A few days later.
The splints on Xu Wuyou's legs were finally removed.
In the courtyard, Xu Wuyou looked like a toddler just learning to walk, grimacing as he shuffled his feet. With every step, the newly grown tender flesh felt as though it were being bitten by millions of ants, itching unbearably.
"The doctor said the bone ends have just fused, they can't take any rough treatment!" Xu Youde followed closely behind him, his hands hovering in the air, terrified that his precious son might fall. "My little ancestor, slow down! If you break it again, we'll have to tie you to the roof of the carriage when we head to the capital!"
Xu Wuyou's forehead was covered in a cold sweat, but he remained stubborn. "Dad, it doesn't hurt. How can a great hero cry out in pain? It's just... just a little numb."
The physician stood to the side, stroking his beard as he carefully observed the boy's walking posture, and nodded. "The eldest young master has a good foundation and a physique different from ordinary people. Although he is not fully recovered yet, as long as he doesn't get into fights, enduring a few days of bumpy carriage rides should be fine."
Xu Youde finally let out a long breath and turned to roar at the butler, Lao Zhang. "Did you hear that? Hurry up! Wrap the wheels of those carriages in the storehouse with cotton cloth and lay down the softest cushions! And pack all our valuables, take whatever we can, and whatever we can't take..."
He grinned. "Whatever we can't take... just give it to Jenny Huang and the girls, don't let outsiders take advantage!"
At this moment, Li Sheng limped in from outside, clutching a crumpled note in his hand.
"Miss, it's the First Prince," Li Sheng lowered his voice, leaning close to Xu Qinghuan, who was feeding the fish under the corridor. "He left last night. Left through the side door, didn't even bring an attendant, acting like a thief."
Xu Qinghuan spilled half the fish food in her hand, watching the koi fish scrambling in the pond.
"He certainly left quickly."
The First Prince was undoubtedly a smart man. Jiangning was currently a whirlpool, and the Xu family was the eye of the storm. If he got involved with the Xu family even the slightest bit at this time, that suspicious old Emperor back in the capital would probably lose sleep over it.
"Avoiding suspicion so thoroughly, it seems he wants to stay alive." Xu Qinghuan clapped her hands to dust off the crumbs. "Leave him be, let's focus on our own business."
...
In the afternoon, the sun was just right.
In a side pavilion of the Xu family's main hall, the fragrance of tea curled upwards.
Xu Qinghuan pushed two blueprints and a thick contract in front of Xue Hong.
Xue Hong wore a plain, waist-cinching long dress today. Her features lacked some of their usual feistiness, replaced by a touch of solemnity. She glanced at the blueprints, and her expression changed to one of surprise.
"These are the blueprints for the improved textile machine, three times more efficient than the previous one." Xu Qinghuan's tone was as calm as ever. "And this is the transfer contract for the exclusive rights to Jiangning's cotton yarn."
Xue Hong tapped her fingers lightly on the desk. "The conditions? Qinghuan, let's not beat around the bush. With such a massive pie dropping from the sky, what do you want?"
"Four-six." Xu Qinghuan held up four fingers. "From now on, I want sixty percent of the profits from Jiangning's textile industry, and you take forty percent."
Xue Hong frowned and was about to speak, but Xu Qinghuan interrupted her.
"Don't be in a rush to bargain. This forty percent isn't given to you for nothing." Xu Qinghuan leaned forward slightly. "I want your Xue family to be my backing."
"With my Xu family heading to the capital, I can't take the foundation we've built here at Liuyuan with me."
Xu Qinghuan pointed out the window. "Sister Xue, you are a businesswoman, and a ruthless one at that. I want you to watch over the Xu family's assets in Jiangning."
Xue Hong fell silent. She looked at the young girl in front of her, who was a full zodiac cycle younger than her, and understood in her heart.
She was using overwhelming wealth to buy peace of mind for what she was leaving behind.
After a long time, Xue Hong picked up a red-inked brush and heavily signed her name on the contract.
"Deal." She blew the ink dry and looked up at Xu Qinghuan. "As long as I, Xue Hong, have a breath left in me, no one in this Jiangning city will dare bully anyone from your Xu family. However... four-six is too greedy of me. Let's stick to the old rules, three-seven. I take three, you take seven. But I have one condition: if you manage to survive in the capital, you have to leak a bit more of those business ideas in your head to me."
Xu Qinghuan smiled, smiling like a cunning merchant. "Deal."
...
The main doors of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion were tightly shut, with a sign reading "Closed for Renovations" hanging on the lintel.
The main hall was empty, devoid of the usual sounds of string and wind instruments.
As soon as Xu Qinghuan stepped over the threshold, she was completely surrounded by a flock of chattering women. The girls wore no makeup and were dressed in coarse cloth garments, their eyes red.
