Chapter 350: Reply Letter

Wang Feiyin excitedly dragged Wang Cong back to the room to cultivate, racking his brain at the same time, then remembering that their Mount Sanqing didn't have this thing; fortunately there was Little Junior Sister, otherwise he'd have to go beg Long Hushan.

Wang Feiyin muttered, "If you'd said earlier you liked spatial artifacts, I could have saved up money to buy you one, and even learned to carve one for you…"

Wang Cong: …As a businessman who likes making money, who could resist the temptation of a spatial artifact?

Are gold and silver so popular merely because they look good?

Naturally not.

The most important reason is that they can substitute for copper coins; just that one small piece can replace a great heap of copper coins, convenient to carry.

Why can the silver notes of money shops become popular?

Isn't it also because they're more convenient to circulate?

If everyone had a spatial artifact, copper coins wouldn't fear weight, could silver notes still circulate so smoothly?

One spatial artifact can greatly save costs.

Without a spatial artifact, to speculate in silver he'd have to transport copper coins from one place to another to exchange for white silver—not only renting carts, renting mules, but also hiring cart drivers, bodyguards…

Covering less than sixty li in a day, and still having to provide for their food, drink, and other needs…

After one trip, the money he earned from the price difference might barely be enough to feed them; why would he still take this risk?

Does no one know that in Place A white silver exchanges cheaply for copper coins, and in Place B white silver exchanges dearly for copper coins, and exchanging between the two places earns a price difference?

Many people know, but not many have the courage to do this business and still make money from it.

Coincidentally, Wang Cong has this courage and brains; without this jade pendant spatial artifact, he'd at most make small trouble in Fucheng—first using white silver to buy copper coins cheaply from restaurants and inns and hoarding them, and when the exchange rate of white silver dropped, he'd take the copper coins in hand to the money shop to exchange for white silver.

This is making money with time.

And with a spatial artifact, he can also use the price differences between regions to make money.

As long as his speed is fast enough, he can earn the greatest price difference at the smallest cost and in the shortest time.

Without a spatial artifact, he doesn't have the power to earn this money.

And the benefits of a spatial artifact won't only show up in this silver speculation.

The spatial artifact Little Xiao Shishu made for him is very large, one can hold the goods of thirty of his carts, and he has two such spatial artifacts!

Think about it, he only needs one Zhang Guanshi and two assistants to bring sixty carts of goods from one place to another.

How much money can he earn?

So he must protect the spatial artifacts; no one can snatch these two jade pendants from his hands, not even his father.

Wang Cong was dragged by Wang Feiyin to the front of the room door; he opened the door and was about to shove the person inside, when Tao Ji opened the door and came out, saw them, paused in surprise, then said joyfully, "Cong'er is back, perfect, I'll give you the money."

Just the功夫 of taking the money, Wang Cong's cultivation time shrank a little more;

After getting the money, Wang Cong was about to count it properly, when Wang Feiyin pressed down on the box and said, "What's the rush, count the money after you finish cultivating, cultivate first."

Wang Cong was forced to sit cross-legged, just about to close his eyes, when Miao Zhen and Miao He, who had received the news, came running over with pattering steps, followed by Tao Yanbai who had come to tip them off.

Miao He didn't know Wang Cong was going to cultivate—after all, in her impression, Big Senior Brother basically didn't need to cultivate—so she rushed in and said loudly, "Big Senior Brother, you've finally come back, can First Xiao Shishu come out of seclusion now?"

Wang Cong opened his eyes and carefully试探 said, "Father, how about cultivating at night?"

Miao He: "Big Senior Brother, you're cultivating? It's not even dark yet."

Miao Zhen: "First Xiao Shishu, Big Senior Brother's heart isn't still."

Wang Feiyin heaved a long sigh to the sky, "Truly difficult…"

The martial brothers and sisters looked at him with innocent and feeble faces.

Wang Feiyin sighed long, waved his hand: "Go on, go bring your Little Xiao Shishu back, big cleaning!"

Wang Cong immediately rose, casually stuffing the box in his hand into the spatial artifact, and followed the junior martial brothers and sisters out the door, asking eagerly, "Where is Little Xiao Shishu in seclusion?"

Tao Ji stood to one side, paused, then said, "Big Senior Brother, don't you feel Cong'er's pitch is three degrees higher than just now?"

Wang Feiyin was silent.

Tao Ji: "I didn't expect Cong'er to be this big already, yet still like when he was small—as long as he doesn't write homework, he's happy doing anything, this doesn't resemble his mother either, could it resemble Big Senior Brother?"

Wang Feiyin said expressionlessly, "Third Junior Brother, how long has it been since you were beaten?"

Tao Ji silently left.

