Ye Shi was still troubled by Old Woman Hua's matter when she saw her trusted maid Ah Ling had returned to the residence. Ah Ling's parents were still with the Ye family, and this time her mother was not feeling well, so Ye Shi gave her a few days off to serve her sick mother. It would be scandalous if she didn't let Ah Ling go there when it was her birth mother who had gotten ill, and her illness was getting severe.
When Ah Ling entered, she informed Ye Shi of the news. "My Lady, Concubine Ke passed away last night." Ah Ling was referring to Ke Minjie.
Ye Shi didn't even raise her eyebrow when she heard the news. "How is the Second Master doing?"
Although the Second Master had become disabled, the Ye family had not yet fallen into ruin. Thus, it was not a problem to get him a wife. But the Second Master was unwilling to take one and wanted to live his life with Concubine Ke. Madam Ye loved her son; thus, she could only tolerate this anger. But Master Ye loathed to put up with it. Seeing that his youngest son had abandoned not only his family and future for a woman but also his parents and was still obsessed with her made him wonder what his youngest son's purpose was in returning home. Just to piss him off?
Master Ye's action was straightforward. He simply separated the Second Master Ye from the family. However, in the end, he was still his son. Master Ye didn't disappoint him by giving him a generous amount of their family fortunes. And Second Master Ye basically spent all this family wealth on Ke Minjie's health in the end. It couldn't be helped that Ke Minjie had a miscarriage that year and didn't have a good confinement period after it, which left her ill. Ke Minjie couldn't recover her health even after all these years. Hence, she never stopped taking her medicine.
Ah Ling shook her head. "I'm not sure how the Second Master is right now. My Saozi[1] told me about this when I returned there." Ah Ling's saozi[1] was also a stewardess in the Ye Residence and was relatively well-informed.
Ye Shi sighed. "Forget it. Let's just leave him alone." The main issue was that there was no way to control her brother, nor did she have the right to interfere with his life. Other family members would dislike you if you poked your nose too much.
Han Jianye happened to have a friend looking for him that day, so he went out. When he returned, he heard that Yuxi had written a letter and rushed to his Dage[2]'s place to ask for it.
Han Jianming smiled and said, "Yuxi only wrote to Mother and me. There is none for you."
Han Jianye didn't believe this and proudly stated, "In this family, Yuxi has been close to me since she was a child, so it's impossible she didn't leave a single letter to me." He still had this confidence.
Han Jianming took a letter from under a book and handed it to Han Jianye. Seeing Han Jianye smile as he read it, he asked, "What did Yuxi write to you?"
Han Jianye smiled as he replied, "Yuxi said that the wine in her restaurant tasted good enough. When I returned to the northwest, she would buy me a drink and let me have a good time there."
Han Jianming wasn't jealous of Han Jianye's words. Yuxi's relationship with Jianye had been built since childhood, and even his relationship with her couldn't compare. Not to mention, even his mother's relationship with Yuxi couldn't hold a candle to those two. Han Jianming smiled and commented, "She's about to become a mother but still acts like a child."
Han Jianye responded happily, "That's good that she's still acting this way."
Hearing this response, Han Jianming stopped dwelling on the matter. "Your mourning period will be over by the seventh lunar month. Will you still go back to the northwest?"
Han Jianye nodded. "There's no need to ask anyone to do me a favour this time since I'll just go straight to the northwest. Yun Qing is now an upper second-rank vice general, so he can assign me any available vacancy inside the camp." A second-ranking vice-general had the right to appoint generals below the third rank. At that time, all Yun Qing had to do was just submit a report to the Imperial Court, and they could proceed.
Speaking of this, Han Jianye said, "Are those b*stards still going to say that Yuxi is a jinx? Now let them open their eyes and see that after Yuxi married Yun Qing, he was immediately promoted. I'll see if they dare to talk nonsense again." When he recalled those rumours at the beginning, Han Jianye was filled with fire. Those gossipers were too hateful.
Han Jianming didn't care much about that as he said, "Everyone's mouth is attached to their bodies, so nothing we can do to stop them from saying what they want to say. Oh, by the way, I heard your father-in-law wants your xiaojiuzi[3] to go to the northwest. Is that true?" He didn't expect that the northwest had become a sweet pastry[4] that caused everyone to be willing to go.
A Traditional Sweet Pastry
Han Jianye nodded. "It's true. It should be decided in the next few days. It is estimated that we will be leaving for the northwest at the end of the month. Dage[2], I can ask my xiaojiuzi[3] to bring something to Yuxi." It would be hard for his xiaojiuzi[3] to bring something heavy, but a few letters would be acceptable.
Han Jianming nodded. "I understand." Remembering what Ye Shi had told him that afternoon, Han Jianming felt the need to tell his brother about this. "Mother said she wanted to donate all her private savings to the school Yuxi had founded to help those orphaned children."
Hearing this info, Han Jianye asked, "Did Mother really say that?" Seeing Han Jianming nod, Han Jianye was somewhat moved. "If that is the case, that would be wonderful." He had been in Yu City for over a year and was well aware of the situation. Every winter, many people would die because of freezing and starving. Basically, all of them were old people and children. When he was in Yu City, he mostly spent his money helping these people. But his aid was like throwing a cup of water on a burning firewood cart[5]. It couldn't help much. But if he had this personal money from his mother, who had the knack for making money, it would undoubtedly be quite a lot. Once they were given to Yuxi, she could use them to rescue many more children.
Looking at Han Jianye's reaction, Han Jianming didn't have anything else to say. "Have you thought about taking Lu Xiu with you on this upcoming trip to the northwest?"
