Chapter 29: Two Empty-handed
"No?"
Ji Shu was shocked.
The pen in her hand hung awkwardly in mid-air. Ji Shuzhen regretted asking that extra question.
Her brother did the same; he wrote letters to everyone in the family except his sister-in-law. What else could this be but intentional?
Ji Shu secretly observed Yu An sitting to the side and explained, "Perhaps there was an accident on the way. The journey is long, and servants at home are most prone to making mistakes. Last time, one of the letters my brother sent home was lost..."
Yu An didn't care. If he didn't write for her, she didn't have to write for him either, which saved her trouble.
Ji Shu winked at Baozhu, and Baozhu, seeing this, simply put down her teacup and went about her business, seemingly not caring at all.
Ji Shu was puzzled by the actions of the master and servant, and felt sorry for Ji Jinghe. She didn't know what had happened between the couple, but she could feel a deep estrangement between them, to the point that they had become strangers who were forced to nod to each other.
No wonder Shen Qiulan kept arranging for Ji Jinghe to take a concubine, and Yu An didn't react at all, being very obedient.
"sister in law……"
Yu An pointed to the words she had written, "You have to be careful with your strokes..."
She deliberately changed the subject, and Ji Shu didn't press the matter. Remembering the sachets she had sold a few days ago, she recalled, "Sister-in-law, several daughters of high-ranking officials want you to embroider according to their specified patterns, and they'll charge an extra five taels of silver for each one."
Yu An: "Sure."
Ji Shu: "But they need to leave in seven days."
But what if she has to squeeze in some time? She can do it while people still find it interesting. Once her tricks become outdated, it won't be as easy to make money.
Yu An: "I'll have Bao Zhu deliver it to you in seven days."
Ji Shu noticed the haggard look on her face and felt a mix of emotions. She remembered that Yu An's dowry was quite substantial, so why was she so disregarding the money and rushing to pay it off?
However, some things couldn't be asked directly, so she could only keep them to herself. After practicing the last piece of small regular script, Ji Shu went back.
Yu'an tidied up the paper and pens on the table, and Baozhu came in afterward.
“Miss, the carriage we sent to Jiangling to pick up the young master was stopped by the madam.”
Yu An asked in bewilderment, "Didn't he leave this morning?"
Baozhu: "I had just left the mansion this morning, and hadn't even walked two streets before I was stopped and brought back."
If she hadn't happened to see it while going to the kitchen, she probably would have thought the car was still on the road the next day.
Shen Qiulan didn't want the Ji family and the Chu family to get involved, so she stopped the car that was supposed to take Chu Zhuoan back to Beijing for the New Year.
Since she couldn't divorce Yu An for Ji Jinghe, she could only start with these small things. For example, she knew that Chu Xingjian's memorial tablet was still enshrined in the half-acre courtyard. Should she also have it thrown away?
Baozhu said angrily, "Now that you, Miss, are in charge of managing the household affairs, what right does she have to interfere? I'll send someone to do it again right now..."
"Never mind," Yu An said helplessly.
She knew Shen Qiulan's temperament all too well; the more she went against her wishes, the more difficult Shen Qiulan became. Since Shen Qiulan didn't want to get involved with the Chu family, Yu'an didn't want to make things difficult for either of them.
"Let's pack up and leave first, we'll talk about the rest later."
Before she knew it, late autumn had passed, and she had put on a light coat. There were many trivial matters in the mansion, and she could hardly leave her side every day. Ji Jinghe would be back in half a month, so she could only take advantage of the day of Minor Snow to go out and burn paper money for her parents.
The once vast Chu mansion has been raided and its servants dismissed; now she is the only one left to take care of everything.
After cleaning the two graves and burning all the paper money, it was getting dark. Since they had finally come out, the master and servant decided to have a meal at a restaurant outside and also went to the security escort agency.
Baozhu got out of the carriage and inquired at two places. When she returned to the carriage to report to Yu'an, she shook her head and said, "After winter comes the New Year. The escort agency is doing too well. For jobs like taking on young masters, you need to pay hundreds of taels of silver before anyone is willing to take them on."
The capital city and Jiangling are too far apart, taking a month to travel back and forth, and requiring two bodyguards skilled in martial arts. If the price isn't high, the escort agency won't make any money.
They took advantage of the time before winter and the Lunar New Year to make money.
Yu An asked in surprise, "That's too expensive... Can't we negotiate the price?"
Baozhu shook her head: "The escort agencies are scrambling to hire him, so we'd be willing to raise the price."
A hundred taels of silver is really too expensive; she would have to work day and night for a month making sachets to barely earn it back.
Sometimes living in the capital isn't a good thing.
Baozhu suddenly remembered, "Isn't Young Master Pei's hometown also in Jiangling? Why don't you send someone to ask? If they also want to bring people back to the capital from Jiangling, wouldn't that be perfect?"
They're even more reliable than the people from the security escort agency.
Yu An: "This is too much trouble..."
Baozhu: "In times of emergency, we should act expediently. If Young Master Pei helps, Miss, you can just give him a return gift. Anything you embroider will do."
*
Yuzhou Post Station.
Recently, he had been buried in piles of documents and could not eat dinner until he returned to the post station in the evening. Just as Qingque asked someone to take the food away, he heard Ji Jinghe ask about the family letters again.
"Hasn't it arrived yet?"
Qingque was slightly taken aback; he had asked the same question just yesterday.
"Not yet. I heard that some places have seen light snow. Perhaps the journey has been delayed."
