Xu Qinghuan sat in the master's chair, with six or seven camphorwood chests piled at her feet. The lids were all open, revealing either gold ingots or silver notes inside, with some exceptionally fine Eastern pearls casually scattered on top.
No calming incense burned in the room.
She stared at the glaring countdown on the system panel.
It had stopped. The exile progress was stuck at that despairing ninety percent, unmoving.
She had earned too much these past few days.
Those merchants not only didn't resent her, but instead worshipped her like a living Bodhisattva. The rent, concession fees, and management fees from those two streets, plus the system's nitpicky rewards, meant the ready cash in her hands now exceeded two hundred thousand taels.
Two hundred thousand taels.
In Da Qian, that sum could buy the backbone of an official, could make people of certain ranks hold her horse's reins.
But too much money was a crime.
Xu Qinghuan grabbed a fistful of silver notes from a chest, her grip so tight it crumpled the paper. She had to throw these hot potatoes away, and throw them with a bang, so loudly that the whole world would curse her as a spendthrift, a brainless fool.
Spending on food, drink, and pleasure was too slow.
Buying antiques and paintings was preserving value.
She stood up, bare feet sinking into the thick carpet, and walked a few steps to the map of Taoyuan County hanging on the wall.
In her hand was a brush dipped fully in cinnabar red.
Her gaze swept across the map.
The east was fertile farmland—buying that was an investment, it would only make money breed more money. The south bordered water—wharf business offered enormous profits, couldn't touch that. The north connected to the official road—if she built roads there, later an imperial decree might come down commending her for benefiting the community, and she'd just get promoted again.
The brush tip hovered in mid-air, finally landing heavily on a black dot thirty li west of the city.
Niushou Mountain.
It was a barren mountain. All rocky slopes, no trees, no grass, not even rabbits dug burrows there. Only a few treacherous goat trails trodden by herb gatherers, so dangerous that a few unlucky souls fell to their deaths there every year.
This was the place.
Utterly worthless, pure waste.
Xu Qinghuan applied force with her wrist, drawing a red circle over the three characters "Niushou Mountain." The cinnabar dripped down, looking like blood.
"Li Sheng."
Someone answered from outside the door. The curtain was lifted, and Li Sheng walked in with his hands hanging respectfully.
These past few days, he had been thoroughly run ragged by Xu Qinghuan, weariness evident on his face, but his eyes were startlingly bright. Serving such a mistress was nerve-wracking, but it was also truly thrilling.
"Miss."
Xu Qinghuan didn't turn around, tossing the crumpled handful of silver notes onto the table.
"One hundred thousand taels."
Li Sheng's eyelid twitched. He looked up at that pile of money resembling waste paper.
"Take it." Xu Qinghuan turned, pointing at the still-dripping red circle on the map. "Within a month, I want to see a road on this godforsaken place."
Li Sheng followed her finger.
Niushou Mountain?
He was stunned, doubting his own hearing.
"Miss means... that barren mountain west of the city?"
"Correct." Xu Qinghuan walked to the table, picked up a cup of cold tea, and took a gulp. "Not just build a road, but build it wide. Follow the specifications of the Vermilion Bird Street in the capital. I don't care if it can run four-horse carriages, but my carriage must be able to go up smoothly and steadily."
Li Sheng's mouth hung open for a long time before he closed it.
This wasn't proper.
Who builds roads up barren mountains? That mountain has nothing but rocks and wind. Build it for ghosts to walk on?
"This... this won't do." Li Sheng took a step forward, bowing very low. "Nobody goes there normally. Throwing a hundred thousand taels in, you wouldn't even hear a splash. Even if you want to accumulate virtue for the master, we could build a bridge in the south of the city instead?"
"I like the wind there."
Xu Qinghuan set the teacup down on the table with a clack, her voice cold. "I want to go up there to see the view. Is that not allowed?"
Spend a hundred thousand taels to build a road... to see the view?
This reason was too absurd, too profligate.
Li Sheng looked at Xu Qinghuan's expressionless face, searching for a hint that she was joking, but he was disappointed. The young miss was serious.
"Alright... alright then." Li Sheng swallowed. He was a servant. If the master wanted to go mad, he could only hand her the knife. "Then this humble one will go find craftsmen. But the mountain is steep. To open a road, we'd need to blast the mountain and fill pits, even summon stonemasons from other regions. The cost..."
"No craftsmen."
