Chapter 93 - 1#
Chapter 93: 4 You Are The Snow On The Branch 15
The next day, Qin Qing waited for Jiang Feishi in the study.
Watching this man, upright as pine and bamboo and extraordinarily handsome, push open the door and walk in against the sunlight, he couldn’t help but swallow his saliva.
His small Adam’s apple rolled up and down, instantly captured by the observant Jiang Feishi.
“Is the Little Marquis afraid or nervous?” he asked with a smile.
Qin Qing tapped the chair next to him with his slender index finger: “Sit.”
He didn’t answer, but his suddenly flushed face gave Jiang Feishi the answer. Not afraid, nor nervous, but shy.
Low laughter echoed in the study, starting a pleasant day. Since meeting the Little Marquis, Jiang Feishi surprisingly didn’t find this chaotic world repulsive anymore. He could end it, using a more hidden and gentler way, instead of using fire, swords, and iron hooves to crush it like in the beginning.
“What does the Little Marquis want me for?” Jiang Feishi sat down beside him.
“Recently I stopped buying grain because the grain price is too expensive. Do you know how much rice one tael of silver can buy now?” Qin Qing asked.
“Before, one tael of silver could buy one hundred and fifty catties of rice, but now it can’t even buy fifty catties. The wages the Little Marquis distributes are not enough for the villagers to eat for a month. If this continues, people will still starve to death, and it will be mass starvation. Refugees, commoners, none can escape.” Jiang Feishi sighed and shook his head.
“Those grain merchants,” Qin Qing showed a disgusted expression, “they hoard for speculation.”
“Yes, they monopolized the grain trade. Now the more grain is scarce, the higher the price they sell. The refugees had no silver to begin with, countless starved to death, and now even the common people who had some savings can’t survive. This world is hopeless.”
“There is hope. I asked you to come today, Sir, to solve this matter.” Qin Qing pushed a thick stack of account books he had prepared long ago in front of Jiang Feishi.
Jiang Feishi picked up an account book, flipped through it quickly, and his eyebrows raised involuntarily.
Qin Qing said: “Although my grandfather liked to play with power, he was a person who knew how to plan for a rainy day. During the Qin family’s heyday, he began to buy land and store grain everywhere in the Great Yan Kingdom. My father also has this habit, buying a lot of grain every year to store in manors all over the country. Now the imperial court is corrupt, and money can buy many officials. The Marquis’s residence lacks everything, but precisely does not lack money. Although our family has no officials in the imperial court, we are very influential locally.”
While flipping through the account book, Jiang Feishi sighed: “The foundation of the Tai’an Marquis’s residence is thicker than I imagined. Little Marquis, are you revealing your bottom line to me?”
Qin Qing hesitated for a moment, then nodded: “Yes.”
Jiang Feishi put down the account book and turned to look at Qin Qing: “Doing this will give me a sense of role reversal.”
“What reversal? You are the master, I am the servant?” Qin Qing blinked curiously.
“No, you are the wife, I am the husband.” Jiang Feishi paused, then added: “Strictly speaking, I am a husband who married into the wife’s family, and you are a wife who helps outsiders.”
“Heh~”
He chuckled, finding it quite amusing, then placed one hand on the back of Qin Qing’s chair and the other on the table, confining Qin Qing, who was sitting by the window, in his arms.
“What nonsense are you talking about!” Qin Qing blushed with anger.
“When lying on the couch at night, I fall asleep thinking of the Little Marquis.” Jiang Feishi approached Qin Qing.
Qin Qing leaned back, his spine pressing against the wall.
His cheeks flushed red, vaguely guessing what dirty things this person was thinking about before falling asleep. Nothing but those nasty things!
“You lecher!” he scolded angrily.
“I haven’t even said what I’m thinking, why does the Little Marquis call me a lecher?” Jiang Feishi laughed low again, then pulled Qin Qing into his arms and kissed him.
This kiss was deeper, hotter, and more urgent than yesterday’s. The man’s heavy breathing was like a wild beast eager to eat.
Qin Qing leaned stiffly against the wall, daring not to move, his mind filled with messy heat rushing around, then emerging from the kissing lips and tongues.
