Qiao Zhiyong looked at Gu Pingyuan, who had stretched out his hand to borrow money the moment he entered, and wanted to sigh but swallowed it back.

“Manager Gu, please sit first. Let me tell you a story.”

Hearing him speak this way, Gu Pingyuan blinked his eyes and sat down quietly without a sound. He knew that Qiao Zhiyong would never waste time with idle chatter at such a critical moment.

Qiao Zhiyong thought for a moment, and when he opened his mouth, it was about something from a hundred years ago. “Once upon a time, there was a man named Li Zicheng…”

Li Zicheng, also known as the Roaming King, forced the Ming Dynasty emperor to his death and ascended the throne himself. But before long, he was driven out of Beijing by the Qing army. When he left, he took all the pure gold from the Ming treasury with him. When he reached Shanxi territory, carrying so much gold on horseback made the horses run slowly and unable to shake off the pursuing troops, so he buried the gold in the earth. Later, Li Zicheng was defeated and fled to Jiugong Mountain, and this fortune in gold was forgotten by people.

During the Kangxi era, a farmer surnamed Qiao was plowing his field when he struck a large urn with his hoe. Inside were densely packed horse-hoof shaped gold ingots, and there were dozens of such urns, all buried together. Although the seals were blurred, one could still make out the characters “Roaming King’s Gold.” He was a tenant farmer for the Kang family landlord, and when Master Kang learned of this, he used both intimidation and deception to get all the gold into his hands, thus making his fortune. Master Kang’s son befriended two men who used this gold to help him establish a business – the very first draft bank in the Qing Dynasty. Even after all this expenditure, only a small portion of the gold had been used, and the rest was melted down by the Kang family and cast into five hundred golden arhats.

However, by the end of the Qianlong era, the Kang family descendants gradually dwindled, and their business deteriorated daily, to the point where they faced the danger of family ruin and lineage extinction. The family head of that generation was devoutly Buddhist, and during his repentance before Buddha, he told the abbot of Wubian Temple about what had happened in the past. The abbot told him that the gold left by the Roaming King was stained with blood, and since the Kang family had obtained it through trickery and force, it was even more inauspicious, causing the Kang family to have few descendants. If this continued, they would truly have no sons or grandsons. When the Kang family head sought a way to redemption, the abbot told him to find the Qiao family descendants and return the remaining gold to the Qiao family. The Qiao family member at that time was Qiao Guifa, Qiao Zhiyong’s ancestor.

Gu Pingyuan listened to this story with wide-eyed amazement as if hearing a myth, and couldn’t help but interject, “So this is how the Qiao family’s wealth came about.”

Qiao Zhiyong shook his head, his face showing an expression of admiration. “Although ancestor Guifa was so poor at the time that he had no place to plant his staff, seeing that this gold was an inauspicious object, he didn’t touch a single penny of it. Instead, he sent it to Wubian Temple and gave it to that abbot, letting those five hundred golden arhats reduce their malevolent energy daily through the chanting of Buddhist sutras. He himself took a string of copper coins and went far away to Baotou, where through twenty years of hard work and accumulation, he established the ‘Fusheng Company’ business.”

“I see, the Qiao family ancestor was truly remarkable.” Gu Pingyuan was also quite admiring after hearing this.

Qiao Zhiyong nodded. “So the reason our Qiao family can have today’s success is entirely due to generations of hard work in starting and maintaining the business, absolutely not some heaven-sent wealth. The origin of this gold is only known to each generation’s family head, who must also swear never to covet this gold.”

“Then why not just donate the gold to the Buddhist temple?” Gu Pingyuan asked.

“We’ve thought about it several times, but ultimately felt that such a large sum of money, if used for righteous purposes, wouldn’t necessarily be bad – certainly better than gilding wooden and clay sculptures.”

“Just now Manager Gu said you wanted to borrow money from me to solve the urgent crisis of the provincial draft banks. Actually, there’s something I should have told you back in Xi’an. Now the Qiao family is already facing great disaster – not only is there no silver in our treasury, but creditors are about to come knocking.”

Gu Pingyuan was greatly shocked. Looking at Qiao Zhiyong, he saw not a trace of worry or distress on his face, so he said incredulously, “Master Qiao must be joking.”

“No, I’ve invested all the silver in tea mountains in the south. This is the foundation I’ve laid for the Qiao family’s next several decades. For this, these past two years I’ve relied on the Qiao family’s good reputation to owe quite a bit of silver to merchants and customers, originally counting on this batch of tea to arrive and immediately make a big profit. But the day before yesterday, the clerk I sent out reported back that government troops and the Taiping rebels are fighting fiercely along the Yangtze River, all northbound roads are cut off, and the tea carts have been detained in military camps. It looks hopeless.”

“…” Gu Pingyuan was stunned into silence.

“This is the Qiao family’s affair, Manager Gu needn’t worry about it with us.” Qiao Zhiyong smiled. “I asked you to come for something else – I want to ask you for a favor.”

“Master Qiao, please speak freely. As long as I can do it, I will certainly do my utmost.”

“I want to give you that batch of gold.” Qiao Zhiyong quietly uttered this sentence.

“What!” Tonight Gu Pingyuan had heard quite a few strange tales, but none shocked him as much as this sentence.

“You heard correctly. I want to give you this gold.” Qiao Zhiyong had been thinking about this for a long time. Su Zixuan was pressing aggressively and would never let the matter rest, while the Qiao family was currently in this situation – one careless move would send them plummeting into an abyss. Moreover, with all of Shanxi province’s businesses currently in danger, this gold that the Qiao family had sworn not to use would only breed trouble if kept, so it was better to take it out to help everyone through their difficulties.

Entrusting the gold to Gu Pingyuan was firstly because he valued his public-spirited righteousness – in Xi’an he could risk his life to stand up for the merchant community. Secondly, people like Granny Lei and Mao Hongyi had large extended families with many dependents, and might not dare to easily accept this gold that involved rebellion.

“The former Ming and Li Zicheng were matters from over two hundred years ago. The court might not pursue it anymore, right?” Gu Pingyuan felt Qiao Zhiyong was being overly cautious.

“Not so! Li Zicheng was defeated and disappeared at Jiugong Mountain. Some say he died, but no corpse was ever found. The court’s arrest warrant has never been withdrawn – he remains a criminal wanted by imperial decree. Although so much time has passed and he must certainly no longer be in this world, once his grave is found, his bones must still be scattered to the winds. His descendants would still be considered rebel family members, and as for this gold, it would naturally be rebel property. Anyone who touches it cannot escape the crime of harboring rebel property.”

“Let me recite a song for you to hear.” Qiao Zhiyong then recited the ballad that Su Zixuan had chanted that day. “This song actually explains the origin and details of this gold clearly. It was composed on the spot by the abbot when ancestor Guifa sent the five hundred golden arhats to Wubian Temple. Listen to those last two lines: ‘That business was established and dominated for long, all relying on literary methods and sighing efforts. Tradition says it was the work of Lin and Qing, this case is indeed without error!’ Do you know who these Lin and Qing refer to?” At this point, Qiao Zhiyong’s voice dropped very low.

“Lin is Gu Tinglin, Qing is Fu Qingzhu.”

Upon hearing these two names, all the hair on Gu Pingyuan’s body stood on end, and he stared at Qiao Zhiyong with his mouth agape.

Gu Tinglin, also known as Gu Yanwu, and Fu Qingzhu was the elderly Fu Shan. Both were former Ming loyalists from early Qing times who refused to eat Zhou grain. Gu Tinglin was even an anti-Qing rebel who participated in multiple uprisings and was a wanted criminal under strict imperial decree. How could they be connected to this gold?

“They were the two men who originally helped the Kang family establish the draft bank. The Shanxi draft banks dominated for a hundred years, relying on secret cipher codes and exchange regulations, all painstakingly created by Gu Yanwu and Fu Qingzhu. As for their purpose, it certainly wasn’t to help the Kang family make money.”

When the draft banks were first established, they operated completely under the pretense of facilitating silver circulation for merchants, but in reality they were for communicating with anti-Qing loyalists in the south, transporting northern money south to expand military supplies and pay for troops, hoping to restore the great Ming empire.

“I guess the Kang family must have also participated in this anti-Qing, pro-Ming affair. However, the political situation was unpredictable, and ultimately they didn’t succeed, but they also weren’t exposed. The Qing sat firmly on the throne, the Ming could no longer be restored, but the draft bank business was passed down for a hundred years and became the Shanxi merchants’ way to wealth.”

“This is truly ‘planting flowers with intention yields no blooms, planting willows without intention makes them grow into shade.'” Gu Pingyuan couldn’t help but sigh, when suddenly his eyes lit up as if he had thought of something, his expression becoming as alert as a hunter who had discovered an animal trail.

“Exactly, it’s just these two lines. Now you know this gold involves rebels from two dynasties – one cannot be too careful.” Qiao Zhiyong said, noticing that Gu Pingyuan seemed somewhat distracted. “Manager Gu, Manager Gu…”

“Oh.” Gu Pingyuan came back to his senses and suddenly remembered something. “In Youlu Gou village there’s a Qiao Songnian, people call him Madman Qiao. He sings this song year-round. He…”

“He was my late father’s personal servant.” Qiao Zhiyong’s face darkened. “This gold is truly a heavy burden on the Qiao family’s heart. Before my father passed away, his mind was confused, and for several consecutive days he mumbled this song, which was overheard by that Qiao Songnian.”

“So you…” Gu Pingyuan had already guessed, disapproving yet unable to bear reproaching him.

“This is one wrong thing I had to do in my lifetime. When managing such a large household, sometimes these three words ‘had to’ are the scale for measuring right and wrong.” Qiao Zhiyong said helplessly, handing over a note. “Manager Gu, the abbots of Wubian Temple through the generations all know the origin of this gold. How to use this money is up to you, just be extremely careful.”

But at this moment Gu Pingyuan was thinking about the line in the song “only when prisoners escape prison can they unite.” Qiao Zhiyong didn’t know that he was an escaped convict, yet was entrusting this gold to him so coincidentally. Could there really be heavenly will in the darkness? He glanced at the pitch-black night outside the hall, and suddenly felt a sense of awe in his heart.

“Miss.” Sixi had bribed one of the Qiao family’s servants with heavy silver, and every day reported to Su Zixuan about whom Qiao Zhiyong had met and what he had done. Su Zixuan listened to each item without much interest, but when she heard Gu Pingyuan’s name, her expression sharpened and she quickly asked, “That Gu Pingyuan – after he left the Qiao family, where did he go?”

“I knew Miss would definitely ask about him.” Sixi looked very pleased with herself. “He went to Wubian Temple again, met with the abbot, and stayed in the temple for a very long time.”

“Hmph.” Su Zixuan pondered for a long time then suddenly smiled, pinching Sixi’s cheek. “Hidden so cleverly – I thought it would be in some dark, sunless cellar, never expecting it to be right where everyone can see.”

“Miss, what are you talking about?”

“Those five hundred golden arhats are in the Arhat Hall of Wubian Temple. Do you still remember? The entire hall is filled with lotus flower vats, with rebirth lamps burning.”

“I remember now!” Sixi cried out in surprise. “Aren’t those just gilded bodies?”

“That’s why I say they’re hidden cleverly. Those who go there are all devout men and women – who would dare to reach out and touch them? I bet the monks at Wubian Temple are in cahoots with the Qiao family.” Su Zixuan winked. “As for that Gu Pingyuan, I saw with my own eyes in Xi’an that he has a relationship with Qiao Zhiyong. He must have been entrusted by the Qiao family to hide this gold more securely.”

