Chapter 37
After not seeing each other for more than ten days, Liu Heipi looked full of vigor and vitality, a completely different person from before. Liu Heipi regarded Cui Lanyin as the noble patron who had lifted him up, and now that she was staying in Prince Wei's Mansion, he naturally had nothing to hide from her. "These three shops were given to us by the Cao Gang to settle a debt. The Cao Gang already controlled most of the business along the canal, but they were not satisfied. Relying on their status as local bullies, they tried to muscle in on the maritime trade that the Haisheng Gang was running to Yingcheng. The Haisheng Gang may be outsiders, but they have the Nine Trading Firm from Guangzhou backing them up, which is wealthy and powerful and not someone to be trifled with. After the two sides clashed, they fought fiercely and neither got any advantage. In the end, they both came to our Qilin Hall to mediate the dispute. Heh heh... that's how the Cao Gang gave us these three shops to settle the score. The Nine Trading Firm behind the Haisheng Gang was even more generous, they promised us a share of their maritime business. As for how big that share will be, the major merchants of the Nine Trading Firm have to discuss it before they can give a definite answer."
The Nine Trading Firm monopolized most of the maritime trade. A single voyage overseas would bring back piles of gold and silver. It was often said among the common people that even one percent of the shares in the Nine Trading Firm would let someone lie back and count their silver for the rest of their life, which shows just how lucrative maritime trade was.
Prince Wei had made a huge profit this time, and Cui Lanyin was genuinely happy for him.
Noticing that there was something odd about Liu Heipi's laugh, Cui Lanyin asked, "Didn't you have a close relationship with people in the Cao Gang? How come you got their shops and you're not laughing out of joy, but looking as pleased as if you've just pulled one over on them?"
Liu Heipi said disdainfully, "The Cao Gang is nothing but a bunch of fair-weather friends who would betray anyone for profit. I was blind before, taking them for my own people. But when the Five Cities Military Office was hunting for me some time ago, I went to them, asking them to reach out to the officials they had under their thumb to help smooth things over. Every single one of them ran and hid far away. All the good things I'd given them over the years were fed to ungrateful dogs."
"Zhang Gui said more and more Cao Gang people have been coming around the tea shop, so I told Zhang Gui to turn them all away."
"Of course they saw that I'm now backed by Qilin Hall, so they want to cozy up to me again." Liu Heipi said with a sneer, "Free silver that comes to the door is silly to turn down. With me watching over the tea shop, Second Miss, you can rest easy."
He added, "I was thinking that later on, all the people who come to Qilin Hall to discuss matters can be directed to our tea shop. What do you think, Second Miss?"
The more people who came to Qilin Hall to settle disputes, the more silver her uncle would earn. Since the tea shop was going to be used for that purpose, there was no reason not to open it up fully for him.
"Work out the details with Zhang Gui," Cui Lanyin approved.
When the clock struck nine in the morning, she sent Zhang Gui back with Liu Heipi, and Cui Lanyin hurried as fast as she could to Prince Wei's Mansion.
Ever since she found out the day before what a hard time Prince Wei had because of his photographic memory, she had decided to spend as much free time as possible by his side. Even if he didn't feel like talking, she could just chat to him and let him listen.
As long as circumstances allowed, she also planned to have both lunch and dinner with Prince Wei, hoping that having someone around to distract him would ease the condition where memories kept replaying in his mind.
She arrived just in time. Cui Lanyin's carriage pulled up at the second gate, right as Prince Wei's carriage entered the main gate. Cui Lanyin went back to her Clear Brook Pavilion to change into casual home clothes, and by the time she reached the study, Prince Wei had also changed out of his formal attire, and Buyan was asking him what he wanted for lunch.
Seeing Cui Lanyin, Prince Wei, who had his two fingers bent ready to flick something, stopped the motion. He kicked off his shoes and sat cross-legged on the Luohan couch.
Cui Lanyin didn't even ask him, but directly named a few dishes to Buyan, "Let the kitchen decide on the rest."
"Got it!" Buyan grinned, his footsteps light and quick as he ran out to pass on the order to the kitchen.
Cui Lanyin sat down on the other end of the Luohan couch. "Uncle, I went out to check on the shops just now and ran into Liu Heipi. He said the three shops the Cao Gang gave to settle their debt—renting them out or selling them outright isn't the most profitable option. If you give them to me, I guarantee I'll earn back the full sum you'd get from selling them in three years."
"Take them," Prince Wei said simply.
