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nChapter 409 : Dispute (2)

nInside the Qin residence, Qin Zhao bluntly asked Du Wenshu, “Imperial Secretary Du, I want to know why Yun Qing has been promoted two ranks in a row?” This question gave off the feeling of interrogation.

nDu Wenshu answered helplessly, “General Qin, it was not the Crown Prince who proposed Yun Qing to be promoted twice in a row. It was Grand Chancellor Yu who had submitted the proposal. You should know the importance of Grand Chancellor Yu in the court. He said that Yun Qing’s military achievements were far higher than his current position, so he wanted to promote him and give Yun Qing a fair promotion, so how could others refute this?” The most important thing was that Grand Chancellor Yu had a valid argument. Not only could the Crown Prince contradict it, but he also had to praise Grand Chancellor Yu for being fair and just in his dealings.

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nWhen Qin Zhao heard these words, a horrible feeling surfaced in his heart. “Why would Grand Chancellor Yu interfere in Yun Qing’s affairs?”

nDu Wenshu replied, “The Yu family wants to get their hands on military power, and since they can’t win over General Qin, they have turned their attention to Yun Qing. The Crown Prince was worried that Yun Qing would turn to the Yu family, so he sent me here to appease him. Please rest assured, General Qin. The Crown Prince still values you the most, General.” After saying this, he took out two letters from his chest. He handed them to Qin Zhao, saying, “One is a letter from the Crown Prince himself, and one is a letter from Niangniang1 to the General.”

nQin Zhao took the letters and read the Crown Prince’s personal letter first before reading Qin Yue’s letter. In the letter, the Crown Prince wrote some words of reassurance; Qin Yue’s letter stated that she was pregnant with the Crown Prince’s child.

nKnowing that Qin Yue was pregnant, Qin Zhao’s face lit up. If his sister had given birth to a son, she would have a firm foothold in the Eastern Palace2.

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nDu Wenshu looked at Qin Zhao’s face and said, “General, His Highness the Crown Prince knows he has made things difficult for you. But the Crown Prince has also said that when you achieve another military contribution, he will promote you so that Yun Qing’s rank will be lower than you.” The problem was that if Qin Zhao wanted to be promoted, he first had to achieve military merit, or else Grand Chancellor Yu would have something to say against it.

nQin Zhao vowed, “Please assure the Crown Prince that I will live up to his expectations.” He must achieve military merit during the Great War at the beginning of spring.

nDu Wenshu felt that Qin Zhao was much more obedient than Yun Qing, yet still needed to be appeased, unlike Yun Qing, who was hard-headed and did not take the Crown Prince’s solicitation seriously. Thinking of this, Du Wenshu added, “General Qin, I will be returning to the capital tomorrow. Please pay more attention to Yun Qing’s affairs in the future.” He already had someone monitor Yun Qing’s movement, but if he had Qin Zhao doing the same, it would be a double layer of insurance.

nQin Zhao thought for a moment before saying, “I know a little about Yun Qing. He is unruly, arrogant, overbearing, and unwilling to be subservient to anyone. But his wife, Han Shi, is not a simple person. She has only been married for half a year and has made Yun Qing obedient to her. Du Daren3, Duke Han is the Yu family’s people, and I think the Yu family will start with Han Shi if they want to bring Yun Qing into their fold.” The implication was that not only did they have to spy on Yun Qing but also on Han Yuxi.

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nDu Wenshu naturally knew that Han Jianming had defected to the Yu family, but now that he was mourning at home. Du Wenshu didn’t expect Han Jianming to be restless even while grieving. However, Du Wenshu could not believe all of Qin Zhao’s words. He was only half-trusting at best, so he nodded and assured him, “This is important information. I will talk to His Highness the Crown Prince about this.” When he returned to the post station, he would have someone inquire into the matter to see if what Qin Zhao said was true.

nAfter talking about business, it was time for them to have a drink. Qin Zhao clapped his hands, and six women in crimson dresses came in from outside, dancing to the melodious sound of music.

nDu Wenshu frowned a little. Even though he did not like Yun Qing’s attitude, Yun Qing was at least scrupulous in his military duties and did not slacken off in the slightest. On the contrary, Qin Zhao, the Commander-in-chief, celebrated peace with songs and dance4, enjoying himself with good wine and fine food.

nThe short attendant beside Du Wenshu pointed out with a smile, “General Qin, this humble official noticed that these beauties do not look like the women of the Central Plains.” These six women were tall and had deep green eyes, so they did not look like the women of the Central Plains.

nQin Zhao smiled. “They are all from Western Region5.”

nDu Wenshu was not interested in seeing the beauties, but he could not leave. Otherwise, the relationship with Qin Zhao would strain, and it would not end well.

