"This..." The official contract for doing business in Xijiang State is not an ordinary item. The Cui family never thought that Wan Xueying would make such a request, so Cui Yincheng was undecided for a while.
"There's no rush about this. Just discuss it with the second young master Cui and the person in charge of the Cui family and then give me an answer." Wan Xueying was not in a hurry anyway.
"Okay," Cui Yincheng nodded. "I'll have to discuss this with my father and my eldest brother before I can give you an answer. Anything else? Miss Wan, do you have any requests?"
"Although I feel a little embarrassed, how should I calculate the hard work of taking a group of people to Xijiang to feed the people and horses and help find water sources?" One thing is one thing, even though she thinks she has earned it by getting an official contract, she doesn't want to go to Xijiang for nothing!
"That's easy," Cui Yincheng said cheerfully. "My eldest brother said he can pay Miss Wan one thousand taels for travel expenses. Once Miss Wan arrives in Xijiang, she'll be rewarded with five hundred taels for every water source she helps our family find. The more water you find, the bigger the reward."
Wan Xueying's eyes lit up. Why else would they say the Cui family was so wealthy? They offered five hundred, a thousand, right off the bat. It wasn't hard to see how shrewd they were, charging per piece for finding water sources. To make more money, she'd be working like crazy.
"Alright," Wan Xueying readily agreed. "If Second Master Cui has any news about the official contract, please let me know as soon as possible so I can go to Xijiang and help you find a water source."
"Okay, I will definitely give Miss Wan a reply as soon as possible."
The two of them discussed the matter, and Du Jin was very satisfied. He even suggested that Shen Yu bring Wan Xueying to his home in the county government. However, Shen Yu and Wan Xueying declined the offer, as they had to return early to make arrangements for their trip to Xijiang.
Shen Yu was not stupid enough to ask Sun Jianzhang for leave and say that he was going to Xijiang State. Unfortunately, he accidentally fell off his horse during training. The military doctor diagnosed that he had broken his waist and needed to rest in bed for one or two months.
"Why are you so careless?" Upon learning that he had fallen off his horse, Sun Jianzhang specially went to visit him with his personal guards. Naturally, he learned from the military doctor that he needed to stay in bed to rest.
"I never thought someone would attack my horse with a stone while I was riding so well." To make it more realistic, Shen Yu asked Bei Wu to secretly hit his horse with a stone. Of course, it was only a minor injury.
"Then who do you think did it?" Although Sun Jianzhang had a guess about who might have done it, he didn't say it out loud.
"I don't know either." Shen Yu would not take the initiative to say the name. It would be more convincing if he let everyone guess.
"Then you should take good care of yourself during this period. But... I don't know who will be responsible for the things you are in charge of?" Sun Jianzhang now seriously suspects that Shen Yu deliberately gave up the responsibility at this time because he was afraid that he would not be able to deliver the work by the end of the year.
"I think General Li is capable of taking on this important task." Shen Yu's desire for revenge was exposed openly.
"He is busy training regular formations now and definitely has no time to take over." Sun Jianzhang rejected Shen Yu's proposal without even thinking.
"Sir, you can try to talk to him. Whether it succeeds or not is another matter." Shen Yu didn't really want to give up his power, but some people are like that. The more you ask them to do something, the less they'll do it. And when you don't ask them to do something, they'll do it even more enthusiastically. Fearing that Li Yongqing might cause trouble again during this period, he decided to switch from being passive to being proactive.
"Let me make it clear in advance that I am only responsible for talking to him. Whether he agrees or not is his business." Sun Jianzhang obviously understood Shen Yu's little thoughts.
"Thank you, sir!"
Shen Yu pretended to get up, but was stopped by Sun Jianzhang, "Hurry up and lie down, don't let your waist injury get worse."
"Thank you for your consideration!"
"Stop saying these sour words."
When Sun Jianzhang summoned Li Yongqing to the meeting hall to ask if he was responsible for Shen Yu's fall from his horse, Li Yongqing cursed and said someone must have framed him. He was so busy that he didn't have the energy to harm Shen Yu. However, he didn't realize that Shen Yu had done it himself.
"You don't have the energy to harm Shen Yu?" Sun Jianzhang's mouth twitched, "Do you mean you still want to harm him?" A rogue is a rogue, he doesn't know how to conceal his feelings at all, and he said what was in his heart in just a few words.
"I just can't stand these pretty boys like them. They have no skills at all, but they want to come to the military camp and gain military merits just because they have a good family background."
"Didn't the Duke of Ping's Mansion cease to exist? Besides, he's not completely incompetent. He's also very hardworking."
"Ability? Hardship? Forget it." It was said that Shen Yu had been making the reserve soldiers run circles all day, or stabbing with crudely forged red tassel spears. It was unclear what they were getting out of it. He even broke his own waist. How could he not die from the fall?
"Okay, I called you here for another reason." Sun Jianzhang sometimes had to consider Li Yongqing's face, and he didn't intend to play the role of peacemaker to resolve the conflict between Li Yongqing and Shen Yu. He just told Li Yongqing that Shen Yu wanted to delegate power and hand over the things he was in charge of to Li Yongqing.