"Uncle, you don't even ask a single question? You trust me that much?"
"They're just sitting there gathering dust anyway."
What did that mean? Cui Lanyin couldn't help asking, "Are there a lot of these debt-settled properties? What have you all been doing with them?"
Prince Wei glanced around the room, and Cui Lanyin immediately knew what he was looking for. "No getting someone else to do it. Uncle, you have to tell me. You promised you'd talk more."
Stared at by her like that, Prince Wei had no choice but to speak. "There's a whole notebook with all the details. You can read it yourself."
"You mean there's a whole book full of these properties we got to settle debts, and they've just been left unused to collect dust?"
"Mm."
"Don't we have a lot of businesses we invested in and hold shares in? We could have the people who manage those businesses take care of these properties, even if we just collect rent from them."
"There's no one to manage them."
"Didn't Lord Bai say there are accountants for every shop and business?"
"We only have the accountants."
Cui Lanyin finally understood. So all those shares Prince Wei held in different businesses were also given to him to settle debts, just like the maritime trade shares the Nine Trading Firm had promised them earlier. He paid a little silver to get the shares, and every year at the end of the year he just sent an accountant to check the books and collect his money. He never interfered or asked about anything else.
There's no such thing as free shares. Otherwise, a big business like the Nine Trading Firm wouldn't have been so eager to offer him a share in their maritime trade. Holding shares from someone means you have to use your power to protect their business. When those businesses run into trouble and need someone to step up, Qilin Hall has to send people and put in effort to back them up.
Those shares were earned through their own power, so they couldn't be left as messy, unclear accounts.
At first, people might not have dared to play tricks, intimidated by Qilin Hall's power, and would hand over every copper that was owed. But people forget past hardships once they're comfortable. With such a crude, hands-off management style, and so much profit at stake, it was impossible for no one to start cutting corners over time. By now, the amount of money that had been siphoned off must be enormous.
Just thinking about the mountain of account books, spanning eleven whole years, how much money must have gone missing? Cui Lanyin's heart ached at the thought.
"Uncle, do you have so much silver that you don't even care?"
"There's no one to spend it," Prince Wei said. He knew exactly what she was thinking.
Asking the Qilin guards to manage all these properties would really be too much of a burden for them. If they hired outsiders, those people would figure out all the hidden tricks in the accounts just like she was doing now.
Prince Wei already had more than enough complicated matters filling his mind. For things that weren't critical, he chose to focus on the big picture and ignore the small details. As long as they had enough silver to get by, he would leave those matters aside for the time being.
"Uncle, leave all this to me. We can't let those shops and houses sit idle, and we also need to audit the accounts of all those businesses we hold shares in. The discrepancies are definitely going to be huge."
"If you need people, go find Bailin," Prince Wei said.
"I'll first figure out the best way to start."
The kitchen sent over their lunch, and the uncle and niece ate together. After lunch, Cui Lanyin went back to the Clear Brook Pavilion to take a siesta. When she woke up, she went to the room where the accounts were kept. The first thing she did was look for that notebook that recorded all the properties they had gotten to settle debts. She and Buyu rummaged around for ages before finally finding it on the lowest shelf. The notebook was yellowed and the pages were curled at the edges, a clear sign of how little anyone had cared about it—no one had even bothered to make a new, neat copy when it got worn out.
Cui Lanyin flipped through every page carefully. Just collecting rent from all those shops and houses would bring in a huge sum of silver, and the thought of all that potential profit left untapped made her feel as if she was throwing silver away, it was so upsetting.
The top priority was to get all those shops and houses up and running and generating income again, and only then could she go through each business one by one to audit their accounts. But all this work needed trustworthy people, people whose backgrounds they knew well. The Qilin guards were only needed to use force to keep order. Who else could she use? There was already someone perfectly suited for the job, no one better could be found.
She asked Buyu to call Geng Dayou over, and then Cui Lanyin gave him detailed instructions on exactly what to do.
After Geng Dayou left, Buyan said to Cui Lanyin, "Third Master Yao and Fourth Master Yao are here."
Had they given up on backing Prince Duan, who was going nowhere, and decided that Prince Wei was a far more promising prospect instead?
Cui Lanyin kept on with her work, and as usual, finished her tasks by dusk before heading to the study.
The atmosphere in the study was rather stifling. Prince Wei was sitting cross-legged in meditation, radiating a clear aura that he did not wish to be disturbed.
