On the Day of the Grand Wedding, My Wife Was Acting Strange - Chapter 53:

Chapter 53: Lin Zhen, the Evil Capitalist

“Nonsense! Absurd!” Gu Yunting’s brows were tightly furrowed with confusion and indignation, his voice heavy like iron.

“Gambling King? How ridiculous of that Lin Zhen to come up with such a title. In all the long history, I’ve never heard of such a title among the nobility! This act not only disgraces the royal family but shakes the very foundation of the nation! No, I must enter the palace immediately to question Her Majesty why she would issue such a muddled decree!”

“Father, wait!” A sly glint flashed across Gu Beichen’s eyes.

“Since the decree has been issued, there must be deeper reasoning. Perhaps that bastard Lin Zhen has already made secret arrangements with Her Majesty. If we rush into the palace now, we might only anger Her Majesty. This matter requires careful planning and a foolproof strategy.”

Gu Nanshan finally showed a trace of approval.

This was the demeanor a favored son of Heaven should have.

He must have been clouded by anger these past days, leading him to make repeated mistakes.

Stroking his beard, he asked, “Oh? Then what does the young master suggest?”

“I think we should first act as if we see nothing and find a way to indirectly inform Lin Zhenxian about the treasure. With Lin Zhenxian’s upright and strict nature, even if he has no intention of returning the money, he will never let Lin Zhen squander it at will. This way, we can temporarily restrain Lin Zhen and make him act cautiously.”

Gu Nanshan nodded in agreement, his expression as if immersed in the most exquisite poetry.

Gu Yunting also felt gratified by his son’s steadiness and wisdom, sitting calmly to listen.

Gu Beichen continued, “Second, we should secretly send people to the casino to gather information and understand what this Gambling King Tournament is all about. Only by understanding the full picture can we act at the right moment. Although we still don’t know what Lin Zhen is up to, as long as we strike at the right time, we can definitely stop him! For our current situation, preventing Lin Zhen from achieving anything is already a great victory!”

“As for Zhang Li…” Gu Beichen’s mouth curved into a cruel and playful smile.

“Once she falls into my hands, let’s see how I’ll deal with her!”

“I’ll make her understand how unbearable the price of betraying the Gu family is!”

…

“Achoo!”

Zhang Li sneezed, rubbing her nose irritably.

Damn this fickle weather—hot one moment, cold the next, with large temperature swings between day and night.

Lin Zhen draped his cloak over her shoulders, then returned to doodling on his blueprint.

Zhang Li leaned over to look but couldn’t quite understand. She only saw lots of lines and boxes, so she asked, “Young master, what are you drawing?”

“City expressway.”

“Expressway? What’s that?”

“It’s a road where only carriages can go, but people can’t.”

Zhang Li tilted her head, resting her hand on her beautiful temple, slightly shaking her head.

The two sat together at the gambling table. Lin Zhen set down his brush, picked up the blueprint, and explained.

“Li’er, look. The Vermillion Bird Street from the South City Gate to the palace is nearly ten zhang wide, with people walking around freely, crossing the road at will. For safety, the court has prohibited horse riding on Vermillion Bird Street, so many officials have to walk to court. To avoid being late, they have to leave an hour earlier.”

Lin Zhen used the other end of the brush to point at the blueprint.

“If we separate a five-zhang-wide lane in the middle, mark it with dividing lines, and have carriages move in opposite directions in the center, it would be safer and more convenient for traffic. Most importantly, if officials or citizens need to go out urgently, they can travel much faster.”

Though Zhang Li didn’t fully understand the technical terms, she roughly grasped Lin Zhen’s meaning, her eyes sparkling as she said.

“So, you mean, the court banned horse riding on Vermillion Bird Street but didn’t say anything about carriages.”

“Exactly! That’s why I had you make the carriages,” Lin Zhen said proudly.

“In Great Qian, horses are precious military supplies. Ordinary people can’t afford or even buy them. But for me, I can have as many as I want! The four major camps outside the city alone have ten thousand warhorses at my disposal! We can turn these warhorses into carriages for the common people, charging two copper coins for a ride, and one more for every tea time’s journey. With 500,000 people in the city, even if each carriage only earns 100 copper coins a day, with 300 carriages, that’s thirty taels of silver a day.”

Zhang Li’s jaw dropped, her little hands clattering on the abacus.

After a moment, she was overwhelmed, exclaiming, “Thirty taels a day is over ten thousand a year! And it’s not just for the commoners—officials and merchants can use them too!”

As a seasoned businesswoman, Zhang Li immediately thought of add-ons. “We can use the best warhorses and the most luxurious carriages for officials. For merchants, we can have simple exteriors but luxurious interiors! That’s another huge profit!”

“So clever!” Lin Zhen flicked her nose, making her giggle uncontrollably.

“Kekeke, young master, stop it! But we still have the issue of drivers. Even if you use all your servants, you won’t have enough for 300 carriages.”

“I won’t use the servants. We’ll hire directly at the market. All applicants must have clean records and family guarantees. Each driver must pay a daily franchise fee of 80 copper coins. The rest is their salary. We don’t cover their food or other expenses.”

Currently, Great Qian was far from peaceful. The people needed unity and hard work.

Once Lin Zhen unified the world, he would find ways to improve people’s welfare.

But for now, as long as people had enough to eat and wore warm clothes, that was enough. Too much comfort would only bring trouble.

Zhang Li resumed clattering on the abacus and finally said, “Even if the drivers only make 20 copper coins a day, that’s still six silver coins a month, which is considered high income in Great Qian.”

Such an evil capitalist!

Sometimes, Lin Zhen even wanted to slap himself.

He recalled working summer jobs in college back in the modern world.

The restaurant owner made 5,000 a day, doing nothing but flirting with the waitresses.

Lin Zhen, sweating all day wiping tables, only earned 60, and even then, had to smile and bow when asking for pay.

Damn it. To get revenge, when he quit, Lin Zhen clogged the restaurant’s toilet with crushed bricks, making the owner spend 800 to fix it.

And now, he had become the capitalist himself.

Exploiting the people, squeezing the workers—no different.

Sigh, couldn’t they be a little kinder to their own people?

But one thing Lin Zhen was sure of: the drivers would never make less than 20 copper coins a day, which was already quite good compared to the average living standards of Great Qian’s people.

Lin Zhen spent the entire afternoon in the casino, drawing up plans for all the streets and markets of the capital to submit to the Ministry of Works tomorrow.

The Minister of Works was an old scholar with ties to Lin Zhenxian, so he shouldn’t make things difficult over this.

Everything arranged, Lin Zhen was ready to head home and rest.

Unexpectedly, at the door, he ran into Xiao Cui.