The night wind blew through the courtyard of the Changping Marquis Manor, sweeping up a few fallen leaves.
In the study, two horn lanterns were lit, and the crisp sound of abacus beads clicking together echoed pleasantly in the room.
Xu Youde leaned back in the grand armchair, his plump body filling the seat completely.
Holding a purple-hair writing brush, he faced a tall stack of account books on the desk, making marks and circles on the Xuan paper.
"The Zhao family's silver vault has eight hundred thousand taels of silver in cash, the Qi family's has two hundred thousand, the Wang family... these rats, the real gold and silver hidden in their cellars are more than the national treasury."
Xu Youde smacked his lips, rested the brush on the Duan inkstone, and raised a hand to rub his aching neck.
Very light footsteps came from outside the door.
Li Sheng pushed the door open and entered. He didn't have a sword in his hand; instead, he held a few crumpled pieces of paper.
"Master, Princess." Li Sheng bowed first, then placed the pieces of paper on the corner of the desk. "It's absolute madness outside."
"Since the afternoon, every bookstore and paper shop in the capital, big and small, has been cleared out. Even the rough paper used for pasting windows has been bought up."
"The cheapest yellow hemp paper has gone up from eight wen a quire to twenty wen. Some poor scholars who couldn't buy paper simply took off their long gowns and asked their classmates to write poetry and essays directly on their white inner garments."
"Outside the main gate of the Imperial College, hundreds of students are lined up, prostrating themselves in the direction of Shichahai."
Li Sheng swallowed, his tone full of disbelief. "Grand Libationer Kong and Elder Gu have both gone into secluded meditation, even returning the memorials sent by the Grand Secretariat. They've let it be known that they won't see anyone."
"Now the rumor outside is that the Princess's line, 'For there is a source of fresh, flowing water,' contains the supreme path of the Great Qian's literary lineage. Whoever can comprehend a fraction of it is guaranteed to place first in the imperial examinations."
"Miss, is this really true?"
After hearing this, the fat on Xu Youde's face quivered twice. He turned to look at Xu Qinghuan, who was sitting on the small couch by the window.
Xu Qinghuan held a cup of tea that had long gone cold, her gaze resting on the boundless night outside the window, not making a sound.
Seeing this, Li Sheng tactfully retreated, making sure to close the door tightly behind him.
Only the father and daughter were left in the room again.
Xu Youde reached into his robe, fumbled around for a while, and pulled out the red-infused jade plaque engraved with the character "Three."
The jade plaque gleamed with a warm luster under the lamp. He tossed it into the exact center of the red sandalwood desk and let out a scoff.
"Huan'er, look at the Third Prince. He really thinks he's the one playing the chess pieces."
Xu Youde picked up the teacup beside him and took a sip.
"This thing, he thinks it's a lifesaver for our Xu family, expecting us to be deeply grateful and act as his dogs in the Ministry of Revenue from now on."
Xu Qinghuan stood up and walked to the desk, not putting down the cup of cold tea in her hand.
Splash.
Half a cup of cold, leftover tea, along with a few soggy tea leaves, was poured directly by Xu Qinghuan onto the jade plaque.
The tea flowed down the jade plaque, spreading into a puddle on the tabletop.
"Father, you've been doing business your whole life. Do you understand this calculation?"
Xu Youde picked up a cloth and slowly wiped the water stains on the table, his smile tinged with sarcasm. "Your old man has been flicking the abacus for decades. What kind of tricks like catching a white wolf empty-handed or borrowing a hen to lay eggs haven't I seen?"
"The three million tael hole in the military pay, that's a pit dug by Shang Qitai, with Xu Jie watching from behind."
"The old Emperor wants money. To appease the Emperor's anger and protect the civil official faction, Xu Jie decided long ago to throw these six noble families out as 'sacrifices' to fill the pit."
"This money, Xu Jie must hand over. This is the protection fee in the imperial court."
Xu Youde sneered repeatedly, slamming a paperweight onto the table. "Xu Jie can't do it himself. If he personally confiscated their wealth, his reputation as the Chief Grand Secretary would collapse, and his foundation would scatter."
"So he needs someone to do it for him, to take the blame for him. That idiot Xiao Jingyan thinks he's all-powerful, intercepted this dead account book, and ran to the Marquis Manor to do us a favor."
