Chapter 158 Leaving the Capital (Part 42) What if King Zhao fails? ...
The next day, Jiu Li got up, washed, and opened the door to see Qing Que coming out from across the hall. Qing Que had changed her clothes, and judging from her appearance, she had brought valuables and wouldn't be leaving for a day or two. Jiu Li gritted her teeth, glanced at her, closed the door, and went straight into the main room.
Seeing Yu Qi drinking tea on the couch in the inner room, Jiu Li noticed his haggard face and squinty eyes, clearly indicating he hadn't slept well that night. She assumed he was upset because of Qing Que, and as she slowly walked in, she muttered, "You really kept that Qing Que? If you kept her, why put her in the east wing? Just keep her in the main room! What's with this pretense of being a gentleman?"
Her voice trailed off as she spoke, and although Yu Qi didn't hear what she said at the end, he still glanced at her, put down his teacup, and said, "I kept her here to discuss something else, don't make wild guesses."
"What can you discuss with her? You might as well just say you're captivated by her. After all, she's a gift, so why not take it? Right?"
Little did he know that he would spend the entire night preoccupied with Zhou Yu's affairs. First, the princess and her consort wanted his help, then Qingque urged him to assist them. He had no intention of getting involved in the power struggles of the imperial court, but then Zhou Hao wanted to marry Jiuli to the son of some Yan'an Marquis's family, and there was still the grudge against Du Zhong that he hadn't avenged. Considering all these things, he tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep.
Seeing that he remained silent, Jiuli slowly swayed to the other end of the couch and sat down, gently raising her voice, "Tsk, she's Chen Jia's woman. Chen Jia sent you things, aren't you afraid there's a trap? I didn't dare open any of the things he brought yesterday, who knows what evil intentions he has. You'd better be careful, don't fall for someone's honey trap, there's no such thing as a free lunch."
Yu Qi ignored this question and instead asked, "I heard yesterday that you went to the Lu family's residence at the Marquis of Yan'an?"
Jiuli didn't take this matter seriously. She thought that even if the Emperor intended to arrange a marriage for her, he would have to ask her opinion before it would count. As long as he asked her, she would say that she already had someone she loved, and she figured the Emperor wouldn't force her.
That's what I thought, but I was too angry to say anything about it. I just said, "Yes, the Emperor sent me and Eunuch Shen to deliver the annual allowance to Lord Lü's family. The Marquis of Yan'an's mansion is really nice. It has vermilion gates and embroidered doors, and jade palaces and towers. It's no worse than the palace. I wonder how happy the people living in that mansion must be."
Yu Qi looked at her and said, "I'll ask you properly, so you should answer me properly."
Jiuli rolled her eyes. "Then what do you want me to say?"
"I only ask you, why did the Emperor send you to deliver something to the Marquis of Yan'an's residence?"
She lowered her head slightly, pursed her lips, and fidgeted with the sash of her skirt. "How would I know? You can ask the Emperor." After she finished speaking, she heard no response from Yu Qi. She looked up and saw his cold face, so she flung the sash aside and raised her voice. "I'll tell you, I'll tell you! Judging from what Consort Chen said, it seems that the Emperor intends to betroth me to Lu Jing, the young master of the Marquis of Yan'an's family, who is some kind of Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices."
"So you've met this Lü Jing?"
She nodded casually. "I've seen it. The Emperor sent me to deliver the annual allowance, which was just an excuse for me to go and find a match. How could I not understand that?"
"You're quite clever." Yu Qi took a deep breath and glanced at her coldly. "What do you think of her talent?"
"At twenty-six, he's quite a talented person."
"So what do you mean?"
Jiuli was angered by the question and stood up. "If I thought he was good, would you agree?! I don't think you care about me at all. You're not even angry when you hear something like this!"
Yu Qi paused for a moment, then sighed. "Now is not the time to be angry. If anger were effective, I would be like you and just get angry and everything would be fine. Now we need to think about how to get out of this situation."
“What’s so difficult about that? The Emperor didn’t say it explicitly. When he asks me directly, I’ll just say I’m unwilling. Can he force me? There’s no reason for that. I’m his own daughter. He only saw me after eighteen years. He must feel guilty towards me and my mother. As long as I refuse, he’ll have to go along with me. Besides, Princess Yuan chose her own husband. Am I, her own daughter, not as good as someone who isn’t her biological daughter?”
