Qing Xia raised her head and said with a slight lift in her voice: “What’s wrong?”

Chu Li’s eyes were pitch black, with darkly surging light gathering within them. The night wind stirred his black hair, scattering it to brush against Qing Xia’s pale face. Finally, he still shook his head and said: “Get some sleep early.”

Her fingertips instantly became ice cold, the blood vessels within equally frigid. Qing Xia numbly nodded and smiled bitterly: “You too.”

The flowering trees on both sides gently scattered their rich fragrance, while a row of verdant bamboo released fresh scents into the air. Together with the occasional koi that surfaced in the distant lake, they formed the most tranquil painting under the night sky. The woman’s silhouette gradually disappeared at the end of the long corridor, vanishing from sight with just one turn. Chu Li stood in place watching her until he could no longer see her shadow.

Qing Xia stood on the artificial mountain’s stone steps, her back resting coldly against the rocks. This August evening suddenly seemed so chilly. The moon in the sky hung like a cool crescent – today was August thirteenth, and in two more days it would be the Mid-Autumn Festival on August fifteenth. Qing Xia remembered that at this time last year, she had still been in Dunhuang, in a clean inn where she had actually eaten mooncakes. Thinking about it now, the so-called innkeeper and servants were all people arranged by Chu Li, weren’t they?

He had exhausted all efforts to fulfill her unrealistic dream, traveling thousands of miles to protect her soul that should have died long ago. With his imperial dignity, being able to do this was beyond what anyone else in the mortal world could achieve. What more could she demand? Moreover, what qualifications did she have left to make demands? Qing Xia slightly raised her head and took a deep breath. From the northeast side of the Governor’s Office came hurried footsteps, and palace lanterns were lit one by one. Even without turning back, Qing Xia knew who was visiting so late at night. However, she was unwilling to look or think about it, only walking slowly into that patch of darkness in her light shirt with black hair.

To the northeast was where the former Grand Summer Palace’s Imperial Medical Bureau used to operate. Although the Grand Summer Palace had been renamed the Governor’s Office, officials from the Imperial Medical Bureau still remained stationed here, nominally as Qing Xia’s personal physicians, though this was merely a pretense. Since Qing Xia was disguised as a man, how could she casually summon imperial physicians? Thus, after living here for several months, the Imperial Medical Bureau had remained in name only. She hadn’t expected there would be a day when it would actually be useful.

Qing Xia closed her room door. On her writing desk were densely packed mountains of case files, with a dim blue lamp burning quietly, occasionally sparking a small flame that was contained by the incense burner above it, emitting a pleasant lily fragrance.

Qing Xia sat at the writing desk and suddenly took a deep breath, picked up a roll of documents, and began making annotations with her brush.

The moon was like water, idle clouds and thin mist drifted by, bamboo shadows were sparse, distant mountains were dark as eyebrows, ethereally entering the painting. Birds flew south, circling the trees three times – which branch could they depend on?

The next day passed without incident in the residence. Early morning sunlight streamed into the room. Qing Xia rubbed her bloodshot eyes and looked at the final complete version of the trade legislation she had drafted, smiling faintly at the corners of her mouth. At least she could organize everything before leaving. Once everything was on track and all the Dongnan wealthy merchants were brought in, everything would officially begin operating, and there would be no fear of major problems arising.

She stretched slightly, washed her face, and carried the case files to find Chu Li.

Chu Li wasn’t in his room. She happened to see Le Song, who cheerfully greeted Qing Xia, respectfully addressing her as “Your Lordship” with each word. Qing Xia smiled and said: “Where’s Chu Li? I need to find him about something.”

Le Song said: “His Majesty is in the dining hall. General Yue just left.”

Qing Xia’s eyes lit up upon hearing this: “General Yue? General Yue from the Nanjiang border army?”

Le Song nodded: “That’s him.”

Qing Xia made an acknowledging sound and walked toward the dining hall, where she saw Chu Li in a pine-green robe sitting in the main hall drinking tea. Qing Xia walked over, not bothering to eat, and placed a thick stack of documents on the table, saying: “Now that you’re fed and satisfied, let’s start working.”

Chu Li set down his teacup and said: “Can’t even let someone drink tea in peace. Go eat first, then we’ll talk.”

Qing Xia frowned: “You should be more diligent about your own affairs. Time is short, and I need to go to the sea market port this afternoon. You sit there first while I speak and you listen.”

Qing Xia cleared her throat: “The three most urgent matters now are organizing the navy, establishing tax laws, and controlling trade volumes. I’ve already established three shipyards in Qingyuan, Songhu, and Huzikou, and organized three naval forces locally. However, the naval commanders must be people we trust, can mobilize, and who will stand firm. You need to select six people you trust, implementing a rotation system with three-way checks and balances for complete security. Next is establishing tax laws – the responsibility for formulating tax laws, regulations, categories, and supervising tax collection must be given to the Ministry of Revenue in Shengdu. Tax collection and payment should be handled by the Bureau of Rites in the sea market. Inter-market litigation, sea market litigation, and tax litigation should be handled by the Ministry of Justice in the sea market, but officials in the sea market’s Ministry of Justice need to be demoted, temporarily all positioned at fourth rank or below. Major matters that cannot be decided immediately must be submitted to the Ministry of Justice in Shengdu for overall coordination. We also need to dispatch several loyal subordinates specifically for supervisory duties to prevent negligence or embezzlement.