“We need to act quickly. Gu Pingyuan is a clever man – if he really thinks of some good way to hide the gold, it will be hard to find again.” Su Zixuan said to Sixi.

“But Wubian Temple has so many monks, and there’s so much gold – how can we get it out without being seen?” Sixi said with difficulty.

“Who said I want to avoid being seen?” Su Zixuan suddenly slowed her voice, her face showing a cold expression.

“Miss…” Sixi bit her lower lip and called out uneasily. Having followed Su Zixuan for a long time, she knew that when she looked like this, someone was going to be in trouble.

But what she couldn’t imagine was that this time, more than one person would be in trouble.

The next day when the wind was high and the moon was dark, a great fire suddenly broke out at Wubian Temple. The fire started from the most precious thousand-year wooden Buddha in the great hall and spread uncontrollably. Since Wubian Temple bore the name “boundless,” its corners and flying eaves were interconnected in an interlocking design that stretched far into the distance like one great expanse. Now that it had caught fire, it was as if the fire god was casting spells – flames instantly soared high.

Of course there were monks keeping night watch in the temple, but by the time they discovered it, the fire had already reached the roof beams. In their panic they clanged the bronze gongs, the sound carrying far in the quiet night. Not only were the temple’s monks awakened, but nearby common people also woke from their dreams and came rushing with water to help put out the fire.

When the elderly Abbot Hongjing arrived at the temple entrance and saw the fire’s intensity, he knew it was bad. The great fire had already started, and sprinkling water everywhere would be completely useless. He was well-versed in Buddhist doctrine with a clear mind, and instantly made his decision. Among the crowd of people running about and shouting, he found the guest monk.

“Human life is paramount. Go take all the old, weak, women and children away, then find people to use all the water to save the ancient Buddha in the great hall.”

“Abbot, what about this large area of meditation groves and monk quarters, and the front and rear halls…”

“We can’t manage so much. Where Buddha is, the temple is. If we can preserve this thousand-year ancient Buddha, it will be a blessing. Go quickly.” Abbot Hongjing waved his hand.

Everyone then abandoned other areas and focused only on saving the great Buddha. But they didn’t notice a group of people taking advantage of the firelight everywhere to slip into the Arhat Hall.

The great fire at Wubian Temple burned for a full night. When Gu Pingyuan heard the news and rushed over, the collapsed buildings were still smoking with flames everywhere. He walked behind Abbot Hongjing, who was looking up at the fire-damaged great hall. The wooden Buddha inside had been blackened in several places but was completely intact, now standing upright under the open sky.

Before Gu Pingyuan could think of how to speak, Hongjing suddenly said, “Those five hundred arhats were stolen yesterday by people taking advantage of the chaos.”

“…Such a thing happened. This means thieves set the fire.” Gu Pingyuan was both shocked and angry.

“No!” Hongjing shook his head. Gu Pingyuan was startled, then saw the old monk point to the side, where a corpse lay under a grass mat.

“He was carrying fire-starting materials. The authorities have already determined he set the fire. The arson suspect is dead – where would there be any thieves?”

Gu Pingyuan’s heart suddenly filled with an ominous feeling. Step by step he walked over, lifted the grass mat to look, cried out loudly and collapsed to the ground. Although the person under the grass mat was burned beyond recognition, one could still see it was the long-missing Qiao Songnian!

“It wasn’t him, absolutely not him!” Gu Pingyuan angrily shouted.

“This old monk also knows it wasn’t him, but the authorities are eager to have this scapegoat.”

“Then… then what about the stolen five hundred arhats?”

The old monk remained silent. Gu Pingyuan understood everything. If this batch of gold was lost, they couldn’t even report it to the authorities. He angrily stamped his foot hard.

Hongjing looked around the courtyard and said to the monks cleaning up the ruins, “You all go out first.” Seeing everyone leave, he beckoned to Gu Pingyuan, “Benefactor Gu, follow this old monk!”

Saying this, he entered the great hall that was burned down to only brick and stone platforms, reached beside the wooden Buddha and moved something. Suddenly a section of ground sank down, revealing a dark opening.

Hongjing looked back at Gu Pingyuan, took an oil lamp, and silently walked down into the underground passage.

Gu Pingyuan was full of doubt, but seeing the abbot had already gone down, he could only take a lamp and follow. The tunnel was dark and damp, but the further down they went, the more spacious it became, until they came to a large underground chamber. Abbot Hongjing stopped, placed the oil lamp on the ground, and Gu Pingyuan suddenly felt his eyes stabbed by something. Looking toward the wall base, he saw nothing but golden light, dazzlingly brilliant.

“This is Wubian Temple’s underground palace. The real golden arhats have long been moved into the underground palace and are now safe and sound. We have not failed the Qiao family’s trust, so please, Benefactor Gu, take them away.” Hongjing said calmly.

“What about the five hundred Buddha statues stolen from the Arhat Hall?” Gu Pingyuan was stunned, then immediately understood. “I see, so someone calculated everything.”

Hongjing smiled slightly. “Golden Buddhas and copper Buddhas are all Buddhas. Though worldly people see great differences, in the eyes of monks there is no distinction.”

“We can’t say that. Gold can still do many things, such as rebuilding temples.” Gu Pingyuan looked at Hongjing. “I have the authority to dispose of this gold. Now that Wubian Temple has suffered the disaster of fire, I must take out at least two to three hundred thousand taels of silver to help rebuild the temple.”

“If this is truly so, the benefactor’s merit would be immeasurable.” Hongjing was worrying about this matter, so naturally he was delighted to hear this.

“However, I have one condition…” Gu Pingyuan’s face suddenly showed a strange smile. Even though they were deep underground in this palace, he still lowered his voice considerably.

After the two emerged from the underground palace, Hongjing agreed to properly bury Qiao Songnian. As Gu Pingyuan was about to take his leave, he suddenly remembered something and asked, “May I borrow paper and brush?”

The temple usually had no shortage of paper and brush, but now everything had been destroyed in the fire disaster. They finally found a worn brush and remnant ink, but couldn’t find a single sheet of paper. Hongjing spotted a piece of yellow paper on the ground, picked it up and saw it was the cover of the Avatamsaka Sutra.

“The Avatamsaka Sutra helps people atone for sins and find redemption – perfect!” Gu Pingyuan took it and used double-hook brushstrokes to write a large character “夷” on the back, then used solid strokes to fill in the first stroke.

“What are you…” Though Hongjing was wise, he couldn’t understand what Gu Pingyuan was doing.

“When I was fortune-telling in Xi’an, it was this character 夷, ‘one bow, two arrows, secret arrows harm people.’ I lost on this character, and now I must win back on this same character.”

“How are they all copper statues?” When the box was opened, Sixi was dumbfounded.

Su Zixuan’s face was iron-blue. From that box of arhat statues, she casually picked up one – it was the Venerable Poisonous Dragon’s Conversion.

“Since it’s like this, Qiao Zhiyong, don’t blame me for being ruthless!” She looked into the arhat’s eyes and said softly.

“Old man, for this matter I have no one else I can trust, so I can only ask you to help.” Gu Pingyuan said sincerely.

After listening, Chang Si could not speak for a long time, hesitating: “I… I’m not good at dealing with people, especially officials. I get nervous just seeing them. You’d better find someone else for this job.”

“Then it would have to be Miss Chang or Liu Heita. In all of Shanxi province right now, the only people I can trust to handle such a large sum of silver are the Chang family.”

“How could Yu’er do it!”

“Yes, but Brother Liu isn’t here, so though it’s hard work, I can only ask you to make the trip. If this matter is handled well, it will be a merit of immeasurable benefit.”

“Alright then, I’ll reluctantly make the trip. But if I mess it up, don’t blame me.” Chang Si was actually moved by Gu Pingyuan’s earlier words.

“Thank you, old man. Actually you don’t need to worry. You don’t know how to deal with officials, but that’s fine – the silver will speak for itself.” After Gu Pingyuan finished speaking, he couldn’t help but laugh together with Chang Si.

After Gu Pingyuan took his leave, he wanted to go look at that mine in the back mountain. Following Old Chang’s directions, he had just reached an open area fenced off with wooden barriers when he saw someone coming out from inside. He nimbly dodged aside, fixed his eyes on that person, and quietly followed.

On the surface, Li Qin had listened to Zhang Guangfa’s words, but actually he had only temporarily stopped the mining and coin-casting operation. He couldn’t bear to give up this source of wealth and was thinking of ways to improve the coin molds. Today’s visit to the mine was to ponder this matter.

Who knew that after trying for a long time without success, Li Qin had to temporarily set it aside. He had arranged to meet Ruyi at the small house they had rented for their trysts, and now hurried to go there, not knowing that Gu Pingyuan was following behind him.

Gu Pingyuan watched Li Qin enter the city, thinking he was going back to Daping Company, but unexpectedly Li Qin went into a jewelry shop, bought a pair of emerald earrings and tucked them in his chest, then wound through seven turns and eight bends to arrive at a secluded small alley.

Gu Pingyuan saw Li Qin unlock the door and slip inside, and for a moment couldn’t decide whether to wait for him to come out. He had long suspected that the Beijing merchants were connected to the counterfeit copper coins, and now seeing it with his own eyes still made his heart race secretly. This was a capital crime that could uproot the Beijing merchants completely. Would Zhang Guangfa really dare to risk universal condemnation? The more Gu Pingyuan thought about it, the more he shook his head. Based on his understanding of Zhang Guangfa, this man was calculating and cunning, and would never take such risks. So it must be Li Qin acting on his own without telling him. Gu Pingyuan smiled coldly to himself – he had originally been worrying about one matter, but now with this leverage in hand, he could feel at ease.

He was preparing to leave when suddenly a woman walked gracefully from the distance down the street. Coming close, she looked back, then knocked on the door. When it opened, this woman also nimbly entered.

So Li Qin had come here for a tryst with Ruyi. Gu Pingyuan didn’t want to meddle in this affair, but noticed a figure sneaking along behind Ruyi.

“Isn’t this Chen Laizi?” Gu Pingyuan focused on him and saw Chen Laizi climb onto a low wall across the alley, peering secretly into the opposite courtyard. After watching for a short time, he turned and ran off like flying.

“She’s really having an affair with someone, this slut!” Wang Tiangui cursed furiously. “Who is that adulterer?”

“It’s the young master of Daping Company, that Master Li!” Chen Laizi had been humiliated when he tried to molest Chang Yu’er and was discovered by Ruyi, resulting in a thorough scolding. Now he was doing his utmost to stoke Wang Tiangui’s anger. “I saw it with my own eyes – he brought Fourth Concubine into the courtyard, and before they even entered the room, the two were already very intimate.”

Seeing Wang Tiangui’s expression alternating between dark and light, he suggested, “They say to catch adulterers you must catch them in the act, and it must be quick. Once they’ve finished their pleasure, you won’t be able to catch them. Should I go gather all the guards?”

“No,” Wang Tiangui rolled his eyes. “Go find Third Master who lives in that small courtyard on the front street, and bring him and his dozen or so brothers.”

“Yes!” Chen Laizi grinned – he knew those were all ruthless bandits who killed without blinking. This time Ruyi and that fellow were in for serious trouble.

Gu Pingyuan saw Chen Laizi run off and knew something would definitely happen. For a moment he couldn’t decide what to do. If he went to warn Li Qin, not only did he have a grudge against him, but even without any grudge, no outsider in the world would tip off an adulterous couple. If he ignored it, needless to say Chen Laizi was going to find Wang Tiangui, and what would happen next was all too predictable.

