Chapter 23 Part 1: Silver For A Rainy Day

Wei Lan ate lunch and then slept for a while in the room next to Lu Zijin’s.

In the afternoon, she was once again called by Lu Zijin to make indoor air freshener.

 

Lu Zijin sat behind the desk, busy with matters of the Lu residence, while Wei Lan lay on the soft couch, occasionally releasing her pheromones.

However, she wasn’t very qualified as an air freshener maker either.

The study was warm and cozy, with sunlight streaming in, and before long, Wei Lan had fallen asleep again, hugging the travelogue in her arms.

 

It had to be said, these ancient books were really dry and boring; the kind where you couldn’t even finish one page before your eyes started to close.

 

Lu Zijin finished handling the major and minor affairs of various shops over the past few days and sent someone to deliver the written instructions to each shop.

When she returned to the study, she saw Wei Lan lying on the couch, sleeping soundly.

 

Lu Zijin shook her head with a smile.

Wei Lan really wasn’t cut out for studying; she had only been reading for such a short while before falling asleep.

“You sure know how to make yourself comfortable,” Lu Zijin murmured softly.

She didn’t disturb Wei Lan and instead sat back down behind the desk.

 

Lu Zijin leaned back in her chair and rested for a moment.

Over the past year or so, she hadn’t paid much attention to matters within the residence.

Lu Zijin had deliberately turned a blind eye to many things.

 

Because the foundation of the Lu residence was unstable, she had to first stabilize the external businesses as much as possible.

As for the internal affairs of the Lu residence, she had also prepared a contingency plan.

 

Although there were many servants in her courtyard, the one Lu Zijin trusted most was Qianxue by her side.

On the surface, Qianxue was a maidservant, but in reality, she was her guard.

Besides Qianxue, there were nine other shadow guards in the residence who only took orders from Lu Zijin alone, and the people in the residence didn’t know of their existence.

 

This past year, Lu Zijin had kept Qianxue by her side, along with four other shadow guards, to prevent anyone from tampering with her food during the chaos in the Lu residence, and also to protect her safety.

 

The remaining five shadow guards were all deployed to various parts of the residence.

People like Huang Min and Cao Qiushuang—she appeared to trust them greatly on the surface, but in reality, she had shadow guards watching them.

 

After all, the Lu residence had been unstable this past year; one wrong move and the foundation of the Lu residence would be lost at her hands.

Similarly, she only had these shadow guards observe, without having them take any other action.

Trouble needed to be solved one by one, and compared to business matters, the internal affairs of the Lu residence were actually less difficult to handle.

 

As long as she could stabilize external matters and make the managers throughout the various places sincerely convinced of her capability, the servants of the Lu residence would naturally assess the situation.

 

Moreover, the steward Huang Min was a smart man.

He understood very well that only by having this young lady of the Lu residence in charge could he maintain his position as steward.

Otherwise, if someone else took over, a new ruler would bring new advisors, and he, as the steward, would definitely be the first piece to be eliminated.

 

Over the past year, Huang Min had acted accordingly.

Some servants had left the Lu residence, and new ones had arrived.

Amidst the chaos, he had managed to keep the Lu residence stable, at least on the surface.

Moreover, the monthly silver spent in the residence was even slightly less than when her father and brother were alive, which indicated that Huang Min’s hands were at least clean.

 

She didn’t expect Huang Min to be able to root out every single pawn planted in the Lu residence by others; as long as he could stabilize the situation, that was enough.

Those people, she would find an opportunity to eliminate completely, and now, the time was almost right.

 

As for Cao Qiushuang, Lu Zijin didn’t think he would betray her.

After all, he had grown up in the Lu residence since childhood, and his father had been the former head of guards of the Lu residence.

Furthermore, Cao Qiushuang was arrogant and proud, believing that as the head of guards of the Lu residence, he was above others.

He looked down on the recruitment attempts by other merchants and even more so on the other wealthy families in Panyang City.

 

Of course, there was one final point: the way Cao Qiushuang looked at her sometimes unconsciously revealed a different feeling.

Of course, it wasn’t the feeling between master and servant; that look was the same as many Qiankuns she encountered outside.

 

Their gazes towards her held covetousness and infatuation, but all of it made her feel sick.

 

Although she trusted Cao Qiushuang more than others, she still assigned shadow guards to follow him.

She would trust others, but she preferred to keep the initiative in her own hands.

 

Cao Qiushuang would eventually be driven out of the Lu residence sooner or later, but now was not the time.

She needed someone with high martial arts skills and absolute loyalty.

