Chapter 16: Considerable Harvest (Please Follow to Read)

The crowd at the gate pretended not to hear, not even glancing at Zhao Ji, and continued their bustling activity with great fervor.

Zhao Ji pounded his chest and stamped his feet in anxiety, gnashing his teeth, yet dared not approach.

At this moment, Zhao Ti walked out of the study, holding two mutton-fat jade paperweights shaped like lions in one hand and carrying a jade dragon brush rest in the other, looking quite satisfied.

Seeing this scene, Zhao Ji could no longer endure it; he ran over and shouted, "Zhao Ti, you, what are you doing?"

Zhao Ti glanced at him sideways, handed the items in his hands to Zhou Dong, and said, "The Eleventh Young Master injured my men; naturally, he must compensate for the medicine costs. Since you ran off and disappeared, I could only take them myself."

Hearing this, Zhao Ji stood with his mouth agape, pointing a finger at the boxes placed by the door, whose lids were not yet closed, revealing the corners of painting scrolls, screen stands, or brush washers; he ground his teeth and said, "Medicine costs? What medicine costs require so much?"

"Too much?" Zhao Ti shook his head: "I do not know the value of these trinkets, so I could only take them first; if it is not enough, I will ask you for more!"

"What?" Zhao Ji widened his eyes, burning with rage: "Ask me for more? Do you know how much gold and silver these items are worth? I cannot even use one or two pieces, yet you want to take them all, and you still plan to ask for more?"

Zhao Ti folded his sleeves before him and frowned, saying, "The guards and servants in my residence were beaten extremely severely; every one of them vomited three sheng of blood and can only rely on thousand-year-old ginseng, hundred-year-old polygonum, and other spiritual medicines to sustain their lives. How many spiritual medicines can this pile of junk of yours exchange for?"

Zhao Ji trembled with anger: "Nonsense, nonsense! If someone vomits three sheng of blood, they are already dead; no spiritual medicine can save their life."

Zhao Ti's expression turned cold: "If they were dead, would it not be perfect for compensating funeral and condolence expenses?"

"But, but that still does not require so much! No, no! If you want to take them all, you must step over my body; if these items are all gone, I will not live either..." As Zhao Ji spoke, he threw himself onto a wooden box and burst into loud weeping.

Zhao Ti found this amusing in his heart but kept a stern face, saying, "Then what is the Eleventh Young Master's plan? If you do not compensate, I will smash everything here; I will simply pay the condolence expenses for my men with my own money!"

"I, I..." Zhao Ji said, "I will compensate, but not this much."

"How much will you compensate?" Zhao Ti asked.

"One item, just one item..." Zhao Ji felt as if his heart were dripping blood; every item in this study was his beloved treasure, and losing any one of them would be unbearable.

"Men!" Zhao Ti's face turned icy: "Smash them for this Prince!"

"Don't, don't smash..." Zhao Ji cried out in panic: "Eighth Brother, how many items do you say?"

Zhao Ti stroked his chin: "Now you know how to call me brother? No longer addressing me by my full name in rudeness and disrespect? This is simply an insult to culture!"

Zhao Ji lay on the box, nearly dying of anger; these were the very words he had previously said to Zhao Ti at the Yan Wang Fu, and now they had been returned to him word for word. At this moment, to preserve the items in the box, he could only swallow his pride and compromise: "Eighth Brother, you, how many items do you say?"

"Ten items!" Zhao Ti held out his palm and flipped it over.

"Three, three items!" Zhao Ji gritted his teeth and said.

"Ten items!"

"Five, five items..."

"Ten items!"

"Seven..."

"Men, smash!" Zhao Ti gave the order again before he could finish speaking.

"Fine, fine, fine! Ten items it is!" Zhao Ji hurriedly said, then pointed toward Zhou Dong's chest: "The two jade lion paperweights and the brush rest from just now do not count; these three are not to be given."

Zhao Ti's lips curled upward: "Count? You still want these three to count? These three are extras."

Zhao Ji was greatly alarmed: "How can there be extras?"

Zhao Ti said, "Do you think I do not know? These three items were not bought, nor were they crafted by skilled artisans you found yourself; they were given to you by Commandant Wang."

