Mo Zi was both annoyed and amused. “Aren’t you being totally unreasonable? Could I mistake my own sister? Did Dou Lu also mistake me?”
Jin Yin looked back and forth between the sisters’ faces. “Third Brother has well-proportioned features, eyes and mouth just the right size—clearly a beauty at first glance. Ninety Liang is far off—eyes so large, mouth so small, pointed ears and pointed nose. Say she resembles a fox or a cat—is this appearance good-looking? Demonic!”
Demonic?! This nearsighted person actually called peach blossom eyes, cherry mouth, delicate ears, and pert nose demonic? She was clearly a national beauty with heavenly fragrance, transparent as crystal—a rarely seen ethereal beauty.
After Dou Lu turned fourteen, father and brothers finally discovered her usable value. At fifteen, using the excuse of accompanying the Empress Dowager, they brought her in and out of Yuling’s imperial palace. Although Yuling was famed for beautiful women throughout the land, Dou Lu’s beauty still amazed the Emperor and Crown Prince. Father and son both had thoughts, each devising methods, secretly competing for a full year. Fortunately, the vegetarian Buddhist Empress Dowager feared feminine beauty would harm the nation and, using Dou Lu’s young age as reason, never expressed an opinion.
Speaking of this matter, Mo Zi felt guilty toward Dou Lu. She had been in her angry rebellious period after all truths came to light, in a cold war with father and brothers, even hastily deciding to move to a country estate. By the time she sent people to fetch Dou Lu, Dou Lu had already been sent into the palace. Because the Empress Dowager was gentle and wise, she didn’t immediately take it to heart, even secretly ran a trip to Da Qiu to make everything clear. Only upon returning home did she learn of father and brothers’ wishful schemes. Making a snap decision, she found a way to pull her out of the palace—Dou Lu’s anxious and uneasy appearance remained vivid in her memory.
After that incident, she finally understood that people truly must be a bit selfish. There she was thinking about the common people of two nations suffering disaster, earnestly advising Da Qiu not to send troops, while her own relative was entering the tiger’s mouth, not knowing from one day to the next what would happen. The result? No one would thank her. She almost couldn’t save her only sister.
Now, did she hate Da Qiu? No, she only hated that group of high nobles in Da Qiu. Compared to her previous passivity, she now wanted to proactively build strong defenses, so when those people wouldn’t let her go, she could preserve her and her sister’s two small lives. Therefore, she didn’t give up any opportunity to cultivate connections with figures like Min Yu, Xu Jiu, and Fu Tian, and was much more actively striving and cautiously guarding than before.
Without experiencing the psychologically earth-shattering betrayal, she would still be that simple military engineer who just wanted to build her own ships. Moreover, she understood—the King of Da Qiu would not give up the grand dream of unifying the realm. That fanaticism was buried in the blood of their Wu surname, deeply rooted. For hundreds of years, step by step walking firmly, they had already entered the pass. How could they stop?
The nation of Da Qiu was like a knight nation. After entering the pass, they expelled most Han people. Vigorously encouraging grassland tribes to maintain bloodline intermarriage, making reproduction issues a national foundation, so much that population exploded. By this generation, capable warriors and battle-lovers of the younger generation were everywhere. Not saying everyone wanted war—nine out of ten had boiling blood. The remaining one, like Mo Zi, had Han ancestors and because of specialized skills could remain in Da Qiu, yet belonged to the discriminated lower race, harboring nostalgia for Great Tang in their hearts, disliking crossing borders to fight Han people. And her father and brothers—placed in the Sino-Japanese War period, they would be typical traitors. Sparing no effort to curry favor with the upper class, clearly Han themselves, yet treating Han people three degrees more viciously than those Da Qiu nobles.
From completely ignorantly helping father and brothers, to seeing their true faces and trying to change them only to become thoroughly despairing—during this period, her personality developed flaws. From greater self to smaller self, from selflessness to selfishness, from enthusiasm for life and people to detached coldness—it was as if she’d smashed her original self to pieces, re-kneaded it, fire-baked it rapidly, and shaped it into what she was now. Knowing these were flaws, yet having not the slightest intention to change.
In the past, even if Qiu Sanniang beat her to death, she wouldn’t have gone smuggling; even if Yuan Cheng gave her all the world’s wealth, she wouldn’t have called corrupt officials brothers; Jin Yin, such an obvious miser and major profiteer, she would have avoided; much less those irregular government organizations and gangs from all walks of the underworld—absolutely no dealings. However, her integrity now expressed itself as she pleased, most of the time not considering those two words at all. Especially with signs of chaotic times already appearing—self-preservation came first.
Thinking of self-preservation, she suddenly hesitated about whether Dou Lu should follow her. Those people in Da Qiu already knew about Hongyu—sooner or later they would come knocking. If they threatened with Dou Lu’s life, she truly didn’t know what to do.
“Young Master Jin.” Once serious, she wouldn’t call Jin Yin Second Brother. “You said you’d repay the favor, right?”
Jin Yin looked left and right, unable to see Dou Lu’s beauty, but he wasn’t stupid either—he probably guessed Mo Zi’s thoughts.
“So what if I did?” The fan in his hand began spinning—the very image of a profiteer.
Dou Lu, when matters didn’t involve flowers and with her most reliable older sister present, said nothing, just watching the two of them spar.
“Dou Lu’s contract of sale—can you give it to me?” Regardless of whether she could take Dou Lu with her, contracts of sale were sources of disaster—better eliminate them first.