"Benefactor..."
Yunniang took the lead, and the group of girls was about to kneel on the ground.
"Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing!" Li Sheng struck his cane against the ground, making a dull thud that startled the girls. "How many times have I told you! The Xu family doesn't do this! Knees are for walking, not for scrubbing the floor!"
Yunniang was stunned by the yell, standing at a loss with a blue cloth bundle in her hands.
"Don't listen to his nonsense." Xu Qinghuan glared at Li Sheng, then turned to look at Yunniang. "Is this for me?"
Yunniang sniffled and carefully opened the bundle. Inside was a pair of kneepads, colorful and somewhat messy-looking, with stitches that weren't particularly fine.
"Princess... no, Miss." Yunniang's voice choked up a bit. "These are materials the sisters gathered together. We heard it's cold up north, and the winters in the capital can freeze your ears off. These kneepads are stuffed with fresh cotton we fluffed ourselves. Even though they look a bit ugly, they're... they're warm."
This was a "hundred-family garment."
Every piece of fabric came from a woman who had once struggled in the mud. They didn't have anything valuable to offer, so they could only sew their blessings into every stitch and thread.
Xu Qinghuan took the heavy kneepads. The coarse fabric rubbed against her fingertips, but it carried an unprecedented, searing warmth.
She originally wanted to maintain her persona as a "cold-blooded exploiter" and say a few sarcastic words. But when the words reached her lips, they turned into just two.
"I accept."
Xu Qinghuan handed the kneepads to Li Sheng, turned, and walked toward the backyard, waving her hand with her back to the crowd. "Live well, all of you. If anyone dares to bully you in the future, just use my name—although it might not work well in the capital, it should still scare a few people here in Jiangning."
As she was walking, a slender figure ran out from a room; it was Jenny Huang.
The girl had been holed up in the factory recently and had lost a lot of weight.
"Princess!"
Jenny Huang stopped Xu Qinghuan, bowing deeply, her voice crisp and strong:
"Jenny thanks the Princess for saving my life, and even more so for allowing a lowly person like me to touch such a divine artifact that benefits all the people!"
She raised her head, her eyes filled with the fanaticism of a tech geek:
"Please rest assured, Princess, go and make your mark in the capital first. Jenny will definitely guard the looms here. When you return next time, I will definitely develop an even more powerful 'Jenny loom' for you, one that allows one person to do the work of a hundred! I will absolutely not let down the Princess's painstaking efforts!"
Xu Qinghuan looked at this little girl who didn't even sleep for the sake of technology, and sighed inwardly: This is the Great Qian dynasty's version of the craftsman spirit.
"Alright, I'll wait for your 'hundred-person loom' to be born. When that time comes, we'll just contract the entire country's cloth business."
Xu Qinghuan patted her on the shoulder and, taking Li Sheng with her, walked briskly out of this gentle haven woven with rouge and looms.
...
In the backyard, under the old tree with a crooked trunk.
Xu Zijin was sitting upright at the stone table, practicing his calligraphy. He wore a washed-out blue gown, his back straight as a ramrod, as if trying to prop up a proud backbone through his impoverished air.
"Pack your things."
Xu Qinghuan walked right up to him without beating around the bush. "Tomorrow morning, you are coming to the capital with us."
The brush in Xu Zijin's hand paused, and a drop of ink fell onto the rice paper, blossoming into a dark stain.
He set the brush down and looked up, his clear eyes filled with confusion. "Why?"
"I owe the Xu family my life, and I signed a deed of servitude. I acknowledge that much," Xu Zijin said, his tone neither humble nor arrogant. "But since this Hundred Flowers Pavilion is being converted into a legitimate business, my teaching and bookkeeping here are also ways of repaying that debt. Why must I follow the Princess to a place of such trouble?"
He was a scholar. Though down on his luck, he was not stupid. The Xu family going to the capital was like jumping into a boiling wok. What could a powerless scholar like him possibly do if he went along?
Xu Qinghuan did not answer immediately.
She stood with her hands behind her back, her gaze passing over the courtyard walls to look up at the square patch of sky above.
The capital.
That was the core of the original book's plot, the ultimate destination of all political schemes and calculations.
Who was Xu Zijin? He was the male lead of the original novel! He was the child of destiny protected by the Heavenly Dao, a man who could turn bad luck into good fortune no matter how recklessly he behaved!
As a villainous supporting female character marching toward her doom, how could she go without bringing a lightning rod along? If the Emperor ever decided to bestow a cup of poisoned wine upon her, she might just be able to shove Xu Zijin forward and watch the wine jug mysteriously explode.
But she could not say these things aloud.
Xu Qinghuan turned around and pointed at the gray sky above, her eyes taking on a profound and unfathomable depth.
