Chapter 101 – The Way of Spring

The wheels of the four-wheeled carriage ran over the grass that had just sprouted on the official road, and when they touched the cracks in the stone on the road, they made a gurgling sound, which, together with the sound of the reeds between the hubs of the carriage, made a joyful sound as if they were singing.

The road out of the inner storehouse is full of a happy scene, small birds in the distant paddy field side of the forest quickly swept, green seedlings show the slender shy body, paddy field side of the weeds look at them disdainfully, the road caravan endless, the river boat to and fro, the inner storehouse of the production through various ways to transport out, sold to the world, a good piece of lively scene.

A convoy of wagons driven by officials and soldiers, easily passed the innermost check line, originally the wagons on the official road did not dare to compete with this convoy, subconsciously stopped, but the wagons in the convoy of wagons in someone looked at the two eyes, it seems to find that today’s Inner Treasury shipments are too large, the traffic is a little busy, so they ordered their own pedestrian convoy stopped at the side of the road in a grassy area, surprisingly let the wagons go first.

The penultimate wagon in the convoy, is just yesterday was removed from the black veil, in addition to the official uniforms, poor, pitiful officials of the Department of Inner Treasury Transit Division, these officials are the Princess inserted in the inner treasury of the beloved, although once thought of, Fan Tisi to the arrival of their own days must be not good, but really did not think that Fan Xian is so not to give the officials and that the face of the mother in law, dry to the extreme to catch them, and with the name of the …… was actually the matter of labor tides …… These officials of course knew at this time that they had been caught in Fan Xian’s trap, and were terrified inwardly.

However, Fan Xian did not immediately open the case, these officials have their own friends and relatives, last night in the prison know, Fan Xian is ready to bring their own people to Suzhou, handed over to the Governor of Jiangnan Xue Qing Xue adults personally interrogated, as soon as they heard the news, these officials mood only slightly better, as long as not face the Supervisory Yuan’s Tiger Stool, chili water, the case where it is easy to be so settled? Even if the Supervisory Yuan has the treasurer’s confession, but as long as they go to Suzhou and deny it, Xue Qing Xue adults, always have to give the Princess some face, as long as the delay some time, as long as the pressure of the Kyoto to the, Fan Xian self-care, I think will not pay attention to their own and so on.

“Why should we give Xue Qing to go to trial?” Haitang half leaned on the side of the car window, frowning slightly.

Fan Xian lowered his head and said, “It’s not something I’m fit to do.”

Haitang softly hmmmed and didn’t say anything further. Ever since the day of the labor tide, the atmosphere between the two had become a bit strange, and the trust they used to have for each other seemed to have weakened a bit, treating each other with courtesy, but with a few more hints of rustiness. Haitang afterward thought about it will understand why, know their own that day proposed a trip, indeed some let Fan Xian difficult, but after a few days to see Fan Xian always this deliberately light, she is not good to take the initiative to open the explanation, after all, no matter how to say, Haitang as a Northern Qi saint, the status of the supremacy of the status of Fan Xian’s pride also touched the pride of her.

And so the two currently maintained this awkward repartee.

“I want to confirm once more, has the silver arrived?” Fan Xian asked with a frown.

A faint smile floated across Haitang’s face, seemingly mocking Fan Xian’s affliction, and she said softly, “I told you last time in Suzhou that there was no need to worry so much, could it be that you can’t trust me now?”

Fan Xian suddenly felt that the atmosphere in the carriage was a bit depressing, and after instructing Si Si beside him in a low voice, he lifted the curtain and got out of the carriage. Si Si inclined her head slightly and looked at Haitang curiously, wondering how this girl family whose reputation was all over the world had offended the young master – these days she could see clearly that although the young master did not have any male-female affair with this Haitang girl, at first he behaved like a close friend who had known each other for many years, but in these few days, he was a bit strange.

Haitang was somewhat puzzled by Si Si’s look, and suddenly spread her face and smiled, “What are you looking at?”

Si Si was not in a good mood and said, “I’m glad you’re looking at me, but not me looking at you?”

Haitang laughed and shook her head, habitually put her hands to the side of the waist a tucked …… but found that tucked an empty, she has been wearing maidservant’s clothes these days, instead of the habitual wear of the flowery cloth goblin, there is no those two big pockets in front of her body.

