“I also know it’s a good deed,” Qing Xia said in a deep voice, her expression slightly grave: “But with so much grain being produced at high yields simultaneously, prices will inevitably drop. Jin Shaohuang is merely a merchant—what use would he have for so much grain?”

Upon hearing this, Chu Li was immediately stunned, lowering his head to say: “You mean Jin Shaohuang wants to rebel?”

“I’m only speculating,” Qing Xia said gravely: “Before armies move, provisions must go first. This way, all the southeastern people will become the Jin family’s tenant farmers this year, and eighty percent of the entire southeast’s grain production will fall into the Jin family’s hands. Once Jin Shaohuang has the slightest treacherous intent, setting aside whether he might communicate with foreign countries and provide grain support that would put Southern Chu in a dire position—even if he merely hoards goods and drives up grain prices, Southern Chu will inevitably face a great disaster. Chu Li, this is a very dangerous matter that must be guarded against.”

Chu Li’s eyes darkened, and he suddenly turned to look at Qing Xia, raising an eyebrow with a light laugh: “After talking for so long, tell me your plan.”

Qing Xia smiled smugly: “How do you know I have a plan?”

Chu Li closed his eyes, leaning back in his soft chair with a satisfied smile: “If you had no plan, you would have found someone to sabotage the wealth competition on the spot. Would you have endured until now?”

Qing Xia covered her mouth and laughed: “You’re quite clever. Actually, the solution is simple—I want to visit this Jin Shaohuang personally and buy all his grain.”

“Buy it all?” Chu Li frowned: “I don’t have that much money, nor do I have a place to store it.”

“You don’t need to pay,” Qing Xia smiled: “The maritime ban has been lifted. In another year, the large ships will all be completed. I want to sell all this grain to Japan.”

Chu Li was startled and asked in confusion: “What exactly are you planning? Didn’t you say you hated that country to the bone and wanted to level it?”

“Those were just angry words,” Qing Xia said seriously: “Chu Li, let me tell you—in this world, no nation can ever completely conquer another through military force alone. Even if they’re small and we can rule them for ten or twenty years, can we rule them for a thousand or two thousand years? If we want to succeed, we must assimilate them ideologically and sanction them economically. We must make them dependent on us, unable to leave us, so they will live under our feet, trembling at your single sneeze.”

“Didn’t you just kill their envoys?”

“That’s not important,” Qing Xia interrupted: “Japan is currently in civil war, with various shogun generals and daimyo fighting chaotically. There are three most powerful forces domestically, with the emperor being merely third-rate. I killed those envoys and made a great show of contacting several daimyo precisely to deliberately show our stance—indicating that we Southern Chu don’t support their emperor, making the emperor lose prestige in Japan so we can make their chaos even more chaotic.”

“The Japanese have been at war for years, and their country is already devastated. Many daimyo have awakened and begun recuperating and developing their economy. Once they stop fighting and submit to the emperor’s rule, they’ll unite and develop rapidly. Our lifting of the maritime ban is to let them continue fighting without worries. They need grain, silk, medicine, tea, and various household items—we’ll sell them everything, never letting them cease war due to lack of supplies. Japan has many mineral resources and much gold and silver. They’ll definitely excavate extensively to trade with us. What we need to do is support the weak side to fight against the strong. Continuously gathering gold and silver, accumulating it to fill the national treasury, turning them into parasites dependent on us until their mineral resources are completely exhausted and their domestic economy is in ruins. Then we’ll have the opportunity to eliminate them in one stroke.”

Speaking of this, Qing Xia’s eyes immediately showed brilliance. She paced in the room, saying spiritedly: “From the short term, this not only resolves the Jin family’s threat but can also paralyze Japan’s upper echelons while providing sufficient gold and silver to purchase and clear out the other two countries’ provisions, greatly benefiting our northern expedition. From long-term interests, gold and silver are universal global currency. As long as we ensure gold and silver don’t flow out, we’ll eventually be the first to accumulate primitive capital, preparing monetary accumulation for industrial revolution. When rifles and cannons, sharp arrows and warships successively appear, our warships and artillery will open Western nations’ doors, turning them into our vassals and our country into the greatest empire.”

Chu Li watched Qing Xia’s appearance and suddenly chuckled softly. Qing Xia was happily envisioning the future when she heard this and looked down: “What are you laughing at?”

Chu Li said: “You haven’t seemed this happy in a long time. I’ve discovered you only become this spirited when you’re scheming against others.”

Qing Xia was startled, then angrily said: “I’m making plans for you—don’t be like a dog biting Lu Dongbin, not recognizing good intentions.”

Chu Li’s eyebrows shot up as he angrily said: “You dare call me a dog?”

“Stop putting gold on your face!” Qing Xia said sideways: “Da Huang is much more lovable than you.”

