The heavy snow had just cleared, and the martial arts arena of the Liu Garden was blindingly white.
Xu Qinghuan's mood was very complicated right now.
It was like buying a scratch-off ticket on the side of the road to prove you had bad luck, only to win five million.
Who could understand that kind of grief, "Why is it so hard for me to lose money?"
So she decided to vent a little.
"Big brother, stand still! If you dare to dodge, no braised pork for dinner!"
Xu Qinghuan held a snowball bigger than her head, her eyes fierce.
Ten steps away.
Xu Wuyou was striking an extremely cool pose.
It had to be said, if he didn't open his mouth, her big brother was definitely top-tier handsome in the Great Qian Dynasty. Sword-like eyebrows, starry eyes, a high nose bridge, a jawline sharper than the sword in his hand. Standing there, he was the perfect aloof male god.
"Little sister, your snowball isn't round enough."
"Shut up! Take this!"
Xu Qinghuan took a running start and threw it, her movements smooth and continuous.
The snowball whistled through the air.
Bang!
The snowball exploded on Xu Wuyou's chest, shattering into a puff of white mist.
Xu Wuyou didn't budge, even reaching up to brush off the remaining snow residue on his chest, looking like he was enjoying it.
"Not enough force, try again."
Xu Qinghuan despaired.
This wasn't a snowball fight, this was clearly just scratching an itch for this humanoid Tyrannosaurus Rex!
"Let me try too!"
Beside them, Xu Youde, who had been eager to try, had somehow rolled a fist-sized snowball.
This old man usually looked cowardly, but he was very playful.
He hunched over, sneaked behind Xu Wuyou, and tiptoed, trying to launch a sneak attack.
"Hey! Eat your daddy's meteor hammer!"
Xu Youde let out a weird cry, and the snowball left his hand.
However.
A martial artist's intuition is terrifying.
Although Xu Wuyou's brain sometimes couldn't process things quickly, his physical reactions were top-notch.
Just as the snowball was about to hit the back of his head, he subconsciously trembled, releasing his protective astral qi.
Buzz!
The air seemed to distort.
Xu Youde's pitiful little snowball was shattered into powder in mid-air.
Immediately after, a rebounding force surged out.
"Ouch!"
Xu Youde let out a miserable shriek, his whole body bouncing back like a spring, staggering back three steps.
His foot slipped, and with a plop.
More than half of his body planted directly into the snow pile behind him, leaving only his two legs kicking wildly outside.
"Dad!"
Xu Qinghuan was startled and was about to go help him.
But she saw the snow pile move, and Xu Youde pulled his head out, his face covered in snow, still grinning foolishly.
"Hehe, this snow... is really cool."
Xu Wuyou finally reacted, scratching the back of his head, looking innocent.
"Dad, why did you dive into the snow yourself?"
Xu Qinghuan looked at these two clowns, one big and one small, and the gloom in her heart suddenly dissipated quite a bit.
Her eyes rolled, and while her father hadn't climbed up yet, she grabbed a large handful of snow and quickly stuffed it down Xu Youde's collar.
"That's for sneaking up! That's for cooling off!"
"Awoo—! Cold cold cold! Rebellious daughter! I'm your real dad!"
The Liu Garden was instantly filled with the miserable screams of fatherly love and filial piety.
Just then.
A series of hurried footsteps came from the corridor over there.
Li Sheng ran like a headless fly holding a letter, his feet slipping, drifting all the way over.
"Master! County Princess! Urgent report! Urgent report!"
Xu Qinghuan frowned.
Could it be that those aristocratic families were trying to pull some new tricks?
Or was that Third Prince coming to peep again?
"What's all the fuss about?" Xu Qinghuan clapped the snow off her hands. "If the sky falls, I'll hold it up."
Xu Wuyou cooperatively puffed out his chest muscles.
"No! It's the Second Young Master! A letter from the Second Young Master has arrived!"
This shout had an immediate effect.
Xu Youde, who was just lying in the snow playing dead, bounced up with a swish.
His movements were as agile as a frightened rabbit.
He didn't even care that the snow in his collar was still melting, and stumbled over to Li Sheng.
"Zhan'er? It's my Zhan'er?"