Not surprisingly, Li Yongqing waved his hands after hearing this and said, "I've said it many times, I will never interfere in those matters again." He had finally handed the mess to Shen Yu, so how could he take it back again?
"You really won't take over?"
"certainly."
"Then who do you think is suitable?" Sun Jianzhang asked.
"We are all busy. Let the pretty boy take care of it himself after his waist gets better." Li Yongqing refused outright. He wanted to see how Shen Yu would report to the authorities at the end of the year.
"Okay, I'll talk to Shen Yu."
When Shen Yu learned from Sun Jianzhang that no one was willing to take over this mess, he wasn't concerned. He had finally made a name for himself in the reserve team, so he wasn't about to give it up. All he had to do was make sure no one caused trouble while he was away.
So before he left under the pretense of returning to Yushu Village to recuperate, he left Beiwu behind to continue training the troops.
The Cui family had its own special channel for transmitting information. Cui Yincheng soon received a message from his eldest brother saying that he had agreed to the official contract that Wan Xueying wanted for traveling to and from Xijiang State for business, but it could only be a copy of the official contract, which was equivalent to a secondary card, with a validity period of five years.
Even rubbings have quantity requirements. A large trading company can only issue one official deed and five rubbings at most.
The prerequisite is that Wan Xueying first reports the name of her own shop to the local government, and then registers it under the Cui family's trading company in Dayan.
Although it was only five years and it was under the umbrella of someone else's trading company, this was enough for Wan Xueying, who had not yet started her business.
However, naming a shop is not a simple matter. In addition to being loud and easy to remember, it also needs to be calculated by someone for good luck before it can be decided.
Wan Xueying was no exception. She brainstormed a few names, then had them calculated, ultimately settling on "Wanfeng." From now on, all her shops would bear these two names. For the first five years, they would be registered under the Cui family's business and at the county government office.
Of course, in order to avoid disputes, the two parties also privately signed a contract for the "Wanfeng" shop to rent the Xijiang Cui Ji official deed rubbing for free.
Because the Cui family was anxious, Wan Xueying did not delay. After discussing with Shen Yu, she decided to take only Shunzi and Nanying to Xijiang.
"You really aren't going with us?" After the two sides met at the agreed location, Cui Yincheng was surprised to learn that Wan Xueying, Shen Yu and the others were not going to Cui's house with him. "Then how can we protect you?"
Whether or not they can find a water source is key to the future fortunes of the Cui family. The Cui family attaches great importance to Wan Xueying's safety and has sent a large number of guards to wait at the border between the two countries to protect them.
"Does your family have any enemies in Xijiang?" Wan Xueying asked instead of answering.
"A big tree attracts the wind, of course."
"If I go with you guys, won't I just become a target for people to shoot at me?"
"So what do you mean?"
"You find a stand-in to pretend to be me, and we will go there as ordinary businessmen." Wan Xueying told Cui Yincheng the idea she and Shen Yu had discussed in the morning.
"But this road was already unstable, and with the severe drought, even more people turned to banditry."
"You can leave a few good men to protect us secretly. We have the ability to protect ourselves." Wan Xueying said.
"Okay then," Cui Yincheng nodded, "Let's do as you wish."
"Don't forget to find me a woman who understands our two languages."
"This has been arranged. Sister Xue, come and meet Lord Shen and Miss Wan."
Following Cui Yincheng's gaze, Wan Xueying saw a middle-aged woman with a very ordinary appearance, and Wan Xueying was very satisfied with this.
"Your servant greets Lord Shen! You greet Miss Wan!" Sister Xue bowed politely to the two of them.
"Sister Xue, right?" Wan Xueying said with a smile, "I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you for the next part."
"Miss Wan, you're welcome. Please feel free to tell me if you have anything to say."
Just like that, Wan Xueying, wearing men's coarse cloth clothes and a men's bun, just like when she followed the exile team before, and together with Shen Yu and others who were dressed simply, they formed a caravan from Linggu Pass, driving two mule carts loaded with some fur-trimmed cloaks and capes into Dongying County in Xijiang.
After all, selling goods was fake, and their real purpose was to find a water source. They also didn't want to be too conspicuous on the road, so they didn't take much goods this time.
Shen Yu is a military officer. In order to hide his identity, he can only pretend to be Qiu Shi and disguise himself as Wan Xueying's servant.
The rubbing of the official deed was a big help in their smooth customs clearance. Wan Xueying never imagined that one day she would have such an identity and opportunity to go abroad.
"From here on, most of the land belongs to our Cui family." On the way, Xue Sao and Wan Xueying, who were riding in the same mule cart, introduced the land.
"So this is where I should start looking for water?"
"It would be great if she could." Mrs. Xue was also looking forward to seeing Wan Xueying's abilities.
"There's no rush, let's talk about it later." She didn't want to reveal her identity as soon as she arrived. Wouldn't all the preparations she had made before be in vain?
"I will listen to Miss Wan." Although Mrs. Xue was a little disappointed, she did not show it and continued to introduce other things that could be revealed to Wan Xueying.
As the two were chatting on the road, a group of people appeared out of nowhere. Wan Xueying originally thought that there would be robbers so soon, but she didn't expect that those people passed them and seemed to be running towards the same destination.
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