She looked at Si Si and teased, “I see you, I want to see what the woman Fan Xian likes looks like.”

This is true, Haitang this niece has always been some do not understand, obviously her best friend Si Li Li is the most beautiful woman under the sky, why Fan Xian in front of Li Li but can keep calm, deliberately maintain the distance, even after that night madness, Li Li also has no attachment to the feelings of this down Jiangnan dozens of days, Fan Xian actually did not ask himself a sentence, such as Li Li recently live can be good and so on.

Even if again is a desperate person, for once had a night of destiny, the same car of the blessing of the world’s most beautiful women, always not so cold, so Hai Tang even began to suspect, Fan Xian this person is not some hidden disease, such as like His Majesty that ……

But on the contrary, Fan Xian accepted Si Si into the room, Haitang this way to travel, of course, know that Si Si this big maid is Fan Xian’s room, so some strange, but look at these days, also did not see Si Si exactly what strange place, looks just dignified and clear, far less than the Si Li Li soft and charming and plentiful.

Listening to Miss Haitang talking about “Fan Xian’s favorite woman”, Si Si’s face abruptly turned red, and responded in a mosquito-sized voice: “Young master …… how can you like me.”

Haitang shook her head with a bitter smile, “If I don’t like you, how could I accept you into my room? Although Fan Xian is a cold-blooded and heartless person, I don’t believe he would act like this.”

Si Si suddenly lifted her face, revealing a look of pride and confidence, “Miss is mistaken, Young Master is the most affectionate person in the world.”

“Affection?” Haitang savored these two words, remembering that Si Si seemed to have grown up serving Fan Xian, she frowned for a moment, doubting in her heart, a cold-blooded, heartless, young powerhouse like Fan Xian, who took pleasure in calculating others, was really …… a person who valued affection?

She sighed, and since she didn’t have any large pockets on her clothes, she had to sleeve both of her hands up with some regret, and asked, “Miss Si Si, then why were you staring at me earlier?”

In fact, Si Si had some resistance to this Miss Haitang who was always inseparable from the young master some days ago, after all, the other party was not a young granny and was a hostile Northern Qi. However, after more contact, just like many people who had been in contact with Haitang, Si Si also easily fell in love with this girl who was gentle in her words, bright in her actions, and straightforward but not brutal in her temperament. Haitang is a person of noble status, although her face seems to be light and sparse, and she doesn’t speak much, but she treats people with great sincerity, no matter what kind of status people have, she will treat them equally, and respect and equality from the bottom of her heart – such as Sisi who is still a big maiden status now-. Just this point, has exceeded the world much.

At this time, listening to Miss Haitang’s question, Si Si couldn’t help but cover her lips and smiled, saying, “As the girl thought, I also want to see what the young master’s favorite person looks like.”

The carriage quieted down, Haitang opened those big bright eyes and looked at Si Si like a cute little animal. After a long time, she put her hands on each other’s sleeves, shrugged her shoulders, and said, “Will the Hu people not kill?”

The Western Hu and Northern Barbarians, over the centuries, did not know how many of the Central Plains people had been brutalized, and their vicious reputation had spread throughout the four wilds, Si Si replied very firmly, “Impossible!”

Haitang blinked slowly and said with a smile, “Same thing.”

The breeze brushed Fan Xian’s face, telling him that it was spring now. He closed his eyes, welcoming the small breeze that hit his face and sniffing the pleasant scent of life on the wind. The green leaves of the forest at the end of the paddy field in front of him were rustled by the wind, and suddenly his eyes moved slightly and he heard a rustling sound coming from behind him as well.

It wasn’t the wind rustling the tops of the forest, it wasn’t sweeping the street, it wasn’t rolling dice, it wasn’t pencil nibs writing, it wasn’t spring silkworms eating that mulberry leaf.

It was her walking, the village girl walking.

Without opening his eyes, Fan Xian said slowly, “Why is it impossible?”

“Hmm?” Haitang calmly walked up to him and expressed her doubt with a single word, as light as that blind man was expressing his doubt to Chen Pingping many years ago.