Xu Qinghuan cut him off. "Aren't there still several thousand refugees outside the city?"
Li Sheng nodded. "Yes, quite a few remain. Mostly the old, weak, sick, and disabled. The strong ones have all gone to repair the river embankments. The rest are in shanties waiting to die."
"Hire them all."
Xu Qinghuan walked up to Li Sheng, looking down at him. "Old or young, as long as they're still breathing, can move a single stone, drag them all to Niushou Mountain."
Li Sheng's heart sank with a thud.
Was this conscripting laborers?
When the court conscripted corvée labor, it was out of necessity. But the Xu family were merchants. If they forcibly dragged these starving people to do hard labor on a barren mountain, they'd be scorned by all.
"How about wages?" Li Sheng probed cautiously. "By custom, conscripted laborers get two meals of thin gruel, no pay."
"No pay?"
Xu Qinghuan let out a cold laugh, extending a hand, fingers spread wide. "One hundred wen a day."
Li Sheng's legs went weak; he almost knelt on the spot.
One hundred wen?
Although the price of rice had been driven down by the young miss, one hundred wen was still enough for a family of five to eat their fill for three days. This wasn't a wage; this was throwing money away.
"And meals provided." Xu Qinghuan continued raising the stakes. "Three meals a day. Meat every meal, fatty meat. Tell the cooks to make it greasy, make sure it's rich."
The room was eerily quiet.
Li Sheng stared at Xu Qinghuan as if looking at a madwoman.
Pay refugees one hundred wen a day, and give them meat? If this got out, refugees from across the land would flock to Taoyuan County. This wouldn't be building a road; this would be throwing money into a bottomless pit.
"Young Miss, this isn't proper." Li Sheng's voice trembled. "Giving them food is already a heavenly kindness. Giving so much money, plus meat... if other wealthy families find out, our Xu family will become a target. This breaks the unwritten rules."
"Rules?"
Xu Qinghuan bent down, bringing her face close to Li Sheng's. Her voice was low, carrying a vicious edge.
"You think I'm being charitable?"
She pointed out the window. "It's already winter. The wind is strong on Niushou Mountain, the stones are cold. I want those people to move stones for me, to fill pits. I want them to stake their very lives on that road."
Li Sheng didn't dare reply, his back drenched in cold sweat.
"That one hundred wen, that's blood money."
Xu Qinghuan straightened up, her eyes full of a greedy light. "Once paid, I can work them like cattle. Anyone who dares slack off, I'll have them whipped. I want to watch them exhaust themselves crying for their parents on that mountain, watch them grind their bones to dust for that one hundred wen."
Having said this, she seemed quite satisfied with her own speech.
This was how a true tyrant should act.
Luring the poor with high wages to sell their lives—this was the pinnacle of capitalism.
Li Sheng looked at her, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.
He understood.
The young mistress was determined to squeeze every last bit of potential out of those people with money. But then it occurred to him, in these times, human life was as cheap as grass. Forget a hundred coins, even for just ten coins, plenty would be willing to sell their lives.
A hundred coins, and meat to eat.
This wasn't buying lives; this was saving them.
But he didn't dare say it aloud. Since the young mistress wanted to play the villain, he had to play his part.
"I understand," Li Sheng said, head bowed, his voice a little hoarse. "And the materials..."
"Buy ash powder."
Xu Qinghuan didn't let him finish, directly unveiling her second money-squandering plan. "That waste material left over from kiln firing, the kind nobody wants. I want all the ash powder in the city."
Li Sheng was stunned. "That stuff is just dust, it scatters in the wind. It's no good for paving roads."
"What I want is for it to be no good," Xu Qinghuan began to spout nonsense. "It's an ugly color, makes the road look dull and dusty, just looking at it is annoying. I want that road to be ugly."
She thought for a moment, then added, "Then go to the blacksmiths. Buy up all the unsold, crude iron bars. Rusty or not, buy every last one."
"Iron bars?" Li Sheng was completely baffled. "What for?"
"Bury them in the road."
Xu Qinghuan said it as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world. "To add weight. Make it harder for those refugees to move, work them to death."
Li Sheng's mouth opened, but no sound came out.
Ash powder. Iron bars.
Put together, could these two things really build a road so heavy people couldn't move it?
He wasn't versed in construction, but he knew combining those two would absolutely cost a fortune. Ash powder was cheap, but the quantity was huge. Iron bars were iron, a strategic resource in these times. Burying them in the dirt was sheer waste.