 

As for Yun Xiang by her side, Lu Zijin naturally didn’t plan to move her.

She still needed to use Yun Xiang to feed false information to Chen Zhou’s side; why not do it?

 

After her elder brother’s incident, this cousin of hers, using their kinship as an excuse, had repeatedly probed her, both directly and indirectly.

The gist of it was to get her to marry him and then hand over all of Lu’s business for him to manage.

 

But she had never responded to his words.

Later, she directly stated that she didn’t want the Lu family’s estate to fall into the hands of others and that she would recruit a son-in-law to marry into the family, which was when Chen Zhou finally backed off a bit.

 

However, he didn’t completely give up.

When she first took over the Lu family’s business, this cousin of hers had caused her no small amount of trouble.

The storefronts she had been forced to abandon were all due to Chen Zhou colluding with several other merchants in the city to engage in malicious competition, even cutting off the supply sources for some of the Lu residence’s shops at one point.

 

During that time, Lu Zijin had to negotiate with suppliers one by one, sometimes even begging them to provide goods.

At other times, she would be provoked by those Qiankuns with unpleasant words.

Lu Zijin gritted her teeth and endured it all; she only managed to stabilize the situation by offering purchase prices higher than those of other buyers.

 

When local merchants refused to supply certain goods, Lu Zijin had to risk danger and travel to other places to find suitable suppliers.

 

That period was very difficult for her.

She had no time to grieve her brother’s death, nor any time to lament her own difficult situation.

The bitterness in her heart had no one to confide in; she could only grit her teeth and push forward.

What her father and brother had once been able to do, she believed she could do too.

 

She had done it.

All the various shops were operating in an orderly manner.

The suppliers who had previously refused to supply goods were now supplying again.

But whether to use them or not now depended entirely on her mood.

 

She remembered all these accounts; she would settle them.

 

The chess game was already set; a year had passed.

 

Thinking of this, the corners of Lu Zijin’s mouth curled up slightly.

She lifted her gaze and looked at Wei Lan.

Wei Lan, she even envied Wei Lan a little.

Being carefree and without burdens, she actually lived a relaxed and comfortable life.

 

***

 

Lu Zijin withdrew her gaze, lowered her head, and began writing a letter to her cousin, who was far away in Zhuozhou.

Her father had only one older sister, who had married Fan Jingshan, the Marshal of the Mobei Army, and they had two sons and one daughter.

 

However, Zhuozhou was far away in Mobei, where life was extremely harsh.

They also had to resist invasions from the Chu Kingdom and were constantly at war with them throughout the year.

Fan Jingshan and his two sons had all died in battle, and her aunt, Lu Jinghan, had also passed away from excessive grief, leaving only her cousin, Fan Chuan, alone in Mobei.

 

The current emperor of the Great Zhou was old and fatuous, and because the Fan family had 100,000 troops stationed in Mobei, he was very wary of Fan Chuan.

Every year, Fan Chuan had to go to the capital to report on her duties.

Calling it reporting duties was more like the Great Zhou emperor putting pressure on her.

In the past two years, it had been even more so.

The emperor wanted to arrange for people to monitor Fan Chuan, euphemistically calling it bestowing a marriage, but Fan Chuan had always evaded it with the excuse that her father and brothers had just died.

 

This year should be the same.

Speaking of which, her cousin would soon have to go to the capital again to report on her duties.

She wondered how her cousin planned to deal with it this year.

 

Lu Zijin was writing to Fan Chuan precisely to ask her for a few reliable people from the military to replace Cao Qiushuang’s position.

The position of head of guards in the residence was very important; she needed people she could trust to do it.

 

Over the years, the Lu residence and the Fan family had never had any overt dealings with each other, pretending that their relationship had faded due to distance.

But in reality, it was to avoid implicating the Lu family.

After all, the Fan family held military power, being both people the emperor relied on and people the emperor was wary of.

 

Lu Zijin sighed.

Her cousin’s situation was even more difficult than her own.

 

She wrote continuously on the paper, and in no time, she had filled several pages with the letter.

This letter could only be sent by her shadow guards; otherwise, if it fell into the wrong hands, it would be another problem.

 

Lu Zijin put down her brush, waited for the ink to dry, and then placed the letter into an envelope.

At that moment, Wei Lan, who had been sleeping all afternoon, also opened her eyes.

 

When she opened her eyes, there was a momentary confusion, but she quickly recognized where she was.

 

She propped herself up, rubbed her eyes, and looked towards Lu Zijin with a just-woken-up expression.

 

Lu Zijin looked up at her with a smile, “Awake?”