Xu Youde took the wax-sealed letter with trembling hands, his eye sockets instantly turning red.
Xu Qinghuan opened the envelope.
The paper was rough, the handwriting scrawled but vigorous, carrying a hint of armored horses and iron weapons.
The content of the letter was not long, nor were there any heroic words.
It didn't even mention a single word about the war over there.
Xu Qinghuan glanced at it, her mouth twitching uncontrollably.
This second brother... is also a weirdo.
"Dad, second brother says he's fine in the North."
"It's just that the wind and snow are heavy over there. Although we sent a lot of bank notes, in that godforsaken place, you can't buy cotton clothes even with money."
"The soldiers' winter clothes have been worn for three years, torn like fishing nets. When the wind blows, it's chilling to the bone."
Xu Youde wiped his tears as he listened.
"What a sin... my son, how can you suffer like this!"
Xu Qinghuan paused and continued reading:
"The last sentence... Your son looks at the southern clouds from the North, missing the braised pork made by father very much."
"That's it."
Xu Qinghuan closed the letter.
Xu Youde froze for a moment, then cried even louder.
"That bastard! Thinking about braised pork at a time like this! Does he want to eat meat? He's homesick!"
He ran towards the kitchen while crying.
"No, I'm going to make it for him right now! When it's done, I'll have someone send it by fast horse! I have to get him a few jars of good wine to warm his body!"
Xu Wuyou stood to the side, his fists cracking.
That honest face rarely showed a trace of murderous aura.
"Little sister, I'm going to deliver cotton coats to second brother."
"I'm going too, bringing all my furs. That place can freeze people to death."
Xu Qinghuan rubbed her brow and grabbed her big brother who was trying to rush out the door.
"You rest. From Jiangning to the Northern Frontier, by the time you walk there with cotton coats on your back, summer will be here."
"Then what should we do?" Xu Wuyou scratched his ears and cheeks anxiously.
Xu Qinghuan didn't speak, just tightened her fingers holding the letter paper.
Shortage of cloth.
Shortage of cotton clothes.
Having money but unable to buy them.
This wasn't just a problem at the border; this was also the biggest pain point in Jiangning City right now.
"Report—!"
The gatekeeper's voice interrupted Xu Qinghuan's thoughts.
"County Princess, Family Head Xue is here, saying... saying she's here to see Miss Tangtang."
Ever since the Hundred Flowers Pavilion Music Workshop was established, this Family Head Xue basically came to play every day. She had long become the number one big sister of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
Xu Qinghuan also had to become familiar with her.
And Tangtang was originally an inconspicuous little milk dumpling that Xu Qinghuan "rescued" from the Ciyun Nunnery.
Unexpectedly, after a good rest in the Ciyun Nunnery, she became more and more cute.
During a chance encounter half a month ago, Xue Hong took a liking to Tangtang at first sight. She immediately wanted to acknowledge her as her goddaughter.
It was just that feelings, well, they had to progress step by step. Also, because Family Head Xue was busy running around for a few days, Tangtang stayed in this Hundred Flowers Pavilion for a few days.
Hearing the gatekeeper's voice, Xu Qinghuan's eyes instantly lit up.
Talk of the devil and he appears.
The frowning expression from just now disappeared, leaving only the kind of smile you get when you see a fat sheep... no, when you see God.
"Please invite her in quickly!"
...
In the warm pavilion, the floor heating was burning hot.
As soon as Xue Hong entered the door, the aura of luxury she brought almost blinded Xu Qinghuan's eyes.
This woman was wearing a purple sable coat today, and the string of eastern pearls hanging around her neck, each one was the size of a thumb.
Behind her followed four maidservants, holding brocade boxes piled up so high they looked like a small mountain.
"Where is Tangtang? Where is my little sweetheart?"
Xue Hong did not even sit down; her eyes darted all around the room.
"Auntie Xue!"
Tangtang, who had been hiding behind the folding screen eating pastries, heard the voice and popped her little head out.
Xue Hong's eyes instantly turned into heart shapes.
"Oh, my precious baby!"
She scooped Tangtang into her arms with an affection that rivaled even a biological mother's.
"Come, come, look at what Auntie brought for you."