Hearing this question, Han Jianye looked up at Han Jianming and asked, "Dage[2], why do you want me to take Xiu-er to Yu City? Is there something going on?" When he saw Han Jianming shake his head, Han Jianye didn't believe it anymore and said, "Dage[2], I'm not a child anymore, so you can no longer hide anything from me. We'll figure it out together as brothers if there's anything."
Han Jianming smiled and shook his head. "There really is nothing wrong. I just think it's not a good idea for you two to be separated." [T/C]
A noob translator, きつね, translated this noob translation. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.site. If you read this in another location other than site stated, it has been taken without the translator's permission. Please don't support this kind of act.
Only after Han Jianming had assured Han Jianye that he was not hiding anything from him did Han Jianye give his reply. "My child, An, is still too young. I'm worried his body won't withstand the long journey, so let's wait a few more days. I'll send someone to pick up the mother and sons at that time."
Seeing that Han Jianye had already thought of a plan, Han Jianming didn't say anything more.
Before Lu Lin, the Third Master Lu left for the northwest, Liu Chun, Han Jianming's messenger, returned to the capital. After handing the letter to Han Jianming, Liu Chun reported, "My Lord, the letter has already been read by someone."
Han Jianming asked coldly, "What's going on? How could the letter have been read?"
The story was simple: Liu Chun had slept outside at the post station until dawn a few days ago. Although his things were still there and the letter was still intact, he knew it had been tampered with. A specially trained person like him, not to mention still being in the middle of a mission, would not usually sleep that much even when nothing happened around him.
Han Jianming looked carefully at the letter Yuxi had written to him. The envelope was still intact and showed no signs of having been tampered with. "What a wasteful plan." Liu Chun had always secretly helped Han Jianming collect information. This time Han Jianming had no choice but to let him deliver the letter on the road since he couldn't trust the others, but he did not expect something could still happen in the end.
When Liu Chun saw that Han Jianming was not angry with him, he added, "My Lord, the Fourth Gunainai[7] said the letter was only about trivial family matters." It meant that there was nothing confidential in the letter.
Han Jianming was not surprised. Given Yuxi's cautiousness, she couldn't write such vital matters in the letter. "What did Yuxi say to you?"
Liu Chun replied, "The Fourth Gunainai[7] only told this little one these words, Xinping City, the prefectural magistrate." What precisely those words meant, he did not know. Of course, he didn't need to know what they meant either.
When Han Jianming heard this, his pupils shrank, and he quickly regained his composure and said to Liu Chun, "You can withdraw and rest." This girl's heart was deep enough to even aim at the Prefect of Xinping City's position. However, it was only by having one of their own people sit on it that they would get even more benefits.
When Liu Chun went out, Han Jianming opened the letter Yuxi had written. He did not believe that Yuxi would really write anything in the letter. After reading the thick letter, Han Jianming thought carefully for a while, then called upon Mr Zhao. After Mr Zhao finished reading this letter from Yuxi, Han Jianming asked, "What are your thoughts on this letter, sir?" In this letter, Yuxi complained from the beginning to the end, saying that things in Yu City were very expensive. Especially the price of rice, flour, vegetables and fruits was much higher than in the capital. Then she said that in winter, even if she had money, she still could not buy fresh fruits and vegetables. She also said that she had a particular craving to eat cherries at the end of the year but could not have even one, which left her in tears. She also told him that a person in her residence went to the medicine hall to see a physician. However, the more that person went there, the worse his illness became. When the matter was investigated, it turned out that the medicine servant had blindly given the patient the wrong medicine.
If people who did not know Yuxi well were to read this letter, they would naturally think that she was a young lady who could not adapt to life in Yu City, and that was why she was complaining so much. But Han Jianming knew Yuxi. She would never complain, even when facing hard times. She would try her hardest to adapt to her surroundings. Therefore, there must be a deep meaning in this letter from her.
Mr Zhao read Yuxi's letter thrice and said, "My Lord, the Fourth Miss has revealed two essential pieces of information in this letter. One is that the medicinal materials in Yu City are costly, and the other is that the price of grain there is very high."
Han Jianming nodded. "That's what I thought too." He felt that Yuxi should want to be involved in the medicinal herbs or grain business, as they were very profitable. As for the fruit, vegetables and such, they were all used to confuse people.
Mr Zhao added, "These medicinal herbs and grain businesses cannot be done without sufficient financial resources." The Fourth Miss tried pulling the Duke of State into doing business with her.
Han Jianming nodded. "Yuxi is acting cautiously, and she only has this idea for now. If she wants to implement it, she has to at least wait until Yun Qing took control of the Northwest Army." When Yun Qing was in power, he could intervene in the supply of military food and medicinal herbs. At that time, they could also have a hand in it.
Mr Zhao sighed with emotion. "The army provisions and medicinal herbs are the two big ones. If we were to get a slice of the pie[8], the benefits would be very substantial." He couldn't help but say that the Fourth Miss had a profound mind. She was already planning for the grain and medicinal herbs before Yun Qing had even assumed the highest position.
Han Jianming nodded with a smile. But he secretly wondered what this girl Yuxi wanted to do by taking over the medicinal herbs and grains and having the prefect of Xinping City be one of their people. However, he knew Yuxi's nature. She would surely remember the State Residence when she was in an advantageous situation. Therefore, he would definitely fight for Yuxi for the conditions she proposed. Of course, he could also benefit from having the prefect of Xinping City as his people.
Footnotes Full List
- sister-in-law
- eldest brother
- younger brother-in-law
- sth that is in high demand
- Chinese idiom: an utterly inadequate measure; useless attempt
- Han Jianming was right. You should have brought your family along, Jianye.
- (a respectful form of address for a married woman used by members of her parents' family) married daughter
- Chinese idiom: take a share of the spoils or profits
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The Rebirth of Han Yuxi