Chapter 50: Persuasion (Bonus Chapter for 280 Pink Votes)
"In a moment, you'll be leaving," Fu Tingyun handed a bundle to A Sen. "Ninth Master has taken such good care of me along the way, and I have nothing to repay him with. I made him a winter coat—I hope he won’t refuse it." Then she smiled at A Sen. "I didn’t have time to make one for you, but I’ll finish it in two or three days and have someone bring it over from Willow Lane."
The summer morning still carried a hint of the night’s coolness, a refreshing contrast to the scorching heat of the day, making one inhale deeply to savor the rare sensation of cool air.
A Sen, feeling down about leaving Zhao Ling, took the bundle with a quiet "Mm."
Zhao Ling stood silently, his thoughts in disarray.
Why would she make him a winter coat?
Winter was still far away.
His mother used to do the same when she was alive.
Making winter clothes in summer, sewing spring garments in autumn… His wardrobe was always filled with fresh clothes waiting to be worn.
That sense of peaceful warmth was something he hadn’t felt in years.
Zhao Ling gazed at Fu Tingyun, his dark eyes deepening with an inscrutable intensity.
Fu Tingyun’s heart trembled, and she lowered her lashes awkwardly.
His gaze was so cold again, as if they had returned to how things were before.
Was it because she had hurriedly made him a winter coat?
A bitter taste rose in her throat.
Of course—she was neither family nor kin to him. What right did she have to make him winter clothes?
That was a wife’s duty.
He must despise her for it but was too polite to say so…
She felt tears threatening to spill but blinked hard, trapping the moisture in her eyes.
What did his thoughts matter to her?
He had saved her in her darkest hour, a righteous and noble act. She respected him like an elder brother, with pure and open-hearted sincerity—why should she cower like this?
There was nothing she couldn’t say to him!
With that thought, her spirits lifted, and she straightened her back. The words she had kept hidden now surged forth, impossible to hold back any longer.
"Ninth Master, there’s something else I’d like to say to you!" She raised her head to meet his gaze, her clear eyes free of any hesitation.
For some reason, Zhao Ling suddenly felt a pang of loss.
"What is it?" His voice softened to a degree that even surprised him. "Miss Fu, please speak freely."
"I asked Zheng San a couple of days ago," Fu Tingyun replied with calm grace, her smile poised and dignified, exuding a noble air that matched her striking beauty. Like a peony in full bloom, even plain clothing couldn’t conceal her radiance—this was a side of the Fu family’s ninth young miss that Zhao Ling had never seen before. "From what he told me, the Feng family started as salt merchants and are now among the most prominent business magnates in Shaanxi, if not the entire northwest. I don’t know what grievances exist between you and the Feng family, but since you’ve obtained that invitation from Sixteenth Master, perhaps you could find a way to make good use of it. This might even be an opportunity for you."
"Oh?" Zhao Ling stared at her, his gaze sharp, as if trying to see right through her.
Fu Tingyun, confident in her sincerity, let him look his fill."With Shaanxi in chaos, not to mention Qingyang and Gongchang prefectures, and Longxi being under Qingyang's jurisdiction, it's likely the fish-scale registers and yellow registers have already been lost. Even if they haven't, they're probably incomplete," she spoke slowly, her gentle tone carrying an air of confident composure. "Ninth Master, as you travel the martial world with these brothers by your side, there will surely come a day when you return home in glory. Why not take this opportunity to join the military and secure a position? With your skills and strategies, within three to five years, even if you don't become a chiliarch or centurion, you'd at least attain the rank of centurion or squad leader. Then with some silver, you could transfer to civilian status—free as a fish in the sea, unbound as a bird in the sky. Wouldn't that be carefree and joyful? Why must you confront the Feng family to the death, wasting such precious time?" After a brief pause, she added, "The great kindness Ninth Master has shown me is something I can never repay in this lifetime. I still have some valuables left by my mother for emergencies. As for these two thousand taels in bank notes—I'm but a woman who never steps beyond the inner gate. Keeping them would be of no use. Ninth Master should take them instead. Though it's not much, in the military camp, it could help with socializing among colleagues or currying favor with superiors." Remembering the gold coins Ninth Master had spent, she retrieved the two thousand taels from her sleeve's hidden seam and handed them to Zhao Ling. "Please accept this."
Zhao Ling lowered his head.
Between her jade-like, fair fingers were several white papers stamped with bright red seals.
His mind was in turmoil.
She was giving him bank notes!
And advising him to take advantage of the current chaos to establish a new household register, use Sixteenth Master's name card to blend into the military camp, secure an official position, and cleanse his background...
Who did she think he was? Even the Feng family couldn't touch him and avoided provoking him—did he lack two thousand taels? Become a chiliarch or centurion? Military positions were hereditary, tangled in complexities over centuries—how could it be so easy to secure one? Moreover, military registers were controlled by the Ministry of War, civilian registers by the Ministry of Revenue. Without intervention from a high-ranking official, transferring from military to civilian status was harder than ascending to heaven!
Her plan was full of holes, born from naive assumptions about how the world worked.
Yet Zhao Ling couldn't bring himself to voice these rebuttals.
She was a sheltered gentlewoman acting out of kindness—how could he nitpick with her?
With that thought, what had seemed laughable to him suddenly didn't feel so laughable anymore.
