Chapter 162: Hearing Zhao Zhao Meifeng's

"Great-aunt, since you have been away these past few days, your grandnephew will not disturb your rest."

Hearing Xu Xu Zaijing's words, the Old Da Niangzi nodded.

Minglan returned to the bedchamber with the Old Da Niangzi; looking at Minglan's appearance, the Old Da Niangzi said, "Minglan, do you know who the foremost specialist in women's ailments in our Yang Zhou is?"

Minglan frowned, thought for a moment, then shook her head and said, "Grandmother, your granddaughter does not know."

"It is that Physician Chen whom your Jing Jing Biao Ge Jing seeks out every day." Hearing the Old Da Niangzi's words, Minglan's eyes darted as she said, "Grandmother, is Jing Jing Biao Ge doing this for my mother, fearing that if anything happens to her, there would be no physician?"

The Old Da Niangzi nodded and said, "Will you sleep with Grandmother tonight, Ming'er?"

Minglan nodded.

In the days that followed,

the Old Da Niangzi personally sent someone to fetch the wet nurse and deliver her to the side courtyard, while Sister Sister Xiaodie returned to Wei Wei Shuyi's side,

yet Nurse Cui still had not returned to Shou'an Hall.

As for Wang Wang Ruofu, she was busy organizing the Sheng family's belongings—loading onto ships what needed loading, selling off what needed selling—as they prepared to depart for Bianjing; she was so busy her heels were propping up the back of her head, and thus she did not care that Sheng Hong, after attending his colleagues' farewell banquet, went to Linqi Pavilion.

Wuyi Lane

After these days of radical reform, the Bai family had truly and firmly come under Bai Shi's control.

At this moment, Gu Gu Tingye and his sister were playing pitch-pot outside the room,

while inside,

Bai Shi looked at the account books in her hand, nodded in approval, and said to Xu Xu Pingmei, "This Da Niangzi Wei, Wei Wei Yuyi, is indeed shrewd and capable; in such a short time, she can already stand on her own."

Xu Xu Pingmei smiled and said to Bai Shi, "Mother-in-law, I have also heard a little; the stewards in our courtyard all say that since Da Niangzi Wei returned from the Sheng family, she has worked like one possessed, truly conscientious and diligent, handling her duties excellently! Moreover, her sister has borne a son for the Sheng family, and the relatives from Chuzhou have been brought to Yang Zhou. Thus, Mother-in-law's planning has not been in vain."

Bai Shi smiled; she was now the principal wife of the Marquis of Great Zhou, and furthermore, the heir to the largest salt estate in Yang Zhou—or rather, in all of Great Zhou.

Her entire demeanor was completely different from what it had been over a decade ago.

She smiled and said, "By the way, Ping'er, I have received a letter from Yu'er."

"Ah? What does my husband say?" Xu Xu Pingmei asked, startled.

Bai Shi handed the letter in her hand to Xu Xu Pingmei, saying, "He says he has finished the metropolitan examinations and that we few may continue to enjoy ourselves in Yang Zhou a while longer."

"My husband has always said we should return later; I wonder what scheme he is hatching!" Xu Xu Pingmei asked curiously, then unfolded the letter and read it carefully.

In truth, after Bai Shi arrived in Yang Zhou, she frequently received letters sent from Bianjing, and thus she had already formed a rough idea of her eldest son's plans.

"Mother-in-law, if we do this, we will miss the posting of the results for my husband's metropolitan examinations," Xu Xu Pingmei said.

"That is true, but are we not returning with such a magnificent gift?" Bai Shi said, glancing at Xu Xu Pingmei's belly.

Qi Qi Yiqiu, the Duke of Qi, was by nature humble and gentle, but since this mission away from the capital carried great responsibility, Princess Princess Pingning had specially selected several scholar-officials from the Marquis Xiangyang Marquis's household to serve as strategists accompanying him.

After this period of enduring hardships and biding his time, through countless trials, and with the cooperation of officials from the Imperial City Bureau and the Yang Zhou prefectural yamen, he had ultimately fulfilled the Emperor's commission satisfactorily.

The original text of Princess Princess Pingning's letter read: 'His Imperial Father, learning that annual revenue could increase by seven hundred thousand strings of cash, was immensely pleased!'

The reason the Duke of Qi had not yet departed was that he was awaiting the newly appointed Supervisor of the Tea and Salt Commission, who had good relations with the Cao family.