While he was hesitating, he heard urgent footsteps. He saw that black, fat “Third Stronghold Leader” from Evil Tiger Ravine leading a dozen fierce-looking men to seal off the door.

The moment Gu Pingyuan saw this person, his heart immediately turned cold, knowing that Wang Tiangui had made up his mind to be ruthless – otherwise he wouldn’t have ignored all those guards and brought this gang of bandits instead.

Soon Wang Tiangui arrived from behind. Third Stronghold Leader stepped forward and didn’t knock on the door, but forcefully kicked the black lacquered door that was barred from inside.

Li Qin and Ruyi were lying inside talking sweet words when they suddenly heard the door-kicking sounds and were so frightened their hearts jumped out. Li Qin hurriedly looked for his pants while Ruyi threw on clothes and quickly walked to the courtyard. Looking out through the door crack, her face immediately turned ashen. She forced herself to remain calm and returned to the room, looking at the flustered Li Qin.

“Who is it?” Li Qin asked urgently.

“Wang Tiangui, and he’s brought a group of bandits who kill without blinking.” Ruyi murmured.

“What… what should we do!”

Ruyi lowered her head in thought, then suddenly said, “This is a prepared attack. There’s no way I can escape. You should flee quickly – they’re trying to catch us in the act, but once you’re out this door, he can’t touch you.”

“I can’t abandon you.” Li Qin shook his head.

Ruyi smiled bitterly. “Having you say that is enough.” She seemed to be speaking to Li Qin, yet also to herself. “Among all the people in this world, I knew that sooner or later I would find a man worth loving. Maybe it’s you, maybe not. But I’m too tired of searching and don’t want to continue looking. Let’s just say it’s you.”

Saying this, she forcefully pushed Li Qin toward the back of the room, pointing at the wall. “Go quickly! Do you really want to be killed as an adulterer when they break in?”

Li Qin struggled to climb over the wall and reached down to pull Ruyi up. Ruyi shook her head and stepped back two paces. “Master Li, will you forget me, or will you remember me?” She looked deeply at Li Qin. “Never mind, you’d better forget me.” With that, she turned and walked back to the front courtyard.

By this time Third Stronghold Leader had already kicked the door open, and the gang rushed into the courtyard. Wang Tiangui walked in step by step, his triangular eyes staring fixedly at Ruyi. Ruyi’s face was expressionless as she stood in the courtyard, but her eyes were looking into the distance.

Li Qin jumped out of the small courtyard and was about to run when he suddenly saw someone standing at the corner across the way. That person also saw him at the same time, and when their eyes met, both were startled.

“Gu Pingyuan!” Li Qin suddenly understood – no wonder! He had seen him with Ruyi back in Xi’an, and now he had finally informed on them, even bringing people to catch them in adultery. What scheming calculation, what vicious cruelty! He glared at Gu Pingyuan, his eyes seeming to shoot flames.

But Gu Pingyuan had a clear conscience and only watched him quietly from a distance. Suddenly Ruyi’s painful cry came from the courtyard. Li Qin’s heart trembled, and he glared at Gu Pingyuan like a knife before turning to run into the distance.

In the courtyard, Wang Tiangui slapped Ruyi to the ground with one blow, then bent down and said through gritted teeth in a low voice, “If you want to sell your body, I can send you back to the Flower Moon Brothel to let you sleep with men to your heart’s content. But once you live in the Wang household and do such things, aren’t you just seeking death?”

Ruyi didn’t look at him, covering her face and lying on the ground, still silent.

“Let me ask you – is that lover of yours the young master of the Beijing merchants?” Wang Tiangui grabbed her hair and turned her face toward him, glaring viciously.

“So what if he is, so what if he isn’t?” Ruyi said, enduring the pain.

“If he is, then I must congratulate you.” Wang Tiangui released her and stood up, walking in circles around Ruyi while keeping his eyes fixed on her.

“You know better than anyone what kind of person I am. If you dare to sneak around with men behind my back, I can have you drowned in the river. But if that man really is the Beijing merchants’ young master, not only will I not pursue the matter, I’ll beat gongs and drums to send you to Daping Company and have that Master Li take you in. What do you think?” Wang Tiangui had already calculated everything. Although Ruyi was charming and delightful, in his eyes she wasn’t worth even a brick from Taiyufeng. Now with the draft bank in mortal danger, having finally caught the Beijing merchants’ weakness, he had to make good use of it. If Zhang Guangfa was sensible, then he wouldn’t pursue the matter further – sacrificing one Ruyi to keep Taiyufeng safe was a deal that needed no thought.

If Zhang Guangfa remained stubborn to the end, he would have Ruyi accuse Master Li of rape. These two had been together for more than a day or two – she would certainly have seen clearly any scars or moles on his body. The accusation would stick perfectly, and then he wouldn’t worry about the Beijing merchants not giving in.

Though his plan was clever, he hadn’t expected Ruyi to insist she didn’t know any Beijing merchant’s young master. Wang Tiangui couldn’t force an answer from her and was about to explode in frustrated rage when he saw that the commotion had alarmed all the neighbors in the alley to come out.

“Take her back!” Wang Tiangui ordered Third Stronghold Leader.

After bringing Ruyi to the separate courtyard where Wang Tiangui lived in the Chang family compound, Third Stronghold Leader threw Ruyi into the middle of the ground and stood to one side, swaying his black, fat body.

“I’ll ask you one more time – is that adulterer Master Li or not?” Wang Tiangui’s eyes flashed with cold light.

“No.” Ruyi still had that same expressionless look.

“Is it or isn’t it!” Wang Tiangui suddenly exploded in rage, grabbed Ruyi up, and slapped her left and right over a dozen times until blood flowed from her mouth and nose. Ruyi gasped for breath, bit her lower lip tightly, and still said, “No, no!”

“Fine, let me see how stubborn you can be.” Wang Tiangui was tired from hitting and released his grip. Looking at Ruyi’s desperate expression, he sneered, “Don’t you like sleeping with men? Today I’ll let you sleep your fill!” He gave Third Stronghold Leader a meaningful look.

Third Stronghold Leader cackled with laughter, his eyes gleaming as he walked over in a few steps and with a ripping sound, tore open Ruyi’s clothing.

Ruyi cursed and screamed, rolling on the ground. Third Stronghold Leader pressed down hard on her shoulders. Ruyi pulled the jade hairpin from her head and stabbed at his eyes. Third Stronghold Leader blocked with his arm, and half the jade hairpin pierced into his flesh before breaking.

Third Stronghold Leader grabbed the broken half of the jade hairpin and grinned wickedly, “Good, you have half, I have half!” He forcefully drew the hairpin across Ruyi’s face.

Ruyi screamed in agony. From her eye corner to her jaw, a long wound immediately appeared on her face, blood spurting and spattering onto the patch of snow-white skin on her chest.

“A bloody beauty – how exciting!” Third Stronghold Leader laughed lewdly and pounced on Ruyi. Another long, agonized shriek echoed through the courtyard.

Third Stronghold Leader brutally ravaged Ruyi. After a long while, he pulled up his pants and stood up, turning to the dozen or so men behind him and jerking his head, “This woman is a reward from Master Wang – why don’t you come claim your reward!”

More of Ruyi’s agonized screams followed from the courtyard, though each cry grew weaker than the last…

Old Crooked had been hesitating for a long time, but today he had made up his mind to pull himself together once more. He had gone to Wubian Temple two more times, each time secretly visiting his mother, each time with tearful eyes. Listening to the monks in the courtyard console people, saying “All past things are like yesterday’s death, all future things are like today’s birth,” he finally decided to put everything behind him. From now on he would neither be Gao Dehui nor Old Crooked – if heaven took pity on him, perhaps it would give him a chance to start over. He wanted to join the battlefield, to start as a nameless foot soldier and fight his way with sword and spear to earn a resounding reputation. No matter what that name would be, he would gladly accept it.

He packed his belongings and passed by the room where Ruyi lived, walking straight ahead without looking sideways, only saying in his heart, “The grudges and debts of this life end here. In the next life, even if I become an ox or horse, I will repay this debt.”

He walked through the long corridor within the compound walls when two men came toward him, both with vicious faces. Old Crooked paused slightly – he didn’t recognize either of them, but at this moment he had no mind to care and brushed past them. He heard them laughing, “Worthy of being a rich man’s fourth concubine – she really has flavor, a hundred times better than those country women.”

“That’s right, sleeping with a woman like that is worth ten others.”

The two men were just talking when suddenly the person behind them turned back and knocked them both to the ground with punches and kicks, then leaned close and demanded, “Who are you talking about?”

In Wang Tiangui’s courtyard, those dozen or so men had all taken their turns. Ruyi lay on the ground, ravaged beyond recognition. Third Stronghold Leader felt unsatisfied and wanted to go again.

At this moment the small gate of the courtyard was suddenly kicked open, and Old Crooked pounced in like a leopard. He rushed past several men, grabbed Third Stronghold Leader who was pressing on Ruyi, and pulled him back. These were all bandits who killed without blinking – how could they tolerate someone acting wild in front of them? They immediately swung fists and feet to surround him.

Old Crooked’s only thought was to protect Ruyi, but there were too many opponents, all skilled in martial arts. Though his abilities were extraordinary, he couldn’t defeat them quickly, but his fast and heavy punches and kicks still knocked down several men, making Third Stronghold Leader howl with rage.

Wang Tiangui watched tensely from the side. He knew Old Crooked’s capabilities – though these men could surround him temporarily, they really weren’t his match. Right now he couldn’t free his hands to draw the knife from his chest, or more than one or two would be lying on the ground.

He beckoned Third Stronghold Leader over and whispered a few words. Third Stronghold Leader leaped back into the fray, constantly retreating and drawing Old Crooked to beside a large blue brick under the corridor. Wang Tiangui saw clearly – when Old Crooked’s feet were planted on that brick, he reached out and pulled a movable pin from beside the door frame. With a “crack” sound, the brick suddenly flipped over.

No matter how capable Old Crooked was, he couldn’t have expected this. His body sank into the pit. The pit wasn’t deep – only two feet – but it was densely packed with sharp bamboo spikes. As soon as Old Crooked fell in, both his feet were pierced through, the bamboo spikes penetrating through his soles. “Wah!” He almost fainted from the pain. Third Stronghold Leader laughed heartily, grabbed Old Crooked’s collarbone and forcibly pulled him out. Old Crooked couldn’t even stand steady, blood staining the ground. Third Stronghold Leader seized one of his wrists and with a “crack” broke it. Only then did Wang Tiangui leisurely walk over and stand before Old Crooked.

“With your martial arts so high, how could I not guard against you? This trap was set specifically for you. The taste isn’t bad, is it?” He gave Third Stronghold Leader a meaningful look.

“That day at the Mountain God Temple, I saw your technique for killing the official was quite good. Today I’ll learn from it too.” Third Stronghold Leader grasped Old Crooked’s neck, exerted force with both arms, and with a “crack” sound, Old Crooked’s neck bone was immediately broken. Third Stronghold Leader sneered and threw him to the ground.

Old Crooked had practiced martial arts for many years, so the breath in his dantian lasted much longer than others. Though his neck was broken, he didn’t die immediately. Using both arms, he crawled with difficulty on the ground until he reached Ruyi’s side, his bulging eyes staring straight at her.