“This is being a lecher.”
Finally ending the kiss, Jiang Feishi whispered hoarsely, then rubbed Qin Qing’s red cheeks with his fingertips.
“Alright, husband is going to do serious business.” Jiang Feishi picked up the second account book, his playful expression slowly turning serious.
Qin Qing clenched his fists and panted rapidly for a long time, then spoke with a bit of grievance: “Don’t tease me.”
“Little Marquis, this is not teasing. Whether you are willing or not, we will be together.” Jiang Feishi rubbed Qin Qing’s still wet lips and said: “Of course, it’s best if you are willing.”
Qin Qing glanced at 996 hiding on the windowsill.
996 immediately jumped off the windowsill and said cowardly: “You deal with this bandit leader yourself; I can’t help.”
Qin Qing had to withdraw his gaze.
“The Little Marquis wants to release grain, right?” Jiang Feishi guessed.
“Not release grain, but sell grain. I plan to sell the Marquis’s residence’s stored grain at the original market price, which is one tael of silver for one hundred and fifty catties. Sell as much as possible. Anyway, the price was very low when these grains were collected. The Marquis’s residence won’t lose out.”
Jiang Feishi was stunned for a moment, then immediately laughed low.
“Little Marquis, the Marquis’s residence’s stored grain is enough for you to sell for several years. By then, the second crop of grain will mature, and you can buy it back at a low price. The Marquis’s residence indeed won’t lose out, but those grain merchants hoarding for speculation will all be bankrupted by you.”
“I just want to make these people bankrupt. Mr. Jiang, this is a big business. I have no experience. Can you help me operate it?” Qin Qing looked at Jiang Feishi with trusting eyes.
This person was the one who divided the world with Li Suye; he could do anything.
“Of course. Whether it’s repairing water channels or selling grain, I can do it for the Little Marquis. The Little Marquis doesn’t need to worry about anything.” Jiang Feishi agreed, taking full responsibility.
Qin Qing was relieved, then drowsiness hit him, and he covered his mouth and yawned.
“Sleep, Little Marquis. Leave everything to me.” Jiang Feishi said softly.
So Qin Qing lay on the desk and slowly closed his wet and misty eyes.
Soon after, only the sound of flipping account books remained in the study.
Jiang Feishi lowered his head, carefully observed the Little Marquis’s sleeping face, and chuckled lightly: “I told you to sleep, and you really fell asleep. So, you really feel at ease by my side, right?”
A few quarters of an hour later, Tao Ran came to the study carrying a bundle.
Seeing this person approaching slowly through the window, Jiang Feishi put down the account book and made a gesture. The servant standing at the door immediately stopped the person and took her to the side room.
“Are you here to get the bank note?” Jiang Feishi walked into the side room and said with a faint smile.
Although he wasn’t in the Marquis’s residence, he knew everything happening inside like the back of his hand, including Tao Ran’s departure today and Qin Dehuai’s promise yesterday.
“Yes.” Tao Ran extended her hand: “The Marquis promised to give me ten thousand taels.”
“It’s impossible to give you ten thousand taels. You go.” Jiang Feishi raised his chin towards the door, his tone very casual.
“Why don’t you give it to me? I’ll go find the Marquis!” Tao Ran turned to leave.
“Because you are a spy sent by Qi Sifeng. If you want to die, I can fulfill your wish.” Jiang Feishi whispered with a smile.
Tao Ran’s back stiffened, and after a moment, she left the Marquis’s residence without saying a word.
Jiang Feishi returned to the study, only to see Qin Qing already awake. He looked out the window at Tao Ran’s receding figure.
“I didn’t intend to give her the bank note either.” He shook his head and said.
“Precisely because I knew what the Little Marquis thought, I refused her.” Jiang Feishi walked into the study and sat down.
“Can you always guess what I’m thinking? But I can’t see through what you’re thinking.” Qin Qing stared at Jiang Feishi.
“Can the Little Marquis really not see through? The Little Marquis must know what I am thinking now.” Jiang Feishi leaned forward slightly, looking straight over, his eyes flashing with dark yet burning light.
