Chapter 368: Meeting an Old Friend in a Foreign Land

After Fang Tangjing's thunderous shout, passersby turned their heads one after another. The man he had yelled at was equally startled, spinning around to glare at Fang Tangjing.

This man was tall and slender, also around thirty years of age, wearing a pair of gray trousers and a hooded sweatshirt on top. Unlike the other locals, this man kept his hair long. His long ponytail was simply tied up, just falling into the hood behind his head.

In the next moment, the man's shock turned to delight. His mouth fell open, and he rushed over, grabbing Fang Tangjing by the shoulders: "Worthy younger brother, how is it you?!"

And Fang Tangjing also burst into loud laughter, saying: "Elder brother, I never thought we would reunite here!"

The two of them laughed heartily, excitedly sizing each other up. Yet after a few glances, Fang Tangjing suddenly became somewhat sorrowful: "Elder brother, you've grown thin!"

The elder brother at this moment also heaved a long sigh: "Ah, a long story, a long story."

By this point, Fang Tangjing naturally could no longer board the boat and set off. So he refunded his ticket and returned to the inn with his elder brother, re-registering for a room, the two of them preparing for a good long heart-to-heart talk.

Who was this elder brother? Nan Wang.

To explain, Fang Tangjing's master's surname was Huang, given name Shaozhou. Master Huang Shaozhou and that Master Bo from Fujian were both third-rank presented scholars of the Wanli Era, and were year-mates on good terms.

This Master Huang Shaozhou's family had lived in Hangzhou for generations; he was a local native. Back when Licentiate Nan was working as a retained scholar in Hangzhou, the unit where he served the longest was Master Huang's residence.

Among the team of retained scholars serving in Huang Fu at the time, probably due to similar age and background, Nan Wang and Fang Tangjing, this pair of close friends, had hit it off from the very start. Later, the two even became inseparable, addressing each other as brothers.

It was also a coincidence: both came from commoner families in Hangzhou City, both were failed xiucai, and in the end, both were forced by the pressure of life to go to Master Huang's residence and become retained scholars.

And what they most had in common was the matter of losing their wives. The ancients all married quite early; Nan Wang and Fang Tangjing had both started families in their twenties, and as it turned out, both of their first wives passed away from illness a few years after marriage.

After this, a fork appeared in their life paths: Fang Tangjing was eventually favored by his master, Master Huang, and remarried to Master Huang's distant niece, upgrading to become Master Huang's trusted advisor.

Meanwhile, Nan Wang found true love in a salt merchant's household: he got the salt merchant's concubine pregnant, then abducted her and fled, ultimately ending up, by a series of accidents, working under the Transmigrators.

A long story.

After the two returned to the inn, Fang Tangjing immediately grabbed Nan Wang and questioned him endlessly — back when Nan Wang was hastily fleeing, for fear of implicating his close friend, Fang Tangjing had only received a brief text message of a few strokes. Its content only said that Nan Wang was going south to serve as an advisor, and after that, there was no further news.

In the nearly two years that followed, Fang Tangjing had been constantly inquiring about Nan Wang's whereabouts, yet all leads went cold. He never imagined that today, in this uncivilized land a thousand li from Hangzhou, he would meet his elder brother amidst the vast sea of people — it could only be fate playing tricks.

And Nan Wang, now facing Fang Tangjing, was equally overwhelmed with mixed emotions.

Back when he had settled down in Taiwan, he had entertained the idea of sending a letter to Fang Tangjing. However, for one, he feared that sending a letter would draw the salt merchant's attention and bring trouble to Fang Tangjing — Nan Wang could not assess the salt merchant's reaction after the elopement, so he could only speculate on the situation in Hangzhou according to the worst possible outcome.

Secondly, because Nan Wang soon after became an employee of the Intelligence Bureau, the matter of sending a letter was naturally put on hold for the time being: an intelligence agent's identity required secrecy, and Nan Wang still had a case hanging over him. If he actively contacted past connections, it would involve background checks and layers of approval — very troublesome.

Therefore, unexpectedly running into Fang Tangjing today filled Nan Wang with both shock and joy. In his original plan, it would probably be a few more years before he had a chance to go to Jiangnan on a mission, and only then would he pick up these past matters and old acquaintances one by one.

However, when Fang Tangjing asked about his whereabouts over these past two years, Nan Wang suddenly became alert: the Intelligence Bureau had strict regulations; the revival of such a significant personal relationship could only proceed after obtaining permission from a superior.

So Nan Wang could only suppress his own feelings, picking out some non-violating points to fob Fang Tangjing off for the moment.

The specific content he gave was very vague: the reason he left Hangzhou in a hurry back then was because he met a "noble patron" who was recruiting advisors with a hefty salary. After Nan Wang applied at the time, since the noble patron needed to set sail immediately, he didn't have time to bid farewell to Fang Tangjing.

After that, because he was frequently sent by the noble patron on business trips to overseas commercial firms, Nan Wang had even less opportunity to contact his worthy younger brother.

Fang Tangjing had no real doubts about this improvised explanation from Nan Wang. What interested him were other things... He keenly detected certain information in Nan Wang's words: "Could that noble patron be one of the old brothers who rose to power following General Cao?"

Nan Wang slowly nodded. That he worked locally was normal information, and there was no need to conceal it.

"Exactly! This is truly like searching everywhere, only to find it without effort. Elder brother, your younger brother has been sent by the master this time precisely to scout the path here."

Nan Wang was far too familiar with the Huang Family, so he instantly grasped Fang Tangjing's whole story: "Haha, our master is truly willing to spend, even sending out a great general like you!"