"Scholar Xu, you have read so many books by the sages. Have you ever seen the real heaven?"
Xu Zijin was taken aback and instinctively followed her pointing finger. "Heaven?"
"A frog at the bottom of a well also thinks the round patch above its head is heaven," Xu Qinghuan said, a meaningful smile playing on her lips. "But this Jiangning City is too small, and this well is too deep. I want to take you to the capital, to see the real heaven that can crush a person to death, or allow them to ascend to the clouds in a single step."
"And while we are at it..." she silently added in her mind, "let us see if you, the favored son of heaven, will still be so lucky on your biological father's turf."
These words, however, took on an entirely different meaning when they reached Xu Zijin's ears.
He looked into Xu Qinghuan's eyes, which seemed to see through all worldly matters, and felt that this Princess must harbor vast ambitions in her heart. Was she guiding him, telling him not to be content in a small corner but to venture into the center of the gathering storm to temper himself?
Xu Zijin fell silent for a moment, then stood up and bowed deeply to Xu Qinghuan.
"Since my employer has given the order, I dare not disobey."
He turned and went back into his room to begin packing a knapsack that contained nothing but a few books and some old clothes.
...
It was late at night.
In the main hall of the Liu Garden, the lantern light was dim and yellow.
Xu Youde was pacing around the room with his hands behind his back like a donkey working a millstone, making anyone watching feel dizzy.
"No! Absolutely not!"
Xu Youde stopped in his tracks and lowered his voice. "Huan'er, we cannot leave in broad daylight! We absolutely cannot let the commoners come to see us off!"
Xu Qinghuan sat in her chair, toying with a gold token of authority, and nodded. "I was thinking the exact same thing."
Over the past few days, she had heard all the rumors circulating outside.
The commoners who had received kindness from the Xu family were currently discussing making a Ten-Thousand-People Umbrella for them, and they were even planning a grand ten-mile farewell procession.
If this were an era of peace and prosperity, it would be a beautiful tale.
But what kind of time was it now?
The Xu family had just annihilated the Wang family, they held private troops, and they had produced divine artifacts that shocked the royal court. If they marched into the capital carrying an umbrella that represented the unwavering support of the people, it would be the equivalent of carving four large words onto their foreheads: Merit Overshadows the Master.
The Emperor was already a deeply suspicious man. Seeing such a spectacle, he would think: Good heavens, your prestige in Jiangning is even higher than mine? Are you trying to stage a rebellion?
Most likely, the poisoned wine of execution would be delivered to their waystation that very night.
"The will of the people is a double-edged sword," Xu Youde said, wiping cold sweat from his forehead. "We are already heading into the capital with weapons, practically tying our heads to our waistbands. If we catch that master's eye again, our entire family will be finished."
He took a deep breath and made his decision. "We leave tonight! Under the cover of darkness, without alerting a single soul!"
Father and daughter exchanged a glance, both seeing in each other's eyes the tacit understanding of not wanting to be heroes, but simply wanting to stay alive.
"We will take the side door," Xu Qinghuan added. "Wrap the horses' hooves thickly so they do not make a sound."
...
The next morning.
The mist in Jiangning City had not yet fully dispersed, and the air carried a damp chill.
A white-haired old woman, carrying a bamboo basket on her arm, shuffled slowly toward the Liu Garden, panting with every few steps.
The basket was lined with thick straw, and nestled within were over a dozen freshly boiled red eggs, still steaming. Those were the eggs she had saved up for an entire month, refusing to let her grandson eat them even when his mouth watered.
"I heard... I heard the Princess is leaving today."
The old woman muttered to herself as she walked. "This old woman has nothing of value, I just want to kowtow to the Princess. If it were not for the monthly allowance the Princess handed out, my little grandson's medicine would have run out long ago..."
She walked very slowly. By the time she reached the great vermilion doors, the sun had already risen.
Upon looking up, she saw that the gates were tightly shut.
The two massive doors that were usually left wide open now bore a heavy brass lock.
"No need to look, Auntie."
A courtyard guard poked his head out from a side door, looking at the gathered crowd of the elderly, women, and children, and let out a sigh. "The Princess and the Master left in the middle of the night. By now... they have probably long passed the ten-mile pavilion and are out of the region entirely."
"They left?"
The old woman froze, and the basket in her hand tilted.
Roll, roll, roll.
The warm red eggs tumbled out, hitting the bluestone pavement and cracking their shells to reveal the tender white egg whites inside.
The old woman watched the eggs roll away, and tears suddenly welled up in her cloudy eyes.
Trembling, she set the basket down. Facing the empty official road stretching to the north, ignoring the coldness of the ground, she bent her knees and knelt down heavily.
"Princess..."
The old woman's forehead struck the bluestone pavement with a muffled thud.
"May your journey... please, above all else, be safe!"
