Chapter 145

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

The steward only heard a single sentence; for a moment he could not guess the master's intention, so he did not know how to answer, and first said: "There has been no reply yet."

Xiang Yuan said displeasedly: "It was merely inquiring about some news; already more than half a month has passed — can it still not be done?"

The steward helped explain: "The water has risen along the way, the roads are also hard to travel; I fear they are stuck halfway."

He originally wanted to use this to change the subject, but unexpectedly Xiang Yuan pressed on and asked again: "Today that Song Xiaoniangzi came; you had dealings with her twice — what was your impression?"

"Naturally it was good." The steward had to answer, "Her skill is good, her character is also good, she is meticulous, and her mind is broad — she does not nitpick in the least."

Then he asked: "Speaking of this, this time you, Master Xiang, posted a wanted notice offering a reward of three hundred guan for whoever could help find the young master; but it was that Song Xiaoniangzi who helped find him at home — this reward money…"

Xiang Yuan frowned, and for a long while did not speak.

Beating a child is easy; cleaning up the mess is hard.

At noon Xiang Lin was found in the licorice storehouse; upon hearing that it was the idea of several children from the Xie clan to hide him there, the Xie family head changed color on the spot, and without waiting a moment sent people to summon all the children.

As a result, everyone confronted each other together, yet both sides had their own versions.

The Xie clan children all insisted with one voice that it was Xiang Lin himself who first said he wanted to give Liang Yan a lesson, and only then did everyone help devise a plan — Xiang Lin also said that as long as they helped, even if something went wrong, he alone would bear responsibility and not let others be implicated.

If not for Xiang Lin making such a promise, and saying that in the future he would inherit the family business and would give everyone benefits, planning to open a large shop in Hua Prefecture City, with arrangements already made for who would be steward, who would be shopkeeper, who would handle purchasing, and so on — they would not have, would not have dared, to propose such a scheme.

At that time several children spoke with one voice, all saying Xiang Lin was the mastermind, while his own son denied it to the death, only saying others had framed him.

Thinking of his irresponsible appearance, Xiang Yuan felt anger rise from nowhere.

A son can be mischievous, but absolutely must not be stupid.

When Xiang Yuan was young he roamed outside; at that time he only felt the family already had an heir and he was not worried; now as the years grow and the family business grows, the son becomes ever more useless, and his mindset has long since changed.

Such a vast family estate — if it all falls to such a whelp, once he himself passes away, ruin and dissipation of the fortune will probably take only a few years.

The root being so, to reverse it may not be easy.

On one hand he must teach; on the other he also plans to take advantage of his own current youth to take more wives and concubines, and produce several more children.

When the time comes, if Xiang Lin can stand on his own, many brothers and sisters supporting each other would naturally be best.

If he cannot be straightened out, then simply replace him with a younger brother to manage the household, and raise him as an idle person.

Thinking to here, he could not help cursing "wretched spawn," and then said: "It is not that I begrudge this money; if it were a proper runaway, helping find him back would naturally warrant giving it — this… who could have imagined, he was actually found at home!"

As he spoke, he was already gritting his teeth somewhat.

If it were thirty guan, there would be absolutely no hesitation.

Alas, three hundred guan is after all no small sum; every fraction is his own hard-earned sweat.

Ordinarily he is generous and open-handed, but that money is all spent on the blade's edge, useful — unlike this time, it is simply throwing money into water!

But the words have already been spoken; wanted posters are posted everywhere outside; if he does not acknowledge this matter, although it may not ruin his reputation entirely, in the end he still has to do business with the Xie family, and face-wise he cannot get past it.

He thought for a moment, and said: "Repaying gratitude naturally must be done, but if it is only giving cash, it would be somewhat cliché."

Then he asked: "I spent the whole afternoon outside repaying favors and debts, and have not yet had time to ask in detail; you tell me properly — how exactly did that Song Xiaoniangzi find the person today?"

That steward told it clearly, one by one.

Xiang Yuan asked in great detail about Song Miao's words and conduct; when the questioning was finished, he suddenly said: "You and I were still confused because of personal involvement; she, as an onlooker, saw clearly — I fear she long ago noticed something was off, and deliberately led you to go find him."

He cursed again: "A bunch of turtle-grandsons, stirring up such a mess, making Laozi run around in circles!"

This time Xiang Lin could hide for so long; rather than saying it was good planning, it was more like a fluke of circumstances.

The storehouses for piling medicinal herbs were all locked; the keys were all kept by Steward Xiang; when Xiang Lin disappeared, everyone searched inside and outside the courtyard, found no one, and only then investigated the storehouse — nothing found.

But the people were newcomers, and did not know that the storehouse window was broken.

When people moved things in they had inspected it; following usual practice, seeing it was locked, pushing outward would not budge it, so they did not think further — who knew that window had been installed backwards back then; it should not be pushed, but pulled inward; the lock core was broken, a mere ornament, and it opened with a pull.

