenty percent, about twenty thousand taels of silver per month. After dinner, I'll write you a contract!" Xu Huizu said as he collected the money and put it in his pocket. "Ah, so much?" Zhu Gaochi looked at Xu Huizu in shock.

"Baoer came to you before and hoped that you would invest money, but you didn't believe me. Originally, Baoer wanted to give you 50%. The success of the fabric business this time actually depends on the 10,000 taels you brought when you came to announce the imperial decree!" Xu Huizu said proudly, stroking his beard.

"Ouch. Ouch! Uncle, please stop talking. Please stop talking!" When Zhu Gaochi heard Xu Huizu talking about this, he couldn't help but touch his heart, feeling so regretful!

Xu Qin happened to come in from outside at this time. He walked over with a smile, saluted Zhu Gaochi first, then sat next to him, patted Zhu Gaochi's belly and said, "Cousin, your belly has become smaller!"

"Oh, you don't know, during this period of time, I have been eating two less bowls of rice every night, and I have been taking walks. I go to the Qianqing Palace on foot every day, and I have lost eight kilograms!" Zhu Gaochi smiled and gestured to eight with his fingers, looking a little proud!
"Sure, what are you doing here today?" Xu Qin asked with a smile.

"To join the partnership, I gave my uncle 10,000 taels, and he promised to give me 20%!" Zhu Gaochi said with a look of regret.

"I should have asked you to join us in the first place, but you didn't believe me. Originally, I could have given you 50% of the 10,000 taels. Now, 20% is good enough!" Xu Qin leaned back in his chair and said sarcastically.

"Well, that's enough. My uncle said that we can get 20,000 taels a month. That's not right..." Zhu Gaochi said, and then he realized that something was wrong. The cloth business was not easy to make money, so he looked at Xu Qin and said, "Shakabao, according to my uncle, your family's cloth business can make 100,000 taels a month? How is that possible? How many spinning machines do you have?"

"Eight hundred!" Xu Qin also made the gesture of the number eight.

Zhu Gaochi immediately slapped his hand away and said in disbelief, "Speak seriously!"

"It's really eight hundred! If you don't believe me, ask my dad!" Xu Qin said proudly.

Zhu Gaochi turned his head and looked at Xu Huizu, who nodded.

Zhu Gaochi felt strange, so he continued to ask Xu Huizu: "Uncle, did you buy spindles from outside?"

"No, I made them all myself!" Xu Huizu shook his head.

"Impossible, uncle, don't lie to me! The royal family has a weaving bureau!" Zhu Gaochi said with disbelief.

"Baoer, take your cousin to have a look!" Xu Huizu said to Xu Qin.

Xu Qin stood up, and Zhu Gaochi stood up as well, saying, "Come on, take me to see it!"

Soon, the two of them were outside, and Xu Qin put his arm around Zhu Gaochi's neck and said, "Sure, you've been in good health lately!"

"I won't say anything more, cousin. Last time you told me that you took the wrong medicine. I went back to check, and it was true!" Zhu Gaochi whispered to Xu Qin.

"Really?" Xu Qin opened his eyes wide and looked at Zhu Gaochi in disbelief.

"Hey, don't tell anyone. There's no good in telling them. So let's leave it at that! Let's go and don't talk about this!" Zhu Gaochi said to Xu Qin.

Xu Qin patted Zhu Gaochi's belly and said, "My cousin is my cousin. This belly can really hold a boat. I'm impressed!" He also gave Zhu Gaochi a thumbs up.

"Well, what else can we do? They're brothers, right? Killing him is unrealistic!" Zhu Gaochi waved his hands and said with a smile.

"Yeah!" Xu Qin nodded.

Soon Xu Qin brought Zhu Gaochi to the spinning machine. When Zhu Gaochi saw the machine in Xu Qin's house, his eyes widened!

"Sixteen spindles at a time? Sakya Bao, this machine?" Zhu Gaochi was extremely surprised to find that all the machines here could spin sixteen spindles at a time, and there were a large number of spun spindles piled next to them.

"Others spin one spindle at a time, but I spin sixteen spindles! Do you think I can make money?" Xu Qin said very proudly.

Zhu Gaochi ignored him and went to look at the machines, finding them extremely sophisticated and complex.

"Come on, I'll take you to see the loom!" Xu Qin said as he pulled Zhu Gaochi who was still observing.

"Hey, hey, wait, let me take a look, let me take a look first!" Zhu Gaochi still wanted to watch the female workers spinning, but was pulled away by Xu Qin.

Xu Qin was very strong, and even though Zhu Gaochi was so fat, he was still able to pull him away.

Soon they arrived at another room in the mansion, which was filled with looms. These looms could weave cloth four feet wide at a very fast speed.

"So fast? How did you do it?" Zhu Gaochi began to observe again.

"Cousin, the speed of my spinning machine is sixteen times that of others, and my loom is twenty-five times that of others. Hehe! You do the math. The money for cotton is fixed, but how much labor cost can this speed save?" Xu Qin patted Zhu Gaochi on the shoulder and said with a smile.

"Did you make it?" Zhu Gaochi turned his head and looked at Xu Qin and asked.

"That's right!" Xu Qin nodded and said proudly.

Zhu Gaochi looked at Xu Qin in shock, he couldn't tell at all!

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it even if I were beaten to death!

(End of this chapter)