After a long silence, Ji Jinghe asked again, "How are the things I asked you to prepare?"
Qingque: "It's all taken care of. As instructed by the master, we've specially selected some elegant fabrics for the young mistress."
The fabric is simple and elegant, making it perfectly appropriate to wear during mourning.
Ji Jinghe picked up his teacup, then seemed to remember something and instructed, "Besides these, keep an eye out for jewelry. If you find anything fashionable, just buy it."
Qingque responded.
Qingque had just left when Weiji arrived.
After investigating day and night for seven days, we finally got the results.
Wei Ji: "As instructed by our master, we went to the site to compare the land according to the fish scale map. Indeed, there were many vacant plots that were not registered. We asked the tenants one by one. Some of their harvests were given to the Zheng family, and some were given to other people. But in the end, all of them were inseparable from the Zheng family."
They were either servants or managers of the Zheng family, or relatives of the Zheng family. After the autumn harvest, all the grain was placed in the Zheng family's grain shop for resale, and the price was often driven down to the lowest market price.
Ji Jinghe: "Sell?"
The tenants had no harvest to begin with, and they barely had enough food to survive, so why would they sell it?
Wei Ji: "It's less about selling and more about coercion. Yuzhou is already short of food. If the tenants are unwilling to sell, they will be beaten by the landlords. Some will even break into the houses and steal the grain directly."
Selling the grain might temporarily save one's life, allowing them to barely survive on government relief throughout the year. If all else fails, they could borrow money from the Zheng family to buy more grain, becoming tenants of the Zheng family for generations. Not selling the grain, on the other hand, meant gambling on one's own lifespan, resilience, and the safety of the stored grain. If the gamble paid off, everyone would be happy; if it failed, one would lose both their life and their wealth.
Looking at the list of households connected to the Zheng family in his hand, Ji Jinghe couldn't help but sneer: "So, the Zheng family is living off both the government and the tenants."
One is evaded taxes, and the other is hard-earned money.
Wei Ji: "According to the people, not only that, even the relief grain allocated by the court only amounted to a bowl of thin porridge per person per day. In the end, they still had to survive by gnawing on tree bark. If they wanted to exchange for grain, they had to sell their land and people."
The disaster relief efforts in Yuzhou were personally directed by the King of Chu; such a scandalous incident is utterly absurd.
Wei Ji: "Among the collateral branches of the Zheng family, there is a household head who is related to the chief secretary of the King of Chu, and we have found that the Zheng family has been sending money to money shops in the capital."
Ji Jinghe raised his head, and the two men, master and servant, looked at each other, some things were self-evident.
The capital city is very likely the capital of the Chu Kingdom.
Now that the time for establishing an heir has come, Ji Jinghe doesn't need to investigate thoroughly; what he knows at present is enough to impeach the King of Chu.
Ji Jinghe: "Continue the investigation; the more evidence, the better."
On the day of the banquet, several of his secret guards infiltrated Zheng's residence but found nothing, demonstrating their vigilance. Now, half a month has passed, and with just one piece of solid evidence, he can directly impeach Zheng.
Just as he was pondering this, there was another commotion outside the door.
Qingque: "Master, the steward of the Zheng family has sent an invitation, inviting you to his residence for a chat."
Sending it at this time feels like a trap.
Ji Jinghe: "Is there anything else to say?"
Qingque: "No."
Since that day they met, he and Zheng Wanshan had almost never broken off their relationship. The Zheng family sent gifts and people to each other every day. If he had invited someone he had just met yesterday, why didn't he speak up yesterday, but now it's dark?
Ji Jinghe picked up the pen beside him and said, "Go and tell him that I am tired today and cannot attend the banquet. We will reschedule."
Wei Ji asked suspiciously, "Could it be that we've been discovered?"
Ji Jinghe said calmly, "It's bound to happen sooner or later, let it be. Just investigate thoroughly and let the results speak for themselves."
Qingque and Weiji withdrew one by one. After Ji Jinghe finished writing the impeachment memorial, he continued to look at the tax accounts for a while before turning off the lights and going to sleep.
The inn was poorly furnished and dilapidated. It took half a month of sleeping on the hard bed to gradually get used to it. The dark red charcoal in the brazier emitted a soft glow, and the unassuming flames occasionally crackled and popped, sending up a few sparks.
Despite the tranquility and peace, he couldn't fall asleep.
He only needed to raise his eyes slightly to see the garment folded on the cabinet... She had done everything, yet said nothing.
He was in a daze, his mind was blank, and after a while, he closed his eyes.
Half asleep and half awake, he vaguely heard a noise outside the door. In an instant, a cold wind immediately slipped into the quilt. He turned over, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a cold light slashing towards him.
knife!
Under the cold moonlight, two figures dressed in black stood like ghosts in front of the bed.
In a split second, the hairs on the back of Ji Jinghe's neck stood on end. Almost instinctively, he raised his hand and threw off the quilt. Taking advantage of this brief cover, he sprang up from the bed like a bullet, his right hand already accurately grabbing the short sword from the wooden sheath beside the bed.
With a crisp "whoosh," the masked man on the left swung his sword the instant the cold light pierced the sheath.
The blade, carrying a chilling scent, brushed past his nose. He pushed off the edge of the couch with his toes, flipped to the right, and his short sword slashed diagonally, striking the other's wrist precisely.
The man in black groaned, his long sword nearly slipping from his grasp. He used the momentum to twist his body, and the sword precisely pierced the waist and abdomen of the man behind him.
In the blink of an eye, another blade came slashing down from behind.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