Ruyi, barely clothed, hugged her shoulders with both hands, her body trembling constantly. Blood still flowed from her face, and her eyes had been vacant and unfocused, but when her gaze fell on Old Crooked, they suddenly widened.

“What are you looking at me for?” Ruyi’s voice was hoarse as she shouted at Old Crooked through her damaged throat. “Don’t think I’ll forgive you – I’ll never forgive you in my lifetime! I’d rather fall into the eighteen levels of hell myself than drag you down with me!”

Old Crooked’s mouth was foaming with blood, and he could no longer speak. Hearing Ruyi’s words, he pulled at the corners of his mouth, revealing an ugly smile. With his remaining hand, he tremblingly took a dagger from his chest and placed it in Ruyi’s hand, aimed it at his own heart, and forcefully pulled it in to pierce himself.

Old Crooked was dead.

“Throw this woman into the street. Anyone who dares take her in is making trouble with me, Wang Tiangui!” Wang Tiangui ordered.

Several men came to carry Ruyi out. At the doorway she suddenly struggled free desperately, staggered back, stared at Old Crooked once, then reached out and removed the hat that covered half his face, letting the sunlight shine directly on Old Crooked’s face.

There are no walls that don’t let wind through, especially when so many people are involved. Gu Pingyuan had originally wanted to inquire about what happened to Ruyi afterward, but unexpectedly learned of Old Crooked’s death. He had originally tried to reform Old Crooked hoping to remove one of Wang Tiangui’s minions. Now his goal was achieved, but not as he had imagined. Thinking of how tragic the endings of Old Crooked and Ruyi were, Gu Pingyuan felt a wave of sadness.

“There’s still one more person.” Gu Pingyuan thought to himself, his eyes turning toward the north of the city – the direction of “Wanyuan Pawnshop.”

Zhu Sheng’s mood had been terrible lately. First, Wubian Temple suffered the great fire, so the “Buddhist Pawnshop” naturally died without illness, and with Taiyufeng’s business troubles, Wang Tiangui wanted to sell off some of his other businesses. Wanyuan Pawnshop, having lost its source of income, bore the brunt.

Now he sat in the pawnshop guild meeting, keeping an appointment made a month earlier. He hadn’t wanted to come, but this gathering centered on him as the main character – he had no choice but to attend.

“We’ve been talking about gathering colleagues from the five northern provinces to see the treasure that Master Appraiser Zhu has collected. Today we finally have everyone together – it’s truly a grand gathering of the northern pawnshop industry.” The guild master raised his cup, and everyone happily drained their wine. Zhu Sheng, with wine entering his troubled heart, also drank a large cup.

The master saw everyone’s attention focused on a piece of red cloth in the center, so he walked to the middle and invited Zhu Sheng over as well.

“Fellow appraisers, you’ve all come from far away just to broaden your horizons. I won’t keep you in suspense – everyone please look!” He and Zhu Sheng each grabbed one end of the cloth and slowly pulled it aside, revealing a white jade screen inside.

Everyone exclaimed in unison and stood up spontaneously. This object was truly a treasure – a large screen made of white jade, thick as a palm, amazingly carved in nine layers with intricate openwork, each layer depicting different scenes and forms. It showed the Taoist Nine Heavens, with the Three Pure Ones and Sacred Dragon Gods of the Nine Celestials, exotic flowers and rare plants, precious birds and strange beasts, each rendered with exquisite beauty and lifelike realism. Looking at it long made one feel as if in a fairy realm.

Most remarkably, though jade normally cannot hold ink, this screen somehow used some precious ink to write the entire “Red Cliff Rhapsody” on it. The brushwork was like dragons and snakes, bold and magnificent in style. Looking closely at the signature, it was actually the handwriting of Liu Bowen, a founding minister of the Ming Dynasty.

Everyone crowded forward to observe. Among them was a learned scholar who looked at the screen and recited while swaying his head, “‘When frost and dew have fallen, all leaves are shed, human shadows on the ground, looking up to see the bright moon, delighting in the sight, walking and singing in response…’ This truly captures the realm of Taoist cultivation. What a screen, what a rhapsody – they complement each other perfectly!”

“Indeed,” a great appraiser from Tianjin nodded in praise. “The Red Cliff Rhapsody ends with Su Dongpo meeting a Taoist immortal transformed into a crane with fluttering feathers, questioning each other in dreams. Writing this rhapsody on this flawless white jade Nine Heavens screen is most appropriate.”

Good as it was, how could ink adhere to jade, and how was this ink made? Everyone had different opinions with no consensus.

After a long while, Zhu Sheng finally spoke. He had suddenly formed a plan – tonight, besides appreciating treasures with colleagues, he also intended to sell this jade screen for a good price to solve the pawnshop’s urgent crisis.

“Everyone, let me say a few words. This calligraphy is Liu Ji’s authentic work – I believe this point is undoubtedly recognized by all?”

Everyone present had seen countless paintings and calligraphy pieces and were great experts. Though Liu Bowen’s surviving works were few, this couldn’t stump these master appraisers, so they all nodded.

“That’s good then. Liu Bowen was a great minister and strategist with unfathomable supernatural powers. Perhaps he used some ancient method to make this ink – I think we needn’t discuss it in detail. As you can all see clearly, this jade material is warm and lustrous, no less than the He Shi Bi, the craftsmanship is ingenious beyond compare, plus Liu Ji’s authentic calligraphy of the Red Cliff Rhapsody – this screen is a rare treasure worth ten thousand gold. It’s fortunate that fellow colleagues have come to honor us with your presence. If anyone wishes to treasure it in a golden house, I’m willing to part with it reluctantly.”

As soon as Zhu Sheng spoke these words, the master appraisers discussed among themselves. If this screen were taken to the capital and caught the eye of some prince or noble, it could easily earn double the profit. Immediately several master appraisers were eager to compete for this white jade screen.

“Wait!” A voice came from the back of the crowd, and someone walked over leisurely.

“Gu Pingyuan?” Zhu Sheng saw him in a blue robe, still holding a scroll of books, with a leisurely and self-satisfied manner, a half-smiling expression on his face. But he didn’t know why he would appear here.

“Master Appraiser Zhu, long time no see!” Gu Pingyuan cupped his hands in greeting.

Zhu Sheng’s face darkened. “How did you get here?”

“I was passing by outside and saw precious energy shooting skyward from the pawnshop guild, so I came in specifically to look, and happened to hear Master Appraiser Zhu’s brilliant discourse.” Gu Pingyuan shook his head and spoke deliberately, “Confucius said: ‘To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge.’ Master Appraiser, you’ve truly grasped the essence. Now you don’t know what this ink is, don’t know what this treasure is, yet you want to sell it in confusion. ‘The gentleman seeks righteousness, the petty man seeks profit’ – it seems the ancients did not deceive me.”

Everyone present heard this refined young man immediately quoting Confucius and classical texts. Except for the local appraisers, no one knew his background, so they looked at each other in bewilderment.

The guild master recognized this “mad appraiser” and heard he had gone to work as third manager at Taiyufeng. Why was he here causing trouble for no reason? Seeing Zhu Sheng’s gloomy face completely ignoring Gu Pingyuan’s sarcastic remarks, the master quickly ran over with an apologetic smile, “Manager Gu, please rest over there. I’ll have someone bring good tea.”

“No need.” Gu Pingyuan waved his hand and addressed all the master appraisers directly, “Gentlemen, you’re seeing this treasure for the first time, so it’s understandable if you can’t distinguish it immediately. But Master Appraiser Zhu has been with this treasure day and night for most of a year – could it be he has no insights, or is there some unspeakable secret he’s hiding?”

“Gu Pingyuan, what exactly are you trying to do?” Seeing the appraisers below beginning to whisper among themselves, Zhu Sheng could bear it no longer and slammed the table hard.

Gu Pingyuan smiled slightly, “After all, I did work at Wanyuan Pawnshop for a while. This screen entered the pawnshop on the same day I did – quite a coincidence. This is a fake – the calligraphy on it isn’t Liu Bowen’s at all!”

One stone stirred up a thousand waves! With Gu Pingyuan’s single sentence, the guild hall immediately erupted.

Zhu Sheng couldn’t bear it anymore and stepped forward, “You’ve only worked in pawnshops for a few months – is your eye better than all these appraisers?”

“As I said, they’re just seeing it for the first time without careful examination. But surely Master Appraiser Zhu isn’t deliberately deceiving people to sell fake goods for a good price?”

“Hmph, then tell us – where exactly is this calligraphy fake?” Zhu Sheng was completely confident. He had examined this calligraphy dozens of times – every stroke was natural without a trace of artifice. It absolutely couldn’t be fake.

“It seems you won’t cry until you see the coffin!” Gu Pingyuan took a candle from a nearby table and handed it to Zhu Sheng. “Go look at the last character of this Red Cliff Rhapsody and you’ll understand.”

Zhu Sheng saw him speaking so seriously and doubtfully held the flickering candle to look. The last character was “chu” (place), written at the very bottom of the screen. He crouched down and looked for a long time without seeing any problem. Being a fat man, after crouching for a while his body inevitably leaned forward, and the candle came closer and closer to the screen.

“Fire, fire!” Someone in the audience suddenly cried out in alarm!

Zhu Sheng himself was shocked, watching flames leap up before his very eyes, but not knowing where the fire came from. He sat down hard on the ground and scrambled backward several times. By now flames had engulfed the entire screen.

“Quick, put out the fire! Get water!” the guild master shouted hoarsely, and all the appraisers stood up in shock and amazement.

Gu Pingyuan stood motionless to one side, his face raised to watch everything before him. In contrast to everyone’s panic, the firelight reflected his unmoving body, casting his tall shadow onto the hall’s walls. The screen had nine layers of openwork with gaps in between, plus it was thin – the flames quickly consumed it amid everyone’s cries, leaving only smoldering ashes on the ground.

“Impossible, impossible!” Everyone kept repeating these three words. A screen made of white jade had actually burned to ashes before everyone’s eyes. Could heavenly immortals have reclaimed this Taoist screen? How else could this happen?

“Hahahaha!” In the silence, Gu Pingyuan suddenly laughed toward the sky.

“You… you…” Zhu Sheng was still sitting on the ground, his hand pointing at Gu Pingyuan trembling.

“I never would have imagined that you, Master Appraiser Zhu, who claims never to have misjudged anything in your life, couldn’t even understand a treasure you’d kept for half a year.” Gu Pingyuan raised the scroll he’d been holding and proclaimed loudly to everyone in the hall, “Gentlemen, when you return you can read this ‘Dream Pool Essays, Implements Volume,’ which records in detail the process of making ‘bamboo jade’ by soaking Qingchuan bamboo sap nine times and sun-drying it nine times over three years.”

“Bamboo jade?” The appraisers looked at each other in confusion.

“Exactly, this is bamboo jade – simply put, it’s a thick sheet of rice paper, but crafted to be crystal clear like jade, which is why ink could be applied for writing. This was a secret Song Dynasty technique, rarely known even then, and after a thousand years it’s been lost completely. Such objects are rarely seen in the world.” Gu Pingyuan stepped over the pile of ashes and walked before Zhu Sheng, looking at his dumbstruck appearance with sweat pouring down, and smiled sarcastically, “Actually it was a real treasure – probably unique in the world. What a pity it was burned in one fire by this Master Appraiser Zhu who has spent his life identifying treasures.”

He walked through the hall under everyone’s astonished gazes and left with long strides, leaving only one sentence behind.

“It seems the so-called ‘never misjudging’ is just to intimidate people!”