Cui Lanyin gestured toward Prince Wei, then whispered to Buyan, "What happened?"
Buyan already knew very well that there was no harm in speaking freely as long as Cui Lanyin was the one asking.
He spoke in an extremely low voice, "Lord Xuan just sent word that His Majesty has selected eight young ladies of noble birth. Six of them have been sent to Empress Dowager Li's palace, and the other six to Empress Dowager Chen's palace. It is said that they are there to keep the two empress dowagers company and amuse them for a while."
This so-called "keeping the empress dowagers company" was obviously a selection of concubines for Prince Ping and Prince Wei.
However, the scale of this selection was unusually grand. Cui Lanyin remembered that when Prince Kang and Prince An went through the same process, only four young ladies were chosen to be sent to Empress Dowager Li's palace.
Cui Lanyin walked over and nudged Prince Wei, "Cousin Uncle, are you secretly delighted about this?"
Prince Wei opened his eyes and tapped on the square low table, saying, "Fifth Young Master Yao, Sixth Young Master Yao."
Wait, weren't they just talking about the selection for his concubines? What did Fifth and Sixth Young Master Yao have to do with that?
Meeting Prince Wei's meaningful gaze, and connecting it to Third Master Yao and Fourth Master Yao who had just left a short while ago, Cui Lanyin tentatively asked, "Is the Yao family asking me to choose a husband from between Fifth Young Master Yao and Sixth Young Master Yao?"
"If a man has no sons by the time he turns thirty, he may adopt one of his nephews as his heir."
Cui Lanyin could hardly believe her ears. The Yao family was offering her ten years to give birth to a child. If she still had no child after ten years, instead of taking a concubine to bear an heir, they would adopt one of his nephews.
"The Yao family is really willing to pay such a high price," Cui Lanyin could not help exclaiming. "Did they propose this on their own initiative?"
Prince Wei lifted his eyes to glance at her, and Cui Lanyin tilted her chin at him, teasing, "I was just thinking that Cousin Uncle was afraid I would end up an old maid at home, so you hinted at them to make this offer."
Prince Wei let out a huff through his nose, not bothering to argue with her.
If that was the case, the Yao family would be a decent match for her. But right now, she and Prince Wei were in the same boat, and his interests would always come first. "What is Cousin Uncle's opinion on this?"
"It's worth considering."
If she married into the Yao family, the Yao family would no longer dare to be half-hearted toward Prince Wei. She would have to find out what kind of men Fifth Young Master Yao and Sixth Young Master Yao really were.
Cui Lanyin thought for a moment and said, "The Sixth Miss of the Yao Family invited me to go to Tianfu Temple to admire cherry blossoms the other day. I didn't give her a reply at the time because I wasn't sure what you thought. The prefectural imperial examination is coming up soon. Eleventh Young Master Yao and my two cousins are both going to sit for it. A day or two of relaxation right before the exam would be good. Admiring cherry blossoms and drawing fortune sticks at the temple sounds like a perfect plan. I might as well agree to go to Tianfu Temple, so that I can get a look at both Fifth Young Master Yao and Sixth Young Master Yao then."
"Fine by me," Prince Wei said, and then fell silent.
Cui Lanyin did not press him further. She went on to tell him about the deed to the property that had been used to settle a debt, and what her plans were for it afterward. Prince Wei only responded with an occasional sound, and soon he leaned to one side and drifted off to sleep.
She knew that once he fell asleep like this, he would not wake up for a long time. Change never happened overnight, and being able to get a good rest was a good thing for him. She told Buyan that she would not be coming for dinner, then headed back to her Qingxi Pavilion.
After she left, no one came to disturb Prince Wei until Bailin showed up for something. Prince Wei had exceptionally sharp hearing. Before Bailin could even step onto the front porch, Prince Wei woke up. He glanced at the water clock and saw that it was already the eighth hour of the night.
Bailin stepped in and reported, "The Second Young Miss's younger brother has astonishing strength, and his bone structure is incredibly rare. He also has amazing perception for martial arts. Even though he is already seventeen, he is extremely hardworking. If we put extra effort into training him, the years he lost before can still be made up for."
Bailin had a very good impression of Cui Su. "The Second Young Miss must have told him something, because that boy never goes anywhere else in the manor except the training ground and his quarters. He never says a single unnecessary word. From the day he stepped into the manor, he has behaved exactly like one of our Lin Guards. He is a very honest, sincere lad."
"Assign Elder Bai and the others to train him."