After handing over the relevant affairs, Qi Qi Yiqiu fell directly ill in Yang Zhou; after all, having been pampered since childhood, how could he have endured such a journey of a thousand li?

That he only fell ill now was solely because his physical constitution was quite robust.

Thus, he could neither ride horseback nor travel by cart; he could only return to the capital by boat.

Before leaving Yang Zhou, Xu Xu Zaijing received an invitation from Zhao Zhao Meifeng,

and at a restaurant in Yang Zhou, Zhao Zhao Meifeng treated Xu Xu Zaijing to a meal; since Xu Xu Zaijing was not yet old and Zhao Zhao Meifeng was still injured, neither drank freely.

Zhao Zhao Meifeng sighed, remarking that in less than three months, he had leaped from a state of lying low to becoming the undisputed authority of the Imperial City Bureau in this most prosperous region of southeastern Great Zhou.

"Brother Jing, as you return to Bianjing this time, I have nothing worthy to gift you, only some small trifles; I hope you will not disdain them," Zhao Zhao Meifeng said with sincere tone.

"We fought side by side on the battlefield; Elder Brother Zhao speaks too solemnly."

"Brother Jing, between us brothers let us speak no hidden words: regarding the method for that 'garment' lent to me by the Marquis's household, I wonder if Brother Jing could part with it? Truly, there are far too many firearms in this southeast! Rest assured, Brother Jing, this matter has not yet been reported by me to Bianjing."

"Certainly; it was merely something I pondered during idle moments. If it can aid the court and the officers and soldiers of the Imperial City Bureau, that is naturally a good thing," Xu Xu Zaijing said with a smile.

"Excellent! On behalf of the sons of the Imperial City Bureau, I thank you, Brother Jing! Your future prospects are boundless; let me first offer you a toast."

After the two finished drinking, they exchanged a few more words; hearing the laughter of Zhu Zhu Qinghu, the scar-faced personal guard, and the Imperial City Bureau soldiers from the next room, they drained another cup.

Then, when Xu Xu Zaijing returned to the Sheng family, he felt somewhat awkward,

because the "some small trifles" Zhao Zhao Meifeng had mentioned were fully five cartloads of Yang Zhou's finest jade carvings.

Yang Zhou had already been the place with the most exquisite carving craftsmanship in the previous dynasty; by the Great Zhou dynasty, carving techniques had ascended yet another level, surpassing even Bianjing slightly.

Brother Qingyun casually picked up an exquisite wooden box, glanced inside a few times, and said to Xu Xu Zaijing, "Young Master, this craftsmanship is rarely seen even in the capital."

"Let us go; when we reach Bianjing, inform the palace."

Thus, a group of the Xu family's personal guards entered the Sheng family compound along with five carriages.

After various twists and turns for each family,

they finally boarded the passenger boats bound for Bianjing at the Yang Zhou docks in the fourth month.

When coming to Yang Zhou, they had traveled downstream without stopping day or night, so the speed was naturally quite fast; but returning to Bianjing meant traveling upstream, where speed depended entirely on the trackers and the wind, so naturally it was slower.

On the journey back to the capital, Da Niangzi Wei, who had a child, and Xu Xu Pingmei, who was pregnant, were both aboard two large ships in the middle of the fleet; Xu Xu Zaijing and the personal guards, servants, and attendants of the Xu, Gu, Bai, Sheng, and Qi families took turns standing watch to guard against any incidents along the way.

At the river bends where trackers had pulled the boats during the previous trip to Yang Zhou, the dry season had now passed, so along the downstream banks, trackers were basically unnecessary.

All the trackers had gathered on the banks where the boats were traveling upstream.

Xu Xu Zaijing and Gu Gu Tingye once again stood at the prow; Xu Xu Zaijing pointed to a young boy on the shore carrying a gourd and said, "I wonder if he still remembers us."

No sooner had he spoken than the chant of the trackers on shore rang out; after all, receiving a reward of over a hundred cash was a rare occurrence.

Hearing the trackers' chant, naturally, the several families could not do without sending several baskets of copper coins ashore.

When the fleet caught sight of Bianjing's towering city walls and the boats halted at the massive docks of Dongshui Gate,

the date was already late in the sixth month, and the weather had become somewhat hot.

Xu Xu Zaijing gazed out toward the docks, then happily waved his hand!

That's all for tonight.

If there are any typos or awkward passages, I respectfully ask my dear readers to point them out without hesitation.

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(End of Chapter)