Chapter 33: Massage

"Honghailou?" Jiang Changbai had raised her brush to write, and hearing this, raised her head as well. "The one in the capital?"

"That one."

"Yet how is it that We remember that the proprietor of that establishment isn't surnamed Qin at all? Is she truly your older sister?" Jiang Changbai set her brush down as she spoke, her entire figure leaning backwards, simply staring fixedly at Qin Anhe.

Qin Anhe had always assumed that Chen Xun had hidden her identity exceedingly well, and besides the few close to her, there wasn't anyone who knew what the true name of the proprietor of Honghailou was. Now, suddenly having been asked this by Jiang Changbai, her mind was greatly alarmed, such that even her lips parted softly, and she was dazed for a good while, before she said, "Replying to Bixia, the relationship between the two of us is the same as sisters." As she spoke, Qin Anhe's fingers, hidden in her sleeves, unconsciously twitched. Although she spoke hesitantly, she was firm. Even if the two of them had never truly spoken of this matter.

Jiang Changbai, hearing this, merely smiled, vaguely remembering when, in her youth, she'd spoken these sorts of words with someone. But, when she tilted her head to look, that person was sitting properly on a chair, leisurely and carefreely fiddling with the folding fan in her hand. So, she restrained her smiling expression a few degrees, and turned once more to look at Qin Anhe, and said placatingly, "Don't worry; as We have already agreed with you, We will not renege."

Qin Anhe gathered up her courage, and asked, "Bixia, do you know my sister?"

"I don't," Jiang Changbai said, shaking her head, and added, "but as We are the Emperor, of course We know a bit more."

"Precisely; of the matters under these heavens, what could be concealed from Bixia's eyes? Shen-daren, don't you agree?" Now, Song Juguang was no longer paying attention to her fan, and in a flash, she stood and spoke. But when she said this, her eyes her gaze was fixed on Shen Yanyi, by the side, who hadn't said a word.

At this moment, Shen Yanyi's complexion was incredibly pale, and beads of sweat unceasingly converged and slid down her forehead. Her lips were pressed tightly together, almost forming a straight line. Her shoulders had risen slightly, and her back was rigid. Suddenly hearing Song Juguang call out to her, her empty eyes once more focused, but she only nodded, and agreed. "Yes, what Wangjun says is correct."

Jiang Changbai cast a glance at her, yet didn't make a sound. Once she'd written the three characters of "Honghailou" in a smooth flourish, Qing Huai, who'd been guarding the door, came in once more. "Bixia, Lin Yingqing-daren requests an audience."

"Let him in." Jiang Changbai set the brush down, an indescribable expression flashing in her eyes.

"Respects to Bixia," Lin Yingqing said, still wearing an outfit faded from the wash, and knelt down, well-behaved, as soon as he came in, kowtowing. Yet, having risen to his feet, he didn't say anything, his gaze sweeping across Qin Anhe's figure, and then shifting away.

"Who is it here you think can't listen?" Jiang Changbai, seeing his apprehensions, didn't conceal his thoughts for him.

Lin Yingqing wasn't someone evasive and sly of character, and hearing Jiang Changbai say this, without the slightest hesitation, he looked towards Qin Anhe. "This minister hasn't met this honoured person; I'm afraid—"

Yet Jiang Changbai, hearing this, scoffed, and reproved him. "She's not any sort of 'honoured person', yet it was this commoner who solved the problem that you good-for-nothing lot couldn't solve for so long!"

"So, this is Qin-daozhang," Lin Yingqing said, pausing for a moment. "It seems like this minister didn't come at a good time; the Ministry of Revenue still has important matters; this minister will leave first."

Having finished speaking, he was about to head out, yet he was stopped by Jiang Changbai's call. Jiang Changbai was looking towards Qin Anhe, and said, "As you've done a great merit, the rewards will naturally not be limited to this alone. Go, and take this scroll with you; in a few days, We will summon you once more."

"Thanks to Bixia." As Qin Anhe spoke, she joyfully took the scroll that Xun Zhu passed to her, and turned around, leaving. Only Shen Yanyi remained in place, neither able to leave, nor able to stay.

Jiang Changbai added, "You came together, so leave together; how could you have a child walk alone?"

Shen Yanyi, hearing this, seemed to have been relieved of a burden, and paying obeisance, hurriedly left. Despite the extreme heat of summer, it was only once she'd walked far away from the imperial study that she noticed the temperature. Her fingers were freezing, and her clothes, soaked with sweat, clung wetly to her back. However, at the moment, there was someone else who was just as anxious as she was.