Wang Cong excitedly followed the junior martial brothers and sisters to the mountain's edge, leaned his head to look down—no path to walk, below was a bottomless cliff. But about seven or eight meters below their feet there was a protrusion, and above it was a vast expanse of white, seemingly a path.

That indeed was a path; Tao Yanbai was gesturing to him, "This cliff face is easy to walk, that path is this wide, the snow hasn't melted yet, when we jump down from here to land we have to be careful, don't slip."

Wang Cong had this bit of confidence at least; he took the lead and flew down with light-kungfu, and once he stood steady on the path, he discovered the view here was better, the mountain scenery more beautiful.

Up above some pine trees would block the view, but here the视野 was open, able to see directly the protruding Shanfeng ahead and the ten-thousand-zhang cliff below.

The four followed the path and saw Pan Yun sitting cross-legged at the cave entrance viewing the scenery.

Wang Cong: "I only knew my father often went to Jade Void Peak for seclusion, I never knew there was a cave for seclusion here too, this cave…"

He sized up the depth of the cave.

Pan Yun had already withdrawn her gaze from the mountain valley, landed and stood up, "This cave has no flaw except no water."

The four looked forward along the path together, saw footprints on the pristine snow, extending all the way past the cliff face.

The four siblings' eyes all lit up, "Little Xiao Shishu, you've overcome your fear of heights?"

Pan Yun swept a glance at them and said, "Who says I'm afraid of heights? I'm afraid of the cold."

!. Read

These twenty days Pan Yun spoke very little, so much so that when she spoke now it was two beats slower; she paused before asking, "You've come to fetch me?"

The four nodded together.

Pan Yun waved her hand and said, "Go in and pack up."

Everyone had spatial artifacts, packing was very quick; they soon flew up along the cliff face and went home.

Miao He said, "Today Master prepared lots of good food with us, tomorrow is the big cleaning, we have to offer sacrifice to the Kitchen God, so we have to prepare tomorrow's food too, Little Xiao Shishu, what do you want to eat, I'll have Master make it for you."

Pan Yun asked, "Do I have a letter?"

"There is," Miao Zhen said. "We went to collect it seven days ago. Fourth Uncle-Master cast a divination over the letter — it was a level hex, so First Uncle-Master didn't let us disturb you."

Pan Yun's mouth twitched slightly. She was quite helpless toward her senior brothers and sisters' habit of divining fortune at every turn, yet she did not know that she herself was the same way.

After twenty days of clearing her heart and curbing desire, Pan Yun now had no great demands about food. "As long as there's meat, the rest is up to you."

She passed by the main hall and greeted Master Xuanmiao. Reaching the rear courtyard, she also greeted Wang Feiyin and Tao Ji, then immediately went back to open the letter.

The letter was from Datong. It contained not only what Pan Hong had written, but also letters from her two elder brothers, each folded separately and stuffed to fill the envelope.

Pan Hong's letter was the longest, because he had to recount the cases of those years in detail, and had many words of caution to give Pan Yun.

In Pan Hong's view, the two cases back then were not complicated — the evidence and confessions could easily lead one to the truth of the matter.

The difficulty lay in the fact that the parties involved in both cases touched the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The first was a wrongful case caused by the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate, in their eagerness to curry favor with the Embroidered Uniform Guard, ignoring much hard evidence and using torture to extract confessions;

Because Xue Xuan insisted on getting to the truth, he offended the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, thus planting the grudge that — when a second similar wrongful case occurred — instantly ignited the struggle in court.

Two ordinary cases instantly became pawns for the factions, weapons in the partisan struggle.

Especially since the second wrongful case directly implicated Wang Zhen's own nephew, Wang Shan.

Pan Hong cautioned: "To overturn this case, the key lies not in the evidence, but in the Emperor's will."

"Of the officials in court who took part in this case or heard of it, eight out of ten know it was a wrongful case — so why has no one overturned it?"

"Because of Wang Zhen, because such is the Emperor's will," Pan Hong said. "If you have no certainty, you may temporarily refrain from overturning it, so as not to implicate the families of the parties involved in those two cases of years past."

Pan Hong wrote sorrowfully in his letter: "The most wronged of all are the 'culprits' of those two wrongful cases back then. They have already been granted death by imperial decree, but I do not know how their families have fared. If you overturn the case without certainty, I fear they will be threatened and manipulated by the Embroidered Uniform Guard — and would that not be harming people?"

Pan Yun clenched the letter tightly in her hand, her expression grave. "I'm going to the capital!"

With a smack, Pan Yun's head was struck down. Wang Feiyin said: "Why don't you say you want to ascend to the heavens?"

"You're only a First Marquis — you think Jingcheng is a place you can roam as you please? Let me tell you, the offering Long Hushan left in the imperial palace is a Third Marquis. Pinching you to death would be like pinching an ant."

One more chapter

(End of chapter)