The night wind in Jiangning was a bit harsh, unlike the soft, willow-catkin breezes of spring. At this moment, the wind still carried unmelted snow pellets, stinging the face as it blew past.
Xu Qinghuan stood on the Star-Plucking Tower, the highest point in the Lingering Garden, gripping the railing with both hands.
If someone were to look up from the bottom of the tower right now, they might think this county princess was lamenting the passing of spring and the arrival of autumn, or perhaps too excited to sleep while waiting for an imperial decree from the capital.
Bullshit. Xu Qinghuan's mind was completely occupied with only one thing right now: memorizing legal codes.
She frantically flipped through the Great Qian Laws she had been cramming into her head over the past few days, her lips trembling and twitching as she muttered what seemed like a life-saving scripture.
"Great Qian Laws, Ministry of War Volume, Article 108..."
"Anyone who delays military operations shall be exiled for three thousand miles."
"Article 109, anyone who privately alters the recipe of military rations, causing physical discomfort to soldiers but not death... shall receive eighty strokes of the cane and be exiled for three thousand miles."
After reciting this passage, Xu Qinghuan let out a long breath of white mist, her racing heart finally settling back into her chest.
It was a sure thing. This move was absolutely foolproof.
She had added quicklime to the military rations. Although that stuff could generate heat, it was absolutely a massive taboo and a private alteration of the ration recipe.
Coupled with the sickeningly excessive amounts of salt and sugar, her second brother would definitely suffer from vomiting and diarrhea after eating it. This perfectly fit "causing physical discomfort to soldiers."
With these two crimes combined, it should definitely be enough to earn her a one-way ticket to Lingnan, right?
Xu Qinghuan narrowed her eyes, looking at the pitch-black official road in the distance.
It was as if she could already see a squad of Brocade Guards riding swift horses, waving a yellow scroll in their hands, shouting as they galloped.
"Qinghuan of the Xu Clan, for disrupting military morale, is hereby exiled to Lingnan immediately. Respect this!"
Heh.
Just thinking about it made her a little excited.
Lingnan was great. It was like spring all year round, with unlimited seafood, and most importantly, they had lychees over there.
"Feasting on three hundred lychees a day, I would not mind being a Lingnan native forever."
Xu Qinghuan hummed, already calculating whether she should buy a house with an ocean view or contract a lychee orchard first after arriving in Lingnan.
As for the Xu family's assets, she could just dump them all on the imperial court during the confiscation raid, saving her from having that Prodigal System nagging her to spend money every day.
As long as she was alive and had skills, she would still be a hero in Lingnan.
Just as she was enjoying her daydream, a sound of panting suddenly came from the top of the stairs, huffing and puffing loudly.
Immediately after, a foot wearing an official boot stepped up, followed by a cloak embroidered with copper coin patterns.
Xu Youde was holding a hand warmer, his chubby face red from the cold as he struggled to climb up.
Seeing Xu Qinghuan standing in the wind, the old man let out an exclamation.
"Daughter, aren't you cold?"
Xu Youde tightened his cloak. The copper coin patterns dazzled the eyes under the lantern light.
"In the middle of the night, instead of counting silver in your room, what are you doing up here drinking the northwest wind?"
Xu Qinghuan turned to look at her father's nouveau riche outfit, her mouth twitching.
"Dad, why did you come up?"
Xu Youde chuckled and leaned in, shivering before he even spoke.
"I just saw the light was still on in your room."
The old man craned his neck to look in the direction of the capital, then looked at his daughter's wind-chilled pale face, and instantly understood.
"What? Worried the imperial decree is taking too long?"
Xu Youde reached out and patted the railing, looking entirely confident.
"Don't worry! Your dad has been operating in officialdom for a long time; it's just like doing business."
"Our family invested heavily this time!"
"Fifty thousand taels for shipping! That's real gold and silver thrown in!"
"Plus your... whatever it is, Xu-style Noble Braised Pork."
"This time, even if it were a rock thrown into the water, it would make a splash, wouldn't it?"
Xu Youde winked and leaned closer, lowering his voice with unconcealed excitement.
"Dad has already asked around."
"From the northern frontier, news of victory keeps coming."
"They say your second brother and his men ate your meat bricks, got full of energy, and beat the barbarians so hard they were looking for their teeth all over the ground."
"This is a monumental achievement!"
"Even if His Majesty is stingy, the reward this time will be thicker than your waist!"
Xu Qinghuan's heart skipped a beat.
A reward thicker than her waist? More like the blade for cutting her in half at the waist, right?
Looking at her father's smiling face, a wave of sourness suddenly swelled in her heart.
Oh, Dad, Dad.
You have no idea what your daughter has done.
Mixing quicklime into military rations is a job that ties your head to your waistband.
If this goes wrong, your life's savings and this Lingering Garden will probably all go down the drain.
"Dad..."
Xu Qinghuan pursed her lips, her voice a bit tight.
"What if..."
"I mean, just what if."
"What if the imperial decree arrives, and it's not a reward, but a punishment?"
Xu Youde froze for a moment.
Then, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world, he waved his hand wearing a jade thumb ring.
"Punishment? Punish you for what?"