Seeing his gaze fixed on the bank notes in her hand, Fu Tingyun's mind raced through several calculations.
No man would accept gifts from a woman, let alone someone like Ninth Master, who appeared mild-mannered but was proud to his core.
"Ninth Master!" After a moment's thought, she had her approach. "You must take these bank notes." She made her voice sound heavy with helplessness. "A commoner is innocent, but treasures invite crime. As a lone woman, if others were to learn I carried two thousand taels, it would only attract covetous eyes and endanger my life. It's better to lend them to you temporarily. When the time comes, you could help me purchase some farmland for rental income—that would be my security."
Zhao Ling smiled faintly.
Was she worried about wounding his pride?
His pride had always been earned through strength and strategy—others either exhausted themselves trying to defeat him or feared him at sight. No one had ever treated him like fragile porcelain, handling him with such care. She let him keep face while ensuring he wouldn't feel slighted.At this thought, something like a spring welled up in his heart.
Unable to resist, he took the bank note and told himself: Consider it a way to set her mind at ease!
"Alright! When the time comes, I'll arrange some farmland for you, so you'll have private savings to rely on," Zhao Ling said with a smile as he looked at Fu Tingyun.
Fu Tingyun let out a long sigh of relief, as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
"Then it's settled," she said with a smile, her bright expression carrying a hint of the familiar cunning that always lifted his spirits. "I'll be going now. If Ninth Master has nothing to do, feel free to visit Willow Lane for a chat." She spoke politely, then suddenly seemed to remember something and her expression turned serious. "Ninth Master, commoners should never provoke officials. You must be careful with Manager Mo."
Zhao Ling nodded. He watched as Fu Tingyun disappeared into the courtyard, surrounded by Zheng San, his wife, and A Sen, before slowly returning to his room.
※※※※※
Past Guangren Temple lay Willow Lane.
As soon as one stepped into Willow Lane, the clamor of the temple was left behind, with only faint echoes remaining, accentuating the lane's tranquil serenity.
Zhao Ling's residence was located in the middle of Willow Lane, a modest two-courtyard house. The small red-lacquered gate opened to a courtyard with two ancient locust trees, each thick enough to embrace. The main hall faced south with three rooms, flanked by two side rooms on each side. Another courtyard lay behind, shaded by a grape trellis with a stone table and stools beneath. There were three more main rooms here, with two side rooms on either side, and a small bamboo grove visible through the windows.
Fu Tingyun instantly fell in love with the place.
Zhao Ling's "relatives," surnamed Lu, appeared amiable and were delighted by her arrival. Madam Lu even personally helped Zheng Sanniang tidy up the room, her warmth tinged with cautious attentiveness.
Fu Tingyun glanced at A Sen, who was sitting nearby devouring pastries. "Who is this 'Aunt Lu' to Ninth Master?"
Since Ninth Master had arranged for Miss Fu to stay here, he must regard her as family.
A Sen set down his pastry and, seeing that Madam Lu was holding Linchun while chatting with Zheng Sanniang—who was laying out the cool bamboo mat for Fu Tingyun—and that no one else was in the main hall, whispered, "She was saved by Ninth Master and helps him look after the house. To outsiders, they're just relatives, and the deed is under Master Lu's name."
Fu Tingyun was shocked.
She had suspected Zhao Ling's "relatives" were unusual, assuming he had paid some family to play along, but she hadn't expected he was actually supporting them here.
This was no simple matter.
To go to such lengths—could this be his hideout?
Lost in thought, Fu Tingyun glanced around.
The furnishings were simple, no different from any other two-courtyard home, except for the uniformly black-lacquered furniture, neat and dignified, exuding a subtle air of prosperity.
A Sen looked smug. "Brother Yucheng and the others know the master has another residence outside, but they don't know where. Only I've been here twice, and that was three years ago."
Three years ago... Zhao Ling looked barely over twenty...
Fu Tingyun asked in surprise, "How old is Ninth Master, then?"
"Ninth Master is twelve years older than me," A Sen said proudly. "We're both Rats."
That meant he was twenty-one this year.
He had arranged all this when he was just eighteen.
Fu Tingyun's expression turned astonished once more.A Sen looked even more pleased with himself. "This house was bought five years ago."
Five years ago, he was just sixteen years old...
Only a year older than she was now.
Fu Tingyun felt a pang of embarrassment.
Over there, Madam Lu walked over with Linchun in her arms, beaming. "Miss, what would you like to eat? I'll have Old Cao go buy it from the market!"
Old Cao was the elderly gatekeeper.
"No need, no need." Though it was all a pretense, she couldn't let her casualness arouse suspicion in others... The thought flashed through her mind, and she recalled Mo Yi.
Since he was Sixteenth Master's man, he claimed to be taking care of them under orders, but in reality, he was keeping watch over them. If she wanted to move to her "relative's" house, he had no reason not to investigate... Yet even so, he allowed her to stay at the "relative's" house... Was it because he hadn't found anything unusual about this house? Or was it because, even if he had, he was confident he could keep them under control?
Her heart pounded wildly at the thought.
To be confident of keeping them under control, he would first have to station people around the house day and night... Zhao Ling had said he might not be Sixteenth Master's man. If so, who was he? And where did he find the manpower to watch over this house?
This wasn't something one or two people could manage alone.
(End of Chapter)
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