But it fit perfectly with the young mistress's current madness.
"Go and do it," Xu Qinghuan waved her hand, sitting back down in her chair and picking up the stack of silver notes again. "Make a big show of it. Tell those poor wretches, if they don't want to die, don't come. If they come, they'll have to leave their lives with me."
Li Sheng, holding the heavy stack of silver notes, bowed and retreated.
Once in the courtyard, the cold wind hit him, and he realized his back was soaked with sweat.
A hundred coins. Fatty meat. Ash powder. Iron bars.
These things swirled in his mind.
He glanced back at the tightly shut door. The lamplight from inside cast a slender silhouette onto the window paper.
This was no payment for lives.
This was clearly relief through work.
This was clearly finding a way out for those thousands of refugees, and even finding an excuse to let them take the money with dignity. As for that ash powder and iron bars... Li Sheng didn't understand, but he had a vague feeling the young mistress's spending must have a deeper meaning.
The main hall of the county office.
Xu Youde was drinking tea straight from the spout of a purple clay teapot. Hearing footsteps, he didn't even lift his eyelids.
"What does she want to do?"
The secretary stood nearby, holding the list Li Sheng had just delivered, his hand trembling violently.
"Young mistress... wants to build a road," the secretary's voice wavered. "To Niushou Mountain. And she says she'll pave it with ash powder and iron bars, paying the refugees a hundred coins a day."
Xu Youde paused, the teapot in his hand stopping mid-air.
"Niushou Mountain?"
He put down the teapot, walked to the map, and stared at the location for a long time.
It was the high ground.
If a road were built there, standing atop the mountain, half of Taoyuan County would be in view. To the west, one could see the official road; to the north, the river embankment.
"A good spot."
Xu Youde stroked his beard, his eyes growing profound. "That place is easy to defend and hard to attack. If there really is trouble, it would be the best fortress."
The secretary couldn't follow his train of thought. "But, sir, the ash powder and iron bars..."
"You don't understand."
Xu Qinghuan might not understand construction, but he, a seasoned old official, did.
Ash powder solidifies when it meets water, and if paired with iron bars as a framework...
Xu Youde drew a sharp breath.
This was to build an indestructible military road for the ages!
Was his daughter preparing for the future? Or had she long seen the current instability and was carving out an escape route for herself?
"How much silver is left in the treasury?" Xu Youde asked.
"Not much, about three thousand taels."
"Allocate it all to her," Xu Youde waved his hand grandly. "Tell Li Sheng to proceed without restraint. If it's not enough, sell those scrolls and paintings from my study."
"Sir!" The secretary was shocked. "Those are rare editions from the previous dynasty!"
"Paintings are dead; people are alive."
Xu Youde clasped his hands behind his back, looking toward the rear courtyard, his face full of pride. "My daughter, her vision is vast. She's playing a grand game of chess here."
Xu Qinghuan had no idea her father saw her as a master strategist.
She was still in her room, counting money.
Li Sheng had just taken a hundred thousand taels, but it wasn't enough.
"Need to spend more."
She looked at the remaining silver notes, talking to herself. "Just building a road isn't enough. Need to build a pavilion on that mountaintop. No, a pavilion is too cheap. Build a tower. Build a 'Star-Gazing Tower.' All white marble, with gold trim."
Once this project started, it would be a bottomless pit.
Even if it were actually completed in the end, who would go to that godforsaken place to see the view?
The money would definitely be thrown into the water.
This time, it's a sure thing.
Xu Qinghuan propped her feet on the table, her mood finally lifting a little.
She picked up a brush and began sketching a draft of that "Star-Gazing Tower" on a piece of paper. It was drawn poorly, crooked and wobbly, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that it was expensive.
As long as it was expensive enough, as long as it was useless enough, it was a good project.
Outside the window, the wind picked up.
Li Sheng was leading people posting notices all over the city.
"Xu Family hiring laborers! Road construction! One hundred coins a day! Meat provided!"
These words were like a spark, instantly igniting the cold night of the entire Taoyuan County.
In the refugee camp outside the city, the previously lifeless crowd began to stir. Some didn't believe it, some were suspicious, but more had a light shining in their eyes.
It wasn't a light of greed.
It was a light of survival.
And the mastermind behind it all sat in her warm, cozy room, racking her brains over how to spend just one more tael of silver.
