Court Coup 55

After countless entreaties, He Dai finally agreed to exchange the authority to command the Imperial Guards for a beauty.

Shi Chong possessed vast wealth that rivaled the empire, surpassing even the emperor himself. He believed he deserved to enjoy all the finest things in the world; how could the daily duties of an Imperial Guard Commander compare to the pleasure of waking up daily in the arms of a beauty?

Ever since he won He Ya over these past few days, he kept her constantly by his side, unable to bear parting with her even for a single moment.

"Did you see some wonderful scenery?"

He leaned in as he spoke, but He Ya closed the window and tapped him lightly on the forehead with her slender finger. "What wonderful scenery is there in a dingy alley? It’s all your fault for making me drink so much wine, leaving me dizzy and needing the cold wind to sober up."

...

They brought Wensou's body back to the estate and made arrangements for his funeral.

Mistress Sun wept until she fainted several times.

After this ordeal, young Sun Yanli completely lost his childlike innocence; his eyes now held only a deep, smoldering hatred.

Xie Miaoxuan called him over. "Do you want revenge?"

"I do!"

"Do you know who your enemy is? And even if you knew, how would you manage to kill him?"

"To kill someone and dump the body in broad daylight in the capital can only be the work of the powerful and privileged. For a commoner to assassinate an aristocrat means execution of the entire clan. Your mother and sister would also die because of your actions."

Stubborn tears welled up and spilled from Sun Yanli's eyes.

His strength was far too insignificant. Even if he waited until he grew up and gained power, the enemy would have lived in carefree luxury for decades, and might even have died of old age by then.

With his grandfather gone, the family was left only with a sickly mother and a frail younger sister.

He could not risk the lives of his mother and sister just to avenge his grandfather.

His eyes leaked like a bottomless bucket, tears streaming down without restraint.

Xie Miaoxuan did not want him to be consumed by hatred. The moment Wensou died, all the youthful vitality had vanished from the boy, leaving him shrouded in lifeless silence.

"Your grandfather's spirit in heaven would not wish to see you trapped by hatred."

"My lord, I understand. I will take good care of my mother and sister, and live on carrying a share of Grandpa's life as well."

She patted his big head with a reassuring smile.

Only then did she crouch down solemnly to look him squarely in the eyes. "As for the murderer, naturally we cannot let him go unpunished. Make a bargain with me, and I will help you exact this revenge."

"Do you agree to this deal?"

Sun Yanli's pupils suddenly contracted, and he nodded vigorously.

"You once promised your grandfather before his very eyes that you would become a learned man who understood books and characters, and that you would become a high-ranking official. Do you remember?"

She wiped away the tears at the corner of his eyes and heard him give a muffled response, "Yes."

"I will give you ten years. I will arrange for someone to take care of your mother, and your sister will be attended to by physicians. But you must study with all your might and become the foremost statesman and strategist under my command. Sun Yanli, are you willing?"

"I am willing!"

Looking into that stern face before him, a seed was planted deep within the young child's heart, surging with infinite strength.

He nodded heavily, sealing this ten-year pact, knowing that one day the seed would grow into a towering tree.

Li Ge had already carved the new wooden slips. After the boy left, he leaped down from the rafters.

"Here."

Xie Miaoxuan forced a smile as she took them, rubbed her temples in fatigue, and gathered her focus to study the new sword techniques and secret skills recorded on the slips.

"I can go assassinate that man for you."

"Hmm?" Xie Miaoxuan, still absorbed in the wooden slips, failed to catch his meaning for a split second.

He suppressed the urge to smooth out the frown between her brows.

"There were countless eyewitnesses to a murder committed in broad daylight," he explained. "Finding out who did it is effortless. I will go kill that person for you."

"No need," she smiled faintly. "Just focus on teaching me swordsmanship."

She put down the wooden slips, ladled out a bowl of tea, pushed it toward him, and picked up her own to take a gentle sip.

"To kill him with a single blow—wouldn't that let him off too lightly?"

In truth, she had already found out who the culprit was.

Xun Ming's arrogant disregard for the law when he committed murder in broad daylight meant that finding out it was him had taken barely an hour.

Sending him straight to the underworld would almost be doing him a favor.

How could she let him die so easily? She wanted to destroy everything he cherished most and leave him living a life worse than death.

Xie Xiao hurried past the entrance just in time to see the young lady and Li Ge sharing tea and merriment.

His face darkened instantly, and he nearly stomped his foot in agitation.

Before he even had time to confirm that the two of them were actually drinking tea, he turned and dashed off again.

He grabbed anyone he saw to ask if they had seen his master.

Midway, he stole back for a quick peek, only to find that Li Ge still hadn't left.

He stamped his foot furiously.

Where on earth had his master gone? The household was practically being stolen out from under them, yet his master was nowhere to be found.

By the time he returned to the hall to check again, both Xie Miaoxuan and Li Ge had already left.

Xie Miaoxuan had been extremely busy these past few days. Li Ge had increased the duration and intensity of her sword practice, and with the autumn harvest arriving, she simply dispatched her retainers to help the tenant farmers gather the crops.

Every day, she summoned the head of each household in the estate, giving them two strict instructions: first, not to sell their grain but to keep it all, and if anyone truly needed to sell for cash, she would buy it herself at ten percent above market price; second, to ask these household heads if they were willing to migrate south with her.

Aside from packing two chests of everyday clothes and a few hairpins and ribbons, she took all the jewelry and gorgeous garments from the dozen large chests in the storage warehouse and traded them all for silver.

Among the tenants, some were reluctant to leave their ancestral homeland, while others wanted to bring along extended family...

What with one thing and another, she was kept running in circles.

Just as she finally snatched a moment to catch her breath, before she could even swallow a mouthful of tea, a sudden rumble of hooves erupted outside the estate.

She walked out to find dust billowing across the sky.

Xie Yuanguj was followed by a massive, ragged procession of commoners.

She stepped forward and took a rough inventory: women made up about ten percent of these commoners, while children and young boys accounted for about twenty percent.

Everyone was dressed in appalling rags, with many scarcely covering their bodies.

"How many people did you bring back?"

"Four hundred and sixty-one men, and fifty women. All of them are the destitute homeless or unfortunates whose fields were seized by local squires and who can no longer survive."

Xie Miaoxuan nodded. "Take them to the west side. Hot broth and clothes have already been prepared there."

This was a task she and Xie Yuangui had discussed and decided upon. During this southward migration, he would go ahead to roughly assess and gather up those who could no longer survive, bringing them along.

Upon reaching Guo County, if one wished to establish a firm foothold quickly, money, grain, and manpower were all indispensable.

Right now, her personnel structure was divided into three factions: first, three hundred retainers; second, over four hundred tenant farmers; and third, these five hundred-plus refugees.

This was already the absolute limit of what she could manage. Protecting such a massive crowd of commoners on a southward migration with only three hundred retainers was by no means an easy task.

Perhaps the dynasty was nearing its end, as bandits and outlaws infested every region. If they encountered such elements halfway south, with so many commoners, the retainers would be stretched too thin to protect both the front and rear, making it easy for their formation to be broken.

Once the formation was scattered, the entire procession would be in extreme peril.

She pondered quietly: should the gathered commoners continue to work as farmers, or should they be trained into retainers?