Chapter 72: Wei Shen

The newly tidied Wanxiang City opened two days later, and the queue for buying grain hadn't dispersed when a new bustle arrived.

Baiyang prepared an opening gift for the Great King, isn't it almost New Year? Baiyang had printed thirty thousand blessing characters for the Great King, saying that where they come from there is a custom of pasting blessing characters on New Year's Eve.

A 45 by 45 centimeter red velvet base, with a large gilded blessing character in the center, and below it a handsome signature: "Presented by Wanxiang City, Shop No. 6, Zhuque Avenue, Youzhou."

It looks celebratory and shiny gold; the Great King quite likes it, let alone the people of Youzhou.

On opening day, every person who entered the shop and every person who passed by the entrance of Wanxiang City received a large golden blessing character.

In the Great Jin, few of the lower-class commoners are literate; ordinary commoners basically never buy any decorative calligraphy or painting, and those who hang calligraphy or painting at home can be said to be nonexistent.

Upon learning that this "picture" was being given away for free, no silver needed, and that pasting it meant blessings for the coming year, a queue formed at the entrance of Wanxiang City.

The Great King dressed up anew to watch the bustle; today his persona is that of a wealthy merchant's son, dressed very richly. He planned that if no customer spent money all day, he would himself go out and buy two items to seek a good omen.

As a result, before he could even reach it, he was dumbfounded—the Great King was blocked at the north entrance and couldn't get in.

Zhuque Avenue was surging with people, leaving him no gap.

Zhao Ba grabbed his lordship and wouldn't let go, saying, "Your Highness, don't go in—it's even more crowded than the streets of Chang'an during the Shangyuan Festival. Your Highness is small; if you went in you'd be stepped on."

The Great King huffed, "Someone! Go tell Zhang Tu to send people to keep order! No…"

The Great King immediately realized, we can't call the Imperial Guard Battalion for every little thing; they are regular troops, they need to train well to kill enemies on the battlefield. Lately they've been busy training separately with sabers and spears to see who suits which, this is a major matter—if the city falls even a little, I'll really be done for!

How can these people spend all day on the street doing odd jobs like maintaining order?

The Great King had selectively forgotten that he had just arranged escort bureau work for them.

"Zhao Ba, what about those three hundred we eliminated last month?"

Zhao Ba thought those three hundred eliminated weren't easy either; the Great King never let them idle day after day, yet their pay was halved.

"Your Highness, part are at the grain shop and cloth shop, part are staying at Wang Manor, and part are guarding the old city gate."

Huh? Still pretty busy.

The Great King had an idea: after the prefect's office was withdrawn, there was no one specifically in charge of public order on Youzhou's streets, and having the regular army do this kind of odd job looked strange. In Chang'an they divide it finely; Youzhou can't be too different, or else what face would the Great King have!

However, for now let's first let him squeeze in; we'll discuss this later.

In the end, it was Zhang Tu who came over, bringing a squad of guards from the gate of the You King's residence, to open a path for the Great King.

Once actually inside Wanxiang City, there really weren't many people; outside the door were just those who came for the fun to collect blessing characters. As for the goods sold inside, passersby could tell at a glance they weren't for them, so most didn't enter.

What the Great King wanted wasn't for the people of Youzhou to buy; he just wanted to let people know that Shop No. 6 on Zhuque Avenue had opened, purely for show. He must make sure that any merchant who later comes to Youzhou can casually grab someone on the street and ask, and they'll know the address and main business of Wanxiang City.

He quickly went up to the third floor, where fewer people were, and from the window watched the queue of commoners collecting blessing characters.

Really lively—the whole street was packed. To the south were men queuing to buy grain and cloth; to the north of Wanxiang City were women, children, and elders, all smiling as they waited to receive the Great King's blessed fortune.

The Great King was very satisfied; after looking, he shamelessly played with his own things.

He didn't have these new items either, like this big glass pink cat‑eye bracelet in front of him—it sparkles and looks nice, though being pink it's not very imposing to wear himself, but he is a pet owner.

The Great King picked up two strings and compared their lengths, "When I get back I'll join the two strings together, one for Bai Ze and one for Wei Ni to put around their necks! Truly rich and handsome!"

Bai Ze, left in Suiyu Hall, suddenly sneezed, lifted its head and looked outside—what's going on? I have a premonition that someone wants to harm this esteemed person!

The third floor was empty; the Great King strolled leisurely until a noisy sound came from below.

The Great King walked down a few flights of stairs, leaning on the stair railing to look down and watch the spectacle.

This gossip is simple; the Great King quickly figured it out.

On the second floor a young man had taken a liking to a folding small military knife, the low‑end version of the one Baiyang gave the Great King, sold at Wanxiang City for two thousand taels.

That young man seemed to have no silver on hand, and wanted to exchange his personal jade pendant.

The disagreement wasn't with Wanxiang City, but with his retinue that he had brought along.

"……This is high‑grade mutton‑fat jade carving that only exists in the far west; it's definitely worth two thousand taels—let's swap!"

"Young Master! This won't do!" The identity badge given to the young masters by their family, which has special significance, was taken by someone with ulterior motives to the southwest to do something… absolutely not! To take out something so important and exchange it for a knife that can't kill, how will they explain it back home!?

The helpless thing is that their master had already decided on it and insisted on the swap.

Seeing the Great King avidly watching, Zhang Tu worried he might hang from the railing and fall again, so he planned to stand a few steps lower to block him. As soon as he poked his head out, he noticed several of the young man's retinue downstairs, and he whispered to the Great King, "Your Highness, those attendants are all military men…… they've probably killed not a few."

Like soldiers who have undergone the baptism of war.

He could tell roughly from their posture, eyes, and the altered knives visible behind them.

That… the Great King became even more interested.

He glanced at the young man once, then again, and suddenly went downstairs and ran straight to him.

"I like your jade pendant; I'll buy it for three thousand taels!"

The young man saw a little fat kid jump out and didn't take his words seriously, waving his hand and telling him to go cool off elsewhere: "Go go go, none of your business~"

The Great King put his hands on his hips, "Hmph, I insist on buying it by force!"

The young man laughed at that, then turned and gave the Great King a proper look, "Hey, I've run into a local bully of Youzhou?" He said this without much meaning, but once he said it, the few soldiers who had come with him finally shifted their gaze from Zhang Tu and Zhao Ba to the Great King.

This kid……

The Great King was…… picking at his fingers.

The young man snorted, "What's up—did you lose or win on the three thousand taels? Want me to lend you a hand?"

The Great King said, "When I was four you were eleven; after the New Year I'll be seven and you should be fourteen, Wei, Shen?" No matter how you count, you should be the second son of my maternal uncle's family, as my uncle said.

This boy, who shares his liking for casually selling off family assets, resembles Wei Ting's heir, Wei Peng, by about five or six parts.

"Baili Jing?!" The young man finally realized.

The soldiers beside him bowed and paid respects to the Great King, and reminded his own young master not to call the You King's name directly when outside.

The Wei family's second young master, truly a cousin of the Great King, clicked his tongue twice and said, "Indeed, my father said your cleverness means you'll never go hungry, but the old man didn't believe it, insisting I make the trip—you're this fat, where does it look like you're not getting enough to eat!!"

The Great King pursed his lips and said in a low voice, "Give you one more chance—if your second cousin takes back that last sentence, I'll give you this military knife."