The compound.
Li Chi sat on the front steps, basking in the sun, looking thoroughly unoccupied.
Shen Rujian came out of the room as well, but didn’t linger in the direct sunlight.
It was already the fifth month, and around midday the sun was genuinely warm.
Her two handmaidens brought out a chaise longue and placed it in the shade of the trees.
She sat there while Li Chi stared into space, and for a long while neither spoke — she seemed to watch his idle staring with a stare of her own.
“No one from their side is in this compound. At most, they’re watching from a distance.”
Li Chi said, “If you want to ask something, just ask.”
Shen Rujian smiled. This little schemer — he could always see through people at a glance.
The moment that occurred to her, she realized she was one too. She could also see through people at a glance.
“Aren’t you worried about Yu Jiuling?”
She asked.
Li Chi shook his head. “I explained things so thoroughly — even anticipated what the other party would say, what they’d question, and briefed him on it all. If it still doesn’t work after all that…”
Li Chi sighed. “Then Nine-er really is only fit to be an errand-running steward for the rest of his days.”
He asked Shen Rujian, “Are you worried?”
Shen Rujian also shook her head. She sent Li Chi’s words back to him.
“You’ve already explained everything so clearly and thoroughly. What is there to worry about?”
She smiled. “If there’s anything to worry about, it’s only whether our carts can come back full.”
Li Chi sighed. “More than a hundred large carts — you really are greedy… Besides, the carts are beside the point.”
Shen Rujian’s eyes brightened at those last four words — because those four words confirmed to her that Li Chi’s plan was exactly what she had imagined.
*Indeed,* she thought. *When schemers set about causing harm, they tend to think along the same lines.*
—
At the same time, at the Anyang Prefectural Office.
After Prefect Liu Yao listened to Yu Jiuling finish speaking, something flickered in his eyes.
Not suspicion. Temptation.
Human greed magnifies itself in the eyes.
He had originally been a staff officer attached to Prince Wu’s army — a Junior Fifth Grade campaign scribe. The post was not high, but its position was important enough. This time, when Prince Wu had gone on campaign, he had not brought Liu Yao along. Instead, he had left him in Anyang and promoted him to Senior Fourth Grade Prefect — the intent was unmistakable.
He was a man of the Left Martial Guard, appointed to replace the official originally installed by the Yuzhou Military Governor Liu Li. The dual purpose: remove the old appointee, and of course keep watch over Meng Kedi on Prince Wu’s behalf.
So his relationship with Meng Kedi was extraordinarily delicate. Meng Kedi understood Prince Wu’s intention, and while inwardly resentful, had no choice but to accept it.
Liu Yao’s task was to maintain a careful balance — not doing nothing at all, yet not watching Meng Kedi too closely either.
The balance, as it now stood, lay between civil administration and military affairs. Civil matters, Meng Kedi would not say a single word about. Military matters, Liu Yao would not interfere with by a single character.
With that balance in place, the two men maintained their relationship and kept up appearances of mutual respect.
But a relationship held together only by attitude was brittle — one knock and it would shatter. Shared material interest was also required.
The officials under Prince Wu all had something in common: they had been disciplined into fear. Prince Wu’s military code was strict and punishments were severe, so those who served under him had a lean time of it.
For anyone posted to a local position, it felt like soaring free. A place like Anyang — with its thriving commerce, interlacing waterways, and the constant flow of merchants thick as crossing carp — meant that even without reaching out your hand yourself, simply waiting for others to deliver, you could see over a hundred thousand taels of white silver come in within a year.
The most lucrative were the tribute payments from textile merchants. Those merchant ships, if they failed to pay their respects, might find something unfortunate happening to them on the Nanping River.
Liu Yao knew how to handle himself. Each month, he would send a third of his takings to Meng Kedi — though he’d describe it as an even split. Along with those funds he’d enclose a list of names, and the merchant vessels on that list would encounter no misfortune on the Nanping River.