Jin Yin was silent for quite a while, then spoke: “Back then when I told you to ask Yuan Cheng for a favor, you said that when you saved him, you never thought of him repaying you.”
Mo Zi nodded yes.
“When you told me all those things back then, did you ever think that one day I would use your ideas to become wealthy beyond measure?” Jin Yin asked again.
Mo Zi shook her head.
“So, repaying the favor was something I myself said. Before Ninety Liang appeared, you had absolutely no plans to have me return the favor, right?” Jin Yin asked again.
Mo Zi neither nodded nor shook her head, her eyes holding autumn colors tinged with coldness.
“Since that’s the case, this favor cannot be demanded by you—it must be returned by me. However I return it, I will only return it to you personally. Ninety Liang, whether she’s your sister or not, I bought her, so she’s Young Master Jin’s person. For you to ask me to give you her contract of sale—it’s as if I owed her a favor. That won’t do. If today your contract of sale were in my hands and you asked me for it, I would give it to you immediately.” A matter of principle—Jin Yin refused.
Mo Zi had already anticipated this result during his silence and smiled faintly.
In the banking industry, if you asked about Young Master Jin’s management methods, the evaluations were almost uniformly the same: Ruthless. For those who borrowed money and didn’t repay—family members suffered, consequences self-inflicted. Cold. Pleading and such were useless—quickly selling everything you owned was the right path. Absolute. Maliciously competing with peers, using size to bully the small, methods aside from legitimacy. Three words summarized in one phrase: his word was law.
When she first heard this, she didn’t quite believe it, because after multiple interactions with Jin Yin, in her eyes this person, aside from narcissism and speaking unreliably, was at most just petty and stingy, always fairly polite to her. Now she understood—anyone’s success was never accidental. That Jin Yin could open banks throughout four nations couldn’t be accomplished with just joking around. This person was extremely principled. Principles above emotions—that created his today.
Ordinary people probably couldn’t understand this logic at all.
But he said repaying the favor—the target was only Mo Zi alone. Therefore, Dou Lu’s contract of sale was non-negotiable. Whether others understood or not, he didn’t care.
“The Young Master before Mo Zi today is the true Jin Yin. Fine, let’s not speak of repaying favors, because I truly never thought of demanding any favor from Young Master. Back then, though I was the one who spoke those words, achieving today’s scale is entirely Young Master’s own capability, nothing to do with me. Young Master is a merchant, and I count as half of one—let’s make a transaction.” She could understand.
Jin Yin smiled, supremely handsome, about to respond.
“Sister, I’ll earn my own contract of sale myself.” The Song family’s daughter might be obscure, but Mo Zi’s sister was dazzlingly brilliant. Slow she might be, but slow with wisdom.
Jin Yin’s view of this obstinate flower fool improved slightly—not only could she talk back, she had quite the spirit too.
“My principles don’t change, but my Third Brother’s face must be considered. Ninety Liang, as long as you accomplish three tasks I assign, I’ll return your contract of sale with both hands. This doesn’t include things you should do as Jin Manor’s gardener and maid. Each time, I’ll write it down for you as proof.” Transactions were his forte—just don’t lose money.
Dou Lu thought for quite a while.
Mo Zi watched but didn’t participate with opinions. Dou Lu never acted impulsively—for instance, today giving Jin Yin the shock of a flowerless garden was most likely arranged in advance.
“What if they’re strange tasks, or if Young Master deliberately makes things difficult? Also, what if it takes decades to finish assigning them all?” Dou Lu frowned.
Jin Yin’s phoenix eyes glanced at Mo Zi. “Looking at it now, she’s not so stupid after all.”
Mo Zi replied, “More than just not stupid.”
“One year limit. Before you accept a task, you can discuss with your sister. If I deliberately find strange things for you to do, this agreement is void, and the contract of sale is also void.” Jin Yin heard the implication questioning his character, his eyes glowing green. “I’m not so base as to be without standards. Third Brother, isn’t that right?”
Mo Zi feigned surprise. “Ah? Only seeing you clearly today, I truly can’t say. Knowing Dou Lu is my sister, yet refusing to release her. That name Ninety Liang—could you not call her that? Such a fine flower name, yet you’ve changed it to something so vulgar.”
“Your sister also changed my name, and in front of so many people.” Saying he was like a peony.
“That was praising Young Master. You must know, the beauty of Yao Yellow is first under heaven.” When Dou Lu spoke of flowers, her face became animated and beautiful.
“Third Brother, I see you truly live up to your flower name—extraordinarily noble. How is this sister’s appearance so awkward, without a trace of flower king bearing, making my hair stand on end?” Jin Yin actually rubbed his arms.
Mo Zi couldn’t understand what was wrong with his eyes and told Dou Lu to ignore him.
Dou Lu didn’t mind, smiling.
With matters at this point, Mo Zi could only leave Dou Lu with Jin Yin.
Just after getting off the carriage, Jin Yin called to her from the window. “Third Brother, she’s safer following me than following you. The Song family’s Dou Lu is Mo Zi’s sister, but Jin Manor’s Ninety Liang is an ordinary gardener—who would think they’re the same person?”
Mo Zi froze. “I was originally planning to send her to Yuan Cheng. Both you and I can barely protect ourselves.”
Jin Yin curved his lips, expressing disdain for her idea. “Among us three, the one least able to protect themselves is only you. Because your enemies are already on the road.”
Mo Zi’s gaze turned cold as forest shadows.