In this era, people pay attention to parents' orders and matchmaker's words. If you find Zhangsun Pingting, won't you be embarrassing her?
As expected, it was almost the same as Li Xiang expected. Changsun Pingting didn't come out at all. Li Xiang and Wang De were here, especially Wang De who came with them. It must be related to Lu Dongzan. Changsun Chong couldn't do anything himself, so Changsun Pingting said she was not feeling well.
"You were fine at lunch just now, but why are you feeling unwell now? Have you called a doctor?"
Changsun Chong was so thick-skinned that he actually said this. Fortunately, Li Xiang was not an outsider. If he was an outsider, who knows how he would laugh at you. It's hard for Changsun Wuji, a treacherous man, to give birth to such a brainless son. No wonder after Changsun Wuji died, there was no successor in the entire Changsun Mansion.
"Then wait for a while, uncle. There's nothing else to do anyway."
Li Xiang didn't want Chang Sun Chong to continue making trouble. After all, this guy was now a member of his camp. It would be embarrassing for Li Xiang to embarrass himself in front of Wang De. After hearing what Li Xiang said, Chang Sun Chong asked the servant to leave and took out a bag of tea leaves.
Li Xiang has already ordered people to start roasting tea. Although the technology is not very good, it is much better than the Chinese medicinal tea of this era.
In this era, tea was almost always brewed from tree leaves. How could it taste good? Even if the tea Li Xiang brewed tasted average, it was still top-notch for the sons of high-ranking officials in the capital.
"When will this thing be released? We're all still waiting. After tasting this, don't expect us to drink the old tea again. We'd rather drink plain water than that tea."
Chang Sun Chong saw that the amount of tea was getting less and less, and he was a little worried in his heart. You know, nobles don't drink plain water. If they drink plain water, they will be laughed at if they tell others about it. But the tea samples you gave are only this much. Even if they drink it sparingly every day, it will only last about half a month at most.
Li Xiang wants this kind of mentality from you. I will give you some first so that you can develop a habit. When the tea is on the market, the price will be no joke. You people have already formed a habit. If you are unwilling to pay for your habit, you can only drink the traditional Chinese medicine tea or plain water. Anyway, I will spare no effort in calculating your wallets.
"Is this tea delicious?"
Li Xiang did not answer the question, but asked a question instead.
"What unnecessary words you said! You gave a copy to each of us brothers, and now we all treasure it. If it weren't for a distinguished guest, we wouldn't be willing to give it out at all."
Chang Sun Chong was telling the truth. Although the palace also received a portion of it, the amount was extremely small. Wang De was considered a prominent figure in the palace, but his own share was not as much as Chang Sun Chong's. The portions received by the empresses in the various palaces were also extremely scarce.
Wang De would not lack anything if it was tribute from various places. After all, he was the chief eunuch in the palace. Even if it was a rare item shipped from the border area, he could get a share before meeting the emperor. So he had no shortage of various things. The only thing was the tea and perfume that Li Xiang paid tribute to him. These were taken directly to the palace and did not go through the Ministry of Internal Affairs at all. So Wang De had no chance to take advantage of them. Now he was looking at Li Xiang eagerly, wanting to ask when he would start selling them.
"Even you think it tastes good, so you can imagine how difficult it is to make. I've already had my people work harder, but the production is extremely limited. Instead of selling it, I might as well give it to you. The main reason is that the production volume can't be increased at all. We only produce a few dozen kilograms a month..."
Li Xiang didn't even blush when he lied. There were obviously tens of thousands of kilograms in the warehouse, but he reduced the output by hundreds of times in an instant. Although dozens of kilograms sounded like a lot, there were so many dignitaries in Chang'an City. Even if one person came with two kilograms, it would take thousands of kilograms. What's more, there were many capable people outside Chang'an City who could afford the price.
Besides, tea and wine are different. Wine may not be drunk every day, but tea is definitely drunk every day. People need to drink water every day. Wine is something that older men like to drink, but women may not be able to drink it. However, women also need to drink water, so the sales volume is definitely much higher than that of wine.
"Come on, we're all family. Don't I know what's going on? You're definitely just trying to get a high price. Honestly, take this tea for example. If it's a hundred guan per pound out there, there's definitely someone who'll buy it."
Chang Sun Chong’s meaning was very clear, that is, you have already received the price, there is no need to hide it. If you want to make a profit, now is the best opportunity to sell it.
After hearing Changsun Chong's feedback, Li Xiang had an idea in his mind. In theory, this price was acceptable, but Li Xiang needed to gather a large amount of funds, so he would have to wait for a while. It was estimated that after a while, the price would reach 120 strings of cash per catty.
While several people were talking, Changsun Wuji had already returned from outside. There were a lot of things going on in the yamen recently, so Changsun Wuji had to come back in the afternoon. Many officials even had to work overtime there at night. This was also related to the recent adjustments.
"I agree that Tubo wants to marry into the Tang Dynasty, but your cousin has never left the Tang Dynasty..."
After all, they are father and daughter. Although Changsun Wuji does not care much about his daughter's life, if he can let his daughter stay in Chang'an, he still hopes that she will stay in Chang'an. After all, after arriving in Tubo, it means that they will not see each other in this life. In the past, there were women who were married off, and the moment they left Chang'an City, that was the last time they met.
Medicine was not very developed in that era, and there were many cases of people losing their lives due to acclimatization when traveling from one place to another. Even if you were lucky enough to survive, the distance between the two places was too far, and it would take nearly a year to travel back and forth. Unless there was something serious, no one would choose to visit relatives.
Wang De only had ears; he was responsible for reporting to Li Shimin, but not for expressing opinions casually. Li Xiang did have a mouth, but he didn't dare to express his opinions at this time. He didn't know what Changsun Pingting was thinking, so he couldn't say anything in front of Wang De. Of course, this was mainly because he felt guilty...