Fan Xian’s lips curled slightly as he said, “Why do you think it’s impossible for me to like you? According to the news from the courtyard, the Empress Dowager of Northern Qi is already anxious about your marriage.”

Haitang tucked her hands into her sleeves and stood beside him looking at the plowing oxen in the paddy field in front of her, smiling lightly, knowing that he had heard all of the conversation between herself and Si Si in the carriage, and opened her mouth to say, “It seems that your true qi has recovered well.”

Fan Xian opened his eyes and stared at a small bird that had landed on the back of the plowing ox, and asked with a smile, “I’m asking …… why it’s impossible for me to like you.”

Haitang twisted his head to look at him, realizing that he was asking this question very seriously, and couldn’t help but helplessly respond, “Always like to be this mouthy and flowery, and can’t really take advantage of anything.”

Fan Xian was silent, thinking of that conversation with Seven Leaves yesterday, there are many things he can only do but not say after he is reborn, but with Haitang …… it seems that he can only say but not do? He couldn’t help but smile and said, “I’m just curious as to why you’re so sure.”

Haitang smiled and said, “In the upper capital city, you once said, but all men, or male animals, are thinking with the lower half of the body …… and I think to myself, and do not have that kind of face to trigger your mind, after all, my identity is different, you have scruples, and it is not possible to obtain any benefits, how would you like me?”

Haitang is the Holy Maiden of Northern Qi, Fan Xian is a powerful official of Southern Qing, the two of them can get along with each other as friends, but if they really want to be a pair, the Empress Dowager of Northern Qi and the Emperor of Southern Qing will definitely not allow this kind of thing to happen, but on the contrary, it will bring about some damages for the two of them in terms of their plans. But Fan Xian thought of nothing else, and said mockingly, “Liking this kind of thing has nothing to do with interests. I’ve realized that it’s only been half a year, and your heart is already too different from what it used to be.”

These words seemed to have been said by Fan Xian to Haitang when he was in Hangzhou.

Haitang was silent for a long time, then slowly spoke, “The Heavenly Dao emphasizes the sensing of heaven and man, the upper body of the world, and the lower compassion for the ten thousand people, and I originally thought that these things could be done naturally, but these past half a year has been entangled in a lot of planning, which is very different from the central method of my sect, so I can’t help but be a bit unaccustomed to it.”

Fan Xian nodded slightly and said approvingly, “This kind of hooking up is really only suitable for people like me, you should still go back to your promising career as a village girl.” He didn’t know what came to his mind and sighed, “Speaking of your dissonant heart, it is ultimately my problem. If I didn’t pull you into the game when I was in Shangjing, perhaps you would still be raising chickens and teasing donkeys in the garden.”

He turned to Haitang and said with a smile, “Do I count myself as having introduced you to the devil’s path?”

“What is the Devil’s Way?” Haitang calmly responded, “It’s just the devil of the heart, if you have something to desire, you will lose something, although my desires may seem grandiose, but there will still be something to lose, this is the so-called natural way.”

Fan Xian asked, “Then you still insist on it?”

“Of course.” Haitang said softly, “Anzhi, you said a sentence that deeply fits my heart.”

“What words?”

“In this world, there has never been a good war and a bad peace.” Haitang smiled and said, “So for this goal, I am willing to help you.”

Fan Xian once again fell into silence, looking at the scenery in front of him in a daze, only to see that the bird, perhaps on the plowing ox that was pasted with yellow mud, didn’t find any parasites to eat, so it flew away with a huff.

“Actually, you shouldn’t be too inferior.” Fan Xian twisted his head and looked at Haitang, saying with extreme seriousness and earnestness, “I’ve always felt that you are very dignified in your looks.”

Haitang was dumbfounded, and after a moment responded, “Dare I ask, is this appreciation of Duo Duo, or mockery?”

Fan Xian laughed and shook his head, “It’s just a feeling in response to your earlier comment that I couldn’t possibly like you.”

Haitang finally couldn’t help but give him a blank look, like a little girl, which was extremely rare.

Fan Xian realized that his eyebrows were a bit itchy, and reached out to rub them with his fingers, saying, “Don’t compare yourself to me, but there aren’t many beauties in this world if they are compared to me.” He said dejectedly, “This is not my problem, this is my parents’ problem.”

