The afternoon sun was so fierce it seemed it would scorch the earth. In the private room on the second floor of the teahouse.
Xu Qinghuan held an unopened folding fan, her knuckles rhythmically tapping the table with a steady "tap, tap" sound. She paid no attention to the pot of Longjing tea, picked before the rains, that had long gone cold on the table. Instead, her alluring eyes were fixed on the boiling street below.
It was the smile of a hungry wolf seeing a fat lamb placed upon a roasting spit.
Downstairs, thousands of refugees who had just received their hundred-copper-coin "life-buying money" were sweeping through the market of Taoyuan County like a swarm of locusts.
At the corner, in front of the steamed bun shop.
The one-armed man flicked his empty sleeve behind him, wiped his single hand hard a couple of times on his grease-stained apron. Then, he pulled out from his chest a string of copper coins warmed by his body heat.
Thwack!
The coins slammed heavily onto the counter, raising a puff of white flour dust.
The bun shop owner had been waving a fly swatter to shoo people away, his face clearly saying "beggars keep your distance." But upon seeing that genuine string of copper coins, his old face instantly blossomed into a chrysanthemum-like grin.
"Ten meat buns! Two bowls of soy milk! Make 'em hot!" the one-armed man roared with a voice that shook the heavens, his confidence so thick he sounded like he was buying the whole street.
"Right away, sir!" The owner threw down the swatter, deftly lifting the steamer lid.
White steam carrying the fragrance of meat billowed upwards. The coins fell into the money box with a crisp clatter.
That sound was like a switch being flipped.
Xu Qinghuan watched as the street, which had been half-dead just moments before, came alive.
In the cloth shop, matrons haggled loudly with the clerks at the top of their lungs; at the shoe stall, an old barefoot man grinned from ear to ear, stomping in his new straw sandals; even the little tavern selling watered-down inferior wine was packed solid with burly men.
Money was flowing.
The copper coins the Xu family had handed out were flowing straight into the vendors' pockets in the blink of an eye. These vendors, having earned money, immediately turned to the butcher next door to buy meat, to the rice shop to stock up.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Eat up, eat more."
Xu Qinghuan stopped tapping the table, the greed in her eyes nearly overflowing. "How can you slaughter a pig for the New Year if you don't fatten it up first?"
She had been worried earlier that the money she spent wouldn't come back. But now, seeing this, these vendors were practically piggy banks! The money in the refugees' hands was scattered and hard to seize. Once the vendors gathered it, wasn't that just a bunch of suckers waiting for her to harvest?
This wasn't commercial recovery. This was her breeding gu!
"Li Sheng."
Li Sheng, who had been waiting at the door, hurriedly pushed it open and entered, bowing his waist like a shrimp. "Young Mistress."
"See that down there?" Xu Qinghuan pointed with her folding fan, her tone sinister. "These profiteers are making a killing with my money. Since when is anything in this world so cheap?"
Li Sheng glanced at the bustling street and cautiously asked, "The Young Mistress means..."
"That's my money." Xu Qinghuan stood up, straightening her bright red skirt, her voice carrying an undeniable logic of a tyrant. "This is called borrowing a chicken to lay eggs. Now the eggs are laid, and the chicken is fat. If I don't collect the principal with interest, should I leave it for them to celebrate the New Year?"
She turned and fixed a sinister stare on Li Sheng:
"Pass down the order. Increase the taxes."
"Call it... the 'Market Prosperity Fee.'"
"Anyone who did business today, whether selling buns or cloth, must hand over twenty percent of their turnover! Turnover, not profit! If it's not collected by sunset, smash their shops tomorrow!"
Li Sheng drew a sharp breath, his calves trembling.
Twenty percent of turnover?!
The imperial commercial tax is one-thirtieth, and that's on profit! The Young Mistress demanding twenty percent of turnover with a single sentence is outright robbery! If this gets out, these vendors who were just singing the Xu family's praises will probably rebel on the spot!
"Young Mistress, this... this is tyranny! It will incite rebellion..."
"Rebellion?" Xu Qinghuan scoffed, her eyes full of anticipation. "If they don't rebel, I won't even bother collecting. I want to see them cause trouble. The bigger the trouble, the faster the sky over Taoyuan County will collapse."
Best if the matter reaches the capital, letting the old emperor issue a decree to have her exiled and be done with it.
"Go collect!" Xu Qinghuan waved her hand. "Take Pockmarked Liu and his men. If anyone dares utter half a 'no,' beat them to death!"
...
At the tea stall across the street.
Xiao Jingyan held a coarse ceramic bowl with a chipped rim. His gaze passed over Xu Qinghuan upstairs and finally settled on the boiling street.
"Your Highness, this defies reason." Su Ruoxu's brows were furrowed into a deep crease. "Refugees suddenly coming into wealth should logically lead to chaos—looting and brawls would be the norm. But look..." He pointed at the orderly grocery store. "How is it that, on the contrary, it's more stable than usual?"
Xiao Jingyan took a sip of the bitter tea dregs, a sharp light flashing in his eyes.
"Because this is living water."
He dipped his finger in the tea and drew a circle on the table.