Lin Yingqing stood in the imperial study, his back as straight as a brush. Song Juguang was quite unsatisfied with him, and blinked, her fingers, hidden in her sleeves, furtively forming a seal. The curtains shifted without a breeze, and the candlesticks atop the desk inexplicably fell over by themselves; but despite this, Lin Yingqing still maintained his own own motions, unmoving.

Jiang Changbai didn't know about the movements Song Juguang had made, and looking at Lin Yingqing, merely standing up not speaking, felt something was strange, so she said, "Now she's gone, say whatever you will quickly."

Only at this did Lin Yingqing speak. Actually these past few days, he hadn't been idle; he'd gone over each of the accounts of the Ministry of Revenue from start to finish. He was demanding repayment of the money that had been lent, and whichever province and place was lacking in taxes, he was pushing them as well. It was just, there was a matter.

"These matters, Shen Yanyi spoke with Us just now," Jiang Changbai said after hearing Lin Yingqing speak, almost laughing. "It's just that Luyuan borders the sea, and the majority of the Great Li's ports are within Luyuan's borders. Even the flames of war never touched there; how could they say they don't have the money?"

"Bixia is correct," Lin Yingqing said, a greater degree of evasion in Lin Yingqing's eyes. "But this minister sent a letter urging them twice, and Luyuan's Prefectural Magistrate said so twice. This minister asked for their accounts, and Luyuan's Prefectural avoided discussing it the entire time. This minister can't decide how to act next, and only because of this came to ask you for instructions." Lin Yingqing was also somewhat bewildered. He'd barely just investigated the accounts, when he'd hurriedly come to report to Jiang Changbai; how could it be that the one called Shen Yanyi had rushed to be first? Then again, the two were both doing it for the Great Li; they didn't need to keep being at a loss.

"If writing a letter urging them doesn't work, then send people to hasten them; just—" Jiang Changbai had originally meant to said just have one of Song Juguang's Cangwei army send a group, to go along with someone from the Ministry of Revenue to Luyuan. But having spoken halfway, it was as if she'd suddenly thought of something, and corrected herself. "Select some people from the Ministry of Revenue, and then go to Wu Dongmu and ask for a group of elite troops, and go to Luyuan and prompt them."

Lin Yingqing had clearly not expected Jiang Changbai would said this, and raising his head, he was dazed for a moment, yet in the end, he still said, "Understood."

"If there's no other matters, go ahead and leave; We want to see results as quickly as possible."

"Understood."

Once Lin Yingqing's figure gradually grew distant, Song Juguang paced before the censer, leisurely switching out incenses and lighting them. The newly list incense slowly ignited, until it dispersed about ever corner of the imperial study. Jiang Changbai inexplicably felt her mind relax a great degree, yet she still raised a hand to knead at her temple. Song Juguang, seeing she was exhausted, lightly pressed her lips together, and covered the censer, and then unhurriedly walked over towards Jiang Changbai. As she walked, she asked, "How did Bixia think of having Wu Dongmu send people to Luyuan this time?"

Jiang Changbai scoffed. "Luyuan's Prefectural Magistrate is a distant younger patrilineal cousin of Wu Dongmu's, and their relationship had always been decent. Before, when the capital was about to be surrounded, Wu Dongmu secretly sent his wife and child out of the city, and it was in the direction of Luyuan that they went." Yet she'd not even finished speaking when she suddenly stopped. Song Juguang had taken advantage of the period of these couple of sentences to quietly walk behind Jiang Changbai, her fingers lightly covering her temples, kneading in circular motions. Jiang Changbai merely felt that a slight chilling sensation came over her head, feeling the rough callouses on Song Juguang's hands that had developed due to holding a jian for so many years.

Jiang Changbai's face unconsciously grew flushed, even the roots of her ears washed with a layer of pink. Her heart hammered in her chest, and it seemed as if her entire body was going to become one with this resonance. She raised a hand, about to brush Song Juguang's hand aside, but after she'd raised it halfway, she inexplicably set it down.

Yet Song Juguang seemed to be unbothered, not feeling in the slightest that this action of hers was improper. Actually, she was somewhat curious about Jiang Changbai's suddenly halted words, and inquired, "But if you have him arrange a trusted aide to go, wouldn't it be that these taxes would be even less likely to be collected?"

Jiang Changbai, only on letting out a single syllable, realised that her voice had grown a bit more hoarse, and she hurriedly cleared her throat. "Even relations will quarrel over their interests, to say nothing of a mere distant younger cousin. Who knows; the person he sends may still ably collect the money."