“Mm,” Wei Lan rubbed her eyes, got off the soft couch, stretched a bit, then got up and went to the table to pour herself a cup of tea.

 

Her gaze fell on Lu Zijin, and she obediently asked, “Wife, would you like some tea?”

 

A faint smile played on Lu Zijin’s lips as she nodded.

 

Wei Lan brought the tea she had just poured over to Lu Zijin.

 

Lu Zijin reached out, took the cup from Wei Lan, took a sip of the tea inside, and then said, “After dinner, you can go back.

My heat should be over.”

 

As soon as Wei Lan heard this, her eyes immediately lit up.

Although Lu Zijin’s place had everything, she still felt quite unaccustomed to it.

She was already used to living in Fuqu Pavilion, and most importantly, she hadn’t carved any jade for several days and her hands were itching badly.

“Great, finally able to go back,” Wei Lan murmured softly.

 

But the smile on Lu Zijin’s face disappeared.

She raised an eyebrow and looked at Wei Lan, “It seems the master of the house doesn’t want to spend another moment with me?”

 

Seeing Lu Zijin’s cold expression, Wei Lan quickly explained, “No, no, it’s mainly because when I’m here, you’re not at ease, and I’m not at ease either.

Fuqu Pavilion is just fine; I prefer to stay alone quietly.”

“Hmph, fine then.

I’ll have them serve dinner soon.

You go back to the bedroom and wait for me.

I’ll come over after I’ve finished handling the matters at hand,” Lu Zijin said calmly.

 

Wei Lan nodded, “Okay, I’ll go over first.”

 

She guessed that Lu Zijin probably had business to discuss with someone else, so she was sending her away first.

But she didn’t mind; business matters had nothing to do with her anyway.

 

After Wei Lan left, Lu Zijin spoke again, “Go and call Qianxue here.”

“Yes, Miss.”

The young maidservant waiting by the door immediately went to call Qianxue.

 

In a short while, Qianxue entered the study.

She curtsied to Lu Zijin, “Miss, what are your orders?”

 

Lu Zijin picked up the letter in her hand and said, “Deliver this to my cousin.

Send two reliable people.”

 

Qianxue immediately understood Lu Zijin’s meaning and quickly replied, “This servant understands.

I will arrange for it right away.”

 

Having said that, Qianxue withdrew.

 

Lu Zijin got up, left the study, and went to her bedroom.

Wei Lan was sitting by the table, drinking tea and waiting for her.

 

When Wei Lan saw Lu Zijin arrive, her eyes immediately lit up, “Wife, when do we eat?”

 

The corners of Lu Zijin’s mouth curved slightly, “I’ll have them serve the meal right now.”

 

With that, Lu Zijin called out, “Have them serve the meal.”

“Yes.”

The maidservant at the door quickly responded.

 

Before long, an array of dishes was brought in by the maidservants.

 

Wei Lan was in high spirits; after eating, she would be able to return to Fuqu Pavilion.

In other words, she would be free.

For the next month, she would have free time to do as she pleased.

 

Seeing Wei Lan in such a good mood, for some reason, Lu Zijin felt a little uncomfortable inside.

Did Wei Lan really want to go back to Fuqu Pavilion that much?

 

Wei Lan, however, was oblivious to Lu Zijin’s thoughts.

Anyway, she was hungry, so eating was the priority.

Today’s fried pork cubes were exceptionally delicious, and before long, half the plate was finished by Wei Lan alone.

 

She very kindly left half for Lu Zijin and then turned her attention to the braised pork.

 

The braised pork made by the cook in Lu Zijin’s courtyard was particularly good, especially the tiger-skin quail eggs inside.

The quail eggs were fried first, then added to the braised pork broth, becoming flavorful and carrying the fragrant aroma of the fried oil, even tastier than the meat.

 

Lu Zijin watched Wei Lan eating with such gusto, and she herself ended up eating a few more bites.

She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but with Wei Lan accompanying her, the food seemed much tastier than before.

 

Most of the meal was eaten by Wei Lan.

She really loved the food here.

Even though Lu Zijin ate more than usual, compared to Wei Lan, her appetite was still too small.

 

Wei Lan was very satisfied.

She also drank a bowl of soup, rested for a while sitting on the round stool, and then said, “Wife, it’s almost dark.

Can I go back now?”

 

Lu Zijin cast a faint glance at her, seeing how eager she was to return, she waved her hand, not wanting to be bothered by the sight.

“Go ahead.”

 

Lu Zijin looked up at Wei Lan, watching her stand up, smile at her, and say, “Then you rest early, Wife.

