Chapter 573: Just One Step Away |
That red Official Robe figure striding out of the Ministry of Personnel headed straight for the outer gate of the Feathered Forest Army Commander's Mansion.
At first, the Six Ministries' Officials who were gathered outside the outer gate whispering privately and pointing fingers hadn't noticed. With their backs turned toward the Ministry of Personnel, they were quietly sighing emotionally that this army of spoiled heirs surprisingly had many people with a sense of righteousness.
However, when those steady footsteps pressed close, a Ministry of Revenue Bureau Director who was closest was the first to sense something amiss, and he turned his head in doubt. The next moment, he subconsciously staggered a step to the side, yielding his original spot.
This small movement was like a stone tossed into a still lake, the ripples rippling out in an instant.
A second, a third... More and more Officials turned their heads. When they clearly saw that Main Second Rank red Official Robe fully embroidered with gold-thread peacocks, all their discussions, private whispers, and even breathing were instantly cut off.
No orders, no shouts.
The crowd was like an ocean tide parted by a giant hand, soundlessly retreating to both sides with reverence and awe.
In just a few breaths, a completely clean path suddenly appeared. On both sides of the path dense crowds of blue-robed and cyan-robed officials stood holding their breaths and lowering their heads.
As the Minister of Personnel in charge of Capital Evaluations, Zhang Zhuo was now the cabinet minister every ministry yamen feared seeing most. The crowd was afraid of retreating too slowly and being targeted by Zhang Zhuo.
Wang Daosheng said impassively, "One hundred taels."
Zhang Zhuo teased, "How could my Zhang Zhuo have such a poverty-stricken friend? A dignified Minister of War, only giving his direct disciple one hundred taels?"
Wang Daosheng shot a sidelong glance at him, "I only have one hundred taels in total, so I give one hundred taels. How much do you have, and how much do you plan to give?"
Zhang Zhuo was momentarily stunned, and actually circled around Wang Daosheng, saying with interest, "Not bad, Wang Daosheng, using the art of war on me for the sake of your own disciple? If I give him my entire net worth, I'm afraid he wouldn't dare to accept it."
He turned to look at Chen Ji, pulled two strings of Buddhist Prayer Beads Currency from his robes, and placed them on Chen Ji's left and right wrists respectively, "I heard from Ah Xia that you pawned Gufu Pavilion. That was the family property your Auntie painstakingly saved up for you. Now that your Auntie is gone, keeping Gufu Pavilion can be considered a memento. Go redeem Gufu Pavilion back later. Each of these strings of Buddhist Prayer Beads Currency is two hundred thousand taels. Altogether it's four hundred thousand taels."
Four hundred thousand taels.
It could buy five hundred thousand shi of rice.
It could buy twenty-six thousand seven hundred mu of fertile land.
It could buy two thousand inner city residences in the capital city.
It could support a Border Army for several years.
Or fight a war commanding tens of thousands of troops.
The area outside the outer gate, which had just been a bit noisy because of the Feather Forest Army raising money, was now so quiet that one could hear the autumn wind sweeping past the Chengtian Gate with the rustling sound of banners.
That Ministry of Revenue Bureau Director who had retreated first pinched his fingers into his palms. He managed money and provisions, and clearly knew better than anyone what four hundred thousand taels meant. That was half a year of cash flow for a pure official bureau of the Ministry of Revenue, or half a year of land tax for a southern province.
According to the salary of a capital official, he would have had to work diligently from the founding of the Ning Dynasty until now to save this amount. No, he still might not have saved enough.
Chen Ji looked at Zhang Zhuo, "Lord Zhang, this amount of silver is too much. By bringing out this amount of silver in public, I'm afraid you will be impeached by many people."
Zhang Zhuo, however, smiled and grabbed his wrist tightly, "Don't worry about anything else. Go redeem Gufu Pavilion first. Some things aren't necessarily that important, but keeping them is just for the sake of having a memento. You are a nostalgic person, you must redeem it back. Don't worry, I will handle everything here."
Chen Ji was silent for a moment, then cupped his hands, "Many thanks to Lord Zhang."
Zhang Zhuo looked at the silver and money on the ground, turned to the Feather Forest Army, and smiled, "Alright, take all these back. Those who stole things from your homes to sell, hurry up and redeem them back as well. Don't let your parents find out and break your legs."