"Before, disaster relief meant distributing rice. Once eaten, they'd starve again. Xu Qinghuan is distributing money. Money given to the refugees saves the merchants, and the merchants then need to restock from farmers, weavers. This cycle turns, and everyone gets a way out."
Su Ruoxu looked at the circle drawn with tea, his pupils contracting sharply. "Using work-relief... it's an ancient practice. But spending money so recklessly, regardless of cost, to repair a dilapidated road, just to trigger this situation..."
"Whether the road is in bad shape or not isn't important." Xiao Jingyan interrupted him, a rare fervor in his tone. "What's important is this 'momentum.' She turned the Xu family's dead money into living money for the entire Taoyuan County. Such skill is even more masterful than the court's Minister of Revenue."
He looked up, taking a deep glance at the half-open window on the second floor.
The figure of the girl in red was indistinct, but in Xiao Jingyan's eyes she was clearly a stateswoman, well-versed in the art of governance and adept at manipulating economic levers.
"Great wisdom appears foolish; great treachery resembles loyalty." Xiao Jingyan murmured in admiration. "This daughter of the Xu family is worthy of being appointed Chancellor."
Downstairs.
The "worthy of being appointed Chancellor" Xu Qinghuan was waiting to hear the merchants' curses.
Pockmarked Liu led a group of black-clad chengguan (urban enforcement officers), armed with account books and intimidation rods, knocking on doors shop by shop.
"Xu Family Decree! Your brisk business today relies entirely on the Young Mistress's generosity. We now levy the 'Prosperity Fee,' taking twenty percent of your turnover!"
The announcement was delivered with extreme arrogance and shamelessness. Xu Qinghuan held her teacup, the corner of her mouth upturned, waiting for the first roar of anger. As long as someone resisted, her "tyrant" achievement would be accomplished.
However.
What came from downstairs wasn't cursing, but the crisp sound of abacus beads clacking.
Grocery store owner Wang, after hearing Li Sheng's words, didn't even frown.
"Twenty percent turnover?"
Owner Wang's pen swiftly made a mark in the account book. He pulled open the cash drawer, grabbed a handful of broken silver and copper coins, placed them on a scale for careful weighing, then added another small piece of broken silver until the scale beam tipped high.
"Steward Li, this is twenty percent of today's turnover, plus an extra two qian for tea money."
Owner Wang smiled like a flower, presenting the tray with both hands. "Please accept it!"
Li Sheng was dumbfounded. Pockmarked Liu was also stunned. They had already raised their rods, but not only did the other party pay, they paid so readily?
"Shopkeeper Wang, you... heard correctly?" Li Sheng couldn't help but ask. "This is twenty percent turnover, that's cutting flesh!"
"Cut what flesh?"
Boss Wang lowered his voice, stuffed a handful of melon seeds into Li Sheng's hand, his shrewd little eyes gleaming. "Steward Zhao, you've got to look at the accounts this way. Before, this street was full of beggars; I couldn't even sell ten copper coins' worth of goods in a day. Today, after Miss Xu fed the refugees, I've already sold five taels of silver worth of stock in just half a day!"
He pointed at his half-empty shelves. "As long as Miss Xu keeps giving money to the refugees, my business won't dry up. What's handing over twenty percent? It's a token of allegiance! Paying this money means you're under the Xu family's protection. That's how you do business securely from now on!"
Such was the merchant's logic.
As long as the profits were substantial enough, those so-called exorbitant taxes and levies became a reasonable "operating cost" in their eyes, or even a ticket to latch onto a powerful patron.
This scene played out repeatedly up and down the entire street.
The bun shop owner handed over a string of cash, the cloth merchant manager paid two taels of broken silver, even the old man selling straw sandals tremblingly fished out several dozen copper coins, his face full of gratitude as he stuffed them into the collection box.
No one cursed, no one rebelled.
Everyone shared an unspoken understanding—"I know the rules, following the Xu family means getting a share of the spoils"—and they scrambled to hand their money over to that "female demon."
The sun set in the west.
The door to the private room opened. Li Sheng entered carrying a heavy box, his face wearing a dazed, sleepwalking expression.
"Young Miss."
The box was opened.
Over thirty taels of broken silver mixed with several strings of copper coins glittered mockingly in the sunset light.
"All collected." Li Sheng swallowed hard. "A total of thirty-eight taels and six maces. No one caused trouble. Everyone said... they thanked the Young Miss for providing them a livelihood, that they paid this money willingly and gladly."
Xu Qinghuan looked at the box of money, her chest heaving.
Over thirty taels.
For the half-dead county market, this was a huge sum, pure profit these vendors couldn't have earned in half a month before.
But to her, it was a disgrace!
To think it was only this much!
No, this way she'd never be able to squeeze out any real profit.
[Ding!]
In her mind, that damned system notification tone arrived right on schedule.
Xu Qinghuan's vision darkened. She waved a weak hand. "Get out... all of you, get out..."
Across the street.
Xiao Jingyan watched the retreating figure of Li Sheng carrying the money box, his gaze growing even more fervent.
"Amassing wealth without harming the people, taking it by just means, controlling people imperceptibly." He stood up, straightened his robes, his tone resolute. "Such a financial genius, if she could take charge of the Ministry of Revenue... the Great Qian treasury... would be saved!"