Zhu Sheng didn’t know how he got home, only feeling his ears ringing, heart pounding, and legs weak. He wanted to collapse right there in the street and preferably never get up. Today’s scene at the pawnshop guild had completely destroyed his lifetime’s accumulated reputation. Before long, pawnshops throughout the five northern provinces and even the entire country would spread this joke. Thinking it over, Zhu Sheng truly despaired of everything. “Gu Pingyuan, you’ve finally gotten your revenge.” He smiled bitterly.

“Master, this is terrible!” Before he reached home, he saw the old servant rushing over anxiously from the opposite direction. Upon seeing him, the servant immediately grabbed him tightly.

“What’s wrong?” Zhu Sheng asked weakly.

“Young Master and Little Master have been kidnapped!”

“What!” These were Zhu Sheng’s son and grandson, his only bloodline. Hearing this was like being struck by five thunderbolts. “How could they be kidnapped in the city?”

“I don’t know either.” The old servant looked distressed. “I heard that the two masters spent a day at the opium den, but just as they came out, they were seized and taken away in a cart. Only a note was left on the ground.” He handed over the note.

As soon as Zhu Sheng read it, his hands began to shake. It demanded he produce one hundred thousand taels of silver, or they would chop his son and grandson into mincemeat to feed the dogs.

“Master, what should we do?”

Zhu Sheng said nothing, thought for a moment, then suddenly turned and walked away.

At midnight, Zhu Sheng dragged his feet and staggered home again. He had just gone to find Wang Tiangui, wanting to borrow one hundred thousand taels from the account, but Wang Tiangui only sneered coldly. Not only would he not lend a single penny, he also blamed Zhu Sheng for today’s disgrace that made Wanyuan Pawnshop unsellable for a good price. Wang Tiangui gave him a thorough scolding and finally told him to prepare the account books – in a few days he would withdraw Wanyuan Pawnshop’s deposits and sell off the pawnshop.

Zhu Sheng pushed open his small courtyard gate in despair, but didn’t see the old servant come to greet him. Two lamps were lit in the main hall.

“Master Appraiser, returning home so late – did you have social obligations?” Someone sat in the hall waiting for him.

“Gu Pingyuan!” Zhu Sheng widened his eyes.

“Please sit.” Gu Pingyuan spoke lightly, as if he were the master of this house. “If I’m not mistaken, Master Appraiser just went to Taiyufeng to borrow silver, and I suppose you got it?”

Zhu Sheng gritted his teeth and remained silent.

“Didn’t get it? How strange – you’ve served Wang Tiangui faithfully for years, even ignoring your father’s murder for his sake and causing so many deaths. He won’t even lend you one hundred thousand taels?” Gu Pingyuan feigned surprise with a mocking expression.

“Please leave!” Zhu Sheng trembled all over, pointing toward the door.

“Leave? I haven’t heard a definite answer yet – how can I leave?”

“What definite answer?” In a flash, Zhu Sheng understood and looked at Gu Pingyuan in terror, seeing him gently place something on the table.

Zhu Sheng recognized it – those were the small opium pipes his son and grandson carried with them. The copper pipe heads were in the pattern of Five Blessings Surrounding Longevity – there was no mistake.

“Gu Pingyuan.” Zhu Sheng’s body slowly slid down until he finally knelt on the ground. “If you want to kill or torture, come at me. I only have this one son and one grandson.” He looked at him pleadingly.

“Hmph!” Gu Pingyuan’s face was darker than the night outside. “So you know the pain of being separated from flesh and blood! What about Jin Hu’s family? What about Appraiser Ding’s unborn child? And my elder brother Deng Tieyi was also killed by you!”

Zhu Sheng lowered his head, not daring to look at Gu Pingyuan’s fiery eyes. He heard him continue, “I’m truly puzzled – even if you could ignore all these people, is your father’s murder also fake? Can that also be abandoned?”

Zhu Sheng swallowed hard, “My father’s murder is real, but I can’t ignore my son and grandson’s lives either. He lured my son and grandson into opium addiction, spending money like water every day. When they can’t smoke, they make such a fuss it’s like madness. How could I have so much money? Our family fortune is all gone. I completely depend on Wang Tiangui’s opium den to supply them, otherwise the Zhu family would have ended long ago.”

“Don’t you have half a percent fortune share in Taiyufeng?” This was what Gu Pingyuan couldn’t understand most.

“Heh heh.” Zhu Sheng laughed miserably twice. “Yes, you must have heard that I rely on having half a percent fortune share to curse Wang Tiangui every year, right?”

“…”

“Actually I don’t have even one part of a fortune share – this is all lies Wang Tiangui made up. He just wanted people to know that I’m his mortal enemy, so anyone wanting to deal with him would naturally come discuss it with me. In his words, the best helper is someone who appears to be your bitter enemy.”

Gu Pingyuan felt waves of coldness in his heart. Wang Tiangui’s methods were truly chilling.

“Then why did you lie to save me in front of Wang Tiangui?”

Zhu Sheng painfully closed his eyes and shook his head without speaking. When Gu Pingyuan came to discuss dealing with Wang Tiangui, his heart was also full of conflict. If he revealed Gu Pingyuan too, this young man whose business talent he greatly appreciated wouldn’t survive either. He remembered what he had said to Appraiser Ding: “For a small fish to overturn rivers and seas, it must first grow into a big fish. It depends on whether he has that destiny.” Out of compassion for talent, he had risked danger to protect Gu Pingyuan.

Seeing him remain silent, Gu Pingyuan somewhat guessed the reason and couldn’t help but soften his tone. “Do you still want your son and grandson to live?”

“Of course!”

“Good. I want you to help me with something. If you succeed, I’ll return them without a hair harmed.”

Gu Pingyuan took out a small booklet. “I know you’ve been immersed in the pawnshop business for many years – not only can you identify fakes, but you’re also skilled at creating forgeries. Now I want you to make what’s written in this booklet look like something from the early Qing dynasty, from the Shunzhi and Kangxi eras. Can you do it?”

“Yes!” Seeing him agree so readily, Gu Pingyuan was somewhat skeptical. Zhu Sheng said urgently, “This art of forgery – technique is secondary, the key is materials. For example, to forge Song dynasty books, you must find paper from the Song era for it to look authentic. But Song paper costs a gold leaf per sheet and is so rare it can’t be found, so fake Song books on the market all use Ming paper. They can only fool the gullible – experts can tell at a glance.”

Speaking of treasure appraisal, Zhu Sheng was a great expert, and as he warmed to the topic his tongue became more fluent. “To imitate things from the early years of our dynasty is much easier. Ink and paper from that time still exist in considerable quantities. You just need to find them, then age them according to the period. Since the materials are authentic, as long as the imitation is detailed, few people in the world could detect the fake.”

“Good.” Gu Pingyuan nodded with satisfaction and tossed the booklet into Zhu Sheng’s lap. When he opened it and looked, he immediately shuddered with horror and looked up at Gu Pingyuan with a bloodless face.

Gu Pingyuan stood up indifferently. Seeing ink and brush on the table, he took out a piece of paper from his chest, unfolded it, and heavily traced over a large character “夷” on it.

Zhu Sheng stared at him, not knowing what he was doing. Gu Pingyuan paid no attention. “If you leak even one word of this, prepare to collect corpses!” He folded the paper and walked out.

“Gu Pingyuan,” Zhu Sheng pleaded from behind.

“As long as you keep your promise, I’ll treat them well.” Actually, Gu Pingyuan had taken the two young masters to a house prepared in advance in the neighboring county, providing them with good food and drink, unlimited opium pipes daily, and even found two prostitutes from the Flower Moon Brothel to serve them exclusively. They were truly living in paradise – they wouldn’t mind never returning home.

“Young Master Qin, this time I’ll let you show your might!” Zhang Guangfa had finally waited for his day of triumph. He slapped a thick stack of banknotes on the table, his face full of proud, confident smiles.

“Ah, ah, what?” Li Qin came back to his senses. These days he had been restless – thinking of Ruyi made it impossible even to sleep well.

“Our previous plan was to first attack Taiyufeng, and after absorbing it, use the combined strength of the two draft banks to defeat the remaining Shanxi draft banks. Now that the Shanxi draft banks have become spent arrows, we must change our methods too.”

The change meant targeting the weaker draft banks among the eighteen major ones, crushing several at once to create province-wide panic and bank runs. After one round of runs, Daping Company would strike again. Repeating this several times would leave few of the eighteen draft banks standing.

“I’ve now selected three: ‘Tonghe’ in Taiyuan, ‘Hengxing’ in Yuci, and ‘Heshengyuan’ in Jiexiu. You, I, and Master Su will each take one location. I’ve calculated that given these three banks’ strength, the banknotes on this table are enough to make them suffer.”

In the past, Li Qin would have been elated, but today he was dispirited and couldn’t muster any energy. Even Su Zixuan looked at him strangely, and Zhang Guangfa felt it was abnormal.

“Young Master Qin, what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.” Li Qin shook his head.

“Well then, time is of the essence – let’s depart immediately.” Zhang Guangfa knew that business opportunities were like military opportunities – not a moment could be delayed.

Li Qin rode his horse with a heavy heart through the streets, heading west toward the city gate. Near the gate, he saw several children surrounding a beggar, clapping and laughing mockingly, “Ugly monster, ugly monster!”

As Li Qin passed by, he casually glanced over and his eyes met the beggar’s. He immediately changed color and nearly fell from his horse. The female beggar also instantly widened her eyes, but immediately turned her head away and wouldn’t look at him again.

“Ruyi, is that you!” Li Qin dismounted and walked over in a few steps, asking in a trembling voice. How could he believe that just days ago she had been a delicate, flower-like beauty, and now she lay in filth wearing tattered rags with disheveled hair?

The female beggar said nothing, only used the rags on her body to cover her head and face, her body trembling slightly.

Li Qin was certain it was Ruyi and reached out to pull her up, but the female beggar suddenly screamed, startling Li Qin.

“Go away, go away, I don’t want to see you!”

“Ruyi…”

“Master Li.” Ruyi desperately covered her face, her body trembling violently, as was her voice. “If you still remember our past affection, please never come to see me again. Just like the last thing I said to you that day – forget me! I beg you, I beg you.”

Li Qin stared blankly at Ruyi, tears suddenly bursting from his eyes. He searched through his clothes and took out all his banknotes, placing them on the ground. “Take this silver – it’s enough for you to live on for a lifetime.”

Ruyi smiled bitterly and shook her head. “I don’t want it, really. No amount of silver is useful to me anymore.”

Li Qin stamped his foot hard. “I know it was Gu Pingyuan who informed on us. Don’t worry – I’ll definitely avenge you!”

“It was him…” Ruyi’s gaze flashed like two ghost fires.

This conversation between Li Qin and Ruyi on the street was reported word for word to Wang Tiangui that very day. Wang Tiangui frowned, then smiled. “So this Li fellow thinks it was Gu Pingyuan who informed on them. That’s fine – since he works for me, taking disasters for me is also his duty.”

Zhang Guangfa arrived in great force at the Hengxing Draft Bank in Yuci, also a major local draft bank. Upon entering, Zhang Guangfa said nothing and slammed a thick stack of banknotes on the counter, greatly startling the accounting clerk.

“Sir, what is this for…”

“Two hundred thousand taels in banknotes, every one issued by you – exchange them for silver!”

The silver vault contained only over a hundred thousand taels – the rest had been lent to the imperial court. The accounting clerk trembled and examined the banknotes carefully. Indeed, every one bore Hengxing’s mark – not one was fake.