Li Guang was the first to take his silver back, laughing sheepishly, "With Lord Zhang around, I guess this silver of mine won't be needed. I'd better keep it to marry a wife."
Wang Peng also took back the silver he borrowed from the Pure Courtesan, "I still have to return her redemption money."
Qi Zhenzhuo laughed and scolded, "You two really only have this little ambition. Wang Peng, why don't you kid just marry the Pure Courtesan? Your parents have passed away anyway, no one is stopping you. How much is that girl's redemption silver still lacking? Our brothers who have spare money on hand will pool it together for you, consider it our wedding gift to you."
Wang Peng brazenly said, "You said this, it's still missing one thousand two hundred taels."
Li Cen threw his silver to him, laughing and scolding, "I was just being polite to you, but you actually have the nerve to ask."
Wang Peng didn't care at all, "I even went to a Pure Courtesan to borrow money, what else is there to be embarrassed about... Next month I will invite you all to drink my wedding wine."
The Feather Forest Army soldiers started cursing and swearing, and those with spare money on hand simply threw their silver to Wang Peng.
After everyone took their silver back, Chen Ji looked at Li Xuan, "Go redeem the Flying White Sword."
But there was no joy on Li Xuan's face. He actually tore the pawn ticket in half right there on the spot, "I won't redeem it. It's useless anyway."
Chen Ji sighed in his heart.
Zhang Zhuo looked at him and helped him pull his sleeves down to cover the Buddhist Prayer Beads Currency on his wrists, "Go. Guard the silver well, it will be of great use tomorrow."
Chen Ji nodded, turned around, and passed through the crowd, heading to Li's Pawnshop.
Upon arriving at the pawnshop, the old appraiser behind the counter didn't expect him to really come to redeem the house and land deeds. His heart instantly ached, "Guest, how come you just pawned yesterday and came to redeem today? Do you know, the interest for this one day is one hundred and twenty taels of silver..."
The majority of a pawnshop's profit came from the rolling interest of Permanent Pawns and Redeemable Pawns. This kind of transaction where one pawns yesterday and redeems today was almost equal to working for nothing. Moreover, the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion storefront was a fat piece of meat he had set his eyes on yesterday, originally calculating how to manipulate it into his hands half a year later. Now that the cooked duck was about to fly away, how could he be willing?
Chen Ji was already prepared. He directly placed one string of Buddhist Prayer Beads Currency given by Zhang Zhuo on the counter, "The net profit of Heavenly Treasure Pavilion for one day is not worth even one hundred and twenty taels. The Buddhist Prayer Beads Currency in this string is two hundred thousand taels, redeem."
The old appraiser picked up the glazed magnifying glass on the counter to verify the micro-carvings on the Buddhist Prayer Beads Currency. It took him half a Shichen (one hour) just to verify the Buddhist Prayer Beads Currency, and it was indeed two hundred thousand taels without a doubt.
After verifying, he said awkwardly, "Guest, my Li's Pawnshop doesn't have this much ready silver to give you as change right now. You'll have to wait for at least half a day."
Chen Ji frowned, "What, is Li's Pawnshop trying to renege on a debt? Daring even to swallow the land deeds of the Eunuch Faction, I presume you haven't lived transparently enough yet. I'll wait right here. If I don't see the land deeds before sunset, I'll confiscate your Li's Pawnshop."
The old appraiser had no options left, so he called a servant from the backyard, "Quick, find the proprietor and withdraw some silver from the First Silver Vault of the 'Jia' (甲) character series for an emergency."
The servant said awkwardly, "These past few days..."
The old appraiser frowned and urged, "The silver won't be lost. Wait until this guest redeems his pawn, then send it to the proprietor."
Chen Ji drank tea in the main hall for three Shichen (six hours). It wasn't until noon that he saw the servant return.
The old appraiser personally carried a rosewood tray from behind the counter. On the tray were the wooden box and four strings of Buddhist Prayer Beads Currency that Chen Ji brought yesterday, along with three ingots of ready silver, "Please count it."
Chen Ji stuffed the Buddhist Prayer Beads Currency and the ready silver together into the wooden box, turned, and left the pawnshop.
...
...
The seventh day.