Haitang no matter how light and self-possessed, after all, is only a teenage girl’s family, which girl’s family does not pay attention to appearance? Unless it’s blind …… she was Fan Xian these few words explicitly for relief, secretly for making fun of the words angry well depressed, thinking that this guy’s mouth is really some foul suspicion, clenched his teeth and said, “As a high official, speak or do not make up a good.”

Fan Xian seemingly did not notice the other party’s rage, seriously explaining, “It’s not nonsense, you said that I can’t possibly like you because you don’t look pretty enough, and I’m trying to explain to you that, in my opinion, you look really good …….”

Haitang was slightly stunned. Fan Xian’s next sentence came extremely fast: “After all, there has been a previous case, my wife, Kyoto people say that she looks just as good as she looks, but in my opinion, Wan Er is the most beautiful woman in the world ……” He shook his head and sighed: “My aesthetic is probably different from most people in this world.”

This sentence finally poisoned Haitang over, she stifled a grunt, took out her hands in her sleeves and whisked her sleeves away. When she flicked her sleeves, grass clippings flew about on the grass, the wind did not move because of it, and her momentum was compelling, so she thought that this flick held the supreme true qi of the Heavenly Dao.

Fan Xian stretched out his hand to cover his eyes, in a piece of grass clippings in a terrible mess, swaying back and forth, seems likely to fall to the ground at any time. However, in the midst of the grass clippings, he laughed with great joy.

When the wind stopped and the grass clippings fell, Haitang stood still, with a hint of ridicule on her face, looking at him and mocking, “Humiliate me a bit, can you get rid of the anger from the previous two days?”

Fan Xian was slightly stunned, sighed and said with a smile, “Duo Duo, are you still angry?” This was the first time he had addressed the other party as Duo Duo after the day of the labor tide.

After Haitang was stunned, he slowly turned around and walked towards the side of the carriage. At this time, the six places in the carriage’s swordsmen had long since gotten off to watch over it, and the tiger guards led by Gouda were even more vigilant in staring at Haitang, after all, in that earlier wind of grass clippings, these Fan Xian’s subordinates didn’t know what had happened, and were very afraid that Haitang would suddenly strike.

Fan Xian followed and said with a smile, “Don’t be in a hurry to get on the bus, accompany me for a walk.” He waved his hand for Gouda Yi and the others to back off, and after a few more words of instruction, he carried Haitang side by side along the woodland beside the official road toward the front.

The two walked side-by-side, already a good distance from the caravan, the spring forest overhead was permeated with sunlight, silky dots and forks that transformed into all sorts of beautiful patches of light that shone on top of the two men’s clothes.

“I am someone who cares a lot about the word trust.” Fan Xian said calmly, “Perhaps it’s because in my current life, it’s hard to find someone worth trusting, so I was a little disappointed that you were going out of the house that day.”

Hai Tang slightly lowered her head and did not explain anything, but said very directly, “Duo Duo is also a person who cares about this matter, after all, you and I belong to two different countries, without the word trust, it is really hard to accomplish anything.”

Once the words were out of the way, it was relatively simple, except that at this point, it was already quite unnecessary to ask whether Haitang had wanted to go snooping in the workshop, or whether Fan Xian had misunderstood the girl. Since the trust between the two had somehow been restored through Fan Xian’s acerbic mouth, bringing up old matters again would seem extremely foolish.

As the two of them walked side by side toward the front, Haitang glanced at him with her afterglow and frowned, her hands still in her sleeves, not as comfortable as Fan Xian’s large pockets. Fan Xian softly explained, “The Supervisory Yuan official uniform, I had Si Si add two pockets.”

Haitang smiled faintly and sighed with some regret.

In the woodland beside the official road, the sound of rustling resurfaced, this pair of men and women who did not have any male-female privacy, but were extraordinarily demanding of each other’s trust, just as half a year ago in the palace in the capital of Northern Qi, on the road by the Yuquan River, it was as natural to drag their heels and walk lazily.

In front of him and behind him were all the colors of spring, and the forest leaves above his head were green and tender and lovely.

“How do you plan to deal with the Ming family?” Haitang asked softly.