Qin Qing’s cheeks blushed, and then he buried his head in the crook of his arm, refusing to lift it again.
“Lecher!” He cursed muffledly.
“Hahaha.”
Jiang Feishi’s happy laughter spread out through the window, echoing far away.
Tao Ran fled the Marquis’s residence in panic and arrived near the Qi residence.
She hid in an alley, looking at the familiar gate, but dared not approach. Rows of soldiers holding swords and spears walked back and forth at the gate, presumably the Fourth Prince’s personal soldiers. He lived in the Qi residence and had seen Tao Ran in the Tai’an Marquis’s residence. Going there would expose her.
After thinking about it, Tao Ran could only take off the purse at her waist and ask a passing child to help give it to the gatekeeper.
Watching the gatekeeper take the purse, Tao Ran breathed a sigh of relief, then disappeared into the depths of the alley.
After going around in circles, she arrived near Furong Garden and pushed open the door of a courtyard. A plaque hung on the door with three characters written on it: “Ci Ji Tang” (Benevolent Relief Hall).
“Proprietor, you’re back.” An old woman came up to greet her.
“En, have we recruited any hands these days?” Tao Ran threw the bundle on the stone table in the middle of the courtyard and sighed wearily.
“Everyone has left.” The old woman wiped her wet hands on her apron and murmured: “I’m leaving too.”
“What?” Tao Ran, sitting on the stone stool, looked up in astonishment.
“This is Ci Ji Tang, specifically sheltering homeless women and children. It’s a famine now, how could we not recruit people?” She asked in disbelief.
“Everyone went to the opposite side. Opposite is a medical clinic, specifically boiling the kind of skin balm and hair balm used by the Little Marquis. The wages are sufficient, and meals are provided every day, so everyone ran to the opposite side.” The old woman took off her apron and said embarrassedly: “I also stayed until now just to wait for the proprietor to return. Since the proprietor is back, I’ll go over too.”
The old woman walked to the opposite side, knocked on the door, and then went in.
Tao Ran was stunned for a long time before slowly standing up, searching again and again in the empty courtyard, looking again and again.
Really no one left!
Why?
Providing food and shelter for free, how could no one be recruited?
She couldn’t figure it out more and more, so she knocked on the door of the medical clinic opposite.
A woman in red opened the door and glanced at Tao Ran with a faint smile.
“Come in. I knew you would come to question me.” The woman in red turned and walked into the courtyard, and Tao Ran immediately followed.
Many women and children were busy in the courtyard, drying herbs, boiling medicine, or washing medicinal materials. Coming and going, laughing and talking, it was very lively.
Such a scene was something Tao Ran had never seen. She couldn’t understand why these people never showed joy in front of her when she provided food and shelter for free.
“Why did you leave?” She questioned a woman she had once sheltered with red eyes.
The woman lowered her head and said tremblingly: “Proprietor, we are very grateful for your kindness, but staying with you, we don’t know where to go in the future. What we eat, wear, use, and where we live all depend on your charity; we still have nothing. But staying here, we can get a day’s wage for a day’s work. With wages, we can buy food, clothes, and daily necessities ourselves. After saving enough money, we can even buy a courtyard to live in ourselves. We have hope in our hearts.”
The woman’s words made Tao Ran stunned on the spot.
The word “hope” was worth a thousand words.
Before her chaotic brain could figure it out, the woman in red sneered: “Aunt Tao, the money for you to open Ci Ji Tang was taken from the Marquis’s residence. Now that you have been driven out by the Marquis’s residence, where will you find money to help these people?”
Tao Ran was instantly struck by lightning.
She looked at the woman in horror, “You know me?”
“Naturally I know you. How will your Ci Ji Tang continue to operate in the future? If you don’t spend the Marquis’s residence’s money, relying on yourself, how many people have you saved? How many people has the Qi family saved? Come, come, count for me. For every one you count, I’ll kowtow to you and call you a living Bodhisattva.”
The woman in red grabbed Tao Ran’s arm, took her to the door, and pushed her hard.