On the final day, Chen Ji didn't go anywhere.
He sat on a stone stool, his Qilin Rank Robe meticulously worn, every button securely fastened. As the morning light grew intense, the Qilin Rank Robe on him looked so red it seemed it was going to catch fire.
Chen Ji steadily pressed the back of his blade with his left hand, and holding a piece of fine hemp cloth with his right hand, he wiped inch by inch from the almost transparent sharp tip of the Whale Blade toward the handguard, wiping it over and over again.
Now that he held over five hundred thousand taels of silver in his hands, if the Qi Family wanted to win over him and buy Bai Li, to buy back the Qi Family's face, they would have to pay a much heavier price.
If they wanted to spend less money, it was actually simple: just kill him.
Chen Ji was waiting today for the Qi Family to take the risk in desperation and make a move to get rid of him in advance, but he waited an entire day, and still didn't see the Qi Family's practitioners coming.
Had the Qi Family given up?
He wasn't sure.
It wasn't until the Hour of Shen (3-5 PM) that Xiaoman glanced at the sky and whispered to Chen Ji, "Young Master, the time has come. The Imperial Music Bureau will start auctioning the penal slaves after three quarters of the Hour of Shen. You should head to the Imperial Music Bureau."
Chen Ji's action of wiping the Whale Blade paused at the final inch of the blade's body.
The next moment, with a flip of his wrist, the snow-white blade naturally drew a brief arc of light in the air and accurately returned to its sheath. He stood up, carrying the Whale Blade, and walked outside, "Let's go."
Liquor Alley wasn't far from Yanle Hutong. By crossing two streets and turning north at an intersection, he would arrive.
On Gathering Sages Street outside the Imperial Music Bureau, a bustling crowd was already gathered, unexpectedly even livelier than Sky Bridge. Officials, commoners, and peddlers were all gathered here.
Suddenly, someone said softly, "He's coming!"
The crowd looked south and indeed saw Chen Ji coming, carrying a saber. Behind him were Xiaoman holding Wu Yun, and the Little Monk holding a wooden box.
Chen Ji didn't walk under the eaves along the street, but walked right down the absolute middle of the bluestone road.
Pedestrians sequentially backed away to make room. Some scrutinized Chen Ji and whispered quietly, "Didn't they say he is from the Eunuch Faction? But he looks to have a body full of righteousness, not at all like the Eunuch Faction."
"Indeed he doesn't, he feels like an authoritative official who is just about to go about clearing the emperor's side of evil officials."
"Who would write 'Eunuch Faction' on their face? The Eunuch Faction is the Eunuch Faction."
Chen Ji acted completely deaf to this, passing straight through the crowd without looking sideways. However, just as he was about to step into Yanle Hutong, he heard a voice from behind: "Viscount Wuxiang, please stay your steps."
He turned his head to look, and it impressively turned out to be the Trouble-Resolving Guard Chiliarch Wang Zhao, whom he had met before. The other party was also leading twelve Trouble-Resolving Guards, pushing through the crowd toward him.
Xiaoman whispered quietly, "Young Master, the ones coming are hostile... How could they pick such a time, choosing exactly this moment!"
Chen Ji said calmly, "Lord Wang, what matter brings you to find me?"
Wang Zhao took out an arrest warrant, "Viscount Wuxiang, someone before the Emperor impeached Lord Zhang Zhuo for selling official positions and titles and embezzling public funds for personal gain. This matter has some involvements with you as well. I have come on orders to take you to Renshou Palace for questioning."
Chen Ji didn't answer. Instead, his gaze turned toward the Vermilion Steps Great Music Hall of the Imperial Music Bureau deep within Yanle Hutong. It seemed it was just one step away. As long as he took one more step forward, he could...
But whatever was meant to come, would come after all.
Chen Ji handed the Whale Blade to Xiaoman, "Don't worry, wait for me here."
Wang Zhao pointed at the wooden box in the Little Monk's arms, "This must also be brought into the palace."
Chen Ji fell silent for a moment, "Alright."
Wang Zhao opened the box to take a look. Seeing that the silver and Buddhist Prayer Beads Currency were both there, he immediately set his mind at ease, "Let's go, Lord Chen presumably doesn't need us to escort you under guard."
"Not necessary." (End of Chapter)