I’m off.”

 

With that, Wei Lan eagerly opened the door, immediately stepped out, and even remembered to close the door for Lu Zijin on her way out.

 

Qing Zhi, seeing her leave, quickly arranged for four maidservants to escort Wei Lan back.

 

***

 

The group walked for a while longer before Wei Lan finally returned to her own courtyard.

She had to say, even though she’d only been away for two days, she really missed it here.

 

Li Zhufeng and Zhao Linghui, upon seeing Wei Lan return, eagerly came forward to greet her.

“Master, you’ve worked hard.

Was everything alright at Miss’s place?”

Li Zhufeng quickly asked.

“It was fine.

Have someone prepare water for a bath; I’ll wash up and go to sleep.”

Wei Lan planned to take her jade carvings to Yuyaxuan tomorrow morning to try her luck.

 

Hearing this, Li Zhufeng immediately sent someone to prepare the bathwater.

 

Zhao Linghui, probing further, asked, “Master, did you sleep with Miss last night?”

 

Wei Lan shook her head, “No, I slept in the room next to hers.

My wife doesn’t like others sleeping in her bed.”

 

Zhao Linghui looked pained, “Oh dear, Master, why didn’t you try to stay by Miss’s side?

It was such a good opportunity.”

“Why would I stay by her side?

Oh, alright, alright, stop worrying.

Go and change the tea in my room for a fresh pot.”

Wei Lan said, shoving the teapot from the round table into Zhao Linghui’s arms, sending her off.

 

It wasn’t like she really intended to have anything to do with Lu Zijin.

Besides, Lu Zijin didn’t like her at all; these matrons were overthinking things.

 

Soon, the bathwater was ready.

Wei Lan soaked in the tub and washed up.

Thinking that this month’s KPI was done, she felt a wave of relief.

Great, now she could focus on carving jade with peace of mind.

 

In a good mood, Wei Lan even started humming a tune.

 

The two matrons were still outside, discussing her with a sense of frustration.

“What do you make of her lack of interest in Miss?

A son-in-law who married into the family, and she doesn’t even try to win over Miss’s heart.

She really is carefree,” Li Zhufeng said, disappointed, as if her teammate was impossible to carry.

“Exactly.

And here we thought she slept with Miss last night, but it turns out she slept in the room next door,” Zhao Linghui added with a heavy sigh.

“Us two old sisters are really unlucky to have ended up with a master like this,” Li Zhufeng said, utterly resigned.

With a master like Wei Lan, who couldn’t seize an opportunity even when it was handed to her, she genuinely felt Wei Lan’s position as master of the residence wouldn’t last long.

 

Wei Lan, completely unaware of all this, bathed comfortably, had the servants clean up, and went to sleep once her hair was mostly dry.

 

***

 

She woke up early the next day, ate breakfast in the residence, and then happily went to her workshop.

She found a large square cloth and carefully wrapped all the jade items into a bundle.

After all, she had carved quite a few jade pieces these past days, and she couldn’t just carry them out of the residence openly; that would be too conspicuous.

 

Once everything was ready, Wei Lan, holding a bundle in her arms, left the residence.

 

Seeing Wei Lan leave with something, Li Zhufeng casually asked, “Master, are you going out?”

 

Wei Lan nodded, “Mm, I’m going to sell the jade pieces I’ve been carving lately.”

 

Li Zhufeng was rendered speechless by Wei Lan’s words.

The master of the residence of the wealthiest merchant family in Panyang City still needed to go out and sell things to make a living?

If she had any cunning at all, she should be trying to please the Miss.

If the Miss was happy, it wouldn’t just be silver; the entire Lu residence might even be hers.

 

Li Zhufeng really couldn’t understand what Wei Lan was thinking.

After all, she could just lie back and enjoy a life of luxury and wealth now, but Wei Lan still insisted on working hard.

 

Li Zhufeng and Zhao Linghui exchanged glances, both sighed in unison, and then shook their heads in Wei Lan’s direction.

 

Wei Lan, of course, didn’t care what others thought.

She was very clear about the predicament of her current identity.

There was a male protagonist in this book, after all.

Her free ride probably wouldn’t last long.

It was better to use this free time to save up some silver for herself.

That way, when Lu Zijin eventually wanted to divorce her, she would have money to buy a small courtyard and wouldn’t end up homeless.

 

With money in hand, there’s no panic in the heart.

Anyway, for her, no matter where she was, as long as she could carve jade, it was fine.