Additionally, trade taxes can be categorized according to current national conditions, mutual agreements, goods transaction amounts, current transaction volumes, and local specialty products related to national welfare and people’s livelihood. A portion can be directly collected by the sea market Governor’s Office without needing to be submitted to Shengdu for court redistribution. This not only saves the trouble of collection and transportation but also makes sea market officials and wealthy merchants more supportive of maritime trade. Only by letting them taste the benefits can they spare no effort in implementation without being duplicitous and ruining important matters. Furthermore, through tax collection percentages on different commodities, we can guide local governments to develop corresponding products and goods, improve the enthusiasm of people and residents, and expand income. Authority should be appropriately delegated and distributed among sea market officials and wealthy merchants as a system of checks and balances. As long as we maintain overall control and do good supervisory and statistical work, we’ll have hold of the ship’s rudder. No matter how big the winds and waves, the direction won’t go astray.”

Qing Xia finished in one breath, feeling somewhat parched. She picked up a teacup for a drink, opened the documents, and handed them to Chu Li: “This is the five-year trade plan I’ve prepared, analysis of various countries’ financial and military strength, customs duties and cargo volumes established for various goods, main provisions of tax law, personnel responsibility systems for the Bureau of Rites, Supervisory Department, and Tax Bureau, port selections, sequential opening levels, naval rotation methods, and some officials I particularly favor. Of course, these are just my personal opinions and ideas, not comprehensive enough. The rest can be gradually filled in through future practice, and final official selections will depend on your thoughts. Please review it.”

The thick stack of white paper was over a foot thick. Chu Li’s expression immediately stiffened somewhat. He took the pages covered densely with ink marks, pondered for a long while, then slowly said: “You didn’t sleep at all last night, did you?”

Qing Xia was startled, then shook her head: “I’ve been working on this for over three months. Please look it over first. Time is short, and if there are problems I can modify them immediately.”

Chu Li smiled: “You should eat something first. How can you have strength to work without eating?”

Qing Xia’s mood suddenly brightened considerably. Although her eyes were still full of bloodshot veins, she was still very happy. She stood up: “Good, I’ll eat while you review.”

Jing Yu served her a bowl of millet porridge mixed with the fragrance of lotus seeds and lilies – just smelling it greatly stimulated one’s appetite. Qing Xia sat at the dining table eating while Chu Li reviewed documents nearby. Today’s sunlight was very good, not particularly hot, and with ice basins in the room, it was cool and pleasant.

Qing Xia still wore last night’s blue robe with her hair barely combed. As she lowered her head, her long hair carelessly fell from her shoulders and nearly dropped into the bowl. Chu Li sat beside her, quickly lifting her long hair with swift reflexes, laughing: “Look at yourself – you’re becoming more and more like a man.”

Qing Xia turned to glare at him angrily, just about to retort when Chu Li’s fingers suddenly stiffened, then gently extended to touch her tender cheek. Instead of pulling back, he began gently caressing it.

Qing Xia’s skin immediately trembled. Jing Yu and the other servants tactfully all withdrew, leaving only Qing Xia and Chu Li in the quiet room. Chu Li’s gaze was very deep, like a vast ocean. Qing Xia had once felt that Qin Zhiyan’s eyes were like the ocean too, but looking now, they were different. Qin Zhiyan’s gaze was always calm and waveless, peaceful and soothing. But Chu Li’s was filled with intense darkness, making one unable to imagine what kind of sharpness was hidden within, like a huge whirlpool – so intense yet restrained, with earth-shaking waves. Once you fell headfirst into it, you might be completely shattered in dizzying chaos.

Yet from when exactly had she already sunk so deep?

The road ahead was long and distant, with visibility of no more than an arm’s length, just like that night when he had sent her off to marriage. The sky had been filled with invisible black spirit banners, all foretelling future hardships – only those caught in the situation couldn’t see it.

Chu Li’s palm was warm, carrying the thickness and resilience of a mature man. From when had that man she used to bully, fight with, and quarrel with become an imperial sovereign ruling over all under heaven? What his grasp held – how could it be a woman’s gradually aging plain face? Vast territories, the power over heaven and earth, gold and silver wealth, beautiful women like clouds – all were merely at his fingertips. And herself – what did she amount to? But even so, even knowing everything was merely flowers in a mirror and moon in water, even bearing guilt and culpability that could almost tear her heart and lungs apart, she still couldn’t suppress it. If possible, she really wanted to throw caution to the wind, really wanted to…

“Your Majesty!” A urgent voice suddenly rang out from outside the door, instantly startling the two people inside.

Chu Li withdrew his hand, composed himself, and said in a deep voice: “What is it?”