Qin Chang Ge was curious and looked again, vaguely feeling that the horse looked somewhat familiar.

Before she could think more carefully, the host had already awakened from his infinite reminiscence, smiling and bowing courteously to receive his guest. Qin Chang Ge sat down in the yellow rosewood carved chair with eight bats design and looked around, smiling: “Leader Su has refined taste. This study is elegantly arranged—the famous qin named Jiaowei, paintings and calligraphy by renowned masters, jade armrest with exquisite craftsmanship, tea cups with blue and white patterns, complemented by this golden incense burner, blue tiles and white walls, verdant pines and cypresses, elegant figures—truly a rare and beautiful scene.”

“Miss’s words show that you are also a person of high cultivation, incomparable to ordinary people,” Su Xuan said with a smile. “Actually, I don’t manage these things. Except for that painting just now, everything else was pieced together by my gang members. They only know to find good things, but don’t understand that room arrangements should focus on refinement rather than quantity, elegance rather than expense. The things in this room are valuable, and individually each piece has taste, but crowded together, it becomes superfluous ornamentation, adding vulgarity.”

This person was quite perceptive. Qin Chang Ge looked at him with slight surprise, realizing he had actually heard the mockery in her compliment. His words showed both insight and proper measure, with an extraordinary sense of refinement that truly lived up to his reputation for transcendence.

Su Xuan was already asking earnestly with a smile: “May I ask the young lady’s honored name?”

Before Qin Chang Ge could answer, Xiao Baozi, who had been neglected for a long time, said indignantly: “Don’t tell him!”

Su Xuan turned his gaze to Xiao Rong, full of smiles but speaking seriously: “Why not?”

“You fellow…”

“You fellow’s eyes burn like a thief’s,” Su Xuan interrupted Xiao Baozi’s accusation again with a cheerful smile, his expression innocent. “A fair lady is what a gentleman desires. With a beauty before me, not even allowing people to look—young master, don’t you think you’re being too domineering?”

Xiao Baozi was furious. This person’s skin was so thick it was outrageous!

“That’s my mother, only I can look at her!”

Stunned, Su Xuan looked toward Qin Chang Ge. Earlier he had heard her mention her son, but at that time he was busy laughing and hadn’t paid attention. Now seeing this woman was only sixteen or seventeen years old, how could she have a three or four-year-old son? Though wealthy families in the capital did marry early, with some marrying at twelve, such women were raised in deep seclusion and couldn’t possibly show themselves publicly like her. However, these thoughts only passed through his mind silently—it wouldn’t be appropriate to show doubt. He only smiled and said: “Let me ask a question. When you encounter a beauty on the street, don’t you take an extra look?”

“Yes.”

“Another question: do you think your mother is beautiful?”

“Of course she’s beautiful!”

“Exactly,” Su Xuan spread his hands. “Beauties are meant to be looked at. If no one looks, then she’s not a beauty. If your mother has no one looking at her, it only means she’s not beautiful. But your mother is very beautiful, so being looked at is appropriate and reasonable. A beauty with no one looking at her isn’t called beautiful, and a woman with no one looking at her loses face… Do you think she should be looked at or shouldn’t be looked at?”

…

Xiao Baozi was once again confused by all the talk of “beauties.”

Qin Chang Ge picked up her son and said with a smile: “Son, don’t discuss the topic of beauties with Leader Su. He can talk to you about it for three days and nights without stopping for breath. Can you do that?”

Xiao Baozi said indignantly: “I’ll be able to eventually!”

“Good! Ambitious!” Su Xuan laughed heartily, then his expression became serious as he turned to Qin Chang Ge. “Miss, though your young master is extremely interesting and clever, you didn’t come here today just to let me meet your precious son, did you?”

“My surname is Ming, bright as in sun and moon, with the single name Shuang,” Qin Chang Ge smiled. “I came today for only one matter.”

She smiled and held up one finger: “Heng Records wishes to help Leader Su achieve his desires.”

Stunned, Su Xuan stared at Qin Chang Ge for a long moment, then laughed: “Miss Ming, I originally thought you came to discuss commercial interests in Yingdu with me.”

“Why discuss that?” Qin Chang Ge smiled. “Your ambitions don’t lie there, so why should I waste energy on it?”

Su Xuan was still smiling, but there was no longer any mirth in his eyes: “Oh? My ambitions don’t lie there? My Blazing Flame Gang came south in great force, devoting the entire gang’s strength, spending considerable financial and human resources, all for the purpose of establishing roots in Yingdu’s commercial circle and becoming Yingdu’s foremost merchant house. The entire gang looks forward to rich returns to climb even higher. In all these various endeavors, we’ve spared no effort. Yet miss, you insist that my ambitions don’t lie there?”

“The problem lies precisely here,” Qin Chang Ge smiled serenely with a peaceful expression. “Before coming, I investigated the Blazing Flame Gang. In Xiliang’s northern territories, east of the Chihe Plateau, the Blazing Flame Gang owns vast grasslands and pastures, producing the most spirited horses and fattest cattle and sheep beyond the frontier. The Blazing Flame Gang originated in the northern lands, and the young men in the gang are mostly descendants of native nomads from the Chihe area. They’re accustomed to the cutting winds that sweep across the plateau grasslands without dispersing, familiar with the warm, fishy scent of cattle, horses, mules, and sheep, used to seeing the perpetually snow-capped peaks of the Tianmai Mountains at the edge of the grasslands, and accustomed to drinking the unique fermented mare’s milk with its sour taste that southerners cannot tolerate. Yet now, they’ve sold off their thriving pastoral operations, abandoned the homeland where they were born and raised, bid farewell to the elders they’ve served for years, uprooted themselves completely, and come south in great numbers, crowding into this small capital city that has no sweeping winds, no strong liquor, no cattle and sheep, no vast open spaces. In this confined area, struggling with difficulty, starting from scratch step by step, abandoning those carefree days where the sky was high and the emperor far away, seeking survival in the restrictive capital where they must look up to others—Leader Su, tell me, is this reasonable?”

His gaze flickered, but the smile on his face didn’t diminish. Su Xuan said: “The capital Yingdu, at the Son of Heaven’s feet, is the realm’s premier location, a famous city under heaven. We northern men, though long dwelling on grasslands, also admire southern culture. Coming here to establish our foundation and display our Blazing Flame glory in the imperial capital—what’s unreasonable about that?”

“Is that so?” Qin Chang Ge leisurely sipped her tea. “Unfortunately, I haven’t seen the Blazing Flame Gang openly announcing their intention to relocate their power south and develop in Yingdu.”

“The timing simply hasn’t arrived,” Su Xuan leaned against the brocade couch, gently cupping his tea bowl in his palms. In the curling tea fragrance, his smile also swayed slightly. “Why reveal one’s intentions from the start? Tall trees attract the wind.”

“I rather think,” Qin Chang Ge’s tea-drinking posture was elegant, but her words were sharp as a blade, “that in all Leader Su has said, only eight characters are truly useful.”

“Oh?” Su Xuan changed position, supporting his cheek with his wrist, his snow-white sleeves falling gracefully, his divine countenance carefree. “I would like to hear the details.”

Setting her tea cup gently on the table, Qin Chang Ge smoothed her hair and spoke each word softly: “At the Son of Heaven’s feet, the timing hasn’t arrived!”