A group of children played familiarly in the courtyard, naturally knew this well, and early on sent the person in through the window.

During the search, Xiang Lin hid inside the herb piles.

He was determined to hide and made no sound; as long as the stacks of medicinal materials were not all moved away, there was not a single trace.

As for the usual delivery of rice and vegetables to him, it was done by everyone in turns.

Children's conduct is naturally not thorough enough; in fact there were several times they nearly gave themselves away — for instance, stealing food from the kitchen was a huge flaw.

It was just truly good luck; recently there has been much rain, and rats really were numerous; they sometimes forgot to cover the dishes and lids, and it happened to attract huge rats to feast, making the kitchen a mess, which instead helped wipe away many traces.

Because he heard the steward say Song Miao sent shoes and socks to Liang Yan as compensation, Xiang Yuan seemed thoughtful; he specially had the adopted son called over, and first did not mention Song Miao's matter, only using words to comfort him.

Being able to build the business this large, Xiang Yuan is naturally not someone who eats dry rice for nothing; a heart-to-heart talk made Liang Yan's eyes turn red, tears welling up.

Unable to wait another two days, Liang Yan spoke out the plan he had pondered for a long time — to go to the martial arts hall to learn skills.

Xiang Yuan said: "Child, Uncle is not stopping you; only learning martial arts is both bitter and tiring; if you want to learn, I will invite the master to the house to teach; otherwise sending you outside, with no one watching, Uncle does not feel at ease!"

He also said: "I know you fear that bastard Xiang Lin will stir up trouble again; pay him no mind; once this trip back is done, I will send him to the academy to study; he will only return once a month — let's see what heaven he can still overturn!"

Keeping an adopted son at home to practice martial arts, yet sending his own son to the academy to study — if these words spread, how could the Xiang clan elders and Xiang Lin's maternal family possibly agree, and how would they view this person who lives under another's roof eating free rice?

Liang Yan was badly frightened, and hurriedly pleaded and persuaded bitterly.

Xiang Yuan only said he would consider it further, then asked about Song Miao's matter again.

He asked whether Song Miao knew Xiang Lin was hiding in the courtyard, and asked whether the two had known each other before.

Liang Yan did not understand the intention behind it, thought there was something bad, hurriedly helped speak up, and even told how he had met Xiao Lian at the Zhu family that day, how he then met the real person, how he went out this morning to find Xiang Lin, how he encountered her, etc. — he laid out everything completely, only concealing details like his stomach growling with hunger, his shoes and socks both soaked and ruined, and so on.

He was originally both close to and grateful toward Song Miao; in every word, he was entirely defending her.

Xiang Yuan sighed a breath, and said: "You, she takes such care of you, why didn't you tell Uncle? She looks after my family's child, I also ought to properly repay and draw close!"

In front of Liang Yan, he called the steward over, and said: "The reward money is three hundred guan; Song Xiaoniangzi takes such care of our Xiao Yan, I also cannot be stingy; you prepare more, make it five hundred guan."

She added, "It's too late today; tomorrow I'll find another time to come and express my thanks in person."

Liang Yan both wanted Song Miao to get more money and didn't want to use Xiang Yuan's money to give it; seeing this situation, he was momentarily quite at a loss.

Song Miao, however, did not know that several streets away, a child was undergoing a trial of conscience in order to let her gain more benefits.

She went to bed early that night; waking up after a sound sleep, she first took out the stove regulations she had drafted earlier and carefully revised them once more, and while Han Li had not yet gone to the yamen, she hurriedly handed the things over to him.

After finishing the proper business, she then followed Dabing out the door again, just as before, asking various households in the city for quotes and also inquiring about the prices of all kinds of goods.

Besides inquiring herself, she also troubled those several groups of students who had gone down to the county towns to measure water conservancy records, asking them to conveniently help ask about the prices of a few items along the way if they could.

Busy for most of the day, on the road back to the relay station in the afternoon, Song Miao recalled that the group of students had earlier said they wanted extra dishes and rice, so she detoured with Dabing into the meat and vegetable shop to buy some ingredients.

Because she herself also ate at the official relay station, she only felt that although the dishes were ordinary in taste, they were still edible; what was unpalatable was the rice and the steamed cakes, so she had the idea of making some staple food.

Arriving at the relay station, the hour was neither early nor late, and the kitchen was empty, so she spoke to the relay soldiers, first replenishing the eggs and firewood used last night, and then borrowing the kitchen for use.

Stir-frying fillings, making fillings, kneading dough and letting it rise all afternoon, because she had Dabing this hardworking helper, the workload for ten-odd people's portions was done very easily.

At the same time, in the Hua Prefecture government office, a group of students were busy all day, some burying their heads in piles of old documents, some burying their heads in draft notes, working until they were dizzy and bleary-eyed.