But the whole arrangement kept him on edge. If Prince Wu never found out, all was well. The moment he did, this alone would be enough to cost Liu Yao his head.
Yet he could no longer stop himself.
It had started with stern refusals, then he’d given in to temptation, and now the silver stockpiled at home was like a small mountain.
What Yu Jiuling was now proposing to him was equally impossible to refuse.
Yu Jiuling carefully recited Li Chi’s instructions, going over them once from memory to confirm he’d left nothing out. Satisfied, he let out a quiet breath of relief.
Though he wasn’t good at dealing with people from official circles, he was good at reading faces.
He could see it plainly: this prefect had been genuinely moved.
Liu Yao was also thinking very carefully. After a long while, he let out a slow breath.
“Your proprietor’s intention is to invest five hundred thousand taels of silver in Anyang City?” he asked.
Yu Jiuling nodded. “That’s the initial investment. Our proprietor’s vision is quite grand — the five hundred thousand is just to get the branch established.”
“Your Excellency knows why our proprietor has come to Anyang. It is to ensure the Shen Medical Hall’s survival.”
Liu Yao knew. Meng Kedi had already sent someone to inform him, explaining the matter and telling him not to obstruct the Shen Medical Hall in setting up an Anyang branch.
Yu Jiuling continued, “Our proprietor also says that to truly secure the hall’s future, the best course would actually be to move the Shen Medical Hall’s main headquarters out of Jizhou and relocate it to Anyang City.”
Liu Yao nodded.
That he believed.
Li Duidui had come to Anyang City in person, made contact with Meng Kedi, and — never mind future cooperation in the attack on Jizhou — his very presence in Anyang already meant that Luo Jing, upon returning, would never let him off lightly.
So Li Duidui’s real intention was to relocate the Shen Medical Hall somewhere safer. That made complete sense.
Jizhou was a place of perpetual conflict. Whatever his reasons, it was no longer fit for business. Setting aside the threat from Luo Jing, there was the constant border raiding by the Black Wu, and the large-scale brigandry that plagued Jizhou.
Business was entirely at the mercy of others there.
Moving to the Nanping River region was different. With a great waterway at your back, if you ever needed to leave, you could go at any time.
Yu Jiuling spoke earnestly: “Our proprietor is making such a large investment — it’s called establishing a branch, but the real purpose is to move the main hall here, and gradually shift the Jizhou operations over as well.”
He bowed. “And none of this can be done without Your Excellency’s support. So our proprietor’s intention is to credit Your Excellency with a ten-percent silent stake based on the initial investment of fifty thousand taels.”
“Ah?”
Even Liu Yao was startled. His eyes went wide.
Yu Jiuling said, “It is a bit on the small side, it’s true — the initial period is difficult, so we must ask Your Excellency to bear with us for now. Once the business settles down in the future…”
His words hadn’t even finished before Liu Yao cut him off.
“You’re saying — credit me with a ten-percent stake?”
Liu Yao couldn’t quite believe it and asked again.
Yu Jiuling bowed. “Yes, Your Excellency heard correctly. Calculated on the basis of Your Excellency investing five thousand taels in the Shen Medical Hall, dividends will be paid out at this rate every year. As long as the Shen Medical Hall continues to exist — be it fifty years or a hundred — this ten-percent stake will keep paying dividends. With all due respect to Your Excellency, should Your Excellency pass away in a hundred years, the dividends will continue regardless, going to Your Excellency’s descendants.”
Liu Yao’s eyes flickered, and his heart began to beat a little faster.
At that moment, Yu Jiuling produced the gift box, opened it, and presented it to Liu Yao. “Your Excellency, this is a small token from our proprietor.”
This box of gold leaf, converted into white silver, amounted to over ten thousand taels.
A princely gesture.
Before even discussing the business, a gift worth more than ten thousand taels had already been delivered. Liu Yao’s heart beat faster still.