But if she really did leave, she’d probably miss the food at the Lu residence; the food here really suited her taste, soft and delicious.

 

Wei Lan walked towards the back gate, thinking as she went.

Wang Yiding, the guard responsible for the back gate, saw Wei Lan wanting to leave with a large bundle in her arms.

He frowned, but still had someone open the gate for Wei Lan.

 

Wei Lan walked straight out of the residence.

Wang Yiding thought for a moment, then said, “You guys guard the place well here.

I’ll be back soon.”

 

Wang Yiding remembered the tasks entrusted to him by the steward, as well as those by Cao Qiushuang.

 

After thinking it over, Wang Yiding decided to quickly head to the steward’s place.

Although Cao Qiushuang was his direct superior, it was the steward, Huang Ming, who made the decisions on major and minor matters in the residence.

 

He walked for a while before finally reaching the steward’s quarters in the front courtyard.

Wang Yiding was even sweating.

 

He quickly had a servant announce his arrival, and soon, Huang Ming let him in.

“What’s the matter?”

Huang Ming asked without looking up, continuing to write something.

“It’s about the master going out today,” Wang Yiding began.

 

Huang Ming’s expression cooled, “The master hasn’t been placed under house arrest by the young lady; of course she can go out.

There’s no need to report this to me.”

“No, no, it’s that the master was carrying a large black bundle, quite big.

I don’t know what was inside it.

I was worried she might have taken something from the residence to pawn,” Wang Yiding quickly explained.

 

Huang Ming frowned slightly as he looked at Wang Yiding, and said, “Alright.

Remember, if anything else happens, you must also come and report to me.”

“Yes,” Wang Yiding promptly acknowledged.

“Mm, you may go now.

I’m aware of this matter.”

Huang Ming said as he lowered his head and continued dealing with the tasks at hand.

 

Seeing that the steward didn’t react much and seemed unconcerned about the matter, Wang Yiding slunk away.

 

After he left, Huang Ming snorted coldly.

The last time he had reported Wei Lan’s actions to Lu Zijin, it was because Wei Lan’s movements had been too significant, furnishing an entire room full of things at once, which necessitated informing the young lady.

 

As for this time, he naturally wouldn’t report it.

Apart from anything else, although Wei Lan was useless, she was, on the surface at least, the master of the residence.

Even if the master really did take something from the residence and sell it, it wasn’t his place to intervene.

However, if it happened often, he might subtly remind the young lady sometime; it was no big deal.

 

After reporting the matter to Huang Ming, Wang Yiding went to find Cao Qiushuang.

Cao Qiushuang was leading a small squad of guards on patrol within the residence.

Seeing Wang Yiding arrive, he asked, “Aren’t you supposed to be on duty at the back gate?

What are you doing here?”

“Captain, it’s about the master,” Wang Yiding said, not wanting to speak directly in front of the guards behind Cao Qiushuang.

 

Seeing him hesitate, Cao Qiushuang glanced at the six guards behind him and said, “Alright, they’re all brothers.

Just say it.

What has that Wei Lan done now?”

“She left carrying a large bundle.

I don’t know what was inside, but I reckon it must be valuables from the residence.

She probably thinks she can’t get silver in the residence, so she’s taking valuable things out to pawn,” Wang Yiding speculated once more.

 

Cao Qiushuang, however, laughed, “I knew that good-for-nothing couldn’t amount to much.

But is there any evidence for this?

If there’s no evidence, it won’t be easy for me to report her to the young lady.”

“That’s simple.

I saw the things she was carrying seemed to have some weight, looked like antique ornaments from the residence.

When she comes back, if those things are gone, then naturally she’s taken them out to sell.

Then the brothers at the back gate can all testify,” Wang Yiding quickly said, sensing his captain seemed to particularly dislike the master.

 

Hearing this, Cao Qiushuang’s smile grew even wider, “That’s true.

Then you go back and keep a close watch.

If it really is as you say, tomorrow night when I’m off duty, I’ll treat you to a meal at Zuixianlou.”

“Thank you, Captain Cao.

I’ll go back and keep a close watch right away,” Wang Yiding said hastily.

 

Cao Qiushuang was his direct superior; building a good relationship with him would be beneficial for his position in the residence.

As for the master, none of them really took her seriously anyway.

 

After all, this master had gone to the young lady’s courtyard at night and hadn’t even been allowed to stay, being sent back by the young lady.

It could be said she wasn’t valued by the young lady at all.

Since that was the case, they, as servants, didn’t need to pay her much attention either.

 

With that thought, Wang Yiding quickly hurried back towards the back gate.

 

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