The woman in white robes walked to the bedside, yawned, and said: “Hurry and leave—this lord needs to rest.”

Chu Li stood up with crossed arms, snorting coldly twice: “How audacious to dare peek at my bath. If this were in the capital, I’d definitely gouge out your eyes.”

Qing Xia looked at him disdainfully: “Taking a bath without closing the door—an exhibitionist like you would have been beaten to death long ago in my hometown.”

Chu Li was slightly angry, snorted, flicked his sleeves, and walked out the door.

Qing Xia stood by the bed with a faint smile, glanced around outside, closed the door, leaned against it, and suddenly felt somewhat weary.

She knew both she and Chu Li were trying to avoid certain awkward emotions, so they maintained this facade of joking and scolding, but ultimately, underlying currents still flowed slowly beneath.

She looked down and saw a small sachet on the desk. Picking it up, it was imperial lily fragrance, most helpful for peaceful sleep. She held the sachet to her nose, took a deep breath, then lay on the bed fully clothed.

In three more days, she would go beyond the passes with Chu Li. The matters here needed to be concluded early.

Thinking this, Qing Xia smelled the lily fragrance and slowly closed her eyes.

“There, this is basically complete. Go look in the mirror and see if you can still recognize yourself.” Chu Li turned around to see the face in the mirror had completely changed—paler complexion, narrow elongated eyes, even the facial contours were greatly different. He couldn’t help feeling somewhat amazed and was about to reach out to touch when his hand was slapped down with a smack.

Qing Xia frowned: “Don’t move carelessly—it’s not dry yet. Wait a bit longer.”

Le Song, Jinyu and others watched from the side, mouths agape in amazement. Jinyu admiringly said: “This must be the legendary face-changing arts?”

Qing Xia turned back smiling: “I don’t know if your face-changing arts here can achieve such sophistication. But this technique of mine was invented after my former boss invited makeup masters from around the world to research for several years. The materials here are insufficient—many things can only be substituted with lead powder and such. Otherwise, not only could we change appearance, even men disguising as women or replicating someone’s face to impersonate them wouldn’t be discovered.”

Speaking of this, she suddenly turned to Chu Li: “Lead powder is harmful after all. Though I’ve applied two layers of foundation as separation, time should still be controlled—at most three hours before washing it off. Sigh, I really don’t understand—I’ve already attended dozens of southeastern aristocrat banquets. This one isn’t particularly special, so why must you insist on going? Making us all nervous—what if we expose some flaw?”

Chu Li snorted coldly and stubbornly turned away without speaking. But he thought uncomfortably to himself: Nothing special? This time, it’s that imperial steward’s family banquet.

With everything prepared, a servant came to announce that Young Master Jin Shaohuang had sent people to escort them and was waiting at the gate.

Qing Xia stood up, her purple-gold python robe appearing exceptionally magnificent. Just as she was about to leave, she saw Chu Li flick his sleeves and stride ahead as if it were natural.

“Ahem!” Qing Xia suddenly coughed lightly. Everyone turned around in confusion, all looking at Qing Xia. Qing Xia beckoned to Chu Li with her finger, saying in a deep male voice: “Young Master Wu, do you have any concept of being someone’s advisor? The master hasn’t left yet and you’re already running ahead. Am I your superior or are you my attendant?”

Chu Li’s expression froze upon hearing this. He watched Qing Xia swagger in front of him with elegant bearing and smug satisfaction. The great emperor of Southern Chu’s face burned with embarrassment—if not for the lead powder covering, it would surely be completely red, with nowhere to vent his overwhelming fury.

Le Song and others dared not walk in front of the emperor like Qing Xia did, following behind Chu Li one by one with none daring to walk alongside him.

However, before they even left the main gate, Governor Xia suddenly changed expression and turned to go back. The crowd behind was startled and about to inquire when a clear voice suddenly called out loudly: “Lord Xia, Yu’er has been waiting for you so long!”

They saw Dongfang Yu’er wearing a light green pearl shirt embroidered with colorful butterflies with a front-opening collar, a tender purple pleated long skirt below, a pair of flowing embroidered shoes, her hair arranged in an elegant maiden’s colorful cloud coiffure with a light green pearl hairpin slanted to one side. With pink cheeks like peaches, bright eyes and white teeth, she was full of youthful radiance and charm. She jumped down from a luxurious carriage, ran forward in a few steps, grabbed Qing Xia’s sleeve with one hand, and said with a smile: “Yesterday afternoon I came to find you to go watch the wealth competition together, but you had already left. I searched for you half the night, but there were too many people and I never found you.”

Qing Xia’s expression immediately became somewhat awkward as she smiled bitterly to Dongfang Yu’er: “Miss Dongfang, this official is about to attend a banquet at Young Master Jin’s residence. You see, if there’s something to discuss, let’s talk about it later.”