"Punish you for saving the court money? Or punish you for driving away the barbarians?"
"Daughter, you just overthink things."
"Back when you only knew how to spend money on pretty clothes, I never saw you so sentimental."
Xu Qinghuan lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously picking at the paint on the railing.
"What if His Majesty thinks I acted recklessly and broke the rules..."
"Or... what if he thinks our Xu family is too rich and an eyesore?"
As soon as these words came out, the air quieted down for a moment. The smile on Xu Youde's face stiffened, but he quickly returned to his good-natured look.
He moved a step forward, using his back to block the wind.
"An eyesore?"
Xu Youde snorted coldly, puffing two streams of white mist from his nostrils.
"So what if we are?"
"Our family's money was earned penny by penny, it didn't just blow in with the wind."
"Besides."
The old man reached into his coat, pulled out a stack of silver notes, and stuffed them into Xu Qinghuan's hands. The notes still carried his body heat.
"Take this."
"Dad has already thought it through."
"If that old emperor really gets jealous of our money, or gives a shabby reward."
"We don't care for it anyway!"
"Dad still has a secret stash here, enough for you and your second brother to squander for several lifetimes."
"At worst, we'll just close our doors and live our own lives."
"Whether you are a county princess or a commoner."
"In Dad's eyes, you are just my daughter."
"As long as Dad still has a breath left, no one in this world can make you suffer any grievances."
Xu Qinghuan squeezed the stack of silver notes in her hand, her fingertips feeling hot.
She looked at the tacky and slick old man in front of her, whose eyes were incredibly sincere at this moment, and suddenly found it hard to keep playing her little schemes.
A wave of guilt instantly surged up.
For the sake of completing the system's mission, for that damn exile achievement.
Was she being a bit too selfish?
If they were really exiled, could these old bones endure the torment?
Was Lingnan really a good place? It was a savage land full of miasma and venomous insects.
She was young and strong and could treat it like a vacation, but what about her dad?
Xu Qinghuan's nose felt a bit sour. She didn't dare look into Xu Youde's eyes anymore, afraid that she would cry the next second or couldn't help but confess the whole truth.
"Dad, the wind is too strong. It's giving me a headache."
Xu Qinghuan haphazardly stuffed the bank notes into her bosom, turning around without daring to look back.
"I... I'll go down and see if Second Brother has any new information."
"You should rest early too."
After saying this, she dashed toward the stairs as if fleeing, her footsteps fast and frantic.
"Slow down! Don't run so fast!"
Xu Youde called out from behind.
"This child, just like when she used to sneak candy as a little girl..."
It wasn't until Xu Qinghuan's figure completely disappeared around the corner of the stairs, and even her footsteps could no longer be heard, that a dead silence returned to the Zhaixing Tower, broken only by the jingling of the iron wind chimes hanging from the eaves.
The honest, affectionate look on Xu Youde's face, and even that tacky nouveau riche air about him, vanished instantly without a trace.
He wasn't in a hurry to go downstairs. Instead, he slowly turned around and walked to the spot where Xu Qinghuan had just been standing.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze passing over the rooftops and the shimmering waters of the Qinhuai River, landing precisely on a courtyard compound in the eastern part of the city.
That was the Wang family residence. Although the massive estate was completely dark at the moment, in Xu Youde's eyes, it was home to a venomous snake coiled and ready to strike.
"Heh."
A soft chuckle escaped Xu Youde's throat, but there was no warmth in it at all. It was freezing cold.
"Qinghuan..."
The old man muttered to himself, his voice very light but every word distinct.
"Do you really think your father is a senile old fool?"
"Boiling meat with quicklime... I can't believe you came up with that."
"It's only thanks to the blessings of our ancestors that your second brother accidentally stumbled into making a great contribution."
"If it had been anyone else, or at any other time."
"By now, the heads of our Xu family would have long been hanging at the city gates to dry in the wind."
Xu Youde pulled a snuff bottle from his sleeve, brought it to his nose, and took a deep sniff.
The pungent spice rushed to his head, making his somewhat cloudy eyes suddenly gleam with piercing sharpness.
In truth, he had noticed it too. Ever since falling into the water at Taoyuan, his daughter had become a completely different person.
Those bizarre ideas, those unprecedented words, those business methods that simply didn't belong in this era, and even that inexplicable desire to see her own family ruined.
Xu Youde was no fool. He had struggled and clawed his way through the business world his entire life; he had seen more people than he had eaten grains of rice.
What his daughter used to be like, and what she was like now—his mind was as clear as a mirror about it.
Sometimes, waking up in the middle of the night, he would wonder: was this still the little Qinghuan who only knew how to act spoiled and beg for candy? Had her body been possessed by some wandering ghost, or was she some celestial deity descending to the mortal realm to undergo a trial?
Xu Youde's fingers gently stroked the scratch marks left on the railing by his daughter's fingernails. After a long while, he let out a deep sigh.
"Whatever. Be she a deity or a demon."
"Since she calls me 'Dad,' and still gets red rims around her eyes when I'm upset."
"Then she is my, Xu Youde's, own flesh and blood, a true child of the Xu family."
