“The prince’s feelings for the miss are true, how would he not put in effort?” Jiyun smiled.
“Since this is the case, I can be at ease while daughter Yi lives in the royal residence.” Qin Huaiyuan fell silent for a moment. “I’ll request an audience from the emperor today and send a few guards over for my daughter. Have the Elite Tigers conceal themselves amidst the guards. That will give them a legitimate reason for their presence and make things easier for them. As for their identities, say that they’re fighting masters from the jianghu that I hired for a pretty sum. Tell them not to explain too much if anyone’s curious and send all questions to me.”
“Understood. Milord is thorough and thoughtful. This would be for the best.” Jiyun greatly admired Qin Huaiyuan’s competency. Her miss’ excellence was inherited from such a smart, decisive, and highly knowledge father, wasn’t it?
Née Sun finished packing as the two spoke. Bingtang and Qiulu loaded all of the daily necessities into the cart. Qin Huaiyuan called for servants to prepare a carriage, and the group set out to deliver the baggage and Qin Yining’s maids to the royal residence.
The residence wasn’t too far from the palace, having been built to the northwest of the palace, next to a lake. It was an extremely resplendent park.
The first to greet the eyes was the jade-green waters of the lake, a white marble bridge flying over the lake, and two verdant mountains to the far distance of the water.
A pavilion stood in front of the mountains and faced the water. The covered hallway leading to it was decorated with opulent carvings and engravings. The lake was bordered on all sides with exceedingly magnificent gardens. White marble paths meandered between the flora. When the breeze picked up, the willow trees swayed on the banks as birds circled overhead. It was a refreshing sight that invigorated the mind.
Née Sun murmured sadly as she took in the scenery, “This is a royal residence alright. Though the view is good, it’s just a gilded cage for daughter Yi.”
“We can only see how daughter Yi responds to the changing situation now that things are thus. She’s a smart girl, she’ll be able to handle things well,” Qin Huaiyuan responded.
“I hope so. She does things like you — and thank goodness for that. That’s the only reason why I can relax.” Née Sun shook her head. “I’m a useless mother. I didn’t give my daughter a good life and didn’t even treat her well previously. I took out my anger on her and misunderstood her. My mother and sisters-in-law told me a few things before they left. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t even know that daughter Yi did so much for me behind my back. I really, really owe it to this child.”
Tears trickled down as she spoke and she quickly reached for a handkerchief to wipe them away.
Qin Huaiyuan sighed and comforted his wife. “The days are long ahead. This disaster will be over one day. We just need to look to the future. There will be plenty of time to be good to her then, no?”
Née Sun sniffled a few more times before she stopped crying.
It wasn’t until they reached the foot of the luxurious pavilion that they realized how grand its scale was. Three hundred nuns could fit inside, much less one hundred!
There were some walking around already, and some palace servants swapping out the decorations to make the pavilion look like a nunnery. The place teemed with activity.
Qin Huaiyuan had a word with the eunuch in charge and circled past the front hall. They entered the second gate, the Door of Ritual, and took the mountain paths to arrive at the rear yard on the mountain.
Due to the high terrain, the view was open and stunning. Guards were arranged at the doors to prevent random passersby from entering. Even Qin Huaiyuan spent a good deal of effort before the guards agreed to let them in.
They were greeted by the vast expanse of a white marble platform after going through the flower-hung gate. Lush strands of purple wisteria trailed down from the flower racks, adding an extravagant tough to the already luxurious two-story hall in the back.
Qin Yining was wearing white from head to toe and a honey colored padded-jacket on her shoulders. Riceball was plonked in her lap as she swayed in a rocking chair. She was leaning against a fence railing and admiring the view down the mountain. Two palace maids and two eunuchs flanked her sides.
“Daughter Yi.” Qin Huaiyuan finally relaxed when he saw how at ease his daughter was, then found it rather funny. “How’s the view here?”
