Chapter 296 Full of Confidence

Xie Ning'an glanced at Mr. Chai's confident expression and suddenly smiled to himself. He had never known that he had a talent for acting.

He chuckled to himself for a moment, then reached for the few sheets of paper in front of him. His expression was calm, but his eyes gleamed. However, as he was about to put the documents into his sleeve, Mr. Chai pressed his hand down.

“Young Master,” Mr. Chai said, “Now that you are satisfied with the Prince’s sincerity, I hope that you can also show your sincerity.”

Xie Ning'an released her grip on the documents and looked at Mr. Chai, saying, "Didn't you hear people say that I was putting on an act with the Duke of Chu? Indeed, we were putting on an act."

Mr. Chai frowned upon hearing this, and then Xie Ning'an continued, "But just as you said, I am no longer of any use to you. Even if I do as she says, there will be no place for the Xie family in Jufeng Money Shop and Trading Company in the future."

Mr. Chai smiled and said, "Young Master is sober."

Xie Ning'an snorted, "Jiang Yu and the Emperor don't trust me, so why should I trust them? It's all just mutual exploitation."

He focused his gaze on the stack of papers. "Now that I have a way out, I naturally know what to choose."

Mr. Chai nodded, "Then please, young master, show your sincerity."

"What do you want?" Xie Ning'an said, "If you want me to offer a pledge of allegiance, that's impossible. Whatever you want, I'll give it to you. As for anything else... I don't have it, and I can't do it."

Mr. Chai frowned deeply; he hadn't expected Xie Ning'an to be so difficult. His original plan was to get Xie Ning'an to produce a pledge of allegiance, proving his absolute loyalty to the King of Lingnan. And this pledge would be his biggest weakness.

But now.....

"Young Master, this puts me in a difficult position!" Mr. Chai said.

Xie Ning'an leaned back in her chair, her face once again displaying an indifferent expression. "My Xie family has already been ruined because of him, what more does he want from me? No pledge of loyalty, he'll cooperate if he wants, and not if he doesn't..."

Xie Ning'an looked at Mr. Chai, a dangerous smile curving her lips. "You, the strategist of the King of Lingnan, will remain in the capital."

"you....."

"Do you think that just because my Xie family has fallen to such a state, you can do whatever you want with us?" Xie Ning'an's expression was sinister and crazed. "Tell the King of Lingnan that he owes my Xie family an unpayable debt."

........

The room was deathly silent. Mr. Chai stared at Xie Ning'an for a moment, then said, "Young Master, let's talk this out."

"Speak properly?" Xie Ning'an snorted coldly, her usual gentle and refined demeanor gone. "My grandfather, my father, my uncles, more than thirty adult men in the Xie family are all dead. Now I'm the only one left. How can you expect me to speak properly? If you were in my shoes, how would you speak properly?"

Mr. Chai was speechless when asked the question. Then Xie Ning'an let out a long sigh of relief, withdrew her previous stubbornness and anger, and returned to her gentle and refined demeanor. She said, "Don't try to fool me. Just say what you want."

Mr. Chai breathed a long sigh of relief. He truly trusted Xie Ning'an. Moreover, as long as he gave the King of Lingnan what he wanted, wouldn't that be a form of pledge of allegiance? His earlier request for Xie Ning'an to provide other forms of pledge was merely to add another bargaining chip to their cooperation.

“Very well, since the eldest young master has said so, I, Chai, will not beat around the bush any longer,” Mr. Chai said. “Your Highness wants the printing template for the banknotes of Jufeng Bank.”

"Heh!" Xie Ning'an chuckled. "Trying to print counterfeit banknotes and sabotage the Duke of Chu's reforms?"

Mr. Chai remained silent, while Xie Ning'an said, "That's fine. Anyway, whether the Great Gan court is having a hard time or the King of Lingnan is having a hard time, I'm happy."

He stood up. "I'll bring it to you at this time tomorrow."

He was about to leave when Mr. Chai called out to him, "Young Master, please wait. This is Yue Niang. She has been learning how to serve others since she was a child. Let her serve by your side from now on."

Xie Ning'an turned to look at him, a mocking smile on her face, "Don't try to use such low-class tricks on me next time."

Having said that, he walked away without stopping, leaving Mr. Chai standing there in silence for a long time. Yue Niang looked at him cautiously and said, "I didn't expect Young Master Xie to be this kind of person; he's indeed not easy to deal with."

Mr. Chai sat down, poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip, and said, "He was once known as the number one young master in the capital, but then someone else appeared and overshadowed his reputation."

Moon Maiden asked in confusion, "Who?"

Mr. Chai: "Jiang Yu, Duke of Chu."

Yue Niang had certainly heard of the Duke of Chu's reputation, but she didn't know how to comment for a moment. After a while, she heard Mr. Chai say, "I'd like to meet this remarkable woman."

........

Xie Ning'an walked back to the Xie residence. When he reached the gate, he stopped and glanced to his left out of the corner of his eye. He sneered inwardly, thinking that there were quite a few people interested in him now.

Upon returning to his study, he picked up a pen, wrote a letter, and then handed it to his attendant, "to be delivered to the Duke of Chu."

He and Jiang Yu had naturally agreed on the channels for transmitting information long ago.

At that moment, Jiang Yu was in the imperial study, discussing plans with the emperor to deal with the Prince of Lingnan, when she heard him say, "...I received a message from Xie Ning'an that the Prince of Lingnan's people asked to meet him today. I suppose they have already met."

Although the emperor already knew about this plan, he still couldn't help but ask, "Is Xie Ning'an trustworthy?"

Although Xie Ning'an's life was spared, the emperor never trusted him from the beginning. When Jiang Yu heard the emperor's question, he said with certainty, "He is trustworthy. Xie Ning'an is a smart man. He knows that only by cooperating with the court can the Xie family have a way out."

The emperor hummed in agreement. Although he was quite certain that he would ultimately win the struggle against the Prince of Lingnan, he still didn't trust Xie Ning'an. However, since Jiang Yu had spoken up and the plan had already been implemented, the emperor wanted to give Xie Ning'an a chance.

“Go on,” the emperor said.

Jiang Yu: "If the plan goes smoothly, after Xie Ning'an provides the Lingnan King with the engraving template, the Lingnan King will proceed with the engraving. Once we have evidence that he is printing counterfeit banknotes, in order to prevent him from resorting to desperate measures, we will send Chengen Marquis to suppress the bandits. I expect the Lingnan King will soon receive information about the bandit suppression."

The emperor nodded. "What if the King of Lingnan also colludes with the Southern Barbarians?"

Jiang Yu: "Then we'll have to see what the Southern Barbarians do. If they really want to take advantage of the situation, they should be prepared to be robbed in return. I think for the generals on the frontier, blowing up one or two of the Southern Barbarians' city walls or granaries with explosives shouldn't be a problem."

The emperor laughed heartily upon hearing this, saying, "You are right, my dear minister."

The emperor spoke with great confidence at this moment.