Don't Talk to Me About Love: It Costs Money

The farming heroine who provides for her family x the protective Crown Prince

I died suddenly while doing the accounts. When I opened my eyes again, I was a concubine-born daughter of the Prime Minister's household, exiled to the countryside.

The System said: Win over the Crown Prince and turn your life around.

I said: Forget winning anyone over. First, let's make some money.

I borrowed fifty taels of silver, bought twenty mu of wasteland, planted cucumbers, built greenhouses, and started growing out-of-season vegetables. I expanded from twenty mu to three thousand, and went from penniless to earning ten thousand taels a month.

Crown Prince Xiao Yan was an unexpected turn. He lent me money, saying, “Call it an investment.” He cleared the way for me, saying, “I just didn't stop you.” He prosecuted the Prime Minister's household, saying, “They broke the law.” Every time he helped, he dressed it up as business.

My legitimate elder sister called me a commodity. A crooked merchant said he would crush me. At court, officials impeached him for “competing with the people for profit.” He stood in the great hall and said, “Shen Luxi sells vegetables at twenty percent below market price, benefiting three hundred thousand people in the capital. And you call that competing with the people for profit?”

The day I had earned ten thousand taels, I returned his banknotes.

He asked me, “What are we to each other?”

I said, “Lifelong business partners.”

He smiled. “Then how about upgrading that to lifelong spouses? Interested?”

Don't talk to me about love. It costs money. But with you, I could talk about it for a lifetime.