Qin Yining turned her head to see her parents here with her servants. She shot to her feet in joy, the delight brimming in her eyes about to overflow. However, she still gravely made a gesture of greeting first.
“A view at the heights really isn’t quite something one sees everyday. This will be Xuan Su Temple in the future. Mother, you can come often to pray.”
* * *
Chapter 242: Tax Grain
Chapter 242: Tax Grain
When née Sun saw that Qin Yining didn’t immediately come up to her, she glanced at the palace servants behind her daughter and understood that now wasn’t a good time. She could only squeeze out a smile. “The emperor personally gave orders arranging for Xuan Su Temple to be put into order, so it must be good a place for worship.”
It wouldn’t be long before the entire world knew of the emperor respecting the people’s will. The citizens would be immensely comforted then and speak even more highly of the emperor, and hold greater faith for the divinity of Xuan Su Temple.
But when née Sun recalled Qin Huaiyuan’s analysis at home — how the emperor was not only using this matter to greatly bolster his reputation, but also confining Qin Yining to a gilded cage close by for easy access anytime, she felt again that her daughter was just suffering too much.
Qin Yining gave orders to Xingyu and Bixue at this time. “My maids are here with my things. They can stay and serve me in the future. All of you can go back to the palace now.”
Xingyu, Bixue, Little Ning, and Little Yang looked incredulously back at the girl. They’d never heard of anyone dismissing servants that the emperor had assigned himself!
“In response to Master Xuan Su, the emperor means for us to serve you.”
A cold smile blossomed on Qin Yining’s lips. “The emperor wishes for me to be a layman Taoist, but how will it look like if I have palace servants at my beck and call? My family has sent people to keep me company, so I no longer require your services. I need to meditate and seek enlightenment, so I really don’t need that many serving me. If you’re afraid of the emperor finding fault with you, you can tell him that it was my idea.”
She was already forced to be here; it would be too much of a hardship if she had to use outsiders instead of her own people.
The four palace servants had firsthand knowledge of how much the emperor loved Qin Yining, and had also seen how exceptional her methods were. She’d caused the emperor to publicly punish Consort Lin, someone who’d served him for many years! And despite the imperial majesty being literally hopping mad, he still couldn’t bear to touch a single hair on her head.
This wasn’t someone they could afford to offend. Once they thought all this through, the four took their leave of Qin Huaiyuan, née Sun, and Qin Yining.
The Qin fourth miss handed Riceball to Qiulu with a smile. “I feel much more at ease now that all of you are here. See to the luggage first, I’d like to talk to my father and mother.”
“Understood.” Qiulu, Jiyun, and Bingtang entered the house with various bundles.
Qin Yining had her parents sit down for some tea in the main hall of the first floor.
When née Sun saw that there was finally no one else present, tears flowed unceasingly she grasped her daughter’s hand. “You’ve suffered so, so much.”
After a few days of torment in the palace, not only had Qin Yining been robbed of recovery time, but her health had in fact worsened. Needing to deal with the emperor and those in the palace at the same time meant that she was completely exhausted. The events of the past few days washed ov
er her when she heard her mother’s words and she almost cried too.
She blinked forcefully, plastering a smile onto her face in the place of tears. “Don’t be sad for me, mother. There wasn’t much suffering. These are the circumstances that we’re in. It’s already the best possible outcome that the emperor hasn’t ordered my death in a fit of anger. We can make our plans slowly since I’m still alive.”
Seeing that Qin Yining’s expression was as calm and composed as Qin Huaiyuan’s, née Sun nodded emotionally.
The Qin fourth miss looked around and gave orders to Jiyun and the others, newly come downstairs after sorting out the luggage. “Go stand guard outside and keep a careful eye on the surroundings.”
Jiyun, Bingtang, and Qiulu understood that their mistress had important matters to raise with her parents. They nodded and left.