"What kind of favor is he doing? That's Xu Jie using his hand to hand us a death warrant! What is this called? This is called passing the parcel to the beat of a drum, and in the end, the parcel lands in our Xu family's hands and blows us to pieces!"
"The clown is actually himself." Xu Youde snorted coldly. "The Emperor wants us to be the vicious dogs gathering wealth, Xu Jie wants us to be the scapegoats, and Xiao Jingyan wants to step on us to rise to power."
"This whole court of civil and military officials treats our Xu family as a piece of fat meat on the chopping block. Everyone wants to take a bite."
He stopped talking and looked straight at his daughter. "Huan'er, Father knows you've been clever since you were little. Lately, you've been calculating every step, playing these old foxes like a fiddle."
"But Father doesn't understand. Since we've seen through this as a dead end, why are we still walking into it? What earth-shattering scheme is hidden in that head of yours?"
Xu Qinghuan met her father's gaze without avoiding it.
Her mind was clear. Some trump cards had to be revealed to her father so that the two of them could cooperate flawlessly in this bloody arena.
The bloody ending written in the "Book of Fate" flashed through her mind: Xu Youde being executed by lingchi, herself hung on the city wall as a public spectacle, and the Xu family's blood staining the execution ground.
In this man-eating Great Qian Dynasty, stepping back meant death, compromising meant death, and they wouldn't even give you the chance to be a useless piece of trash.
Even if the old Emperor squeezed every drop out of your bones, he would still ruthlessly throw you into the fire pit.
"Father, do you really want to hear the trump card?" Xu Qinghuan lowered her voice, every word carrying immense weight.
Xu Youde nodded firmly.
"Because I want to live, and I want the Xu family to live." Xu Qinghuan stood up, walked to the window, and pushed open half of the lattice. The night wind rushed in, making the shadows of the lamp flicker.
"Father, calculate it. How much is the Great Qian's annual tax revenue? A little over thirty million taels."
"In just a few days, we dug out three million taels of silver in cash from the cellars of the six great families."
"This shows that the Great Qian is rotten to the core. The wealth is entirely concentrated in the hands of these noble families."
"The old Emperor has no money to pay the troops, so he can only indulge us to rob."
"But no matter how sharp a knife is, there will come a day when its edge curls."
The current Emperor is sixty-five this year. How many more years can he wear this dragon robe?"
Xu Youde chimed in, "The exact year is hard to say, but once the new Emperor ascends the throne, our Xu family will be the first to bear the brunt, used as a sacrifice to the flag."
Xu Qinghuan nodded.
"In this world, if the handle of the knife is in someone else's hands, we can only be the meat on the chopping block."
"The Son of Heaven treats us as a knife, breaking us when we become dull; the noble families treat us as a chamber pot, disgusted by the smell after they're done using us."
"Our Xu family can't be loyal subjects, and we can't be part of the pure stream. Since that's the case, let's simply stop staying on this front stage."
Xu Qinghuan let out a soft laugh.
"Father, broaden your perspective."
Xu Qinghuan looked left and right, waving her hand to signal her father to come closer.
Xu Youde's eyes darted, and his body was already beside the female lead.
Then, Xu Qinghuan whispered a few words into her father's ear.
Hearing this, Father Xu immediately broke out in a cold sweat, his eyes darting around like wheels.
Xu Youde stood up and paced back and forth in the study.
"A dangerous move in military strategy, a method of balancing power, how brilliant! But also extremely perilous..."
"However, your old man will take this gamble with you!"
This deal was unimaginably huge.
Xu Youde was now flushed with excitement. "But what about the aftermath? What should we do next? We've confiscated the money and thoroughly offended people."
"Right now, wearing the title of Count of Chengyi, we are covered in the blood of Jiangnan merchants."
Xu Qinghuan walked behind the desk, pulled a piece of paper from the paper box, and spread it flat on the table.
With her left hand, she pulled over a paperweight to flatten it, and with her right, she picked up the writing brush that Xu Youde had just used.
She dipped the tip of the brush into the leftover ink.
"The Imperial Academy."
"The scholars of the world."
Looking at these words, Xu Youde stroked his chin. "You went to Shichahai today and scolded those sour scholars until they were dripping with dog blood, even throwing Grand Libationer Kong's invitation into the water."
"Was this wave of... what do you call it, a dimensional strike, just to get a grip on these scholars?"
Xu Qinghuan set down the brush.
"Father, the bowl of rice of a lone official is not something just anyone can eat. The Emperor wants us to play the villains, so we must play the villains to the bitter end."
