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Chapter 143
Although Xu Xinyue said she was fine, Li Xia was not at ease with her condition. She sent Qiu Ling to fetch a doctor. The doctor diagnosed severe summer heat exhaustion and prescribed some tonics to be taken for half a month.
Qiu Ju now regretted not informing Li Xia as Xu Xinyue had requested.
Madam Jiang and Xu Yiyou also came to see Li Xia. Madam Jiang kept blaming herself for not taking better care of Xu Xinyue.
"How can we blame you, Aunt? It's just that the weather is too hot," Li Xia consoled Madam Jiang, telling her not to feel guilty. After seeing Madam Jiang off, Li Xia sent someone back to the Li residence to inform Mrs. Lu that she would be staying at the Xu residence for a few days. Upon learning of Xu Xinyue's illness, Mrs. Lu sent over a considerable amount of medicinal herbs. With Li Xia by her side to take care of her, Xu Xinyue's spirits improved significantly, and she was able to eat more. Her overall condition seemed much better.
After staying for a few days, Li Xia became dissatisfied with Madam Jiang. The weather was so hot, yet there were no ice basins placed around, relying solely on hand fans was inadequate. Li Xia used her special ability to bring more wind through the window, making Xu Xinyue more comfortable.
"Don't be upset with your aunt. She has her reasons," Xu Xinyue, noticing Li Xia's displeasure, explained the reasons behind Madam Jiang's frugality.
Xu Yizheng and Xu Yirong had reached the age for matchmaking. In the border regions, ten taels of silver would be enough to take a wife. But in the capital, at least a thousand taels were needed, which meant two thousand taels for two sons.
The Xu family didn't have that much money. Therefore, Madam Jiang had to cut expenses and try to save more. Moreover, they had come from the border regions, where it was much hotter than here. The heat in the capital didn't seem too extreme to them.
"Mother, you have money too. There's no need to make yourself suffer like this," Xu Xinyue had several tens of thousands of taels of silver. They could just use some money to buy more ice.
"I thought the same at first. I went and bought some ice," Xu Xinyue paused here. Seeing that Xu Xinyue wouldn't continue, Qiu Ju stepped forward to explain.
Xu Xinyue had bought ice for everyone in the Xu household to use. When Xu Xinyong found out, he scolded Madam Jiang for spending his sister's money. With the weather being so hot this year, a cart of ice cost a hundred taels of silver.
Xu Xinyong told Madam Jiang to return the money for the ice to Xu Xinyue. Madam Jiang, having been reprimanded by her husband, felt wronged. She hadn't realized that Xu Xinyue was so sensitive to heat.
This incident made Xu Xinyue uncomfortable about bringing up the subject again, so she stopped buying ice. She endured the heat, fearing that Li Xia would be upset if she knew, and instructed Qiu Ju not to mention it.
"Mother, leave this matter to me," Li Xia asked Qiu Ling to find a good place for summer retreat. She learned that Tenmile Slope had recently started renting out summer cottages, which were very cool and where many families went to escape the heat.
Li Xia spent a considerable sum to rent a summer cottage for two months. She gave the token to Xu Xinyue, who was reluctant to go, feeling it wasn't right to specially retreat just because of the heat.
"Mother, I'm giving you two choices: one, move to Qingyue Street and live with me, or two, go to Tenmile Slope," Xu Xinyue chose the second option. She took Xu Yiyou with her to Tenmile Slope. Recently, Xu Yiyou had also shown signs of heatstroke. Concerned for their safety, Li Xia sent Qiu Chan along to take care of them.
Having taken care of her birth mother, Li Xia also needed to look after her stepmother. She had Qiu Ling buy two carts of ice and send them to the storehouse. With the weather being so hot, ice was consumed quickly. Li Guang now went to the ice house early every day to buy ice.
The ice house was where the government stored ice during winter and opened it in summer to sell. To benefit the people, the prices were not expensive, so many people bought ice. If one went too late, they might not be able to buy any.
Of course, there were also many private ice houses that stored and sold ice, but at a higher price. Qiu Ling bought from private sellers, paying more than double the price of government ice houses.