Now, this Master Huang Shaozhou was quite a character himself.

The Huang Family was originally just an ordinary merchant household in Hangzhou City; the highest-ranking person they had produced was only Master Huang's father, a xiucai. Then, during the Wanli Era, Master Huang stunned everyone by passing the presented scholar examination, changing the family's social standing in one stroke.

After serving one term as a county magistrate, by the Tianqi era, Master Huang discovered that Wei Zhongxian, Eunuch Wei, in the court had grown so arrogant he was about to break through the sky. So, like many clever scholars of the time, he promptly "retired on grounds of old age and returned home."

After returning to Hangzhou, Master Huang began to seriously manage the family estate.

Coming from a merchant family, Master Huang not only had a keen business sense but also lacked the usual stinking airs of the gentry in his dealings with people. He not only treated scholars courteously, showing exceptional kindness to down-and-out literati like Nan Wang, but also maintained good relations with various other powers.

With this, plus his background as a genuine presented scholar, the Huang Family's estate swelled up like a balloon.

So today, when Nan Wang heard Fang Tangjing's reason for coming, his first thought was of the mastermind behind the scenes with the keen business sense — Master Huang.

Fang Tangjing had already been overjoyed enough after unexpectedly running into Nan Wang; now, discovering that his old brother was actually working for the "Cao Family" was joy upon joy. So he hurriedly laid out the purpose and gains of his trip to Taiwan this time.

Nan Wang listened while silently nodding: for a native newly arrived in a strange place, to be able to learn so much in a short time and find the correct investment direction was truly no easy feat. It seemed his worthy younger brother had not lost his touch.

So Nan Wang finally patted the back of Fang Tangjing's hand: "Worthy younger brother, rest assured. Master Huang treated me generously back in the day, and now you have become a son-in-law of the Huang family. Therefore, on this matter, your elder brother will certainly not stand by with folded arms. After all, your elder brother is now an old hand at the General's Mansion; helping Master Huang with an arm is a mere trifle!"

Fang Tangjing was utterly elated at heart at this moment and couldn't help but burst into loud laughter.

When one's mood is stirred, time flies. Unknowingly, it was already noon. Nan Wang then took Fang Tangjing and his servant out for a meal. During this time, he still deliberately avoided talking about his own past; between the two of them, it was mainly Fang Tangjing doing the talking.

And Fang Tangjing, in his excitement, did not notice this point. He just kept pouring out the situation of the Huang Family and himself over the past two years, including the two "great afflictions" that Master Huang had ultimately been unable to resolve.

As the saying goes, every family has a difficult scripture to recite. Whether it's a master or God, one can never let a family live a perfect life, and Huang Fu was no exception.

With Master Huang, there had always been two afflictions that remained incurable for many years. The first of these was "foot ailment." Master Huang had always had a problem with his feet, an old ailment; once it flared up, the pain was unbearable, and he would be bedridden, unable to walk.

The foot ailment, for Master Huang, was actually a minor illness. The most serious affliction he carried, however, was "lack of an heir."

Lack of an heir, for a family in the medieval era, was a grave hidden danger. From commoners below to emperors above, lacking a qualified successor signified turmoil for the family and the state — this was a major issue. Although Master Huang was in the prime of life, his five wives and concubines had, by coincidence, yet to bear him a single son or daughter... who the problem lay with was obvious to any clear-eyed observer.

Then Fang Tangjing poured out a heap of grievances before Nan Wang: because of this lack of an heir, the household was often thrown into utter chaos, with no peace to be found.

Nan Wang let out a hearty laugh upon hearing this. Master Huang's "great afflictions" were practically famous; he had known about them back when he worked for the Huang Family. He never imagined the matter was still unresolved to this day: "Just hurry up and adopt a legitimate son from the clan and be done with it. At this stage, what is the master still being so fussy about?"

"The master just isn't resigned to it, and on top of that, he can't stand those juniors in the clan... Ah, let's not talk about it, let's not talk about it. A long story."

The two, reunited after a long separation, chatted as they ate, not parting until the afternoon.

In fact, Nan Wang was on leave today, but due to the sudden appearance of Fang Tangjing, he had no choice but to leave temporarily.

After settling Fang Tangjing in and telling him he had to report for duty and would come back tomorrow for a detailed talk, Nan Wang hurried off to his unit — the Intelligence Bureau.

As the Empire's sole intelligence agency at present, the Intelligence Bureau's scale had been continuously expanding. This expansion was in preparation for a future split: once the plate grew large enough, the intelligence apparatus had to be divided, otherwise the Intelligence Bureau Chief could sit on the Prime Minister's head and defecate... one could refer to Hoover.

After bidding farewell to Fang Tangjing, Nan Wang went out and hurriedly hailed a single-person horse carriage, riding it all the way to the Intelligence Bureau headquarters located near Xingang Creek.

The headquarters had only recently moved to the spacious outskirts, the reason being that various electrical circuits and wires had finally received their quotas. The new headquarters came with a training base and a series of other facilities, giving it quite the feel of Kuantike.

After Nan Wang produced his ID at the main gate of the headquarters, which was surrounded by enclosing walls and dotted with visible and hidden sentries, he proceeded unimpeded all the way, finally arriving at a three-story office building deep within the headquarters.

Taking out a key to open the door to one of the offices, Nan Wang entered, washed his face in an enamel washbasin, then sat down at a camphorwood desk, spread out paper and brush, calmed his mind, and earnestly began to write a report.