Yu Qi chuckled upon hearing this, but Jiu Li, seeing the slight sarcasm in his smile, assumed he was overthinking things and that it was good if she said she was his biological daughter, and bad if she wasn't, thus betraying his years of upbringing. However, she refused to say anything nice to appease him, only glancing at him and snorting.
Just then, Li's mother brought in breakfast and placed it on the table below, then handed it to invite Zhang Da, the Green Sparrow, to eat. The meeting of the Nine Carp and the Green Sparrow was naturally unfriendly; they exchanged a cold snort, sat down opposite each other, and remained silent.
Since discovering the strangeness of Wangfeng Temple yesterday, Zhang Da was somewhat bewildered, unsure of what to do today. He wanted to ask Yu Qi, but considering Qing Que was there, he didn't dare to ask. He only glanced at Yu Qi on the couch before burying his head in his food.
The meal ended in silence. When Li Mama came in to tidy up, Zhang Da suddenly remembered that he hadn't seen Xu Bai that morning, so he asked, "Why didn't your second master come over for dinner?"
Madam Li said, "Second Master didn't come back last night. I was just about to ask the constable where he went."
Several people shook their heads, not knowing.
At this moment, Xu Bai was getting up in an inn on Taiyuan Street in the east of the city. He went downstairs and sat down in the hall. While asking the waiter for breakfast, he kept looking at the Youyu Rice Shop diagonally across the street. He saw countless waiters carrying goods and rice in and out, and several wheelbarrows parked in front of the door. The business was booming, but he did not see a single sedan chair.
After finishing his breakfast, Xu Bai headed straight for the rice shop. The shopkeeper was doing accounts behind the counter. When he saw him come in, he frowned impatiently. "Why are you here again? Didn't I tell you? Our young lady isn't here. She's staying on Shunyi Street in the south of the city right now."
Xu Bai cupped his hands and said, "I went there yesterday afternoon, but Miss Guan was not at the cloth shop."
"Then I don't know. Look elsewhere. People coming in and out of our shop during a major holiday might mistake us for creditors, which would make us look bad! Go away, look elsewhere!"
Xu Bai then smiled and cupped his hands, saying, "Your Miss Guan is a very important person and is hard to find. It's alright, I'll wait for you at the inn across the street. I'll wait as long as Miss Guan doesn't come."
The innkeeper was engrossed in calculating on his abacus. Only after the man left did he look up at the street and see him enter the inn. After a moment's thought, he finished calculating, gave instructions to the inn's staff, and then went to the back of the inn. Behind the inn was a courtyard with a rice warehouse and the staff's quarters. Behind a corner gate was another small courtyard. Walking in, one could see jade-like trees and snow-covered green tiles, concealing three or five guest rooms.
The shopkeeper knocked on the door of the east wing and entered. Youjun and Niangzhuang were sitting inside, discussing accounts. A censer sat before them, and the golden lion incense burner on the table was warm. Upon seeing the shopkeeper, Youjun closed the account book and said, "Shopkeeper Xue, release the annual allowance the day after tomorrow. In addition to the old allowance, add two taels of silver to each person. Tell all the employees that as long as business is booming, everyone in this shop, from the shopkeeper down to the cook, will be treated well by me, Guan Youjun."
After bowing and thanking him, Manager Xue approached the table and said, "Miss, that Second Master Qi has checked into the hotel across the street. I think he's determined to see you. What do you think we should do?"
Niangzhuang slowly sorted through the dishes, "What important matter could Qi Xubai possibly have that makes him suddenly want to find a girl?"
Ever since her last visit to Wangfeng Temple, Youjun had sensed something was amiss. She had initially found it strange that the princess had been offering gifts to the Buddha there; it seemed odd that she would go to such a small, remote mountain temple to offer prayers. So, she decided to visit the temple sometime, only to unexpectedly run into Yu Qi and Jiu Li. Yu Qi was known for his lack of interest in Buddhism, so there must be something fishy about his visit to that small temple.
Therefore, upon her return, she secretly sent someone to inquire about the small temple. As she suspected, the visit to Wangfeng Temple to worship Buddha was merely a pretext; in reality, the Prince Consort's residence was transferring funds. Now that Qi Xubai has come here again, it must be for no other reason than his departure from the capital.
Youjun hesitated for a long time, thinking that she couldn't avoid him and had to take a gamble. So she said to Manager Xue, "Go and invite him to see me this afternoon. Tell him I just arrived at the rice shop."
