Mythical Three Kingdoms-Chapter 1773 - 1660: Zhao Yun’s Marriage Fund Was Swindled

At this moment, Zhao Yun, who had always been gentle and refined, suddenly looked as dark as the bottom of a pot. That money was supposed to be his bride price, but it was swindled by Qu Qi. How was he supposed to marry and buy property now?

Back then, Qu Qi was indeed conducting research in this area, trying to cultivate a plant that would awaken Inner Qi when consumed by an average person. However, as the research progressed, various problems arose, and by then so much funding had been misappropriated that the grain research couldn’t continue.

But for Qu Qi to admit to Chen Xi that he misappropriated funds for other research, and failed, losing a large amount of money resulting in insufficient funds for the grain research, was somewhat embarrassing.

Therefore, Qu Qi submitted a funding approval report to Chen Xi, ostensibly a report on the aberration research of plants and animals, a document tens of thousands of words long. To people of this era, it was seen as a book, but to Chen Xi, it was simply a report to scam funding.

In short, it was full of exaggerated claims, but Chen Xi just asked one question: when can the Five-Stone High Yield Grain be produced? If it can’t be, then don’t bother with these things that seem pointless. Thus, this was directly denied by Chen Xi.

However, Qu Qi was already in serious need of funds at that time, and without funds coming in, he likely wouldn’t be able to keep things under wraps. Although being found out would at most result in some scorn from Chen Xi, who would still approve funds, Qu Qi felt it would be too much of a disgrace.

There had been instances of fund misappropriation before, but each time at least some results were produced. Chen Xi would occasionally be surprised and ask how some things were researched, and Qu Qi would proudly say it was something he stumbled upon during other research.

Whenever such things occurred, Chen Xi would be amazed and praise him repeatedly, and subsequently approve more funds. But this time, having messed up so badly, Qu Qi felt too embarrassed to tell Chen Xi the truth, so after being denied, he left dejectedly.

At that time, Qu Qi despised himself for burning so much money and time on something that Chen Xi could see was impossible. Consequently, Qu Qi didn’t approach Chen Xi for more funds after that.

Besides, if Qu Qi had honestly told Chen Xi, he wouldn’t have minded. Research naturally has its times when large sums of gold coins are burned with no results, while every attempt having some result is actually abnormal.

Unfortunately, whether it was the people of this era taking things too seriously or something else, every funding request always yielded results. Even when scamming for funds, there would be something tangible, making this the first time Qu Qi ran out of money without having produced results.

Such an embarrassing matter was something Qu Qi really didn’t want to mention, so after failing to fool Chen Xi, Qu Qi had to come up with another strategy.

First, he squeezed thirty million coins from the Qu Family, but the remaining shortfall of twenty million coins forced him to resort to deceit. After all, at that time, Qu Qi was not yet the Marquis Cang who performed sacrifices, so quietly getting twenty million coins wasn’t that easy.

As for borrowing from others, there wasn’t any good reason, so Qu Qi ultimately had to resort to swindling. But considering that shrewd individuals like Li Youu and Jia Xu wouldn’t be easily fooled, Qu Qi turned his attention to setting up the military generals.

He first eliminated those with families, targeting singles, and then among the singles, those with good tempers. Naturally, Zhao Yun was selected. Qu Qi enthusiastically pitched his idea to Zhao Yun, embellishing it with grand claims. Zhao Yun thought it made sense and believed in it.

Zhao Yun believed it, and with Qu Qi’s shameless assurance, saying that Zhao Yun was so sincere, he would give Zhao Yun a share of the profits, with a seventy-thirty split in favor of Zhao Yun, and even gave him pricing rights. Zhao Yun was almost dumbfounded at the time.

Think about it—a plant that could give people Inner Qi when consumed would undoubtedly become a staple in the future.

At that time, Zhao Yun thought, if the current rural workers in the county earned nine hundred coins a month for hard work, a hundred coins for a plant that could grant Inner Qi was an absolutely down-to-earth price, as affordable as it could get.

The Han Dynasty could easily sell tens of millions of plants, and this business wouldn’t end until everyone perished; it was practically a money-making venture.

So, at that time, Zhao Yun, in a moment of foolishness and daze, handed over a million coins of bridal money and more than a million coins from the Money Exchange to Qu Qi.

Frankly, if Zhao Yun wasn’t getting married these years, even knowing Qu Qi was scamming for funds, he could just go back and demand the money back from Qu Qi.

However, now Zhao Yun was getting married, but his bride price had been swindled away. Not only that, but his entire accumulated stipend for the past few years, including this year, had also been fooled away by Qu Qi. Bear in mind that at Mount Tai, stipends for the whole year are distributed at the beginning of the year. For Chen Xi, as long as you people don’t withdraw the money, it’s just a numbers game.

In simple terms, Zhao Yun now, apart from having a house, was pretty much in negative equity. Yes, he had already run through this year’s stipend in advance.

"Zilong, why do you look so distressed?" Chen Xi noticed Zhao Yun’s face was turning dark and pale, emitting a faint ominous aura.

At this moment, Ma Yunlu, who had been standing behind Zhao Yun all along, also noticed this situation. She reached out and patted Zhao Yun on the back. Zhao Yun turned his head to look at Ma Yunlu and suddenly seemed rather mournful.