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nAfter lunch, Du Wenshu took his party back to the post station. When they arrived, Du Wenshu’s confidant, who was sent out to search for information, also returned.

nMost of the things were already known to Du Wenshu, such as Yuxi’s opening of a restaurant in Yu City and the establishment of Qingming Hall. “Is there anything else besides these?” What should he think about the founding of Qingming Hall? In the larger sense, this person’s ambition was not small. In the smaller sense, it was just the kindness of a woman. But to think that Han Shi was an influential person just from this matter would be an overstatement.

nHis confidant answered, “Last year, Han Shi went to the yamen6 and filed a petition against the Fourth Master Xu because of Qingming Hall.” Then he told Du Wenshu the causes and consequences of the incident and also told him about Yuxi’s counterattack.

nAfter listening to this, Du Wenshu asked, “Are the things being spread about true?” He had seen this kind of rumour spreading a lot in the capital. It was a trick that some women liked to use. He had asked about Han Shi before he came here. How can he put it? She was not too brilliant, but not mediocre either. Not to mention she was not a submissive person. Otherwise, she would not have been adopted by the Main Han House. Therefore, Du Wenshu thought Han Yuxi was a little smart but not very wise. As for being able to make Yun Qing obedient to her, a woman’s greatest capital to conquer men was not intelligence but her look. Han Shi did have this advantage. Of course, Du Wenshu did not despise Han Shi for this reason, knowing that a woman’s pillow talk was also very powerful. T

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nHis trusted confidant nodded. “It’s all true, not a single false word.”

nDu Wen’s face turned unsightly when hearing this. He listened to the cries of hardship and poverty from the northwest daily in the capital. The soldiers did not even have new cotton-padded clothes for winter. At the same time, Qin Zhao and the Xu family lived in brocade garments and ate jade meals8. At this moment, Du Wenshu’s impression of Qin Zhao was extremely poor.

nHis trusted confidant paused for a moment before adding, “I also heard that an assassin tried to kill Han Shi yesterday under the name of Jing Wangfei9 but was detected by someone close to Han Shi and did not succeed.”

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nDu Wenshu’s heart stopped for a heartbeat when he heard this news. He asked, “Is this true?” He did not know much about Jing Wang10 asking Yuchen to act as a go-between. But at this point, since he was not a foolish person, he knew that it must be the Crown Prince’s or Jing Wang10’s idea.

nHis trusted confidant nodded. “This news was released by the Yun Residence, so it should be true. When I inquired more about it, I was told that the assassin had signage from Jing Wangfu11 on him. Many say the Xu family did it to get back at Madam Yun.”

nAs the master and servant talked, they heard someone outside call out, “Du Daren3, the Qin Residence has sent something over. Asking Du Daren3 to come and take a look.” The so-called things were people, the beauties they had just seen, the Western Region5 beauties.

nThe short man had never taken his eyes off these exotic beauties during the banquet. This time, when he saw Qin Zhao bring them over here, he was delighted with Qin Zhao’s knowledge and understanding. Apart from Du Wenshu, everyone else was very pleased.

nAlthough Du Wenshu felt this act was beneath his dignity, he still pointed at a random woman. The fact that he pointed out this woman indicated that this was the one he had his eye on. People who walked in the official world would not get very far if they acted unusually noble. Du Wenshu’s ability to climb to the position of a fifth-rank Imperial Secretary retainer in less than thirty years, and was favoured by the Crown Prince, naturally showed that he was not an inflexible and noble person.

nThe following day, Du Wenshu went to the Dingbei army barracks to look for Yun Qing, wanting to learn more about the preparations for the war in early spring. Unfortunately, Yun Qing did not see him, and Huo Changqing accompanied him instead. However, Huo Changqing answered all his questions in great detail.

nWhen he returned to the post station in the evening, his attendant came to him and said, “Daren3, Madam Yun knows that we are returning to the capital tomorrow and has sent over some boxes of things.”

nDu Wenshu said, “What kind of things did she send?” Yun Qing was authoritative, while this Han Shi was not bad regarding human interaction.

nThe attendant said, “They are all specialities that are not very valuable. Apart from that, two boxes were sealed with a seal, saying they were gifts for Jing Wangfei9. The man who carried the things said that the boxes were hefty and what was in them might be jade.” What was given to Jing Wangfei9 was jade, and what was provided to them was speciality products such as dried fruits. Since there were also gifts for Jing Wangfei9, no one dared to refuse them.

nIn response, Du Wenshu instructed, “Since they’ve been sent to us, let’s take them along on our journey.”

nThe group stayed in Yu City for three days before departing. There were some complaints among the group that followed Du Wenshu, but they had no choice but to compromise in the face of Du Wen’s unyielding attitude.

nXu Wu told Yuxi, “Madam, the Qin House did not send anything to Imperial Secretary Du and his party. Madam, this is a bit strange. When people from the capital came in the past, the Qin Residence sent many things. However, this time, they are acting out of character.”

nYuxi smiled. “Last year’s incident was such a big deal, and the Qin family was at least trying to avoid suspicion.” Even if they wanted to send gifts, they would only do so privately.

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nWhen Zijin heard this, she pointed out, “Madam, the Qin family didn’t send anything to those people, but we sent several boxes of things instead!” Although they were worthless things, people didn’t know that! Others would think they had sent them generous gifts.

nYuxi laughed at this. “Those things don’t add up even to a hundred taels, not even enough to cover the cost of delivering jade for me. Even if people outside know about this, it doesn’t matter. If they want to speak about it, just let them. No one can gag them anyway.” Most of the jade was bought by Yuxi. Jade was worthless here. Even the best jade was relatively inexpensive.

nZijin laughed. “And you say I’m stingy! You might as well not send those things!” Even though they were called specialities, they were not worth much!

nYuxi laughed along. “It’s just a gesture of goodwill, and they’re practical to eat on the road.” Yun Qing hadn’t even given any instructions for it. Could she have had to deliver the gifts for their journey from her own pocket? Not only would they not get a good deal if she did, but she would be told off by Yun Qing. Of course, the main thing was that Yuxi felt they would not defect to the Crown Prince since they were not going on the same path with him. Ergo, there was no need for them to curry favour. Otherwise, she would be willing to pay them using her private account.

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