But this day was different from before when no one was willing to leave.

As soon as it was time to leave the yamen, following one person calling out "Leaving the yamen!", the whole roomful of people moved into action — those packing things packed things, those loading things loaded things, taking everything portable with them to go back to the official relay station to do, the rest left as they were, ready to come back tomorrow and continue.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Don't make Song Xiaoniangzi wait for us!"

The whole group rushed out in a flurry, just running into Wu Gong, who was frowning and had just come out of the rear yamen, along with his two subordinates.

The students very honestly stood still, one after another returning salutes.

Wu Gong had guarded for a day and urged for a day; seeing that Cen Dezhang was like a donkey with its head covered and ears plugged, dangling a radish in front was useless, shaking a bell was useless — truly slow and leisurely, dull and obtuse, the effect was really minimal, so his mood was not very good.

But he was experienced in handling affairs, had seen all kinds of people, and also knew that compared to other drag-alongs, this Tongpan was already not too bad — he ultimately had the heart to take on tasks, only lacked the ability to handle them — so he endured his temper.

At this moment seeing everyone rushing about, he stopped complaining with his left and right subordinates and called out, "Leaving the yamen? Hurry back and rest!"

Although he had only arrived last night, his temperament was straightforward and he did not stand on ceremony; the students had nothing they wouldn't understand — unable to find Han Li or Kong Fuyang, they came to ask him, or asked his two subordinates, and every single one was willing to answer.

They were all working people; after a day they were already familiar, and none treated him as any superior — in fact he himself didn't regard himself as an official.

So the students invited him: "Wu Guiren, hurry up! Go back and eat!"

Wu Gong waved his hand and said, "You go, I'm not that hungry — today the official relay station still has my two catties of mutton ration; you go divide and eat it."

He urged his subordinates again: "You all go back and eat first; my appetite is small, one or two bites is enough, not like you youngsters who can eat."

It turned out that today at noon the prefectural yamen held a welcoming banquet; although the flavor was ordinary, it was quite sumptuous, only a bit too greasy, which made him feel choked up, so at this moment he had no appetite at all.

Seeing this, the students could only give up and asked, "How come we don't see Leader Han?"

Wu Gong said, "He just went with that Master Kong to find Tongpan Cen; they probably won't come out for a while — just leave a portion for them."

Only then did the crowd return salutes and run off, each one as if chased by a dog from behind.

Wu Gong hurriedly called out, "The road is slippery; why are you running so fast? Be careful not to fall!"

He had just finished calling when a head turned back from the crowd and replied, "Tonight we invited Song Xiaoniangzi to cook and add to the meal — don't know what food it is; if we go back late it won't be fresh!"

Wu Gong's footsteps instantly stopped.

Such a familiar "Song Xiaoniangzi".

His mind immediately thought of last night's oil-soaked fried eggs and "Three Willow" fried eggs.

Especially when thinking of that sour-sweet Three Willow fried egg, his mouth unconsciously secreted a lot of saliva.

This clerk secretly pondered: it's this principle — for example, yesterday's Three Willow fried eggs, it was eating that fresh-out-of-the-wok hot fragrance; if left for long, the egg edges are neither crisp nor fragrant, that sweet-sour sauce also turns cold, what eating quality would there be?

Then what is being eaten tonight?

Still eggs?

Shouldn't be, right?

Actually even if it's still eggs it's quite good — that Three Willow fried egg he could eat every day — to tell the truth, a whole table of dishes at noon, not one matched up to last night's.

Those two egg dishes last night, he ate them and this morning was still anticipating greatly; after tasting the relay station's true cooking skill, it was really nothing much, making him not even want to speak.

Truly, going from luxury to frugality is hard!

Clearly last night he was still someone who could eat his fill even on hot-water-soaked rice!

While Wu Gong's mind was thinking, his feet seemed to have grown a mind of their own, already walking step by step toward the official relay station.

By the time he reacted, he had already walked halfway, and couldn't be bothered to return to the yamen — anyway, tonight even if he urged it wouldn't move things along.

Although Wu Gong was no longer young, his steps were very fast; after all, he traversed mountains and rivers every day — he almost entered the official relay station on the heels of the students.

Just inside the door, he smelled two very strong fragrances.

He hadn't yet distinguished what fragrances they were, only felt one was numbingly spicy, one was fragrantly sweet, and within them was a very strong wheat aroma, mixed together, unlike any fragrance he had smelled before, thicker and more mellow.

He sniffed hard twice, about to stride forward, when he heard at a nearby table a passing official-dressed person ask the relay soldier, "Is that Steamed Bun being eaten over there? Why is it so fragrant? Why don't I have it here?"

"It's someone else making it themselves." The relay soldier hurriedly said.

"How much each? Can I buy? More money is fine too!"