The smoke that continued to rise from the censer seemed to have added layer after layer of screens in the room; the setting sun seemed to be shattered, coloured glass, filling the room bit by bit. That degree of indescribable feeling slowly and even more slowly spread throughout the room.

The glazed roof tiles laid out on the roof were illuminated under the golden light of the sun. The sun set in the west, yet in the Imperial Palace, an inexplicable desolation and loneliness arose. However, Honghailou was the distinct opposite; the clamour of voices and the permeating scent of wine interwove, creating the painting of a marketplace of vivid clothes. Amidst the wine cups and gambling chips, it wasn't clear how many stories had spread.

But all of this clamour couldn't seep into the private room upstairs; there, where people could seldom step foot into, at this moment, it was incredibly quiet. "This was written by the Emperor?" Chen Xun asked, staring blankly at the fine xuan paper spread out before her.

"That's right; I even told the Emperor that you're my older sister. With this sign bestowed by the Emperor, then won't you no longer need to waste efforts looking for a backer in the court anymore?" Qin Anhe nodded, her face radiating a glowing spirit, as if she were very proud of this. If she were to neglect the heaviness on Chen Xun's face now, this truly was a good deed for them.

Chen Xun thought a moment, and then continued, "What did Shen-daren say?"

Qin Anhe was startled by the question, and blinked, but she still couldn't remember Shen Yanyi's expression. She could only honestly say, "I didn't notice; it seemed as if as soon as the Emperor began asking me, she didn't speak any further."

"She didn't speak after leaving, either?"

"No, she didn't."

Chen Xun closed her eyes, a sudden absurd sensation rising in her mind that made her want to laugh somewhat. But when she opened her eyes and gazed at Qin Anhe's clear, somewhat bewildered eyes, she could only sigh heavily. "When Shen Yanyi took you to see the Emperor, what did she say? Did she mention me?"

"I don't remember, but I really don't think she did." Qin Anhe was still perplexed, yet she replied earnestly

Chen Xun sighed deeply. "Although Honghailou has no backers to speak of, its scope now isn't small either. Especially in the capital, I fear there's no one who hasn't heard of Honghailou's name. The current Emperor grew up in the capital, so she naturally heard of it. Additionally, since she knows my name, I fear that what she knows about Honghailou can't be counted as little either. Since ancient times, the emperors disliked collusion between officials and merchants the least, and yet this time, you've hung a blade over our and Shen-daren's necks."

Qin Anhe at the time had naturally not thought of this, and now, if it weren't for these words of Chen Xun's, she couldn't have become aware of the intricacies and twists and turns of this. Qin Anhe fell silent for a while, and, not knowing whether she was consoling herself or Chen Xun, said, "But I saw the Emperor; she doesn't seem like a bad person."

"But the Emperor," Chen Xun said, shaking her head, "regardless of whether it's you or I or Shen Yanyi, as long as she wishes to, she could take our lives at any moment. This has nothing to do with whether she's a good or bad person."

Qin Anhe grew startled once more, and lowered her head; when she spoke again, it was full of regret. "I'm sorry, I didn't think of that."

"I don't blame you," Chen Xun said, smiling helplessly. "It was I who didn't explain it to you clearly. I merely thought that, if you knew too much, it would invite trouble; I hadn't imagined that knowing too little wouldn't be good either. Since this matter has already happened, we'll just face her. It's not a problem." Chen Xun's words didn't have the intent to blame, but Qin Anhe still rebuked herself from start to finish in her mind. At this moment, her mouth drooped, and she was actually about to start crying.

"Aiyoh," Chen Xun, seeing this, smiled, and extended a hand to pull Qin Anhe into her embrace, stroking her back in comfort. "Since you think the Emperor isn't a bad person either, then now, this matter isn't too awful either."

Qin Anhe still burrowed herself in Chen Xun's embrace, sobbing, yet Chen Xun picked up a brush and wrote something down. Once she'd finished writing, she waved a hand to indicate to the maid guarding the door, A Ling, to send a waiter to hide the letter in a food box and send it to Shen Yanyi's residence.

The sun was hidden beneath the horizon, and the lamps on the street were lit. A Ling's journey there and back was very quick, yet when she returned, she was still holding that food box. "Zhangguide," A Ling said, her breaths uneven when she spoke. "The maid there said that Shen-daren's sick, and isn't seeing anyone. Even this food box wasn't taken in."

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