Shopkeeper Xue agreed and went out. He waited until the afternoon, then sent a servant to invite Xu Bai across the street. Soon after, Xu Bai was brought to the backyard to meet Youjun. Youjun greeted him with a smile, exchanged a few pleasantries, ordered tea and fruit to be served, and had the door closed. She then invited Xu Bai to sit on a chair and asked with a smile, "I heard from Shopkeeper Xue that a young master surnamed Qi was looking for me as soon as I arrived at the shop. I thought it must be Second Master Qi. But we all came to the capital together, and it's been so many days. Why is Second Master Qi only coming to visit today? If Second Master Qi hadn't come today, I would have prepared New Year's gifts and inquired about his residence by tomorrow."
Xu Bai knew she was being insincere and polite. Manager Xue said she had just arrived at the rice shop, but Xu Bai had been looking out the window of his room all morning and hadn't seen her come in. It was clear she had been there all along. Why would she refuse to see him at first, but now change her mind and invite him in?
He couldn't care less about such things at the moment, so he said, "Thank you for thinking of me, Miss. I came here today to ask you for a favor, and I hope you will be willing to help me."
Youjun walked gracefully to the chair next to her, turned around and sat down. "Second Master Qi, you're too kind. Just tell me, and I certainly won't refuse if I can help you."
"Actually, it's not a big deal. I'm thinking of returning to Nanjing before the Lantern Festival, but I'm afraid there won't be any boats available during the festival. I know you do big business, so you must know many boats. I'd like to ask you to help me find a boat back to Nanjing. As long as I'm willing to go, the fare won't be a problem."
Youjun thought that if he insisted on leaving at this time, he probably wouldn't be the only one leaving; besides, as long as you're willing to pay, there's no ship that won't go. He came here today to beg, probably because he saw that she had already opened up the waterway checkpoints through her business, and if she could get on her Guan family's cargo ship, it would be much easier to deal with the officials checking along the way.
Since he dared not say it outright, she could not make any definitive statements, so she simply smiled and said, "It's fine, I will do my best to find a boat for Master Qi. If I can find one, that would be great. If I can't, Master Qi can wait. There will be plenty of boats after the Lantern Festival."
Xu Bai saw that she was not entirely willing to agree, and was afraid that if he spoke too clearly, she would secretly report to the court. Therefore, he did not say anything more, got up and took his leave, saying, "Then I will come back in three days to look for your letter, Miss. If I can find the boat, I will reward you handsomely."
Youjun saw him to the door, and then Niangzhuang followed him in and asked what was wrong. Youjun explained, and Niangzhuang said, "Even if there are few passenger ships during the festival, we can still find them if we really want to. When Master Qi was in Nanjing, he never owed our Guan family any favors for such trivial matters."
"I'm afraid this is no small matter." Youjun sat back down in her chair.
As Niangzhuang was putting the teacups back on the tray, she turned and sat down beside her upon hearing this. "What could be so important?"
“Our family’s goods have always been transported by the Ding brothers’ ships. Over the years, we have been traveling between the two capitals, and both the Ding brothers and we have long since taken care of all the checkpoints along the way, treating them like family. Every time we pass by, they only ask a few questions and never investigate in detail. Master Qi probably wants to use our route because he values this convenience.”
Niangzhuang couldn't understand for a moment, "What does he need this convenience for?"
Youjun didn't answer. She pondered for a moment, then was startled, "Could it be that Second Master Qi has committed some kind of crime?"
"If he had committed a crime, would he still be able to walk so openly on the street? I'm afraid he hasn't committed any crime at this moment, but is preparing to commit a shocking crime in the future!"
After a long pause, Niangzhuang asked with a hint of doubt, "Could it be that you really guessed correctly, Miss?"
Youjun suddenly laughed heartily twice, “I’ve long seen that Qi Xubai is no ordinary person. He’s determined to revive his Qi family’s reputation, but he has no chance in the current court, so he has no choice but to seek another wise ruler and risk his life for survival. The fact that the Prince Consort’s mansion is transporting wealth to Hangzhou is probably also for this important matter.”
"What are the girl's plans?"
Youjun lowered his eyelids, pondered for a long time, and slowly said, "If King Zhao can really succeed, we will be meritorious. Even if things don't go well in the future, we can still become imperial merchants. The wealth of the world will be earned by us. The men in the clan can also get official positions. In the future, the Guan family will not only be a merchant family, but may become an official family."
"What if King Zhao fails to accomplish his goal?"
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