When she was certain that no one was listening in on them, Qin Yining whispered, “Father, I heard a few things in the palace these days that I’m not sure if you know of yet.”
“What is it?” Upon careful reflection, nothing sprang to the marquis’ mind.
“I heard it from the emperor’s wet nurse, Jiao-mama. Apparently the emperor emeritus sold off this year’s tax grain before it even reached the capital. It was resold during the journey and none of it arrived here. Is this true?”
Due to the nation’s founding emperor promoting use of treasury bills instead of gold and silver, treasury bills had been the currency of choice all these years. This also served to decrease the natural loss of gold and silver that occurred in transactions.
But because treasury bills were affected by inflation, and the condition of the bills themselves affected their value — the government collected taxes in the form of grain.
For a rich dynasty like Great Yan that was located in the fertile lands of the south, cargo ships full of grain crammed the ports and carriages clogged up the roads every tax season.
It wasn’t tax season yet, nor was it quite harvest time for many areas, but the emperor emeritus had increased taxes before resigning from his position. Not only had he taken a large sum from the commoners and merchants from the capital, but all of the nation’s citizens had had a round of levied on them as well.
With the onerous taxes, it was easy to imagine that the tax grain this year would be much more than before. Add to that the natural disasters and war, it all made for great hardship for the people.
Qin Yining had heard Jiao-mama talk about this privately with Xingyu and the others, that the emperor emeritus had sold off the additional tax grain he’d collected!
Qin Huaiyuan was completely flabbergasted by the news — both stunned and horrified.
“My daughter, is your news true?”
“Most likely. I heard it from the emperor’s wet nurse. The conversations in the palace all have to do with what’s happening around them. Apparently the emperor got in an argument with his father the other day, and someone else heard that this year’s tax grain has yet to arrive.”
“But the Ministry of Revenue says that the tax grain will arrive in half a month.” Qin Huaiyuan frowned. “When I first learned of this, I tried to persuade the emperor emeritus otherwise. How could he stand to prey on wealth earned by the people’s blood, sweat, and tears?
“But then I thought about it another way, how the Valiant Tigers would besiege the capital in the latter half of the war. This batch of tax grain might be put to great effect then. With the additional taxes, if all of the tax grain is stored in the capital, we’d have enough to feed the army and people for three years in the event of a siege!”
“Three years?!” Qin Yining exclaimed. “That much? The capital can definitely hold out with that much grain! Though the hundred thousand strong Valiant Tigers are fierce, their supply lines have too much distance to cover. Great Zhou is newly founded as well. They took over the mess that Northern Ji left behind, so their national treasury is empty after many years of war. If we have three years worth of rations to depend on, we won’t have to worry about Great Zhou keeping the fight going then.”
“Precisely. But if what you say is true, then things are dire indeed.” Qin Huaiyuan knocked a forefinger on the tabletop. “I know now. When I go back to request that the emperor send more guards to protect you, I’ll get to the bottom of this as well.”
Qin Yining was quite worried. “With the emperor emeritus’ personality, I thought it strange when he so easily agreed to hand over the position. When he fleeced the people of their hard-won gains, I felt that this sort of action was terribly unbecoming of an emperor. So now it seems that he’s sold off all of the tax grain for money, likely to leave a back up plan for himself!”
* * *
Chapter 243: To Flee
Chapter 243: To Flee
Both of them were highly intelligent people. There was no need to spell things out for everything to be clear. They understood what a backup plan would be for the former emperor.
Née Sun might not understand what was going on, but she didn’t care much for the matters of court to begin with and so kept them company quietly off to the side.
Qin Huaiyuan chatted with his daughter for a while longer. “I still need to enter the palace for an audience with the emperor. I’ll be on my way now. Be careful and be well here.”
Née Sun frowned with reluctance. “My daughter, your wounds haven’t healed yet so you must take care of yourself well. Don’t let any illnesses take root in your youth. Send someone to tell me if you lack anything. Don’t let yourself suffer, you hear?”
