"I haven't finished yet. In a few days, both coal and stoves will be on sale. A stove will cost 50 wen, and coal will be 3 wen per jin. Currently, the amount mined is still small, but the price will continue to drop later."
Li Ke raised his hand, signaling everyone to calm down.
The common people began to cheer. Coal only cost 3 wen per jin! It was much cheaper than charcoal! Not to mention that he said the price would drop!
Even if the price didn't drop, it was still very cost - effective.
While the common people were happy, the expressions on Yang Yuzhi and Yang Shuzhi's faces were far from pleasant. Yang Yuzhi rolled up his sleeves and cursed. If Yang Shuzhi hadn't stopped him, he might have slapped Li Ke right then.
He was extremely arrogant and didn't put any princes or royal descendants in his eyes.
Wasn't it just that they were lucky enough to rule the world? Otherwise, who knew where their siblings would be hiding!
"Cousin, don't be impulsive. There are too many people here. It's not a good place to act. We need to plan this carefully." Yang Shuzhi quickly pulled his unreliable cousin back and managed to persuade him after much coaxing.
When he turned around, he found that there was also a group of people gathered in front of their shop. Obviously, there were fewer people than the previous group.
Was there a conflict?
Seeing that her third brother had appeased the common people, Li Jingyun excitedly dragged him through the crowd and rushed to the entrance of the Yang family's shop. She mingled in the crowd to watch the commotion.
There were seven or eight middle - aged women in their forties blocking the shop entrance. Each of them was holding a large amount of charcoal. The leader among them shouted angrily, "These coals of yours are so hard to burn! They're useless! How dare you ask me for money?"
"Exactly! Why hasn't anyone scolded you before? What a thing! A piece of charcoal can last a year? And you dare to charge such a high price?"
Yang Yuanming asked, "How much did you pay per jin?"
"Four wen! But we're not going to pay! How dare you ask for money for such things? You should just give them to us for free!"
The leading woman put her hands on her hips and shouted at the top of her lungs, acting like a madwoman.
At first, the common people who felt pity for them because the Yang family had raised the price also sensed something was wrong.
Four wen wasn't expensive, and the quality of their charcoal was actually quite good.
These people were just here to cause trouble, right?
How stupid could they be to pick a fight with the Yang family? Didn't they know that Yang Shidao, the head of the Yang family, was a prime minister?!
One of the onlookers recognized one of the women and sighed inwardly. Doing housework at home must have finally driven her crazy. How many lives did she have to dare to make the Yang family unhappy? Moreover, just listen to what she was saying. Was that even reasonable? She was always greedy for small gains and delusional enough to think she could take a piece of the Yang family.
"You mean you think the charcoal is no good and they shouldn't charge you so much?"
Li Jingyun was completely confused, so she simply asked.
"It's not about not charging me so much. They shouldn't charge me at all! I don't need to pay for firewood when I go to the mountains. Others don't charge. Why should your family? Little girl, who are you? Why are you speaking for them?"
Another woman shouted and refused to let it go.
This shout almost scared Li Jingyun. She swallowed hard and calmed herself down. "My name is Li Jingyun. My title is Princess Chengyang."
Facing such shameless people, she decided to reveal her identity.
Normally, she would try to talk things out first, but in this situation, it seemed impossible.
"Greetings to Princess Chengyang and His Highness, the Prince of Wu."
Others could pretend not to recognize them, but the Yang brothers couldn't. Since their identities had been revealed, they bowed respectfully.
"Please rise," Li Ke said. "Yang Yuzhi, Yang Shuzhi, since you're here, my sister and I won't say much."
"Exactly. Thank you, Your Highnesses, for speaking up for us."
After Yang Yuzhi finished speaking, he waved his hand. Immediately, a group of servants ran out and surrounded the seven or eight trouble - making women.
One of the women was not convinced and slapped a guard. The slap was so loud that the sound reached the ears of the shop assistants on the upper floor.
All of Yang Yuzhi's kindness disappeared in an instant. A flash of killing intent appeared in his eyes, but he couldn't act because Li Ke and his sister were present.
Li Ke took Li Jingyun's hand. "Let's go, Hongxuan. It's too cold outside. Let's go back to the imperial city and report this to Father."
"Okay!"
Finally, they left, and the onlookers also dispersed.
"Beat them!" Yang Yuzhi shouted through gritted teeth. The servants rushed forward without mercy.
It was a real fight, and the opponents had no chance to fight back. Two punches could knock one of them down. A group of young men in their twenties easily defeated the seven or eight absurd middle - aged women. They were all black and blue.
They had the energy to scold just now, but now they couldn't even utter a curse.
"Send them to the magistrate of Chang'an County. Tell them that these people offended His Highness, the Prince of Wu, and Princess Chengyang. It'd be best if they could be beheaded immediately." After Yang Yuzhi finished speaking, he immediately turned around and went upstairs. He felt disgusted just looking at these people for one more second.
This time, he had let Li Ke and his sister watch a show. He had to regain his dignity.
As for these troublemakers, he believed that the magistrate of Chang'an County wasn't stupid and knew how to judge the case.
Yang Shuzhi followed his cousin and instructed, "Get rid of the families of these people as well. I don't want to see them ever again."
"Yes, sir. I understand."
Yang Shuzhi finally calmed down. He waved his sleeve and followed his cousin upstairs.
What a bad day with such a thing happening!
On the second floor, the charcoal was burning, making crackling sounds. Yang Yuzhi could still see the bloodstains on the ground that hadn't been cleaned up properly from his high position. His expression was displeased. Yang Yuanming brought a group of charming dancers again, but after being scolded by Yang Shuzhi, the dancers were sent away, and the door was tightly closed.
Yang Shuzhi brought a cup of tea over. "Cousin, don't be angry about those people. Just think of it as being bitten by a stray mad dog."
"I know. I shouldn't be entangled with those blind fools. The coal that the Prince of Wu and the little princess are promoting is the most important thing now. They've set the price so low. Can they really make a profit? They're not really planning to sell coal at a loss, are they?" Yang Yuzhi took the tea, took a sip, and sighed softly.
It wasn't impossible.
Li Ke was okay, but Li Jingyun was completely crazy and couldn't be judged by common sense.
She built the library in the name of providing free books for all scholars in the world. The price of the sweaters was incredibly low, even cheaper than a custom - made dress, also under the banner of keeping everyone in the world warm.
"We can't just sit back and do nothing. We should at least fight for it. Otherwise, everyone will buy the cheap coal. What about our charcoal? We're counting on this season to make some money this year." Yang Shuzhi, in any case, wasn't going to give up so easily.
Charcoal had carbon monoxide, and coal did too. The only advantage of coal was its low price. If something serious happened, this only advantage would become insignificant.
Soon, he formed a perfect plan in his mind.
Even if it didn't succeed, it could still annoy the siblings and prevent the coal from selling.
As for those blind and greedy middle - aged women, they were immediately thrown into prison without hesitation and died in prison three days later. It was said that it was because the jailer had served them moldy and spoiled food. Was the jailer punished? Maybe just a token punishment of drinking three cups of wine?
And their relatives all went to hell to accompany them. The Yang brothers were no good people. They had picked the wrong target.