Bailin had taken a liking to Cui Su for his talent, so he had come to ask for Prince Wei's permission whether the core training techniques for the elite Lin Guards could be taught to Cui Su.
The inherited knowledge of the Dark Lin Guard was of utmost importance. Without the permission of Prince Wei, the head of the Dark Lin Guard, the core techniques could never be taught to anyone outside the ranks of the Lin Guards.
But Cui Su was such a rare martial arts prodigy that one could hardly find another like him for decades. Considering how differently Prince Wei treated Cui Lanyin, Bailin had thought that His Highness might make an exception, which was why he had come to ask in the first place.
If it had been anyone else, Bailin would never have made the trip.
However, the outcome still exceeded Bailin's expectations. Not only was Prince Wei making an exception, he was also arranging for Elder Bai and the other three elders to personally train Cui Su.
Not Uncle Bai and the others, but the four elders. Bailin could already picture the shocked look on the four elders' faces when he brought Cui Su over to them. Especially Elder Qing, who was always prying for details. He would have to spend ages explaining things to him.
Bailin was happy for Cui Su deep down, but he said in a half-joking tone, "All of us were trained by the four elders. Now that Cui Su is going to be their disciple too, what are we supposed to call him later?"
There were three generations in the Dark Lin Guard. The oldest generation was the thirty-six Lin Guards trained by Elder Bai, Elder Qing, Elder Chi and Elder Xuan. The middle generation was the thirty-six Lin Guards trained by Uncle Bai and the other three uncles. The youngest generation was the thirty-six Lin Guards trained by Bailin and the other three leading Lin Guards.
The middle generation was mainly waiting to train the next generation, while the oldest generation had already stepped back from active duties. They would not be called upon unless something that threatened Prince Wei's very life happened.
The Dark Lin Guard always followed the rule of having the older generation train the younger generation across a gap. The four leading Lin Guards, including Bailin, had all taken the four elders as their masters. And Prince Wei had also taken all four elders as his masters, which meant that the four leading Lin Guards were actually Prince Wei's fellow apprentices in a way.
Now that Cui Su was going to be a disciple of the four elders too, he would be their junior fellow apprentice. But if they went by Cui Lanyin's side of the relation, the seniority would be totally messed up.
Prince Wei had never cared much about these formalities of seniority and titles. It was only when Bailin brought it up that he realized the problem, and he was just about to correct his earlier order when Bailin said with a suppressed grin, "Your Highness, you can't go back on your word now. After all, things will develop the way we all expect later on."
It had been years since Bailin had seen Prince Wei make such a careless slip, and a hint of chagrin even appeared on his face. For that alone, Bailin thought it was well worth it to let Cui Su be their junior fellow apprentice.
Prince Wei had never paid much attention to the stuffy rules of feudal etiquette. He was still sleepy at the moment, and too lazy to bother changing the arrangement. He just waved his hand to send Bailin away.
Bailin turned around to leave, and saw Buyan standing there looking glum. "What's wrong with you?"
Buyan glanced furtively at Prince Wei, and saw that His Highness had leaned back again, not paying any attention to them.
He pouted and said, "The Second Young Miss is getting married."
Bailin already knew the news. "The Second Young Miss was bound to get married someday. And she's marrying into the Yao family, which is a good match. Why aren't you happy for her? Why the long face?"
"I want the Second Young Miss to have a smooth, happy life. But once she marries, our manor will be so quiet. If the Chief Steward finds out, he'll definitely sigh and worry nonstop."
Buyan's words made Bailin freeze. He thought about the days before Cui Lanyin started visiting the manor. Back then, they were stuck staying by Prince Wei's side all day long, and often did not even have proper meals. Going hungry was nothing, but for a chatterbox like him, not being able to say more than a few words all day long was absolute torture.
Now things were totally different. Buyan stayed on duty in the study, and Cui Lanyin dropped by whenever she had time. The atmosphere in the study had become so much more relaxed. And because Cui Lanyin made sure that everyone ate three proper meals a day, they no longer had to suffer from irregular meals. Counting all the changes she had brought, the manor really would feel so empty once she left.
If Cui Lanyin got married and there was no one around to keep an eye on and keep Prince Wei company, he would go right back to his old ways. Bailin was dead certain he never wanted to go back to those days. He turned his head and asked, "Sir, can't we keep the Second Miss here for a little longer? Yinyin and Qiqi are about to step into their sweet ambiguous phase [grinning mischievous]"