“I know, mother.” Deeply touched, Qin Yining hugged née Sun and rubbed her cheek against the madame’s shoulder.
It’d been a hard fought battle for her mother’s love, so the girl cherished it even more so. She whispered next to née Sun’s ear, “Mother, take care of yourself at home. Just indulge the old dowager more often. She’s probably going to be depressed for a long while with what’s happened to me, so don’t go toe-to-toe with her.”
My daughter is a sharp one alright! Née Sun refrained from letting her daughter know that she’d already fought with the old dowager before coming here. She didn’t want to add to the girl’s burdens and only stroked Qin Yining’s long hair. “Don’t worry, with how things are now, everyone’s just focused on getting through the days peacefully.”
“That’s good.” Qin Yining thought for a moment and murmured, “Don’t clash with Auntie Cao either. She has a complex background. Be careful in everything you do when I’m not at home. Talk things over with Jin-mama or surreptitiously ask Qin-mama as well. She’s the best when it comes to guessing the old dowager’s thoughts, so you can ask her more often than not.”
“Alright, I will.” Née Sun’s ached with affection and guilt. Just how immature had she been before that her daughter would worry about her like this when away from home?
Qin Huaiyuan’s gaze turned extraordinarily gentle when he saw his wife and daughter hugging and whispering secrets to each other. Though he didn’t know what his daughter was saying, he could hazard a fair guess with how moved née Sun’s expression was.
They were his source of motivation and driving force in the future! Although he was disappointed with politics and the royal clan, he wouldn’t lose purpose in life with them by his side.
Qin Yining sent her parents off by the flower-hung gate.
“I hired these ten martial masters,” introduced Qin Huaiyuan with a smile. “They’re here to watch over your safety. I’ll leave them here for your orders in the future.”
“Many thanks, father.” Qin Yining nodded with a smile.
The imperial guards at the inner door found themselves in a pickle at this. “Grand Preceptor Qin, we daren’t allow this without the emperor’s approval.”
A faint smile remained on Qin Huaiyuan’s face, but his tone changed to that of someone accustomed to wielding high power. “I know this puts you in an awkward position. I will be personally discussing this with the emperor and won’t have you
caught in between different parties. I’ll be depending on you for my daughter’s safety from now on.”
“This humble servant wouldn’t dare. Please be at ease, my lord. These humble servants will do our very best to ensure Master Xuan Su’s safety.” The guards bowed in unison.
The title of ‘Master Xuan Su’ irritated Qin Huaiyuan to no end, but not a trace flickered through his expression. He thanked the guards with another smile and brought a tearful née Sun down the mountain with him.
Qin Yining stood motionless in front of the flower-hung gate for a very long time, seeing her parents off.
The guards didn’t dare move a muscle. They were all close imperial confidantes. Every single one of them had a thorough understanding of how much the emperor treasured this girl.
Bingtang flung a lotus-pink wrap around Qin Yining’s shoulders, bringing the fourth miss back to her senses. She looked back at the maid, an involuntary smile gracing her face.
Bingtang smiled as well. “You haven’t fully recovered yet, miss. Let’s go inside and rest for a while. I can take a look at your injuries as well.”
“Alright.”
Though she was temporarily confined to this residence, she had her trusted confidantes with her. This was so much better than isolation in the palace. It’s just a short trip away from home, there’s nothing to be dissatisfied about.
With Bingtang at Qin Yining’s side, the girl’s health effectively took a turn for the better.
Meanwhile, news of the former emperor selling off the tax grain quickly spread throughout court. The most infuriating of it was that the emperor emeritus refused to hand over the silver from selling off the grain!
The emperor asked his father many times to no avail, with the emperor emeritus even hitting his son due to feeling harassed.
The silver from the tax grain seemingly gone, Weichi Yan set his sights on the national coffers and personal royal treasury. He ordered an inventory count during the next court session, but the results were stunning.
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