“Please wait, I’ll go find the head manager immediately.” The accounting clerk ran to the back and explained the situation. When the manager heard someone had brought two hundred thousand taels in banknotes, he hurried to the front counter, expecting some old customer whom he could sweet-talk into delaying a few days while he raised the silver. But when he peeked from behind the door and saw who it was, the manager’s vision went dark and he sat down hard on the ground with a thud.

“Manager, what’s wrong with you?”

“We’re finished, finished.” The manager’s eyes went blank. “That’s the head manager of the Beijing merchants. He’s come with ill intent today – our draft bank is finished.”

“I’ll go to Rishengchang immediately to borrow silver.”

“It’s useless. Rishengchang doesn’t have enough silver to protect itself.” The manager felt a surge of anger and actually fainted from anxiety.

Zhang Guangfa stood at the front counter and suddenly heard a series of shouts from behind: “Manager!” “Quick, call a doctor!” A victorious smile appeared on his face.

Su Zixuan’s methods were even more ruthless. Upon arriving in Jiexiu, she didn’t go directly to the “Heshengyuan” draft bank. Instead, she had Sixi hire some street idlers to shout throughout the streets and alleys for an hour: “Heshengyuan is about to collapse! Everyone go see the spectacle! Anyone with money stored at Heshengyuan should quickly get their account books and withdraw their money!”

After the common people gathered in crowds and the Heshengyuan head manager was sweating profusely trying to explain, Su Zixuan stepped forward and raised her hand. “Manager, you needn’t say so much. Just exchange this stack of banknotes and everyone will naturally believe the bank has money. Otherwise…”

By the time angry customers had torn down and trampled Heshengyuan’s signboard, Su Zixuan had already left the crowd with Sixi.

The eighteen major Shanxi draft banks were famous businesses. Now three had been crushed by the Beijing merchants in a single day – the news shocked the entire Shanxi business community.

That night, the remaining draft bank managers gathered at the merchant guild to discuss countermeasures.

“How can this continue? Three collapsed today, three more tomorrow – after the day after tomorrow, won’t only half of the eighteen draft banks remain!” Wang Tiangui was extremely terrified. He knew Taiyufeng ranked third among draft banks, and only this now-meaningless “tiger skin” reputation had saved them from disaster. If Su Zixuan’s methods were used on Taiyufeng, their signboard would probably already be torn down.

He paced twice, then suddenly said, “We don’t need to wait that long. Tomorrow – if just three more fall tomorrow, there will definitely be massive bank runs. Then not only other draft banks, but even Rishengchang and the Weizhou Five wouldn’t be able to withstand it.” He held up one finger. “If we can’t think of a solution tonight, tomorrow will be the day all eighteen draft banks perish together!”

Wang Tiangui’s harsh tone made everyone present shudder. Mao Hongyi, who had been sitting with eyes closed in contemplation, opened his eyes and looked at him, thinking secretly, “This old fox really has calculating skills. He’s right – if the situation develops this way, the Shanxi draft banks will be completely wiped out by the Beijing merchants.”

“Manager Lei, you must come up with a plan, or tomorrow we’ll all be finished.” All the draft bank owners felt the situation had reached a critical juncture. Their hearts burned with anxiety as they all looked to Granny Lei.

Granny Lei took a deep breath and stood up. “I’ve been anticipating this situation and thinking of solutions, but even until today when the Beijing merchants struck, I haven’t thought of a good plan. Now it’s useless to talk about skills or cunning. The Beijing merchants practice iron shirt and golden bell techniques – they come at us head-on with real force. Without silver, how can we fight them!”

Granny Lei’s words chilled everyone’s hearts. Was this really the end? Would the Shanxi draft banks that had dominated Qing dynasty commerce for over two hundred years be destroyed by the Li family of Beijing?

Seeing everyone’s heavy expressions, Granny Lei continued, “I truly have no good ideas, but when I was about to come here today, my brother Lei Nianzhu did suggest something. His method is a stopgap measure, not a permanent solution.”

“Who cares about stopgap or permanent – let’s get through tomorrow first.” Wang Tiangui was nearly shouting.

“Yes, Granny Lei, please tell us quickly.” The draft bank owners, hearing there was still a method, grabbed onto it like a lifeline.

“Although we’re all short of money, if we combine all our available silver, we still have more than the Beijing merchants.” At this point, Mao Hongyi was already nodding continuously – he understood. “I propose we keep enough to handle small customers, then pool all remaining silver together. Once the Beijing merchants arrive anywhere, we immediately send word by courier dogs, and silver carts will rush there immediately.”

“It’s too far – we might not make it in time,” someone murmured.

“Then we’ll divide it into three locations,” Mao Hongyi said. “That way we can cover everywhere.”

The various head managers looked at each other. Draft banks were competitors by nature – they were business rivals. Now being asked to pool their silver together naturally made them all somewhat hesitant.

“Gentlemen, I’ll speak frankly – this is a desperate measure! The Beijing merchants are currently using divide-and-conquer tactics. We can only unite our forces to respond. If we still can’t work together when great disaster strikes, then as Manager Wang said, when tomorrow’s sun rises, it may be the last day Shanxi draft banks exist in this world.” Granny Lei faced all the managers with a very heavy voice.

“I agree.” Finally, one draft bank manager spoke up.

“I agree.”

“I agree too!”

Granny Lei had always been strong-willed, but now her eyes couldn’t help reddening slightly. Her body trembled as she raised her hands to bow to everyone.

“Hey, who would have thought of such a method! Pooling all the money together – attacking one is like attacking all these draft banks. What a stupid solution they came up with.” Zhang Guangfa clasped his hands and paced twice around the room.

“Stupid as it is, it’s effective. Now the Shanxi merchants have become turtles pulling in their heads – you can’t cut them with a knife or chop them with an axe. This matter has truly become difficult.” Su Zixuan waved her fan, pondering.

“What’s difficult about it? They’re just taking beatings without fighting back. We’ll just have to spend more effort – this is still a sure win.” Zhang Guangfa tapped the table with his finger. “Now these draft banks have no silver to lend out, yet customers keep coming to withdraw money – it’s all outflow, no income. I estimate that in at most one month, they’ll have to use even the silver they’re keeping to defend against us Beijing merchants to pay customers. When that time comes, we can wipe out all the Shanxi draft banks in one stroke.”

Su Zixuan listened quietly. Zhang Guangfa’s analysis sounded reasonable from every angle, but she unexpectedly thought of someone and her heart sank. She snapped her fan shut and said softly, “I just fear that long nights bring many dreams.”

“They probably can’t even last half a month.” The draft banks’ street clerks were all nervously discussing the current situation. After all, pooling all the draft banks’ vault silver together was unprecedented. Gu Pingyuan carefully calculated the current income and expenses and immediately concluded that this silver wouldn’t last long. Wang Chi nodded in agreement beside him.

“Then what can we do? Just watch helplessly as the Shanxi draft banks are destroyed by the Beijing merchants?” Short Tiger’s forehead veins bulged high.

“We haven’t reached a dead end yet. This method of pooling money to block disaster, though it can’t last forever, can hold for a while. Let’s use this time to think of solutions together and see how we can help the draft banks survive this crisis.” Gu Pingyuan looked at the clerks. He had considered using the gold from Wubian Temple, but that gold would be more than enough to save one or two draft banks, yet still far from sufficient to resolve this great crisis. Moreover, Gu Pingyuan always had this thought: no matter how much silver there is, it will eventually be used up. With the Beijing merchants watching like tigers from the side, if they couldn’t find a complete solution, there would be a next time after this one. Granny Lei, Mao Hongyi and the others would inevitably face endless troubles.

“With Manager Lei’s abilities at Rishengchang, she could only think of this delaying tactic. What methods could we possibly have?” White Flower Snake said dismissively.

“No, Manager Gu is right.” Wang Chi stood up. “The draft banks don’t just belong to the owners and managers. If the draft banks collapse, we clerks will all have to drink the northwest wind. Let’s brainstorm – three cobblers are worth one Zhuge Liang. Perhaps we’ll think of a good solution.”

The clerks were persuaded by Gu Pingyuan and Wang Chi. From that day on, they gathered daily at Gu Pingyuan’s house. They stopped drinking and humming little tunes, all racking their brains for strategies. One method after another was proposed, one plan after another was written down. Gu Pingyuan slept only two hours each day, working with Wang Chi to visit various draft bank managers non-stop to discuss crisis resolution methods, then rushing back to study with the clerks.

Working day and night like this, they stayed busy for over ten days, but in the end achieved nothing.

“I think we’ve reached a dead end. No matter how many brilliant schemes you have, the Beijing merchants have one fixed rule – they compare silver with you, compete in wealth and power. In one sentence, draft banks can’t function without silver.” White Flower Snake threw down his brush, giving up hope. Looking at the other clerks, they were all the same – faces full of dejection.

“Don’t be so spineless.” Gu Pingyuan was lost in thought for a while, then suddenly smiled. “Don’t say the sky won’t fall – even if it did, wouldn’t I, the manager, be the most unlucky?” He took a small package of silver from the bag at his bedside.

“Everyone has worked so hard for so long – let’s have a good time today. Watch operas, listen to music, drink some wine, gamble a bit. Don’t come back until you’ve spent all the silver.” Without allowing any argument, he distributed the silver to each clerk.

The clerks left in twos and threes. Wang Chi asked Gu Pingyuan, “Third Manager, what about you?”

“I’m also going to Manyi Tower for a good meal. These past two weeks I’ve been drinking cold water and eating steamed buns on horseback – my stomach has been complaining for ages.”

Wang Chi smiled. “Then I’ll accompany Third Manager.”

The crisis of the draft banks affected business throughout the province – even the restaurant trade was greatly depressed. Seeing Gu Pingyuan and Wang Chi arrive together, the waiter hurriedly came to greet them with smiles, preparing to seat them in a private room. Gu Pingyuan waved his hand. “We’ll sit in the common area.”

After the food and wine were served and the two had raised their cups and started eating, Gu Pingyuan suddenly asked, “Brother Wang, what are your future plans?”

“Me? I plan to learn good skills and return to my hometown in Yunnan.”

“Yunnan? Aren’t you Manager Wang’s nephew?” Gu Pingyuan asked in surprise.

“We’re distant relatives. Our branch moved to Yunnan during the Daoguang era to do tea-horse trade, but it wasn’t successful. Having no money to return home, we stayed. Later I learned that a cousin ran a major draft bank in Shanxi, so I traveled thousands of miles to seek him out. It wasn’t for his money – the mountainous terrain of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan is perfect for draft bank money transfers. I plan to learn good skills and open a draft bank locally, starting with small business. Someday my Wang Chi signboard will spread throughout Sichuan and Yunnan.”

“Excellent.” Gu Pingyuan raised his cup. “Brother Wang, I wish you early success.”

Both drained their cups. As they were conversing, an argument suddenly broke out at a nearby table.

A waiter was reaching for money, saying, “Roasted goose costs three qian of silver each – you took it, so why won’t you pay?”

A sharp-faced, monkey-cheeked man holding a roasted goose wrapped in oil paper was arguing with the waiter. He pointed to a plate on the table. “This smoked chicken is what I ordered, right?”

“Yes!”

“I said I didn’t want it and asked you to change it for roasted goose, right?”

“Right!”

“Then why are you asking me for money! The roasted goose was exchanged for the smoked chicken.” The sharp-faced man raised his hand.

“But… but you didn’t pay for the smoked chicken either.”