Zhao Ji stared blankly: "How does Eighth Brother know?"

Zhao Ti snorted: "The Eleventh Young Master need not worry about that. Take ten items, then you must establish a written note stating it is compensation money, and this matter will be settled once and for all."

"Why must I establish a written note?" Zhao Ji asked in confusion: "I have never established any written note before!"

"If you do not establish a written note, perhaps later I might regret it, or some of my men who did not die may rely on ginseng and lingzhi for years to sustain their lives, and if the money is not enough, they may come to you again to demand more..." Zhao Ti leaned forward slightly and smiled.

"Ah?" Zhao Ji was stunned for a moment: "Then I will establish the written note. Once the written note is established, this matter will be settled once and for all, and Eighth Brother can no longer visit my door."

Zhao Ti said, "Naturally so."

"Then, I will get them for you..." Zhao Ji reluctantly got down from the box, stammering.

"No need; I will choose them myself. Men, open the boxes."

Su Dayu and Er lifted the lids of several boxes, and Zhao Ti walked over one by one to inspect them, picking and choosing.

Zhao Ji was filled with dread, thinking only: This martial man did not like studying books before, rarely wrote characters, never composed a single poem, never obtained a single ci, and certainly could not paint; how could he recognize the value of my items!

The items stored in his study were all related to the four treasures of the study, or else calligraphy and paintings; he did not believe Zhao Ti could distinguish their high or low value.

Zhao Ti took his time, looking and looking again, then took out the items one by one; with each item removed, Zhao Ji's face grew darker, for they were all the most valuable items ranked at the front, rare treasures even when taken outside.

After finishing his selection, Zhao Ti had people prepare brush and ink, then wrote the written note directly on the box.

"Eleventh Young Master, sign and seal."

Zhao Ji stood motionless; Zhao Ti looked puzzled: "Still not coming to sign? I might leave."

"Sign, sign!" At this moment, Zhao Ji felt as if his heart were being cut by a knife, and at the same time was utterly bewildered: How did this martial man know which was the best? Not only were the ten items exactly the most valuable in order, but they were also very close in value; this absolutely should not be the case!

But then he thought again, "Ah, yes, yes! Just now, he must have tortured the eunuchs; the eunuchs betrayed their master and pointed them out for him... but that still does not make sense; even the small eunuchs who cleaned and organized the study could not recognize all these items."

Holding a small brush, he signed with trembling hands, then dipped his finger in the cinnabar seal paste and pressed his Hand Seal, completing one copy of the written note.

Zhao Ti picked it up, gently blew on it, folded it, and tucked it into his bosom, then gave the order to return to the residence.

Watching the group leave, Zhao Ji gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and forcefully pounded the box.

At this moment, crying and shouting came from not far away; he looked up and saw many guards supporting each other as they walked over this way. Zhao Ji impatiently scolded, "What are you all wailing about!"

When they arrived close, the leading guard stammered his report: "Your Highness, just now the Yan Wang Fu searched everywhere for the people who followed Your Highness over there during the day; after finding them, they were beaten until they could not rise from the ground. We tried to persuade them, but they even beat us; now our whole bodies ache terribly."

"This band of thieves and robbers!" Zhao Ji angrily rebuked, then saw the brush and ink on the box and could not help but pause; his own people were also beaten, so why should he compensate the other party with medicine costs and condolence expenses?

On what grounds did the other party demand medicine costs and condolence expenses from his own household?

What a martial man! He actually deceived this Prince with words! Zhao Ji was so angry that stars danced before his eyes; he kicked the box with his foot, immediately felt pain in his foot, stepped back several paces, and fell heavily onto the ground.

This Prince, this Prince vows to enter the palace to report you, you villain!

Zhao Ti returned to his residence, placed the ten items in his own study, set the paperweight lions and the jade dragon brush rest on the table, admired them for a while, then returned to his bedroom to rest.

The next day, after washing, having breakfast, and practicing martial arts for a while, he called Bai Zhan to drive the carriage, took Zhou Dong and Yu Er with him, left the residence, and headed straight for the Imperial Palace.

He wanted to find the Empress Dowager Gao Taotao to inquire about the matter of the Three Treasuries of Emperor Taizong.