Xue Hong waved her hand, and the maids immediately opened the brocade boxes.
There was a longevity lock made of pure gold and encrusted with rubies, heavy enough to snap a person's neck.
There was a complete set of Su-embroidery winter clothes, made of Yun brocade that was worth its weight in gold, embroidered with lifelike butterflies fluttering through flowers.
There were also all sorts of little trinkets, and even a whole box of golden melon seeds, supposedly for the child to play with like marbles.
Watching from the side, Xu Qinghuan's mouth twitched.
Was this the joy of becoming a mother without the pain of labor?
"Auntie Xue smells so good," Tangtang said in her milky voice, rubbing her face affectionately against Xue Hong's.
This little rub completely melted Xue Hong's heart.
"Of course it smells good! Auntie smells like money! Smells nice, right?"
Xue Hong laughed heartily and slammed her hand on the table with heroic generosity.
"I will renew County Princess Xu's top-tier private room at the Hundred Flowers Pavilion for another year!"
"Cough, cough..."
Xu Qinghuan tried hard to hold back her laughter, picking up her teacup to cover it up.
"Sister Xue has spent too much. It is Tangtang's blessing to have your love and care."
After a bout of affectionate fussing, Li Sheng tactfully took Tangtang to the backyard to play.
Only Xu Qinghuan and Xue Hong were left in the warm pavilion.
The atmosphere became slightly more serious.
Xue Hong sighed, her smile fading a bit to reveal the exhaustion of a merchant.
"County Princess, times have been getting harder and harder lately."
Xu Qinghuan raised an eyebrow. "Oh? The head of the Xue family, the wealthiest in the region, still has things to worry about?"
"Do not even mention it."
Xue Hong picked up her teacup and took a sip, her brows furrowed.
"I originally thought that since winter is coming, I would donate a batch of winter clothes to the charity house outside the city to accumulate some good karma."
"But it turns out you cannot even buy cloth if you have the money!"
"The Weaving Bureau is now completely controlled by the Wang and Xie families. They claim that production is insufficient and that they must prioritize supplying cloth to the capital."
"That is clearly an excuse! They just want to drive up the price of cloth!"
"Now the price of cotton cloth on the market has more than tripled. Those of us who just want to do some good deeds end up being taken for fools."
The more Xue Hong spoke, the angrier she got, slamming her teacup down heavily.
"Those bloodsuckers will get their retribution sooner or later!"
Xu Qinghuan listened quietly, her fingers tapping lightly on the desk.
Sure enough.
It matched the situation her second brother had mentioned in his letter.
The border was short of winter clothes because the cloth could not be transported there, or rather, because the middlemen were strangling the supply.
Meanwhile, here in Jiangnan, raw materials were abundant, but due to the Weaving Bureau's monopoly and outdated technology, production could not keep up, leading to artificially inflated prices.
This was a classic contradiction of supply and demand.
And more so, it was a means for those noble families to amass wealth.
The smile on Xu Qinghuan's lips grew deeper, making Xue Hong feel a little creeped out.
"County Princess? What are you laughing at?"
Xu Qinghuan put down her teacup, leaned forward slightly, and looked at Xue Hong with burning eyes.
"Sister Xue, what if I told you that I can get cloth?"
"And it is better and cheaper than the Weaving Bureau's, in quantities large enough to drown the Wang family's warehouses."
Xue Hong froze for a moment, then smiled bitterly and waved her hand.
"County Princess, stop joking. Most of the looms in Jiangnan are in their hands. Unless you have immortal magic and can conjure cloth out of thin air."
"I do not have immortal magic."
Xu Qinghuan turned her head to look at Li Sheng, who had been waiting in the shadows of the corner, and asked out of the blue:
"Has Jenny... returned?"
Xue Hong was utterly confused.
Jenny?
Who was that?
In the corner, Li Sheng's body trembled slightly.
Although he also did not understand why the eldest miss would give such a strange wooden frame a name like that.
But he knew that whenever the eldest miss showed this kind of smile, someone was going to be out of luck.
Li Sheng took a step forward and bowed in greeting, his voice laced with irrepressible excitement.
"To answer the County Princess."
"Jenny... has indeed returned."