“Hmph, I didn’t eat it and returned it to you – why should I pay?” The sharp-faced man glared.

Gu Pingyuan and Wang Chi, watching the waiter become flustered and confused about the account, couldn’t help but laugh.

“This would never happen at a draft bank.”

“How so?” When it came to draft bank matters, Gu Pingyuan knew he understood less than Wang Chi.

“Restaurants have you eat first then settle the bill, so that man could play this trick. But draft banks have you submit banknotes first before exchanging silver. If you say you don’t want silver and want copper coins instead, that’s fine – the banknote is already in the draft bank’s hands. Whether you want copper coins or foreign currency is up to you.”

“Bang!” Such a loud sound that not only Wang Chi, but even the two men arguing nearby jumped in fright. Gu Pingyuan had slammed the table hard, sending bowls, chopsticks, and plates flying high while soup and water splashed everywhere.

“Third Manager, you…” Wang Chi said in alarm.

“Customer, what are you doing!” The waiter was also anxious, thinking some dish didn’t suit his taste.

Gu Pingyuan stared wide-eyed with an expression of shock and joy. He couldn’t explain in detail, threw down a silver coin, and ran outside, calling back to Wang Chi, “Call all the clerks back.”

“Is… is this man crazy?” The sharp-faced man came over, staring dumbfounded at the mess on the table.

“No… he’s the third manager of Taiyufeng.” Wang Chi didn’t come to his senses for a long time.

After hearing Gu Pingyuan explain his method, the clerks looked at each other for a moment. After a while, Short Tiger vigorously rubbed his face. “Third Manager, this method is excellent, but also extremely difficult.”

The excellence needn’t be explained – but where was the difficulty? Wang Chi had also figured it out by now and spoke up: “I’m afraid some unscrupulous draft banks might falsify accounts, using this method to obtain large amounts of cash, then pat their bottoms and walk away, leaving the other party cheated. Remember, no matter what, this silver must eventually be withdrawn.”

“You’re absolutely right.” Gu Pingyuan thought about it and realized this was indeed the case. “Then we need to find a way to prevent this from happening.” He sat down and gathered the clerks around him. Starting from Gu Pingyuan’s method, they examined it point by point, looking for gaps and weaknesses. Whenever they found deficiencies, they immediately raised them, and everyone worked together to find countermeasures. Wang Chi held a brush beside them, constantly taking notes. They worked until dawn broke, when the clerks finally fell asleep sprawled everywhere.

Gu Pingyuan and Wang Chi hadn’t slept all night. Now holding the thin booklet of several pages they had organized, they reviewed it from beginning to end several more times. Feeling they had covered all possibilities, they both sighed with relief and looked up to discover that brilliant sunlight was already streaming directly into the room.

Wang Chi looked at Gu Pingyuan. “Third Manager, it’s your turn to act. Go tell this idea to all the managers.”

Gu Pingyuan pulled Wang Chi along. “Come on, let’s go together.”

“Business is already being delayed. Master Cao is buying land in the neighboring county and came to withdraw thirty thousand taels from me. I managed to delay him for three days with sweet talk, but the land price has gone up another thousand taels. Master Cao asked me how to calculate this account – I really had no way to answer him.” A draft bank manager shook his head and sighed.

“But we can’t touch that pooled silver. If we touch it, the Beijing merchants will immediately come knocking, and we’ll only die faster.” Another manager beside him said.

“Now it’s death if we advance, death if we retreat – either way we’re dead sooner or later!” the first manager said resentfully.

“That’s not necessarily so!” Granny Lei’s voice arrived with her person as she walked through the main gate of the merchant guild.

“Manager Lei, you called us all here – is there something going on?” An quick-tongued manager rushed forward to ask.

“No! I have nothing to discuss with you all – I just invited you here for tea and chat.” Granny Lei was also in a bad mood. Rishengchang had been blocked by customers every day recently – she had never been in such an embarrassing situation. Seeing someone being tactless and talking nonsense at such a time, she immediately shot back with sharp words.

The man was stunned into silence, finally realizing he had touched a sore spot. Though they were all head managers, he couldn’t afford to offend Rishengchang and could only retreat sheepishly to sit down.

“Today it wasn’t me who asked everyone to come – it was Third Manager Gu Pingyuan from Taiyufeng. He has something to discuss publicly with everyone.” Granny Lei was also curious – Gu Pingyuan kept saying he had a good solution, but what exactly was he selling in his gourd?

Gu Pingyuan walked to the center of the hall and made a circular bow to all directions. “Esteemed managers, you must all be worrying about insufficient silver in your vaults right now. I have a method here that can instantly create money – and as much as you want.”

What? As much as you want! This seemed far too boastful. Not one of the managers believed him. Originally, Gu Pingyuan had gained considerable favor from everyone due to the mother money table incident, but this statement was too grandiose, inevitably making people suspect he was a madman.

“I know you don’t believe me.” Gu Pingyuan smiled. “Actually, this method is very simple. Why do customers come to withdraw money? Simply to spend it – that is, for trade.”

Buying and selling was the exchange between silver and goods, and the changing of silver hands was essentially transferring from one person’s draft bank account to another’s.

“Now one copper coin can open an account, and almost every household in the province has a draft bank account. So why must trade involve withdrawing actual silver? As long as the draft bank deducts the payment from the buyer’s account and issues a document with secret seals, sending it to the seller’s draft bank to add this payment to the seller’s account, wouldn’t this transaction be complete? Later, when the two draft banks settle accounts, if it’s cleared within three days, it’s calculated as interest-free. Beyond three days, interest is calculated according to inter-bank lending rates. This way no one loses out – what do you all think?”

These draft bank managers were all well-informed, familiar with northern draft banks, southern money houses, and even foreign bank practices to some degree, but they had never heard of such an unheard-of transaction method. They were all momentarily stunned.

Seeing everyone staring at him dumbfounded, Gu Pingyuan simply called Wang Chi over. “This method was researched by Brother Wang, various clerks, and myself together. Since everyone is puzzled, Brother Wang and I will perform a demonstration. After watching, you’ll surely understand everything.”

Gu Pingyuan bowed deeply to Wang Chi. “Brother Wang, I’d like to buy your grain supply with ten thousand taels of silver – is that acceptable?”

Wang Chi was naturally taciturn and even more uncomfortable performing in public. He remained silent and only nodded.

“Excellent!” Gu Pingyuan acted as if he had truly made a deal, coming cheerfully before Granny Lei and pretending to hand over an account book. “Manager Lei, I’m here to withdraw silver – ten thousand taels to buy grain. Please be kind and hurry, or if the seller changes his mind later, this good deal of mine will fall through.”

Granny Lei hadn’t expected Gu Pingyuan to put on such an act in public. Suppressing her laughter, she shook her head. “I’m terribly sorry, but we have no cash silver in the vault.”

“Then what should I do!” Gu Pingyuan put on an expression of anxiety and anger.

“No problem.” Granny Lei reached for brush and ink, scribbled “ten thousand taels” on a white paper, drew two circles as secret seals, and handed it to Gu Pingyuan. “Take this to the seller’s draft bank and you can settle accounts!”

“A piece of paper worth ten thousand taels of silver – can this work?” Gu Pingyuan raised his eyebrows, asking in surprise and doubt.

“It will work. If it doesn’t, come back and find me.”

“Fine, I’ll try it.” Gu Pingyuan, half-believing, pulled Wang Chi before Mao Hongyi. “Manager Mao, this is from Rishengchang for you.”

Mao Hongyi saw that he also had a part in this performance and chuckled, laughing as he received the paper and pretended to examine it carefully. “Mm, good.” He said to Wang Chi, “Your account now has ten thousand taels deposited immediately.”

Gu Pingyuan looked at Wang Chi. “Brother Wang, our deal is concluded, right?”

“Concluded.”

Gu Pingyuan turned around and raised his hand. “Did all the esteemed managers see clearly? No one saw these ten thousand taels of silver, yet this business transaction has been completed.”

By now, no one in the entire hall was still sitting. All the head managers had excitedly stood up. Granny Lei slowly walked over and suddenly punched Gu Pingyuan’s shoulder. “Young brother, you’re really something!”

The hall immediately erupted with excitement. These usually dignified and imposing head managers all had faces full of uncontainable joy. They were all insiders and now felt as if they had swallowed fireflies – even their hearts were brilliantly clear. Mao Hongyi kept nodding and asked repeatedly, “This method is absolutely ingenious – it should have a name, right?”

“I’ve already thought of the name. Since it transfers from one draft bank’s account to another’s, why not call it the ‘Account Transfer Method’!” Gu Pingyuan said steadily.

“What an excellent Account Transfer Method – this has truly saved the Shanxi draft banks.” Mao Hongyi praised enthusiastically, though his expression remained somewhat grave. “Although we have this good method, the Beijing merchants are still watching us like tigers from the side. Everyone still cannot be careless.”

“Once we catch our breath, I’ll definitely lead everyone to think of ways to destroy Daping Company. As long as it remains in Shanxi, it’s always a threat to our hearts – it absolutely cannot be left!” Granny Lei had been a head manager for so many years. Though she was a woman, she had always been decisive in matters of attack and defense.

After these few words, everyone quieted down again. That’s right – there was still a dragon-tiger struggle ahead with the Beijing merchants. The Li family of Beijing was no easy opponent. The coming battle would likely be bloody and brutal again.

“I don’t think that’s necessary.” Gu Pingyuan said leisurely.

“Manager Gu, what do you mean by that?” Mao Hongyi asked.

“Let me say something – please give me your guidance, senior.” Despite making such a great contribution, Gu Pingyuan remained neither arrogant nor conceited, speaking calmly and respectfully. This bearing alone surpassed many of the head managers present.

“Please speak.” Mao Hongyi increasingly liked this young man and nodded with a smile.

“The Account Transfer Method relies entirely on communication and coordination between draft banks – essentially like a united system forming its own circle. Any draft bank wanting to use this Account Transfer Method must join this circle, otherwise the documents they issue won’t be recognized.” This principle was simple and everyone understood it. “Naturally, we won’t let Daping Company join, right?”

“That goes without saying!” A draft bank manager interjected. Daping Company had become a mortal enemy – all Shanxi draft banks wished it would collapse immediately.

“Since that’s the case, when the Account Transfer Method becomes popular in Shanxi, I believe Daping Company will no longer have silver to compete with the Shanxi draft banks.” Gu Pingyuan looked at Mao Hongyi as he spoke.

Mao Hongyi lowered his head in thought for a moment, then suddenly looked at Gu Pingyuan with mixed surprise and joy. “Oh my, Manager Gu, you… you’re truly a commercial genius!”

Granny Lei saw the managers whispering to each other, many with puzzled expressions. She smiled and said, “As long as everyone goes back and promotes this Account Transfer Method throughout the province, Daping Company will naturally be finished. Just wait and see.”

“Unfortunately, there’s still one oversight.” Wang Tiangui had been silently listening. Of course he was happy that the draft banks’ crisis was resolved, but seeing Gu Pingyuan praised so highly by everyone, he felt jealous. Now he came forward to nitpick and show off his abilities.

“What if some draft bank doesn’t follow the rules or deliberately breaks regulations? Wouldn’t this Account Transfer Method provide them with a good opportunity? For example, some small draft bank with unclear accounts is about to go bankrupt, so they collude with merchants in fraud. Even though the merchant’s account has no such silver, they insist it does, then issue documents to transfer accounts with major draft banks. When settlement time comes, they disappear – what then?” Wang Tiangui was indeed an old fox, immediately spotting the Account Transfer Method’s weakness.