At night, Li Xia left Qingyue Street and headed towards the Third Prince's mansion. She saw Cao Fugui leading men in an ambush. Li Xia flew past them and reached the Third Prince's mansion, finding Fourth Miss Lu. This Fourth Miss Lu knew how to enjoy life, with seven or eight ice basins placed in her room.
Fourth Miss Lu was discussing business with someone, who was none other than the charming lady who had played the role of the Gambling Saint.
"My lady, I've purchased a large quantity of saltpeter as you instructed," the lady reported.
"Well done, Saniang," Fourth Miss Lu was very pleased with Mei Saniang's work.
"It's no trouble for you, my lady," Mei Saniang responded respectfully to Fourth Miss Lu.
"Now that we have the saltpeter, arrange for people to make and sell iced drinks," Fourth Miss Lu, after careful consideration following her suspicion that the Fourth Prince wanted to harm her, had pledged allegiance to the Third Prince. She reached an agreement with the Third Prince to earn money for his cause. The Third Prince wanted to deal with the Fourth Prince, the Lu family, and the Li family.
Fourth Miss Lu's first money-making idea for the Third Prince was to build summer cottages at Tenmile Slope, diluting the profits of the amusement park.
Her second money-making method was ice-making. In previous summers, there wasn't enough ice, and this year, with the weather being even hotter, the ice consumption was greater, making the shortage even more severe. After thinking for several days, Fourth Miss Lu recalled a novel she had read where a time-traveler used saltpeter to make ice and earn a fortune. Although saltpeter couldn't be used to make large ice blocks, opening iced drink shops using saltpeter could still be very profitable.
"Yes, my lady," Mei Saniang acknowledged and left to make arrangements.
Li Xia remembered seeing saltpeter at Zhou Heng's pharmacy. As she left the Third Prince's mansion and prepared to return to Qingyue Street, she saw Cao Fugui and his men engaged in a fight with a group of people.
Seeing that Cao Fugui was at a disadvantage, Li Xia secretly intervened, using wind to sweep away the weapons of the leading attackers. Without their weapons, these people were quickly subdued. Cao Fugui looked around, sensing that someone had helped him.
"What's wrong, young master?" Ding Yi approached Cao Fugui to inquire.
"It's nothing. Take them back for questioning," Cao Fugui led his men back to interrogate the captives.
Returning to Qingyue Street, Li Xia rested for less than two hours before getting up to pay her respects to Mrs. Lu. As she entered the room, she saw that both Mrs. Lu and Li Xin wore expressions of joy.
After Li Xia paid her respects and sat down, Li Xin eagerly said, "Xia, Prince Yongkang has been captured." After the great victory in Liuzhou, Prince Yongkang had vanished without a trace.
The court had been sending people to pursue him, issuing a nationwide warrant, determined to capture Prince Yongkang and his family. Cao Fugui, under imperial orders, had been searching for the Righteous Hero and the Gambling Saint. After finding these two, he unexpectedly uncovered clues about Prince Yongkang's whereabouts. After careful planning, they captured Prince Yongkang, who had been hiding in the capital, last night. No one had expected Prince Yongkang to be hiding in the capital.
"Congratulations, sister." Cao Fugui had accomplished a great feat, ensuring a bright future for himself. With her future husband being so capable, Li Xin's days ahead looked promising. Li Xin blushed shyly, but then worried if Cao Fugui might have been injured. Just as she was wondering what to do, she heard Li Xia speak.
"Mother, should we go to the Cao family to offer our congratulations?" Li Xin's eyes lit up with anticipation.
After breakfast, we went to... Mrs. Lu was pleased. She had promised Li Xin to Cao Fugui, and many people in the Capital City had laughed at her for trying to climb the social ladder by marrying her daughter to a profligate's younger brother. Now Cao Fugui had proven himself capable of great things, indirectly validating Mrs. Lu's foresight.
After breakfast, Mrs. Lu took Li Xin to the Cao residence to offer their congratulations.
Li Xia asked Qiu Ling to send a message to Zhou Heng, arranging to meet at "A Family Bookstore." In the afternoon, Li Xia brought Qiu Shui to the bookstore to balance the accounts. When Zhou Heng arrived at the shop, he found Li Xia reading a storybook.