Watching the color shift in Liu Yao’s face, Yu Jiuling knew Li Chi’s predictions would prove accurate.
Standing behind him, Lü Qingluan gave Yu Jiuling a quiet nudge with his foot. Yu Jiuling caught on — it was time for Lü Qingluan to take the stage.
So he turned to Liu Yao and said, “Since Your Excellency holds a ten-percent stake, the business arrangements should naturally be explained clearly to Your Excellency. This gentleman is the chief accountant of our Shen Medical Hall’s main branch — he reviews and oversees all accounts. No one understands our returns better than he does. Allow him to give Your Excellency an overview.”
Lü Qingluan stepped forward, bowed, and said to Liu Yao, “The head manager just now spoke of one branch’s dividends. In reality, the Shen Medical Hall has seventy-two branches across Jizhou.”
Liu Yao’s eyes went wide.
Lü Qingluan said, “Of course, not every one is this profitable — the Anyang branch is being built to the scale of a main headquarters, so it will be the largest.”
He continued, “Your Excellency may not be familiar with the medicine trade. When you buy medicinal herbs from the farmers and sell them to the apothecaries, the markup is three times. If you process them into prepared medicines and sell those, the markup is thirty times.”
Liu Yao’s eyes grew wider and wider.
Lü Qingluan went on: “Back in Jizhou, several officials also took stakes. At first they received silent stakes, but later felt the returns were too small — their stakes were smaller to begin with, no more than a fifth of a ten-percent share for the highest. So they began adding their own money, buying in larger shares — the more they put in, the larger their dividends.”
Liu Yao instinctively asked, “In this Anyang main branch — what if I were to add a bit more?”
Lü Qingluan’s expression shifted, and he quickly bowed. “Your Excellency, a ten-percent silent stake is already… already quite substantial.”
His expression was as though he regretted having just misspoken.
Liu Yao said, “Don’t take me for a greedy man. You understand business, but I understand official circles. If I alone benefit and no one else gets a single copper, do you think they’d be content?”
Lü Qingluan hesitated. “Your Excellency, the main hall hasn’t even relocated yet. If every official were to do this, it might be difficult…”
He left the words unfinished, but Liu Yao understood.
He was the prefect. If he were to buy in, what about the vice-prefect, the chief registrar? And all the other officials below them? The great and small officials of Anyang City — there were easily eight hundred, if not a thousand. If all of them came demanding dividends, the Shen Medical Hall would certainly not be able to sustain itself.
Liu Yao fell into thought for a moment, then said, “This is simple.”
He paced as he spoke. “When the Shen Medical Hall moves to Anyang, I will naturally smooth the way — all the other officials will also smooth the way. You’ll need a large amount of ready silver in the initial period, so I’ll take it upon myself to have the officials invest cash. Your proprietor is gifting me a ten-percent silent stake — I’ll add a ten-percent share on top of that. All the officials of the Anyang Prefectural Office combined will bring their shares to twenty percent.”
He looked at Yu Jiuling. “That way, we only hold forty percent in total, and we provide you with a large amount of ready silver.”
Yu Jiuling was nearly overjoyed inwardly — yet still managed to look utterly reluctant.
He muttered under his breath, “Forty percent… I don’t dare agree to that on my own authority.”
Lü Qingluan said, “Quite right. Besides, our proprietor didn’t bring much ready silver on this trip — all the funds on hand are from the payment General Meng settled for the medicines, around ten-odd thousand taels. We’d need the main branch to send funds over before anything else could move forward. There’s no rush — Your Excellency can wait and see…”
Liu Yao understood the implication — they were stalling and didn’t want to give him that much.
His expression cooled. “You think you still need to wait? Then wait.”
He waved a hand. “Go back and consult your proprietor. I’m in no hurry — let’s see whether he is.”
Lü Qingluan gave Yu Jiuling a look. Yu Jiuling quickly bowed. “Your Excellency, please wait. We’ll go back and consult our proprietor at once.”
—