“I’ve thought of this too.” Gu Pingyuan was about to discuss this matter. Seeing Wang Tiangui couldn’t help but jump out, he sneered inwardly and continued, “Though the Account Transfer Method is convenient and easy to implement, it can indeed attract the covetous hearts of petty people. To prevent losses, we must establish a General Office.”

“General Office?” This was an unheard-of name.

“Exactly! This General Office’s relationship with all draft banks would be like the Ministry of Revenue with provincial treasuries – no hierarchical relationship, but able to inspect and audit accounts. It could regularly or irregularly inspect the account books and examine the silver reserves of draft banks implementing the Account Transfer Method. If silver-account discrepancies or fraudulent behavior are discovered, it could immediately correct them or even expel offending draft banks from the Account Transfer Method as a warning to others.”

All the draft bank owners nodded silently after hearing this. The Account Transfer Method was purely a bridge built on mutual trust between draft banks. If someone didn’t follow rules and caused chaos, this bridge could collapse – it seemed a bridge guardian was absolutely necessary.

“But who would this person be?” Everyone naturally turned their gaze toward Granny Lei.

But Granny Lei said, “Young brother, since you thought of this method, you should say – where should the General Office be established?”

“Good, then I’ll speak.” Gu Pingyuan was not one to decline responsibility. He looked around at all the draft bank owners’ faces, then finally turned his head.

Everyone assumed Gu Pingyuan would certainly say Rishengchang, and even Granny Lei thought so. Seeing him look her way, she was just preparing to respond when Gu Pingyuan said, “This General Office should be placed at Taiyufeng!”

Taiyufeng? This single statement shocked everyone. Only then did they remember that Gu Pingyuan was Taiyufeng’s third manager. It seemed like favoritism toward his own company, which everyone found distasteful, but since he had contributed so much, saying no now would be too much like burning bridges after crossing.

Wang Tiangui was delighted – this was truly an unexpected windfall. Seeing no immediate opposition from the draft bank owners, he stepped forward and cupped his hands. “Please rest assured, everyone. With this General Office at Taiyufeng, I, Wang, will certainly handle affairs fairly, coordinate with colleagues, and fulfill the responsibilities of financial supervision and inspection. I definitely won’t disappoint your expectations.”

What had been a good thing became somewhat disappointing for the head managers due to the General Office issue. Everyone knew Wang Tiangui’s ruthless methods – who knew if he would use this General Office position for personal gain at others’ expense.

The managers departed one by one. Wang Tiangui also left with Gu Pingyuan and Wang Chi. Only Granny Lei and Mao Hongyi remained in the guild hall, looking at each other with mutual puzzlement in their eyes.

“Is this young man Gu really working for Wang Tiangui?” Mao Hongyi murmured to himself.

Granny Lei frowned. “It shouldn’t be – he and Wang Tiangui aren’t the same type of people.”

“Heh.” Mao Hongyi suddenly laughed with emotion. “I originally thought my generation was a time of talented heroes meeting great circumstances, but it turns out today’s young people are even more unfathomable. I’m truly old, old…”

Granny Lei looked at Mao Hongyi’s weather-beaten face and was momentarily speechless.

“Gu Pingyuan, you’ve made a great contribution – no, a primary contribution!” Back at Taiyufeng, Wang Tiangui’s excitement was still overflowing.

He understood too clearly what this “General Office” position meant. The Account Transfer Method would inevitably become popular in Shanxi and would certainly be revered by all draft banks as their business guideline. This General Office would essentially control the lifeblood of Shanxi draft banks’ silver circulation. No matter what Rishengchang or Weizhou Five – the General Office would be the undisputed leader of draft banks. This was the goal he had dreamed of his entire life, and unexpectedly it was Gu Pingyuan who had pushed him to this position.

“Gu Pingyuan, from now on you’ll take the position of second manager!” Wang Tiangui forcefully patted his shoulder. “Yes.” Gu Pingyuan lowered his head, showing no expression on his face.

“Head Manager, what about me?” Accountant Qu asked tremblingly from the side.

“You? When I asked you to investigate the Beijing merchants’ background, what did you find out? No achievements whatsoever, falling behind in everything – what qualifies you to be second manager! You and Gu Pingyuan will switch positions.”

“Head Manager.” Accountant Qu never dreamed it would turn out this way. “I’ve served you faithfully for twenty years – even without merit, I’ve worked hard…”

“Forget it.” Wang Tiangui waved his sleeve and went into the inner courtyard.

Accountant Qu returned to the front counter in a daze. Soon he saw Gu Pingyuan come out, take up brush and ink from the counter, pull out a paper from his chest, and calmly trace the third stroke of the character “夷”.

“What are you doing?” Accountant Qu asked blankly.

Gu Pingyuan looked at him with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Accountant Qu, there are rules here – when has a third manager ever had the right to question a second manager?” After speaking, he folded the paper and walked away with long strides.

Accountant Qu trembled with rage and suddenly punched the counter, forcing out words through gritted teeth: “Wang Tiangui, you’ve gone too far!”

“It’s over. It looks like my Qiao family’s business ends today.” Qiao Zhiyong understood clearly – the sea of people outside the gate shouting for the Qiao family to repay debts wouldn’t have gathered here without reason. Someone must have leaked information that the Qiao family had no silver, triggering this disaster. This person was very likely that Master Su who had visited before.

His guess was correct and accurate. The one who deliberately spread this news was indeed Su Zixuan. She had previously learned from Li Qin about the secret of the Qiao family’s empty silver vault, and later confirmed this while examining accounts at the Qiao residence. Having failed to obtain the Roaming King’s gold, she angrily devised this bottom-line strategy. If Qiao Zhiyong brought out the golden arhats to resolve the crisis, she certainly wouldn’t miss the opportunity. If the Qiao family truly had no gold, she could at least vent her anger.

This move was truly vicious! Qiao Zhiyong had been hoping for the tea caravan’s early return, but all the news he heard was that the court was still blocking roads. With impassable routes, the tea caravan couldn’t possibly return, and in these war-torn times, it might never return. He had already given up this hope. He had been using an empty city stratagem, but now that it was exposed with enemy troops at the gates and siege ladders already set up, he had no soldiers to deploy and could only await his doom.

The steward beside him was an old Qiao family servant. Hearing the commotion outside, he was also frantically worried and suddenly remembered, “Master, haven’t the draft banks recently been using some Account Transfer Method? Why don’t we try it too?”

“The Account Transfer Method can’t help me.” Qiao Zhiyong had already considered this. “You can only use the Account Transfer Method if you have silver in your account. My Qiao family’s account currently has nothing, and these days we’ve relied entirely on Rishengchang’s help to cover for us. Where would we get amounts to transfer to others?”

“Then borrow from Rishengchang – we’ll just pay more interest.”

“Now that all provincial draft banks haven’t recovered their vitality, given my relationship with Granny Lei, she would certainly help with everything if I asked. But that would harm Rishengchang, and I can’t do things that hurt friends.” Qiao Zhiyong shook his head.

“This…” The steward was also troubled, when suddenly his eyes lit up. “Master, you’ve always had dealings with high officials in the provincial capital. Why not ask them to send troops to drive these people away?”

“Silence!” Qiao Zhiyong was angry. He pointed toward the main gate. “Those outside are all my Qiao family’s customers who trusted me enough to do business on credit. Now they’re coming to collect money, and not only do I not pay them, but I also invite soldiers to drive them away? What kind of person would that make me, Qiao Zhiyong? What face would I have to meet my Qiao ancestors in the future!”

The steward was frightened into nodding repeatedly. Qiao Zhiyong sighed, looked at the portrait of his ancestor Qiao Guifa behind him, then at the couplet he had written himself: “Treasuring food and clothing is not for money but for blessings; Seeking fame and profit must seek from oneself, not from others.” He suddenly smiled with enlightenment, stood up and clapped his hands. “Steward, let all those customers in!”

“Master!”

“Business has profits and losses. My Qiao family has profited for many years – losing now is normal. I, Qiao Zhiyong, am still here. With my bare hands, I can earn this family fortune back in ten years. Go ahead, politely invite all those creditors in. They were once my Qiao family’s benefactors, and perhaps they’ll still be my associates when I do small business in the future. I want to thank them properly.”

“Master!” The white-haired steward began to cry.

“Go ahead.” Qiao Zhiyong waved his hand.

Qiao Zhiyong sat back in the main hall’s grand chair, closed his eyes slightly and waited for those people to rush in. He had prepared many things to say to everyone. He clearly heard the distinct creaking sound when the steward opened the main gate. This courtyard was built when his father was alive. When they moved in, his father had carried him as a babbling infant and was the first to push open the door and enter the courtyard. The creaking sound of the gate opening then seemed right in his ears – he had stared with curious eyes at the new sights in this great courtyard, everything seeming like yesterday.

He became somewhat mentally confused for a moment. After a long while, he realized something was wrong – why hadn’t anyone come in after all this time? He opened his eyes and looked toward the gate. The steward was stumbling as he ran in, his voice trembling, “Master, Master, please come out and see!”

“What’s wrong?” Qiao Zhiyong stood up, staring intently at him.

“Tea caravan, tea caravan!” The steward could barely speak, his hand pointing toward the gate, while cheers could already be heard outside.

Qiao Zhiyong was stunned, murmuring, “Impossible. The roads aren’t open yet – how could the tea caravan arrive? You must be mistaken.”

“Master, please go and see!” The steward was both wiping tears and laughing, continuously pushing him outside.

Qiao Zhiyong walked out the gate in amazement. Everyone was looking toward the road in front of Qiao Family Fort. A magnificent procession was winding its way forward – long tea carts proceeding in order, stretching endlessly behind, with no end in sight. The first horse was ridden by Gu Pingyuan, and beside him driving the first tea cart was Old Man Chang Si.

The procession arrived at the front. Gu Pingyuan dismounted and walked in a few steps before Qiao Zhiyong. The two men looked at each other. Gu Pingyuan grasped Qiao Zhiyong’s arm and said with a smile, “Master Qiao, I used your gold to buy a tea route.”

Old Man Chang Si had lost weight but was in excellent spirits. He also joked from the side, “All the officials along the way were fed until they were burping – Master Qiao doesn’t mind the expense, does he?”

“Not at all, not at all.” Qiao Zhiyong’s eyes filled with tears as he tightly gripped Gu Pingyuan’s hand, momentarily not knowing what to say.

“Go look at the tea.” Gu Pingyuan gently pushed him. Qiao Zhiyong came to the tea cart and gently lifted the covering cloth. A full cart of tea bricks was piled neatly and densely. He picked up one piece, broke off a corner, crumbled it and put it to his nose, greedily inhaling. The tea’s clear fragrance seemed to permeate his entire body.

“Excellent!” Qiao Zhiyong shouted loudly and suddenly flung his hand upward. The tea leaves were caught by the wind and scattered onto the surrounding crowd. Qiao Family Fort immediately erupted in thunderous cheers!

The timely arrival of the Qiao family’s tea stimulated business throughout the province. More than thirty percent of Shanxi’s business was directly or indirectly related to tea trading. Within the province, tens of thousands of porters, camel drivers, caravan leaders, and various businessmen made their living by trading tea to Kyakhta. The arrival of this tea was like sweet rain after a long drought, and this sweet rain, through the Account Transfer Method implemented by the draft banks, became flowing water. Business generated more business, trade connected with trade, completely pulling the Shanxi draft banks back from the brink of death.