Fan Xian’s eyebrows slightly raised, said: “The inner treasury open tender, a total of sixteen items, in previous years, Cui Ming two families will take up fourteen items, now the Cui family collapsed, leaving almost six positions, I have arranged for people to take over, and so on the middle of the year Si Zhe in the north of the Cui family remnants of the business collected almost after the North and South of the two sides of the ride, the road will be reopened to up! …… As long as that Wei Commanding General of yours doesn’t blindly organize, the inner treasury to lose to the north of the cargo road won’t have a problem, as for how much of it can be hitched to the share of the private cargo, it also depends on how far I can master the inner treasury, and the other thing is that my father’s side has transferred me to the manpower, and I don’t know how much it can be of use.”

This was the agreement between him and the young emperor of Northern Qi, Haitang came south, of course, to keep an eye on this matter as well as that large sum of silver.

Haitang said after a moment of silence, “Even if you can get the entire inner treasury into your hands in a short period of time, but if you send the quantity …… to the north in accordance with the agreement, to be more than the private goods that the eldest princess has sent in previous years, how can you guarantee the quantity that you will hand over to the court of the State of Qing? I worry that you are not good to explain to the Emperor of Qing, before coming here this time, his majesty also entrusted me to bring you words, if you can’t satisfy the demand of the north this year, you can hold off for two years, and wait for you to stand firm before saying again, after all, this is the long-term plan.”

Fan Xian was slightly stunned, not having thought that the Emperor of Northern Qi would be so considerate of himself, he couldn’t help but smile and said, “It depends, as long as this year’s output from the inner treasury can have a noticeable increase compared to the previous years, I’ll be very good at explaining myself to the court.”

Haitang glanced at him and asked suspiciously, “Where does this increase come from?”

Fan Xian calmly answered, “Firstly, of course, there should be an increase in the output of the various workshops in the inner treasury, and after the open source, how to do the accounting to smuggle the goods out, naturally, there are the old shopkeeper, Su Wenmao, and those old officials of the Ministry of Revenue sent by my father to tinker with the accounts, and you know that the one who supervises the inner treasury is originally myself, so it’s not too hard for me to wipe out the traces; secondly, I intend to nibble on the Ming family, to bring this big family to the top of the list. a bite, and dig out the wealth of this great family and offer it with both hands to his majesty, who will surely be very pleased.”

Back to the question that Haitang had asked at the very beginning, exactly how he planned to deal with the Ming family. Listening to his tone, Haitang seemed not to be prepared to wipe out the Ming family in a short period of time, somewhat surprised, asked, “You can tolerate the Ming family?”

“Have to tolerate it, at least within this year.” Fan Xian scoffed to himself, “The Cui family’s roots are too floating, and the battle lines are spread too far, so the Supervisory Yuan can succeed in one battle. But the Ming family hundred years big family, as early as before the inner library is the famous family in Jiangnan, rooted extremely solid, tens of thousands of people of the big family, in the dynasty as an official will not know how many, if the thunderous means to deal with, only afraid of Jiangnan road will be a big mess. The most crucial thing is ……”

His face became heavy: “Ming family has eaten a lot of benefits from the inner treasury over the years, but such a big business, of course they can’t be swallowed by one family alone, of course there is a shadow of the royal family behind this system, the eldest princess, the crown prince, the second prince, all have shares in it, perhaps to say you don’t believe me, even my Fan family has a place in it, and they send heavy gifts to Kyoto year after year, the The ministries and even the Privy Council have an extremely good impression of the Ming family, and they have always kept a low profile, and you’ve seen that young master Ming, who is a very stable person, and doesn’t have too bad a reputation in the folklore …… Wanting to move them is really a bit difficult.”

Haitang also began to feel that this matter was a bit complicated, but she realized that although Fan Xian’s brows were slightly worried, he still didn’t lose his confidence and asked, “What’s your bottom card?”

“My bottom card is the Emperor.” Fan Xian said seriously, “The Ming family stole the silver from the inner treasury and then gave a portion of it to the princesses and imperial ministers, and all the people under this sky like the Ming family. But …… His Majesty doesn’t like it because it’s his silver that the Ming family stole.”