"Confiscating properties, hoarding wealth, acting domineering—we have to bear these reputations. Only then will the Emperor feel at ease using us."
Xu Qinghuan pointed at the paper on the desk. "But I didn't go to Shichahai today to bicker with a bunch of imperial students. I went to buy something."
"An iron shirt to protect our heads."
"An iron shirt?"
"Our Xu family stands out too much, making us easy to break. It's as easy as flipping a hand for the Emperor to eliminate us, and it takes no effort at all for Xu Jie to smash us to pieces. Because killing a cruel official reeking of copper coins costs them nothing."
"But today, I smashed the 'Song of Climbing Youzhou Tower' and the 'Inscription on a Humble Cot' right into the faces of Kong Zongyun and Gu Zongming. That poem, 'Thoughts on Reading,' is an even deadlier poison aimed at the current Neo-Confucianism."
Xu Qinghuan had spent a hundred thousand taels of silver to exchange for these timeless masterpieces from the golden finger in her mind, and it was certainly not just to show off.
She knew very well that to overturn this chessboard, having money and troops was not enough; she had to win the hearts of the world's scholars.
Throwing down that silver in exchange for the half-teacher courtesy from the titans of the Daqian literary world was a guaranteed profitable deal.
"Kong Zongyun is the Grand Libationer of the Imperial Academy and the direct descendant of the Kong family; Gu Zongming is the titan of the poor scholars in Jiangnan. These two are the most crucial figures among Daqian's literati."
Xu Qinghuan walked to the front of the desk and tapped the tabletop with her fingertips.
"And at Shichahai, in front of five hundred scholars, they bowed to me with the courtesy of a half-teacher."
Xu Youde clapped his hands together. "That is indeed brilliant! This means that from today onward, not only is the Xu family the imperial court's cruel official, but you, Xu Qinghuan, are also a towering mountain in the hearts of scholars worldwide."
"This reputation is our Xu family's protective talisman!"
"Exactly." Xu Qinghuan picked up the jade token and slowly wiped the tea water off it with a handkerchief. "From now on, whether the old Emperor wants to kill the hound after the hare is caught, or Xu Jie wants to settle scores in the autumn, or even if our Third Prince wants to silence us..."
"They will all have to weigh the consequences before making a move."
"Killing one Xu Youde is easy, but if they want to execute the entire Xu family that wrote 'For there is a source of running water,' they'll have to see if the pens of the world's scholars can break their spines."
Xu Qinghuan tossed the jade token back into Xu Youde's lap.
"So, we will continue to be the villains. As long as Gu Zongming and Kong Zongyun haven't fully comprehended those poems, the heads of our Xu family will sit securely on our necks."
"When the power we secretly accumulate becomes massive enough, that will be the time for us to turn the tables and become the masters."
She walked to the door and rested her hand on the latch.
"As for the Third Prince..." Xu Qinghuan said with her back to Xu Youde, her voice light and airy. "Since he's willing to deliver account books, let him do more of this dirty and tiring work in the future. We will just focus on collecting the money."
"If one day he decides we are no longer useful to him, we'll let him see what it means to find it easy to invite a god in, but hard to send one away."
The night wind swept the chill from outside into the study.
Xu Youde watched his daughter's proud and aloof silhouette disappear into the night. He looked down at the jade token in his hand, then at the seven still-wet characters on the desk.
He suddenly broke into a wide, silent grin.
"Damn it, the most profitable deal I've ever made in my life was giving birth to such a daughter."
Xu Youde tossed the jade token into a drawer and sat back down in his armchair.
He picked up the abacus and began to flick the beads with a clattering sound. His fingers moved at lightning speed as his mind raced, plotting for the day the Xu family would rule the world.
...
The next morning.
At the end of the long street, a luxurious carriage pierced through the white mist and slowly approached.
The carriage was drawn by four pure-colored Ferghana horses. The cabin was crafted from premium golden thread nanmu wood, with windproof glazed palace lanterns hanging from its four corners.
Inside the carriage, the Third Prince Xiao Jingyan sat as upright as a pine tree.
On the small table beside him rested a red sandalwood box. Inside it was a discontinued edition of ancient ink made by Li Tinggui of the Southern Tang Dynasty, along with several quires of priceless Chengxintang paper.
"Your Highness, we have arrived at the Chengyi Count's Estate."
